Manchester
& the Northwest Region of England
Papillon
Graphics' Virtual Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester
Including
Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside,
Trafford & Wigan
NAVIGATION
Virtual
Hosting by
TheServerBank
Photos
by John Moss
Manchester
Railway Stations
The Old MS&LR
London Warehouse at Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Rail Station
National
Rail Enquiries National Rail Enquiries: 08457 48 49 50
Rail Enquiries from overseas (International rates apply): +44(0)20
7278 5240
Rail Enquiries Textphone: 0845 60 50 600
Welsh language: 0845 60 40 500
Most
rail passengers arriving at Manchester will discover that Piccadilly
Station is their first taste of the city of Manchester. Its original
iron sheds with their decorative cast iron columns was built in
the 1880s, as part of the former London Road Station, as the road
from which you enter the Station Approach is the old London Road.
It was the terminus of the Manchester and Birmingham railway line,
and the old station dated from 1842.
The original station was named London Road Station, and only changed
its name to Piccadilly in relatively recent years.
In its day it was a major achievement, as it made travel to London
direct by rail a possibility in a travel time of nine and a half
hours. Today it takes just over two and a half hours. But in the
1840s, the alternative was to travel by stagecoach, and this was
a 24 hour journey.
The present station buildings and tower were completed in 1969,
with a new station approach and a massive area facelift - the
serpentine glass and steel of Gateway House (architects Richard
Seifhart and Partners) following the curve of the drive to the
station.
The original 1842 Railway Crest still adorns the entrance. All
but one of the many classic warehouses and goods stores which
served the station were demolished in this mid-1960s refurbishment.
The sole surviving warehouse is the MS&LR seven storey London
Warehouse of 1876, still standing behind Gateway House.
A ten storey office block also dominates the station's frontage.
Piccadilly Station serves all destinations south for both inter-city
and local routes. Also behind Gateway House are the station Car
Parks. The station also serves as a terminus for the Metrolink
Rapid Transit Tram, which connects Piccadilly with Victoria
Station.
STATION
APPROACH, (off Corporation Street),
Manchester
Originally a small single storey single platform building built
in 1844 on Hunts Bank to serve the Manchester
& Leeds trans-Pennine railway, by the 1880s Victoria Station had
come to dominate the Long Millgate area and was one of the biggest
passenger stations in Britain.
The original 700 foot long iron and glass train sheds still survive
intact, thanks to sturdy design and construction by George Stephenson.
The present Edwardian building facade was built on in 1902 by
architect William Dawes. It has a 160 yard facade, which still
carries an iron and glass canopy bearing the names of the original
destinations which it served. These were severely damaged by the
IRA bomb which was exploded nearby in 1996. Fortunately, the
glasswork has now been fully restored to its former glory.
Immediately adjoining the station used to stand the Exchange Station,
which boasted the longest passenger platform in the world - but
- severely damaged by wartime bombings, it was closed in 1969,
and now survives largely as an unprepossessing carpark opposite
the Cathedral.
Further redevelopment of Victoria Station took place in 1992 on
the basis of a £35 million grant to upgrade the old station
and to link it to the newly constructed Nynex Arena (now the Manchester
Evening News Arena) adjacent to it on Hunts bank. This grant was
to form part of the Govenment's commitment in support of Manchester's
abortive bid to host the 2000 Olympics in the city.
Nowadays, largely serving destinations north and east of Manchester,
it is the main terminus for the new Nynex Arena, and a major interface
where the Metrolink train joins the streets of Manchester as an
urban tramway. Also a major rail-bus interchange, the station
is linked directly to Piccadilly Station by Metrolink.
Liverpool
Road Station ranks as one of, if not the most important railway
stations in Britain. Manchester can be said to have been the place
where the Railway Age began. It was the service established between
Liverpool and Manchester which first demonstrated the feasibility
of rail as a viable public transport system. Opened to the public
on 15th September 1830, it marked the terminus of the newly created
line which ran from Liverpool to Manchester, and it is now part
of the Museum of Science and Industry.
The Liverpool & Manchester Railway came to the city when Joseph
Cowlishaw, a Manchester corn merchant, Joseph Saunders, also a
corn merchant, from Liverpool, and a wealthy estate agent and
surveyor named William James formed a company, surveyed the likely
route and proposed the building of the railway line. George Stephenson
was employed to construct this new feat of engineering. In 1825,
the proposal was submitted to Parliament and rejected; the next
year, despite strong opposition from some quarters, leading engineers
George and John Rennie were brought in to re-survey the proposal,
and as a result the Bill was successfully passed and work began
on constructing the line.
The
station building and the warehouse opposite date from the earliest
days of railway history. It was to this station that the Rainhill
Trials to choose a locomotive to pull passenger coaches between
Liverpool and Manchester arrived. George Stephenson's ubiquitous
"Rocket" being the winner. The rail link, together with the canal
system, was instrumental in the growth of Manchester's industrial
base in the 19th century.
Resurrected
after lying derelict for many years, the old Central Station which
originally connected by rail the City of Manchester to Liverpool
was closed in the late 1960s. In its new form - the Greater Manchester
Exhibition Centre (GMEX) was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth
in 1986, having cost more than £20million in converting it to
one of England's finest exhibition centres.
At over 10,000 square metres it is also one of the country's largest,
the whole space being open without interior supporting pillars,
its vast vaulted roof held up by sheer engineering ingenuity and
simple geometry. The hall can seat over 9000 people. There are
an additional 2,250 square metres of surrounding land adjacent
to the main hall for temporary buildings and exhibitions, with
onsite parking for over 1,500 cars. Regular exhibitions are held
there - everything from Aquatic to Computer Fairs, Caravans and
Home Exhibitions.
It also frequently hosts musical and performance events, having
already added Luciano Pavarotti, Simply Red and a Torville & Dean
Ice Spectacular to its repertoire. The conversion of the old Central
Station into its present form is typical of the kind of urban
renewal and inner city transformations which the City of Manchester
Council and the Central Manchester Development Corporation have
undertaken over the past decade, much to their credit and to the
approval of the citizens of Manchester.
This is a major stopping off point for Metrolink Trams, not only
for GMEX itself, but for Castlefield.
