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

When we had trains

It is one that has featured in most books, so I guess it is time I gave it a showing. 

Chorlton Railway Station opened in 1880 and made it possible to travel on one of fifty trains into and out of the city in just 15 minutes.

The degree of the railways success can be gauged by the huge increase in the number of season tickets which were issued during the first five years.  In January 1880 this had stood at 200 but by 1886 it had risen to 600.

You could work in the city but live on the edge of the countryside.

Locatio; Chorlton

Picture; from the Lloyd collection

Chorlton Railway Incidents ................... another story from Tony Goulding

As I was formerly employed by British Rail for more than a decade and am now in receipt of a railway pension I thought it time to pay a little homage to those far off tines when “Rail was King” 

Station Approach, 1960

Here then are a collection of stories connected to the railways in Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

Suicide
On the morning of Saturday 2nd. September, 1899 an unidentified man killed himself at Chorlton-cum-Hardy railway station.

As the 7-36 up train to Manchester approached the platform the man ran out from under the stair case and threw himself in front of the engine.

To the horror of the waiting passengers he was struck on the head and died shortly after being lifted from the track.

Another Suicide
On Sunday 10th January, 1909 another case of self-destruction occurred. This time it was a 33 year old shop assistant, Mary Jane Cockerill.   The unmarried Mary Jane lived with her widowed mother two sisters and a young brother at 87, Oswald Road. She reportedly had been ill for some time and apparently stepped in front of an express train near Chorlton-cum-Hardy’s station.

Accident and subsequent legal battle
Whilst attempting to alight from the 10-15 arrival at Chorlton-cum-Hardy station on 18th September, 1907 a lady named Hewitt was thrown onto the platform and injured.

After she had been awarded £40-00 compensation, at Salford County Court, the operating company

The Cheshire Lines Committee appealed to the Kings Bench Division, claiming they had not been negligent.

The case was heard on Wednesday 13th May, 1908 when the justices Darling and Phillimore reversed the judgement of the lower court. Evidence was presented that the passenger in question had been trying to leave the train before it had come to a halt.

Mysterious Fatality

Railway sidings, 1960

On Sunday evening 17th May, 1908 between 8-00 and 8-30 the body of a man, later identified by pawn tickets in his possession as a Mr. Parker, was discovered close to the railway line in Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

Despite an appalling injury to his head and the severing of both an arm and a leg the man was found alive.

He was rushed to the M.R.I. where he died shortly after admission.

 The two halves of the body of a man were discovered by a signalman of the Cheshire Lines Railway in the early morning of Thursday 14th November, 1918 on the rails under St. Werburgh’s Road Bridge.

At the St Werburgh's Railway Bridge, 2011

An inquest was held the following day when a verdict of suicide was recorded.

Owen James Brown was a watchmaker, aged 49, who resided at 77, Nicholas Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

A number of pawn tickets for watches with a variety of pawnbrokers appeared to indicate that his business was faltering. His daughter Dorothy also gave evidence that her father had been suffering with poor health for 3-4 months.

 Drunk and Disorderly Behaviour

Station Buildings, 1960

On 11th November, 1891 three intoxicated youths arrived at Chorlton-cum-Hardy station by the 19-27 train.

When asked to produce their tickets they initially refused to do so.

Subsequently, it transpired that one youth did not have a ticket and an escalating altercation took place over the sale/purchase or a ticket for him.

During this confrontation the young porter, William Ranson was assaulted and threatened sufficient for him to seek the shelter of the porter’s room.

The outcome was that the three youths, the Latham brothers William and Edward B. and their friend Walter Johnson were brought before the magistrates at the Manchester County Police Court the following month on charges of being drunk and disorderly.

Walter Johnson was also charged with the assault on the porter. At their trial it was stated that there had been an increase such activity and the Cheshire Lines Company asked that an example be made to show that abuse of their staff would not be tolerated. Especially important in the case of Chorlton-cum-Hardy as, only a month before this incident, there had been a renewal of the entire staff at the station.

The Railway Station from the air, 1926 

All three defendants were found guilty and fined 40/s + costs each Walter Johnson was additionally fined 21/s+costs on the assault charge.

To close an aerial view of the site in 1926: just because I think it is a great picture and was taken by the evocatively named “Imperial Aerial Photography Company’’

© Tony Goulding, 2016

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester


Pictures; Station Approach, 1960 A E Landers, m18313, Wilbraham Road, sidings, 1960, A E Landers, M 18314, Main Station Buildings, 1960, A E Landers, m18315, Chorlton railway station from the air, 1926 Imperial Airways Photo, m72049, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and Railway Bridge, 2011, REF:by@optimistontherun,2011/cc by-sa3.0,https/ Wiki-Commons

"The Lost Railways of South Manchester"

Now like many of my generation I have always had a fascination for railways and really for the time when they were given over to steam locomotives.*

Chorlton Railway Station, early 20th century

Even now that heady smell of steam, warm oil and smoke take me back to standing on platforms waiting for a train.

It was a love for all things steam that I shared with my father who could never quite accept that the old L.M.S and L.N.E.R had become a division of British Railways.

That said mother had a less romantic take on steam trains pointing out that if you lived close to a railway line the washing  dried with smudges of soot from passing locomotives.

Despite that jaundiced view I shall be going to the talk with Chorlton History Group on "The Lost Railways of South Manchester" by Roy Chapman which will at 1.30pm  today in the  St Ninian's Church, Egerton Road South,

“A lifelong railway enthusiast, Roy has contributed to transport
training material, is a co-author of three railway books, has contributed to a number of reports on transport issues, and is an occasional writer of journal articles on transport and business management. 

Roy is currently Rail Services Planning Officer at Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). 

In the talk he will focus on the growth and decline of the railway network around South Manchester.”

Bernard Leach

Picture; Chorlton Railway Station looking east, date unknown, from the collection of Tony Walker

*Chorlton Trains, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chorlton%20Trains

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

“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