Quite a lot for a station with no facilities, nothing more than 2 passenger shelters and a ticket machine. You may have heard of ”Patricroft Sheds”, the old locomotive depot, closed in 1968, spelling the end of the Station Building, old stables and all the infrastructure that went with it.
Patricroft Station struggled on through the next 4 decades, an off-putting place to wait for a train or live next to.
In 2009 a group of local people set up Friends of Patricroft Station with the aim of improving the surroundings and the rail service. We meet on the 3rd Sunday of every month to work on the forecourt garden and the platform planters, and we pick an awful lot of litter from the station and surrounding area, some 51 bags during the Big Spring Clean earlier this year. We’ve brightened the place up with artwork and murals, and we work with our Friends at Eccles Station on local history projects and ongoing campaigns to improve the rail service. Since we were formed the station has become a much better environment to wait for a train with CCTV, help points, station announcements and modern shelters with real-time train updates. The trains themselves are modern electric units operating seven days a week.
We’ve had a lot of help from Manchester Hong Kong Volunteers over the past year or so. They’ve been brilliant, and we’ve made some real friendships between our two groups, along with some trips to our local, The Queens Arms. A lovely place to go for a drink and some Japanese style food.
We know that there is still a lot to do. The train service is still only once an hour, and the access to the platforms is poor. Along with Friends of Eccles Station we are getting involved with planning the “All Aboard” project which celebrates the 200th Anniversary of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway in September 2030. This is a big national project: passenger railways started here, in Patricroft and Eccles. A world first at the end of the street – quite literally!
Want to find out more or come along and join us?
Third Sunday of the month at 11am, Patricroft Station forecourt, Green Lane, Patricroft, Eccles. M30 0GX
You can contact us through our website
https://patricroft.info
