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.

Old Square

Today's photo shows the location in Ashton's town centre known as Old Square. Like Chester Square and other squares in Ashton, it is not really a square. It's original name of The Circus was probably more appropriate, although the buildings form something of an octagon, rather than a circle or a square.

It was re-named King's Square and then again to Old Square some time around the 1780s, when New Square was created at the other end of Stamford Street. New Square, however, was renamed Henry Square in 1800, while Old Square has remained Old Square until this day.

Only a few of the original three story buildings remain, with the others having been rebuilt at various times.

See Google Street View of this location.

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

ABC Wednesday: Statue

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is S for "Statue" and the photo shows the statue of Hugh Mason which stands in Trafalgar Square in Ashton's West End.

Hugh Mason was a local mill-owner and social reformer. He owned the massive Oxford Mills complex, built by his father, not far from where his statue now stands. He built houses for his workforce, along with community facilities, and was the first local mill owner to give his workers Saturday afternoons off! He kept his employees in work during the "Cotton Famine" when some of his competitors were laying off their workers.

He became a Liberal councillor, mayor and eventually Member of Parliament for the town. When his wife Sarah died after only six years of marriage, he married her sister, Betsy. As this was illegal in Britain at the time, he obtained a special licence from the King of Denmark and was married in that country. He had one child with Sarah and four with Betsy before she died after just seven years.

The statue was originally at Chester Square but was moved after that square became a glorified traffic junction, as you saw in this recent post.

See Google Street View of this location.

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

Tram Terminus

Following on from last week's photo of the new tram lines running across Oldham Road, today's photo shows the new tram terminus in Ashton.

In the centre of the picture is the ramp leading up to the platform, with tram tracks on either side. Everything is in place and ready to roll - even the electronic matrix signs that will give the time of the next tram are switched on. A small amount of paving and landscaping work is being finished off.

Trams have been here during the night testing the track but services won't be starting just yet as they are waiting for more trams to be delivered. The next phase of the Metrolink tram system will open on Thursday, with an extension of the St Werbergs Road line to East Didsbury. The extension from Droylsden to Ashton will be next.

Immediately behind the camera is Ashton Bus Station, making interchange easy. The entrance to the Arcades shopping mall is 150 metres to the left. The photo is flanked by Ashton's two bluest buildings - Assheton House and IKEA!

See Google Street View of this location.

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

ABC Wednesday: On the Rails

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is R for "On the Rails" and the photo shows the rails of the almost-completed tramway7 from Manchester to Ashton.

The picture is looking westwards across Oldham Road. One set of rails is coming straight towards the camera while the other set can be seen a little to the left. The Ashton tram terminus is behind me. The trams already run as far as Droylsden and the rest of the line to Ashton will open later in the year.

The track is complete and workmen are finishing off paving and landscaping. Trams have already been to this location on test in the small hours of the night. Metrolink are being a little vague about when the line will be open for service and I suspect that they will need to wait until enough new trams have been delivered.

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"On the Rails" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "R" posts from around the world please follow this link.

Approach to Ashton

This is the view that many people see as they arrive in Ashton. It is the view across Chester Square from Manchester Road and is the way that most people approach the town from Manchester and from the M60 Motorway.

Chester Square has never really been a square. It originally had buildings on two sides of a wide area that formed the junction of Manchester Road and Stockport Road. The buildings on the south side have gone to make way for road widening and the square is now a huge traffic-signal-controlled junction, overlooked by the two buildings that stand on the north side.

The building to the left of centre is the old swimming baths and to the right of that can be seen Cavendish Mill with its chimney.

See Google Street View of this location.

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

ABC Wednesday: "Big O"!

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is O for "Big O!" and the photo shows the enormous round shape of the old waterwheel at Portland Basin in Ashton.

The waterwheel dates from 1839 and was used for powering the hoists inside the canal warehouse.

For connoisseurs of water wheels this particular one is the high breast-shot suspension type. It is made of wrought iron and has a diameter of 24 feet. There are 416 teeth around the rim which connect by gears with the hoists which lifted goods between floors in the warehouse.

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

ABC Wednesday: New Bridge

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is N for "New Bridge" and the photo shows the new bridge that is being constructed over the Ashton Canal at Margaret Street, near Portland Basin.

The bridge replaces an older bridge that was too narrow for larger trucks to cross to gain access to industrial premises on the south side. Unfortunately this bridge was 115 years old, making it one of the oldest structures in Ashton. The brick-arched bridge was constructed to give access to fields and a handful of cottages, which were all that there was between the canal and the river at that time. But, hey - what is the value of history when it stands in the way of progress?

See Google Street View of this location.

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

ABC Wednesday: Market

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is M for "Market" and the photo shows Ashton's open market with the Market Hall in the background.

The almost clear blue sky makes it look as if this is a warm and pleasant day, but a glance at the warm clothing that the people in the picture are wearing shows you that winter is clinging on for as long as it can, with icy winds.

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

ABC Wednesday: Low Cloud

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is L for "Low Cloud" and the photo shows low clouds obscuring the hills in Mossley.

Even though Mossley is only 4 miles north-east of Ashton, the geography is very different, with the town being enclosed by the steep-sided Tame Valley with the surrounding hills rising to over 1000 feet. Therefore, when you get low clouds, they tend to bump into the hills! On the ground this is experienced as fog or mist.

This photo shows one such low cloud making its may along the valley with the higher ground of Noonsun Hill and around Pots and Pans rising above.

See Google Street View of this location (without the low cloud).

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"Low Cloud" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "L" posts from around the world please follow this link.