Manors Railway Station, Newcastle

[Caledonian]

Just found this website/forum. I have some good OS maps in the office - I work for the Metro - which provide complete coverage of the old station, and the various subsidiary yards and goods areas. They are too big to scan but if anybody wants to drop me a PM with their address I'll see what I can do by way of a hard copy.

As part of my job I have to wander along the track from time to time (sad, but somebody's got to do it) and until a few years ago I was interested to notice shunters' markers painted on the cutting walls leading north out of the station towards Jesmond. These told drivers where to stop according to how many wagons they were drawing, as in how far forward they had to go to clear the points at the goods station throat. Sadly they seem to have vanished now, but its not something I've seen anywhere else.

[pasco]

Hi

I don't know if any of you guys are members, but there is a facebook group for old Newcastle/Tyneside. It contains pictures (well over a thousand) and there are quite a few rail pics, including some of Manors. Heaton, some of the Riverside route and Central are also featured. But the Manors ones are good.

Offhand I don't remember the name of the group, but it is along the lines of "remembering tyneside past and present" and is worth a look.

Any word on a model/layout of Manors yet?

[PinzaC55]

I have a folder of 27 Manors photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/s ... 702503480/
Hope you like.
There was a cellar underneath platforms 8 and 7 and it was full of stuff like large electric station clocks and a box of signal repeaters.

[tynesider]

Great set of photographs of a once important station. I worked there from 1959 to 1961 and you can read about my railway experiences at http://www.webwanderers.org/08_transport/railways/
Just scroll down to 'On The Railway. Memories of my first job'.

Incidentally, platforms 3, 4 and 5 were used for the Bedlington, Ashington, Newbiggin via Seghill trains, especially on Saturdays when there was a good service. The stairway exits on platforms 8 and 9 led to the massive stairs from City Road up to Croft Street, with a 'short cut' subway link across from the platform 8 stairs to the platform 9 ones. There was a small booking office (Manors East) at the west (stairs) end of platform 8 (just visible in your photo 18 to the left of the fireplace, painted blue and cream, and in photo 20, extreme left). This was busy in the early mornings with shipyard workers going to work on the Riverside Line and the clerks also had to collect the tickets from commuters leaving the station down the stairs in the morning rush hour. There were ticket collectors on the platform 9 exit. The rest of the day there was just a trickle of passengers buying tickets on platform 8, though many passengers returned home to the coast from 5 to 6pm but they had return tickets mostly. Staff: Station Master, SM's clerk, 3 booking office clerks at Manors North, 2 at Manors East; 2 station inspectors, 5 ticket collectors (3 of them at Manors North) 5 porters and one lad porter, ie under 18. Also 2 office cleaners. I forget how many signalmen but there was Argyle Street and Manors North boxes, and the station master also covered Jesmond station. The other signal box at the west end of platform 8 had just closed shortly before I was transferred to Manors East in 1959. I was moved to Manors North the following year. Happy days, (but awful shifts).

[PinzaC55]

Glad you liked the photos and its amazing to hear how many staff were there. When I used the station I can only ever remember one guy being in the main ticket office - I don't remember the little box on Manors East being open.Incidentally if you search Flickr for "Heaton Station" one guy has posted an incredibly detailed B & W set of photos of Heaton before the canopies were demolished.
Cheers, PinzaC55.

[tynesider]

PinzaC55
An interesting series of photographs of Heaton station. Wish I'd taken some of Manors but I didn't get a camera until I went to sea.
Shifts at Manors East were 0550 to 1250 frontshift and 1250 to 1950 backshift. At Manors North they were 0700 to 1330 frontshift and 1645 to 2345 backshift except Saturdays when you worked 0700 until 1430 and the backshift was 1430 to 2355. We used to unofficially change shifts at 1330 so at least you had most of the afternoon off. This equated to a 42 hour week when averaged out. We also worked every other Sunday at Manors North , there were two 8 hour shifts. So you only had two days off in a 4 week period. (Manors East closed on Sundays but one clerk from there worked the mornings at Jesmond on Sundays in summer.) The Manors North day shift, same clerk on permanently, was 0830 to 1700, I think.
In my diary for January 1st 1960, a Friday, when I worked backshift at Manors East, I have written 'I had 9d (about 4p) in my balance - 1 single to Howdon' . Not much reward for 7 hours spent at work. Of course it was a public holiday. The next day Newcastle were at home and it would be busier. My diary says 'Newcastle United 7 - Man Utd 3'. The main booking office was open every day of the year, there were trains on Christmas Day even.
Good to see so many posts about Manors station.

[third-rail]

PinzaC55
An interesting series of photographs of Heaton station. Wish I'd taken some of Manors but I didn't get a camera until I went to sea.
Shifts at Manors east were 0550 to 1250 frontshift and 1250 to 1950 backshift. At Manors North they were 0700 to 1330 frontshift and 1645 to 2345 backshift except Saturdays when you worked 0700 until 1430 and the backshift was 1430 to 2355. We used to unofficially change shifts at 1330 so at least you had most of the afternoon off. This equated to a 42 hour week when averaged out. We also worked every other Sunday at Manors North , there were two 8 hour shifts. So two days off every 4 weeks. (Manors East closed on Sundays but one clerk from there worked the mornings at Jesmond on Sundays in summer. The Manors North day shift, same clerk on permanently, was 0830 to 1700, I think.
In my diary for January 1st 1960, a Friday, when I worked backshift at Manors East, I have written 'I had 9d (about 4p) in my balance - 1 single to Howdon' . Not much reward for 7 hours spent at work. Of course it was a public holiday. The next day Newcastle were at home and it would be busier. My diary says 'Newcastle United 7 - Man Utd 3'. The main booking office was open every day of the year, there were trains on Christmas Day even.
Good to see so many posts about Manors station.

i remember the contraption near the head of platform 1 ,with a wooden handle about 4 foot long with a plate and about 15 feet of cable fixed to the bottom so it could be plugged in to a emu if it got shoes gapped between the live rails.jobsworthes would have a hay day now.

[elbongodelfetish]

PinzaC55, those are some fantastic photos, thanks so much for putting them up! Would be great if this was where one could find the most pics of Manors station on the net, if only so I would know where they are!

Anybody has more, put them up! Also, I'm interested in what the area around Manors station looked like - a few of those pics from the end of the station's use show the brand new motorway right next door - the two must have looked quite odd side by side! Also, what about before the motorway was built - does anybody have pics of the area, so I could get a good sense and feel of the place?

[PinzaC55]

There are some photos of the junction at Manors immediately after the connection at Manors North was opened in 1909 and these are held in Newcastle City Library.I have photocopies of these but obviously I cannot reproduce them since they are copyright.I also have a couple of monochrome shots from other photographers but the same applies.
The Public Record Office at Kew is the prime source for most railway research and I have hand drawn copies of the signalling plans for Manors (about 1876) and Argyle Street box about 1905.

[elbongodelfetish]

Following up on the area around Manors as it was pre-Metro and pre-motorway - my interest mainly revolves around the old railway bridge that crosses Trafalgar Street, then comes to an abrupt end, presumably demolished to make way for Manors Car Park:

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stat ... ex16.shtml

Apparently Newcastle's first railway station was at Carliol Square, basically the area covered by the motorway today. Was that that the bridge that carried the railway to Carliol Square station? Are there any photos of it, or the old station?

On the SINE website there are photos of a bus depot at Carliol Square, apprently on the site of the old station. The following picture clearly shows the slope rising in the direction of Manors, and a big stone wall. Did this wall join up with what's left of the railway bridge over Trafalgar street?

http://sine.ncl.ac.uk/view_image.asp?di ... oc_id=4464

The stone certainly looks of a similar type. And this photo shows the westernmost end of the bus depot - was this as far as the railway went?

http://sine.ncl.ac.uk/view_image.asp?di ... oc_id=4465

Hope this makes sense! I'd really like to get my head round all this!

[PinzaC55]

As I said earlier, the best way to understand this is to go to Newcastle City Library (if you are local) and have a look at the OS maps in the local studies section.I found that Sunderland Library has 25 and 50 inch to the mile maps dating from the 1940s, so I guess Newcastle is the same.
Ken Hooles book "Forgooten Railways North East England" has a picture of Picton House at New Bridge Street which was the Newcastle HQ of the Blyth & Tyne Railway.
"Main Line Railways Of Northumberland" by C.r Warn has a simplified map of the Manors layout "pre" Manors North being opened.

[third-rail]

Following up on the area around Manors as it was pre-Metro and pre-motorway - my interest mainly revolves around the old railway bridge that crosses Trafalgar Street, then comes to an abrupt end, presumably demolished to make way for Manors Car Park:

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stat ... ex16.shtml

Apparently Newcastle's first railway station was at Carliol Square, basically the area covered by the motorway today. Was that that the bridge that carried the railway to Carliol Square station? Are there any photos of it, or the old station?

On the SINE website there are photos of a bus depot at Carliol Square, apprently on the site of the old station. The following picture clearly shows the slope rising in the direction of Manors, and a big stone wall. Did this wall join up with what's left of the railway bridge over Trafalgar street?

http://sine.ncl.ac.uk/view_image.asp?di ... oc_id=4464

The stone certainly looks of a similar type. And this photo shows the westernmost end of the bus depot - was this as far as the railway went?

http://sine.ncl.ac.uk/view_image.asp?di ... oc_id=4465

Hope this makes sense! I'd really like to get my head round all this!

try this site some more pictures in colour

http://www.northumbrian-railways.co.uk/ ... iol-square

[elbongodelfetish]

Anybody got more pics of the subways underneath Manors station? I'm trying to understand the role of Croft Lane, apparently it was the entrance to the subways beneath the station, before Manors North was built. On the Disused Stations website W Fawcett describes the construction of the subways, including the 'eastern entrance into Croft Lane', which is still standing:

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stat ... ex23.shtml

Is this building covering up the former Croft Lane, and internalising it into the subway structure? In other words, before that building was built, was there a small street which ran under one of the railway arches? All of the maps I've seen up until the 1960s show Croft Lane running towards the railway, but it isn't clear whether it continues under the railway, or comes to an end where the subway starts.

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stat ... ex24.shtml

[PinzaC55]

On that map in your second link the North Shields line came in from the east and carried on in a straight line across the "subway" and then presumably across Manors Road.There was a physical junction which allowed trains from North Shields to go into Newcastle Central instead of Carliol Square. Manors Goods Yard was arranged parallel to the Carliol Square linr where the centre of the triangle would be later.

[pasco]

PinzaC55 - I have spent most of the morning looking at your photos on flickr... they are amazing.
Especially the Manors pictures - truly brilliant.
Your photos of sites in and around Sunderland also stirred up a lot of memories - I can remember a lot of the track etc being in place on the Penshaw line, particularly around Millfield and Pallion. A really enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours!!

Now, has anyone modelled Manors yet??