Macclesfield railway station

Macclesfield
Macclesfield Station, February 2009
Location
Place	Macclesfield
Local authority	Cheshire East
Operations
Station code	MAC
Managed by	Virgin Trains
Number of platforms	3
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	0.713 million
2005/06 *	0.915 million
2006/07 *	1.086 million
2007/08 *	1.171 million
2008/09 *	1.239 million
2009/10 *	1.162 million
History
Opened 1 July 1873 (1 July 1873)
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Macclesfield from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.

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.

Facilities at the station include ticket sales, a kiosk, waiting room and public toilets. Prior to the relocation and rebuilding of the bus station in 2004, the Macclesfield railway and bus stations were located 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.

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 independent 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.

On 7 November 1960 British Railways closed Macclesfield Hibel Road. Macclesfield Central was vastly remodelled and is now called simply Macclesfield station.

The station won the "Best Kept Station in Cheshire Award" for 2007.

Trivia

In the 2005 film Green Street, Macclesfield station featured, although the station building which appeared was not the actual Macclesfield station.

Services

The station has a frequent service to Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke and regular links to London Euston courtesy of Virgin Trains and to Birmingham New Street and beyond provided by CrossCountry. Northern Rail's stopping service between Manchester and Stoke also calls here.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Congleton		CrossCountry Cross Country Network		Stockport
Congleton		Northern Rail Stafford-Manchester Line		Prestbury
Stoke-on-Trent		Virgin Trains West Coast Main Line		Stockport

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