Macclesfield railway station

Macclesfield railway station is a main line station serving the Cheshire town of Macclesfield. It lies on the Stafford to Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom.

For historic railway stations in Macclesfield, see Macclesfield railway station (disambiguation).

Macclesfield
Macclesfield Station, August 2014
Location
Place	Macclesfield
Local authority	Borough of Cheshire East
Grid reference	SJ919735
Operations
Station code	MAC
Managed by	Avanti West Coast
Number of platforms	3
DfT category	C1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	1.475 million
2015/16	1.614 million
2016/17	1.661 million
2017/18	1.667 million
2018/19	1.709 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1 July 1873 (1 July 1873)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Macclesfield from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Facilities at the station include ticket sales, a kiosk, a waiting room and public toilets. Before the bus station was relocated and rebuilt in 2004, the railway and bus stations were sited very close to each other.

It is one of the three stations that provide access to the Middlewood Way, which follows the route of the former Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway.

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.[1]

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 North Stafford 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 Macclesfield station called Macclesfield Central. It was 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.

On 7 November 1960, British Railways closed Macclesfield Hibel Road. Macclesfield Central was vastly remodelled and is now called simply Macclesfield station. As with other stations on the West Coast Main Line, Macclesfield station 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 was reported in summer 2011 to be "distinctly shabby", with peeling paintwork.[2]

There are three platforms but only two are in regular use, the up platform for services to Manchester and the down platform to Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham. Platform 3 sees a small number of services. Evidence of a fourth platform can be seen, on which a Network Rail building now exists.

Accidents and incidents

• On 26 July 1971, an electric multiple unit departed from the station against signals and was derailed by trap points.[3]

Services

Macclesfield is served by Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry and Northern Trains services. Avanti West Coast and Northern Trains operate an hourly service northbound with some peak time extras to Manchester Piccadilly and CrossCountry has two services an hour giving Macclesfield four northbound trains per hour. Southbound there are also four trains per hour; one to Stoke-on-Trent operated by Northern Trains, one to London Euston operated by Avanti West Coast and one to Bournemouth via Birmingham New Street and Reading and one to Bristol Temple Meads operated by CrossCountry.[4] Sunday services are similar however the local stopping service operated by Northern Trains is limited with only 6 services to Manchester Piccadilly and 5 services to Stoke-on-Trent

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Stoke-on-Trent		Avanti West Coast London-Manchester via Stoke-on-Trent		Stockport
Congleton		CrossCountry Cross Country Route		Stockport
Stoke-on-Trent
Congleton		Northern Trains Stoke-on-Trent - Manchester Piccadilly (Local stopping service)		Prestbury
				Poynton
Terminus		Northern Trains Macclesfield - Manchester Piccadilly (Local stopping service) (Limited service)
Congleton		Northern Trains Stoke-on-Trent - Macclesfield (Local stopping service) (Limited service)		Terminus
Preceding station		Historical railways		Following station
North Rode Line open, station closed		North Staffordshire Railway Churnet Valley Line		Terminus
Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Terminus		North Staffordshire Railway Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway		Bollington Line and station closed

Notes

Citations

1. Jeuda p. 4.
2. Johnston, Howard (10 August 2011). "Regional News". Rail. Peterborough. p. 24.
3. Earnshaw, Alan (1990). Trains in Trouble: Vol. 6. Penryn: Atlantic Books. p. 45. ISBN 0-906899-37-0.
4. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Tables 65 & 84

References

• Jeuda, Basil (1995). The Railways of Macclesfield. Scenes from the Past. 27. Foxline Publishing. ISBN 1-870119-44-4.

External links

• Train times and station information for Macclesfield railway station from National Rail