Broxton railway station was a railway station that served the village of Broxton, Cheshire on the Whitchurch and Tattenhall Railway or Chester–Whitchurch Branch Line.
Localisation
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Opening
The station opened on 1 October 1872 when the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) opened the branch line between Whitchurch and Chester.
Description
It was located west of the crossroads in Broxton, effectively behind the Edgerton Arms Hotel, where Broxton Road crossed the railway on an overbridge, access was to the eastern side of the station from Broxton Road (now the A534). The station had two platforms, one each side of the running lines, the southbound platform had a two-storey stone building providing a booking office, waiting room and a house for the station master, a parcels shed was adjacent to the main building as well as a shed on staddle stones. The other platform had a wooden shelter. This platform was only accessible via a barrow crossing at the end of the platforms. There was a small goods yard with three sidings behind the main station building on the eastern side of the lines, access to it was from the south and was controlled by a small signal box. The goods yard was able to accommodate most types of goods including live stock and was equipped with a five ton crane. One siding led into a cattle dock with an end-on loading platform. A second siding ran into the centre of the yard where coal stages were provided and a third siding reached the eastern perimeter of the yard where there was a sizeable cheese warehouse, the property of Messrs. Bamber & Son. Special trains often became necessary for the transport of the large quantities of cheese produced, one such special occurred in 1907 when a grocer by the name of Edward Driver, with a chain of stores in West Yorkshire, purchased 50 tons of the local cheese and hired a special train for its conveyance. This train was highly decorated so as to gain the most possible publicity, bearing the title “Driver's Christmas Cheese Train”, utilising around 20 ventilated fruit vans for the purpose. The exercise was repeated in the following year, but does not seem to have been perpetuated thereafter.
Closure
The station closed to passengers on 16 September 1957 and to goods on 4 November 1963. After closure the entire station and goods yard were demolished and converted into Broxton Picnic Area. The humped-back overbridge has been demolished and the road improved.
Further reading
Oppitz, Leslie (2003). Lost railways of Cheshire. Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-85306-828-7. OCLC 55561927.