Notes: Cadishead station was the second station so named and was located on the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) Glazebrook to Stockport Tiviot Dale Line. The CLC was a joint company that was owned by the Great Northern Railway (GNR), the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR) and the Midland Railway (MR). In the 1890s the building of the Manchester Ship Canal necessitated the diversion and raising up of a number of railway lines including the Glazebrook to Stockport Tiviot Dale line. The line had to be built up to a height that would allow sea going vessels to pass underneath and so a deviation was constructed just to the south of the original line which included a large single span girder bridge and a new station for Cadishead. For a few weeks in 1893 both lines were in use but eventually the original course of the line was split into two by the excavation of the Manchester Ship Canal.

Cadisheads second station opened on the 29th of May 1893. The station was situated on an embankment. The line was double track the station was provided with two timber platforms. On the both platforms there were sigle storey timber buildings that had canopies. Access was via a sloping paths that led up from Liverpool Road. A CLC type CL1a signal box with 16 levers was located at the north-western end of the eastbound platform.

At the time of opening the station was served by CLC trains running between Stockport Tiviot Dale and Liverpool Central with some workings operating only as far as Warrington Central. The CLC had its own coaches but it did not have locomotives as agreement had been reached that the MSLR would provide them. Express services running between Liverpool Central

At the grouping of 1923 the CLC remained independent but its owning companies became the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) with two thirds of the shares and the London Midland Scottish Railway (LMS) with one third. The local passenger services at Partington were hauled by LNER locomotives after 1923. The LMS Summer timetable for 1932 showed only four westbound services Monday to Friday and only three on a Saturday. Eastbound there were also four. On Sundays there was one train in each direction.

On the 1st of January 1948 the line became part of the nationalised British Railways (London Midland Region). The 1949 Summer timetable showed Partington as having eight eastbound and five westbound services Monday to Friday with retimed and extra services on Saturdays as shown in the table below. There were no Sunday services.

Although the line remained busy throughout the 1950s the passenger service at Cadishead remained broadly similar to how it had been in 1949. By the 1950 the station had also lost its canopies and its timber platform had been replaced by concrete.

The Re-shaping of Britain’s Railways Report of 1963, which became known as the ‘Beeching Report’ recommended that passenger services be withdrawn from Cadishead. The Summer 1962 timetable showed only six eastbound and six westbound departures Monday to Friday as shown in the table below. An interesting feature was a train to Southport Chapel Street that allowed residents of Cadishead to have a day out at the seaside.

The service was withdrawn on 30 November 1964 and Cadishead station closed completely and its buildings were demolished.

Some through workings and diversions continued to operate after this date but with the withdrawal of long distance services from Liverpool Central in 1966 these came to an end. On 17 May 1970 Cadishead station signal box closed and the section of line through the station was singled from Partington Junction to Glazebrook East Junction.

The line remained in use for goods services until 29 July 1982 but it is known that on Saturday 5 January 1974 the Midlander Railtour from Liverpool Lime Street to Derby passed through Cadishead station. On 3 August 1982 the points at Glazebrook East Junction were clipped out of use and formal closure of the line through Cadishead station came on 4 September 1983. It was lifted shortly after.

Although the stations buildings were demolished after closure the sections of both platforms remained extant in 2011.

Tickets from Michael Stewart

Sources:

• An Illustrated History of The Cheshire Lines Committee – P Bolger – Heyday Publishing Company 1984
• Bradshaws Rail Times December 1895 - Middlewood Press 2011
• Bradshaws Rail Times July 1922 - Guild Publishing 1986
  
• British Railways (London Midland Region) Timetable 23rd May to 25th Sept 1949
• British Railways (London Midland Region) Timetable 17th of Sept 1956 to 16th of June 1957
• British Railways (London Midland Region) Timetable 18th of June 1962 to 9th of September 1962
• Cheshire Lines Committee – Signal Box Register – M J Addison & J G Dixon - 1996
• LMS Time Table July 18th to September 11th 1932

To see the other stations on the Woodley - Glazebrook line click on the station name: Stockport Portwood, Stockport Tiviot Dale, Cheadle (Cheshire), Northenden, Baguley, West Timperley, Partington (1st), Partington (2nd) & Cadishead (1st)

See also:

Glazebrook East Junction Sidings

Cadishead Bridge