Walsden railway station

Walsden railway station serves the village of Walsden, Todmorden in West Yorkshire, England, on the edge of the Pennines.

Walsden
The view from platform 2
Location
PlaceWalsden, Todmorden
Local authorityCalderdale
Coordinates53.696340°N 2.104670°W / 53.696340; -2.104670
Grid referenceSD931222
Operations
Station codeWDN
Managed byNorthern
Number of platforms2
DfT categoryF2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 93,942
2015/16 102,324
2016/17 105,960
2017/18 110,600
2018/19 117,594
Passenger Transport Executive
PTEWest Yorkshire (Metro)
Zone5
History
Key datesOpened 1990 (1990)
National Rail – UK railway stations
  • Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Walsden from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

It is served by the Caldervale Line operated by Northern. The station is 32 miles (51 km) west of Leeds and 17.25 miles (28 km) north east of Manchester Victoria. Walsden is the last station before the boundary with Greater Manchester. The station was opened by Metro (West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive) on 10 September 1990 as a replacement for an earlier structure that closed on 6 August 1961. This earlier station, which was opened in 1845 by the Manchester & Leeds Railway, predecessor of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, was situated between the level crossing and the north portal of Winterbutlee Tunnel, a few yards south of the present station.[1][2]

Facilities

The station is unstaffed and has only basic facilities (no permanent buildings, just shelters on each platform). Ticket vending machines are provided to allow passengers to purchase these prior to travel, whilst digital information screens and timetable posters supply train running information. The station is fully accessible, with ramps to each platform for wheelchair and mobility impaired users.[3]

Services

There is an hourly service (Mondays to Fridays) to Manchester Victoria and Wigan Wallgate southbound and to Leeds via Dewsbury northbound (since the May 2014 timetable change) with extra trains during peak times in each direction (including some trains to Burnley and Blackburn). Passengers wishing to access destinations on the route via Halifax during the day now have to change at Todmorden or Hebden Bridge.

In the evenings and on Sundays, the frequency remains hourly but trains run via Halifax.[4]

History

It was the only place in Todmorden to be bombed during the Second World War Blitz, probably because the German plane had a leftover bomb after a raid and so dropped it on what appeared to be an important site.

The station has had problems with flooding for many years, with the most recent bout occurring on 26 December 2015.[5] The line was blocked the following day, but reopened to traffic on 28 December. Further heavy rain in November 2019 also caused the line to be closed for 24 hours because of high water levels at a river bridge just to the west of the station.

References
  1. Bairstow, M. (1983), The Manchester & Leeds Railway (The Calder Valley Line), Wyvern Publishing, Skipton, ISBN 0-907941-06-0, p. 72
  2. Joy, D. (1975), A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, Volume 8, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, ISBN 0-7153-6883-4
  3. Walsden Station FacilitiesNational Rail Enquiries Retrieved 19 February 2019
  4. Table 41 National Rail timetable, December 2019
  5. East Lancs passengers asked to check before they travelNetwork Rail Media Centre
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Littleborough   Northern
Caldervale Line		   Todmorden


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