Keeping track of rare sight at Cheadle Heath station
RAIL enthusiasts who were on their guard were able to get a rare glimpse of a passenger train passing through the former Cheadle Heath station.
A weekend excursion from Liverpool to Scarborough came through the area after a late change in route to avoid problems at Manchester’s Victoria Station.
The Cheadle Heath station closed in 1966 and now there can be several years between sightings of such carriages on the line.
But some enthusiasts were aware of the altered route and were there to see the moment for themselves.
Melvin Thorley, from Offerton, said: “We used to get similar trains through every Saturday in the Summer, and we waved to families from Sheffield, Leicester and Derby on their way to Blackpool and North Wales.
“Then we waved again the week after as they returned home a little more tanned.
“The Leicester trains were booked to pass each other in our area, and sometimes they got to wave to each other. They were happy, innocent days.
“It is very rare to get a passenger train on this line. Sometimes we go three years without even one. I never miss one.”
The 50th anniversary of the stations closure will be New Year’s Eve this year.
The line was built in 1902 by Midland Railway so express trains could avoid the slow route through Tiviot Dale, a station that has also long since shut.