Half a century since railway station closure
THIS week marked 50 years to the day since the closure of both the Macclesfield to Rose Hill train line and Bollington station.
The service between the two destinations, that went through Bollington, ceased to operate on January 3, 1970.
It had run for more than a century, having been opened in 1869 in a joint venture between Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and North Staffordshire Railway.
Edwin Bowlas, now 87, was the man who drove the very last train to run on the line having worked on it from 1966 until its closure.
He said: “I quite enjoyed it, it was a journey worth doing rather than small back and forward ones. It was well used by schoolchildren I used to take a full eight cars back to Rose Hill. A lot of women with prams would get on at Bollington and go to Macclesfield.
“There was quite an outcry when it closed, especially in Bollington. It wasn’t nice to drive the last one as it was very sad.”
Edwin, who lives in Cheadle, then worked on other routes out of Guide Bridge station and then Manchester Victoria before retiring in 1993.
Aside from peak times, such as school journeys, the service - which ran Monday to Saturday - had two carriages.
Another train that used the line - although some decades earlier - was the quirky Bollington Bug, which could take up to 50 passengers to the then Macclesfield Central Station.
The 150th anniversary of the opening of the railway line was celebrated last year and as a result the 2019 Bollington Festival had a railway theme.
Author and historian Basil Jeuda also published a book to mark the milestone - Macclesfield,
Bollington and Marple Railway, 150th Anniversary, 1869-2019.
He said: “A whole generation, or two, of local people have grown up in this area with little or no knowledge of the railway’s origins, existence, and importance.”