Tales from the Ordsall Chord ...... part 1 ..... always plan the adventure

Now l have never been one to plan an adventure other than to pack a bottle of pop and assorted sandwiches.

And that was my undoing when l decided to take a trip on the Ordsall Chord which is of course the much hyped rail link between Piccadilly Railway Station and Victoria.

It should have been a breeze beginning with the tram from Chorlton to the railway station, which as everyone knows entailed changing at St Peter’s Square and then on the short trip across town to Victoria station, with an option on a return journey.

All seemed well, and just outside the metro stop at Castlefield Deansgate I got a fine picture of the new bridge away in the distance.

At which point I pondered on whether to alight at Castlefield and wander over to the railway station at Knott Mill, confident that this would be on the route between the two railways stations.

Alas the adventure was not to happen, because the service won’t start till later in December.

A lesson l think in forward planning.

But it did allow me a bit more time to admire the wonderful glass and iron roof at Piccadilly, so a trip not completely wasted.

And no sooner after the story went live Paul Sherlock commented that, "new timetables come into effect next weekend, so hopefully we'll see if anything is going across the link then. My understanding of the advanced hype is that it should be operative on 10th December. Meanwhile my carton of orange juice remains in the cupboard". 

And that also seems a plan.

Location; Manchester

Picture; the Ordsall Chord bridge, and Piccadilly Railway Station, 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

OK everyone you can come in again ............ Victoria Station and the new roof

It has been a long time coming but Victoria Station is open again and has a new roof.

Now of course it didn’t really close but for sometime trams never stopped there and much of the main station resembled a building site.

But as Andy Robertson’s pictures show its back in business and it is that roof which is looking impressive.

For as long as I can remember Victoria always seemed a second relation to Piccadilly despite that fine entrance.

And it all seems down to the Northern Hub which will offer new opportunities for train travellers.*

There is even a video which reveals just how our mainline stations will be transformed.**

It was first announced in 2009,  and is a series of upgrades which would cut journey times between cities in Northern England by alleviating the rail bottleneck through Manchester.

“Central to the project will be resolving the rail bottleneck through Manchester city centre to allow more routes, more capacity and quicker journey times across the Northern cities. 

Two new through platforms at Piccadilly will allow 14 trains per hour (up from 10 currently) through Manchester city centre allowing more routes and trains. 

Manchester Victoria station will be modernised as the east-west rail interchange in Northern England. 

Trains from the north east to Manchester Airport will use a new section of railway, the £85 million Ordsall Chord, between Manchester Victoria and Manchester Oxford Road to reach Manchester Piccadilly and continue to the Airport without reversing at Piccadilly and without conflicting movements at the station throat."** 

So there you have it, and if you haven’t been down yet Andy’s pictures should just be the incentive.
Of course work is still going on down there but I know where I will be going tomorrow.

Pictures; Victoria Station, February 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson

*The Northern Hub, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hub

**Watch: How Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations could look after £1bn redevelopment, Charlotte Cox, MEN, October 8 2014
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/watch-how-piccadilly-oxford-road-7898576

Down behind Piccadilly Station waiting for the Northern Hub ....... part 1 pubs, warehouses and rivers

Now I am pretty excited at what has become known as the Northern Hub and especially since the release of a short video on how it will transform some of our railway stations.*

It was first announced in 2009,  and is a series of upgrades which would cut journey times between cities in Northern England by alleviating the rail bottleneck through Manchester.

“Central to the project will be resolving the rail bottleneck through Manchester city centre to allow more routes, more capacity and quicker journey times across the Northern cities. 

Two new through platforms at Piccadilly will allow 14 trains per hour (up from 10 currently) through Manchester city centre allowing more routes and trains. 

Manchester Victoria station will be modernised as the east-west rail interchange in Northern England. 

Trains from the north east to Manchester Airport will use a new section of railway, the £85 million Ordsall Chord, between Manchester Victoria and Manchester Oxford Road to reach Manchester Piccadilly and continue to the Airport without reversing at Piccadilly and without conflicting movements at the station throat. 

Services from Liverpool to Leeds and beyond would be diverted from the Cheshire Lines route via Warrington Central and Manchester Piccadilly to the electrified line via Newton-le-Willows and Manchester Victoria.”**

And as work progresses at Victoria Station with a new roof, Andy Roberston headed off to wander the small streets behind Piccadilly Railway Station.

It is an area which like so many bits of the city is bringing brought into the 21st century with massive redevelopment.

I was  last there in the mid 1970s exploring the old stables by Mayfield Railway Station, the stump at the bottom of Stony Brew where my old colleague Norman played as a child in the 1930s along with that bit of the Canal where his dad had thrown him in so that he could start his first swimming lesson.

It was a place of warehouses, factories, and small terraced housing dominated by the canal and the railway.

And for Norman a place of vivid memories like the spot where a horse and cart crashed into a wall on Store Street as it lost its footing on that steep incline down Jackson Street affectionately known by many as Stony Brew.

So here in the first of a series are pictures by Andy of that area some of which will soon be lost for ever under the sweep of new development and the new build accompanying the Northern Hub.

Pictures; down by Fairfield Street and Mayfield, November 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Watch: How Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations could look after £1bn redevelopment, Charlotte Cox, MEN, October 8 2014
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/watch-how-piccadilly-oxford-road-7898576

**The Northern Hub, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hub