Ancoats Station was a

goods station A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are l ...

operated by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

to handle freight traffic in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, on land bought in the Ancoats district from the

Mosley family Mosley may refer to: * ''Mosley'' (film), 2019 New Zealand animated film * ''Mosley'' (TV serial), 1998 British television miniseries *Mosley (surname), includes a list of people with the surname *Mosley Mayne (1889–1955), British military office ...

, whose adjacent

family seat A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families ...

Ancoats Hall was also taken over by the railway company for business use.

History

The Midland Railway's presence in Manchester dated from 1861 and had relied initially on an alliance with the

Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsb ...

, whose London Road station facilities they used. The city's railway infrastructure was struggling to cope with the volume of traffic but

Manchester Corporation Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three f ...

at first opposed the plans for a new station in Ancoats, which was a densely populated and industrialised area of the emerging city. The Midland Railway obtained permission to build a goods station on a 70-acre site there in 1865 after offering the Corporation £5000 in compensation for the 10,000 square yards of streets that would be subsumed by the development. The site was in an area bounded by Adair Street,

Great Ancoats Street Great Ancoats Street is a street in the inner suburb of Ancoats, Manchester, England. A number of cotton mills built in the early and mid-Victorian period are nearby, some of which have been converted into residential or office buildings, such ...

, Helmet Street and St Andrew's Square. Construction of the station began around 1868 and it opened on 2 May 1870. It was linked to the existing rail network by a track running from

Ashburys railway station Ashburys railway station is in Openshaw, Manchester, England, on the Manchester-Glossop Line at its junction with the Hope Valley line and the freight line to Phillips Park Junction. It has been open since 1855 and is the nearest railway stati ...

that crossed a viaduct on Great Ancoats Street. The station had three entrances, being from Great Ancoats Street, Watson Street and near to St Andrew's Church. There were both cellars and above-track rooms for storage as well as large sheds and yards at ground level and at least three platforms. Goods were moved across the tracks using traversers rather than

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, and wagons could be moved along the tracks with

hydraulic Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counte ...

capstans rather than horses. Eight two-ton cranes and 36 one-ton variants were available, of which 20 were capable of being used in manual mode as well as hydraulically. The hydraulic power was generated with a 40-

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

engine and operated at 700 pounds per square inch. Various weighing-machines were present, including some that could handle carts of up to 20 tons. There was space available on the site for further development in the future. Together with the associated connecting lines, bridgeworks and other necessary engineering, the construction cost £486,000. Upon opening, the Midland ceased its goods traffic operations at Ardwick. The facilities included a

bonded warehouse A bonded warehouse, or bond, is a building or other secured area in which dutiable goods may be stored, manipulated, or undergo manufacturing operations without payment of duty. It may be managed by the state or by private enterprise. In the ...

. A

rifle range A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, venue or field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice or competitions. Some shooting ranges are operated by military ...

for employees was opened in 1909, mirroring similar ranges that existed at other Midland Railway stations. The facilities were remodelled around 1937 to increase substantially the number of wagon movements, which at that time amounted to 200 wagons in and out daily. By that time, the station was operated by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, into which the Midland Railway had merged. The station closed on 17 July 1972. Its site is now occupied by the Piccadilly Trading Estate.

References

Citations Bibliography * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Records relating to the station
held at the

Greater Manchester County Records Office The Greater Manchester County Record Office (GMCRO) is an archive of primary materials relating to the heritage of Greater Manchester, in North West England; it is located in Manchester city centre, in Archives + in Manchester's Central Libra ...

Photographs
held in the Manchester City Council Local Images Collection {{coord, 53.478073, -2.221761, display=title Disused railway stations in Manchester Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1870 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1972 Former Midland Railway stations 1870 establishments in England 1972 disestablishments in England