Salt Works Railways - Winsford, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 12.598 W 002° 31.115
30U E 532150 N 5895735
This information board is one of a series along the footpath next to the River Weaver. The series is called History of Winsford Waterfront.
Waymark Code: WMW0Q0
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/23/2017
Views: 2
The area around Winsford has a long history of salt mining and trading. Completion of the River Weaver Navigation in 1734 provided a navigable route for transporting salt from Winsford, through Northwich, to Frodsham, where the Weaver joins the River Mersey.
As trade increased the Navigation was improved and further straightened a number of times. Many salt works were built along the river, but most of the east bank of the river has since been cleared and regenerated for leisure use. The information boards give details of the industry's history including a map and photographs of the area.
From the latter part of the 19th Century an extensive network of railways was built in the weaver Valley which gradually replaced river transport, bringing in coal and taking mainly white salt out. Winsford and Over Station was built to connect to the Manchester and Chester main line to transport salt. After public pressure it also provided a limited passenger service to Whitegate, Cuddington and beyond. Winsford and Wharton station provided an outlet first for white salt and latterly rock salt as well as a passenger service to Hartford and beyond. During this period Winsford had a total of three railway stations.
1 Winsford and Over Railway Station.
The railway linking Winsford to Cuddington and the Manchester to Chester line six miles away was opened in 1870 to serve the salt works on the West bank of the River Weaver. It also carried passengers until 1931 when it reverted to goods traffic until closure in 1967.
2 Winsford & Wharton Railway Station - Last passenger train 1947.
In 1882 the London North Western Railway opened a branch from the Crewe to Warrington main line to serve the salt works on the East bank of the river and create a goods and passenger station at the top of Wharton hill. Later and before its closure in 1982 the station was used to dispatch rock salt produced at the local mine.
3 Locomotive crossing an early and much narrower Bradford Road on to the ICI site at Meadowbank, pre-demolition of the first Vacuum Plant in the 1960s (The brick building in background). The building on the left was the Meadowbank Works Canteen, demolished in 2013. The path of the railway leading to the left now connects to the Whitegate Way.
4 The Meadowbank Works of the Salt Union between 1919 and 1932 looking north east, with the Cheshire Lines Committee tracks in the foreground. The tall building on the extreme right of the photo shows the corner of the first Vacuum Plant.