Rose Hill Marple railway station
Encyclopedia
Rose Hill Marple railway station is one of two stations serving Marple
, in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport
, the other being Marple railway station
.
It is the terminus of a spur of the Hope Valley Line
, with services to Manchester Piccadilly calling at Romiley
and then taking one of two routes to the regional centre: either via Woodley
, Hyde Central
, Hyde North
, Guide Bridge
and Fairfield
, or via Bredbury
, Brinnington
, Reddish North
, Ryder Brow
and Belle Vue
, followed by Ashburys
.
The station is one of the three which provide access to the Middlewood Way.
It was built on the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway
, with dual tracks and thus two platforms. The second southbound platform (now removed, as the line is operated as a single track 'long siding') had simply a waiting shelter. The remaining station building previously provided an indoor waiting area and was only recently brought back into use in 2007 with a new ticket window operating weekday mornings.
In 1970, the route south to Bollington and Macclesfield closed to all traffic, the majority of travellers between Macclesfield and the City of Manchester preferring to use the faster West Coast Main Line
route via Stockport
instead. Rose Hill itself avoided a similar fate due to its high levels of commuter traffic toward Manchester Piccadilly.
Subsequent diesel services to and from Manchester Piccadilly originally alternated between the two available routes - one train running via Bredbury
, followed by a train travelling via Hyde
and Guide Bridge
. In the late 1990s, the services to the two railway stations in Marple were streamlined, with most Rose Hill services now running via Hyde and most Marple services running via the more direct Bredbury line.
From 13 December 2010, Rose Hill Marple gained an extra second service per hour off-peak due to the diversion of a service which previously turned back at Marple railway station.
The second off-peak service per hour provided from December 2010 takes the more direct Bredbury route to Manchester Piccadilly, providing additional station connections and a shorter journey time. As a return service, it runs direct from Manchester Piccadilly stopping only at Romiley, connecting the regional centre to Rose Hill Marple in just over 20 minutes.
Most services are operated with British Rail Class 142
'Pacer' Diesel Multiple Units.
Return tickets to and from Rose Hill and Marple railway stations are priced identically and allowed to be interchangeable by train operating company Northern Rail
, allowing, for example, a passenger with a return ticket to Manchester Piccadilly from Rose Hill Marple to return instead to the nearby Marple station.
From 3 September 2007 the station acts as the terminus for the hourly 375 local bus service between Marple
and Mellor
, with buses connecting with trains to and from Manchester Piccadilly. This bus service is operated by Stagecoach Manchester.
Since 2007 the station building has a staffed ticket window on weekday mornings until 12:30pm for the first time in over 10 years, with payment possible via cash or debit/credit card. The covered area provides a shelter from bad weather with a three-seater standard-issue Northern Rail bench and a single Metro newspaper
distributor. The original waiting room was recently refurbished and can be accessed during ticket office opening hours.
Though toilets are not provided at the station, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
provides public conveniences a few yards along Railway Road, the station's access road, at the entrance to Middlewood Way, a "linear park" and trail for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders, which follows the line's previous route to Macclesfield
. The initial section of this route was tarmacked and given street lighting in 2006 to encourage its use by residents of local residential developments in reaching the station and Stockport Road.
In addition to exposed railings around the station area, three secure bicycle lockers are provided at the North end of the platform, which require a 'BLUC' key for use.
bid, which would have seen a weekday peak time congestion charge
introduced on roads into the city centre, Rose Hill was among the stations listed to receive station improvements and improved services from the proposed £3bn injection into the region's public transport. This scheme is unlikely to proceed after the plans were rejected substantially in a public referendum in December 2008.
Rose Hill has been touted as a suitable terminus for a new Metrolink
tram service to the area, with possible routes being either a simple conversion of the existing line to Manchester or a new link into Stockport
town centre via Bredbury and Portwood. The latter would provide an Eastern extension from the proposed Western link into Stockport town centre from Didsbury
, linking together many towns in the borough along the Goyt and Mersey
rivers. Despite heavy road traffic from private cars and buses, the local centres of Marple, Romiley and Bredbury have not been linked to their borough centre of Stockport by a direct rail route since 1982.
Marple, Greater Manchester
Marple is a small town within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Goyt southeast of Stockport.Historically part of Cheshire, Marple has a population of 23,480 .-Toponymy:...
, in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport
Metropolitan Borough of Stockport
The Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in north west England, centred around the town of Stockport. It has a population of about 280,600 and includes the outyling areas of Cheadle and Cheadle Hulme, Marple, Bredbury, Reddish and Romiley...
, the other being Marple railway station
Marple railway station
Marple railway station serves Marple, in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The other station serving Marple is Rose Hill railway station....
.
It is the terminus of a spur of the Hope Valley Line
Hope Valley Line
The Hope Valley Line is a railway line in England linking Sheffield with Manchester. It was completed in 1894.From Sheffield, trains head down the Midland Main Line to Dore, where the Hope Valley Line branches off to run through the Totley Tunnel .It emerges in the stunning scenery of the Hope...
, with services to Manchester Piccadilly calling at Romiley
Romiley railway station
Romiley railway station serves Romiley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England.It was built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway on its extension to New Mills, opening in 1862 from Manchester....
and then taking one of two routes to the regional centre: either via Woodley
Woodley railway station
Woodley railway station serves the Woodley area of Stockport in Greater Manchester, England. The station is 15 km east of Manchester Piccadilly on the Hope Valley Line service to Rose Hill Marple...
, Hyde Central
Hyde Central railway station
Hyde Central railway station is the main station serving Hyde, Greater Manchester, England.Originally simply Hyde, it was built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, opening in 1858 as a branch from its main line through Penistone to Sheffield. From 1862 the branch was extended to...
, Hyde North
Hyde North railway station
Hyde North railway station lies north of Hyde, Greater Manchester, England. Hyde North is operated by Northern Rail.Originally "Hyde Junction" when opened in 1862, it was at the junction between the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway extension to New Mills, , and the...
, Guide Bridge
Guide Bridge railway station
Guide Bridge railway station serves Guide Bridge, a part of Audenshaw, Tameside in Greater Manchester, England and is operated by Northern Rail. The station is 4¾ miles east of Manchester Piccadilly on the Glossop Line.-History:...
and Fairfield
Fairfield railway station
Fairfield railway station serves the Fairfield area of Droylsden, Tameside, Greater Manchester and is east of Manchester Piccadilly station. It was opened by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1892, when the branch to Chorlton-cum-Hardy opened, and replaced an earlier station...
, or via Bredbury
Bredbury railway station
Bredbury railway station serves Bredbury in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester.It was built by the Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee in 1875 on the line between New Mills and Manchester London Road ....
, Brinnington
Brinnington railway station
Brinnington railway station serves Brinnington in the eastern part of Stockport, Greater Manchester.It is a relatively new station, opening on 12 December 1977, on the line originally built by the Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee in 1875 between New Mills and Manchester London...
, Reddish North
Reddish North railway station
Reddish North railway station is one of the two stations serving Reddish, in Stockport, England, the other being Reddish South railway station....
, Ryder Brow
Ryder Brow railway station
Ryder Brow railway station serves the Gorton and Ryder Brow areas of Manchester, England. The station is 4 km south east of Manchester Piccadilly on the Hope Valley Line.-Service:...
and Belle Vue
Belle Vue railway station
Belle Vue railway station serves Gorton and Belle Vue in Manchester.It was built by the Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee in 1875, on the line between New Mills and Manchester London Road ....
, followed by Ashburys
Ashburys railway station
This article refers to the ex Great Central Railway station in Manchester; for the similarly named former LSWR station in Devon see Ashbury railway station.Ashburys railway station in Openshaw serves Beswick and West Gorton in Manchester, England...
.
The station is one of the three which provide access to the Middlewood Way.
History
The station opened on 2 August 1869.It was built on the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway
Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway
The Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway was a railway line, 16 km long, linking Macclesfield with Marple in east Cheshire, England, opened in 1869 by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and the North Staffordshire Railway , as a part of an alternative link between...
, with dual tracks and thus two platforms. The second southbound platform (now removed, as the line is operated as a single track 'long siding') had simply a waiting shelter. The remaining station building previously provided an indoor waiting area and was only recently brought back into use in 2007 with a new ticket window operating weekday mornings.
In 1970, the route south to Bollington and Macclesfield closed to all traffic, the majority of travellers between Macclesfield and the City of Manchester preferring to use the faster West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
route via Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
instead. Rose Hill itself avoided a similar fate due to its high levels of commuter traffic toward Manchester Piccadilly.
Subsequent diesel services to and from Manchester Piccadilly originally alternated between the two available routes - one train running via Bredbury
Bredbury railway station
Bredbury railway station serves Bredbury in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester.It was built by the Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee in 1875 on the line between New Mills and Manchester London Road ....
, followed by a train travelling via Hyde
Hyde Central railway station
Hyde Central railway station is the main station serving Hyde, Greater Manchester, England.Originally simply Hyde, it was built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, opening in 1858 as a branch from its main line through Penistone to Sheffield. From 1862 the branch was extended to...
and Guide Bridge
Guide Bridge railway station
Guide Bridge railway station serves Guide Bridge, a part of Audenshaw, Tameside in Greater Manchester, England and is operated by Northern Rail. The station is 4¾ miles east of Manchester Piccadilly on the Glossop Line.-History:...
. In the late 1990s, the services to the two railway stations in Marple were streamlined, with most Rose Hill services now running via Hyde and most Marple services running via the more direct Bredbury line.
From 13 December 2010, Rose Hill Marple gained an extra second service per hour off-peak due to the diversion of a service which previously turned back at Marple railway station.
Current Services
Monday to Saturday daytimes there is a half-hourly service to Manchester Piccadilly alternately via Hyde or Bredbury, with a few peak period additional trains. The evening service from the station is limited (just two departures after 19.15 in the 2010/11 timetable) and there is no Sunday service.The second off-peak service per hour provided from December 2010 takes the more direct Bredbury route to Manchester Piccadilly, providing additional station connections and a shorter journey time. As a return service, it runs direct from Manchester Piccadilly stopping only at Romiley, connecting the regional centre to Rose Hill Marple in just over 20 minutes.
Most services are operated with British Rail Class 142
British Rail Class 142
The British Rail Class 142 is a class of Pacer diesel multiple units used in the United Kingdom. 96 units were built by BREL in Derby between 1985 and 1987. They were a development of the earlier Class 141 which were introduced in 1984....
'Pacer' Diesel Multiple Units.
Return tickets to and from Rose Hill and Marple railway stations are priced identically and allowed to be interchangeable by train operating company Northern Rail
Northern Rail
Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...
, allowing, for example, a passenger with a return ticket to Manchester Piccadilly from Rose Hill Marple to return instead to the nearby Marple station.
From 3 September 2007 the station acts as the terminus for the hourly 375 local bus service between Marple
Marple, Greater Manchester
Marple is a small town within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Goyt southeast of Stockport.Historically part of Cheshire, Marple has a population of 23,480 .-Toponymy:...
and Mellor
Mellor, Greater Manchester
Mellor is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. Mellor, situated between Marple Bridge and New Mills, runs along a tributary of the River Goyt. It extends from the start of the old turnpike road at the boundary of Marple Bridge to the current county...
, with buses connecting with trains to and from Manchester Piccadilly. This bus service is operated by Stagecoach Manchester.
Current Facilities
Rose Hill is officially designated as a 'Park & Ride' station and, upon a resurfacing and small extension of its car parking facilities, was advertised as such through flyers in the local area in 2005 in a bid to attract more travellers who might otherwise have driven to their destination or used the more frequent services from nearby Marple station.Since 2007 the station building has a staffed ticket window on weekday mornings until 12:30pm for the first time in over 10 years, with payment possible via cash or debit/credit card. The covered area provides a shelter from bad weather with a three-seater standard-issue Northern Rail bench and a single Metro newspaper
Metro (Associated Metro Limited)
Metro is a free daily newspaper in the United Kingdom published by Associated Newspapers Ltd . It is available from Monday to Friday each week on many public transport services across the United Kingdom.-History:The paper was launched in London in 1999, and can now be found in 14 UK urban centres...
distributor. The original waiting room was recently refurbished and can be accessed during ticket office opening hours.
Though toilets are not provided at the station, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The council is currently in no overall control since the 2011 local elections when the Liberal Democrats lost their majority. The Liberal Democrats now have 31...
provides public conveniences a few yards along Railway Road, the station's access road, at the entrance to Middlewood Way, a "linear park" and trail for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders, which follows the line's previous route to Macclesfield
Macclesfield
Macclesfield is a market town within the unitary authority of Cheshire East, the county palatine of Chester, also known as the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The population of the Macclesfield urban sub-area at the time of the 2001 census was 50,688...
. The initial section of this route was tarmacked and given street lighting in 2006 to encourage its use by residents of local residential developments in reaching the station and Stockport Road.
In addition to exposed railings around the station area, three secure bicycle lockers are provided at the North end of the platform, which require a 'BLUC' key for use.
Service Enhancement
From December 2010, the service to/from Rose Hill was increased from 1 to 2 trains per hour. This was achieved by diverting the xx23 Manchester Piccadilly to Marple fast service and the xx52 return working.Future
As part of Manchester's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF)Transport Innovation Fund (TIF)
The Transport Innovation Fund was a transport funding mechanism in England, that has been replaced by the Urban Challenge Fund in March 2010. Its creation was announced by Her Majesty's Government in the July 2004 White Paper, ’The Future of Transport’...
bid, which would have seen a weekday peak time congestion charge
Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund (TiF)
The Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund was a failed bid by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority and Association of Greater Manchester Authorities to secure £1.5 billion from the Transport Innovation Fund , a major public transport funding mechanism in England, for the...
introduced on roads into the city centre, Rose Hill was among the stations listed to receive station improvements and improved services from the proposed £3bn injection into the region's public transport. This scheme is unlikely to proceed after the plans were rejected substantially in a public referendum in December 2008.
Rose Hill has been touted as a suitable terminus for a new Metrolink
Manchester Metrolink
Metrolink is a light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. It consists of four lines which converge in Manchester city centre and terminate in Bury, Altrincham, Eccles and Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The system is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester and operated under contract by RATP Group...
tram service to the area, with possible routes being either a simple conversion of the existing line to Manchester or a new link into Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
town centre via Bredbury and Portwood. The latter would provide an Eastern extension from the proposed Western link into Stockport town centre from Didsbury
Didsbury
Didsbury is a suburban area of the City of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre, in the southern half of the Greater Manchester Urban Area...
, linking together many towns in the borough along the Goyt and Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
rivers. Despite heavy road traffic from private cars and buses, the local centres of Marple, Romiley and Bredbury have not been linked to their borough centre of Stockport by a direct rail route since 1982.
External links
- Episode 4 of Beeching's Tracks broadcast on BBC FourBBC FourBBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
on 11 December 2008