Inside UK’s loneliest station where 54 passengers a year have to hail train like a bus… and wait a WEEK if they miss it
A PASSENGER walks to the end of the platform and puts his hand out to flag down the ‘Denton Flyer’ as it comes into Britain’s least used railway station.
Just one train service runs a week run through the eerily quiet station in Denton, Greater Manchester, on Saturday morning.
Rail enthusiasts call it a ‘ghost station’ and it has gained cult status as the train has to be flagged down before it will stop.
Over the last year, just 54 passengers were recorded using the station, which is hidden by a slip road onto the M67 motorway.
It is a sharp spike in popularity from the year before, when it welcomed just 34 travellers, according to statistics released this week by the Office of Rail and Road.
When we visit the station on a recent Saturday, the 8.42am train is about to get unusually busy – with two passengers.
The train guard jokes that this morning is “rush hour” as Derek Lack, 73, waves down the train to make sure it stops.
The pensioner has walked two miles from his home in Denton to reach the station.
He said: “I’m of the view that if you don’t use it you lose it so that’s why I’ve come.
“Mind you, it’s not that reliable.
“I came the other week and it just didn’t turn up.
“I do wish they’d run more trains as it would be very handy.”
Leaning out of one of two carriages as the train pulls into Denton, guard Darren Scholes, 51, said: “This is a busy day – there’s not often this many here.
“We do get the odd rail enthusiasts mind. I love working this route as it’s so unusual.”
Man on a mission
The second passenger has put in a considerable effort to catch the train, nicknamed the Denton Flyer, as it slowly meanders from a station in the foothills of the Pennines to Stockport.
Charity manager Mark Morton, 51, left his home in Bradford, West Yorks, at 6.30am to make sure he was on time.
Mark is a rail enthusiast who is on a mission to visit everyone of Britain’s 2,600 rail stations.
Denton is about number 500 for him.
Top 5 least used stations in Great Britain
1. Denton, Greater Manchester – 54 passengers a year
2. Shippea Hill, Cambridgeshire – 70 passengers a year
3. Ince and Elton, Cheshire – 86 passengers a year
4. Polesworth, Warwickshire – 118 passengers a year
5. Reddish South, Greater Manchester – 128 passengers a year
He said: “This is probably the most unusual station I’ve visited.
“It feels pretty eerie as it’s so deserted and feels really lonely even though we’re near Manchester.
“I’ve been to a few station in Devon and they really are in the middle of nowhere.
“But this is just really unique and I really wanted to tick Denton off as it’s so quiet and is a real catch.”
He added: “I travel a lot through my work and so I try and visit a train wherever I can.
“I’m going to get off at the next station and then catch the train back so I’ll have two new ones this morning.”
UK’s quietest station
The Office of Rail and Road said there were only 54 recorded journeys between April 2023 and March 2024, at Denton, making it the quietest station in the country.
The two-platform station is maintained by Northern Rail and has no staff and no ticket office.
Its hidden away location, next to a Sainsbury’s, and by a motorway makes access difficult and is two miles from Denton itself.
Some locals of the town, which has a population of more than 150,000, do not even know it’s there.
Student Tom Wright, 18, said: “I didn’t know there was a station. I’ve never seem it and don’t know anyone who’s used it.
“I catch the bus.”
Why station won’t close
The lonely station hosts the single train to Stockport at 8.42am on Saturday. The train then turns around and comes back towards the hills in Stalybridge.
The weekly train is what is known as a parliamentary service. It would be more expensive to close down the station so it is cheaper to just run one train service a week, which stops it having to be closed down.
Campaigners want to revitalise the station and would like a regular service to run into Manchester Victoria, which is next door to Manchester Arena.
However, a sign by the entrance to the station warns that Friends of Denton Station have had to suspend their group activities “due to circumstances beyond their control”.
Campaigners have now migrated to the Friends of Reddish South Station, who want to revitalise both stations.
This is probably the most unusual station I’ve visited. It feels pretty eerie as it’s so deserted and feels really lonely
Train enthusiast Mark Morton
David Ashworth’s brother Peter used to work as a porter at Denton station when it had two four lines and two platforms.
The retired airport security officer, 75, said: “He loved working here and was here for years.
“Sadly he also got badly injured. We think he got hit by a train as he walked down towards a signal box.
“He was found lying by the tracks. He recovered but that was him done working on the railways as he was too badly hurt.”
He added: “It’s sad to see the place like this as it could be so much more.
“But it’s all about money.”
Manchester United fan Alan Burrows, 64, said: “I go to Old Trafford to watch games but I can’t get the train, which is sad.
“I have to drive and get the tram. I just can’t get a train from here as there aren’t any.
“It’s a crying shame. If I could get a train into Manchester Victoria from here then it would be easier to get to the football.
“It’s would be the same for people going to watch Man City or Stockport County.”
Top 5 most used stations in Great Britain
1. London Liverpool Street – 94.5m passengers a year
2. London Paddington 66.9m passengers a year
3. Tottenham Court Road 64.2m passengers a year
4. London Waterloo 62.5m passengers a year
5. Stratford (London) 56.6m passengers a year
Their fellow campaigner Noel Henry, 63, said: “We believe we have the population here to merit more trains.
“University students have told us they’d use it and it would make sense to run into Manchester Victoria.
“We also have the backing of local MPs.”
The morning 8.42am service had just one passenger already on board as it slowed into Denton station.
Rail fan Mark stopped as he posed for a photograph by the train door.
Eager to get on board before the door closed, he joked: “I’d better get on – I’d have to wait a week if I miss it.”