The Glazebrook East Junction–Skelton Junction line was a railway line from Glazebrook to Skelton Junction in Greater Manchester. It connected the Cheshire Lines Committee main line from to Manchester Central with lines in the Stockport area (and hence onwards towards the Pennines via the Woodhead Line), allowing freight traffic to bypass central Manchester. It also carried a local passenger service between Stockport and Warrington Central until the early 1960s.

History

The Glazebrook East Junction to Skelton Junction line was part of

Cheshire Lines Committee The Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) was formed in the 1860s and became the second-largest joint railway in Great Britain. The committee, which was often styled the Cheshire Lines Railway, operated of track in the then counties of Lancashire and ...

(CLC) as a branch line of their main

Liverpool–Manchester lines There once were four direct railway routes between Liverpool and Manchester in the North West England, North West of England; only two remain, the two centre routes of the four. The most northerly and the most southerly of the four routes are ...

. The line carried on through Skelton Junction and terminated at Stockport Tiviot Dale. It opened in 1873, serving the towns of Cadishead,

Partington Partington is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It is sited south-west of Manchester city centre. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Ches ...

and West Timperley before joining the

Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway The Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway (MSJ&AR) was a suburban railway which operated an route between Altrincham in Cheshire and Manchester London Road railway station (now Manchester Piccadilly station, Piccadilly) in Manches ...

(MSJ&AR) at Skelton Junction, which was also part of the CLC at this time. In the 1890s the line was deviated due to the building of the

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West England, North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary at Eastham, Merseyside, Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it ...

. It was raised on an embankment around a mile in length from Glazebrook East Junction to be high enough to clear the Ship Canal, with the Cadishead Viaduct was built in 1892 to span the canal. The line saw little change in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and it remained part of the CLC in the 1923

Grouping Grouping generally refers to the creation of one or more groups, or to the groups themselves. More specifically, grouping may refer to: * Shot grouping in shooting sports and other uses of firearms * the use of symbols of grouping in mathemati ...

. On nationalisation it became part of the

London Midland Region of British Railways The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irela ...

in 1948 at the final demise of the CLC. The line called at the following stations: * Cadishead *

* West Timperley As part of the London Midland region of BR, It remained a busy line with trains from Liverpool Central and Warrington Central up until the mid-1960s. It was only on the withdrawal of these stopping passenger services in 1964 that all the stations closed along the line. The line carried on as a freight only line until 1983 when the Cadishead Viaduct was in need of serious and costly repair. British Rail decided to close the viaduct and mothball the line rather than repairing it. The tracks were lifted in the mid-1980s from Glazebrook to Partington. As the line was closed prior to the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...

, only Glazebrook East Junction and the line from south of Partington to Skelton Junction were passed over into

Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the railroad, track, railway signalling, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the railway station, stations of the Transport in England#Rail, British railway syste ...

ownership, which in turn passed to

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

. The trackbed from Cadishead to Partington remained (and remains to this day) part of the Historical Railways Estate.

Today

Glazebrook East Junction

Today, Glazebrook East Junction is still intact and remains part of the national network. The junction towards Cadishead on the original deviation is also still in place with a powered signal lamp showing a permanent red signal. This short section of track from the still live passing loop at Glazebrook East Junction towards Cadishead on the original non-deviated line is permanently point locked. The short section ends near a barrow crossing shortly before a bridge carrying a

bridleway A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now serve a wider ...

above.

Skelton Junction

The tracks from Skelton Junction to the south east of Partington were left and remained intact for chemical trains for a local chemical plant. These trains continued to use this route until 10 October 1993. To this day however this part of the line is intact but disused; the signal lamps at Skelton Junction remain powered red. Also in 2005 this part of the track saw some work; vegetation clearance took place for the line to reopen for freight but this fell through.

Reopening plans

In 2010, the Liberal Democrats announced plans to reopen thousands of miles of disused and abandoned tracks, and it was hoped this line would reopen sometime in the future. This appeared to be an easy process as all the infrastructure of the line was still in place, bar the tracks and signalling. However, it would cost millions of pounds to bring Cadishead Viaduct up to a safe and usable standard, along with all the other decaying bridges along the line, which have seen little or no maintenance in the 26 years since the line was closed. In 2017, businessman Neil McArthur launched a campaign to reopen the line as a heritage railway, with an adjoining footpath and cycle track. In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line, which was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances (such as housing developments). In March 2020, a bid was made to the first round of the Restoring Your Railway Fund for a feasibility study into reopening the railway line, but this was unsuccessful. In April 2020,

Railfuture Railfuture (formerly the Railway Development Society) is a UK advocacy group which promotes better rail services for passengers and freight across a bigger rail network. The group's national policies are determined by its national board of dir ...

noted that reinstatement of the line would relieve the Castlefield Corridor of freight traffic. The route is mentioned in connection with the New Carrington Plan and the Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2040 as providing a possible route for sustainable transport for the development.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glazebrook East Junction To Skelton Junction Line Rail transport in Greater Manchester Railway lines opened in 1873 Railway lines in North West England Beeching closures in England