As a temporary measure, the canal company constructed a tramroad to link the two halves and allow revenue traffic to start flowing.
In 1794, the canal company engaged the services of William Cartwright, first to supervise the construction of the foundations for the Lune Aqueduct and later as Resident Engineer.
The five-mile-long tramroad comprised a double-track plateway, except for a short section of single track through a tunnel under Fishergate in Preston, just south of the canal basin.
As was common on early 'railway' systems, the wagons could be privately owned by the hauliers themselves (known locally as halers) who paid the company a toll to use the tramroad.
The last haler to work the tramroad, John Procter, walked the 10-mile return journey twice a day for 32 years.
It has been estimated[2] that he walked or rode nearly 200,000 miles (300,000 km) during his career on the tramroad, and needed his clogs resoling once per week.
This part, including the tramroad bridge over the River Ribble, was turned into a footpath, which remains to the present day.
[4] A well-preserved section of track from the south side of the McKenzie Inn on Station Road in Bamber Bridge was taken up and relaid in Worden Park in Leyland.
They had lain there since an accident involving the failure of the endless chain on the Avenham Incline, which caused a train of wagons to run away and plunge into the river at the bottom.