Walsden railway station (; ) serves the village of

Walsden Walsden (; ) is a large village in the civil parish of Todmorden in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England, though historically partially administered in Lancashire (the Walsden Water as tributary to the Calder servin ...

Todmorden Todmorden ( ; ) is a market town and civil parish in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It is north-east of Manchester, south-east of Burnley and west of Halifax. In 2011 it had a population of 15,481. Todm ...

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 ...

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 ...

, on the edge of the Pennines. It is served by the

Caldervale Line The Calder Valley line (also previously known as the Caldervale line) is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool. It is the slower of the two main rail rou ...

operated by Northern. The station is west of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

and north 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 co ...

. Walsden is the last station before the boundary with

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

. The station was opened by Metro (

West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive Metro is the passenger information brand used by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority in England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (WYPTE) at the same time as the metropolitan county of West Yor ...

) on 10 September 1990 as a replacement for an earlier structure that closed on 6 August 1961. This earlier station, which was opened in 1845 by the Manchester & Leeds Railway, predecessor of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, was situated between the level crossing and the north portal of Winterbutlee Tunnel, a few yards south of the present station.

Facilities

The station is unstaffed and has only basic facilities (no permanent buildings, just shelters on each platform). Ticket vending machines are provided to allow passengers to purchase these prior to travel, whilst digital information screens and timetable posters supply train running information. The station is fully accessible, with ramps to each platform for wheelchair and mobility impaired users.

Services

There is an hourly service (Mondays to Fridays) to Manchester Victoria and southbound and to Leeds via Dewsbury northbound (since the May 2014 timetable change) with extra trains during peak times in each direction (including some trains to Burnley and Blackburn). Passengers wishing to access destinations on the route via Halifax during the day now have to change at Todmorden or Hebden Bridge. In the evenings and on Sundays, the frequency remains hourly but trains run via Halifax.

History

It was the only place in Todmorden to be bombed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

, probably because the German plane had a leftover bomb after a raid and so dropped it on what appeared to be an important site. The station has had problems with flooding for many years, with the most recent bout occurring on 26 December 2015.East Lancs passengers asked to check before they travel
'Network Rail Media Centre'' The line was blocked the following day, but reopened to traffic on 28 December. Further heavy rain in November 2019 also caused the line to be closed for 24 hours because of high water levels at a river bridge just to the west of the station.

References

External links

{{Yorkshire-Humber-railstation-stub Railway stations in Calderdale DfT Category F2 stations Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Northern franchise railway stations Todmorden Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1845 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1961 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1990 Reopened railway stations in Great Britain 1845 establishments in England