Calveley railway station (originally ''Highwayside'') was located in the centre of the small village of

Calveley Calveley is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies 5½ miles to the north west of Nantwich. The parish also includes parts of the settlements of Ba ...

, Cheshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

Opened 1 October 1840 by the

Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company w ...

, it was served by what was the

Chester and Crewe Railway The Chester and Crewe Railway was an early British railway company absorbed by the Grand Junction Railway in 1840. The company built the section Chester–Crewe of the North Wales Coast line, in length, the engineer was Robert Stephenson and the ...

(now the North Wales Coast Line) between Chester, Cheshire and Crewe, Cheshire. It was from the large railway centre of Crewe. Renamed Calveley five years after opening, the station had two platforms with the main station building being located on the up line. The Shropshire Union Canal was close by so warehouses and sidings were built for exchange of

goods In economics, goods are items that satisfy human wants and provide utility, for example, to a consumer making a purchase of a satisfying product. A common distinction is made between goods which are transferable, and services, which are not t ...

between the canal and railway, the goods yard building still exists. There was also a siding laid in 1928 for

United Dairies United Dairies is a former United Kingdom-based creamery, milk bottling and distribution company. The company was formed in 1915 and merged to form Unigate in 1959. During World War I, there were dire shortages of men, horses and vehicles com ...

, who had a major plant collecting Cheshire milk and sending it to their London, Scrubs Lane depot. The United Dairies sidings could hold 10 tank wagons, and in 1933 were processing up to of milk a day. Like most stations, there were also coal sidings. In 1947 King George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon visited the station and local church. Passenger services ended 7 March 1960 and all services 2 November 1964, as part of the closure of all five intermediate stations between Chester and Crewe. The milk siding may have remained in use beyond this, but the milk depot was closed on 2 October 1965.Calveley Milk Depot to Close, Nantwich Chronicle, 09 September 1965, p1 Remains of both platforms can still be seen.

History

References

Further reading