Smithy Bridge railway station

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox station 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 Template:Convert 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.

Services

Template:Northern (train operating company) route 9 There is a basic half-hourly service (with peak period extras) from the station to Manchester Victoria southbound and to Template:Rws northbound on weekdays. From there, trains continue alternately to Template:Rws via Template:Rws and to Leeds via Template:Rws. Westbound services run beyond Manchester to Template:Rws and Template:Rws.

In the early morning and evenings trains to Leeds run via Halifax but on the same frequency, whilst in Sundays the service is hourly and provided by the Southport/Manchester to Blackburn trains.

Preceding station	National Rail National Rail			Following station
Template:Stnlnk	style="background:#Template:Northern colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;" |	Northern Caldervale Line	style="background:#Template:Northern colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;" |	Template:Stnlnk History The station was first opened by the Lancashire & 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 Template:Stnlnk (which also supervises the layout at Template:Stnlnk 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. Notes References The Weighvers Seaport by A W Colligan in association with George Kelsall (Template:ISBN) External links Train times and station information for Smithy Bridge railway station from National Rail