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Beeston Castle

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frodshamfella

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I heard or read something some time ago about bringing this station on the Crewe to Chester line back. Has anyone else heard or know about this idea ? To me would seem a good thing to do considering there is no stops at all on this section of line, and a large area with no rail provision, plus quite a bit of new housing constructed in Tarporley area.
 
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Xenophon PCDGS

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Before the last General Election, the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Eddisbury constituency, Ian Priestner, was active in supporting such an idea.

At the General Election, he finished in fourth place, with only 9.1% of the vote on a turnout of 69%.
 

6Gman

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Before the last General Election, the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Eddisbury constituency, Ian Priestner, was active in supporting such an idea.

At the General Election, he finished in fourth place, with only 9.1% of the vote on a turnout of 69%.

A whole series of MPs, local authorities, councillors and candidates have argued for reopening over many years.

Personally I could see it working commercially but it would play havoc with the reliability of the Crewe-Chester shuttle, which - presumably - would be the service which would stop there.
 

frodshamfella

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Why would it cause havoc sorry I don't know about this, thinking one stop en route wouldn't add much time. Of course I don't use the Chester to Crewe shuttle, is it heavily used ? I've only been on it once and it was very quiet, so also thought a station a Beeston would generate some extra business.
 

The Planner

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Turnarounds arent the biggest at either end, sticking in 2 minutes on each journey makes it a bit wobbly.
 

6Gman

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Why would it cause havoc sorry I don't know about this, thinking one stop en route wouldn't add much time. Of course I don't use the Chester to Crewe shuttle, is it heavily used ? I've only been on it once and it was very quiet, so also thought a station a Beeston would generate some extra business.

"Would play havoc" is probably an overstatement on reflection, but given the existing turnrounds are around 8 and 12 minutes ...

The shuttle can be heavily used.
 

Polarbear

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Ideas for reopening the station at Beeston Castle & Tarporley have come & gone over the years.

A few years back, I was a member of the Cheshire CC public transport liaison committee & opening this station did get discussed occasionally. The perceived wisdom at the time was that there wasn't a financial case to do so & it wasn't progressed.

Since those days, traffic congestion has increased on the A51 (which also now has reduced speed limits for much of its length). Additionally, more houses have been built in both Tarporley and indeed opposite where any station would be sited. The only service that would call there however would be the Chester-Crewe shuttle as things stand & that could be problematic given its tight turn-around times. Maybe using 90mph stock (either a 158 or 175) would help matters though I acknowledge that would cause other problems.
 

30907

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I've only used the A49 past the station site so may be ignorant, and this is a genuine question not a put down. Where are the principal travel-to-work destinations from Tarporley? Is there enough Chester and Crewe traffic to make a new station pay?
 

Penmorfa

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I could see it being very popular with longer distance passengers avoiding the high car parking charges at Crewe and Chester, £9.00 and £6.20 respectively
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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I could see it being very popular with longer distance passengers avoiding the high car parking charges at Crewe and Chester, £9.00 and £6.20 respectively

What are the actual road distances from Tarporley to both Crewe and Chester? Do you envisage free car parking to be offered at a reopened Beeston Castle and Tarporley railway station?
 

edwin_m

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"Would play havoc" is probably an overstatement on reflection, but given the existing turnrounds are around 8 and 12 minutes ...

The shuttle can be heavily used.

Perhaps something that might happen with electrification, as the extra performance of an EMU would offset much of the station stop penalty.
 

frodshamfella

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I've only used the A49 past the station site so may be ignorant, and this is a genuine question not a put down. Where are the principal travel-to-work destinations from Tarporley? Is there enough Chester and Crewe traffic to make a new station pay?

Hi

Im not sure where people commute to mainly from the Tarporley area either. I know Chester traffic is pretty bad, I don't know about Crewe. It just seems a huge gap in the county with no station.
 

6Gman

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I've only used the A49 past the station site so may be ignorant, and this is a genuine question not a put down. Where are the principal travel-to-work destinations from Tarporley? Is there enough Chester and Crewe traffic to make a new station pay?

One problem is that, in the best tradition of the LNWR and its predecessor companies , neither Chester nor Crewe stations are well-sited!

Ironically there might be a better case for stopping the London trains there rather than the shuttle - plenty of First Class types living in Tarporley, Bunbury etc.
 
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Xenophon PCDGS

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One problem is that, in the best tradition of the LNWR, neither Chester nor Crewe stations are well-sited!

Chester station was built by the Chester and Holyhead Railway in 1844. That railway was not incorporated into the London and North Western Railway until 1st January 1859.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Ironically there might be a better case for stopping the London trains there rather than the shuttle - plenty of First Class types living in Tarporley, Bunbury etc.

If that be the case, what platform lengths would be envisaged?
 

snowball

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One problem is that, in the best tradition of the LNWR, neither Chester nor Crewe stations are well-sited!

Isn't it the case that there was next to nothing at Crewe before the railway? So it must be the town that's badly sited.
 

Polarbear

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What are the actual road distances from Tarporley to both Crewe and Chester? Do you envisage free car parking to be offered at a reopened Beeston Castle and Tarporley railway station?

It's around 11 miles from the site of Beeston Castle station to Chester, and about 15 miles to Crewe. I'm not sure about car parking charges but I would imagine there would be a charge of some sort.
 

frodshamfella

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I think there could be many passengers who now have to drive into Chester or Crewe from that area who would find it a lot easier to use a station in the Beeston area, particularly London passengers
 

Jona26

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Although I am in favour of station and line openings (and re-openings) where feasible and economic to do so, I imagine a major factor against re-opening here would be accessibility costs as the line and former station is on the top of a very high and steep sided embankment.
 

Peter Mugridge

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It would be very popular with people staying at the Wild Boar Hotel - the proposed station would be a couple of minutes walk away.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Can one draw a comparison with a suggested reopening of a station in the Garstang area to this one at Beeston Castle in terms of service disruption between two non-stop service running (Preston to Lancaster in comparison to Crewe to Chester) where both of those lines lost all their intermediate stations?
 

Peter Mugridge

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In the case of Beeston Castle, is there still an all day hourly shuttle diagram between Crewe and Chester? If so, that would probably be the logical one to have make the call - from memory of using it a few times in the past it was never caught up by any other service and adding a couple of minutes into it would leave the other services as they are.

Of course, this theory falls down a bit if the shuttle - if it still runs - is interwoven with all the other diagrams now instead of being a dedicated captive diagram...
 

absolutelymilk

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In the case of Beeston Castle, is there still an all day hourly shuttle diagram between Crewe and Chester? If so, that would probably be the logical one to have make the call - from memory of using it a few times in the past it was never caught up by any other service and adding a couple of minutes into it would leave the other services as they are.

Of course, this theory falls down a bit if the shuttle - if it still runs - is interwoven with all the other diagrams now instead of being a dedicated captive diagram...

It is still running, but as others have posted, it has quite a tight turnaround (8 and 12 minutes) so the time taken to stop at Beston would likely have a significant impact on punctuality. This could be avoided by using a faster DMU (or eventually an EMU once electrification is complete in say 15 years)
 

Bevan Price

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Tarporley has a population of 2600 and is about 2 miles from the station site. Too far for pedestrians to walk, and no bus services passing close to Beeston Castle station. Bunbury has a population of about 1300, and is also about 2 miles from the station site. No other significantly large populations in the area, so probably insufficient passenger demand to justify the cost of reopening (+ providing a car park).
 

exile

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Tarporley has a population of 2600 and is about 2 miles from the station site. Too far for pedestrians to walk, and no bus services passing close to Beeston Castle station. Bunbury has a population of about 1300, and is also about 2 miles from the station site. No other significantly large populations in the area, so probably insufficient passenger demand to justify the cost of reopening (+ providing a car park).

Beeston Castle itself is something of a tourist attraction and might attract day trippers from Chester.
 

fowler9

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It would be very popular with people staying at the Wild Boar Hotel - the proposed station would be a couple of minutes walk away.

My parents had their honeymoon at the Wild Boar Hotel. Not sure if the station would have made a difference since they drove but still just thought I would boar you with a pointless bit of info. :D
 

frodshamfella

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Tarporley has a population of 2600 and is about 2 miles from the station site. Too far for pedestrians to walk, and no bus services passing close to Beeston Castle station. Bunbury has a population of about 1300, and is also about 2 miles from the station site. No other significantly large populations in the area, so probably insufficient passenger demand to justify the cost of reopening (+ providing a car park).

I think if there was a station in the area, it wouldn't just be those two locations it would draw passengers from, public transport is pretty rubbish in rural Cheshire, bus services not being very numerous, so you have to drive. I think you would fine plenty of possible passengers who could be closer to Chester or Crewe would choose a station in between even if a bit further for them to drive, due to traffic congestion in Chester and Crewe. For example if you were going to London and had to get into Chester in the morning, to get to the station, the traffic is a nightmare. A possible Beeston Station today would have a wide catchment, it would of course need a decent car park.
 
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daodao

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Tarporley has a population of 2600 and is about 2 miles from the station site. Too far for pedestrians to walk, and no bus services passing close to Beeston Castle station. Bunbury has a population of about 1300, and is also about 2 miles from the station site. No other significantly large populations in the area, so probably insufficient passenger demand to justify the cost of reopening (+ providing a car park).

The old station site is somewhat distant from Tarporley and the rail line doesn't provide good access to the centres of Chester and Crewe (as the stations there are poorly sited for local travel), nor (unlike the no 84 bus) does it serve Nantwich. The surrounding area is sparsely populated and rural.

The former Cheshire CC commissioned a feasibility study on the re-opening of this station. The detailed report was published in 2006-7 and concluded that re-opening was not viable. I read the report online a few years ago, but it no longer appears to be available on the Internet, presumably as the Cheshire CC website is no longer accessible.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Beeston Castle itself is something of a tourist attraction and might attract day trippers from Chester.

I wonder what percentage of day trippers from the Chester region, wishing to make such a journey, would drive there direct from their home?

Incidentally, English Heritage admission charges at Beeston Castle are £6,30 for adults and £3.80 for children
 
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185

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This station would not just be about serving Tarporley or the Castle - the adjacent road used to be a lovely road, and is now often gridlocked in summertime with traffic heading into Chester. This would be an ideal site for a small station with an extensive car park built on the large scrapyard which can be relocated elsewhere. This could be built long before the electrification arrives.

I disagree with arguments regarding turnaround times - this should never stop progress of the railway, as that is something that could be ironed out in years to come as numbers grow and the project pays for itself. One issue that could be a problem is paths - however that stretch of line is not at saturation.
 

The Planner

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Except if the turnaround time is tight consistantly across the day it can be a performance risk and it is taken into consideration regardless of if there are paths. If it proves to be relaible then so be it.
 
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