Macclesfield railway station

History

The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) opened the line between Manchester and Macclesfield on 19 June 1849. On this date, the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) completed the Congleton to Macclesfield section of its main Macclesfield - Stoke - Norton Bridge line. A new joint station, managed by a committee of both companies, was opened at Hibel Road a month later, replacing the temporary LNWR station at Beech Bridge.

During the 1860s, the North Staffordshire Railway collaborated with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) to construct a joint railway between Macclesfield and Marple, near Manchester. For the NSR, this would provide a route to Manchester independently of the LNWR. For the MS&LR, it would provide a link to Stoke-on-Trent and the south. The joint railway was constituted as the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway (MB&M). It was opened throughout to a second, temporary Macclesfield station for passengers on 2 August 1869 and to goods on 1 March 1870. The MB&M then constructed its own permanent station in the town called Macclesfield Central. It was sited just south of the LNWR station, which was renamed Macclesfield Hibel Road for clarity. The new MB&M station was connected to the rest of the joint line for goods on 3 April 1871 and opened for passengers on 1 July 1873. It closed to all traffic south of Rose Hill in January 1970.

Some North Staffordshire Railway through trains from Macclesfield railway station used the Potteries Loop Line.

By the late 1920s, there was one freight train a day from Macclesfield Central to ; this train used the Potteries Loop line.

On 7 November 1960, British Railways closed Macclesfield Hibel Road. Macclesfield Central was vastly remodelled and is now called simply Macclesfield station. As with many other stations on the West Coast Main Line, it was rebuilt in the Brutalist style of architecture; the beauty of the building was perceived to be its very functionality and its design follows the Modernist approach.

The station won the "Best Kept Station in Cheshire Award" for 2007 but, in summer 2011, it was reported to be "distinctly shabby", with peeling paintwork.

Accidents and incidents

• On 26 July 1971, an electric multiple unit departed from the station against signals and was derailed by trap points.

Facilities

Facilities at the station include ticket sales, a kiosk, a waiting room and public toilets.

Services

Macclesfield is served by three train operating companies: Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry and Northern Trains.

Northbound to and , Avanti West Coast and Northern operate hourly services, with some peak time extras, and CrossCountry runs two services an hour.

Southbound, there are also four trains per hour: one stopping service to , operated by Northern Trains; one inter-city service to , operated by Avanti West Coast; one to , via and ; and one to , both operated by CrossCountry.

Sunday services are similar, but the local stopping service operated by Northern Trains no longer runs on Sunday, with rail replacement bus services operating between Stockport and Stoke-on-Trent.

References

Citations

Sources

References

1. Paul Shannon & John Hillmer. (2003). "British Railways Past and Present no 40 Cheshire". Past & Present Publishing Ltd.
2. Smith, Roger. (9 September 2022). "Major upgrade of West Coast Main Line signals in Cheshire completed". Rail Advent.
3. [[#Jeuda1995. Jeuda]] p. 4.
4. Allan. C Baker. (July 2000). "An Illustrated History of Stoke and North Staffordshire's Railways". Irwell Press.
5. Jeuda, Basil. (20 April 2014). "The North Staffordshire Railway In LMS Days Volume 3". Lightmore Press.
6. Johnston, Howard. (10 August 2011). "Regional News". Rail.
7. Earnshaw, Alan. (1990). "Trains in Trouble: Vol. 6". Atlantic Books.
8. "Macclesfield (MAC) station information".
9. "Scheduled timetable book for 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024". Avanti West Coast.
10. "Train Timetables {{!}} Scotland, North East & Manchester to the South West and South Coast {{!}} Sunday 10 December 2023 – Saturday 01 June 2024". CrossCountry Trains.
11. "N19 - Manchester to Stoke-on-Trent via Macclesfield {{!}} Train times {{!}} 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024". Northern Trains.
12. "North West Sunday timetable update {{!}} Northern".