Sir Richard Moon, 1st Baronet (1814–1899) was the leading executive of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) during its heyday as the largest public company in the world.
[5]: 24, 26 As their heir, executor, and trustee for the family, the younger Richard Moon was now a wealthy man and his focus shifted from trading in Liverpool to managing these substantial shareholdings.
In April 1852 he was appointed chairman of the Stores Committee, which under Moon came to control all the railway's purchases, from coal for the locomotives down to the buttons on staff uniforms, with a relentless focus on reducing costs.
The major question they studied was the future of the multiple rolling stock works that the LNWR had inherited from its predecessors, with major facilities at Crewe (from the GJR), Longsight in Manchester (M&BR), and Wolverton (L&BR), and smaller depots at Saltley in Birmingham, Edge Hill in Liverpool, Camden & Euston in London, Newton-le-Willows, Ordsall Lane in Salford, and Watford.
After long negotiations, the Board rejected this radical proposal, but closed Edge Hill, Longsight, and Ordsall Lane in favour of Newton, which became the new settlement of Earlestown.
[5]: 101, 155, 157 An opportunity came in 1857 when the LNWR lost the contract to supply rolling stock from the North Eastern works at Longsight to its ally the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway.
Moon argued that Longsight would become too small for efficient working, urging that its operations and Superintendent, Ramsbottom, should both be moved to Crewe, since he regarded Trevithick as a weak and disorganized manager.
His plea was backed by another influential director, Admiral Moorsom, who had worked closely with him at the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, and eventually the Board agreed to the Crewe boundary and both expansions.