North West England has been an important area for Freightliner operations since their inception, with four of the first five routes linking London and Glasgow to Liverpool and Manchester. After several trial workings, and a resolution to the industrial dispute as to whether private road hauliers were to be allowed access to British Rail’s new Freightliner terminals (FLTs), these container trains began operating in 1966.
The first FLTs in the north west were built by BR at Garston, on Merseyside, and at Longsight in south Manchester, and within a few months both were handling a healthy level of business with traffic comprising a wide range of commodities, including biscuits, carpets, clothing, chemicals, fire-bricks and powdered starch. As volumes continued to grow, a second Freightliner terminal was opened in Manchester during October 1969 on the site of Trafford Park steam shed, this being a somewhat
