Stockport : Stockport Railway Station

Well, where would we be without a little post about a railway station?

The first railway station in Stockport was at Heaton Norris, but it was a sub-optimal location and alongside the construction of the Stockport Viaduct, this became the next central station in 1844 when it was opened by the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. The company was taken over in 1846 by LNER and in 1865, the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway connected with the existing lines, solidifying Stockport’s importance as something of a railway hub. In the early 2000s, there was a construction project to modernise the whole arrangement which included the building of this glass-fronted extension.

A sign outside the station which notes that in June, July and August 1940, Stockport welcomed over 1,200 evacuees from the Channel Islands. The children were cared for by local families until the liberation in May 1945. The Channel Islands were the only occupied part of the British Isles and that was an enormous number of children for the local area to take. Most were integrated into the local education system, which caused some capacity issues to say the least. By all accounts, the local denizens did themselves proud with the support and generosity that they offered to the children. There were some localised issues and it became problematic when Manchester was bombed, but there have been long-standing connections between Stockport and the Channel Islands since this evacuation.

And the platforms. When I left Stockport I went via Crewe and London, because the direct train to Norwich is fiercely expensive and really not very good. There’s still quite a Victorian feel to the whole station and there’s a Platform 0 because it opened in 2008 and rather disturbed the numbering system.