Clifton railway station is a railway station in Clifton, Greater Manchester, England which was formerly called Clifton Junction. It lies on the

Manchester–Preston line The Manchester–Preston line runs from the city of Manchester to Preston, Lancashire, England. It is largely used by commuters entering Manchester from surrounding suburbs and cities, but is also one of the main railway lines in the North West ...

History

The railway line between Salford and , the Manchester and Bolton Railway (M&BR), opened in 1838, but had no stations between and . In 1844, the Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway (MB&RR) was authorised to build a line from a junction with the M&BR at Clifton, to . It opened to the public on 28 September 1846, by which time the MB&RR had amalgamated with other companies to become the East Lancashire Railway, and the M&BR had itself amalgamated with the Manchester and Leeds Railway; the M&LR became the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1847. The Bury line ran northward from the junction, crossing the Irwell Valley on the

Clifton Viaduct Clifton Viaduct is a Grade II listed stone structure crossing the valley of the River Irwell in Clifton, Greater Manchester, and also the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal. It is known locally as the ''"13 Arches"''. It is currently disused ...

(known locally as the "13 arches"), to run on the opposite side of the valley from the Bolton line. A station at the junction, with two platforms for each route (Bolton or Bury), opened in June 1847, and was named ''Clifton Junction''. The line to Bury closed in 1966, but () the viaduct remains a Grade II listed local landmark. On 6 May 1974 the station was renamed ''Clifton'', (even though the area has become known as ''Clifton Junction''), and in the 1990s the service was reduced to one train per day in each direction. The closest station to Clifton Junction with a regular service is Swinton away on the line between Manchester and Wigan Wallgate via Atherton. Local industry made good use of Clifton Junction railway station long before the advent of mass car ownership when three factories were established close by enabling employees and visitors access by train. The three factories were Magnesium Elektron Ltd, Chloride Batteries Ltd and Pilkington's Tiles Ltd.

Services

The service at Clifton railway station is very limited in the current 2022 timetable (and has been since 1992), with just one train calling in each direction between and per day - southbound (at 08:36) in the morning peak and northbound (at 18:20) in the evening. In 2012, the station had only a small amount of services day in each direction (local services run by

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 ...

); only 170 passengers were recorded as using the station in 2010–11. The single daily service each way was suspended between May 2015 and the December 2015 timetable change due to the ongoing modernisation work at

Farnworth Tunnel Farnworth railway station serves the town of Farnworth, in the Greater Manchester, England. The station underwent several name changes before the present name was adopted in 1974. It lies on the Manchester-Preston Line north of Manchester Vic ...

, with a replacement bus provided instead. The station reopened on schedule on 14 December 2015. Electric service commenced on Monday 11 February 2019, initially utilising Class 319 electric multiple units however all services calling at Clifton are operated utilising Diesel multiple units. There is no Sunday service.

References

External links

History of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
with mention of Molyneux Junction

{{Greater Manchester main railway stations Railway stations in Salford DfT Category F2 stations Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1847 Northern franchise railway stations Low usage railway stations in the United Kingdom 1847 establishments in England