Manors Railway Station, Newcastle

[PinzaC55]

Cheers Pasco, I just curse myself that I didn't take more "home area" photos while I had the chance.A model of Manors in 2 or 4 MM would be be a huge job but I think it would be easy in the Trainz rail simulator.

[Jonathan1973]

Does anyone in the community know what was contained in the range of buildings, alongside Platform 9 at the top of the Melbourne Street facade? Obviously the long flight of stairs from Melbourne Street formed part of the structure at platform level. Photographs of the platform show windows along the length of the building, with a brick archway in the centre. Intriguing. Incidentally, my dad used the station in the 50's and 60's to travel to North Shields. He could remember coal fires in the waiting rooms, which were furnished with bucket seats from the LNER electric trains. Presumably this would have been within the range of wooden buildings on Platforms 7 and 8.

Keep up the posting. Manors is worthy of lots more discussion.

Regards,
Jonathan

[PinzaC55]

At least one of them was a storeroom.As I said earlier there was a door with a broken lock near the staircase to the platform 8 entrance which was full of large clocks and all kinds of junk.I think there was a door to the adjacent rooms but without a torch I didn't want to risk it.

[Jonathan1973]

Dear Pinzac,

Thanks for the advice. Also for your photos on flickr, which are fab. I'm a bit obsessed with the North Tyne Loop, and any photographs of the stations are appreciated. As I was six when the lines were 'Metrofied', I didn't take any pictures myself. What would be absolutely brilliant, are some interior photos of the stations. Given the limitations of 1970's photographic technology, this might be too much to hope for (although I have stumbled across a few).

Regards,
Jonathan

[pasco]

Isn't it bizarre how Manors attracts so much attention?
Whilst the loop is interesting, I am also fascinated by the Riverside branch. I used to live just in front of where St Peter's station would have been, although I didn't know it at the time!

I guess Riverside trains went through Manors?

[Deltic18]

Yes they did. They ran over Byker Bridge and then 'turned left' to run down through the old byker station and then down to St Peters and via Carville before joining back on to the North Tyneside Loop at Percy Main (hope my memory is good at this time of night!).
I was still at Tyne Yard when the branch was open (just) and had the dubious pleasure of working the last freight service from St Peters to Tyne Yard. 3 guesses who didn't have his camera with him!

Keith

[PinzaC55]

Thanks for your kind comments Johnathan. Manors was interesting because you saw few passengers there and it was a kind of "ghost station" with little nooks and crannies to explore.I've posted some photos of the Riverside branch recently but if you go to
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/ he has great gen and better photos than mine.

[redtoon1892]

This link has a few interesting pics on.

http://tramway-photo-halt.fotopic.net/c1381310.html

[52D]

Pasco/Pinza check out this link, pre-ner-locomotives-t2493.html i am researching the 2 Willington viaduct accidents further and will report in due course.

[pasco]

Thanks for the link, redtoon.

Jonathan - have you got/read Alan Young's book - "suburban railways of Tyneside"? - it should feed your obsession nicely...

I have only just thought of a question - any answers gratefully received.

Why was Manors actually taken out of use? And what was the rationale behind keeping one token platform of the old East station? And, was any alternative use mooted for Manors prior to demolition, or was it always on the cards?

OK, I know that is actually 3 questions, but...

[pasco]

In fact, I have an idea.

Answer all the questions together - why doesn't someone just write a book about Manors? Any volunteers?

[PinzaC55]

With changing work patterns there was less demand for Manors and then of course the Metro station would cater for the remaining demand.In the runup to privatisation in 1996, British Rail (presumably under instructions from the Government) slashed many services (such as Whitby and Newcastle - Berwick local trains) to the bone so that the new train companies wouldn't need such big subsidies.Then of course many stations such as Dunston , Blaydon and Manors only have a "token" service because it saves the legal rigmarole of closing them altogether.

[pasco]

Legal rigmarole of closing?

I wasn't aware there was any legality involved. What is it?

[Deltic18]

If I remember rightly, there has to be a public enquiry as to whether the station is still a viable product i.e the number of passengers using it. The TOC's cannot just close a station if they want to.

Keith

[PinzaC55]

Exactly. In the Beeching era they would simply say there was an alternative bus service but in many cases the bus service followed the train into oblivion shortly afterward. It's easier for Network Rail to maintain a station for two trains a day than to face the bad publicity of closing it in these days when "in theory" the Gov wants us to use public transport. Smoke and mirrors.