Haughton Halt was located on the Great Western Railway’s (GWR) main line that linked Birmingham to the River Mersey at Birkenhead via Chester. The section of line on which Haughton Halt was located had been opened on 1 October 1848 by the Shrewsbury & Chester Railway. The GWR took over the line on 1 September 1854. Under their ownership it became a busy trunk route linking the Midlands to Birkenhead on the River Mersey. Express passenger services began operating between London Paddington and Birkenhead on 1 October 1861. The line also carried heavy volumes of freight.

The halt was opened on 22 September 1934 to serve the small settlement after which it was named.

The halt would have been a timber construction with short platforms and simple waiting shelters of corrugated iron. It cost £250 to build. The platforms were staggered on either side of the road overbridge. The up platform (Shrewsbury direction) was on the south-east side and the down (Chester) was on the north-west side. There was a simple shelter on each platform. The up shelter was at the south end of the platform. The down shelter was at the north end of the platform.

On 1 January 1948 the line became part of British Railways [Western Region] (BR[WR]). The summer timetable for 1949 showed only three services in each direction Monday-to-Friday. On Saturdays there was an extra down service and on Sundays there was one train in each direction.

The 15 September 1958 timetable showed only two trains in each direction Monday-to-Friday with an extra up service on Saturdays as shown in the table below. By this time there were no trains on Sundays.

Haughton Halt was closed by BR[WR] on 12 September 1960. It was demolished shortly after leaving no trace.

The line remained a busy trunk route until the mid-1960s when many mainline services were diverted to other routes or ceased to run. By the late 1970s it had become a shadow of its former self with only an hourly DMU service in each direction.

Following a period of passenger growth in the first decade of the Twenty-First century the line was once again handling main line traffic.

Tickets from Michael Stewart and route map by Alan Young

Sources:

• A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain - Volume II North & Mid Wales - Peter E Baughan - David & Charles 1980.
• Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies - Christopher Awdry - Guild Publishing 1990.
• Paddington to the Mersey - Dr R. Preston Hendry & R. Powell Hendry - Oxford Publishing Company 1992.
• Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain - a Chronology - Michael Quick - Railway & Canal Historical Society 2009.
• Shrewsbury to Chester - Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith - Middleton Press 2010.

To see the other stations on the Shrewsbury - Chester General line click on the station name:, Shrewsbury S&C, Leaton, Oldwoods Halt, Baschurch,
Stanwardine Halt, Rednal & West Felton, Whittington Low Level, Weston Rhyn, Trehowell Halt, Llangollen Road, Whitehurst Halt, Rhosymedre, Cefn,
Rhosymedre Halt, Wynnville Halt, Johnstown & Hafod, Rhos, Rhosrobin Halt, Gresford, Rossett, Pulford, Balderton and Saltney

To read more about the Shrewsbury & Chester Railway company click here