Greenbank railway station

Greenbank
265px
Location
Place	Hartford, Cheshire
Local authority	Cheshire West and Chester
Grid reference	SJ644728
Operations
Station code	GBK
Managed by	Northern Rail
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2006/07	80,667
2007/08	90,598
2008/09	93,312
2009/10	94,314
2010/11	108,442
2011/12	116,812
2012/13	172,340
2013/14	177,430
History
Original company	West Cheshire Railway
Pre-grouping	Cheshire Lines Committee
Post-grouping	Cheshire Lines Committee
22 June 1870	Station opened to passengers as 'Hartford & Greenbank'
7 May 1973	Name changed to 'Greenbank'
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Greenbank from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Greenbank railway station serves the village of Hartford, Cheshire as well as the Greenbank and Castle areas of Northwich, Cheshire, England. The station is situated on the A559 road from Northwich to Chester.

History

File:Hartford & Greenbank station 2019212.jpg

Winter scene at Hartford & Greenbank in 1962

The station was built by the West Cheshire Railway, a constituent of the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) and opened to passengers on 22 June 1870. The CLC continued to operate both goods and passenger services from the station, unaffected by the railway grouping of 1923, until the railway nationalisation of 1948. The station name was Hartford and Greenbank until 7 May 1973 when British Railways renamed the station Greenbank, to avoid confusion with the nearby Hartford station. Greenbank was served by CLC trains from Manchester Central via Northwich to Chester Northgate railway station. From the closure of Northgate station on 6 October 1969, trains from Greenbank were diverted to Chester railway station, previously Chester General. CLC trains were headed by locomotives in LNER livery. A link to LMS service was made by a shuttle service to LMS Acton Bridge using LMS stock. This service was nicknamed " The Dodger"

Facilities

File:001 Greenbank Signal Box 18.08.13 edited-2.jpg

Greenbank signal box

The station has a free car park. There is a public phone box opposite the station and a row of shops nearby. The Greenbank public house is next to the station and Mid Cheshire College is about 440 yards (400 m) away, with a garage opposite the college. The main station buildings are on the north-west side of the line and are presently used as a Christian church. The signal box is situated to the north of the station.

The station is also an interchange for Hartford's main station, Hartford railway station, which is about one mile (1.6 km) to the west, situated on the West Coast Main Line, with trains to Liverpool, Runcorn, Winsford, Crewe and Birmingham.

Services

The service to and from Manchester Piccadilly and Chester on weekdays and Saturdays is basically hourly (with a couple of weekday peak period extras to/from Stockport).

On Sundays the trains run every two hours each way and the eastbound service runs through to Southport. There is no ticket office, ticket machine, PA system or information screen at the station.

The majority of trains used on the line are Class 142 or Class 150, together with the occasional Class 156.

References

Notes

Bibliography

Gallery

• Greenbank railway station platforms looking towards Chester in 2008.jpg

External links

• Train times and station information for Greenbank railway station from National Rail
• Mid-Cheshire Community Rail Partnership

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Cuddington		Northern Rail Mid-Cheshire Line		Northwich