Greenfield railway station in the village of Greenfield,

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 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 ...

, is 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 ...

northeast 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 ...

. It is the final station in Greater Manchester before the

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

boundary.

History

The line through Greenfield was constructed by the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway, which was absorbed by the

London and 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 ...

on 9 July 1847 before any of it was opened. The section between and was opened on 1 August 1849, and the station at Greenfield was opened the same day. On 1 September 1851, the branch to opened, which left the main line at Delph Junction, about a mile to the north of Greenfield; Greenfield was the last station before the junction until opened in 1912. A second branch, 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 ...

, opened on 5 July 1856; it left the main line just to the south of Greenfield. Passenger services on the Delph & Oldham branches were withdrawn in May 1955, with complete closure following in 1964. A defunct bay can still be seen at the Stalybridge end of the station, which was used by some trains from the Oldham direction. For many years the station had a peak-only service (see BR timetable 1974 et seq.). The Beeching Report proposed closure of all stations between Stalybridge and Huddersfield. In 1968, half the stations were closed, including Diggle and Saddleworth, leaving only Greenfield to serve the Saddleworth area. That means that Greenfield is

Saddleworth Saddleworth is a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. It comprises several villages and hamlets as well as suburbs of Oldham on the west side of the Pennine hills. Areas include Austerlands, Delph, ...

's only remaining railway station.

Facilities

Planning permission for the refurbishment of Greenfield railway station was granted in early 2008. This was to provide a new ticket office, refurbished waiting areas, toilets, and possibly a small shop, and was due to be completed in the Winter of 2008. After some problems with planning regulations and the original building contractor going into administration, the new facilities were finally completed in Spring 2009. The ticket office is staffed on a part-time basis (Mondays to Saturdays, morning to early afternoon only) and there is also a ticket vending machine available. Step-free access is limited to the Manchester-bound platform only, as the Huddersfield-bound one can only be reached by footbridge. Manchester mayor

Andy Burnham Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008, Culture Secretary from 2008 ...

has been campaigning for Greenfield Station to have access to disability friendly facilities, as it remains one of the only stations in Greater Manchester lacking them.

Services

Following the Beeching Cuts in 1968, the station's services were drastically reduced to just a handful of journeys to Manchester and Huddersfield during peak times only, in line with the other local stations on the Huddersfield Line at the time. From 1991 however a new improved hourly service in each direction was introduced, with hourly trains to Manchester Victoria calling at all stations as well as to Huddersfield. Since the May 2018 timetable change,

TransPennine Express TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major ci ...

provide the regular stopping service here (hourly each way to Huddersfield and to

Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...

). There are also no direct trains to

, so passengers wishing to travel there must change at . Other TPE services pass through without stopping. As of 2019, during peak times there is an additional TPE stopping train per hour which runs to Hull, with most of the hourly evening trains also running to Hull. The station is also handy for the nearby reservoirs of Dovestones, and

Chew Chewing or mastication is the process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth. It is the first step of digestion, and it increases the surface area of foods to allow a more efficient break down by enzymes. During the mastication process, ...

as well as the whole of

Chew Valley The Chew Valley is an affluent area in North Somerset, England, named after the River Chew, which rises at Chewton Mendip, and joins the River Avon at Keynsham. Technically, the area of the valley is bounded by the water catchment area of t ...

in the

Peak District National Park Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...

. Since the closure of the Oldham Loop Line in 2009, Greenfield is now the only remaining railway station within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham.

Future

The Transpennine route through the station is being modernised and upgraded over the course of three Control Periods extending beyond 2029 . It is planned as part of the upgrade that electrification of the line through the station will occur.

Gallery

Image:Northern Rail Class 142, 142047, Greenfield railway station (geograph 4005244).jpg, A

Northern Rail Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated th ...

Class 142 at the station. Image:First TransPennine Class 185, 185131, Greenfield railway station (geograph 4005236).jpg, A

First TransPennine Express First TransPennine Express was a British train operating company jointly owned by FirstGroup and Keolis which operated the TransPennine Express franchise. First TransPennine Express ran regular Express regional railway services between the major ...

Class 185 passes through the station. Image:Station building, Greenfield railway station (geograph 4005235).jpg, The station building, on the Manchester-bound platform. Image:Greenfield station, 1996 geograph-3579941-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg, The station in 1996.

Notes

External links

{{Greater Manchester main railway stations Railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham DfT Category E stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1849 Saddleworth 1849 establishments in England Railway stations served by TransPennine Express Railway stations in Great Britain not served by their managing company