Manchester
Central Station. The Cheshire Lines Committee built the
imposing central terminus in Manchester, although the Midland Railway
also used it and contributed the imposing Midland Hotel opposite;
this was built between 1898 and 1903. Despite the station enjoying
a prestigious 'Blue Pullman' service from St. Pancras during the
1960s, the last trains departed on Saturday 3rd May 1969, after
which the building was purchased by National Car Parks (NCP) and
used as a car park – an indignity for a once major terminus.
The building became very run down but, in 1978, Manchester City
Council bought it, and five years later, in 1983, a Grade II* listing
was awarded – presumably for the building's special architectural
merit, i.e. the single span wrought iron truss structure used in
its roof. After the listing, Manchester CC began to convert the
building into an exhibition hall, which finally opened on 7th March
1986 as 'GMEX'. However, the building's historic name – Manchester
Central – was restored in 2007, thus acknowledging the building's
railway history. The photographs below were taken just before the
club's 2014 Annual General Meeting, which was held nearby; the opportunity
to visit this iconic station was too good to miss. |
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Above:
This is the view of the restored station that greets anyone
walking south along Manchester's Mount Street. The distinctive structure
of the roof is obvious. 17th May 2014. (Jeff Vinter) |
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Above:
A view of the station from across the piazza which now fronts
it. Some railway enthusiasts are not too keen on the projecting canopy,
but it does at least afford some shelter to those queueing up for
an event when the Mancunian weather is not quite so delightful as
seen here. 17th May 2014. (Jeff Vinter) |
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Above:
The interior of the train shed. The CLC's girder work must
have made it easy to install all of the modern lighting gantries.
17th May 2014. (Jeff Vinter) |
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Above:
A selection of ex-railway offices within the train shed,
on the north side. Notable features are the attractive red brick,
the brick patterns over the window arches, the trifoliate windows,
and the stonework at the top of the ground floor. Was it worth preserving
the building? We think so! 17th May 2014. (Jeff Vinter) |
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Above:
The years of dereliction. This was how Manchester Central
looked just three years after its purchase by Manchester City Council,
with the symmetrical rows of canopies still intact. Even allowing
for the depradations of vandals, the building was till an impressive
site. April 1981. (Ian Capper, used under the terms of the Creative
Commons licence displayed at the foot of this
page) |
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Above:
The Midland Railway's grand Midland Hotel seen in context,
with the south east corner of Manchester Central to the left. Railway
passengers who were wealthy enough to afford a stay here did not have
far to walk. 17th May 2014. (Jeff Vinter) |
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Above:
A closer view of the hotel. We would imagine that patronage
of this establishment has increased markedly since the bad old days
when the station opposite was a mouldering ruin facing an uncertain
future. 17th May 2014. (Jeff Vinter) |
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Left:
The other end of the line – the Midland Railway's
famous Gothic masterpiece, St.
Pancras Hotel, in London. On the face of it, this picture
doesn't have much to do with Manchester Central and the Manchester
Midland Hotel – except that the two hotels were once
linked by direct rail services. Any passenger able to afford
a stay at both ends of the line must have been seriously wealthy!
22nd March 2014. (Jeff Vinter) |
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Above:
Rails once more. Thanks to Manchester's new Metrolink tram
service, Manchester Central is again rail-connected, although the
trams do not enter the train shed but skirt around it via Lower Mosley
Street, the A5103. The restored station has its own tram stop, on
the south side of the building, while the trams actually use the former
CLC railway viaduct that once carried trains away to the west. Here,
tram 3063 leads a working on the Eccles to Ashton-under-Lyne service;
Manchester Central is immediately to the right of the viaduct, and
parallel to it. 17th May 2014. (Jeff Vinter) |