Big city defunct stations - future potential

[45Fox]

Leicester Central Great Central railway gone

As Yorkshire09876 says, the actual platform & track area is currently used by light industrial units.

The station entrance and porte corchere on Great Central Street has been refurbished in recent years (a splendid job has been done too) and is now in use as commercial leisure premises.

My photo, from January 2022.

 

[Bantamzen]

We should be very cautious about allowing rampant over-site development given the negative impact it tends to have on the passenger experience. If the MEN Arena was to be demolished I wouldn't favour placing another structure over the top of Victoria station platforms. Not unless the developers were making the railway an offer it would be daft to refuse.

Given the clamour for useable land around Manchester at the moment & the general cost of it, I think it's highly unlikely that the MEN would be levelled just to give Victoria a bit of light and maybe a couple more platforms. Isn't there still a bit of space the other side of P6 if more tracks are needed, I'm sure I've seen somewhere there is a section walled off that could be utilised?

However if Andy Burnham gets any traction on tunnelling new alignments under the city as he proposes, then that will be a more realistic way to gain through capacity.

 

[BerkshireRails]

Through running is anyway more space efficient than having massive termini in the centre of the city for Suburban traffic so I see closure of some city centre termini a positive for example Manchester Exchange.

 

[daodao]

Through running is anyway more space efficient than having massive termini in the centre of the city for Suburban traffic so I see closure of some city centre termini a positive for example Manchester Exchange.

Manchester Exchange was a through station, although some trains did terminate there from the west. I recall using it on many occasions to travel to Leeds on trains that had originated at Liverpool Lime Street.

 

[BerkshireRails]

Manchester Exchange was a through station, although some trains did terminate there from the west. I recall using it on many occasions to travel to Leeds on trains that had originated at Liverpool Lime Street.

Manchester Exchange was located in between Sandhill and Moorfields on the Merseyrail network, all of the photos I have seen suggests until British Rail rebuilt the line it was a terminus station.

 

[daodao]

Manchester Exchange was located in between Sandhill and Moorfields on the Merseyrail network, all of the photos I have seen suggests until British Rail rebuilt the line it was a terminus station.

That was Liverpool Exchange station.

 

[BerkshireRails]

That was Liverpool Exchange station.

Oh, got my self muddled up then.

 

[Mr. SW]

That is more or less what happened to Manchester Mayfield and Manchester Exchange but the business model failed during the 80s. The goods are too low value relative to their weight and size.

Indeed. And conversion was twentyish years too late from when they should have done it. But it would eventually have failed anyway, look at Rail Express Systems.

 

[Chester1]

Given the clamour for useable land around Manchester at the moment & the general cost of it, I think it's highly unlikely that the MEN would be levelled just to give Victoria a bit of light and maybe a couple more platforms. Isn't there still a bit of space the other side of P6 if more tracks are needed, I'm sure I've seen somewhere there is a section walled off that could be utilised?

However if Andy Burnham gets any traction on tunnelling new alignments under the city as he proposes, then that will be a more realistic way to gain through capacity.

If MEN closed of its own accord the site would probably be redeveloped for skyscrapers. Squeezing out enough space for two additional through platforms could be affordable. Opening of Mayfield Park was a condition of even starting construction of the Mayfield development and its six acres. The old track bed to the north west of platform six could be reused for terminating platforms but the main demand is for through tracks.

 

[BerkshireRails]

If MEN closed of its own accord the site would probably be redeveloped for skyscrapers. Squeezing out enough space for two additional through platforms could be affordable. Opening of Mayfield Park was a condition of even starting construction of the Mayfield development and its six acres. The old track bed to the north west of platform six could be reused for terminating platforms but the main demand is for through tracks.

I only found out today that Manchester Piccadilly used to have four through lines so what happened to the space of the other two through lines?

 

[Topological]

I only found out today that Manchester Piccadilly used to have four through lines so what happened to the space of the other two through lines?

Now platforms 10, 11 and 12 in the main shed.

In that image there are 3 lines to the bottom of the final island terminal platform.

With most trains going into Central and Victoria (there was no Windsor Link then) it would have been unexpected to need so many platforms for trains heading West out of Piccadilly

 

[daodao]

Now platforms 10, 11 and 12 in the main shed.

In that image there are 3 lines to the bottom of the final island terminal platform.

With most trains going into Central and Victoria (there was no Windsor Link then) it would have been unexpected to need so many platforms for trains heading West out of Piccadilly

Historically, the 2 through platforms at Manchester London Road station (as it was then called) were used for terminating trains from the MSJ&A line, plus infrequent services from Liverpool Lime Street via Dunham Massey. From 1931, these lines were electrified at 1500V DC.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

I only found out today that Manchester Piccadilly used to have four through lines so what happened to the space of the other two through lines?

The viaduct was completely rebuilt in 1958/9 with the current island platform (subsequently extended in the 1990s). The only 'through' services then were 25kV EMUs to Oxford Road (Altrincham from 1971). It was only with the opening of the Windsor Link and Hazel Grove Chord that Platforms 13/14 became such a major artery.

 

[Bantamzen]

If MEN closed of its own accord the site would probably be redeveloped for skyscrapers. Squeezing out enough space for two additional through platforms could be affordable. Opening of Mayfield Park was a condition of even starting construction of the Mayfield development and its six acres. The old track bed to the north west of platform six could be reused for terminating platforms but the main demand is for through tracks.

The thing is though I can't see it closing, it's located directly above a major transport hub, relatively close to the motorway network & to a lot of hotels. For a large entertainment venue it's ideally situated. So the only way to get any space back for National Rail would be to buy them out and / or compensate the owners enough to be able to rebuild a similar sized venue. That will not be cheap, easily running into 9 or 10 figures.

 

[Chester1]

The thing is though I can't see it closing, it's located directly above a major transport hub, relatively close to the motorway network & to a lot of hotels. For a large entertainment venue it's ideally situated. So the only way to get any space back for National Rail would be to buy them out and / or compensate the owners enough to be able to rebuild a similar sized venue. That will not be cheap, easily running into 9 or 10 figures.

I agree. I said if it closed of its own accord. I can't see the government putting up the money to replace the arena. If it closed due to financial failure and the site gets developed then that is a different ball game. It seems to have done OK since the Co Op arena opened. The alternative would be once the city centre has run out of land to expand, land values increase and the owners want to develop the site or sell it to developers. That is probably a couple of decades away.