Manors Railway Station, Newcastle

[PinzaC55]

Johnathan1973 said "Pinza - were the dark storerooms to which you refer in the range of buildings on Platform 9, or Platforms 7 & 8? I don't understand the layout of the Melbourne Street building, and any help would be most appreciated! The black and white picture is from Newcastle City Libraries, and the rather poignant image is another of Alan's"

You'll have to cut me some slack here because I'm trying to remember back 31 years!

When you went through the entrance from Melbourne Street (your last colour photo) the first thing you saw on your right was the entrance to the staircase to Platform 9; this had a landing which was lit by the window second right of the entrance on the first floor.The window first right of the entrance was the storeroom I referred to.
Going up the stairs to the main station you came to a landing and on your right was the staircase to the Plarform 8 ticket kiosk. Between the landing and the staircase on your right was a blue door. This door was usually locked but in late 1980 I found it open and there was a short flight of stairs down into the storeroom. The room was full of big clocks similar to this one on platforms 2/3 http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/3 ... 702503480/ but not as old - I would guess they must have been from Newcastle station. There was various other junk in there including a box of signal repeater presumably from Manors box. Then to my left there was a door to a room with no windows and some kind of rubble - it was so dark and dangerous looking I didn't go in.This room would be directly below the Tynemouth tracks and presumably behind the landing which was why it had no windows.

Incidentally I just sold this photo of Manors so I guess I can get away with mentioning it now. Quite a nice view and gives you a good impression of the north end of the station.http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MESOX:IT

[Jonathan1973]

Dear Pinza,
Thank you for the information and the pointer to your old picture of Platform 9. I have dug out a couple of old maps of the station that might help. One is from a 1950's OS sheet showing Manors North - it marks the subway continuing to the door on Trafalgar Street. I think that you were correct in that it must have been an emergency or rush-hour exit. Another possibility is some connection with the air-raid shelter system? I suspect that the subways would not have been sufficiently deep, and a shelter adjacent to a very important railway line may not make a lot of sense. The second image is taken from an OS map circa 1900, which shows Manors East in great detail. I have attempted to mark in red the rooms which you describe; 1 - the storeroom facing Melbourne Street lit by the second large window from the left, 2 - the room with the clocks and 3 - the scary room with the rubble. If this isn't boring you senseless, let me know if it's right. The Manors entry on 'Disused Stations' shows a spiral staircase within the subway system - I can't place that either. Your picture of Platform 9 is great - I think it shows an entrance to a waiting room in the centre of the screen facing Platform 9. This must have been accessed via a bridge over the long staircase (Number 4 in red), which Fawcett describes as being illuminated by glass panels in the roof. Keep up the memories - if Manors was in London there would have been something substantial published about it by now. It's good to get this stuff documented before people forget.

[lar1976]

14 pages for a station which only exsists as an island platform's good going! Totally fascinated with this thread, keep pics and info coming.

[Jonathan1973]

I think that's the point. Manors went from being a large, busy station to the state it is today within living memory. Even within my lifetime it was massive, if under-used. A sort of suburban Gormenghast with trains every twenty minutes. I'll add another of Alan's pictures - Platforms 8 & 9 this time.

[Trestrol]

With all the interest in Manors you wonder if it's worth Alan writing a book just on Manors!

[third-rail]

I think that's the point. Manors went from being a large, busy station to the state it is today within living memory. Even within my lifetime it was massive, if under-used. A sort of suburban Gormenghast with trains every twenty minutes. I'll add another of Alan's pictures - Platforms 8 & 9 this time.

judging way the sun is that must be the unadvertised train that got to carville about 7,30pm which stopped at all stations to west monkseaton if and as required the gaurd would start to go through train at tynemouth asking who was going where and many the time i have been on that train as the only passenger as it went through whitley bay and monkseaton and let me off at w monkseaton.then ecs to the car sheds.....having looked at that picture again i am thinking seeing the girl with the basket and the clock (wich looks odd round to centre)that it may be half four/five train

[PinzaC55]

Dear Pinza,
Thank you for the information and the pointer to your old picture of Platform 9. I have dug out a couple of old maps of the station that might help. One is from a 1950's OS sheet showing Manors North - it marks the subway continuing to the door on Trafalgar Street. I think that you were correct in that it must have been an emergency or rush-hour exit. Another possibility is some connection with the air-raid shelter system? I suspect that the subways would not have been sufficiently deep, and a shelter adjacent to a very important railway line may not make a lot of sense. The second image is taken from an OS map circa 1900, which shows Manors East in great detail. I have attempted to mark in red the rooms which you describe; 1 - the storeroom facing Melbourne Street lit by the second large window from the left, 2 - the room with the clocks and 3 - the scary room with the rubble. If this isn't boring you senseless, let me know if it's right. The Manors entry on 'Disused Stations' shows a spiral staircase within the subway system - I can't place that either. Your picture of Platform 9 is great - I think it shows an entrance to a waiting room in the centre of the screen facing Platform 9. This must have been accessed via a bridge over the long staircase (Number 4 in red), which Fawcett describes as being illuminated by glass panels in the roof. Keep up the memories - if Manors was in London there would have been something substantial published about it by now. It's good to get this stuff documented before people forget.

The OS map is interesting but has me very confused mainly because I CANNOT REMEMBER the "subway" marked as running from the bottom of the stairs to the Platform 8 ticket kiosk to a landing on the stairway up to Platform 9!! I don't think there was even space for it? The room full of clocks extended from your red "2" to your red "1" OVER the top of the platform 9 staircase and had a window onto Melbourne Place.Then there was the "dark room" to the RIGHT of it on the OS plan although I'll concede the "dark room" MAY have been the subway bricked up at either end?
If you look at this photo on Disused Stations http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/m/ma ... ex19.shtml the area of breeze blocks front right was the staircase to the Platform 8 ticket office and according to the OS plan the oval gap in the ceiling was a skylight - what confused me here was the "ladder" things underneath it because I can't remember seeing this oval in the 70's so I guess the ladders must have held a suspended ceiling to cover it up? I guess that since it appears to be concreted over that must be the base of Manors signalbox.
Re my Platform 9 photo you can actually see the "waiting Room" sign above the door.In the 70's it was locked up and disused as were (from memory) the Platform 7/8 buildings.The waiting room was built out over the platform 9 staircase and the only area with a "glazed roof" was the bit of the staircase between the entrance and the waiting room.
PS my best guess for the spiral staircase is that it must have given access from the street level rooms to the 1st floor rooms to the east of the "dark room"?

[PinzaC55]

Also, I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that as late as 1980 the "Way Out" sign shown in the old Platform 9 photo was STILL in place above the exit although painted over all one colour, you could make out the raised enamel letters underneath.
This exit to the staircase had no ticket kiosk or facilities of any kind either at the top or bottom of the staircase so I'm pretty sure it must have been a "Rush Hour Only" exit - probably you just had one guy collecting tickets and cash from people leaving that way.It probably fell into disuse in the late 60's when BR realised they had to cut back on staff at places like this.

[Blink Bonny]

Somewhere in my garage in a multitude of storage boxes I have a VHS tape I filmed in the 80s ( along with many others) of the last class 40 on its final run with the Redbank vans passing through the remains of Manors Station. It was filmed from the roof of Manors Multi Story car park.
I have some 20 hours or so VHS archive between 1982 - 1992 which really needs converted to disc, locations include Gateshead mpd, Tyne Yard, Bensham incline, Low Fell, Felling, Pelaw junction, Tyne Dock, Leamside route, Newcastle Central station, Heaton sidings, Westoe Colliery and electric railway, plus various Midland locations.

Ah, the music of the 16SVT MkII. Wouldn't mind that meself, redtoon. Being a Yorkshire Lad born in sunny Ravensthorpe (a prime target for an atom bomb if ever there was one!) we used to get it through about 11 o'clock if I remember rightly. Happy days!

[pasco]

Now then - here's a challenge.... anyone got pics to share of inside the station buildings? North and East?

[Jonathan1973]

Although I don't have any interior pictures of the station, I did visit the '(Marsden) Rattler' over Easter. Attached are a couple of pictures showing the salvaged clock tower and one of the columns from Manors North. The bar used to feature the booking office windows, but they have gone now. I have a picture from about 13 years ago buried somewhere, showing how the ticket windows were re-used. I'll post it when I can unearth the prints.

[woodpusher22]

That photo of the old Manors clock on the Marsden Rattler certainly brings back memories for me. My first job when leaving school in 1950 was as a junior booking clerk at Manors. It was a very busy station in those days and I used to cycle into work and I never failed to glance at that clock on the way into the forecourt to make sure I was not late! I worked in the main booking office at first. There were 2 ticket windows. It was very busy early mornings with the Workmen Trains for the Riverside branch. The Coast trains were extremely busy during hot weather. Normal service was every 20 minutes via Benton, every 20 minutes via Wallsend, making it a regular 10 minute service to the coast. I can even remember some of the fares; return fares to the coast stations were 1 shilling and fourpence (1s.4d/ child 8d)...7p/3p respectively in decimal currency. Manors to West Jesmond return was 4d, South Gosforth 6d, Benton 9d. There was a special 'Evening Excursion Ticket' available after 6pm on a Saturday and was extremely popular; this was a return ticket (from Manors) to Monkseaton, and it cost 1s.9d. For that 1s.9d (8 or 9p in decimal terms) you got a return trip to the coast by any train, and...wait for it....included admission to the Empress Ballroom for the Saturday night dance! Mysteries of ticket pricing were abundant then as much as nowadays. The 1s.4d Coast return mentioned caused much puzzlement to strangers, as the "Ordinary" single fare to the coast stations was more than 2 shillings. Passengers requesting a single (one way) to the coast were given a 1s.4d day return ticket. They would protest that they only wished to travel one way. When told the price of a single, they could not grasp the fact that a return ticket was cheaper for them and would often ask to see my boss! My boss, the Chief Clerk, was a Mr Taylor. He never ever removed his trilby at work. We were convinced that he even went to bed in it. I always remember his favourite comment on some of the passengers who came to the window and wouldn't take a daily return instead of the more expensive single. He would look at me, shake his head and nod at the departing passenger. "Wood! Solid wood from the neck upwards!"
After a few months in the main office, I was given the job of booking clerk in the little ticket office at the top of the stairs at Manors East. This office was known as a 'Passimeter' for some reason. I used to have a laugh at some of the passengers for the workmens trains, who would come running up the stairs, gasping for breath - they could barely pant out the name of the station they wanted their ticket to!
When times were quiet, I used to pop into the signal box at the end of the platform to watch the signalmen at work on their complicated switchboard. Many of the main line trains had to stop at the signal there, and as a young lad it gave me a chance to chat with the toplink drivers.
The bay platforms at Manors North were for the Blyth/Newbiggin push-and-pulls, and were still in operation there in the early 50's. I remember just after I started work there, one of the trains braking a little late (it was a bit of an incline down from Jesmond), demolishing the buffers and ploughing into the platform.
My shifts (at 16 years of age) were 6.15 am - 3.00pm, and 1.00pm - 9.30. It was 6 days a week, and once every 2 Sundays, a 8.00am - 1.00pm shift at Jesmond station.
Happy days!

[Jonathan1973]

Woodpusher,

Thank you for the memories of working at Manors. It is really interesting to hear from someone who knew the station well. I don't suppose you can remember what the various rooms around the station were used for? There were buildings on Platforms 1, 6, 7/8 and 9, which presumably contained a mixture of waiting rooms, toilets and store-rooms. I know that the main booking office was inside the Platform 1 building on Trafalgar Street, and that the small booking office lay at the southern end of Platforms 7 and 8. Any information about the other buildings would be most welcome.
Best wishes,
Jonathan

[PinzaC55]

woodpusher22 said "This office was known as a 'Passimeter' for some reason."
The "Passimeter" was an LNER device similar to the ticket barriers on the London Underground and it was usually a kind of wooden gate controlled by the booking office clerk, the idea being that a passenger had to either show or buy a ticket before being allowed through. There was a one at Newark Northgate till about 1980 and I'm sure it is preserved somewhere - maybe in the NRM?
Those are fascinating memories, it really helps to bring the station to life!

[woodpusher22]

Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for your kind comments. As to the buildings on the various platforms, my memories of Manors are now rather vague - after all, more than 60 years have past since I worked there!
Starting with the booking hall, there was the parcels office counter and the 2 booking office windows on the left as you entered. Directly opposite was the WHSmith bookstall. Next to that was the Findlay's tobacco kiosk (a very pretty girl worked there who I never had the courage to ask for a date....my cigarette consumption went up quite a bit, though!....I even bought a pipe and tobacco there, and was immediately sick when trying it out in the passimeter...most embarrassing!). Passing through the ticket barrier, you passed the booking office door on the left; on the right was the ticket inspectors' rest room. Then, out onto the No. 1 platform. To the left past the rear wall of the booking office, was the doorway for the parcels office, then there was the station master's clerks office, then the stationmaster's office. The stationmaster was a Mr Backhouse, a large, jovial man who always had a smile on his face - a perfect gentleman. Beyond his office was the gents' toilet. Looking south along the platform there was a porters' room, lamp room, and I think there was a ladies waiting-room next to that, and the steps up to the footbridge.
Crossing the footbridge, I cannot remember what the buildings and rooms were on platform 2, nor the ones beside the Blyth/Newbiggin bay platforms. On 7/8 island platform were the waiting-rooms (a general waiting-room, and a separate ladies waiting-room, each with their coal fires in the winter), a gents toilet. In those days toilets in railway stations were never signboarded as such; there was a "Gentlemen" sign, but never as far as I can remember, a "Ladies". The ladies toilets were always hidden away in the ladies waiting-rooms. I think there was some sort of storeroom also on 8, and at the east end of the platform 7/8 was the passimeter and the signal box.
As far as I remember about platform 9, there was a ticket barrier at the top of the stairs, a porter's room, a lamp room, and I think that was about it.
As stated earlier, it was all a long time ago, and memories tend to fade. I was only at Manors for a few months before becoming a 'relief clerk', when I travelled all over the electrified lines north and south of the Tyne filling in for staff holildays. One week I might be in the Whitley Bay booking office, the next at Felling, the next at Newcastle parcels office. All good fun and strange shifts for a teenage lad. Then came National Service in the RAF in The Canal Zone (but that's another story!). After that, I returned to my job on the railway working at North Shields booking and parcels office for about a year. But, by then, my thoughts had turned to photography (which I had learned as a trade whilst in the RAF), and I left British Railways for a job on the Evening Chronicle - and that is yet another story!
Sorry if I've rambled on a bit, but once I get at my keyboard, it takes a lot to stop me!
Woodpusher.