In 1863, the CLC management committee was made up of four representatives each from its founding companies, which were the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) and the Great Northern Railway (GNR). The management committee (still at this time just MS&LR and GNR) became direct owners and operators of railways in 1865, by the Cheshire Lines Transfer Act. The Transfer Act allowed for the Midland Railway (MR) to become equal partners in the committee and they took up these powers in 1866; the Cheshire Lines Committee was now finally authorised as a fully independent organisation by The Cheshire Lines Act in 1867. Now that the CLC had three parent companies, the management was divided by three with each partner having three places.