The second edition of “Manchester Metrolink Then & Now” remains on the Manchester Airport line and indeed remains on Hardy Lane.
As we noted last week Hardy Lane is a section of street running for the Metrolink line out to the Airport with this being between Barlow Moor Rod and Sale Water Park and is the first time that trams heading out of Manchester will have seen on-street running since leaving the city centre.
13th March 2011 and a north east view of Hardy Lane shows the road as being like any other suburban residential road. Housing either side with cars parked at the side of the road. The width of the road is shown to good effect here as well.
Fast forward to 4th November 2014 and a couple of days after trams started running in service we see the new order for Hardy Lane. 3063 is the tram we see which is running to the Airport. As well as the tramway, cycle lanes have also now been added. (Both Photographs by Keith Chadbourne)
The width of Hardy Lane and the wide median strip on Mauldeth Road West were deliberately planned in the late 1920s for an express tramway to Sale that would have joined the then existing network at Princess Road. The plans were scrapped following the death of the transport manager for Manchester Corporation Tramways (Transport Department from 1929 onwards) and an abrupt change of policy towards the tram network. 85 years later, the width of these roads has been utilised for its original purpose.