Suppose they built a railway and people forgot about it

Now it’s the station everyone gets wrong.

And I suppose I know why for today all that remains is a bit of the platform on the Fallowfield Loop Walk

But it was here that Muddy Waters, Cousin Joe Pleasant, Sister Rosetta Thorpe, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee performed on May 7 1964.

This was the Blues and Gospel train at Chorltonville which of course was really Wilbraham Road station which had once been Alexandra Park.

The station had opened as Alexandra Park on Sepetmber1 1891 and its name  was changed to Wilbraham Road eight months later to avoid confusion with a London station with a similiar name.

“The station was situated on the MSLR’ Fallowfield Loop line, a 7 mile double track route that linked the Midland Railway’s Manchester South District Line from a point just to the south of Chorlton-cum-Hardy to the MSL main line between Manchester and Sheffield at Fairfield. The reason for the line was to give the MLSR access to Manchester Central Station.”*

During the Great War it was where aircraft parts were unloaded to be reassembled at Alexandra Park Aerodrome.**

And that marks the station off as both a place in our history and of course the station many get wrong.

Ask most people about Granada’s Blues show on that rainy May evening and they will tell you it was at Chorlton Railway Station which would have been difficult given that trains still ran from Central through Chorlton and on to Stockport and Derbyshire.

Not so Wilbraham Road which closed for passenger traffic in 1958 and there I suspect is why history has forgotten the place.

Memories of boarding trains there will be fast fading and I doubt that there will be anyone today who can remember the aerodrome which closed in 1924.

But as Andy Robertson’s pictures show there is still something left.

Like him we have walked the Fallowfield Loop and gazed down at the old station master’s house and stood beside the platform.

I just wish I had been at the concert.

Pictures; Wilbraham Road Station, 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Disused Railway Stations, http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/w/wilbraham_road/index.shtml

Ghost stations …….. the one at Heatley

It’s easy to miss Heatley & Warburton Railway Station.

The Station house on Mill Lane long ago became a private residence, and the booking hall, tucked away behind it, is pretty much hidden by undergrowth.

That said, anyone walking the Trans Pennine Trail at Heatley will know the existence of both.

And I am guessing that is how Andy Robertson came to photograph the old buildings.

They once serviced the Warrington and Stockport Railway which was later taken over by the London North Western Railway.

It opened in 1853, and closed to passengers in 1962, before finally closing three years later, although the track was not lifted till 1988.

And for those who want the story of the railway station and the Warrington and Stockport Railway in more detail there is that excellent site Disused Stations, which I always refer back to when encountering a lost railway station.

Location; Heatley, Lymm

Pictures; Heatley & Warburton Railway Station, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Heatley & Warburton, Disused Stations, http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/heatley_and_warburton/index.shtml

That ghost railway station in Didsbury

Now you would be forgiven for missing the entrance to Withington and West Didsbury Railway Station.

But this little stretch of road off Lapwing Lane was the well beaten path to the train that took you into Central Station or off to the Peak District.

It opened on January 1st 1880 and was closed to passenger traffic in 1961.

And now the line is open again for business but instead of that steam loco it will be the tram that whisks you into the city or out to  East Didsbury.

Sadly East Didsbury is as far as you can go, and if you want that tram you will have to walk a bit further to the new metro stop.

All of which is a reminder of what you can discover if you go looking for it.

So a thank you to Andy Robertson who came up with the pictures and that wonderful site Disused Stations which has lots more information and pictures on the railway station which is no more.*

Pictures; off Lapwing Lane looking for a railway Station, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Disused Stations, http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/w/withington/index.shtml

Suppose they built a railway and people forgot about it

Now it’s the station everyone gets wrong.

And I suppose I know why for today all that remains is a bit of the platform on the Fallowfield Loop Walk

But it was here that Muddy Waters, Cousin Joe Pleasant, Sister Rosetta Thorpe, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee performed on May 7 1964.

This was the Blues and Gospel train at Chorltonville which of course was really Wilbraham Road station which had once been Alexandra Park.

The station had opened as Alexandra Park on Sepetmber1 1891 and its name  was changed to Wilbraham Road eight months later to avoid confusion with a London station with a similiar name.

“The station was situated on the MSLR’ Fallowfield Loop line, a 7 mile double track route that linked the Midland Railway’s Manchester South District Line from a point just to the south of Chorlton-cum-Hardy to the MSL main line between Manchester and Sheffield at Fairfield. The reason for the line was to give the MLSR access to Manchester Central Station.”*

During the Great War it was where aircraft parts were unloaded to be reassembled at Alexandra Park Aerodrome.**

And that marks the station off as both a place in our history and of course the station many get wrong.

Ask most people about Granada’s Blues show on that rainy May evening and they will tell you it was at Chorlton Railway Station which would have been difficult given that trains still ran from Central through Chorlton and on to Stockport and Derbyshire.

Not so Wilbraham Road which closed for passenger traffic in 1958 and there I suspect is why history has forgotten the place.

Memories of boarding trains there will be fast fading and I doubt that there will be anyone today who can remember the aerodrome which closed in 1924.

But as Andy Robertson’s pictures show there is still something left.

Like him we have walked the Fallowfield Loop and gazed down at the old station master’s house and stood beside the platform.

I just wish I had been at the concert.

Still there is always that wonderful site about our disused railway stations* which has the full story of the place along with posts on the aerodrome** and the Fallowfield Loop.***

Pictures; Wilbraham Road Station, 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson


*Disused Railway Stations, http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/w/wilbraham_road/index.shtml

**Alexandra Park Aerodrome,  http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Alexandra%20Park%20Aerodrome

***The Fallowfield Loop,http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Fallowfield%20Loop