Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: Manchester

The forecourt of the ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Ashton-under-Lyne Charlestown railway station on the Miles Platting to Stalybridge branch. Opened by the Ashton, Stalybridge & Liverpool Junction Railway (AS&LJR) in 1846 it forms part of the trans-pennine route over Standedge to Huddersfield. HWW to everyone!

It takes years of real neglect to get as filthy as this unidentified Stanier Black 5. The cleaners (if there were still such things at Newton Heath loco shed in 1968) hadn't been near the cylinder and wheels of this example & no doubt it went to its grave with the accumulated grease & grime. The scrap men (and look away if you're sensitive) would set fire to the grease before cutting the engines up. This would burn away everything first so that their torches didn't start fires while they worked.

The original Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway Gorton station was located here, adjacent to the Tank works, and although all trace of it has gone the railway spear fencing remains. For once the fence on my photo is obvious... HFF & have a great weekend

Sunshine, shadows, reflections and steps under Manchester Road bridge on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal at Longroyd.

It's near the end for Newton Heath steam shed in Manchester. Stanier 8F 2-8-0 48529 catches the light streaming through the holes in the roof into the gloom of the shed interior. This image was used on the cover of "Steam's Last Apprentice" by Victor Penketh published by Wibble Publishing in 2013. An excellent read about Victor's life on the railway from 1959 to the end of steam in 1968 .

The London & North Western Railway wrought iron and lattice footbridge over the Standedge Route tracks at Millbrook dates back to the 19th century. It is clearly a standard LNWR design because the surviving footbridge over that railway's "New Line" at Heaton Lodge Junction near Huddersfield is of exactly the same construction. HFF & have a great weekend (Can it really be a week since the last HFF??)

A black & white version of a similar shot posted earlier. Stanier Jubilee 4-6-0 45699 Galatea, beautifully turned out as 45562 Alberta, climbing the 1 in 125 gradient towards Diggle Junction box and Standedge tunnel with the Cotton Mill Express. HFF to everyone and a have a great weekend in colour!

An unidentified TransPennine Class 185 dmu heads towards Stalybridge station with the first eastbound train of this Sunday morning - 1K11 the 08.32 Manchester Piccadilly to Hull service. The Pennine mountains fill the horizon. The two large cotton mill buildings, Clarence Mill to the left & Whitelands Twist Mill on the right, have been put to other use but it is good to see them still standing. HFF and have a good weekend from lockdown Leicester!

Corona Fence! Stalybridge station Greater Manchester. HFF and have a great weekend everyone.

Woodley station on the former Great Central & Midland Joint line from Guide Bridge to Marple still retains its fine lattice iron footbridge. Passing beneath the bridge is Freightliner Class 66 diesel 66613 heading south with 6H43, the 08.04 Pendleton (Brindle Heath) to Tunstead Sidings, Derbyshire. HFF and a good w/e to everyone. Keep safe.

Stanier Jubilee 4-6-0 45699 Galatea, beautifully turned out as 45562 Alberta, climbing the 1 in 125 gradient towards Diggle Junction box and Standedge tunnel with the Cotton Mill Express. The timetable had the loco looped at Diggle for 20 minutes so we expected the driver to be shutting off by this point but the train was actually held at Stalybridge instead. It was running 30 minutes late so the Diggle stop was dropped and she was really working hard through here. The backdrop is the W.H. Shaw Pallet (formerly Dobcross Loom) Works, reputedly one of the largest factories of its type before its closure in 2006. Dating from 1860 it was being demolished at the time of my visit.

Manchester Victoria station and Black 5 4-6-0 45076 stands on the banker's road waiting to give a push to the next freight train up the I in 47 max. gradient to Miles Platting. The atmosphere of a large UK city station with steam was still a daily reality back in early June 1968 but by the end of June the last Manchester sheds at Newton Heath & Patricroft were closed to steam.

Totally rebuilt since this view Manchester Victoria station was an impressive place in 1968. British Railways steam finished in the Manchester area at the end of June 1968 and Black 5 4-6-0 45076, seen here in the banker's road, was sent to the scrapyard.

British Railways Standard Caprotti 5MT 4-6-0 73143 and Stanier 8F 2-8-0s 48749 & 48553 deep inside Manchester Patricroft New Shed.

Black 5 4-6-0 45420 bursts from under Cheetham Hill Road overbridge at the east end of Manchester Victoria station drawing a parcels train from platform 4 while acting as station pilot. I only just managed to see and photograph the fag end of British Railways steam in the northwest before it all went in August 1968.

Deep inside Newton Heath steam shed 8F 48529 simmers in the shadows.

A Sunday afternoon visit to the loco shed a week before the end of steam. Not that I knew that at the time. Stanier 8F 2-8-0 48745 by the coaling conveyor belt was withdrawn when the shed closed.

Sidings just east of Guide Bridge station on the Great Central Woodhead Route from Manchester to Sheffield in May 1968. EM1 electric E26014 waits to leave the up sidings. A line of at least 3 stabled electrics can be seen behind. This photo was taken from the footplate of British Railways 9F 92118 (curve of the tender bottom left-thought about cropping it but would have excluded other locos) while en route from Heaton Mersey shed in Stockport to Newton Heath steam shed in north Manchester. Our train was made up of the 9F and 2 Stanier 8Fs.