On the 10.30 from Chorlton to Didsbury with tram stops at Withington and all points south

Waiting at East Didsbury

As historic journeys go I don’t suppose it ranks with the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 which inaugurated the first passenger railway in the world but the short tram trip from Chorlton to East Didsbury was quite something.

It was the first time in forty six years that the route had been travelled by passengers in receipt of a ticket and brought me closer to a little bit of our transport history.

The railway line was opened in 1880 and ran for 87 years until it was closed to passenger traffic in 1967.
And yesterday it was possible to travel again from Chorlton to Didsbury and beyond.

Of course the new service is a tram not a train and none of the Metro stops match exactly the sites of the old railway stations.

But there is something about doing the route again after forty six years and judging by the people on the tram I wasn’t alone in wanting to experience the journey.

More than half had come with cameras and busied themselves recording the trip while others spoke in hushed but excited tones of steam trains and the merits of one route over another.  And this was mid morning long after the press and important people had travelled the route and officially declared it open.

South from Central Station in 1947 from Mile By Mile

Now for me it was about recreating a little bit of that transport history but for most people it will just be a quick and straightforward way of getting into town and that is just as it should be.  After all back in 1880 people took the train for exactly the same reason.

The  trip from Chorlton into the heart of the city took just over ten minutes and like the tram it was a frequent service.

This I know because I have read my copy of Mile By Mile, "a detailed account of every mile of the journey” written in 1947 and recently reissued.*

But was something I forger to tell Phil and Janet who I have known for years and who like me were "off on a jolly" from Burton Road to Didsbury.

Both were full of what the route promised for nights in Chorlton along with visits to Jazz sessions in Didsbury.  Such is the tram.

Pictures; tram at East Didsbury from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the train route from Central Station south towards London from MILE BY MILE ON BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS, S.N.PIKE, published by Aurum Press Ltd, and original Mile by Mile on the L.M.S. 1947

*Mile By Mile, travelling our railways in 1947 http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/mile-by-mile-traveling-our-railways-in.html