Crewe railway station is a railway station in Crewe,Cheshire,England. It opened in 1837 and is one of the most historically significant railway stations in the world.[2][3]
Crewe railway station has twelve platforms and a modern passenger entrance containing a bookshop and ticket office. Passengers access the platforms via a footbridge,stairs and lifts. The platform buildings dating from the 19th century contain two bookshops,bars,buffets and waiting rooms. The last major expenditure on the station was in 1985 when the track layout was remodelled and station facilities updated.
History
Early years
Crewe's location was chosen after Winsford,seven miles to the north,had rejected an earlier proposal,as had local landowners in neighbouring Nantwich,four miles away.[4]
Crewe station was the first station to have its own adjacent railway hotel:the Crewe Arms Hotel,built in 1838,and still in use.[5] It was the first to be completely rebuilt owing to the need for expansion. It was the also first to have completely independent rail lines built around it to ease traffic congestion.
Early image of the original Crewe station c. 1840.Platforms five and six are used primarily for express traffic along the West Coast Main Line.Crewe station looking NE and showing the six converging railway routes
The station was built in the township of Crewe,which formed part of the ancient parish of Barthomley. The township later became a civil parish in its own right,and,later still,was renamed Crewe Green to avoid confusion with the town of Crewe,which was adjacent to it. The station was at the point where the line crossed the turnpike road linking the Trent and Mersey and the Shropshire Union Canals. Since the land was bought from the Earl of Crewe,whose mansion stood nearby,and it was located in the township of Crewe,the station was called Crewe. The railway station gave its name to the town of Crewe that was actually situated in the ancient parish of Coppenhall. In 1936,the railway station was transferred from the civil parish of Crewe to the then municipal borough of Crewe.[7]
As soon as the station opened the Chester and Crewe Railway was formed to build a branch line to Chester and this company was absorbed by the GJR shortly before it opened to traffic in 1840. A locomotive depot was built to serve the Chester line,and to provide banking engines to assist trains southwards from Crewe up the Madeley Incline,a modest gradient which was a challenge to the small engines of the day.
By 1841,the Chester line was seen as a starting point for a new trunk line to the port of Holyhead,to provide the fastest route to Ireland,and the importance of Crewe as a junction station began to be established. This was given further endorsement when the Manchester and Birmingham Railway,a separate undertaking which had hoped to build a wholly independent line linking the two cities,shorter than the GJR,decided that it would be uneconomical to compete with that line over the greater part of its length,and decided to divert its own line to meet the GJR at Crewe. Teething squabbles between the companies delayed the running of through services for a while,and the M&B had to build a temporary station of their own,part of which survives today as an isolated platform next to the North Junction,at the start of the line to Manchester.
In 1842 the GJR decided to move its locomotive works from Edge Hill in Liverpool to Crewe,siting the works to the north of the junction between the Warrington and Chester lines. To house the workforce and company management the town of Crewe was built by the company to the north of the works.
London &North Western Railway
In 1846 the GJR merged with the London and Birmingham to form the London and North Western Railway Company,which until its demise in 1923 was the largest company in the world. The new company extended the existing lines to Holyhead,the Warrington line to Lancaster and Carlisle,the Manchester line to Leeds,and built the new Crewe and Shrewsbury Railway to Shrewsbury to join the joint GWR owned Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway,which provided connections to South Wales. The North Staffordshire Railway built a line from Stoke-on-Trent,joining the LNWR from the South East. Crewe was the centre of a wide-ranging railway network,and freight-handling facilities grew up to the south of the station.
To cope with the increase of traffic,the station was rebuilt in 1867 (according to WH Chaloner),the buildings facing each other on the present platforms 5 and 6 dating from this time,and built under the supervision of William Baker.[1] The listing by English Heritage describes them as:
mirrored design with bowed projections for the platform inspectors' offices,the 'greybeard' keystones and vivid polychromy ... one of the best pieces of mid-C19 platform architecture designed anywhere on the LNWR network,and as rare surviving examples nationally of buildings of a major junction station of this period.
At the same time the works was redeveloped and enlarged and the town also enlarged under the leadership of John Ramsbottom,a Stockport man who had become Locomotive Superintendent. Locomotive construction,hitherto divided with Wolverton (on the London and Birmingham Railway) was concentrated at Crewe. Ramsbottom also built a steelworks,the first in the world to make large-scale use of the Bessemer process,as only the LNWR required enough steel to keep a Bessemer plant continuously occupied. He also introduced mass-production techniques,whereby as many parts as possible were identical between one engine and another.
Crewe station around 1900.
Ramsbottom retired in 1871 and was succeeded by the legendary Frank Webb,a colourful and controversial figure who was known as 'The Uncrowned King of Crewe'.
By the 1890s a survey revealed 1,000 trains passing within a 24-hour period. Half of these were freight trains which did not need to call at the station,so the company decided to build a separate four-track railway line passing to the west of the station,joining the existing lines beyond the north and south junctions,burrowing beneath them and avoiding them completely. Plans for the "independent lines" were approved in 1895 and construction lasted from 1896[8] to 1901. Over 1,000 labourers were employed on what was known as the "big dig" at a cost about £500,000[9] (equivalent to £57,750,000in 2021).[10] This undertaking also included a marshalling yard to the south of the station at Basford Hall,a revolutionary 'tranship shed' which allowed fast transfer of freight from wagons to road vehicles under cover. The station was enlarged between 1903[11] and 1907,by providing eight through platforms each a quarter of a mile long. The cost of the improvements was £1,000,000[12] (equivalent to £112,540,000in 2021).[10]
London Midland and Scottish Railway
View northward on Platform 4 in 1962,with an English-Electric Type 4 to the left,and a 6P "Jubilee" to the rightView northward from the footbridge at the north end of the station in 1958
In 1923 the LNWR became part of the London,Midland &Scottish Railway group. Crewe remained the major centre for locomotive construction. In 1938-39 the signal boxes at North and South Junctions were completely reconstructed as massive concrete structures to withstand air raids,and remained in use until the resignalling project in 1985. The North Junction signal box can now be visited as part of the Crewe Heritage Centre. Although the railway station is virtually synonymous with the town of Crewe,it was not actually incorporated within the borders of the borough of Crewe until the late 1930s,as it lies about 1 mile to the south east of the actual town centre.
With the exception of two new signal boxes and associated greatly improved colour light signalling,track circuiting and electrically operated track points,train operation at Crewe changed little in over fifty years. The trains did become longer and heavier and were hauled by larger engines,which required increased supplies of water to be taken on board before departure,but the number of passenger trains using Crewe Station and the method of operation did not vary greatly despite the passage of two world wars. Trains continued to divide at Crewe with the front portion for Manchester and the rear for Liverpool. The station pilot engine always had a pair of restaurant cars in a bay platform ready to attach to a morning service to London. Always there were extra coaches waiting to be attached to overcrowded trains. In addition to passengers there were vast quantities of mail,parcels and even live animals and birds of all descriptions transported in specially designed transit crates. When necessary the station staff had to feed and water these special passengers,which travelled in copious luggage vans.
British Railways
In the early 1900s,the station gained an extra six platforms to cope with traffic. However,as part of a major resignalling project in 1985,five of these platforms were taken out of use,with only Platform 12 (pictured) remaining.
In 1948 the LMS was nationalised as British Railways,London Midland Region. Nationalisation greatly facilitated the modernisation of British Railways and,after a false start developing new improved steam engines,electrification came,along with diesel power and fixed-formation air-braked trains. These changes had a significant effect on Crewe station. Notably,the variation in station use caused firstly by the electrification in stages of the West Coast Main Line between 1959 and 1974 and secondly by the general end of steam traction on Britain's railways. Following the completion of electrification in 1974,trains did not need to change locomotives at Crewe,except for the London to Chester and Holyhead service. Many locomotive hauled trains were replaced by electric or diesel multiple unit trains,with much faster turn-round times. Additionally,two local branch lines had closed,which resulted in fewer trains terminating at Crewe. However,compensating for the decline of local passenger traffic,the reduction in mail and parcels traffic and the total elimination of livestock carriage,came the great increase in inter-city passenger traffic and the need for even faster,smoother and more efficient handling of passenger trains.
In 1963 the architects to the London Midland Region of British Railways provided a Porte-cochère at the passenger entrance on Nantwich Road. It was constructed of eight laminated wood Hyperbolic paraboloid shells.[13] This was replaced between 1983 and 1985 with the current steel structure.
The main entrance to Crewe station,dating from the 1980s refurbishment.
In 1985 in a £14.3 million scheme,the track layout was modernised and simplified,eliminating many points and crossings and allowing 80mph (130km/h) running[14] over the North Junction. At the same time all but one of the six 1902 extension platforms were taken out of use. Four Class 40 locomotives were reallocated to this work in 1985,and were renumbered as 97405–97408 for the engineering duties.
Present day
In 2007 Network Rail published a proposal to replace the existing Crewe station with a new station located approximately 1 mile to the south. A "Crewe Town" station was also proposed nearer the town centre on the Chester line,with a shuttle service to the new main station.[15][16] In 2009 the station was identified as one of the ten worst category B interchange stations for mystery shopper assessment of fabric and environment.[17]
The proposal to move the station was abandoned in 2010 and instead the current building was renovated.[18]Cheshire East Council implemented a regeneration master plan for Crewe,which included the station.[19]
In 2011 Cheshire East Council purchased the former Royal Mail depot and Weston House for £2.75 million.[20] The council demolished the two buildings and created a new entrance to the station,[21][22] as well as a 244 space car park,at a cost of £7 million.[23] The construction work was undertaken by Balfour Beatty.[23] The new entrance has step-free access &connects passengers to the station through an underground walkway. There is a ticket vending machine at this entrance,as well as unmanned ticket barriers.
The Weston Road entrance,added in 2014.
In August 2016 the station buildings of 1867 were added to the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II listed building. The structures included in the listing comprise two station buildings on separate platforms,and two screen walls,one to the east and the other to the west of the station.[1]
With seven train companies calling,Crewe is tied with Doncaster for the highest number of companies calling at a UK station.
Future
In January 2013,it was announced that the existing Crewe station would be a stop on the western branch of the planned HS2 high-speed rail route.[24]
A new platform will be built on the Manchester independent lines to the west of the station,meaning that services will not have to cross the West Coast Main Line from Manchester Piccadilly or the Marches Line to South Wales.[25]
Following the Crewe Hub consultation,which ran from July to October 2017,it is planned that up to 5 to 7 trains per hour will stop at Crewe;plans for a new service to Manchester via Stafford,Stoke-on-Trent and Macclesfield are also proposed. This will be made possible by extending the existing platform 5 to 400 metres,allowing services to split and serve these additional destinations. It is also planned that a new transfer deck will be built;this will allow passengers to change between the proposed new Manchester independent lines platform and the existing Crewe station.[26][27]
Platform 1 - Northern Trains stopping services to and from Manchester Piccadilly and occasionally Avanti West Coast northbound services to Manchester Piccadilly and Avanti West Coast southbound services to London Euston.
Platform 2 - Extra capacity.
Platform 3 - East Midlands Railway services to and from Derby.
Platform 4 - West Midlands Trains (London Northwestern) services to and from London Euston.
Platform 5 - Avanti West Coast northbound services to Manchester Piccadilly and southbound to Birmingham New Street and London Euston, West Midlands Trains services to Birmingham New Street, Transport for Wales services to Cardiff, CrossCountry services to Bournemouth and Bristol Temple Meads.
Platform 6 - Transport for Wales services northbound to Manchester Piccadilly and southbound to Cardiff and beyond. Some Avanti West Coast northbound services to Preston and Glasgow Central and southbound to London Euston also use this platform along with a CrossCountry service to Manchester Piccadilly.
Platform 7 - West Midlands Trains (London Northwestern) services to London Euston via Rugeley Trent Valley
Platform 8 - Transport for Wales stopping services to and from Shrewsbury.
Platform 9 - Transport for Wales services to Chester and Holyhead.
Platform 10 - Extra capacity.
Platform 11 - Avanti West Coast northbound services to Blackpool, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Chester and North Wales. West Midlands Trains (London Northwestern) northbound services to Liverpool Lime Street.
Platform 12 - Extra capacity and usually used for railtours.
Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city centre, it hosts long-distance intercity and cross-country services to national destinations including London, Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton and Bournemouth; regional services to destinations in Northern England including Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and York; and local commuter services around Greater Manchester. It is one of 19 major stations managed by Network Rail. The station has 14 platforms: 12 terminal and two through platforms. Piccadilly is also a major interchange with the Metrolink light rail system with two tram platforms in its undercroft.
The North Wales Coast Line, also known as the North Wales Main Line, is a major railway line in the north of Wales and Cheshire, England, running from Crewe on the West Coast Main Line to Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey. The line has 19 stations, with all except two, Chester and Crewe, being in Wales.
Bangor railway station is a railway station in Bangor, Gwynedd, operated by Transport for Wales Rail. The station, which is 24+3⁄4 miles (40 km) east of Holyhead, is the last mainland station on the North Wales Coast line between Crewe and Holyhead. It is the busiest in terms of passenger numbers in North Wales, as it serves the community around Caernarfon and further west, it is close to the Snowdonia National Park and Bangor University, and has an interchange with bus services to the various towns and villages of northern/western Gwynedd and Anglesey.
Stockport railway station in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, is 8 miles south-east of Manchester Piccadilly on the West Coast Main Line to London Euston.
Kidsgrove railway station serves the town of Kidsgrove in Staffordshire, England. The station is 7.5 miles (12.07 km) north of Stoke-on-Trent. The station is served by trains on the Crewe to Derby Line which is also a community rail line known as the North Staffordshire line. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway.
Shrewsbury railway station is in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. Built in 1848, it was designated a grade II listed building in 1969.
Manchester Airport station is a railway, tram, bus and coach station at Manchester Airport, England which opened at the same time as the second air terminal in 1993. The station is 9+3⁄4 miles (15.7 km) south of Manchester Piccadilly, at the end of a short branch from the Styal Line via a triangular junction between Heald Green and Styal stations. Manchester Metrolink tram services were extended to the airport in 2014 and operate to Manchester Victoria.
The Shrewsbury–Chester line is a railway line between Chester and Shrewsbury in England, with the line passing through Wrexham County Borough in Wales. Passenger train services are operated by Transport for Wales Rail between the northern terminal of Chester and Shrewsbury in the south as part of the Wales & Borders franchise. Some additional services, starting part way along the line to London Euston via Chester are operated by Avanti West Coast. The line was built in 1846 by the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway, with the engineer for the line being Henry Robertson, a partner in locomotive builders Beyer Peacock, while the contractor was Thomas Brassey in partnership with William Mackenzie and Robert Stephenson. The line is part of Transport for Wales' North Wales Metro improvement programme.
Llandudno Junction railway station is a station serving the village of Llandudno Junction on the Crewe to Holyhead North Wales Coast Line. The station is managed by Transport for Wales Rail, although Avanti West Coast also serves it.
Stoke-on-Trent railway station is a mainline railway station serving the city of Stoke-on-Trent, on the Stafford to Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line. It also provides an interchange between local services running through Cheshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire.
Stafford railway station is a major interchange railway station in Stafford, Staffordshire, England, and is the second busiest railway station in Staffordshire, after Stoke-on-Trent. The station serves the county town, as well as surrounding villages. The station lies on the junction of the Trent Valley Line, the Birmingham Loop/Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line, and the West Coast Main Line.
Wolverhampton railway station in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England is on the Birmingham Loop of the West Coast Main Line. It is served by Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Transport for Wales and West Midlands Trains services, and was historically known as Wolverhampton High Level.
Gobowen railway station is a railway station on the Shrewsbury to Chester Line of the former Great Western Railway's London Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside via Birmingham Snow Hill line, serving the village of Gobowen in Shropshire, England. It is the nearest station to the town of Oswestry.
Chester railway station is located in Newtown, Chester, England. Services are operated by Avanti West Coast, Merseyrail, Northern and Transport for Wales. From 1875 to 1969 the station was known as Chester General to distinguish it from Chester Northgate. The station's Italianate frontage was designed by the architect Francis Thompson.
Flint railway station serves the town of Flint in Flintshire, North Wales. It located on the North Wales Coast Line and is managed by Transport for Wales, who provide most of the passenger trains that call here. There are certain Avanti West Coast services that serve the station.
Colwyn Bay railway station is on the Crewe to Holyhead North Wales Coast Line serving the seaside town of Colwyn Bay in North Wales.
Rhyl railway station is on the Crewe to Holyhead North Wales Coast Line and serves the holiday resort of Rhyl, Wales.
Prestatyn railway station on the North Wales Coast Line serves the town of Prestatyn in North Wales.
Wrexham General railway station is a main line railway station and the main railway station serving the city of Wrexham, north-east Wales. It is currently operated by Transport for Wales, but services are also provided by Avanti West Coast who operate a service to London Euston. Until January 2011 Wrexham & Shropshire also operated from here to London Marylebone.
Holyhead railway station serves the Welsh town of Holyhead on Holy Island, Anglesey. The station is the western terminus of the North Wales Coast Line 105+1⁄2 miles (170 km) west of Crewe and is managed by Transport for Wales Rail. It connects with the Port of Holyhead ferry terminal. The station is connected to the town centre by a stainless steel pedestrian/cycle bridge named The Celtic Gateway.
↑ Drake, James (1838). Drake's Road Book of the Grand Junction Railway (1838). Moorland Reprints. ISBN0903485257.
↑ Chambers (2007, pp.76, 94); Dunn (1987, p.26); Ollerhead (2008, pp.7, 10, 16). "Crewe (near Wybunbury)". GENUKI (UK & Ireland Genealogy). Retrieved 3 February 2009.. The unusual relationship between the town of Crewe and the civil parish of Crewe, mediated by the railway station, is described in the following riddle: "The place which is Crewe is not Crewe, and the place which is not Crewe is Crewe."Curran et al. (1984, p.2).
↑ "Railway Extensions at Crewe". Derby Daily Telegraph. England. 18 March 1896. Retrieved 5 December 2016– via British Newspaper Archive.
↑ WH Challoner's Social & Economic Development of Crewe 1780-1923 [full citation needed]
↑ "Extending Crewe Station". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. England. 26 May 1903. Retrieved 5 December 2016– via British Newspaper Archive.
↑ "Crewe' Million Pound Station". Lancashire Evening Post. England. 3 June 1907. Retrieved 5 December 2016– via British Newspaper Archive.
↑ Lawrence, David (2018). British Rail Architecture 1948-97. Crecy Publishing Ltd. p.73. ISBN9780860936855.
Chambers, S (2007), Crewe: A history, Chichester, Sussex: Phillimore, ISBN978-1-86077-472-0
Curran, H; Gilsenan, M; Owen, B; Owen, J (1984), Change at Crewe, Chester: Cheshire Libraries and Museums
Dunn, F. I. (1987), The ancient parishes, townships and chapelries of Cheshire, Chester: Cheshire Record Office and Cheshire Diocesan Record Office, ISBN0-906758-14-9
Langston, K (2006), Made in Crewe: 150 years of engineering excellence, Horncastle, Lincolnshire: Mortons Media Group, ISBN978-0-9552868-0-3
Ollerhead, P (2008), Crewe: History and guide, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing, ISBN978-0-7524-4654-7
Youngs, F. A. (1991), Guide to the local administrative units of England. (Volume 1: Northern England), London: Royal Historical Society, ISBN0-86193-127-0
Further reading
Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2012). Stafford to Chester. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 48-67. ISBN9781908174345. OCLC830024480.
Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2013). Shrewsbury to Crewe. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 94-112. ISBN9781908174482. OCLC880765045.
Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2014). Crewe to Manchester. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 1-9. ISBN9781908174574. OCLC892047119.
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