Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 1847 - 1922

The title "Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway" was adopted by the Manchester & Leeds Railway in July, 1847 following its absorption of a number of earlier local railways, the largest of which was the Manchester and Leeds Railway.

In 1921 the London & North Western Railway with which the L&Y had good relations, appointed the L&Y General Manager, Arthur Watson, to the same post on the LNW while retaining his L&Y post. It was then announced that the two lines would merge on 1st January 1922. Whilst the LNW was a much bigger company and its name was applied to the new organisation it was L&Y men who took most of the top jobs including George Hughes as CME. When the LMS was formed a year later, both Watson and Hughes took the same jobs in the new group.

One year later upon grouping, the merged company became the largest constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.