Chapel-en-le-Frith railway station

Chapel-en-le-Frith railway station (formerly Chapel-en-le-Frith South) serves the town of Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, England. It is 20 ¹⁄₂ miles (33.0 kilometres) south east of Manchester Piccadilly on the Buxton Line from Manchester. It was built in 1863 for the London & North Western Railway on its line from Whaley Bridge to Buxton. as an extension of the Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway.

For the former station on the Derby–Manchester line of the Midland Railway, see Chapel-en-le-Frith Central railway station.

Chapel-en-le-Frith
Location
Place	Chapel-en-le-Frith
Local authority	High Peak
Coordinates	53.312°N 1.919°W / 53.312; -1.919
Grid reference	SK055794
Operations
Station code	CEF
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*
2014/15	45,974
2015/16	51,366
2016/17	56,224
2017/18	60,900
2018/19	67,196
History
Key dates	Opened 1863 (1863)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Chapel-en-le-Frith from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

In 1867, the Midland Railway built a station (known as Chapel-en-le-Frith Central) on the Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee line from Millers Dale to Chinley. The town therefore had a main line connection from Manchester to London featuring expresses such as the 'Palatine' and the 'Peaks'. However, with the closure of the ex Midland route from Chinley to Rowsley to passenger traffic in 1967, Central station was closed. The Midland line is still in-situ and used for freight to and from Peak Forest.

The station is one of very few to retain its walkway to cross between platforms, most stations having had footbridges installed. The prime reason for this is the requirement to provide a vehicular crossing for those houses further up the hill which have no reliable alternative, as the very rough alternative is blocked for days during snow, and even when open requires a considerable extra distance to be covered to reach Chapel Town Centre. A footbridge would therefore not be used.

The former station master's house was used as a restaurant called "Brief Encounter" but has been refurbished and is being used as a band room for Chapel-en-le-Frith Town Band.[1]

Facilities

The station is unstaffed but has a ticket machine which also allows the collection of pre-booked tickets. There are waiting shelters on both platforms and train running information is provided by automated announcements, CIS displays, timetable poster boards and a customer help point on platform 1. Step-free access is available to both sides via the foot crossing at the Whaley Bridge end of the station.[2]

Service

There is generally a half hourly service each day to Manchester Piccadilly northbound all week. A few early morning and evening peak hour trains on weekdays previously continued beyond Manchester Piccadilly to Clitheroe, Wigan North Western, Barrow-in-Furness, Blackpool North and Kirby.[3] All southbound services terminate at Buxton. On Sunday, the service is hourly.[4]

1957 collision

The station was the site of a fatal collision in 1957 which is commemorated with a plaque at the station.

References

• Radford, B., (1988) Midland Though The Peak Unicorn Books

1. High Peak Borough Council Licensing details, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) accessed 13-102-2010
2. Chapel-en-le-Frith station facilities National Rail Enquiries; retrieved 19 May 2017
3. Table 82 National Rail timetable, May 2017
4. Table 86 National Rail timetable, December 2018

External links

• Train times and station information for Chapel-en-le-Frith railway station from National Rail

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Dove Holes		Northern Buxton line		Whaley Bridge