Manors Railway Station, Newcastle

[PinzaC55]

I would seriously doubt that the building is listed as it was (or at least the above surface part was) bog standard "Modular" buildings and canopies.I would guess the restaurant has just fallen victim to the recession - funny when you think it could have utilised the "Get Carter" connection.
Incidentally in September 1980 I recorded in my diary that I "went to Manors and had a look at the signs but they were too big"? The only sign I can definitely remember was at the top of the staircase leading down from Platform 9 to the street. It was above the door (the staircase wasn't used) and was NER enamel painted over in a khaki colour paint.
That and the incomplete "WALLSEND" orange enamel station nameboard in the goods yard but I wasn't into orange enamels then.

[Caledonian]

[quote="pasco"]Thanks Pinza... for shedding some light on the plight!

I wonder who was responsible for the routing of the Metro then, to cause Manors to disappear, as well as Heaton and Jesmond. I know there was a rationale that the route wasn't "city friendly", but I still think it was short sighted.

For example, how much business the metro would have scored from Heaton.... and Jesmond.... Also, I still maintain that Manors is better for the City Centre than Central (but do appreciate the fact that the Metro does go right into the centre, thus making it more attractive etc etc.)... [quote]

Apologies for coming late to this one, but there appears to be a bit of confusion as to the geography. As originally cobbled together from various bits of different railway the North Tyne Loop started off at Central Station and if proceeding clockwise split off from the ECML alignment at Manors West Junction, to stop at the north south platforms of Manors Station then proceed north past the goods station to Jesmond Station then West Jesmond and so on round by the coast and back through Wallsend, Walkergate, Heaton, Manors east-west platforms and thus back to Central Station. At this time and just as importantly prior to the building of the central motorway Manors was much more important than now as it provided a very good access to the city centre.

The Metro conversion retained most of the North Tyne Loop and its stations, but diverts from the original route at Jesmond - there is a new Jesmond Station literally just across the road from the original - to go into tunnel through the city centre providing new stations at Haymarket and Monument right in the middle of it, as well as an underground one at Central Station. Similarly it also diverts from the original route at Chillingham Road, between Walkergate and Heaton, in order to provide an underground station at Byker - not too far away from the old one at Heaton - before crossing the Ouseburn to a new underground station at Manors and thence to Monument and St. James. This new Manors station isnt currently as busy as the old one simply because of the additional stations provided in the city centre - and the fact its cut off from the said city centre by the motorway. Otherwise all the original stations/catchments are covered.

[PinzaC55]

Thinking about it logically once they decided on 1500 DC overhead as the OS for the Metro , running into Central wasn't an option since you can't mix the two (1500 DC and 25000 AC) catenary.They could have used the line from Argyle Street to Heaton East junction but then since it cuts under the ECML at Argyle Street it would probably have been impossible to crun it onto the Ouseburn Viaduct since the gradients would have been terrific?
Personally I think the whole Metro concept was flawed - they should have used conventional 25KV overhead via the city centre then everything would have been OK, especially when they came to extend it to Sunderland.
If you look at my Manors photos you'll notice one thing - even with a train every 20 minutes on each line there were NO PEOPLE on the platforms.
This also applied to Tynemouth.
Whilst I love railway history, as I said before Manors was effectively doomed once it was cut off from the city centre by the road and even if BR had still been running the North Tyne Loop they could never have found the money to maintain the acres of glass and cast iron and all those disused buildings for the sake of a few commuters and the occasional Deltic basher on the 17.32 Newcastle - Edinburgh!

[lar1976]

I'd asume BR would have been quite happy with a small brick waiting shelter on every platform if they'd kept Manors open and they'd probably have filled the subway in too!

[Caledonian]

I'd asume BR would have been quite happy with a small brick waiting shelter on every platform if they'd kept Manors open and they'd probably have filled the subway in too!

Technically speaking the BR Manors station is still open; as an unstaffed halt still using the ECML platforms with access only from the north. They did use it for a while as a stop on local services to Alnmouth but I think the last time it was used was because there were problems on Central Station.

[Crosslea]

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[Crosslea]

I‘ve found 5 photos of Manors which I haven’t looked at since they were processed over 30 years ago.

The first shows the demolition of the buildings on platforms 7 and 8. Looking across from platform 9, the tangerine platform number creates an evocative scene. The photo is marked “1979 or 1980” so, annoyingly, I didn’t even remember the date at the time it was processed. I guess that the picture was taken in the Christmas / New Year holiday. I think that trains continued to stop during the demolition. The island platform was long enough for them to use the section beyond the footbridge.

[Crosslea]

The second photo must be at a later date and shows something that I’d forgotten. When the buildings on platform 6 were demolished, a breeze block shelter was built and new fencing was erected. This must have been fairly short-lived as platforms 7 and 8 were redeveloped as the current station for ECML stopping trains and platform 6 vanished. Does anyone have any idea which year this happened? It is also curious that a substantial building (even if it does look a rather uncomfortable place) was built instead of the expected bus shelter. This seems to suggest that the reduction to the current island platform hadn’t been thought up at the time. Tall lamp posts have been erected, again suggesting expectation of long term use. Demolition of the old buildings isn’t entirely complete as a couple of the canopy supports are still standing.

[Crosslea]

The final 3 pictures are dated April 1980 – a couple of months before the withdrawal of the last coast services to make way for the Metro. There is a view of the completed and tidied up platform 6.

[Crosslea]

Then there is one from the newly cleared platform 8 across to the canopy of platform 9 which survived for quite a few more years. Does anyone know when it disappeared?

[Crosslea]

And finally, a surprising view of the ticket office and subway on platforms 7 and 8 suggesting that perhaps it continued in use at peak hours until the Tynemouth trains were stopped running in, I think, June 1980. Although the ticket office is boarded up, there is a gap to allow tickets to be sold. Did anyone still use this entrance at that time? There also seems to be a sort of make-shift corrugated canopy above the subway. The lighting is also strange and not as permanent as platform 6. Was it created from the lights that were under the canopy as a temporary measure for the last few months of Tynemouth trains?

Of course, all of the pictures are in bright sunlight proving that things really were sunnier in the past!

[PinzaC55]

Nice photos. Your earlier photo of platforms 7/8 being demolished is late 1979. The lamps were simply baulks of timber with lamps recovered from somewhere else fitted to them as a stopgap. I SERIOUSLY doubt that the rush hour exit on 7/8 was used - certainly it seems that the long disused signalbox was simply left in place because it wasn't included in the demolition contractors contract.

[lar1976]

Good pictures, if there are any more out there keep them coming.

[Crosslea]

Whilst I agree that it does seem pretty unlikely and unbelievable that the rush hour exit on 7/8 was still in use for the six months after demolition, I still wonder if this might have been the case

- I did buy a ticket (to Newcastle Central!) at this ticket office before the main canopy was demolished at some point during the previous 18 months;

- It still seems odd that the ticket office wasn’t demolished along with the canopy. The old brick-built signal box would be a more difficult prospect for demolition and might have been used for storage. Why wasn’t the wooden office simply swept away? Why go to the trouble of putting up what looks like new boarding over the window with a gap cut out for selling tickets?

- Given the highly unionised world of the time, would the ticket collector be made redundant simply because the station was demolished if trains were still running for another six months after demolition? At the time, locos had second men even though they didn’t have coal to put on a fire and some drivers had lots of “spare” shifts. Might the union have demanded the continuation of the role and its shelter until the trains ceased to run.

I guess we would only find out the definitive answer from someone who worked there or from anyone who bought a ticket at this time. As no one seemed to use the entrance anyway, it is just as surprising that this ticket office was still in use until shortly before the main demolition.

[Jonathan1973]

Thank you for the latest photos of Manors. The BR service to Tynemouth via Wallsend continued until August 1980 (I think it was the 10th or 11th), with the Metro service to Haymarket via Benton commencing the following day. From your pictures, it does look as though some effort was made to continue using the ticket cabin - there is definitely a hole in the plywood where the ticket window (with bars), was situated. Are we also assuming that the entrance/exit from Platform 9 (via the long flight of stairs), to Melbourne Street was permanently disused by the late 70's? I guess that when it was in use, there was some facility for the collection and issuing of tickets on Platform 9. What we really need (as Crosslea says), is someone who either worked at the station or used it everyday during the late 1970's, to read these posts and comment.