Trains

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is T for "Trains" and the photo shows Ashton's Charlestown Station with a train at each platform.

On the right hand side, the train from Manchester heading for Stalybridge is waiting. On the left hand side, a train from Stalybridge is just arriving on its way to Manchester.

The brown building on the left houses the offices of Tameside Council. The blue buildings in the background are Assheton House and IKEA, which were seen in last week's photo of the new tram terminus.

See Google Street View of this location.

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"Trains" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "T" posts from around the world please follow this link.

Mossley Station

Mossley Station is just two stops up the line from Ashton, but the area surrounding it is very different. The railway runs along the side of the Tame Valley and Mossley os surrounded by the steep Pennine hills.

A damp December evening provides the atmospheric setting, as the lights reflect on the wet car park and platform, and the darkening outline of the hills forms the backdrop.

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"Mossley Station" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

Railway Station

Today's view of the world of Ashton under Lyne shows Ashton under Lyne railway station. Some of you will be pleased to note that I haven't followed the trend of calling it the Train Station!

The train that has pulled up at the platform is heading for Manchester Victoria.

There were at one time three railway stations around Ashton's town centre. This station was originally known as Charlestown station, while the two that have closed now were Park Parade and Oldham Road stations. The station has two platforms on an island between teh tracks. The ramp leads down to the subway that leads out towards Wellington Road.

The building visible in the background is Tameside Council's administrative office block, which was also seen in the background of the photo that appeared here two weeks ago.

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"Railway Station" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

Trans-Pennine Express

Today's photo shows the Trans-Pennine Express passing through Guide Bridge Station at the western boundary of Ashton. The train is heading for Manchester's Piccadilly Station. Being an express, the train doesn't actually stop here at Guide Bridge, but has to slow down where the line from Stalybridge joins the line from Glossop. (The junction can be seen in the distance if you look at the larger version of the photo.)

We saw a view of the station from the road bridge a couple of weeks ago.

See Bird's Eye View of this location.

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"Trans-Pennine Express" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

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.
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"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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Station House

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"S" is for "Station House" and today we see the former station building of Micklehurst railway station in Mossley, around four miles from the centre of Ashton.

The nearest railway line is half a mile away, on the other side of the valley, but there is a clue to the past in the name of the road - Station Road. This was the site of Micklehurst Station, one of four stations on the "Micklehurst Loop line", which ran more or less parallel to the earlier railway between Stalybridge and Diggle. The extra lines were needed to cope with the increasing volume of rail traffic.

The line opened in 1885. The station closed in 1907 but the line continued to be used for goods traffic until it was shut in 1966 (apart from the section between Stalybridge and Hartshead Power Station at Millbrook).

Today the former track behind the building has become a footpath, cycleway and bridleway running through Greenfield to Uppermill.

See Birds Eye View of this location.

See Google Street View of this location.

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

Night Shelter

This night-time view shows the seats below the Victorian-style shelter on Wellington Road in the centre of Ashton. On the left, behind the red Royal Mail pillar box is the side of Ashton Town Hall.

The building on the right was originally the town's Fire Station but is now an estate agent and pub.

The line of lights in the distance are on the platform of Ashton's railway station.

On the opposite side of the road a solitary passenger waits for the bus home.

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"Night Shelter" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.


See Birds Eye View of this location.

Saturday in Saddleworth - Delph Station

Delph Station was the terminus of the "Delph Donkey" branch that left the main Huddersfield to Manchester line between Moorfield Halt and Saddleworth Viaduct.

The station building, close to Delph Cross Roads, is still there and is now a private house. The platform is now seeing service as a patio! A new housing development now occupies the former goods yard and siding just beyond the station.

The "Delph Donkey" line had two stations at Dobcross and at Measurements, a halt added for workers travelling to and from the Hirst Brothers' Measurements factory, which made watches and clocks. Trains from Delph called at Greenfield on the main line and then continued on another branch through a tunnel to Grotton, Lees and Oldham Clegg Street.

The last passenger trains to Delph were in 1955 and the last goods trains in 1963. The track bed is now a walking and cycling route.

It is claimed that the line was so named because carriages were originally pulled by a donkey or horse but this is thought to be very unlikely and it may just have been a derogatory name for the little line.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Mossley on Monday: The Train Now Arriving...

The train now arriving at Mossley Station is the 13.55 to Mancheshter Victoria, calling at Stalybridge and Ashton under Lyne.

Anyone waiting at Ashton will be lucky to get a seat, though, as these two-carriage trains are often full by the time they get there.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Mossley on Monday: Bottom Mossley

This late wintry scene shows junction of the A635 Manchester Road with Stamford Road in Bottom Mossley. The unusual thing about this photo is that there is no traffic in sight! This is normally a very busy junction with Stamford Road being the link from Top Mossley, joining the two parts of the town.

At times there are long queues of traffic tailing back from this junction. Traffic lights are going to be installed here before long.

Behind the pedestrian crossing, the steep and narrow Mill Street is a popular short cut towards Micklehurst.

On the left of the photo you can just see the corner of Mossley's railway station building.

See Google Aerial View of this location.
See LiveSearch Birds Eye View of this location.

Stalybridge Saturday: Dreary View

The view from Platform 2 of Stalybridge Station on a wet weekend is not the most welcoming or inspiring. The platform overlooks an area of industrial muddle that has seen better days.

However, Longlands Mill, on the right of the photo, is now being refurbished into smart apartments, which should help to improve the first impressions of visitors alighting from their trains.

In the centre of the picture you can see the splendid former Market Hall and beyond that the majestic bulk of the Pennine moors.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Heading East

The 1607 departure from Ashton to Stalybridge moves out of what was once known as Charlestown Station for the 6 minute journey to Stalybridge, where it will terminate. Alternate trains from Manchester Victoria to Ashton and Stalybridge continue to Huddersfield, stopping at all stations en route.

The train has just passed under Henrietta Street. On the left, through the trees, Tameside Council's offices can be seen. In the distance beyond the bridge lies the blue bulk of IKEA.

This line is now used only by local trains. The Trans-Pennine Express trains bypass Ashton on the track that passes through the site of the former Park Parade Station on their way to Manchester Piccadilly.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Platform

Today's picture shows the east-bound platform of Ashton under Lyne's railway station. The station was originally known as Charlestown station, to distinguish it from Park Parade and Oldham Road stations.

The station is on the line into Manchester's Victoria Station, and is bypassed by the Trans-Pennine Express trains, which take the line to the south of the town towards Manchester's Piccadilly Station.

The two railway lines pass on either side of an island platform that houses a waiting room and ticket office. The photo was taken during a quiet period between trains.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Not The Station

Yes, it might be called "The Station" but anyone looking to catch a train has come to the wrong place, for The Station pub is at the opposite end of the town centre from Ashton's railway station.

The reason, of course, is historical. When the pub opened in 1849, Warrington Street continued a little further to Park Parade station, which was situated on the far side of what is now the Ashton Bypass. The railway line is still there but the station has been gone since 1956. Not that it would have helped if it was still there, as the line is now used by the frequent TransPennine Express trains, which don't even stop at Guide Bridge station.

Guide Bridge was Ashton's first railway station, originally having the catchy name of Ashton and Hooley Hill. When the lines from Guide Bridge to Stalybridge and Victoria to Stalybridge were built, the stations at Park Parade and Charlestown were opened. Ashton also had a further station at Oldham Road on the line to Park Bridge and Oldham. Charlestown station is the present Ashton under Lyne station.

Stalybridge Station Clock

I was going to use this image for the City Daily Photo theme day on "numbers" but didn't register in time!
The photo shows the arrival of a Trans-Pennine Express train bound for Huddersfield and Leeds. The station clock bears the name of famous clock manufacturers Joyce of Whitchurch.
All is not quite as it seems, however, for the real station clock was removed and in now in the Railway Museum at York. Apparently this led to such an outcry that a replica was made and now hangs here outside the Buffet Bar.