was enlarged in 1871; and in 1888 a curve at the north end of Bolton station allowed trains to run between the Preston and Blackburn lines without needing to reverse in the station. The route from Blackburn to was also opened in two sections. The Blackburn, Clitheroe and North Western Junction Railway (BC&NWJR) was authorised on 27 July 1846 for a line from a junction with the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) at Daisyfield, east of Blackburn, to a junction with the North Western Railway (NWR) near . Construction commenced at Clitheroe on 30 December 1846 but was delayed due to the partial collapse of the Whalley viaduct. The line was opened between Blackburn and on 21 June 1850, and on the same day, a short branch to the Old Banks lime works at Horrocksford was opened. Trains used the BD&BR station at Blackburn (Bolton Road), running through the ELR station in order to reach it. Initially single track, the line between Daisyfield Junction and Chatburn was doubled in 1872–74. In March 1847, the BD&BR and the BC&NWJR agreed to amalgamate, becoming the Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe and West Yorkshire Railway; the necessary Act received Royal Assent on 9 July 1847. The name was shortened to the Blackburn Railway by a further Act of 24 July 1851. In the meantime, the LYR and ELR entered into a working agreement in April 1850, and they began to operate in ways that whilst mutually beneficial, were to the detriment of the Blackburn Railway; for example, the ELR charged the Blackburn Railway a toll equivalent to six miles for the use of three-quarters of a mile of the ELR's line through Blackburn; and later, LYR services from Manchester to Blackburn were routed via instead of Bolton. During 1856, two extensions to the Blackburn Railway were proposed: one was to continue the line north from Chatburn to the NWR near (at that time known as Settle); the other would have been from a point to the north of Bolton, between the Croal and Tonge viaducts, to Manchester by way of Radcliffe, Whitefield and Cheetham Hill, and so would have created a line between Bolton and Manchester independent of the LYR. Both of these proposals failed. On 1 January 1858, the Blackburn Railway became the joint property of the LYR and ELR (this was not authorised by Parliament until 12 July 1858). In 1859, the LYR and