The railway between Altrincham and Chester was opened in stages between 1862 and 1874. This section, from Northwich to Helsby, was promoted by the West Cheshire Railway company, but before the line was completed it became part of the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) in 1865. The CLC remained as a separate railway company until 1948 when it was nationalised and became part of British Railways.
The railway through Greenbank was authorised by an 1861 act of Parliament. Construction commenced in 1866, the line (from Northwich to Helsby) opening for goods traffic on the 1st of September 1869, and to passengers on the 22nd of June 1870. Passenger trains to Chester (Northgate) commenced in 1875.
Greenbank station was opened as ‘Hartford & Greenbank’, and remained so until 1973, when it was renamed ‘Greenbank’, although it seems to have been simply referred to as ‘Hartford’, or ‘Greenbank’ station by local people since opening. The other ‘Hartford’ station on the Crewe – Liverpool line was locally referred to as ‘Old Hartford’ station, it having been opened in 1837.
Hartford & Greenbank station c1905. The station master was obviously a keen Gardner, with trees and shrubs planted behind the platform fence, a flower bed next to the Chester bound waiting room, and the main station buildings being almost engulfed in ivy!
Some 25 years before this picture was taken, in May 1880, the then Greenbank station master, John Millington, was sentenced to ‘Three months hard labour’ for embezzlement after accepting payment for transporting goods from a farmer and keeping the money himself.
In April 1902 passengers and staff here were startled to see a rider-less racehorse run through the station. It had escaped onto the railway at Cuddington station and was only stopped, uninjured, when it reached Northwich station – a five mile gallop. Remarkably, just over two years later, in December 1904, in a scene straight out of the Wild West, an identical incident occurred, this time the runaway was horse pursued along the line from Cuddington by a groom on another horse. The groom was stopped by the Greenbank station staff, but the escaped horse ran on and was diverted by railway staff down the branch line to Winnington, where, exhausted, it was captured near to the Winnington Co-Operative’s coal siding, it also having escaped any serious injury.
In the 1920’s the CLC was concerned enough about the condition of the station bridge that heavy commercial vehicles using the station bridge, carrying the main Manchester-Chester road (A559), were the subject of prosecutions by the CLC police for exceeding the weight limit, which was displayed on notices at either end of the bridge. It was reported in 1927 that the bridge, dating from the lines opening in 1869, had developed a 1 ½ inch ‘sag’. With a 50% grant from the Ministry of Transport the bridge was rebuilt and widened in 1930.
Hartford & Greenbank station yard entrance 1927. In 1927 Northwich shipbuilders W.J. Yarwood & Sons purchased from Foden’s of Sandbach an ‘E Type’ 6 ton steam wagon for the collection and delivery of materials and products (castings etc.). With a stylish cab and bonnet, and some superb signwriting by Foden’s, the wagons certainly looked the part, but they were poor performers, with numerous complaints from owners regarding reliability, and consequently they had a poor sales record with just 43 wagons finding customers. Yarwood’s engineering excellence meant that they were probably able to keep this wagon on the road longer than many of the other operators, it being last taxed in 1934, but continued in use as the dockyard’s internal transport until 1936. In 1927 Yarwood’s, making use of a 10 ton steam waggon, dispatched from here by rail a ‘motor launch’ for work on the Thames.
Hartford & Greenbank station signal box, 1958. As well as controlling trains on the main line through the station, the signal box seen here also gave access to the goods yard and the branch line to Winnington. It was one of five signal boxes that controlled the Hartford area at this time. Signalman Alan Hayes is at the window. The goods yard is busy with coal wagons for the local coal merchants. The signal box opened in 1886, and closed, when new signalling was introduced in 1975. Manchester Locomotive Society.
Hartford East Junction, 7th of October 1948. Located at the bottom of Lower Darwin Street, Hartford East signal box controlled the junction for the ever busy branch to Winnington. On this fateful morning a misunderstanding between the driver of the locomotive seen lying on its side, and the signalman resulted in it colliding with a trainload of limestone destined for ICI. In the picture the two breakdown cranes, having already re-railed one of the locomotive tenders, are getting ready to re-rail the locomotives. T. Booth collection
