Oh happy memories 😃 It was one of my favourite stations in Manchester as a young Man train spotting. Red bank carriage siding just round the corner bankers pushing freight trains up the hill towards miles platting just heaven 😆 Now half of it as an arena and spaghetti wires everywhere lol 😆
Manchester Victoria as I remember it! We'd buy a cheap day return to York from Preston. All of £0.90 back in 1972 and change here for a day out copping Deltics at York. Wonderful days. Thanks to you and Alan for the memories :-)
You’re more than welcome Karl. We used to start our days from Victoria with a cheap day return Manchester to Doncaster in our hands. They were valid via either Leeds or Sheffield, so we’d go out one way and back the other. Great memories.
I first started on The Railway as a trainee Signalman. I spent over 6 weeks in The Man Vic Signalling school. it was upstairs in the station building. All the rooms had the old fashioned signs hanging over the door with the relevant room displayed in Italic Writing. The Model Signalling system that we trained on is now in The National Railway Museum at York. Sometimes I wish I had stuck at Signalling instead of going into The Yards.
I remember seeing that signal training layout at the NRM several years ago Stephen. It was really quite impressive, and it must have been good fun to learn on. A friend of mine, who’s now a driver, started with BR in the property department. He was based in the bowels of Victoria, down a flight of stairs across from the booking halls. As I remember it, he wasn’t particularly fond of the accomodation, but I wish I’d had a chance to check it out. I’ve also heard there’s a cab of a class 142 pacer underneath Victoria somewhere!?!
@@kartwheelkarl Ha ha, I can imagine your friends take on that one. I have been down in the bowels of Rail house at Liverpool, it`s probably very similar. I don`t know about the 142 cab, but it wouldn`t surprise me. When the 158`s first came on the scene, they made a simulator out of an old Road Coach, my mate was an instructor on it and if I am not mistaken, it was parked up at Victoria, for Driver training, I actually had a go on it. That Trainee signal layout, used to be maintained by the S&T and it did everything that a main line Signal Box could do, complete with interlocking. Happy days. Stay safe my friend 👍.
I have many fond memories of standing on Platform 11 waiting for the train to Anglesey to go on holiday in the 70s The smell from Chester's Brewery when it was brewing a batch was something
Thank you for your fabulous comment Phil. You've now brought back those same memories of the brewery smell for me, although I always assumed that was Bodiies being brewed at Strangeways brewery? There was something magical about Platform 11 wasn't there? And the sound of a peak arriving used to reverberate around that huge concourse, with its wooden ticket kiosks and the fabulous mosaic map of the L&Y. Happy days indeed. Really glad we could bring back great memories for you.
fabulous to see this, exactly as i remember Vic and at the time i used to go there, stood on that footbridge in the old Exchange station many times. on cold days we would stand on the bridge over a waiting loco and get the warmth from the radiator fans! What happened to the station a few years later was just vandalism, ironic now taht there's talk of the arena being pulled down to make the station bigger again!
Thank you for the great comments Mike. It was unbelievable that a station with thirteen platforms could be cut back to four (plus two tram platforms). Are they really considering extending it again? I remember going on that bridge one evening back in the early 2000s. It was in a seriously dilapidated state, with floorboards missing, but you could still get to the old exchange island platform. Does any of that still exist?
@@kartwheelkarl I read somewhere taht they were looking to move the exhibition centre somewhere else and make the station bigger again, i cant seem to find any reference to it now though. As for the old exchange bridge i think its all gone now, it was still there until a few years ago when the redeveloped the undercroft. I hope they do extend the station again, it makes no sense to have so much traffic going through Piccadilly to Oxford Road line
@@mikebrennan6165 I have a feeling that the next time I manage to get back to my old home city, things will have changed a lot from how I remember them. Thank you for the great info Mike.
Nice video :-). Plus some brilliant footage of the BR trains you saw back in the 1980's :-). Nice stuff :-). I really like seeing videos of BR trains seen from the 1980's :-). There are plenty of trainspotters who have videos from the 1980's of the BR day and even the 1990's and I'm happy to see that you're one of them :-). Really some excellent stuff and a good set of views its received :-). Well done :-). Have a nice evening and take care of yourself :-). See you later Karl :-). From your friend Foxy :-).
Indeed Dominic. Notwithstanding the loss of loco hauled trains everywhere, the station lost most of its personality and appeal when they built the entertainment centre on top of it. I haven't been back for almost ten years now, but I've been told that they've done a good job of renovating the old terminus side of the station.
The days when Manchester Victoria was a proper station with some character and top quality traction Unlike the concrete hole it was turned into in the 1990s If only we could turn the clock back and see those 25s and 40s struggling up Miles Platting bank
The old Victoria was indeed a magical place wasn’t it Andy. Would have been wonderful if it had been fully renovated rather than so much of it being flattened. At least the terminating platforms (the area now used by metro-link) and main building were preserved.
Manchester Victoria was Manchester Victoria, sadly the station is no longer with us. Its very sad that's all gone. I remember train spotting at that station in 1987 it was my favourite station. The station should be renamed Manchester interchange
I couldn’t agree more with your comments Deepak. Victoria was indeed a fabulous station back in the eighties. Yes it was somewhat bedraggled and run down (as several other viewers have rightly commented) but for me, that was all part of the charm. I wonder whether you and I ever met and exchanged gen back in 87?
Railfreight 47/3 (47337 Herbert Austin I think) on the Glasgow. Did they swap it for a 47/4 or did they expect them to just put up with having no heat or air con until Preston? Lovely shot of the 56 powering away just as the Cl104 DMU comes smoking past.
It wasn’t unusual to get a freight loco on the Manchester to Preston leg of a Glasgow service Andrei. Some time in 1986, I came back on the last Glasgow/Edinburgh to Manchester/Liverpool. The train divided at Preston and a 47/3 took us to Manchester. Frustratingly, the Liverpool portion got a Class 25 !! Proof that anything available was often used. Another interesting thing about the morning northbound service was that the Liverpool to Edinburgh portion was shunted onto the back at Preston by an 08. The guards used to get really cranky at anyone hopping aboard for some gronk haulage unless they had a ticket for Edinburgh!
Not the end....but not far off! Only about another half hour of material left I'm afraid! We're now well into the seventh and final DVD that Alan sent me. Im really pleased that everyone has enjoyed the films so much though. And to think, Alan didn't think anyone would be interested!!!
Wouldn't it be great if we really could recreate the smells of that time SV? I seem to remember Victoria having a smell all of its own actually, probably due to all of the smoke, diesel and grime that had accumulated over the years.
The longest platform in Europe (at one stage) extended from Manchester Victoria to Manchester Exchange. You can still see part of it extending past Manchester Victoria in the Salford direction today, although Exchange has been destroyed and the site has since been developed.
I couldn’t agree more Stephen. Everyone could see back then that they needed a link between the two Manchester stations, and the electrification of the line at least as far as Preston (via both the lancs and Cheshire lines) always seemed like a strange omission when they electrified the WCML. Mind you, it did mean we got to watch the entertaining drags during weekends of west coast diversions didn’t it? At least the powers that be ha e now, at last, deemed it viable.
I remember going to Manchester Victoria in the mid 1970s, from memory there were terminal platforms from where the Metrolink trams now stop, also there was a platform that went from Victoria to Exchange Station which then looked intact but was closed. Been there recently, so different, sadly the station has lost a lot of its class, just concrete, does not befit a major city
You’re absolutely right Steve. The metro link now occupies the area where the Bury third rail electrics used to terminate. There were a few other terminating lines there as well that often used to have parcels stock in them. The old Victoria/ exchange platform was still in existence last time I was there about ten years ago, albeit in a somewhat derelict state. As was the old footbridge over to the island platform. I seem to remember that bridge used to carry on over to the Boddingtoms Strangeways brewery and the Strangeways prison, although I could be mistaken. I’m guessing that footbridge has now gone?
If it was my railway station, I would get rid of the new railway station and the stadium, I would get built again exactly has it was in 1844 I would once again open up Manchester exchange, and I would get shunter to shunt parcels during the day and night, I would definitely reopen red bank carriage sidings I'm very sad that Manchester victoria is exstinct, they have ruined the railway station, I want Manchester victoria back proper victoria Station, not that concrete station roof. I have not been back to Manchester victoria since 1996 I was crying when they got rid of my favourite railway station that I remembered, I have never been back there again, I won't be going be going back to that ruined railway station, there was nothing wrong with the old Manchester victoria it just needed a lick of paint and repairs.
Happy days, back when Victoria was a proper station and proper traction reigned supreme :)
Absolutely Phil. I absolutely loved Victoria and spent many happy hours there.
Oh happy memories 😃 It was one of my favourite stations in Manchester as a young Man train spotting. Red bank carriage siding just round the corner bankers pushing freight trains up the hill towards miles platting just heaven 😆 Now half of it as an arena and spaghetti wires everywhere lol 😆
Absolutely Stevie. I too spent many happy hours there. It’s hard to think that we just took all of this incredible variety for granted.
Manchester Victoria as I remember it! We'd buy a cheap day return to York from Preston. All of £0.90 back in 1972 and change here for a day out copping Deltics at York. Wonderful days. Thanks to you and Alan for the memories :-)
You’re more than welcome Karl. We used to start our days from Victoria with a cheap day return Manchester to Doncaster in our hands. They were valid via either Leeds or Sheffield, so we’d go out one way and back the other. Great memories.
I first started on The Railway as a trainee Signalman. I spent over 6 weeks in The Man Vic Signalling school. it was upstairs in the station building. All the rooms had the old fashioned signs hanging over the door with the relevant room displayed in Italic Writing. The Model Signalling system that we trained on is now in The National Railway Museum at York. Sometimes I wish I had stuck at Signalling instead of going into The Yards.
I remember seeing that signal training layout at the NRM several years ago Stephen. It was really quite impressive, and it must have been good fun to learn on. A friend of mine, who’s now a driver, started with BR in the property department. He was based in the bowels of Victoria, down a flight of stairs across from the booking halls. As I remember it, he wasn’t particularly fond of the accomodation, but I wish I’d had a chance to check it out. I’ve also heard there’s a cab of a class 142 pacer underneath Victoria somewhere!?!
@@kartwheelkarl Ha ha, I can imagine your friends take on that one. I have been down in the bowels of Rail house at Liverpool, it`s probably very similar. I don`t know about the 142 cab, but it wouldn`t surprise me. When the 158`s first came on the scene, they made a simulator out of an old Road Coach, my mate was an instructor on it and if I am not mistaken, it was parked up at Victoria, for Driver training, I actually had a go on it. That Trainee signal layout, used to be maintained by the S&T and it did everything that a main line Signal Box could do, complete with interlocking. Happy days. Stay safe my friend 👍.
Old Manchester Victoria was a great place to see a wide variety of traction and rolling stock. Very sadly its just a memory now.
I couldn’t agree more SA. I spent many, many happy hours there in my youth.
worked there early 80s , hurts too much going back seeing how nothing is left and nearly all the lancashire and yorkshire heritage gone
When trains were trains and we hadn't heard of Northern Fail. Thanks for posting 😁
You’re more than welcome SRP.
I have many fond memories of standing on Platform 11 waiting for the train to Anglesey to go on holiday in the 70s
The smell from Chester's Brewery when it was brewing a batch was something
Thank you for your fabulous comment Phil. You've now brought back those same memories of the brewery smell for me, although I always assumed that was Bodiies being brewed at Strangeways brewery? There was something magical about Platform 11 wasn't there? And the sound of a peak arriving used to reverberate around that huge concourse, with its wooden ticket kiosks and the fabulous mosaic map of the L&Y. Happy days indeed. Really glad we could bring back great memories for you.
fabulous to see this, exactly as i remember Vic and at the time i used to go there, stood on that footbridge in the old Exchange station many times. on cold days we would stand on the bridge over a waiting loco and get the warmth from the radiator fans! What happened to the station a few years later was just vandalism, ironic now taht there's talk of the arena being pulled down to make the station bigger again!
Thank you for the great comments Mike. It was unbelievable that a station with thirteen platforms could be cut back to four (plus two tram platforms). Are they really considering extending it again? I remember going on that bridge one evening back in the early 2000s. It was in a seriously dilapidated state, with floorboards missing, but you could still get to the old exchange island platform. Does any of that still exist?
@@kartwheelkarl I read somewhere taht they were looking to move the exhibition centre somewhere else and make the station bigger again, i cant seem to find any reference to it now though. As for the old exchange bridge i think its all gone now, it was still there until a few years ago when the redeveloped the undercroft. I hope they do extend the station again, it makes no sense to have so much traffic going through Piccadilly to Oxford Road line
@@mikebrennan6165 I have a feeling that the next time I manage to get back to my old home city, things will have changed a lot from how I remember them. Thank you for the great info Mike.
Back when loco-hauled passenger trains did real work.
Happy days eh TBG? Thank you for your comment and glad you enjoyed the video.
Great video....spent many a happy day on Victoria .
You and me both Ron. Great times weren’t they? Really glad your enjoying the collection.
Nothing to add to the comments already made.Just SUPERB.
Thanks for the comment Paul. Really glad you’re enjoying the collection.
Great video, the DMU with a parcel DMU well good
Thanks for the kind comment Les. Really glad you enjoyed the video.
Nice video :-). Plus some brilliant footage of the BR trains you saw back in the 1980's :-). Nice stuff :-). I really like seeing videos of BR trains seen from the 1980's :-). There are plenty of trainspotters who have videos from the 1980's of the BR day and even the 1990's and I'm happy to see that you're one of them :-). Really some excellent stuff and a good set of views its received :-). Well done :-). Have a nice evening and take care of yourself :-). See you later Karl :-).
From your friend Foxy :-).
Thanks Foxy. Glad you’re enjoying the collection.
Its my very pleasure Karl :-). Have a nice evening and take care :-).
From Foxy :-).
Victoria is now a joke. In 1977 when I was a train-booker, it used to have the wallside pilot for banker loads. Loco hauled trains.
Now a shadow.
Indeed Dominic. Notwithstanding the loss of loco hauled trains everywhere, the station lost most of its personality and appeal when they built the entertainment centre on top of it. I haven't been back for almost ten years now, but I've been told that they've done a good job of renovating the old terminus side of the station.
I really miss that Manchester victoria, they should never have demolitshed that railway station, it was so lovely in 1986
I couldn't agree more Deepak, and thank you for your fabulous comments.
The days when Manchester Victoria was a proper station with some character and top quality traction
Unlike the concrete hole it was turned into in the 1990s
If only we could turn the clock back and see those 25s and 40s struggling up Miles Platting bank
I couldn’t agree more TE37. What great times they were eh? Thank you for the great comments and glad you’re enjoying the collection.
Today it's a concrete monster
Indeed it is Anne. Some people call it progress! I’m afraid I’m not one of them.
Loved the atmosphere of the old Victoria. Would have renovated, but the greed to build the Arena overrode that
The old Victoria was indeed a magical place wasn’t it Andy. Would have been wonderful if it had been fully renovated rather than so much of it being flattened. At least the terminating platforms (the area now used by metro-link) and main building were preserved.
Manchester Victoria was Manchester Victoria, sadly the station is no longer with us. Its very sad that's all gone. I remember train spotting at that station in 1987 it was my favourite station. The station should be renamed Manchester interchange
I couldn’t agree more with your comments Deepak. Victoria was indeed a fabulous station back in the eighties. Yes it was somewhat bedraggled and run down (as several other viewers have rightly commented) but for me, that was all part of the charm. I wonder whether you and I ever met and exchanged gen back in 87?
Great vid, thanks :)
You’re very welcome Alan. Glad you’re enjoying the collection.
Amazing
Absolutely Conor.
Railfreight 47/3 (47337 Herbert Austin I think) on the Glasgow. Did they swap it for a 47/4 or did they expect them to just put up with having no heat or air con until Preston?
Lovely shot of the 56 powering away just as the Cl104 DMU comes smoking past.
It wasn’t unusual to get a freight loco on the Manchester to Preston leg of a Glasgow service Andrei. Some time in 1986, I came back on the last Glasgow/Edinburgh to Manchester/Liverpool. The train divided at Preston and a 47/3 took us to Manchester. Frustratingly, the Liverpool portion got a Class 25 !! Proof that anything available was often used. Another interesting thing about the morning northbound service was that the Liverpool to Edinburgh portion was shunted onto the back at Preston by an 08. The guards used to get really cranky at anyone hopping aboard for some gronk haulage unless they had a ticket for Edinburgh!
I hope this return to Manchester doesn't mean this absolutely fantastic set of videos is coming to an end 😂
Not the end....but not far off! Only about another half hour of material left I'm afraid! We're now well into the seventh and final DVD that Alan sent me. Im really pleased that everyone has enjoyed the films so much though. And to think, Alan didn't think anyone would be interested!!!
You can almost smell the diesel fumes!
Wouldn't it be great if we really could recreate the smells of that time SV? I seem to remember Victoria having a smell all of its own actually, probably due to all of the smoke, diesel and grime that had accumulated over the years.
Didn't this station have the longest platform in the UK.
The longest platform in Europe (at one stage) extended from Manchester Victoria to Manchester Exchange. You can still see part of it extending past Manchester Victoria in the Salford direction today, although Exchange has been destroyed and the site has since been developed.
The platform footbridge at exchange was still in place up until about eight years ago, although it wasn’t in the greatest condition!
That's when the government should have been electrifying the line from Manchester to Blackpool and opening the Ordsall Chord.
I couldn’t agree more Stephen. Everyone could see back then that they needed a link between the two Manchester stations, and the electrification of the line at least as far as Preston (via both the lancs and Cheshire lines) always seemed like a strange omission when they electrified the WCML. Mind you, it did mean we got to watch the entertaining drags during weekends of west coast diversions didn’t it? At least the powers that be ha e now, at last, deemed it viable.
I remember going to Manchester Victoria in the mid 1970s, from memory there were terminal platforms from where the Metrolink trams now stop, also there was a platform that went from Victoria to Exchange Station which then looked intact but was closed. Been there recently, so different, sadly the station has lost a lot of its class, just concrete, does not befit a major city
You’re absolutely right Steve. The metro link now occupies the area where the Bury third rail electrics used to terminate. There were a few other terminating lines there as well that often used to have parcels stock in them. The old Victoria/ exchange platform was still in existence last time I was there about ten years ago, albeit in a somewhat derelict state. As was the old footbridge over to the island platform. I seem to remember that bridge used to carry on over to the Boddingtoms Strangeways brewery and the Strangeways prison, although I could be mistaken. I’m guessing that footbridge has now gone?
Nooooo! What happened to the 25s at the end??
Don't worry Mat. The 25s start the next episode.
One of the last great stations, waste of time now. Been ruined.
Absolutely Alan. The old Victoria had a personality about it that no modern rebuke could even hope to come close to.
Platform 11 Now cut down to Platform 3
Absolutely John. A very sad echo of its previous glory as (I believe) the longest platform in the UK.
If it was my railway station, I would get rid of the new railway station and the stadium, I would get built again exactly has it was in 1844 I would once again open up Manchester exchange, and I would get shunter to shunt parcels during the day and night, I would definitely reopen red bank carriage sidings I'm very sad that Manchester victoria is exstinct, they have ruined the railway station, I want Manchester victoria back proper victoria Station, not that concrete station roof. I have not been back to Manchester victoria since 1996 I was crying when they got rid of my favourite railway station that I remembered, I have never been back there again, I won't be going be going back to that ruined railway station, there was nothing wrong with the old Manchester victoria it just needed a lick of paint and repairs.