Mouldsworth railway station

Mouldsworth National Rail
Location
Place Mouldsworth
Local authority Cheshire West and Chester
Grid reference SJ512707
Operations
Station code MLD
Managed by Northern
Number of platforms 2
DfT category F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2012/13 Increase 31,870
2013/14 Decrease 31,646
2014/15 Decrease 29,940
2015/16 Increase 32,022
2016/17 Increase 33,746
History
Key dates Opened 22 June 1870 (22 June 1870)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Mouldsworth from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Mouldsworth railway station serves the village of Mouldsworth in Cheshire, England. It is managed by Northern.

Train services run between Manchester Piccadilly and Chester.

History

The station & railway here first opened in 1869 for goods and 1870 for passengers, on the line from Northwich to West Cheshire Junction (near Helsby); the extension line from here to Chester was added in November 1874 (1 May 1875 for passengers).[1]

Services used to run to the CLC terminus at Chester Northgate, but this closed in October 1969.[1] Trains henceforth used a connection onto the former Birkenhead Joint Railway main line at Mickle Trafford (where the two lines ran adjacent to each other) to reach Chester General. As part of this rationalisation work, the Mouldsworth to Mickle Trafford section was also reduced to a single line. In the opposite direction, the closure of Manchester Central earlier that year saw eastbound services diverted to start/terminate at Manchester Oxford Road.

The station used to be a request stop but this status was removed at the spring 2011 timetable change.

The signal box here was decommissioned and demolished in 2006,[2] control of the line then passing to Mickle Trafford box. The West Cheshire Railway line from Helsby closed to passengers as long ago as May 1875 (following the opening of the Chester line), but once carried significant volumes of oil & petrochemical traffic from the refineries near Stanlow and Thornton towards Crewe and points south via Middlewich. A change in distribution methods at the refinery led to this all but disappearing by the end of 1990. A few months later, a major fire seriously damaged the signal box at Helsby West Cheshire Junction and this led to the immediate closure of the line on 14 September 1991.[3][4] The disused track remained intact until 1995, when it was lifted. The old formation is still just visible at the western end of the station, but it is now heavily overgrown & inaccessible.

Facilities

The station is unmanned (like most others on the route) and has no ticket provision, so tickets must be purchased prior to travel or from the conductor on the train. The main buildings (on the Chester-bound platform) still stand and are in private occupation. Shelters are provided on both platforms and train running information is offered via CIS displays and timetable posters. Step-free access is only available on the Manchester-bound platform.[5]

Services

There is a basic hourly service in each direction Monday to Saturday, with two additional weekday peak trains to and from Stockport. On Sundays there is a two-hourly service each way, with eastbound trains running through to Manchester, Wigan Wallgate and Southport.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 Disused Stations - Chester NorthgateDisused Stations; Retrieved 14 February 2016
  2. ↑ Signalling Alterations 2006 www.signalbox.org; Retrieved 2008-12-17
  3. ↑ Disused Stations - Manley Retrieved 19 November 2013
  4. ↑ "Mouldsworth to Helsby memories" Sallery, Dave North Wales Coast Railway Notice Board November 2012; Retrieved 10 November 2016
  5. ↑ Mouldsworth station details National Rail Enquiries
  6. ↑ GB eNRT May 2017 Edition, Table 88

Further reading

  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2013). Chester Northgate to Manchester. Middleton Press. figs. 14-18. ISBN 9781908174512. OCLC 892704846.
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Chester   Northern
Mid-Cheshire Line		   Delamere
Disused railways
Manley
Line and station closed		   Cheshire Lines Committee
West Cheshire Line		   Terminus
  Historical railways  
Barrow for Tarvin
Line open, station closed		   Cheshire Lines Committee
West Cheshire Line		   Delamere
Line and station open

Coordinates: 53°13′55″N 2°43′55″W / 53.232°N 2.732°W / 53.232; -2.732

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