Midland - Rose Hill review 1
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Rose Hill railway station |
17/1/09 Guide Bridge to Rose Hill
Class 142 Pacer 2-car DMU
Weather: sunny
Dept Guide Bridge: 10.46 Arrive Rose Hill: 11.05
Single track after Romiley
I go on the 10.16 train to Glossop/Hadfield and get off at Guide Bridge. GB has just two shelters on its two platforms and there is a red brick stn building on the left platform though that is separate from the platform. It is when I go upstairs and leave the stn that I am pleasantly surprised to see a nice red brick station building entrance. I get on the through train from MP to RH and there seems to be only one other passenger in the 2-car unit. We pull away and leave the line to Stalybridge on the left, where there are several sidings. We pass a signal box on our right and a line comes in on the left as we pass some more old sidings on the right. The line was once four lanes wide here and the original overhead gantries from the Woodhead days are still stranding, with two being used for the electric lines. There are factories on both sides here and we soon arrive e at Hyde Junction where we change lines and go off to the right pulling into Hyde North station almost immediately. It has two shelters - one green, one red, [plus the original footbridge, painted green and white. There are no longer platforms on the Glossop line. We leave and go into a cutting as our track curves to the right. It is two tracks all the way to Romiley from here. We pass a large factory on our left and terraced houses on the right, then new houses on the left as we go over the M60 motorway on a viaduct and then come into Hyde Central station. It looks like it was a much larger station, with quite long platforms, though it has just two shelters now and no station buildings. As we leave we pass a large factory building on the right with the words 1885 Joseph Adams & Co, though it looks derelict now. We enter another cutting, before passing woodland on the right, and then see some semi-detached houses on the left. We go into another cutting before passing another old mill on the right and then we stop at Woodley. It has a single red famed shelter on the left, but still has the original red bricked station building on the right. It has been done up as a private dwelling, though there are grills over the windows which face the platform. A single freight line then goes off to the right and we continue in a cutting, which then changes into an embankment. There is briefly a sloping hill on the left before we are joined by the Manchester to Sheffield mainline on the right. We pass more modern housing on both sides as we come into Romiley station. It has a signal box at the north end of the up platform and two original station buildings which are still in use as a station complete with waiting room and ticket office. We leave on an embankment with office buildings and then houses on the left and a factory on the right. After passing through a small cutting we are out in open countryside proper and have views of the Pennine hills on the left. We cross over the river Goyt on a high viaduct and have a small canal running parallel below us on the right. We change tracks and leave the mainline behind us on then left as we come onto the branch proper. We veer to the right in a deep cutting and the two tracks become one. The track is not welded here so it is quite bumpy and there is some woodland on the right. After less then a mile we come into Rose Hill station on time and the two of us (passengers) get off. It is a pleasant station with a single platform and a newish red brick station building, which is all shut up today, though presumably on weekdays is open. The train waits here for twenty-five minutes before going out again. Appearances can be deceptive because by the time the train leaves over twenty-five passengers are on it!
Summary: Although I thought that this line would seem to be not much used, the return journey showed me otherwise, so presumably this line is used by plenty of commuters during the week. MC