Dream Tickets Awards honour our Stations and the Army of Volunteers who make them first class heads up the story of our 21st Awards Evening in the May 2024 edition of Cheshire Life and writes …

Cheshire Best Kept Stations marked 21 years of awards at an evening of celebration at the Grange Theatre in Hartford.

The event was attended by the Lord-Lieutenant of Cheshire Lady Alexis Redmond, mayors from the eight boroughs that constitute the former County of Cheshire, and town mayors and the awards were presented by Professor Paul Salveson, a leading figure in the community rail movement.

Click here to download and read the full story in this 5 page spread published in the May 2024 edition of Cheshire Life.

At the event we celebrated 21 years of Station Awards in Cheshire with the publication of as 28 page full colour booklet tracking its history narrated by our President John Hulme BEM.

In the booklet, Professor Paul Salveson MBE, the Founding Father of Community Rail writes:

Cheshire Best Kept Stations is something very special.  I’m amazed that it has been going so long – a wonderful achievement!   This booklet outlines the outstanding work that has been done over the years going back to its early days under the inspiring leadership of John Hulme BEM.  Mark Barker, a highly respected figure in the railway world, has picked up the baton and taken the awards in exciting directions, building on John’s pioneering work.

Very often station awards focus just on the gardens – and Cheshire has some superb examples.   But it’s great to see support for station staff as well as volunteers, at stations both big and small.   COVID could so easily have killed off so many community projects, but Cheshire Best Kept Stations has emerged with renewed vigour.

I often wonder why there are not more ‘regional’ community rail awards.  Cheshire has led the way and it would be good to see other counties or regions copying Cheshire’s example.  I hope this booklet will help spread the word and help inspire other parts of Britain – and who knows, even further afield.

Like the railways, Britain invented ‘community rail’ but it would be good to see it spreading.

With all good wishes for the next 21 years

Click here  to download and read the booklet

Click here to read about the winners of our 21st Anniversary Awards Evening on 12th March 2024

On 21st March 2023, Cheshire Best Kept Stations celebrated 21 years of Station Awards in Cheshire with the publication of as 28 page full colour booklet tracking its history narrated by our President John Hulme BEM.

In the booklet, Professor Paul Salveson MBE, the Founding Father of Community Rail writes:

Cheshire Best Kept Stations is something very special.  I’m amazed that it has been going so long – a wonderful achievement!   This booklet outlines the outstanding work that has been done over the years going back to its early days under the inspiring leadership of John Hulme BEM.  Mark Barker, a highly respected figure in the railway world, has picked up the baton and taken the awards in exciting directions, building on John’s pioneering work.

Very often station awards focus just on the gardens – and Cheshire has some superb examples.   But it’s great to see support for station staff as well as volunteers, at stations both big and small.   COVID could so easily have killed off so many community projects, but Cheshire Best Kept Stations has emerged with renewed vigour.

I often wonder why there are not more ‘regional’ community rail awards.  Cheshire has led the way and it would be good to see other counties or regions copying Cheshire’s example.  I hope this booklet will help spread the word and help inspire other parts of Britain – and who knows, even further afield.

Like the railways, Britain invented ‘community rail’ but it would be good to see it spreading.

With all good wishes for the next 21 years

Click here  to download and read the booklet

Handforth Town Council and the Friends of Handforth Station have installed a commemorative lectern to recognise a significant piece of Handforth’s history.

From the Second World War until the mid 1950s, trains delivered armoured fighting vehicles (tanks) to Handforth, which then trundled down Brereton Road to the Handforth Tank Repair Depot (near what is now Welland Road). Remains of the route used are still visible, with some of it known locally as “the tank track”.

Handforth Exchange Railway Sidings and their controlling signal box were constructed during the Second World War. These railway sidings and their signal box were located in the north of the village – between Handforth Station and the bridge carrying Stanley Road over the railway.

The Railway Sidings gave rise to two branch lines. One of these ran eastwards to service an RAF maintenance depot. The second, an army branch line, ran south to terminate in a dock at Hall Road. Tanks were brought by rail to the Hall Road dock, for driving down Brereton Road and onward to the tank repair depot.

The tank repair depot closed in late 1957 and the army branch line tracks were lifted in the 1970’s/1980’s.Thereafter the branch line route became known locally as “the tank track’’, but gradually deteriorated to become a muddy footpath through the woods.

Determined that the footpath should not deteriorate further, the chair of Handforth Town Council (HTC), Mrs Susan Moore, subsequently campaigned for the use of funds from the Jones Homes Sanctuary development to be used for the provision of (a) a weather-resistant surface for the “tank track” and (b) a pair of commemorative lecterns. Thanks to her efforts, the tank track was resurfaced in late 2023 and now provides a woodland path between Hall Road and Lower Meadow Road.

Under the guidance of their president, Mike Bishop, the Friends of Handforth Station (FoHS) provided the photographs and composed the text for the commemorative lecterns, the first of which was installed at the Hall Road end of the track on Thursday 22nd February.