Guide Bridge Station

"G" is for "Guide Bridge Station" and today's photo shows this railway station which is on the western boundary of Ashton.

The train in the photo is on its way from Glossop to Manchester Piccadilly. At one time the line continued through Woodhead Tunnel to Sheffield. The Trans-Pennine Express trains pass through the station without stopping, turning left a quarter of a mile on, towards Stalybridge.

This station was the first railway station to open in Ashton and was originally called Ashton and Hooley Hill. It took its later name from the adjacent bridge over the Ashton Canal (not over the River Tame, as suggested in Wikipedia). The canal runs behind the trees on the left of the photo.

The station is a shadow of its former self, with the remaining platform-side buildings sealed up. Only the trains on the Glossop line stop here now. The regular service between Stalybridge and Stockport has been replaced with a so-called "parliamentary" train, running one journey a week in one direction only, from Stockport to Stalybridge, stopping at the platform on the "wrong" side here at Guide Bridge after emerging from the Stockport line.

A footbridge between the platforms burnt down five years ago and has not been replaced, necessitating a long walk round from one platform to the other.

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See Birds Eye View of this location.
See Google Street View of this location.

"Guide Bridge Station" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "G" posts from around the world please follow this link.
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