A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 8 ........... catching the tram*

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

Now the caption gives a date of 1937, but the flats in the distance are Parrs Wood Court, which were built in 1939 and opened for sale in the following year.

That said it perfectly records a Parrs Wood in a more gentle and less busy time.

Location East Didsbury

Picture; Parrs Wood Terminus, circa 1939, from the collection of Allan Brown


*The history of Didsbury in 20 objects, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-history-of-didsbury-in-just-20_18.html

Stories from a Didsbury picture ….. no 4 …. a railway ticket, a trail .... and the tram

Of all the images Andrew shared with me as part of the picture challenge, this in some ways is my favourite.

A tram, a trail, and the ghost of the railway, 2013

Here is the newly opened Metro link, which follows the route of the old railway line and offers up access to the TransPennine Trail.

So in one one spot we have a shed load of Didsbury’s history.

The railway line dates from 1880, and ran from Central Railway Station out to Didsbury and on via Heaton Mersey, Cheadle Heath and Hazel Grove to Derbyshire and finally London.

Sadly, it closed for passenger traffic in 1967, followed two years later by freight trains, and the track was lifted in 1970.  The railway station lingered on till 1981 when it was demolished for the present small shopping precinct.

And at this point the purists will point out that the station was not here, where Andrew took the picture.

But I shall pass over that observation and record that when the railway station opened like others along to route back into town it proved very successful.  So that "by 1900 over 200, 000 passengers bookings per year were being made at Didsbury and the South District train service was running at a ten minute frequency during the busy time periods”.* 

Locomotive-45602 and train heading north to Manchester in 1954

And the introduction of a tram service using the old route has proved equally successful, even if at times those of us further down the line in Chorlton can sometimes find that there are no seats left when the East Didsbury service to  town rolls in.

Which I fully accept is a churlish observation, especially on a Didsbury story so I shall conclude with that reference to the TransPennine Trail, which “is an exciting route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders linking the North and Irish seas, passing through the Pennines, alongside rivers and canals and through some of the most historic towns and cities in the North of England.

The Trail from coast-to-coast between Southport and Hornsea is 215 miles (346km) long.

A north-south route connecting Leeds and Chesterfield, a spur to York and a spur to Kirkburton means there are approximately 370 miles (595km) of Trans Pennine Trail available to explore”.**

Didsbury Railway Station in 1951

And according to another source is the Trans Pennine Trail "is a long-distance path running from coast to coast across Northern England entirely on surfaced paths and using only gentle gradients (it runs largely along disused railway lines and canal towpaths). 

It forms part of European walking route E8 and is part of the National Cycle Network as Route 62 (referencing the M62 motorway which also crosses the Pennines).

Most of the surfaces and gradients make it a relatively easy trail, suitable for cyclists, pushchairs and wheelchair users. The section between Stockport and Barnsley is hilly, especially near Woodhead, and not all sections or barriers are accessible for users of wheelchairs or non-standard cycles. Some parts are also open to horse riding.

The trail is administered from a central office in Barnsley, which is responsible for promotion and allocation of funding. However, the twenty-seven local authorities whose areas the trail runs through are responsible for management of the trail within their boundaries. 

Didsbury railway ticket, date unknown 

The idea originated from Barnsley, where the head office is now based. Work on the trail started in 1999. Early development was boosted by a £5 million investment by the Millennium Commission. The trail was officially opened in September 2001. 

However, the route was not fully completed until late 2004. It cost £60 million to construct”.***

Which just leaves me to thank Andrew, and point out that no originality was damaged by my overuse of sources which I plundered for the story.

Andrew is the Labour Councillor for Didsbury East on Manchester City Council please contact me at cllr.a.simcock@manchester.gov.uk

Location; Didsbury

Pictures; The day the TransPennine Trail and Metrolink opened in May 2013 looking south east from Didsbury Station with the Sandhurst Road overbridge in the background, from the collection of Andrew Simcock,  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, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, and Didsbury Railway ticket, courtesy of Disused Stations, http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/d/didsbury/index.shtml

*Didsbury Railway Station, Disused Stations, http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/d/didsbury/index.shtml

** the TransPennine Trail, https://www.transpenninetrail.org.uk/?doing_wp_cron=1613039562.5268790721893310546875

***The TransPennine Trail, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Pennine_Trail

On Lapwing Lane …………before the end of the tram

This will be the last tram story for a while and having reflected a few days ago on the end of Manchester Corporation Tramways, I thought I would close with this one of car number 309 on the 41 route to Exchange.

I don’t have a date, but we are on Lapwing Lane in West Didsbury, with familiar set of buildings acting as a backdrop.

And if you wanted to be a little playful, creeping up behind our tram is one of the motorized buses which would ‘do’ for the tram.

Location; West Didsbury

Picture; West Didsbury, date unknown, from the collection of Allan Brown

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