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Ashburys
A Northern Rail electric multiple unit passing Ashburys station in 2006
General information
Location	Openshaw, Greater Manchester England
Grid reference	SJ871972
Managed by	Northern Trains
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	ABY
Classification	DfT category F2
Key dates
July 1855	Station opens as Ashburys
November 1855	Station renamed Ashburys for Openshaw
August 1856	Station renamed Ashburys for Belle Vue
Date unknown	Station renamed Ashburys
Passengers
2019/20	0.129 million
2020/21	35,190
2021/22	65,502
2022/23	65,988
2023/24	89,420
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Ashburys railway station serves the area of Openshaw, in Greater Manchester, England. It is a stop on a junction of the Glossop Line, the Hope Valley line and the freight line to Phillips Park Junction. It has been open since 1855 and is the nearest station to the City of Manchester Stadium.

History

The station was built and opened in 1855 by the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway, on its line from Manchester Store Street to Sheffield Victoria. First appearing in Bradshaw's Guide in July, it was referred to as Ashburys for Openshaw in November and then as Ashburys for Belle Vue in August 1856.

There is no place of this name near this station. It was named after the Ashbury Railway Carriage & Iron Company, which built it for £175 in 1855. This company flourished from 1841 until 1902 when it moved to Saltley in Birmingham, merging with the Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage & Wagon Company. Examples of its rolling stock survive to this day on preserved railways all over the world. It became part of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway following mergers in 1847, changing its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897. Joining the London, Midland & Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923, the station passed on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

East of the station, towards Gorton and Belle Vue, there were two engine sheds. The larger was the GCR's Gorton loco shed (1879-1965) and the smaller was the Midland Railway's Belle Vue loco shed (1870-1956). The Gorton shed had a ferro-concrete coaling tower.

When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways under arrangement with the Greater Manchester PTE until the privatisation of British Rail. The main station buildings, subway and a third platform face survived until the end of the 1980s, but all have since been removed.

Electrification and signalling

The line was electrified at 25 kV AC on 10 December 1984; it replaced the 1500 V DC electrification, which was inaugurated on 14 June 1954 by British Railways as part of the Manchester-Sheffield-Wath scheme via the Woodhead Tunnel. There was also a signal box here, which controlled the junctions and various sidings. The signal box, opened in 1906 by the Great Central Railway, closed in 2011, when control was transferred to the Manchester East signalling control centre. The new WCML North Rail Operating Centre is located a short distance east of the station, next to the line to Guide Bridge. This opened in 2014 (one of 11 such centres either built or being planned in the UK) and will eventually control signalling across most of the routes across the North West England, including the northern end of the West Coast Main Line and the entire Manchester area network.

Facilities

The station is unstaffed and has no permanent buildings (other than standard waiting shelters) or ticket provision, so all tickets must be bought on the train or prior to travel. Train running information is provided by digital display screens and timetable posters.

No step-free access is available, as the station is above street level and the only access offered is via staircase and footbridge.

Services

Northern Trains provide the following services that stop at Ashburys:

• Half-hourly trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Hadfield on the Glossop line
• Hourly services between Manchester Piccadilly and New Mills Central on the Hope Valley line, via Reddish North; there is one service in each direction on Sunday
• Hourly services between Manchester Piccadilly and Rose Hill Marple on the Hope Valley line, via Guide Bridge; there is no service on Sunday.

Other services pass frequently through the station without stopping.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Gorton		Northern TrainsHope Valley Line		Manchester Piccadilly
Belle Vue
Guide Bridge		Northern TrainsGlossop line		Manchester Piccadilly
Gorton				Ardwick

Future

Under the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund programme, Ashburys would have received improvements. However, despite TIF not going ahead, it is still to receive safety, security and passenger information improvements, when funding can be obtained.

Other long term proposals include the Manchester-Marple Tram/Train scheme, which was on a 'reserve list' of TIF projects. Significant new infrastructure works would be required between Piccadilly and Ashburys station, known as Piccadilly Link. It would be incorporated within a major mixed-use development by Grangefield Estates, known as Chancellor Place, around the former Manchester Mayfield station site.

References

1. "Explore georeferenced maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland". maps.nls.uk. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
2. "EAW004389 ENGLAND (1947). Beyer, Peacock and Co Gorton Foundry and the Gorton Locomotive Works, Manchester, 1947". www.britainfromabove.org.uk. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
3. Claret, Old (23 March 2013). "Gorton 1955 - 1965". Shed Bash UK. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
4. Claret, Old (25 March 2013). "Belle Vue 1936 - 1956". Shed Bash UK. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
5. "EPW050064 ENGLAND (1936). The Crossley Gas and Oil Engine Works, Openshaw, from the north-west, 1936". www.britainfromabove.org.uk. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
6. Ashburys railway station 1989 Whately Peter Geograph.org.uk; Retrieved 7 February 2017
7. Ashburys station 2009 Thompson, Nigel Geograph.org.uk
8. Gillham, J.C., The Age of the Electric Train- Electric Trains in Britain since 1883. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing, 1988, p. 109.
9. Kay, P. Signalling Atlas and Signal Box Directory. Wallasey: Signalling Record Society, 2010, p.15.
10. Modern Railways, December 2011, p.86.
11. "Network Rail reveals record investment in the railway in the West Midlands and North West" Network Rail 12 June 2014; Retrieved 1 April 2016
12. Ashburys station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 7 February 2017
13. "Timetables and engineering information for travel with Northern". Northern Railway. 10 December 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
14. Declan Carey (27 February 2024). "Stockport's £1bn Metrolink expansion could see tram extend to Hazel Grove and Marple". Stockport Nub News. Retrieved 27 April 2024.

Sources

• Radford, B., (1988) Midland Though The Peak Unicorn Books
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
• Station on navigable O. S. map

External links

• 1936 aerial view of station and street entrance

• Train times and station information for Ashburys railway station from National Rail

53°28′18.5″N 2°11′42″W / 53.471806°N 2.19500°W / 53.471806; -2.19500

• Railway stations in Manchester
• DfT Category F2 stations
• Former Great Central Railway stations
• Railway stations served by Northern
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1855