1-157-226 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Train crossing Chat Moss, Lancashire, 1831. A large 12 square mile peat bog five miles west of Manchester, Chat Moss was considered unsuitable for the building of rail tracks, and early surveys proposing routes for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway recommended detours to avoid the area. However, the Liverpool & Manchester Railway's chief engineer, George Stephenson, argued that a direct route across Chat Moss was possible, and after initial opposition from Parliament, the line was built. The track had to be built on wooden supports below the ground, so that it floated on the bog.