Ashburys railway station

This article refers to the ex Great Central Railway station in Manchester; for the similarly named former LSWR station in Devon see Ashbury railway station.
Ashburys National Rail

Ashburys railway station in Manchester. The train shown is a Northern Rail Class 323 in First North Western livery.
Location
Place Openshaw
Local authority Manchester
Grid reference SJ871972
Operations
Station code ABY
Managed by Northern Rail
Number of platforms 2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05   55,946
2005/06 Decrease 52,620
2006/07 Decrease 46,528
2007/08 Decrease 45,418
2008/09 Increase 66,576
2009/10 Increase 68,558
2010/11 Increase 71,722
2011/12 Increase 86,062
2012/13 Decrease 83,264
2013/14 Increase 91,330
History
July 1855 Station opens as Ashbury's
November 1855 Station renamed Ashbury's for Openshaw
August 1856 Station renamed Ashbury's for Belle View
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Ashburys from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Ashburys railway station in Openshaw serves Beswick and West Gorton in Manchester, England. It is located on the Manchester-Glossop Line at its junction with the branch line to Romiley and New Mills Central and the freight-only line to Phillips Park Junction (on the Huddersfield Line).

History

It was built and opened by the Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway on its new line from Manchester Store Street station to Sheffield, opening in 1846. First appearing in Bradshaw's in July, in November it was referred to as "Ashburys for Openshaw", then in August 1856, as "Ashburys for Belle Vue".

It became part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway during mergers in 1847. That line changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897. Joining the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923, the station passed on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways under arrangement with the Greater Manchester PTE until the Privatisation of British Railways.

Station name

There is no actual place of this name near this station. It was named after the Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company Ltd which built it for £175 in 1855. This company flourished from 1841 until 1902 when it moved to Saltley in Birmingham, merging with the Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd. Examples of its rolling stock survive to this day on preserved railways all over the world.

Services

Today, Ashburys is a station with two platforms served by EMU half-hourly trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Hadfield and DMU hourly trains between Piccadilly and New Mills Central. TransPennine Express services frequently pass through the station without stopping. The station is operated by Northern Rail.

Electrification and Signalling

The line was electrified at 25 kV AC on 10 December 1984, replacing the 1500 V DC electrification inaugurated on 14 June 1954 by British Railways as part of the Manchester-Sheffield-Wath scheme via the Woodhead tunnel.[1] There was also a signal box here, which controlled the junctions and various sidings. The signal box, opened in 1906 by the Great Central Railway, closed in 2011, when control was transferred to the Manchester East signalling control centre.[2][3]

Future

Under the Greater Manchester TIF programme, Ashburys would have received improvements. However, despite TIF not going ahead, it is still to receive safety, security and passenger information improvements, when funding can be obtained.

Other long term proposals include the Manchester - Marple Tram Train scheme, which was on a 'reserve list' of TIF schemes. Significant new infrastructure works would be required between Piccadilly and Ashburys station, known as 'Piccadilly Link'. It would be incorporated within a major mixed-use development by Grangefield Estates, known as 'Chancellor Place', around the former Mayfield Station site.

Notes

  1. ↑ Gillham, J.C., The Age of the Electric Train- Electric Trains in Britain since 1883. Shepperton: Ian Allan, 1988, p. 109.
  2. ↑ Kay, P. Signalling Atlas and Signal Box Directory. Wallasey: Signalling Record Society, 2010, p.15.
  3. ↑ Modern Railways, December 2011, p.86.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ashburys railway station.
Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
Northern Rail
Manchester Piccadilly
Northern Rail
Manchester-Glossop Line
Manchester Piccadilly

Coordinates: 53°28′18.5″N 2°11′42″W / 53.471806°N 2.19500°W