At Chorlton Metro waiting to recreate a journey last done 44 years ago

Painting of tram leaving Chorlton for St Werburghs and south on to Didsbury,

          © Peter Topping 2013 

I shall be on one of the first trams from Chorlton to Didsbury today which I know marks me out as a little eccentric because it will be part of my continuing obsession with riding the lost railway lines of south Manchester.

Now the route from Chorlton to Didsbury was opened in 1880 and was part of the line that took you from Central Station, south to Buxton and on to Derby, Sheffield and London.  By 1900 over 200,000 tickets were sold from the station and a decade later Didsbury was served by 38 trains running south and 40 running north with a frequency of every ten minutes in  peak time.

Locomotive-45602 and train at Didsbury, 1954

So to travel along the line again will be like recreating a bit of our lost past.

But history rarely repeats itself in exactly the same way so while I can journey along the line I will not be able to alight at the old Didsbury Station which was opened on January 1st 1880 and closed on January 2nd 1967.

Instead the new metro station is a little to the east of the old station.

And if I wish I can travel on to East Didsbury or return stop by stop to Chorlton.  This will take me past the West Didsbury metro point which is close to the old Withington and West Didsbury station which was on the north east side of Lapwing Lane.

Didsbury Station, 1951

Originally it was called "Withington", then from 1884 "Withington and Albert Park", receiving its final name in 1915. All that remains is a boundary wall, by a block of flats Brankgate Court which were built on the site.

From there the tram will run through the new metro stops at Burton Road, and Withington before St Werburghs and Chorlton.

And at this point I sense that very soon the story will become a travelogue for the lost age of steam or an advert for Metro so time to close.  But for those who want to read more about the closed stations of south Manchester I recommend http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/

Pictures; painting of tram leaving Chorlton for St Werburghs and south  to Didsbury,© Peter Topping 2013 www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk and Didsbury Railway Station in 1951, m63442 and Locomotive-45602 and train heading north to Manchester in 1954, m63444, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council