Blacon railway station

Blacon
An eastbound view of Blacon station in 1961.
Location
Place	Blacon
Area	Cheshire West and Chester
Coordinates	53°12′23″N 2°55′31″W / 53.2064°N 2.9252°WCoordinates: 53°12′23″N 2°55′31″W / 53.2064°N 2.9252°W
Grid reference	SJ383680
Operations
Original company	Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Central Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Platforms	Two
History
31 March 1890	Station opened
9 September 1968	Station closed
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
UK Railways portal

Blacon railway station was located in Blacon, Cheshire, England and was part of the line between Chester Northgate and Hawarden Bridge. This line was later extended to reach Wrexham and Birkenhead.

History

Blacon station opened on 31 March 1890 by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (later the Great Central Railway). The station had two side platforms and the station master's house. To the east was a brick goods warehouse with freight depot and sidings. The 21-lever signal box, opposite the goods yard, was in use until 6 October 1963.^[1][2] A return to Chester Northgate Station would cost 6d compared to a bus fare of 9d return.

Despite being a busy station, British Railways closed it to passengers on 9 September 1968 ^[3] as part of the Beeching Axe for the economic modernisation of the British railway network in the mid-1960s.^[4] Even with the closure of steelmaking operations at Shotton in March 1980,^[5] freight continued to use the line through the station until 20 April 1984. Goods services resumed use of the now single track line on 31 August 1986 before the railway closed completely in 1992.^[3][6]

The station buildings have been demolished, although the nearby road bridge over the former track remains. The trackbed has been replaced by a tarmac road surface, which now provides a cycle path, jogging track and a countryside walkway.^[7]

Gallery

• 

  Blacon station in the 1950s looking westbound towards Dee Marsh junction.

• 

  Same view on December 2006 showing the cycle path that has replaced the line.

• 

  Looking eastbound towards the former station's site beyond the bridge.

Services

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Chester Liverpool Road		Chester & Connah's Quay Railway Great Central Railway		Saughall

References

1. Mitchell & Smith 2013, map XXV
2. Mitchell & Smith 2013, fig. 66
3. "Station Name: Blacon". Disused Stations. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
4. Richard Beeching's report "The Reshaping of British Railways" was published in 1963.
5. "Shotton Steelworks and Garden City". Retrieved 6 October 2008.
6. Oppitz 1997, p. 111
7. "A Virtual Stroll Along the Mickle Trafford-Shotton Railway".

Sources

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2013). Wrexham to New Brighton. West Sussex: Middleton Press. ISBN 9781908174475. OCLC 859543196.
• Oppitz, Leslie (1997). Cheshire Railways Remembered. Countryside Books. ISBN 1-85306-458-0.

Further reading

• Biddle, Gordon (1981). "Chapter 1 – North Cheshire & The Peak". Railway Stations in the North West. Clapham, Yorkshire: Dalesman. p. 9, fig. 3. ISBN 0-85206-644-9. – 1962 photo of station building

External links

• Images of the line in its final operating days