Volunteer at the multi award winning Goostrey station, in this Great Rail Tale Christina Burgess recalls work and roles that railway worker, Joseph Harrop had at the station and on the Crewe – Manchester Line over his half a century of service.

Telling Joseph’s story is part of a wider storytelling event at Goostrey station where friends of Goostrey Station worked with Goostrey Parish Archive to create eight metal boards which recorded the history of the station in text and images. They will be displayed on the platforms. 



The story starts with the early years after the station opened in 1891 through a time of dereliction at the end of the twentieth century to the restoration in 2019 of the remaining wooden station building so that it can be used as an art studio. 



As well as station buildings we included trains, signal boxes, sidings, railway cottages and former employees like Christopher Ashmore and Joseph Harrop (who both worked as porters and signalmen on the Crewe-Manchester line) and engineers like George Buck and Willam Baker (who master minded the Birmingham to Manchester railway).