to look at options to secure traffic to the west of Manchester and particularly into Liverpool. This led to their associating with the MS&LR and GNR and their partnership working of the lines mentioned above. These lines were brought together under the direct joint ownership of the MS&LR and GNR in 1865 by the Cheshire Lines Transfer Act. They were: Stockport and Woodley Junction Railway; Cheshire Midland Railway; Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway; West Cheshire Railway; Garston and Liverpool Railway; and The Liverpool Central Station Railway. The Act additionally gave powers for the MR to join as an equal partner, which it did in 1866. The MS&LR's and Branch Railway was transferred to the CLC in 1866. This left a small section () of track between Apethorne Junction and Woodley Junction that still belonged to the Sheffield and Midland Joint Railway, with the CLC having running powers. The Cheshire Lines Committee was finally authorised, by The Cheshire Lines Act in 1867, as a fully independent organisation with a board formed from three directors from each of the parent companies. Manchester to Liverpool In 1864, Mr Edward Watkin, the MS&LR's chairman, proposed a more direct railway from Manchester to connect with the Garston and Liverpool Railway; this was mainly on the grounds that the existing arrangements for running powers on LNWR lines were inadequate. He had a point, as the lines were being used by three companies and had several curves that needed careful, and therefore slow, negotiation; there were 95 level-crossings and 60 or more signals in each direction. This proposal was made in the name of the MS&LR only, but Mr Watkin solicited support from the other CLC partners as it was in their interest, because of a competing potential alliance between the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) and the Great Eastern Railway (GER). This proposal led to the MS&LR (Extension to Liverpool) Act of 1865; this Act was subsequently amended by the MS&LR (New Lines) Act of 1866 which altered the route slightly. The result was two lines: one from Cornbrook, near Old Trafford in Manchester, where a connection was made with the MSJ&AR to a junction with CLC (former Garston and Liverpool Railway) line near Cressington; the second from a junction with the first line at Glazebrook to a new junction, Skelton junction, with the CLC (former Stockport, Timperley & Altrincham Junction Railway) near Timperley. The