Macclesfield railway station serves the

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

market town of

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

, England. It lies on the Stafford to Manchester branch of the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

. 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 The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

(LNWR) opened the line between

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and Macclesfield on 19 June 1849. On this date, the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a Great Britain, British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shro ...

(NSR) completed the

Congleton Congleton is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is on the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 28,497 and the built-up area ha ...

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 The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grims ...

(MS&LR) to construct a

joint railway A joint railway is a railway operating under the control of more than one railway company. United Kingdom There are many examples of joint railways in the United Kingdom. These include: * Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GN): Midland ...

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 Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

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 Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

ways 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 Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

style of architecture; the beauty of the building was perceived to be its very functionality and its design follows the

Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

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 An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

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 In the railway system of Great Britain, a train operating company (TOC) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways ...

: Avanti West Coast,

CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the current CrossCountry franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006, ...

and

Northern Trains Northern Trains, Trade name, trading as Northern, is a British train operating company that operates Commuter rail, commuter and Inter-city rail, medium-distance intercity services in the North of England. It is owned by DfT Operator for the Dep ...

. Northbound to and , Avanti West Coast and Northern operate hourly services, with some peak time extras, and

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 is limited, with only six rail replacement bus services operating between Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke-on-Trent.

References

Citations

Sources

External links

{{coord, 53.2595, N, 2.1217, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Macclesfield Railway stations in Cheshire Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1873 Railway stations served by CrossCountry Railway stations served by Northern Railway stations served by Avanti West Coast Articles containing video clips Former London and North Western Railway stations Stations on the West Coast Main Line DfT Category C1 stations