TRANSPORT | Metrolink ‎Extension

[Wirlie G]

U ManU U?

Clearly No.

[apologiesforthedelay]

Originally Posted by dangminhtrung.pvc87

is this Old Trafford? I love MU so much, im from VietNam

No, its the Council House.

[ill tonkso]

It's Manchester City Stadium, Manchester City Football club in East Manchester. Manchester United are based in Trafford, West Manchester.

[Johnny de Rivative]

Cheers Ashton. I have trod that path myself many times by the allotments! Yes it is a very well-to-do area, heavily populated with lots and lots of commuters. GMPTE have estimated that Chorlton will be the most heavily used stop on the network - they will be wanting to get it open quick for all that scrumptious revenue!! ££

Local - is the overbridge at Harbour Lane North (Milnrow) going to disappear altogether?

image hosted on flickr


and again. Almost demolished

[Motortownman]

[QUOTE=Ashtonian;68332709]South Manchester Line

A couple of weeks ago I was in the Chorlton area. Previously I'd skate by the periphery of the area, but when I visited it this time - I was surprised to see such a densely populated area that has been a backwater in terms of public transport.



Sorry Ashtonian. Had to grin a bit at what you said there....

26 buses an hour into Manchester isn't really a backwater, 12 x 86 6 x 85 2 x 16 2 x 84 4 x 46/47 per hour of which 14 of those serve different areas on the way... 8 x per hour to Stretford, 6 x to Stockport and twice towards Droylsden plus some smaller bus services. The trams will have 10 per hour serving a smaller section of the city centre and not a lot in between so although faster and better quality are not replacements for the buses as not everyone wants to go into Manchester. Also 10 - 15 minutes walk from Stretford tram stop.

[Ashtonian]

[QUOTE=Motortownman;68352825]

Originally Posted by Ashtonian

South Manchester Line

A couple of weeks ago I was in the Chorlton area. Previously I'd skate by the periphery of the area, but when I visited it this time - I was surprised to see such a densely populated area that has been a backwater in terms of public transport.



Sorry Ashtonian. Had to grin a bit at what you said there....

26 buses an hour into Manchester isn't really a backwater, 12 x 86 6 x 85 2 x 16 2 x 84 4 x 46/47 per hour of which 14 of those serve different areas on the way... 8 x per hour to Stretford, 6 x to Stockport and twice towards Droylsden plus some smaller bus services. The trams will have 10 per hour serving a smaller section of the city centre and not a lot in between so although faster and better quality are not replacements for the buses as not everyone wants to go into Manchester. Also 10 - 15 minutes walk from Stretford tram stop.

I should have emphasised that I meant to say backwater in terms of heavy and light rail. There were certainly plenty of buses going around and through the area that day. Apologies for the misunderstanding.

[wydna]

Originally Posted by Local Lad

Two photos taken on the way home today

Irk Valley Viaduct now has wires.



Towards Central Park and Oldham



Towards Manchester

Looked out of my bedroom window the other day to find rails in place Oldham bound and sleepers in place Manchester bound, so track laying is progressing past Newton Heath and Failsworth towards Hollinwood!!

[Joydivison82]

I am a bit worried about how the line might effect Chorlton especially the night life. Chorlton used to be a great place for a night out but over the past year it has seen a greater number of people coming from other areas. This means it has become more commercial and a lot of the bars are now crap at weekends.

I am worried the line may make Chorlton to even more of a night life destination with all the problems which goes with that.

The other major issue is parking as far as I can tell none of the stations will have any parking provision which means more people taking up spaces in what is an already very overcrowded town.

Thankfully the Firswood stop will be 12 minutes walk and the Chorlton one about six minutes so parking should not be a problem where I live.

That said I am currently having to drive to Stretford to get the tram (I won't risk parking near Old Trafford but will sometimes walk to that stop) so it will be great to have a tram stop so close. It means the city centre is really 20 minutes away from stepping out of my house. On the 86 it is currently 30+ minutes and the tram will be cheaper for return journeys.

[Joydivison82]

[QUOTE=Ashtonian;68355461]

Originally Posted by Motortownman

I should have emphasised that I meant to say backwater in terms of heavy and light rail. There were certainly plenty of buses going around and through the area that day. Apologies for the misunderstanding.

I am sure you aware Chorlton did have a train station until 1968 (I think) it was closed under Dr Beeching.

Closing the station was a rather short sited decision.

Really though as said the 86 is already very frequent the real bonus for me personaly will be the ability to get one tram to my mates in East Manchester and the ability to get trams to Didsbury. I often go out drinking in Didsbury as I have mates in Fallowfield.

It won't be enough to replace my car but I can see it reducing some of my car journeys.

[MarkO]

Originally Posted by Joydivison82

It won't be enough to replace my car but I can see it reducing some of my car journeys.

This is just brilliant! JD

This is the kind of pragmatic common-sense statement that warms the cockles of the hearts of environmentalists and transport campaigners alike.

Unless you are in a city with an incredibly dense network of multiple transit modes running to every part of the conurbation, few car owners are gonna drop them completely (or be willing to pay road charges for when they use it), so these are the kind of sentiments that should be music to the ears of every tram-fan IMHO.

[dangminhtrung.pvc87]

Originally Posted by apologiesforthedelay

No, its the Council House.

Originally Posted by ill tonkso

It's Manchester City Stadium, Manchester City Football club in East Manchester. Manchester United are based in Trafford, West Manchester.

thanks you

[Joydivison82]

Originally Posted by MarkO

This is just brilliant! JD

This is the kind of pragmatic common-sense statement that warms the cockles of the hearts of environmentalists and transport campaigners alike.

Unless you are in a city with an incredibly dense network of multiple transit modes running to every part of the conurbation, few car owners are gonna drop them completely (or be willing to pay road charges for when they use it), so these are the kind of sentiments that should be music to the ears of every tram-fan IMHO.

London is such city where not having car won't be a problem especialy if you live in the central area.

I do about 4000 miles a year and need my car as I cannot trasnport the heavy goods I often have to by public transport. When I am socialising though even if I am not drinking I prefer to use public transport.

It is also common sense, for me it is entirely pointless driving into the city centre and in fact I have never done so. If I needed to get to Didsbury from Chorltob at 7pm then driving is the only logical choice. In the time I spent waiting for the 23 to arrive I could be home and nice and warm.

[Johnny de Rivative]

Something new, if only a small thing . . .

Originally Posted by Johnny de Rivative

Beside the Library, the tracks have to be widely spaced to allow for the right-turn pocket into Tesco, and so the Westbound line has to take the space previously occupied by the footpath. But right beside it is a 15 foot drop to the canal basin, so they have had to widen the alignment by building a new footbridge over this gap, to accommodate the new footpath further to the South.

Well whad'ye know!! No sooner had we mentioned the new bridge beside Droylsden's Art Deco Library, than they opened it to the public this very week (with even less publicity than Media City!)

Do you remember the GMPTE media splash when they lowered the new footbridge into place over the canal basin, back in June 2009? :-



Well, now at long last we can walk over it in person. The tramway will be where the footpath used to be :-



And a new footpath has been created over the drop :-















Quite nice - all it needs is the Library's stonework cleaning up a bit. . .

[manclad71]

just come through the city centre and saw 4 trams all not in service, 2 towards victoria 2 coming the other way will these be the ghost trams that were advertised as running to try and keep the system up and running during this cold spell?

[leeeroy]

thats right, they have been doing this recently to TRY and avoid disruption in the mornings

[macc]

I know it was historically much larger but does anyone think the naming of the Withington stop on the South Manchester line is a bit confusing and slightly irrelevant?

My general view of the area boundaries is that the location of the stop is in the South-western tip of what most people would refer to Withington (The fact that it's on west side of the parkway suggests it's actually in Chorlton).

I'm not one to get overly concerned about boundaries but anyone getting the Met to Withington to meet a friend will have a one way ticket to confusionville.

Wouldn't Princess Road/Parkway not be more appropriate? Especially as a primary use of that stop is as an interchange with buses. Or am I missing something?

[Joydivison82]

No you're right I think it is a very confusing name as well. Isn't there going to be a West Didsbury stop? That would make a lot more sense if you were going to go to Withington.

The Parkway is the border of Chorlton and West Didsbury but a bit further up it breifly becomes the border of Chorlton and Withington/Fallowfield. If the stop was on the opposite site to Hough End it would actually be in Withington just about.

It would be like having a stop in the Mersey Bank estate and calling it Chorlton though, techncially correct but would confuse a hell of a lot of people.

Withington does still exist as a ward which consists of Burange, Chorlton, Didsbury and of course Withington.

[macc]

Even wards can be a bit mis-interpretive when viewing area. The Western side of Burton Road in West Didsbury (the main street) is in Chorlton Park rather than West Didsbury.

Of Course Withington Hospital is in the area too but that predates Withington being sucked into Manchester 100 or so years ago. I can only imagine it's some nod to this historical connection. It's irrelevant now though.

When the line was a proper train line the West Didsbury (metrolink) stop was called Withington and Albert Park at one point (then Withington and West Didsbury I think).

[Daniel H]

OK so not exactly about Metrolink construction, well not anything to do with construction but I know you guys know what your talking about...

Anyone see the tram crash in Coronation Street tonight?

At first you would think the tram was one of the bananas - but no... its actually a Yellow Livered T68a - confirmed when you see a close up of the driver and can see the seats and inside windows behind him - also the front skirt on the tram gives it away.

But then when the back half of the tram swings in the air and lands - its clearlly the new banana style tram - as seen in the publicity photos shown earlier in this thread.

I know its only going to be a select few who notice this but suprised with Metrolinks involvement in the storyline that they decided to jeopardise continuity...

[Futurelink]

Originally Posted by Daniel H

OK so not exactly about Metrolink construction, well not anything to do with construction but I know you guys know what your talking about...

Anyone see the tram crash in Coronation Street tonight?

At first you would think the tram was one of the bananas - but no... its actually a Yellow Livered T68a - confirmed when you see a close up of the driver and can see the seats and inside windows behind him - also the front skirt on the tram gives it away.

But then when the back half of the tram swings in the air and lands - its clearlly the new banana style tram - as seen in the publicity photos shown earlier in this thread.

I know its only going to be a select few who notice this but suprised with Metrolinks involvement in the storyline that they decided to jeopardise continuity...

Pictures were posted on the main metrolink thread a while back. Take a look:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...84932&page=409