Clifton railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Clifton, Greater Manchester Clifton is a suburb of Swinton in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. It lies along the edge of Irwell Valley in the north of the City of Salford. Historically in Lancashire, it was a centre for coal mining, and once formed par ...

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 ...

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 Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

and , the

Manchester and Bolton Railway The Manchester and Bolton Railway was a railway in the historic county of Lancashire, England, connecting Salford to Bolton. It was built by the proprietors of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Navigation and Railway Company who had in 183 ...

(M&BR), opened in 1838, but had no stations between and . In 1844, the

Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway The Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway, opened in 1846, ran between Clifton, Bury and Rossendale in Lancashire, England. The company merged with the Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington & Colne Extension Railway (BBA&CER) to form the East La ...

(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 East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street railway station, Bury Bolton Street, ...

, and the M&BR had itself amalgamated with the

Manchester and 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 ...

; the M&LR became the

Lancashire and 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 ...

in 1847. The Bury line ran northward from the junction, crossing the

Irwell Valley The Irwell Valley in North West England extends from the Forest of Rossendale through the cities of Salford and Manchester. The River Irwell runs through the valley, along with the River Croal. Geology Shallow seas covered most of south-east La ...

on the Clifton Viaduct (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 Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

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 Wigan Wallgate railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town centre of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. The station serves two routes, the Manchester-Southport Line and the Manchester- Kirkby Line. It is 16 miles north-w ...

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 Magnesium Elektron Ltd (MEL or the Mag) is a British materials manufacturer which produces magnesium and zirconium metals and compounds. Since 2018 it has traded as Luxfer MEL Technologies, following a series of mergers and acquisitions. It is stil ...

, 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 An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...

however all services calling at Clifton are operated utilising

Diesel multiple units A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

. 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