Waverton railway station

Waverton
Location	Waverton, Cheshire West and Chester England
Coordinates	53°09′58″N 2°49′30″W / 53.1662°N 2.8250°W / 53.1662; -2.8250Coordinates: 53°09′58″N 2°49′30″W / 53.1662°N 2.8250°W / 53.1662; -2.8250
Grid reference	SJ448636
Platforms	Two
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Grand Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 October 1840	First station opened
6 June 1898	Station resited
15 June 1959	Second station closed

Waverton was the name of two former railway stations near the village of Waverton, Cheshire that served the Grand Junction Railway and later the Whitchurch and Tattenhall Railway.

History[]

First station[]

The original station opened in October 1840, on the Crewe to Chester line built by the Grand Junction Railway. It was initially called "Black Dog",^[1] after the nearby pub, before its name was changed to Waverton two years later. The station had a building and two side platforms.^[2]

It was situated next to the bridge (

53°9′45.41″N 2°49′0.20″W / 53.1626139°N 2.8167222°W / 53.1626139; -2.8167222 (Waverton's first station)) that carried the London to Birkenhead coach road (today A41). The station was closed in 1898, after the 1st Duke of Westminster had a new station built 0.43 miles (690 m) west of the original site.^[2]

Second Station[]

This station, which opened on the day the first station closed, had two side platforms with matching buildings and canopies. It also had goods sidings. Passengers services ceased in 1959 and the station closed completely six years later.^[3]

Today, only part of the eastbound station building remains.^[4] The building on the former Chester-bound platform has been demolished.^[3]

In 2018 Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire opened a bus depot on the former station site.^[5]

Services[]

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Tattenhall Road Line open, station closed		London and North Western Railway North Wales Coast line		Chester General Line open, station closed
	Disused railways
Tattenhall Line and station closed		London and North Western Railway Whitchurch and Tattenhall Railway		Chester General Line and station open

Accidents[]

A collision on the line was reported on 2nd September 1865 when an excursion train ran into a goods train that was shunting wagons. The locomotive was derailed and part of the track 'torn up'. From the description it seems that the shunting of goods trains at the siding at almost all stations of the time was timed to occur during gaps in the reguar service. It was said that the greater proportion of accidents happened to excursion trains, and that there was deemed to be a "railway accident season" which coincided with the season for excursions.^[6]

On 29th September 1882 there was another accident at or near to Waverton when the midnight Irish Mail Train collided with a Wigan goods train that had overshot its mark at the points and was slightly across the main line. While no one was killed many were injured and were taken to Crewe where they were tended to by the company's surgeon at the Crewe Arms Hotel.^[7]

See also[]

• Listed buildings in Waverton, Cheshire

References[]

Sources[]

• Oppitz, Leslie (2003). Lost Railways of Cheshire. Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 9781853068287. OCLC 55561927.

Further reading[]

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2012). Stafford to Chester. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 97-99. ISBN 9781908174345. OCLC 830024480.

External links[]

• Present-day image of Waverton station