Stalybridge railway station

Stalybridge
265px Stalybridge station
Location
Place	Stalybridge
Local authority	Tameside
Coordinates
Grid reference	SJ958986
Operations
Station code	SYB
Managed by	First TransPennine Express
Number of platforms	5
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	1.036 million
2011/12	1.118 million
2012/13	1.028 million
2013/14	1.105 million
2014/15	1.086 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Greater Manchester
History
Key dates	Opened 1845 (1845)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Stalybridge from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Stalybridge railway station serves Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. It lies on the Huddersfield Line, 7½ miles (12 km) east of Manchester Piccadilly and 8¼ miles (13 km) east of Manchester Victoria. The station is managed by First TransPennine Express.

History

Stalybridge station was built by the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway and opened on 23 December 1845. There was a Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway station adjacent but this closed in 1917. The main function of the station was as a junction for the Stockport-Stalybridge Line, which allowed passengers from London and the South to transfer to the Huddersfield Line. This role has been lost since it is now possible for passengers to change at Manchester Piccadilly station. The Micklehurst Loop also diverged from the original 1849 Huddersfield & Manchester main line here - it was closed in 1966, but the disused tunnel it used to pass below the town's northern suburbs can be seen alongside the original one that is still used today by trains heading to and from Yorkshire.

Facilities

File:Stalybridge railway station Buffet Bar (geograph 4005851).jpg

Stalybridge Buffet Bar on platform 4.

The station has an entrance block with a ticket office. Ramps and a passenger subway lead up to the platforms. The station is one of very few to retain its original buffet, the 1998 refurbishment of which won awards from CAMRA and English Heritage. At the 2008 Tameside food and drink festival it was voted best bar.

Following further refurbishment in 2012 Lord Pendry of Stalybridge, who often uses the buffet bar and contributed over half of the £6,000 costs, unveiled a plaque to mark the works.

In a £1.5m overhaul of the station, which began in 2007, the platforms were raised and the toilets, information services and shelters on the westbound platform were improved. In December 2008 the new entrance was completed.

Recent developments

File:Construction work, Stalybridge railway station (geograph 4005859).jpg

Construction work, on platform 3, to add lifts to the station subway.

Further work to expand the station was completed in 2012 - this saw major alterations to the track layout (including the opening of two new platforms) and signalling, with control of the latter passing to the Manchester East signalling centre at Stockport. The project cost £20 million as the station closed on Sundays throughout the summer of 2012 followed by a nine-day line blockade at the end of October but gives improved operational flexibility and reliability, allowed the line speed through the station and junction to be increased to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) and left it ready for the proposed electrification of the Leeds - Manchester trans-Pennine route in 2016. The two new platforms were opened on 5 November 2012; the former platform 1 was renumbered 4, and a new bay on the northern side is Platform 5.

An Access for All scheme, funded by the Department for Transport, gave easier access to all of the platforms. Lifts were built to give step-free access to the entire station, though the station had no steps previously as there were ramps to all platforms.

Services

File:First TransPennine Class 185, 185131, platform 4, Stalybridge railway station (geograph 4005898).jpg

A First TransPennine Express Class 185 arrives at platform 4.

First TransPennine Express: There is generally a half-hourly service daily westbound to Manchester Piccadilly, with one per hour onwards to Liverpool Lime Street and eastbound twice-hourly towards Leeds and beyond (to either Scarborough or Hull) with extra trains to and from Manchester Piccadilly during peak hours.

Northern Rail: Monday to Saturday daytimes there are two trains per hour from Stalybridge to Manchester Victoria, one of which continues to Wigan Wallgate westbound and an hourly local service to Huddersfield eastbound. Evenings and Sundays there is an hourly service in each direction.

There are services to Newcastle and Middlesbrough each day.

The parliamentary service from Stockport

One train a week still travels along the whole Stockport-Stalybridge Line, in one direction only, with no return service. An attempt was made to close the line to passenger services in the early 1990s but closure was refused by the Department of Transport which ordered that a regular service continue. The train is the only one to call at Denton and Reddish South. The train runs on Friday as the 09:22 Stockport to Stalybridge.

Gallery

• Stalybridge012.jpg

  The new station entrance

• Stalybridge Station 01.JPG

  The old station entrance

• Stalybridge Station 04.JPG

  View from Platform 2 towards Huddersfield

• Stalybridge railway station 17 October 2012.JPG

  Construction work on new platforms, October 2012

• EWS Class 66, 66074, Stalybridge railway station (geograph 4005842).jpg

  An EWS Class 66 passes platform 3, with a freight service

External links

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

Tameside Lines

Legend To Oldham To Saddleworth Park Bridge Micklehurst Loop Mossley Micklehurst Oldham Road Staley and Millbrook To Manchester Droylsden Stalybridge Ashton Charlestown Ashton West Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton Moss Ashton Moss Audenshaw Ashton Park Parade Dukinfield Central Dukinfield and Ashton Droylsden Cemetery Road To Manchester Guide Bridge Hooley Hill Fairfield To Hyde Road Hyde North To Manchester x20px Flowery Field Denton Hyde Central Newton for Hyde To Marple Godley To Stockport Hattersley Broadbottom To Glossop/Hadfield

Micklehurst Loop
Legend Standedge Tunnel Diggle Butterhouse tunnel Uppermill Friezland Royal George tunnel Micklehurst Staley and Millbrook Stalybridge

Main article: Micklehurst Line

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Manchester Piccadilly		First TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Huddersfield
Ashton-under-Lyne		Northern Rail Huddersfield Line		Mossley
Ashton-under-Lyne		Northern Rail Huddersfield Line or Kirkby-Stalybridge		Terminus
Terminus		Northern Rail Huddersfield Line		Mossley
Guide Bridge		Northern Rail Stockport-Stalybridge Line Friday only		Terminus
Disused railways
Terminus		London and North Western Railway Micklehurst Line		Staley and Millbrook Line and station closed
Dukinfield and Ashton Line and station closed		London and North Western Railway Stalybridge Junction Railway		Terminus