The original workshops of the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway were in Newton near Hyde in Cheshire but were inconveniently situated, cramped and makeshift.
Richard Peacock left the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway in 1854 and with Charles Beyer founded the Beyer Peacock locomotive company at Gorton Foundry directly opposite Gorton Works on the Southern side of the railway line.