More Railway Ramblings

Further to my previous post, I recall one journey home that was quite an adventure for us.  For some reason trains were not running via the Woodhead route.  How to get home? One way was to go to Manchester Central and catch  a train on the old Midland Railway route to Sheffield Midland via the Hope Valley and thence to Chesterfield Midland or from Manchester Central to Derby and thence to Chesterfield Midland.

Now, Manchester Central has been converted into the G-Mex centre and the line to Derby via Matlock has been closed. It is possible to travel from Manchester Piccadilly to Sheffield via the Hope Valley route.

For some reason, lost in the sands of time, my father decided we would head for Manchester Exchange and catch a train to Huddersfield, thence to Penistone and back to our original route.  However, enquiries at Huddersfield persuaded us to stay on the train from Manchester and go on to Leeds City.  At Leeds we crossed to Leeds Wellingborough and thence back to Chesterfield via Rotherham Masborough and Sheffield Midland.

Manchester Exchange has been demolished.  Its main claim to fame is that it was linked to Manchester Victoria by platform 11, the longest in the country, which ran from the eastern end of Manchester Exchange to the western end of Manchester Victoria.