Manchester Exchange Station
Encyclopedia
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
city centre. It served the city between 1884 and 1969. The main approach road ran from the end of Deansgate near Manchester Cathedral
Manchester Cathedral
Manchester Cathedral is a medieval church on Victoria Street in central Manchester and is the seat of the Bishop of Manchester. The cathedral's official name is The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George in Manchester...
, passing above the River Irwell
River Irwell
The River Irwell is a long river which flows through the Irwell Valley in the counties of Lancashire and Greater Manchester in North West England. The river's source is at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup, in the parish of Cliviger, Lancashire...
and Chapel Street; a second approach road led up from Blackfriars Road. The bulk of the station was located in Salford and the 1929 extension to the east of the Irwell was in Manchester.
Construction and opening
The station was built by the London and North Western RailwayLondon and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
(LNWR) and opened on 30 June 1884. The station had five platforms with Nos. 1 and 2 being bays and Nos. 3, 4 and 5 being through. Platforms Nos. 4 and 5 were reached by a footbridge from near the station entrance. The opening of Exchange allowed the LNWR to vacate Manchester Victoria station
Manchester Victoria station
Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is the city's second largest mainline railway station. It is also a Metrolink station, one of eight within the City Zone...
to the east, which it (and its predecessors, including the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
Liverpool and Manchester Railway
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The line opened on 15 September 1830 and ran between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in North...
) had shared with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways...
(and its predecessors) since 4 May 1844. From 16 April 1929, Exchange had a platform link with the adjacent Victoria, when an eastward extension of platform No. 3 over the Irwell bridge was opened, meeting Victoria's platform No. 11, thus creating Europe's longest platform at 2238 feet (682.1 m); it could accommodate three trains at once.
Train services
Exchange station served Liverpool Lime StreetLiverpool Lime Street railway station
Liverpool Lime Street is a railway station serving the city centre of Liverpool, England. The station lies on a branch of the West Coast Main Line from London Euston, and on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network...
; Huddersfield
Huddersfield railway station
Huddersfield railway station serves the town of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England.The station is managed by First TransPennine Express who provide trains between the North East, North and East Yorkshire, and Leeds to the east and Manchester Piccadilly and North West.It is also served by local...
; Leeds City
Leeds City railway station
Leeds railway station is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England...
; Hull Paragon and Newcastle Central; also Warrington Bank Quay
Warrington Bank Quay railway station
Warrington Bank Quay railway station is a mainline railway station serving the UK town of Warrington. The town centre has two stations on opposite sides of the main shopping area, Warrington Central operating a more frequent service to the neighbouring cities Liverpool and Manchester...
, Chester General and North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
. Local LNWR passenger trains operated via Walkden
Walkden
Walkden is a town within the metropolitan borough of the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It is west-northwest of Salford, and west-northwest of Manchester....
to Bolton Great Moor Street
Bolton Great Moor Street railway station
Bolton Great Moor Street railway station was the first railway station in Bolton, opened on 11 June 1831 by the Bolton and Leigh Railway. Originally named simply Bolton, it was renamed Bolton Great Moor Street in October 1849...
and via Tyldesley
Tyldesley
Tyldesley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It occupies an area north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, east-southeast of Wigan and west-northwest of the city of Manchester...
to Wigan North Western
Wigan North Western railway station
Wigan North Western railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town centre of Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK.It is a moderately-sized station on the West Coast Main Line. It is operated by Virgin Trains, and is also served by Northern Rail...
.
The station originally provided alternative train services from Manchester to London Euston. Between 1884 and 1943, the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
operated a competing passenger train service from Chester General station via Frodsham, Warrington Bank Quay and Eccles to Manchester Exchange.
World War Two damage and closure
The station suffered hits by several German incendiary bombs during the Christmas 1940 Manchester BlitzManchester Blitz
The Manchester Blitz was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the Nazi German Luftwaffe...
. On 22 December, the station roof was severely damaged, portions of which were never replaced. Fires took extensive hold on the building which could not be re-opened for passengers until 13 January 1941.
The station was closed on 5 May 1969 and all remaining services were redirected to Manchester Victoria. After many years of remaining relatively intact (with trains still running beneath the train shed)the site is now occupied by a car park.
Location map
