It was operated by the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) from 1870 until the railways were nationalised under the Transport Act 1947, which took effect on 1 January 1948.
This would allow the WCR access to the traffic generated by the salt works lining the west bank of the River Weaver near the town.
[3][4][5] The branch left the CLC's Manchester to Chester line at Winsford Junction, about ¾ of a mile west of Cuddington railway station.
The main line turned south continued for the last mile along the west bank of the River Weaver until reaching the southern terminus.
This portion of the branch was built on land previously owned by Lord Delamere and one of the terms of sale was that if the railway continued on to Winsford, the company would be obliged to operate services for the benefit of the townspeople.
This meant that branch passenger trains had to wait in the goods sidings until main line services had cleared the platforms.
[13] The traffic was regulated and safeguarded using the staff and ticket system and later, after passenger services had been withdrawn, one engine in steam.
This was as a result of the Winsford Local Board invoking the covenant on the original land sale which required the CLC to provide such a service.
The Winsford Local Board once again campaigned for a reinstatement, eventually bringing a legal case based on the Delamere covenant before the Royal Courts of Justice on 25 February 1891 (1891-02-25).
[5][6][18] The level of passenger workings was increased and the branch remained relatively busy, with workmen's trains supplementing the timetabled service.
Bus services were introduced which ran direct from Winsford to Northwich town centre quicker than the train.
The CLC introduced a Sentinel steam railcar in 1929 (1929)[6] in an attempt to reduce costs, but despite this, in 1930 (1930) they announced their intention to withdraw the passenger service once again.
[22][23] The final excursion was on 26 March 1960 (1960-03-26), again organised by the RTCS, consisting of five corridor carriages hauled by LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 no.
[citation needed] During this period, there was no longer any requirement for stabling facilities at Winsford as the first and last passenger trains started and finished at Northwich and it was arranged that the goods services also followed this pattern.
[citation needed] Thus the CLC could now close the small locomotive shed at the terminus, which up until this point had been a sub-shed of Northwich motive power depot.
[25][29] Any track removal trains would have been diesel-hauled by that date of course, steam locomotion on British Rail ceasing in August 1968 (1968-08),[citation needed] but these are not recorded.
The locomotive shed at Winsford closed in July 1929[30] and was demolished, the double track section of the branch near Falk's Junction was reduced to a single line and various signal boxes were downgraded to ground frames or removed altogether.
The decline continued apace during the 1930s depression and goods traffic on the branch dwindled to the extent that in 1953 British Railways considered closing the line completely.
[31] Cheshire County Council purchased five and a half miles of the trackbed on 26 March 1969 (1969-03-26) and converted it into a linear park known as the "Whitegate Way".