Manchester Mayfield railway station
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| Manchester Mayfield | |||
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| The front of Mayfield station in 2007 | |||
| Location | |||
| Location | Fairfield | ||
| Area | Manchester | ||
| Grid reference | SJ851977 | ||
| Operations | |||
| Pre-grouping | London & North Western Railway | ||
| Post-grouping | London, Midland and Scottish Railway London Midland Region of British Railways |
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| Platforms | ? | ||
| History | |||
| 8 August 1910 | Opened | ||
| 23 August 1960 | Closed to passengers | ||
| 6 July 1970 | Reopened as a parcel depot | ||
| 1986 | Closed | ||
| Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom | |||
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Closed railway stations in Britain |
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Manchester Mayfield is a former railway station in Manchester, England. It is located on the south side of Fairfield Street, next to Manchester Piccadilly station, at grid reference SJ851977 (coordinates Coordinates: ).
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Use as a passenger station
Opened on 8 August 1910 by the London & North Western Railway[1], Manchester Mayfield was built alongside Manchester Piccadilly Station (then known as London Road Station) to handle the increased number of trains and passengers following the opening of the Styal Line.[2] It was connected to London Road via a high-level footbridge. It was mainly used by suburban services to the south of Manchester, but a number of main line services used it during busy periods.[citation needed]
Mayfield suffered the effects of bombing during World War Two (it was hit by a landmine). It came into its own for a brief period during the electrification and modernisation of what was to become Piccadilly Station in the late 1950s, when many services were diverted to it after a restoration of sorts.[citation needed] It was closed to passengers on 23 August 1960.[1]
[edit] Use as a goods station
The site was converted into a parcels depot which opened on 6 July 1970.[1] Royal Mail constructed a sorting office on the opposite site of the main line and connected it to Mayfield with an overhead conveyor bridge which crosses the throat of Piccadilly Station. The depot closed in 1986 following the decision by Parcelforce, Royal Mail's parcels division, to abandon rail transport in favour of road haulage.[2] The building has remained disused ever since,[3] with the tracks into Mayfield removed in 1989 as part of the remodelling of the Piccadilly Station layout. The sorting office was briefly reused as an indoor karting track, but has now been rebuilt as prestige offices; the parcel conveyor bridge was removed in 2003.[2]
[edit] Disuse
The site is currently owned by BRB Residuary.[4] The interior of the station was used in Prime Suspect as a drug dealer's haunt.[1] It was also used as a double for Sheffield railway station in The Last Train.[citation needed] The roadside building was gutted by a fire in 2005.[1]
[edit] Future
[edit] Reopening as a station
A study was carried out by Mott Macdonald in 2000 which looked at possibilities of increasing capacity at the Piccadilly Station. One solution put forward would see the track quadrupled between Slade Lane Junction and Piccadilly, with a pair of through platforms in the Mayfield goods yard to the south of Piccadilly's platforms 13 and 14 linked to additional running lines to Ashburys station. This proposal was supported by the GMPTE as it would increase useable train paths through Piccadilly by between 33% and 50%; the extra track would, however, require an expensive extension to the Piccadilly-Deansgate viaduct carrying the track from Slade Lane.[5] The location of the proposed platforms was also criticised as it would entail "a long walk for passengers wishing to interchange with other terminating rail services at Manchester Piccadilly or access the city centre."[6]
Other options would have the station used again as a terminus, providing a rail link to Manchester Airport[7] or, alternatively, the lines might be extended through Mayfield and connected to the existing line to Manchester Oxford Road railway station.[1]
[edit] Commercial redevelopment
In 2008 an alternative scheme involving Manchester Mayfield was put forward. This proposal would see the station as part of a new 30-acre city centre district to be created immediately next to Piccadilly Station. This project would create over 6 million square feet of offices contained in office blocks up to 12 storeys high, and would be completed over a period of 15 years. The scheme is led by "Mayfield Manchester", a joint venture company between Ringset, part of the Wrather Group, and Panamint; the company owns around 90% of the land around the station as of 2008, but do not own the station itself.[3] The future of the former railway station has yet to be decided and Mayfield Manchester were, as of April 2008, said to be in talks with its owners, BRB Residuary.
[edit] Conversion into coach station
It has been reported that the station could eventually be converted into a new National Express coach station which would be relocated from its existing facility on Chorlton Street and rebuilt on the western end of the Mayfield Goods Yard with pedestrian links to Piccadilly. A new coach station would be adjacent to the Inner Ring Road and have easy access to the road network.[4][8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f Subterranea Britanica: SB-Sites: Manchester Mayfield Station (6 January 2006). Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
- ^ a b c North Wales Railway Notice Board.
- ^ a b Binns, Simon. "Office scheme backers yet to drop anchor", Crain's Manchester Business, 14 April 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
- ^ a b Thame, David. "New district planned", Manchester Evening News, 8 April 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
- ^ GMPTE Letter to the Rail Regulator, 26 June 2000.
- ^ Steer Davies Gleave, Manchester Hub Report, August 2007.
- ^ Freccles, "North West Route Utilisation Strategy".
- ^ GMPTA, "Regional Centre Transport Strategy Consultation Report", December 2007.
