It may be a new year but that doesn’t stop us from continuing with “Manchester Metrolink Then & Now” over the next few weeks.
This time we go onto the common section of the East Didsbury and Manchester Airport lines, close to the stop at Chorlton which is the penultimate stop before the two lines split just after St Werburgh’s Road. Chorlton first welcomed Metrolink on 7th July 2011 when the line as far as St Werburgh’s Road opened to the public. This section of line is on the alignment of the former Manchester South District Railway which had closed on 2nd January 1967.
We look north here at Brantingham Road. This is the last road bridge over the line before Chorlton. As we see in this before photo taken on 5th April 2009 the track bed is discernable as it goes along the bottom of a row of gardens on the right.
10th July 2011 – just three days after services began – and we are in the same location with a tram heading away from us with the clean ballast shining bright in this image. The gardens on the right now have new fences separating them from the tramway but to provide us with location context the green roofed shed is still in situ! (Both Photographs by Keith Chadbourne)