Denton railway station

Denton
Location
Place	Denton
Local authority	Tameside
Coordinates	53°27′27″N 2°07′50″W / 53.4575°N 2.1306°WCoordinates: 53°27′27″N 2°07′50″W / 53.4575°N 2.1306°W
Grid reference	SJ914956
Operations
Station code	DTN
Managed by	Northern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	52
2011/12	30
2012/13	194
2013/14	110
2014/15	120
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Transport for Greater Manchester
History
Key dates	Opened 1882
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Denton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Denton railway station is a station in Denton, Greater Manchester, on the Stockport-Stalybridge line, famous for having one train a week in one direction only (currently calling on Friday mornings at 9:32am), christened the "Denton Flyer".^[1] With 30 passenger entries and exits between April 2011 and March 2012, Denton is the third-least used station in Great Britain.

On the platform, as of 2007, only one or two signs remain that bear the station name to the public. The Network/National Rail website (as of 2011), in its "Station Plan" shows a bench as the sole passenger facility at the station. There is no working lighting.

A 1912 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing railways in the vicinity of Denton (bottom left)

North of here the line divides, with the single track branch to Guide Bridge diverging from the "main line" to Ashton Moss at Denton Junction. The latter route is normally used only by freight and empty stock transfer workings but is used also for diversions if the main line between Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly is closed for engineering work.

A further direct line to Droylsden diverged from this (34 chains (680 m) further on at Ashton Moss Junction), which at one time was used by direct trains from the East Lancashire Line to London Euston as well as local trains from Manchester Victoria to Stockport. That line was closed in 1969 and subsequently lifted.

The station is a request stop, having two platforms in an island layout. In theory, prospective passengers must flag down the train as it approaches the station. However, in practice the train usually stops at every station on the line even if no passenger is waiting.

History

The line between Guide Bridge & Heaton Norris Jcn (north of Stockport) was opened by the Manchester and Birmingham Railway in 1845 (shortly before it became part of the London and North Western Railway), with a station provided at Denton by 1848. The current station was opened by the LNWR in 1882 and subsequently enlarged when the route was quadrupled in 1889. In pre-grouping days, it was well served by trains from Stockport to Manchester Victoria and/or Manchester Exchange (via Droylsden) as well as to Stalybridge. The latter could also be reached via Hooley Hill and the Stalybridge Junction Railway.^[2] This route was opened in 1893 by the LNWR to avoid the congested junction at Guide Bridge, but closed to passengers in 1950.

The older route via Guide Bridge remained a useful link between the northern & southern Manchester rail networks and this ensured its continued use during British Rail days, right up until the late 1980s - prior to May 1989, an hourly service ran on weekdays along the route and a regular service on Sundays (though the latter didn't call here). The re-routing of the Leeds - Huddersfield - Manchester express service to Piccadilly station at the May 1989 timetable change made the service essentially redundant though (travellers could then access south Manchester services directly at Piccadilly) and its frequency was substantially cut - by 1992 it had been reduced to just a single weekly train (the statutory minimum level necessary to avoid the requirement for formal closure proceedings).

Closure

An excursion from Preston to Buxton hauled by West Coast Rail Class 57 57313 at the Stockport-bound platform in September 2016

Network Rail, in their Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) for the North West, were proposing closure of Reddish South and Denton stations and withdrawal of the remaining passenger service. The line itself would remain open for freight and diverted passenger workings. However, a new open-access operator called Grand Union had proposed using the line for services between London and Bradford via the West Coast Main Line, using Guide Bridge station as a stop. That proposal has since been dropped.

Denton has now been saved from closure. A more frequent service was considered for the 2008 timetable shakeup, which was designed to implement major changes to service patterns on the West Coast Main Line; however, because of the track layout & congestion at Heaton Norris the proposed regular service to Manchester Victoria via Denton and Ashton Moss Junction has been postponed. When trains start operating to Manchester, the future of the service to Stalybridge is uncertain.

The Stalybridge (Denton) Line uses part of the WCML from Stockport to Heaton Norris Junction.

Service

The once-weekly service calls on Friday mornings at 09:32, en route to Guide Bridge and Stalybridge (where it terminates at 09:43). No trains call on other days or in the opposite direction towards Stockport.^[3]

References

1. "Rio has its carnivals, Pamplona its bulls. Denton? One train: QUENTIN LETTS Yesterday in Parliament" Letts, Quentin Mail Online news article 5 December 2014; Retrieved 12 May 2016
2. "Denton Railway Station"The Industrial Heritage of Britain; Retrieved 12 May 2016
3. GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Table 78A (Network Rail)

External links

• Train times and station information for Denton railway station from National Rail
• Friends of Denton Station
• Pictures of Reddish South and Denton stations on Flickr
• Timetable, Denton station

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Reddish South		Northern Stockport-Stalybridge Line Friday only		Guide Bridge
Disused railways
Terminus		London and North Western Railway Stalybridge Junction Railway		Hooley Hill Line and station closed