Ashley Station serves a tiny village close to Macclesfield and Altrincham in the green rolling hills that separate Greater Manchester from Cheshire. Altrincham is a town in the metropolitan borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester. The area traditionally had its industry based in engineering but in recent decades this has fallen into decline to be replaced by light industry and commerce. The thriving shopping streets have also suffered since the building of the Trafford Centre, one of the largest shopping centres in Britain, just a few miles from Altrincham town.