Ashton-under-Lyne railway station serves the town of

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...

, in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England. It lies on the

Huddersfield Line The Huddersfield line is the main railway line between the English cities of Leeds and Manchester, via Huddersfield. It is one of the busiest MetroTrain lines. The route travels south-south-west from Leeds through Dewsbury. After a short west ...

6½ miles (10 km) east of

Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was ...

and is operated by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a State-owned enterprises of the United Kingdom, publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT) ...

. The station is a short walk from

Ashton-under-Lyne bus station Ashton-under-Lyne bus station is a bus station that is located in the town of Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, run by Transport for Greater Manchester. The bus station is situated on Wellington Road and adjoins the Arcades Shopping Centr ...

and Ashton-under-Lyne tram stop which opened in 2013, and is served by

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Kin ...

trams to , Manchester, and .

History

Ashton (Charlestown) Station geograph-2203312

The station, known originally as Ashton, was opened by the Ashton, Stalybridge & Liverpool Junction Railway (AS&LJR) on 13 April 1846. The AS&LJR was absorbed by the

Manchester & Leeds Railway The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a British railway company that built a line from Manchester to Normanton where it made a junction with the North Midland Railway, over which it relied on running powers to access Leeds. The line followed the ...

in 1847, which was then renamed the

Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

(LYR). The LYR renamed it Ashton (Charlestown) in 1874. The LYR amalgamated with the

London & North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

at the start of 1922, and these in turn amalgamated with several other companies on 1 January 1923, to form the

London, Midland & Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

during the

1923 Grouping The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

. It then passed to the

London Midland Region of British Railways The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irela ...

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948. It was renamed Ashton-under-Lyne on 6 May 1968. When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by

Regional Railways Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after privatisation. The sector was originally called ''Provincial''. Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per pas ...

under arrangement with the Greater Manchester PTE until the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industr ...

. Usage at this time was relatively low and trains called only rarely (see BR timetable 1974, 1975 et seq.). The train service was not regular and in essence operated at peak times only.

Other stations in Ashton

There were once three stations in the town: Charlestown, Park Parade and

Oldham Road Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, whi ...

. Also,

Guide Bridge Guide Bridge is an area west of Ashton-under-Lyne, in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, Guide Bridge was built as a village around an eponymous bridge over the Ashton Canal. History Industries included Sco ...

, a few miles away, was known as Ashton & Hooley Hill and then Ashton in its earliest years. Charlestown Station — the present Ashton-under-Lyne station — was owned by the

, who ran services between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge. The

also ran services along the line, most only calling at Ashton and Stalybridge before continuing to Leeds. The station once sported a large booking hall, where the car park is currently, as well as a substantial canopy. Park Parade Station was located on the Guide Bridge–Stalybridge line; the only remains of the station is the "Station Inn", a short stroll away. Oldham Road Station was located on the line to

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

(originally owned by the

Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge Railway The Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge Junction Railway (OA&GB) was a British railway company, which opened in 1861, connecting Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge. The company survived until it was nationalised in 1948. Early days In 1847 the Manch ...

), which continued to

Park Bridge Park Bridge is an area of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It is situated in the Medlock Valley, by Ashton-under-Lyne's border with Oldham. Park Bridge anciently lay within medieval ma ...

before reaching Clegg Street, Oldham.

Facilities

Ashton-under-Lyne station consists of a single

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

, accessible via a ramp from the underpass at street level, it is wheelchair accessible and also has a passenger lift. This was installed due to the 1-in-8 gradient between street level and platform level Facilities of the station include a waiting room, ticket desk, wheelchair-accessible toilet and a hot-drinks vending machine. A 3-week engineering blockade in July 2017 saw the track through the station re-aligned and a road underbridge replaced to allow for faster line speeds. Replacement buses were provided, with through trains diverted or terminating short at Stalybridge.

Services

The typical off-peak service from the station is: *2tph (trains per hour) to *2tph to On Sundays, 1tph runs in both directions.

Gallery

File:Ashton-under-Lyne station entrance.jpg, Station entrance File:Ashton-Under-Lyne rail station, 2013.JPG, The station platform and building. File:Waiting area, platform 1, Ashton-under-Lyne railway station (geograph 4005977).jpg, The waiting area on platform 1. File:Northern Rail Class 150, 150146, platform 2, Ashton-under-Lyne railway station (geograph 4005957).jpg, A

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

Class 150 waits at platform 2.

References

* * The Manchester and Leeds Railway by Martin Bairstow * The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society, LYR Branchiline 14 - "The Ashton and Stalybridge Branch", by Robert F Hartley.

External links

"SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST BOYS AT ASHTON": Placing Obstructions on the Railway"
(news story from 1901, describing vandalism at Oldham Road) {{Greater Manchester main railway stations Railway stations in Tameside DfT Category E stations Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1846 Northern franchise railway stations Buildings and structures in Ashton-under-Lyne 1846 establishments in England