Mid-Cheshire Line

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Mid-Cheshire Line

Legend Chester & Connah's Quay Railway Chester (Northgate) (Closed) Chester (General) Chester to Manchester Line Mickle Trafford (Closed) West Cheshire Junction Helsby and Alvanley (Closed) Barrow for Tarvin (Closed) Manley (Closed) Winsford and Over (Closed) Mouldsworth Whitegate (Closed) Delamere (Request stop) Cuddington West Coast Main Line Greenbank ICI Winnington Weaver Viaduct Northwich – Sandbach Branch (Freight only) Northwich ICI Lostock Salt Branches Lostock Gralam (Request stop) Plumley Knutsford Mobberley (Request stop) Ashley (Request stop) Hale Altrincham Navigation Road Manchester Metrolink Sale Manchester Metrolink Baguley (Closed) Manchester Metrolink Manchester Central (Closed) Manchester Piccadilly Stockport

The Mid-Cheshire Line is a railway line in the north-west of England, between Chester and Manchester.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Altrincham–Manchester 2 Present route 3 Current services 4 Motive power and rolling stock 4.1 History 4.2 The present 5 Future Services 6 External links 7 References

[edit] History

The Mid Cheshire line has its origins in railways promoted by three separate railway companies in the 19th century. The Cheshire Midland Railway was opened to passengers between Altrincham and Knutsford on May 12, 1862 (1862-05-12), then completed to Northwich on January 1, 1863 (1863-01-01). The West Cheshire Railway opened from Northwich to West Cheshire Junction in 1869. This railway was extended from Mouldsworth to a new terminus at Chester Northgate in 1874 (1874). The line from Altrincham to Manchester was the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway (MSJAR), opened on July 20, 1849 (1849-07-20) and jointly owned by the London and North Western Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR, later the Great Central Railway). The line from Chester to Altrincham was vested in the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC), a joint committee regulated by the Great Northern Railway (GNR), MSLR and the Midland Railway (MR). This committee became an independent company after 1867 and survived the 1923 Grouping intact. Services were operated by the CLC until nationalisation on 1 January 1948, when the line became part of British Railways London Midland Region.

Prior to the Beeching closures in the 1960s, there were branch lines with services from the Mid Cheshire line (see the Winsford and Over branch). Dr. Beeching had no plans to close part or all of the Mid Cheshire line, although in his proposed second phase of closures there were plans to close the line between Chester and Warrington Bank Quay, which would have increased the number of passengers using the Mid Cheshire line. Although those proposed closures never went ahead, the original termini at Chester and Manchester were closed in 1969 and services were re-routed to Chester General, via a new junction at Mickle Trafford, and Manchester Oxford Road.

The route was double track between Chester and Altrincham, although the section between Mickle Trafford and Mouldsworth was reduced to single track after Chester Northgate station closed in 1969. For many years the line had the reputation of being one of the busiest double track routes in the UK.

[edit] Altrincham–Manchester

Main article: Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway

A large section of the route between Altrincham and Manchester was quadrupled and electrified to 1500 volts DC in 1931. Local services were provided by electric multiple unit trains. At that time, a journey between Manchester and Altrincham took about 15 minutes. The Chester services usually ran "semi-fast" over this section, usually stopping only at Sale. There were at one time plans to electrify the whole Chester to Manchester line but it was deemed too expensive.

The original electric trains were withdrawn in 1971 and the system was changed to 25 kV AC. Some services were extended through Manchester London Road (renamed Piccadilly in 1960) to Alderley Edge / Crewe / Stoke-on-Trent and occasionally Wolverhampton. 1989 saw further changes as Chester trains were diverted via Stockport. This has increased journey times between Chester and Manchester significantly, although a change at Altrincham, depending upon connections, often resulted in an earlier arrival. In 1992, the system was changed to 750V DC to accommodate the Manchester Metrolink trams which now exclusively used the trackbed between Navigation Road and Manchester.

[edit] Present route

The line serves many small, rural settlements in Cheshire before reaching Chester. Services follow the Crewe line from Manchester Piccadilly as far as Stockport, where the line diverges westwards. The line then curves around the South of Manchester until it meets the Metrolink line. Metrolink and Mainline services run parallel between Navigation Road railway station and Altrincham, where the Metrolink terminates. Much of the route is single track between Altrincham and Stockport. Beyond Altrincham, the route leaves Manchester's suburbs. Several of the rural stops on the line are request stops. There are no further passenger interchanges on the line until the service reaches Chester. There is a single track freight only branch to the west of Northwich railway station which links Northwich to Sandbach on the Crewe to Manchester Line. There is a campaign for this line to be re-opened as a passenger line, to serve the town of Middlewich. There is also a curve to access the West Coast Main Line further west, but passenger services do not use this. The line joins up with the line from Chester to Warrington just east of Chester at Mickle Trafford Junction.

[edit] Current services

Monday to Friday
Chester to Manchester: 18 trains per day ^a
Northwich to Stockport: 1 additional train per day
Northwich to Blackpool: 1 per day
Manchester to Chester: 19 trains per day ^b
Manchester to Greenbank: 1 additional train per day ^c

Saturday

Chester to Manchester: 17 trains

Northwich to Blackpool: 1 train

Manchester to Chester: 17 trains ^b

Manchester to Greenbank: 1 additional train ^c

Sunday

Chester to Altrincham ^d : 5 trains

Altrincham ^d to Chester: 5 trains

^a 17 from Mouldsworth, Delamere, Plumley, Mobberley and Ashley ^b One morning train originates from Blackpool North ^c Ashley, Mobberley and Plumley do not benefit from this extra train. The train originates from St Annes-on-the-Sea ^d Standard train tickets are valid on Manchester Metrolink services between Altrincham and Manchester City Centre on Sundays.

[edit] Motive power and rolling stock

[edit] History

The CLC owned its own coaching stock but no locomotives (apart from four Sentinel steam railmotors). From the start of operations, motive power was provided by the MSLR and later the GCR, although locomotives and stock from the other CLC constituent companies could also be seen. This gave the Mid-Cheshire line a very "cosmopolitan" feel until well into the 1960s when older locomotives were replaced by British Railways (BR) standard designs.

Early passenger services were handled by MSLR/GCR class 12A 2-4-0 locomotives designed by Charles Sacre. These were replaced by John Robinson-built class D9 4-4-0, D10 4-4-0 'Small Directors', D11 4-4-0 'Large Directors' and C13 4-4-2 tank locomotives. The 'Directors' and C13s lasted well into the nationalisation era and were eventually displaced by LMS and BR standard tank engines. Dieselisation of passenger services began in the early 1960s with class 108 and later class 101 diesel multiple units displacing the steam locomotives.

The route was a very busy freight artery – especially the section between Greenbank and Altrincham. The I.C.I. works at Winnington and Lostock attracted much traffic, in particular heavy trains consisting of custom-built bogie hoppers, which carried limestone from Derbyshire. These trains required banking between Northwich and Winnington works and were the preserve of LMS class 8F 2-8-0 locomotives, later BR class 40, class 47 and class 20 diesels. Other locomotives to be seen included LMS class 4F, GCR class 8K (LNER class O4) and class 9H (LNER class J10) steam locomotives. Shunting and trip working was carried out by GCR class 9F (LNER class N5) steam and BR class 08 diesel locomotives.

[edit] The present

Today, the majority of passenger trains used on this line are Class 142 Pacer trains. From time to time a Class 150 Sprinter train or Class 156 Super Sprinter train may be seen serving the line.

In the past Class 158 Super Sprinter trains and Class 175 Cordia trains were used on some journeys on this line. Both these types of trains have not been used on services on this line since Northern Rail took over the line. All their Class 158 Super Sprinter trains are now being used on services in the Yorkshire and North East areas, with Class 175 Cordia trains being transferred to Arriva Trains Wales. Class 175 Cordia trains occasionally travel along the line if engineering work is taking place on the Chester to Manchester via Warrington line.

Goods trains continue to use the line, mainly to carry limestone to Brunner Mond’s works at Winnington. These are usually hauled by a EWS Class 67 engine.

[edit] Future Services

The following are proposals for future services to the line. Reopening the Northwich to Sandbach line to passenger trains
This will allow a direct train service from places on the line to Crewe, which will should reduce journey times to destinations south of Chester, as well as reducing fares to those destinations. It would also allow the former station at Middlewich to re-open, and the possibility of a new station opening at Rudheath.

Running tram-trains directly to Manchester
This would allow a faster service to central Manchester, as they would be able to run alongside both the existing trains and the existing trams. The tram-trains would be likely to start and terminate at Northwich.

[edit] External links

• Mid-Cheshire Community Rail Partnership

[edit] References

• Bolger, Paul (1984). An Illustrated History of the Cheshire LInes Committee. Heyday. ISBN 0947562001. 
• Dyckhoff, Nigel (1984). The Cheshire Lines Committee Then and Now. Ian Allan. ISBN 0711014108. 
• Dyckhoff, Nigel (1999). Portrait of the Cheshire Lines Committee. Ian Allan. ISBN 0711025125. 
• Griffiths, R. Prys & Goode, C. Tony (1978), The Cheshire Lines Railway, The Oakwood Press 
• Wilkinson, Alan. Scenes from the Past : 41 (Part 1) : Railways Across Mid-Cheshire. Foxline. ISBN 1870119665. 

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