Manchester Mayfield station
 

I often think about this.
This station is a rare survivor and is the closest thing we have to an unaltered steam age station of a large size.
I think it would make a great museum and even a great starting point for steam tours.
I realise there are plans to reopen it anyway, but surley this is an opertunity not to be missed?
It is, even after fire in a very good condition.:)

It's in pretty poor condition really.

I think the most likely future is that it's going to be demolished and replaced by offices for civil servants. All parties seem to be in agreement at the moment that this is it's most practical future.

Either way, at the moment what remains of the British Railways Board still own it, so it's whoever they sell it too, if at all, which will determin it's fate.

Piccadilly station is over run.
It needs an overflow.

If they even dare I am going to chain myself to it as that would be the final straw.
I am serious.

Mayfield has never been a fully operational passenger station. In the early 50's it was used for Royal Mail and parcels traffic. When the first diesel units were introduced, the Macclesfield trains used Mayfield. About 4 0'clock on a Saturday afternoon there was a charge over the footbridge to see the new diesel arrive then a reverse charge to see the 4.30 come in which was headed by the latest Pacific on test out of Crewe works, usually a new Britannia.

I don't think reopening Mayfield would improve matters very much as it would only be suitable for terminating local trains and can only be easily accessed (if the track was relayed) from the Stockport line. Another through platform is definitely required to supplement platforms 13 and 14 and I believe that this is under consideration.
I believe the biggest problem is the station throat between Ardwick Junc. and Piccadilly East Junc.where there are far too many conflicting movements. It will be expensive but the only answer is a series of burrowing or flying junctions in this area.
They should have made more use of Victoria station instead of downgrading it.

Meybe Exchange station needs to be rebuilt?

The cost of that would astronomically outweigh any benefits.

I still think Manchester Victoria could be put to much, much better use.

Yes.
17 platforms was for a reason eh.

Forgive my ignorance, I've not got a lot of knowledge of railways and stations, but why couldn't Mayfield station become a dedicated European destination station for the Northwest of England? you know like a mini St Pancreas.

Hello and welcome!

Thats not a bad idea you know.:)
HS2, which is the next pahse of the high speed rail project is going to need a terminus. It seems like a good idea. That would mean sharing the approach lines, but at a stage this close tot he terminus, trains would be going quite slow anyway.

SFE, In a previous thread, you were thinking that Manchester Central/GMex could be reopened because the approach viaduct was being refurbished. Is this your preferred terminus for HS2? There is no possibility of any extra paths between Stockport and Piccadilli, so how can any high speed train get into Manchester that way?

Lack of paths won't be a problem. By the time HS2 reaches Manchester signalling/safety systems will be so sophisticated that headways will be down to just a few seconds and the only thing governing line capacity will be the number of available platforms.:D

Hi Swisstrains,
And I suppose that the Nodding Donkeys and Sprinters will be able to stop "in seconds" too! However up-to-date the HS2 trains are, remember they will still have to share tracks with 30/35 year old trains. Maybe they will retrofit "magnadesion"? (as per Hornby?)

Tony.
You are obviously more confident than I am if you believe that HS2 will reach Manchester during the life expectancy of Nodding Donkeys and Sprinters. Even they can't last for ever and will be well and truly gone by the time the first HS2 train glides into Manchester Mayfield.:)

Well Tony I still think that a refurbished Central station would be great, but the more Metrolink get their fiddling hands on the area the more difficult it will be.
In order to use the approach viaduct, a link viaduct will have to be built or somehow cross the metrolink lines by means of tunnel or over bridge, so either way Mayfield would be cheaper.

One of the reasons for building Hs2 is to relieve the WCML, so any traffic would be local in theory.
If a feasable way to get Hs2 into central station can be found, I'm up for it, and will back them all the way, but building a whole new line to link with the approach viaduct will involve demolition of a large portion of south west Manchester. Apart from linking with existing lines it can't be used.

If however, central were linked to exisiting local lines, this would relieve the WCML to a suitable degree to cope with Hs2 sharing the line.

So ideally, reopening both stations for different uses would create a good balance.