Management Vacuum
A dispute between the L&PJR and the Lancaster Canal Company led to an agreement that the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (L&CR) would lease the line from 1 July 1846. However, shareholders reversed this decision, resulting in the mass resignation of all the directors. In the resulting confusion the L&CR and the canal company both ran their trains on the L&PJR line. The competition forced the canal company to reduce its train fares. The L&CR had its own station at Lancaster Castle and its line joined the L&PJR line a short distance south of the L&PJR station.
In 1847, the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) tried to lease the line, but was unable to establish the legality of any agreement in the absence of a board of directors.
On 21 August 1848 a Euston to Glasgow express train ran into the back of a stationary train at Bay Horse Station, resulting in one death and several serious injuries. The subsequent enquiry laid part of the blame on the uncertainty over the ownership of the line. Eventually the canal company accepted compensation to relinquish its use of the line. A struggle ensued between the L&CR and ELR, resulting in the L&CR leasing the line from 1 August 1849.
The L&PJR was amalgamated into the L&CR in 1859 and the L&CR was leased to the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), which later absorbed it in 1879.
Read more about this topic: Lancaster And Preston Junction Railway
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