MIDDLEWICH STATION 1965

Photo courtesy of Frank Smith and Bill Eaton

This photograph and article also appear on our sister site, The Middlewich Diary

by Dave Roberts
This photograph recently found its way back to the Middlewich Station site by way of Bill Eaton, who was given a lot of material written and collected by the late Frank Smith of Ravenscroft, an early contributor to the Middlewich Heritage Society and its Newsletter.
Bill has been passing on various bits of material for publication on the Middlewich Diary and MRLC websites, rightly thinking that it would be of interest to readers of both.
I was intrigued when he emailed this photo to me, with my own handwriting on the bottom giving details of its origin.
Obviously, in the early years of the Heritage Society, when I was editing the MHS Newsletter, I must, at some point, have given Frank this photo for his records.
This would have been sometime in the mid-late1980s.
The somewhat dubious quality of the picture betrays its origins as a photocopy of an original photograph by Alan Wilkinson, who lived in Middlewich in the 1960s and is well known as a railway photographer and author.
It came originally from a book called The Stanier 8F 2-8-0 published by D Bradford Barton and the Stanier 8F Loco Society, and the original caption for the photo reads:

'Saturday afternoon bustle on a Cheshire by-way.

Crewe South's recently outshopped 48505 (D44)

slows for a brisk tablet exchange at Middlewich,

heading the 12.25 Stanlow -Egginton Junction

tanks in January 1965.'

Railway enthusiasts will, of course, have little need for any explanation, but for the layman/woman, here are some explanatory notes:

The engine shown here is, as indicated, a Stanier 8F - a very common type of  engine on the Middlewich line in the 1960s and 1970s, when freight traffic was very heavy.
One very important type of traffic was oil, which came from Stanlow via the West Cheshire route from Helsby to Mouldsworth on the Mid-Cheshire line* and then via Northwich and  Middlewich  to Sandbach and (until 1971) along the Sandbach-Kidsgrove line  to the Stoke area without having to pass through Crewe.
The 'tablet exchange' is the handing over of the token which enabled the train to travel over the single line section from Northwich to Middlewich. The signalman can be seen with his arm out of the signal box window, ready to take the token from the engine driver.
Note the water tower on the left, and the familiar MIDDLEWICH sign on the signal box.
This sign is now in the possession of the MRLC Committee, having been retrieved from Uttoxeter.
Its story is told here.

* the official title of MCRUA's Middlewich sub-committee (the Middlewich Rail Link Campain), which aims to build a new Middlewich Station and introduce a new passenger service from Crewe to Manchester via Sandbach, Middlewich and Northwich, is the Middlewich & West Cheshire Committee.
The West Cheshire line has been lifted, but the trackbed is protected and we keep an eye on the route with a view to its possible re-instatement in the future

Very belated thanks to ERF Ltd for very much unauthorised photocopying facilities.

QUITE LIKE OLD TIMES

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

Before a spade has been turned controversy is already raging over the coalition government's plans for HS2, the High Speed Route linking London and the North, the northern section of which passes very close to Middlewich indeed. MRLC member Dr Peter Hirst wrote to the Northwich, Winsford & Middlewich Guardian pointing out the advantages of the scheme and soon had the anti-HS2 protesters in full cry.
Among the replies to Dr Hirst's letter was one from a certain Mr  Alan Langley and, in the grand old Middlewich Rail Link Campaign tradition, we couldn't resist replying. - Ed

HS2 WILL BRING IN THE REVENUE (DR HIRST'S ORIGINAL LETTER)

From Alan Langley:

I NOTE in last week’s paper Dr Peter Hirst, for whom I have admiration, is airing views on the benefits of going ahead with this money gobbler, HS2.

Whilst Dr Hirst acknowledges that it is going to cost a ‘pot of gold’ to initiate this project, and says it will save us all money in saving on taxes the construction will generate with jobs etc, who does he think will be paying taxes to build it in the first place?

It is estimated it will cost up to £80 billion to build.

Even today the Institute of Directors (IOD) has questioned the monetary return.

Virgin Train taking advantage of the ballast. PHOTO: GLEN LEIGH
This photograph is copyright and cannot be used without the photographer's permission

Whilst I agree that more needs to be done to get freight on the rails, and tourist trade is all very good, but, apart from the well-heeled tourists and anyone who can claim back the cost of a ticket estimated to be in the region of #400. In the words of Lionel Bart's musical Oliver, Who Will Buy This Wonderful Morning?

Dr Hirst states the time and savings in carbon footprint are well worth saving. If you can only get on it at certain stations such as Manchester how much time and carbon footprint will that extend by people having to travel say to Manchester and grid lock in the town?

He says local network rail can be improved with an improved localised rail structure – will priority be given to the HS2 where lines converge putting local rail to the back burner?

Dr Hirst does not mention leaves on the line and other general hold-ups due to broken down trains and engineering works?

Currently the Flying Scotsman in its centenary year still holds the speed record of over 120 mph, so whether you are in favour or not of construction going ahead let’s hope the writer along with the rest of us has deep pockets.

I suspect the writer is unaware when I used to work in King Street, that the Middlewich branch line, he endeavours to reopen, had to be constantly re- ballasted just to maintain it for freight use.

Localised employment will be minimal any sensible constructor will have a national gang of rail construction workers who will just move along the country as the project if undertaken.

True there maybe some hotel type employment created close to the construction/West Coast line but even this will be short-lived and when the high speed line is operational who will want to stay in a local hotel along the line anyway?

With the IOD questioning construction – will this be a fast track to recovery?

The outstanding debt on the privatised M6 is in millions – would a full line ever be completed if costs spiral, or would it run out of steam and turn this dream into a nightmare burdening future generations to come with debt for years?

Alan Langley,  Middlewich

MRLC's reply:

I'm a little confused by the part of Mr Langley's letter which refers to the Middlewich Branch Line. 
He 'suspects' that Dr Hirst is 'unaware' that the Branch line 'had to be constantly re-ballasted just to maintain it for freight use'.
I can tell you that Dr Hirst, like any intelligent person, is aware that the Middlewich line, like every other railway line, has to be re-ballasted from time to time. 
Mr Langley's use of the word 'constantly' is very misleading, conjuring up as it does visions of gallant teams of platelayers furiously battling to keep the line open and re-ballasting away like Trojans in a race against time.
The more prosaic truth is that, like every other railway line, the Middlewich Branch is re-ballasted as and when necessary. 
And it is not being maintained just for freight use, either. It's an integral part of the West Coast Main Line and is maintained to a very high standard for the use of diverted passenger trains.
Mr Langley's reference to the Flying Scotsman is also puzzling. 
For his information, regular steam traction ceased on the network in 1968, so what relevance this iconic loco has to the discussion of HS2 is anybody's guess.
And, far be it from me to accuse anyone of a basic 'schoolboy error', but surely any schoolboy (even today) knows that the speed record for steam traction is held by Mallard'and not the Scotsman?
I can assure Mr Langley and the other 'anti-HS2' correspondents in your pages that Dr Hirst is a very intelligent man, and very thorough in his research. 
I am not going to enter into this particular bear-pit, but I too have read all the arguments for and against HS2.
Wild horses, however, wouldn't drag my opinion from me at this stage.

 Dave Roberts, Chairman, Middlewich Rail Link Campaign.

With many thanks to the

VIRGIN PASSENGER WORKINGS IN MIDDLEWICH

Photograph Courtesy of GLEN LEIGH PHOTOGRAPHY
Please note that this image is copyright and cannot be used without the permission of the photographer

At the last meeting of the MRLC Committee in July mention was made of the fact that a Virgin ECS (empty coaching stock) train was running through Middlewich every Saturday morning until the first week of September.
We considered this an excellent opportunity to get hold of some up-to-date photos showing modern passenger stock on the line and issued an appeal to local photographers for shots of this train in and around Middlewich.

These pictures are the very satisfactory result of that appeal.

(Above) While out gathering photos on the 10th August  Glen Leigh had the brilliant idea of obtaining a shot which  includes that most potent of all Middlewich symbols, St Michael & All Angels church, with the train in the foreground.

This, to our knowledge, is the first time a train passing through the town has ever been photographed from this particular angle.

The shot would have been impossible before the late 60s/early 70s because, until that time, the view of the background, and the church, was obscured by the red-brick structure of Seddon's/Simpson's Salt Works in Brooks Lane.
The crumbling brick building to the right is one of the last remnants of that particular part of Middlewich's industrial heritage.
It's what used to be Seddon's railway wagon repair shop and to its left once stood the loading bay where block and ground salt were loaded onto railway trucks for despatch along the salt siding and onto the Middlewich branch for eventual delivery all over the railway network.
Glen's photo also gives us  a glimpse of some of the buses belonging to one of the many firms which now occupy the old salt works site.

Just visible above the roof of the old repair shop is the slender spire of the chapel in Middlewich cemetery.

More modern industry can be seen in the shape of the ubiquitous 'green sheds' in Brooks Lane - one of them housing Dutton's Aggregates.

The train has just passed signal no MS3737 (the 'MS' denoting that it is controlled from Manchester South). This is one of the signals installed on the line a few years ago as part of the Manchester South resignalling scheme.
This controversial scheme cost a fortune to introduce and engineer and caused months of delays to services on the Crewe-Manchester line before it could be made to work properly, but it is a token of the importance of the Middlewich branch that it was included in the scheme.
Like many modern signals this one is vastly over-engineered, with an elaborate ladder and safety cage for any signal technician who may need to attend to it.
A little further up the line and out of shot to the right is the proposed site for the new Middlewich Station just south of the Holmes Chapel Road (or 'station') bridge.

The week before, on August 3rd, Peter Cross ventured a little further out of town to get this classic 'train in the landscape' shot of the train heading towards Northwich and passing fields just off Croxton Lane. The parched condition of the grass on the field and the railway embankment are evidence of the heatwave which the country was experiencing at the time.

A little further down the line the train is about to cross the bridge taking the branch line over Croxton Lane, which links Chester Road with King Street and is now part of one of the main routes between Middlewich and Northwich. A simple picture of a train crossing a bridge; something which happens thousands of times a day all over the country and passes unnoticed, but, as we battle on with our campaign to bring back this most civilised form of transport to Middlewich, a picture which means a lot to our town and its hopes for the future.

And in this shot, which must have been taken only a second or so later, Peter's judicious use of spot colour in the processing highlights the train's Virgin livery - a livery which, if the privatisation process hadn't fallen to pieces when re-franchising time came around, would by now have been well on its way into history.

Many thanks to Glen and Peter for these superb and historic photographs.

CALLING ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS!

Photo: Daily Record

Calling all photographers and video makers! Anyone fancy getting up early on a couple of Saturday mornings? Virgin trains are currently running an ECS (empty coaching stock) train from Crewe to Holyhead on Saturday mornings between now and the 7th September. The train is timed to be in Sandbach around 8.10am and in Middlewich at around 8.35. I'm saying 'around', although Network Rail's working timetable gives exact timings at 8.10 and thirty seconds and 8.35 and thirty seconds. How they can be so precise is a mystery. The train, apparently, stops in Middlewich for about one minute (for 'operational reasons') and then makes its way to Northwich. MRLC would love to have some photos and/or videos of this train, as we can show the line being used for passenger trains in our publicity (some people still refuse to believe it happens). Anyone fancy having a go at railway photography? If you do take any pictures/videos and send them to us we will, of course, as usual, give full acknowledgments and use them also on the Middlewich Diary. The fact that the train is running every Saturday between now and September gives opportunities to photograph it at various points on the line between Sandbach and Northwich.
Dave Roberts, Middlewich Rail Link Campaign.

NETWORK RAIL WORKING TIMETABLE

NETWORK RAIL REGIONAL URBAN MARKET STUDY

Network Rail has been seeking comments on its draft  Regional Urban Market Study which considers ways in which the railway network can be improved and developed in the future.
It will come as no surprise that plans to re-open the Middlewich line and provide a new station in Middlewich fit NR's aspirations like a glove.

Here's a link to the draft version of the study on the Network Rail site:

REGIONAL URBAN MARKET STUDY

As you will read in the comments (see below) which we have just sent to Network Rail, both Cheshire East Council and Fiona Bruce MP are still working hard on our behalf to convince Network Rail  of the simple truth of the matter - that the Middlewich scheme is affordable, viable and vital for the future development of Middlewich, Cheshire (both East and West), and the North-West Region.
Unfortunately it is no longer possible to send comments on the draft study direct to Network Rail, but if you have any comments to make please send them here to MRLC (stationcampaign@aol.com) and we will ensure that they are included in a letter we will be sending in the near future to Richard Eccles, Network Rail's Director of Network Strategy and Planning  - once again stressing the urgent necessity for NR to join in meaningful discussions with the local transport authority, Cheshire East, and other interested parties.

OFFICIAL MRLC COMMENTS:

I am writing this comment in my capacity of Chairman of the Middlewich Rail Link Campaign (MRLC), having read with interest the draft version of the Regional Urban Market Study.

MRLC, which has been in existence since 1992 and is run under the auspices of the Mid-Cheshire Rail Users' Association (MCRUA) campaigns for the re-opening to passengers of the Sandbach-Northwich Branch line, together with the building of a new station at Middlewich.

Our local MP, Fiona Bruce is a keen supporter of the Middlewich scheme and, earlier this year, presented a parliamentary petition on the subject.

She followed this up by writing to the Rt Hon. Simon Burns, Minister of State at the Department of Transport pointing out the merits of the scheme and the undoubted benefits it would bring to Middlewich, the County of Cheshire and the North-West region.

This was followed up by letters making similar points from Cheshire East Council and ourselves.

The Railway Consultancy Report, commissioned by MRLC and published in 2009, clearly shows the viability of the scheme, as did the earlier Chapman Report, also commissioned by the campaign. 

Middlewich in general, and the immediate vicinity of the proposed new station in particular, contains many potential commuters who work in the Manchester area and are currently obliged to travel by car into the city on the A556, due to the lack of a train service.

The scheme also, we should point out, falls within the criteria stated in the introduction to your draft document, in that Middlewich is less than 50 miles from Manchester (less than half that distance, in fact) and, as the Railway Consultancy report shows, has the potential to generate a considerable number of journeys daily, both by commuters and leisure-seekers.

The scheme's cost/benefit ratio is 5:1, far in excess of what is needed for the scheme to merit serious consideration.

Fiona Bruce recently wrote to Richard Eccles reminding him of the existence of the Middlewich scheme and pointing out that it fits in perfectly with the aims of the long-term planning of the network in order to achieve, 'economic growth, reduced carbon emissions and improved quality of life for communities and individuals.'

Cheshire East Council, as our local transport authority, is very keen to see the Middlewich scheme go ahead and will, no doubt have made its own representations to you on the subject.

We would submit that the Middlewich scheme should be seriously considered by network planners, as it has so much potential to help NR achieve its aims as set out in the draft  Regional Urban Market Study.

Dave Roberts

Chairman
Middlewich Rail Link Campaign

CAMPAIGN UPDATE, JUNE 2013: MRLC WELCOMES NEW LOCAL TRANSPORT BODY

CAMPAIGN UPDATE

The following is the text of a Press Release issued by MRLC on 21st June 2013:

Mayor of Middlewich Bernice Walmsley, Fiona Bruce MP and Councillor Mike Parsons discuss the creation of the new transport body for the region.

The Middlewich Rail Link Campaign welcomes creation of new transport group, ‘The Cheshire & Warrington Local Transport Body’

Members of the Middlewich Rail Link Campaign (MRLC) have welcomed the creation of a new transport group with delegated powers from the Department of Transport to make strategic decisions aimed at improving transport links across the County of Cheshire and beyond.

Speaking two weeks after attending the first meeting of the Cheshire & Warrington Local Transport Body (CWLTB) Fiona Bruce MP said, ‘the stated aim of the CWLTB is “to improve transport infrastructure to secure significant connectivity gains in the support of economic growth and prosperity” in the region.

‘This would be one of the key benefits of opening up Middlewich Station for passengers and the MRLC is pressing the CWLTB to ensure that this important project is on its high priority list.’

Bernice Walmsley, Mayor of Middlewich, said at the Middlewich Rail Link Campaign’s latest meeting at the end of  May, ‘I welcome the creation of this new body and hope it will result in the provision of the transport links Middlewich needs and deserves.’

Cheshire East Councillor Mike Parsons said, ‘this scheme would, if applied properly, satisfy all the criteria we need to engage Network Rail in full commitment.

'With Pete Waterman on the board of the new body and also Patron of the Middlewich Rail Link Campaign, the group is optimistic that the importance of improving rail connectivity across the region, and the part the Middlewich Scheme will play in achieving this, will be recognised.’

Dave Roberts, Chairman of MRLC, said, ‘this is a real and genuine breakthrough. Until now we’ve been dealing with the Department of Transport in London which, though sympathetic to our arguments and always willing to offer advice, clearly had its priorities centred on London and the South East when it came to rail development. This new body, which is able to make strategic decisions here in the North-West and, crucially, will also be able to secure funding and investment for schemes such as ours, is a major step forward and we are sure that with the involvement of Fiona Bruce MP and Pete Waterman in our plans, we now stand a better chance than ever of bringing back vitally important rail services to Middlewich, greatly benefitting not only this town, but the County and the wider regional area.’

Editor's note: This Press Release  may be freely copied and distributed as long as it

is not altered in any way.

Please credit the text to Middlewich Rail Link Campaign and the photo to Fiona Bruce MP. Thank you.

RE-OPEN MIDDLEWICH RAILWAY STATION BANNER

Coming soon to an event near you: This banner, commissioned by MRLC and funded by our parent body, the Mid-Cheshire Rail Users' Association, will soon be a familiar sight at events in and around Middlewich.
The banner carries a simple and straightforward message which can't be repeated too often, as well as the
address for the website you're looking at now.
A striking and attention-grabbing way of letting people know we're here and working hard to bring this vitally
important facility back to our town.
We're grateful to Dave Thompson, Middlewich Town Council's Events Manager, for his help in getting this banner made.

UPDATE: The MRLC Banner makes its much-delayed public debut at the 2013 Middlewich FAB Festival.
Watch out for it at the main festival site on Market Field.