Clifton railway station (Greater Manchester) explained

Clifton
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Borough:Clifton, Salford
Country:England
Coordinates:53.5223°N -2.3141°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Manager:Northern
Platforms:2
Code:CLI
Classification:DfT category F2
Transit Authority:Transport for Greater Manchester
Original:East Lancashire Railway
Pregroup:Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Postgroup:London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Years:June 1847
Events:Opened as Clifton Junction
Years1:6 May 1974
Events1:Renamed Clifton
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Clifton railway station is a railway station in Clifton, Greater Manchester, England which was formerly called Clifton Junction. It lies on the Manchester–Preston line.

History

The railway line between Salford and, the Manchester and Bolton Railway (M&BR), opened in 1838, but had no stations between and .[1] In 1844, the Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway (MB&RR) was authorised to build a line from a junction with the M&BR at Clifton, to . It opened to the public on 28 September 1846, by which time the MB&RR had amalgamated with other companies to become the East Lancashire Railway, and the M&BR had itself amalgamated with the Manchester and Leeds Railway; the M&LR became the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1847.

The Bury line ran northward from the junction, crossing the Irwell Valley on the Clifton Viaduct (known locally as the "13 arches"), to run on the opposite side of the valley from the Bolton line. A station at the junction, with two platforms for each route (Bolton or Bury), opened in June 1847, and was named Clifton Junction.[2]

The line to Bury closed in 1966 along with the platforms that served it, with the tracks being lifted in 1968.[3] The old Bury and Accrington platforms are still intact (though heavily overgrown) in the woodland that now occupies the site of the junction behind the modern station, and the viaduct remains a Grade II listed local landmark. On 6 May 1974 the station was renamed Clifton,[4] (even though the area has become known as Clifton Junction), and in the 1990s the service was reduced to one train per day in each direction.

The closest station to Clifton Junction with a regular service is Swinton 1.25miles away on the line between Manchester and Wigan Wallgate via Atherton.

Local industry made good use of Clifton Junction railway station long before the advent of mass car ownership when three factories were established close by enabling employees and visitors access by train. The three factories were Magnesium Elektron Ltd, Chloride Batteries Ltd and Pilkington's Tiles Ltd.

Services

The service at Clifton railway station is very limited in the current 2023 timetable (and has been since 1992),[5] with just one train calling in each direction between and per day - southbound (at 08:36) in the morning peak and northbound (at 18:20) in the evening. In 2012, the station had only a small amount of services day in each direction (local services run by Northern); only 170 passengers were recorded as using the station in 2010 - 11. The single daily service each way was suspended between May 2015 and the December 2015 timetable change due to the ongoing modernisation work at Farnworth Tunnel, with a replacement bus provided instead. The station reopened on schedule on 14 December 2015.

Electric service commenced on Monday 11 February 2019, initially utilising Class 319 electric multiple units.[6]

There is no Sunday service.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Marshall, John . John Marshall (railway historian) . The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, volume 1 . 1969 . . Newton Abbot . 0-7153-4352-1 . 30–30 .
  2. Book: Butt, R.V.J. . The Directory of Railway Stations . 1995 . Patrick Stephens Ltd . Yeovil . 1-85260-508-1 . R508 . 63 .
  3. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/clifton_junction/ Disused Stations - Clifton Junction
  4. J.N. . Slater . July 1974 . Notes and News: Stations renamed by LMR . . 120 . 879 . IPC Transport Press Ltd . London . 0033-8923 . 363 .
  5. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/clifton_junction/ Disused Stations - Clifton Junction
  6. Web site: First electric trains are a 'new dawn' for Bolton commuters The Bolton News. McDonnell. Seamus. 14 February 2019. The Bolton News. 11 May 2020.