Northenden railway station

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Northenden railway station was a station on the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway (ST&AJ) and was opened on 1 February 1866. From 15 August 1867 the ST&AJ became part of the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC), and from 1 January 1923, the CLC was jointly owned by the LNER and LMSR, but retained its separate identity. Some railway timetables described the station as 'Northenden for Wythenshawe', because the station lay between and served the two districts and was situated between Sharston Road and Longley Lane.

The main station building, with booking office and parcels office was on the north side of the twin railway tracks. On the other side of the line, reached by a boarded crossing for passengers and staff to use with care, was a smaller waiting room, beyond which was a two-line goods siding for coal and other freight wagons and vans.

Northenden station was served by local passenger trains from Stockport (Tiviot Dale) to Warrington Central and Liverpool Central stations. For most of its existence, the passenger trains were hauled by steam locomotives, but for many years up to the second World War, some services were operated by the CLC's fleet of Sentinel steam railcars. The station was closed on 30 November 1964 when passenger trains were withdrawn by British Railways. Passenger trains still operate through the disused site, but these are now from Manchester Piccadilly via Stockport, then non-stop to Navigation Road and onwards to Altrincham, Northwich and Chester.

Until the early 1960s there was a very intensive freight traffic through Northenden, with trains heading from Yorkshire and the North Midlands to Liverpool and Birkenhead Docks and elsewhere. Diesel-hauled freight trains still run through Northenden, including heavy block trains carrying limestone from quarries at Tunstead (near Buxton) to the alkali works located near Northwich.

[edit] References

• The Directory of Railway Stations, R.V.J. Butt, PSL, 1995, ISBN 1-85260-508-1
• Encyclopedia of British Railway Companies, Christopher Awdry, 1990, Guild Publishing
• The Cheshire Lines Committee, Paul Bolger, Heyday Publishing, 1984, ISBN 0-947562-00-1
• The Cheshire Lines Railway, R.P.Griffiths, The Oakwood Press, 1978