Smithy Bridge railway station

Smithy Bridge
Smithy Bridge railway station
Location
Place	Smithy Bridge
Local authority	Rochdale
Grid reference	SD925151
Operations
Station code	SMB
Managed by	Northern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.092 million
2005/06	0.098 million
2006/07	0.094 million
2007/08	0.102 million
2008/09	0.125 million
2009/10	0.134 million
2010/11	0.141 million
2011/12	0.163 million
2012/13	0.167 million
2013/14	0.147 million
2014/15	0.144 million
History
1868 1960 1985	Original station opened Closed Current station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Smithy Bridge from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Smithy Bridge railway station serves the village of Smithy Bridge and Hollingworth Lake near Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. The station is on the Caldervale Line 12 ³⁄₄ miles (20.5 km) north of Manchester Victoria on the way to Leeds.

Facilities

The station is unstaffed, but there are ticket machines available to allow intending passengers to purchase or collect tickets prior to travelling. Both platforms have waiting shelters and step-free access.^[1]

Services

There is a basic half-hourly service (with peak period extras) from the station to Manchester Victoria southbound and to Todmorden northbound on weekdays. From there, trains continue alternately to Blackburn via Burnley Manchester Road and to Leeds via Brighouse. In the early morning & evenings trains to Leeds run via Halifax but on the same frequency, whilst in Sundays the service is hourly and provided by the Manchester to Blackburn trains. ^[2]

History

The station was first opened by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in October 1868. In 1915, the station was the scene of a tragic accident involving an express train and an empty stock train. Four people died and many others were injured. It was closed on 2 May 1960 by British Rail but reopened on its original site,albeit with a slightly different platform layout, on 19 August 1985 with financial assistance from Greater Manchester PTE. The signal box here, which controlled the level crossing and acted as a 'fringe' box to Preston PSB from 1973 onwards, was downgraded in late 2011 from a block post to a crossing box. The signalling is remotely operated from the new 'Rochdale West' panel at Castleton (which also supervises the layout at Rochdale and will eventually replace another box at Castleton East Junction) and the crossing is now automatic. Smithy Bridge Crossing box was closed early in 2014 and has since been demolished.^[3]

Notes

1. Smith Bridge station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 28 November 2016
2. GB eNRT 2015-16 Edition, Table 41
3. "Train leaving Smithy Bridge (2015)"Thwaite, Peter Geograph.org; Retrieved 19 November 2016

References

• The Weighvers Seaport by A W Colligan in association with George Kelsall (ISBN 0-9505577-0-6)

External links

• Train times and station information for Smithy Bridge railway station from National Rail

Railways in Rochdale
Legend
Past, present and future  Rossendale Lines to Bacup Calderdale Lines to Calderdale Broadley Littleborough Shawclough and Healey Smithy Bridge Wardleworth Rochdale Newbold Rochdale Town Centre Kingsway Business Park Milnrow East Lancs Rly to Bury Newhey Broadfield Oldham Lines to Oldham Heywood Castleton Mills Hill Middleton Manchester Lines North to Manchester

Coordinates: 53°38′00″N 2°06′48″W / 53.6333°N 2.1134°W