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.

Serving the industrial heart of the North West of England and forming the critical link to the mineral wealth of Yorkshire, the L & Y rapidly grew into a complex and progressive railway system, with considerable shipping interests on the north-west coast and North Sea.

This was coupled with an immense freight business, an extensive commuter network, a heavy traffic in tourists to Blackpool and other holiday destinations around Morecambe Bay and of course the famous trans-pennine expresses linking Manchester, Liverpool with Leeds, Bradford and York.