We continue our latest series of “Picture in Time” with another image from the 1990s of Manchester Metrolink.
This time around we feature 1002 – carrying the name Manchester Arndale Voyager – as it heads to Altrincham. Its following Mosley Street along the edge of Piccadilly Gardens and curving in from the right is Bury bound track from Piccadilly Station. Today the 83 bus route runs from Piccadilly Gardens to Oldham Mumps or Sholver and is operated by First. Soon the Bee Network’s yellow livery will give all Greater Manchester’s buses a uniform image just like the once familiar GM buses orange, through this time it will match the trams. Note how many pedestrians there are on and around the tracks showing how watchful tram drivers need to be – and in 1994 there were no mobile phones or headphones!
1002 entered service on 6th April 1992, was withdrawn on 18th November 2013 and left Manchester on 19th September 2014. It was scrapped in Rotherham after its final departure from Metrolink.
Photograph by Donald Brooks, Summer 1994