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On Saturday 28th January all trains through Stockport will be replaced by buses except a half-hourly shuttle from platform 3a to and from Manchester. Trains will be running between Hazel Grove and Buxton. Buses will call at the stops by Cale Green Park gates or the one at Davenport Park entrance. On Sunday there are no trains at all at Stockport, every line will be 'bustituted' but Hazel Grove - Buxton trains will operate. Check with Northern's website for times and details and possible changes. 1st and 3rd February are strike days - no Northern trains will run. 2nd and 4th may be affected as well.
A timetable for 28-29 January can be found here. There are some very long waits between trains and buses - half an hour at Stockport between terminating trains from Manchester to bus departures on Saturday.
25 January 2023
The last day of operation of newly-built Class 331 electric trains on 10 December, and with them the through service to Blackpool was a cold and bleak day. Travellers on Monday 12 December, the last day before the strikes, were packed in to two-coach diesels running half-hourly and terminating at Piccadilly.
Thursday 15 December is not a strike day, but there won't be any trains at Davenport as Northern say it would be too difficult to arrange.
13 December 2022
Guide
to train services over Christmas
There will be no trains on the following days, due to strike action, unless things change:
Tuesday 13 December
Wednesday 14 December
Update: Most Northern trains, including the Davenport
service, will also be cancelled on 15 December although
it is not a strike day and other companies will be
operating.
Friday 16 December
Saturday 17 December
Tuesday 3 January
Wednesday 4 January
Friday 6 January
Saturday 7 January
There is also an 'overtime ban' between 18 December and 2
January which will cause cancellations, especially on
Sundays.
On New Years Eve, services will end around 9pm, and as
usual there are no trains on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.
A new timetable starts on 12 December: Weekdays
there will be two trains per hour on our line, with a
couple of peak time extras Monday - Friday, but all
trains on our line (and also on the Crewe and Macclesfield
lines) will terminate at Manchester Piccadilly.
Passengers to Oxford Rd, Salford Crescent and beyond will
have to change at Piccadilly. Sundays remain a hourly
service.
Update 13 December 2022
Booking office
closure?
Northern Railway is owned and funded by the Department of
Transport, and there are signs that there will be pressures
on the management to reduce costs. One option which is being
considered is to remove the staff from small stations, such
as Davenport. It is claimed that a combination of ticket
machines and internet devices can effectively replace
booking office staff. This is partly the cause of the recent
series of strikes.Stockport Council have written to the Department of Transport regarding this, and received a letter which you can read on this link. They say the planned 'overhaul' will simplify ticketing, but 'No currently staffed station will be unstaffed as a result of any reform.' However, they go on to say a railway company wants to close a ticket office, they can so so, and any proposal must be advertised to users and if passengers have any objections these can be raised via the passenger bodies (Transport Focus and London Travel Watch) for consideration.
The current ticket vending machines are currently unable to sell tickets of some types, such as Bus and Train Rovers, Wayfarers, and buying tickets online is not for everyone.
No such notice has been given at present, so we have to wait and see. We understand that already staff at small stations can no longer issue cheaper 'advanced' tickets, which is likely to reduce revenue and assist the case for closure.
20 November 2022
The little white bus
Starting on 30 October, the weekday daytime runs of the
374 (Stockport - Torkington via Davenport) bus has been
contracted to a small company called 'Nexus Move' using a
white-painted 'large minibus', with some timetable
alterations. (Stagecoach still work the evening and Sunday
journeys). Once an hour from 06:00 to 18:00 it
starts at Stockport and makes its meandering way via
Adswood, Davenport station, North Park Road, New House
Farm, Bramhall Green, and the Five Ways and Hazel Grove
station to the Torkington estate (51 minutes later) and
back the same way. The new £2 fare still applies, but
weekly tickets, etc. issued by Stagecoach won't be
accepted.
The route, which was altered a couple of years ago when
the 309/310 service was cancelled, remains inconvenient
for Davenport residents, as it omits the Bramhall Lane
shopping area and no longer offers a direct link with
Cheadle. There's a timetable with the route
plan here.
04 November 2022
Timetable from December 2022
The details of the December 2022 (and onward) timetable are now available, and as expected, the service at Davenport, along with Stockport, Cheadle Hulme, Heaton Chapel and Levenshulme has been radically altered, supposedly to reduce congestion at Slade Lane Junction and at Piccadilly. This has been imposed by Network Rail despite protests by Friends Groups, Transport for Greater Manchester, Stockport councillors, and local members of Parliament.
We will no longer have the through trains to Blackpool currently worked by modern Class 331 electric trains. These will serve the Airport instead. All Northern Trains services from south of Manchester will terminate at Manchester Piccadilly, meaning that passengers for Oxford Road, Deansgate, Salford Crescent, Bolton and beyond will have to cross the bridge at Piccadilly to the often crowded Platform 14, to catch a train from the Airport to Blackpool which will depart 15 minutes later.
All trains serving Davenport will be operated by the old diesel trains that ply the Buxton service, except that there will be two additional services between Piccadilly and Hazel Grove in the morning and evening peak times, which will probably see the Class 323 electric units which are 'only' 30 years old. An earlier plan had these peak-time services extended through to Wigan, but this has been dropped and they will terminate/start at Piccadilly.
A small improvement is that our two trains per hour (remember when we had three?) will run on a more even half-hourly pattern in both directions. Sunday service will be hourly between Buxton and Piccadilly, which is clearly inadequate in today's world, but there is still no movement towards Sundays becoming part of the working week for train crews, rather that the present dependence on voluntary overtime.
The 'Windsor Link' line, completed in 1989, was specifically created to provide a link across the city for passengers from the South.
20 September 2022
Take a seat
Thanks to access-for-all 'small projects' funding from
the Government Transport for Greater Manchester new seats
have been installed on the Manchester-bound platform to
replace the 1970s versions which were too low and with no
arms to help with getting up. This was suggested by the
Friends of Davenport Station. (Now we need to to
clean the wall!)
The 'rest seat' on the car park slope was an idea by the
TfGM staff, combined with new handrails. Also new is the
flower planter, which will be maintained by Davenport
Guides.
16 August 2022
More strikes (Updated)
Sadly, there has been little or no progress in the 'talks'
about pay between Northern Trains and the RMT trade
union, so there will be two more one-day strikes on 18
and 20 August meaning no trains running in our area except a
Liverpool - Airport - Alderley Edge via Styal service.
Northern's information is
here. The Government is still insisting that this is a
matter for the Railway Companies' management, even though
both Northern Trains and Network Rail are now state-owned.22 July 2022 (update 16 August)
Station news
This month should see contractors working on the station
to replace the 1970s -style seats on the
Manchester-bound with seats similar to the ones on the
other side, with arms to assist people to get up. Also
there will be work on the car park ramp, including a bench
for people to rest part of the way up. These projects are
funded by a 'small works' fund awarded to Transport for
Greater Manchester. (The new seats were our suggestion.) A
much larger set of improvements including lifts to each
platform, has been designed in detail and awaits further
funding from the Government's 'Access for All' fund.
01 July 2022
Station 'Moving'
01 July 2022
Strike information from Northern
Letter from the Regional Stakeholder Manager:
'I'm writing to let you know that, from later today, we're updating our website and customer message to advise customers not to travel from 21 to 26 June.
'Our ability to run services on strike days is severely limited, and the timing of the strike action - on 21, 23 and 25 June - will also significantly impact the days either side. To put it into context, one day of strike action will have a knock-on impact of up to 48 hours because of shift patterns and the complexity of our network.
'Because of this, the simplest and clearest message to customers is not to travel and to find alternative means of transport where possible. We're continuing to work with industry partners on the days in between strikes, and we'll keep you updated if anything changes.
'Due to availability and the sheer scale of disruption across the country, we won't be able to operate replacement bus services during strike action.'
10 June 2022
Timetable
Change and discussion
Timetables changed across the country from 15 May, although the 'temporary' timetable on our line has become permanent until at least October, probably December. There are still no paper timetable leaflets available, or posters at the station, but you can download copies - including a 'print-friendly version' from the advert-ridden Northern website (our line is timetable no. N20).
As so often, the tables contain unnecessary computer-generated quirks, such as separate columns for Monday-Friday and Saturday times, even though they are different by just one or two minutes. The service itself is still far from satisfactory, espcially the long gap in trains to Manchester between 08:17 and 09:07. The 07:34 from Buxton to Manchester which is currently calling at Davenport and Woodsmoor will cease to do so in July, thus leaving a one-hour gap between 08:06 and 09:07. Peak-time fares are being charged for a service worse than in the off-peak.
The late-evening service from Manchester is also poor, with no departures from Piccadilly between 22:10 and 23:24 except on Saturdays when the 23:07, which doesn't stop here Monday-Friday, does call, whilst the 23:24 Manchester - Hazel Grove does not run on Saturdays.
The timing of weekday Manchester - Buxton trains can catch you out: departure times from Manchester Piccadilly vary from a so-called 'clock-face' arrangement. In the morning and evening they depart Piccadilly at xx:24, whilst in the middle of the day (from 10:08) it's xx:08. There's a 16:08 and also a 16:24! Don't ask us why. The Blackpool - Hazel Grove trains depart Piccadilly at xx:47 through out the day until the last one of the day at 21:44.
Other traps from the unwary: Most Buxton - Manchester trains do not call at Heaton Chapel, although they do serve Levenshulme. Manchester - Buxton trains mostly stop at both. Hazel Grove - Blackpool trains call at Deansgate, but don't in the other direction except at 16:40, 17:39 and 18:40. Irritating, as Deansgate is useful for Metrolink connections to/from the East Disbury and Airport routes which don't serve Piccadilly.
Sunday services remain hourly, with the same irritating gaps in the service to Middlewood on a day when many would wish to visit the Middlewood Way.
Why these deficiencies? Well, take your pick between Pandemic-related staff shortages, 'industrial' unrest, or cuts imposed by the Department of Transport to save money.
18 May 2022
Website news
We have a New Local History feature covering the lost villa 'Highfield' and what happened to its estate in the Beechfield Road area.
21 April 2022
Station news and Ticket update
Following a meeting with our local manager, Manchester
Central Zone does now appear on the 'Quick Ticket' list.
Apparently this list is updated automatically according to
the number of tickets bought, so let's hope it stays
there. Curiously, Chinley also appears on the list: at
present there is no direct service from here, and just
four per day from Stockport. Otherwise it is necessary to
travel via Manchester or walk across New Mills.
In other news: a planter has been ordered for the
Manchester-bound platform, which will be tended by
Davenport Guides; this should brighten-up the station
somewhat. Meanwhile we intend to re-plant the
traditional garden area on the other platform. Watch this
space...
A submission has been made by Transport for Greater
Manchester to the Government under the 'Access for All'
scheme to provide lifts between the street and both
platforms. This would involve the removal of the stairs by
the booking office, and the excavation of the area between
the stairs and bridge on the other side. We'll write
more about this project if and when it is accepted.
21 April 2022
December 2022 timetable
Our MP Navendu Mishra has passed to us a letter he has
received from GM Mayor Andy Burnham, following our raising
with him the removal from December of through trains from
Davenport and other Stockport stations to and from points
beyond Manchester Piccadilly. You
can read it here.
Sadly there is no change to change to the December
timetable, which we are told will be the same as the
current one.
21 April 2022
Bus news
As from 24 April, the Stagecoach 374 bus service Stockport - Adswood - Davenport - New House Farm - Hazel Grove station - Torkington runs in the evenings and on Sundays as well on weekdays. Timetable here.
21 April 2022
Ticket Machine and timetable update
We observe that the ticket machines have had a software upgrade to make purchases of Duo tickets simpler. However, Manchester still does not appear on the 'quick tickets' screen, and when looking for Manchester you need to take care to select the 'Manchester Central Zone' option. Choosing 'Manchester Piccadilly' results in 'No tickets available.' We have reported this to Northern.
The out-of-date timetable posters have now been removed. The correct timetable can be downloaded from Northern's Timetable Page. The issue of printed versions has been suspended. We notice that the current calls at Woodsmoor and Davenport of the 07:35 from Buxton will cease from July, leaving us with an hour's gap in services to Manchester from 08:07 to 09:07. The reason given to us by Northern is that calling here tends to delay the following East Midlands Railway service by a short time causing Northern to be 'fined' according to the crazy rules of the privatised railway.
06 April 2022
White lines
A picture of the Peak Forest - Salford Hope Street stone train passing Davenport on 16 March. Notice anything different? Yes, the white lines on the platform edge, said to be compulsory on stations, have been restored, having been invisible for several years!
22 March 2020
Timetable posters
Passengers should note that, at the time of writing, the timetable posters on display at Buxton line stations are incorrect in the weekday listings, as they do not reflect some recent changes. Below are a few, which create long intervals between trains:The 07:35 Buxton - Manchester now does call at Woodsmoor (08:15) and Davenport (08:17). The next service from Davenport towards Manchester is at 09:07. Passengers from Buxton to Davenport who miss the 07:35 from Buxton must wait until the 09:02 from Buxton, arriving at 09:40.
In the afternoon, there is a train from Buxton to Manchester - out of the normal sequence presumably for the benefit of students - departing from Buxton at 15:34, calling at Davenport at 16:15. The next train from Buxton is at 16:58, calling at Davenport at 17:40.
There may be others that we haven't spotted, do check on-line before travelling. It appears that these timings, somewhat inconvenent for many travellers, continue into the Summer timetable.
17 March 2022
Duo Trouble
Northern have a scheme by which, outside 'peak times', if two adults are travelling together in both directions, the second person travels for half the normal return fare. (See their website). However, if you attempt to buy a 'Duo' using the self-service machine at the station, you may find yourself rather perplexed.We have prepared a short guide, with help from Northern's Twitter team, explaining how to find the Duo fare and showing how we finally managed it. It can be downloaded here. Good luck!
Incidentally, if you travel together more than a few times per year frequently, the national Two Together Railcard is an even cheaper solution: both of you get a 33% discount on all journeys outside the morning peak periods.
3 March 2022
Timetable Turmoil
Northern, despite their YouTube advert about 'welcoming you
back' are having trouble maintaining their service. Fot the
last few weeks a 'temporary timetable' has applied to our
line, said to be valid until 28 February. A feature of this
timetable is that the 07:35 Buxton - Manchester has been
calling usefully at Woodsmoor and Davenport (08:17),
something which we have repratedly told was 'not possible
for operational reasons'. However, on the down side, there
is no further train to Manchester until 09:07. Over the week
Monday - Friday ending 26 February the 08:17 from Davenport
as been has been reduced to two carriages once and cancelled
twice. We are now told that this reduced timetable, and those on other lines, will continue until May. Northern say:
To give our customers more certainty about their train service, with fewer short notice cancellations, it was agreed that the timetables currently in place will continue until May. I’ll be back in touch to talk about timetables from May soon. This is because of sustained pressure on our staffing levels for a number of reasons.We understand that the 'number of reasons' include the continuing issue regarding voluntary 'rest-day' working, which has been rumbling on since 'privatisation' in the 1990s, and continues now that the company has been re-nationalised. Sadly, it's vital to check your train online on this page or at www.journeycheck.com/northern/ on the day of travel. The planned can be downloaded from the Northern website.
Be aware that, at the time of writing this, the timetable poster displayed on the Manchester-bound platform is incorrect.
28 February 2022
Spring Bulbs
At least some of our bulbs escaped the recent destruction...
Accessibility
In recent months the inaccessabilty of the station by persons of restricted mobility has been out under a spotlight, along with many other Greater Manchester stations. The sad fact is due to the confined space in which it was built in Victorian times, and access by steps from the road overbridge, does not meet in any way the legal requirements. To rectify this situation would be very difficult, as the necessary ramps would need to be very long, and conflict with the current station structures.Our detailed report, as sent to local councillors in November 2021, is available on this link.
20 January 2022
Goodbye garden
Traditionally a small garden has been maintained on the Buxton-bound platform, and for some years we have tried to revive this in a small way, but due to the growth of Japanese Knotweed requiring drastic treatment, all has come to nothing, for the forseeable future, at least on this side of the station.
A look back at happier times. Above, 2016.
