Chorlton tram stop

Chorlton
Metrolink
The rebuilt stop, shortly after opening
Chorlton Location of Chorlton in Greater Manchester
Location
Place	Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Local authority	Manchester
Coordinates	53°26′34″N 2°16′24″W / 53.4427°N 2.2734°WCoordinates: 53°26′34″N 2°16′24″W / 53.4427°N 2.2734°W
Grid reference	SJ819940
Platforms	2
Fare zone information
Metrolink Zone	P
Present status	In operation
Operations
Original operator	Cheshire Lines Committee
Pre-grouping company	Cheshire Lines Committee
Post-grouping company	Cheshire Lines Committee London Midland Region of British Railways
History
Opened	1 January 1880
Closed as rail station	2 January 1967
Conversion to Metrolink operation	7 July 2011
South Manchester Line to Rochdale Deansgate-Castlefield Deansgate Cornbrook to Eccles Trafford Bar to Altrincham Firswood Chorlton St Werburgh's Road to Manchester Airport Withington Burton Road West Didsbury Didsbury Village East Didsbury
UK Trams portal

Chorlton is a stop on the South Manchester Line (SML) and Airport Line of Greater Manchester's light-rail Metrolink system. Located in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in southern Manchester, it was built as part of Phase 3a of the network's expansion, and opened on 7 July 2011 on a section of the former Cheshire Lines Committee railway.^[1]

History

Railway station

Chorlton-cum-Hardy railway station opened on 1 January 1880 by the Midland Railway, later became Cheshire Lines Committee and closed on 2 January 1967 as part of the Beeching Axe,^[2] though the line through Fallowfield remained open to freight until the 1980s. Until the mid-20th century the station yard supplied coal to the district.^[3] Land to the north-east of the track originally acquired for the purpose of doubling it was eventually sold off for development.

The station was mentioned in the 1964 song "Slow Train" by Flanders and Swann, which was written to lament the loss of stations resulting from the Beeching cuts:

“

No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat, At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street.

”

Chorlton station was subsequently demolished and a Morrisons (originally Safeway) supermarket and car park built in its place, although the track bed remained extant to the side of the supermarket and part of one of the platforms survives next to the supermarket building. The derelict line became overgrown until 2001, when the track bed of the old Fallowfield Loop Line branch running east of Chorlton towards Alexandra Park and Fallowfield was converted to the Fallowfield Loop cycle track. Today, the route is run by Sustrans and forms part of Routes 6 and 60 of the National Cycle Network.^[4][5] The remaining Cheshire Lines Committee lines from Chorlton from Manchester Central towards Disbury remained disused and overgrown for another 10 years.

The former Fallowfield loop line

Manchester Metrolink station

Proposals to link Chorlton to a light rail system had been put forward since the 1980s,^[6] but remained unfunded until recently. The extension that was originally proposed would have taken over the disused tracks of the Cheshire Lines Committee as far as East Didsbury.

In 2006, it was announced that the first phase of the "Big Bang" Metrolink expansion project (Phase 3A) would go ahead, including the extension to St Werburgh's Road.^[7] Following the rejection of the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund in a public referendum in 2008, extension of the line to East Didsbury (Phase 3B) was completed with funding from national and local government.^[8][9][10]

Construction of the line began in April 2009 and it opened in July 2011.^[1] The first services towards East Didsbury began in June 2013.

Services

Chorlton is served by the two lines; Rochdale to East Didsbury and Cornbrook to Manchester Airport. Each line operates at a frequency of one tram every 12 minutes (15 minutes on Sundays and some off-peak times) providing a combined frequency of approximately one tram every 6 minutes in both directions. On the Rochdale to East Didsbury line, the last evening north-bound services (the last 2–3 dependent on day of week) terminate at Piccadilly via Piccadilly Gardens.^[11]

Before the East Didsbury extension was completed in May 2013, southeast bound services terminated at St Werburgh's Road. An extension from there to Manchester Airport was opened on 3 November 2014. St Werburgh's road acts as the interchange station for services between the East Didsbury and Manchester Airport forks of the line. Northbound trams from Manchester Airport currently terminate at Cornbrook.

Service pattern

• 12 minute service to Bury with double trams in the peak
• 6 minute service to Cornbrook with some double trams (every 20 minutes to Firswood before 6 am)
• 12 minute service to East Didsbury with double trams in the peak
• 12 minute service to Manchester Airport with single trams (every 20 minutes before 6 am)

Connecting bus routes

Chorlton station is served by several bus services either outside the stop or in Chorlton centre. Arriva North West/First Greater Manchester service 16 and Stagecoach Manchester service 85 both stop outside the stop and run eastbound to Manchester with the 16 running westbound to Altrincham via Stretford, Sale and Ashton-upon-Mersey, while the 85 terminates nearby at Chorlton bus station. Stagecoach/First Greater Manchester/Manchester Community Transport service 168 also stops outside and runs from Chorlton to Ashton-under-Lyne via Fallowfield, Longsight, Gorton and Droylsden. JPT service 276, which also stops outside, runs to Withington Community Hospital and to Trafford General Hospital via Stretford.

Other services that stop nearby are First/Stagecoach service 22, which runs to Bolton via Trafford Centre and to Stockport, Stagecoach services 23/23A, which also run to Trafford Centre and Stockport, Stagecoach/Arriva service 84, which runs between Reddish and Manchester via Didsbury and Stagecoach service 86, which runs to Manchester.^[12]

Gallery

• 

  The derelict station awaiting redevelopment

• 

  1914 map of South Manchester railways

• 

  Metrolink construction work on the line near Chorlton

• 

  Map of the planned South Manchester line extensions

• 

  October 2010

References

1. "Metrolink's new Chorlton line opens for business". Transport for Greater Manchester. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
2. Price, Bevan; Wright, Paul (16 May 2009). "Disused Stations Site Record: Chorlton-cum-Hardy". Retrieved 10 December 2009.
3. Burton, Nick (ed.) (199-) Chorlton cum Hardy and Stretford, 1905. (Old Ordnance Survey maps. Lancashire sheet 111.10) Gateshead: Alan Godfrey (includes historical survey and extracts from Slater's directory, 1910) (Chorlton was not part of the City of Manchester until 1904.)
4. "Fallowfield Loopline". Sustrans. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
5. "Friends of the Fallowfield Loop". Retrieved 14 March 2013.
6. Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (1984), Light Rapid Transit in Greater Manchester, GMPTE – publicity brochure
7. "Metrolink extension is announced". BBC News. 2006-07-06. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
8. Linton, Deborah (2009-05-13). "£1.4bn transport deal unveiled". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
9. "Tram line extension is approved". BBC News. 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
10. "Metrolink: back on track?". BBC Manchester. 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
11. "Metrolink – Tram Times – Chorlton". Metrolink. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
12. "Transport for Greater Manchester – Journey Planning – Network Maps". Transport for Greater Manchester. Retrieved 10 September 2012.

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995) The Directory of Railway Stations. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens. ISBN 1-85260-508-1

External links

• Chorlton Stop Information
• Chorlton area map
• Manchester Metrolink Extension Project – map of the plans (Urban Transport Technology)
• Chorlton-cum-Hardy railway station in Disused Stations database