Guide Bridge railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Guide Bridge | |||
| Location | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Audenshaw | ||
| Local authority | Tameside | ||
| Operations | |||
| Station code | GUI | ||
| Managed by | Northern Rail | ||
| Platforms in use | 2 | ||
| Live departures and station information from National Rail | |||
| Annual Passenger Usage | |||
| 2004/05 ** | 0.130 million | ||
| History | |||
| Key dates | Opened 1846 | ||
| National Rail - UK railway stations | |||
| Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Guide Bridge. | |||
|
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Guide Bridge railway station serves Guide Bridge a part of Audenshaw, Tameside in Greater Manchester, England and is operated by Northern Rail.
Contents |
[edit] History
Originally known as "Ashton and Hooley Hill", it was renamed "Ashton" in February 1842 and became "Guide Bridge" around July 1845. It was built by the Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway on its new line from Ardwick Junction, near to the Manchester and Birmingham Railway's terminus at Store Street, (now Piccadilly) to Sheffield , opening on 11 November 1841 as far as Godley Toll Bar and finally reaching Sheffield on 14 July 1845.
With the electrification of the Manchester - Sheffield (via Woodhead) line in the early 1950s, Guide Bridge, already a major centre of railway operations, increased in importance. Express trains called here, as well as EMU trains between Manchester London Road and the north Derbyshire towns of Glossop and Hadfield. The Woodhead Line was busy with freight traffic, especially with coal traffic from South Yorkshire to Lancashire power stations. There was a large marshalling yard about a mile east of Guide Bridge at Dewsnap. There was also a stabling point immediately to the east of Guide Bridge station where engines could be fueled. After the closure of Gorton Depot, Guide bridge became a booking on point for traincrews. Express passenger trains via the Woodhead line ceased operation on 5 January 1970, but Dewsnap sidings and Guide Bridge stabling point were busy until the final closure of the Woodhead line (east of Hadfield) on 20 July 1981. The Class 76 electric locomotives were a frequent sight here, along with Class 25, Class 40 and numerous others classes of diesels.
On 22 October 2006 a fire gutted the waiting room, footbridge and ticket office.[1] The fire has subsequently been attributed to arson and caused around GB£1m of damage to the station, [2] necessitating the demolition of the footbridge.
[edit] Future
This station will become a stop of the Grand Union Railway, a proposed railway company running between London Euston and Bradford.
[edit] Service
The current service at Guide Bridge consists of a half hourly Manchester Piccadilly - Hadfield EMU service and an hourly (DMU) service between Piccadilly and Rose Hill Marple. There is no Sunday service on the Rose Hill line.
The Stockport-Stalybridge Line DMU service, which had been an hourly operation, was almost entirely withdrawn when Trans Pennine services between Manchester and Leeds were re-routed from Manchester Victoria to serve Manchester Piccadilly in 1989. There is now an 11:43 Saturdays only "service" from Guide Bridge to Stalybridge. Ironically, Trans Pennine trains are routed through Guide Bridge but do not stop here.
The former TransPennine Express operator, Arriva Trains Northern, had plans to establish Guide Bridge as a major interchange station, coupled with hopes that the Woodhead line might re-open. Such aspirations seem to have fallen by the wayside, however, since First/Keolis took over the TransPennine Express franchise.
[edit] References
- Radford, B., (1988) Midland Though The Peak Unicorn Books
- ^ "Railway station damaged in blaze", BBC News, 2006-10-22. Retrieved on 2006-10-24.
- ^ "Reward to catch station arsonists", BBC News, 21 November 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.
[edit] External links
- Train times and station information for Guide Bridge railway station from National Rail
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyde North | Northern Rail (Hope Valley Line) |
Fairfield | ||
| Flowery Field | Northern Rail (Manchester-Glossop Line) |
Fairfield | ||
| Denton | Northern Rail (Stockport-Stalybridge Line) |
Stalybridge | ||
