Didsbury railway station is a former station in

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...

, in the southern suburbs of

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The station was located on

Wilmslow Road Wilmslow Road is a major road in Manchester, England, running from Parrs Wood northwards to Rusholme. There it becomes Oxford Road and the name changes again to Oxford Street when it crosses the River Medlock and reaches the city centre. Th ...

, just north of the junction with Barlow Moor Road and opposite Didsbury Library. Nothing now remains of the old station buildings, which have been demolished, but the surviving white Portland stone clock tower is a local landmark. Didsbury is now served by

Didsbury Village tram stop Didsbury Village is a tram stop on the South Manchester Line on the light-rail Metrolink network in Greater Manchester, England. It serves the South Manchester suburb of Didsbury. History The Manchester South District Line was opened by the ...

which is close to the site of the former railway station.

History

In 1873, the

Manchester South District Railway 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 two ...

obtained permission to construct a new railway line from Manchester to Alderley. The company fell into financial difficulty and was eventually bought out 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 am ...

in 1877, who went on to build the line. Construction began in 1878 and the line — including Didsbury Station — opened to passenger service on 1 January 1880, running from the new

Manchester Central Station Manchester Central railway station is a former railway station in Manchester city centre, England. One of Manchester's main railway terminals between 1880 and 1969, it has been converted into an exhibition and conference centre, originally know ...

through south Manchester suburbs to . The line ran south through Didsbury via a

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

, passing underneath Wilmslow Road. Didsbury Station was situated on the east side of Wilmslow Road, set back from the road with a small forecourt area. The station building was a red brick

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

house with a booking office, ladies' and gentlemen's waiting rooms and an adjacent station master's house. There were two platforms in the cutting with glass canopies and a footbridge. Didsbury was served initially by the South District Service commuter route, and from August 1880 by express trains running from Manchester Central to

London St Pancras St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a London station group, central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Bor ...

. Didsbury's location on the network ensured frequent services. From 1901 the MR opened a new route to via and peak-time services through Didsbury reached over 38 trains per hour in each direction. Direct services operated between Didsbury and destinations such as , and the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

. Around 1910, a memorial clock was erected in the station forecourt dedicated to local philanthropist

John Milson Rhodes Dr John Milson Rhodes (1847- 25 September 1909) was a general practitioner in the suburb of Didsbury, Manchester, UK. He was noted as a pioneer of social reform. He was born at Broughton, Salford in 1847 and studied medicine in Glasgow and a ...

(1847-1909). The

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

is built of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

in an

Edwardian Baroque Edwardian architecture is a Neo-Baroque architectural style that was popular in the British Empire during the Edwardian era (1901–1910). Architecture up to the year 1914 may also be included in this style. Description Edwardian architecture is ...

style and incorporates a pair of drinking fountains. On one side there is a bronze plaque which displays a relief

medallion A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

portrait of Rhodes and the inscription . From 1923, the MR was absorbed into the LMS, and after 1948 the line became part of

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

. In the

postwar period In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

, while the South District Service declined in frequency, Manchester Central-London express services increased, although the new

Blue Pullmans The Blue Pullmans were luxury trains used from 1960 to 1973 by British Rail. They were the first Pullman diesel-electric multiple units, incorporating several novel features. Named after their original Nanking blue livery, the trains were con ...

did not call at Didsbury but at instead.

Closure

When the former

London & North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

line from became the principal route for London express trains, the South District Line lost its importance; the route and its stations were listed for closure in the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...

. The last train to depart from Didsbury was the 18:45 express to London St Pancras on 2 January 1967. Passenger express and freight trains continued to run through Didsbury until the line was fully closed in 1969. The station building remained standing for a number of years and was used as a hardware store, Didsbury Station Hardwre. After the store closed, the building fell derelict and was demolished in 1982.

Line re-opening

The former South District Line lay derelict for several decades. In 1984,

Greater Manchester Council The Greater Manchester County Council (GMCC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater Manchester from 1974 to 1986. A strategic authority, with responsibilities for roads, public transport, planning, emergency services ...

and

Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive was the public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester. SELNEC PTE Until 1969, the conurbati ...

announced the ''Project Light Rail'' scheme to develop a new light rail/

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

system by re-opening use of disused railway lines in the region, including the route through Didsbury. The first phase of the

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Kin ...

system opened in 1992, but it was not until 2013 that the network was expanded to reach Didsbury. Tram tracks were laid along the former

trackbed The track bed or trackbed is the groundwork onto which a railway track is laid. Trackbeds of disused railways are sometimes used for recreational paths or new light rail links. According to Network Rail, the trackbed is the layers of ballast a ...

, but as Didsbury station had been demolished over 30 years earlier, it was decided to locate the new

further down the line on School Lane. Nothing remains today of the old Midland Railway station building, and the site today is occupied by a row of shops and pubs. The station clock is still standing and is a local landmark. File:Didsbury-railway-line-2008.jpg, The empty trackbed at Didsbury prior to re-opening File:Didsbury Village 20-02-2005.jpg, Rhodes memorial clock File:Didsbury-station-clock-plaq.jpg, Plaque on the railway station clock File:Didsbury 1905.jpg, Didsbury railway station on a 1905 OS map File:Didsbury transport map.png, Map of railways past and present in Didsbury

References

Citations

Sources

External links

* * * {{Closed stations Greater Manchester Didsbury Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1880 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1967 Manchester South District Line Beeching closures in England