World War I and the 1923 grouping where most railways were grouped into one of the Big Four. Charnley was the manager from 1911 to 1922 when he became secretary and manager for three years until he was succeeded, on his death, by his assistant, William Howard Oates in February 1925. Oates also died in office after only a year and was followed by Alfred Percy Ross, who combined the manager's role with that of Chief Engineer for a few years until July 1929. Sidney Burgoyne followed as manager in that December; he had come from the LNER and he returned there in 1932. The committee's last manager also came from the LNER; Gerald Leedham was designated Acting Manager from January 1933 until 1936, when he became Secretary and Manager until the committee was nationalised at the end of 1947. Grouping The Railways Act of 1921 grouped most of Britain's railways into one of the Big Four; however, a number of joint lines remained outside the Big Four and continued to be operated jointly by the successor companies. These included the Cheshire Lines Committee and it remained independent with its own management. Its management was still made up of nine directors, three from each parent company, and these companies had been grouped. The Midland was grouped into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), while the GNR and MS&LR (by then the Great Central Railway) became part of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). This meant the CLC now had six directors from the LNER and three from the LMS. The CLC continued under this management arrangement until the railways were nationalised under the Transport Act of 1947 at the beginning of 1948. Stock Although, in all other respects, the CLC was a complete railway, it did not own any locomotives. Its motive power was provided by the parent companies which, in practice, was the MS&LR, as it had a comparatively close locomotive works at Gorton in east Manchester. The MS&LR charged the CLC a mileage charge for each locomotive hire, depending on whether it was being used for passenger trains or freight. The directors of the other companies argued from the beginning that the CLC should have its own locomotives, as the hire charge was too high; this led to a reduction in the charge but not by enough to satisfy the GNR and MR directors. Eventually, the