On leaving Didsbury Station with loco 45602 in 1954 and recreating the journey by tram 44 years later

The one I wrote in 2013.

I couldn’t resist another journey on the new tram from Chorlton to Didsbury Village.

Until last week no passengers had travelled the route for nearly half a century.  It had from 1880 taken people from Central Station south out through Chorlton and Didsbury on into Derbyshire.

But the service had closed in 1967 and we have had to wait till now to  do the journey again.

And in one of those classic then and now stories here is the  old Didsbury Station in 1954 as an express train pulled by Locomotive-45602 is passing through.  Michael Baxandale tell me that "the loco is the Stanier Jubilee 45602, British Honduras, 1935-1965, headed in the up direction, that is, south-east.  I (can just about) recall standing on the footbridge when a (steam-hauled) London express came through.  By the time they had reached Didsbury they were going at a hell of a pace.”

Didsbury Station was opened in the January of 1880 and by 1900 over 200,000 tickets were sold from the station while a decade later it was served by 38 trains running south and 40 running north with a frequency of every ten minutes in  peak time.

Now the new metro stop is a little to the south of the  station and lacks some of the elegance of the old place, but then when it comes to steam and railways I am a bit of a romantic.

A flaw which my mother was always quick to point out should be guarded against when it came steam engines, for as she often pointed out “they were smelly dirty and noisy” and woe betide anyone who had put their washing out on the line as an express train went past.  Romance and majesty might be the image as the locomotive swept past but the chances were it had left a calling card of soot on the white sheets.

So I shall just leave you with Peter Topping’s painting of the tram and the unromatic can reflect on the clean quiet journey to be had by tram number 3014 as it gets ready to leave for East Didsbury.

I on the other hand while I travel the Metro with pleasure will lament the loss of loco 45602 as it hauls its way north out of the station  accompanied by the sound and smell of steam doing it magical business.

Pictures: painting of tram at Didsbury Village © Peter Topping 2013 www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk and Locomotive-45602 and train heading north to Manchester in 1954, m63444, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

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

A little of Chorlton's railway history, something about Morrisons and the new tram line to Didsbury

Chorlton Railway Station, circa 1900

It is one of those sad facts that if you can remember travelling from Chorlton railway station into the heart of the city or out in to the Hope Valley you will be on the wrong side of 45.

Not of course that 45 is old but it is just about the length of time that we have been missing a fast rail connection to Manchester.

And before the purists object the last train ran in 1967 and the first tram in 2011 which if you have done the sums is 44 years and to my reckoning  is still  a big chunk of anyone’s time.

But because shunting engines and goods waggons are even less interesting I doubt that few now are bothered with the fact that running alongside Albany Road was Chorlton’s own depot for coal and anything else that could be delivered by rail.

Weighing machine and hut, circa 1910

Now that I think is sad, especially as during the 50s my old friend Oliver Bailey remembers walking the newly arrived pigs from the goods yard through the roads of Chorlton to the family farm on Sandy Lane.

And likewise Ida can tell me which coal merchant she was sent to when the coal bill needed paying.

At any one time from the end of the 19th century well into the 20th century there were four or five coal merchants operating from Albany Road site along with builders and nurserymen. In 1911 there were five of them working from the yard by the railway line along with J. Duckett & Sons, building merchants, and J. A. Bruce Alexander, nurseryman.

It closed in November 1964 although a private siding stayed open for a while.

But with the closure of the railway link it all came to an end.  The coal merchants went, the rail tracks were pulled up to be replaced by a small business park and  a supermarket.

All of which brings us pretty much up to today.  The business park is still there and so is the supermarket which is now owned by Morrisons.

Morrisons, 2013, © Peter Topping

And I rather like the idea that Morrison’s are on the site of our old railway station.

After all the company was founded by William Morrison in 1899 just under twenty years after the railway arrived.

It began as an egg and butter stall in Rawson Market, Bradford and grew from there.

For most of its trading history it was based in the north but its purchase of Safeway in 2004 not only allowed it to expand across the country but brought it here to Chorlton.

At Morrisons with a story

In turn it has asked to be part of the Chorlton History trail and you can see part one of the story of the site along with paintings by Peter Topping in the store.

This as many will know is part of the GLAD TO BE IN CHORLTON initiative which now has 12  venues where you can read more about the history of where we live and something special about each place.

And as if on queue this comes along side the exciting news that from May 23rd you will be able to head out from the metro station next to Morrisons south to Didsbury, calling at Withington, Burton Road, West Didsbury, Didsbury Village and East Didsbury.

Metro stop, Chorlton, 2013 © Peter Topping

This 4.4km (2.7 miles) extension to the existing South Manchester line has been finished several months ahead of schedule.

So there you have it. A little of our railway history, something about Morrisons and the new tram line to Didsbury.

Pictures; Chorlton Railway Station circa 1900, from the Lloyd Collection, Morrisons supermarket and tram,© Peter Topping 2013 www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

“No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat, At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street”

Loco 73000 at Chorlton in 1955

For just 87 years it was possible to catch the train from Chorlton and under 15 minutes arrive in the heart of the city.

And as a way of remembering those 87 years Roy Chapman will talk on “The Lost Railways of South Manchester” today at 1.30pm, at Wilbraham St Ninians Church, Chorlton.  The meeting is hosted by the History Group

I have always liked the idea of getting from Chorlton into town in a matter of minutes. It was what made where we live so attractive to the families of those who lived here in the years after the railway arrived.

For some it was the advantage of being able to travel home from the city centre for lunch and be back in time for the afternoon session.

The first tram through Chorlton, 2011, © Peter Topping

So the tram for me just ticked loads of boxes.

Not only is it quick but it recreates a little bit of how we used to live.

The new railway was so popular that during its first five years the number of season ticket holders rose from 200 to 600.

And the railway didn’t just mean passengers there was also the goods side.

Today on the site of Morrison’s and stretching down along Albany Road down to Buckingham Road were three railway tracks and the businesses which relied on the railway to bring the goods.

Of these coal was the most obvious. From here operated the coal merchants like Norman Bailey. More than one old friend remembers being sent down to pay for the order of coal.

And then there was also the livestock. The Bailey’s also had the farm at Park Bridge and brought their pigs from the station down to the farm well into the 1950s.

Now Peter’s painting of the tram brings back the excitement of travelling on the railway. Peter as you know paints the pictures and I add a story.

Regular service resumed, at the Metro Station in 2013, © Peter Topping

I always think it has a sleek look which is in contrast to the big powerful engines of steam.

And it was while I was thinking about a train story that I came across the 1955 picture of Loco Number 73000 passing through the station.

In the background is the station and the marshalling yards and beyond them Albany Road.

And now its the tram which has reawakened the old line and put to rest Slow Train that old Flanders and Swann song lamenting the loss of so many branch lines during the Beeching cuts. Written in 1963 it is as much a comment on the end of these railway lines as the passing of a way of life.

“No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat,
At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street”

Chorlton survived the cuts in 1963 only to close 4 years later and 44 years later it’s possible ride the line again. Not a bad way to close the story on Peter's painting.

Pictures; © Topping 2013 www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk & Loco Number 73000 passing through Chorlton Station, 1955, the Lloyd collection