Manchester Piccadilly 1997 

In a world where the 323's were considered brand new...

Rip pacers 1983-2018

Wow , welcome to Manchester , e.m.u. And d.m.u. Central .loved the video .thanks for sharing .

I was 6 years old when this was recorded

Thanks for uploading this John, loved looking back at this!

So, since then: The roof was redone, the concourse was rebuilt, the island platform was rebuilt, half the rolling stock was replaced, the junction layout was changed, new platforms were added, and probably a bunch of other stuff too. Manchester Piccadilly is completely different!

1.17 Here we can see the overhead Parcelforce conveyor bridge (to Mayfield Station). Defunct since 1986, it was demolished in 2003. The the ex-Post Office sorting office to the left (now called Square One) though refashioned, has a large window where the bridge used to connect.

Fantastic video mate, really takes me back to my days spotting at Piccadilly in the 90's. Thanks for sharing.

So fascinating seeing the status of northern rails 2 decades ago and the trains and companies that ran the lines in place of the current ones today. The red livery on the 158 was the highlight for me and I chuckled when the announcment went from Lostock, straight to Blackrod because Horwich Parkway wasn't there yet.

So cool, that's my dad at 1:37 driving the train! Thanks for uploading.

Great video as always John. Particularly enjoyed the "race" between the old 305 and the new 323.

always liked that white red and black RR livery

The funny thing is that is probably my most up to date clip of all, I guess I'd really see a difference if I went back today. I was in two minds about posting this one as I considered it too recent. Thanks for the great comments.

The 87 at the beginning 87 027 is the one involved in the Winsford crash a couple of years later

Thanks for sharing

Oh yes. Now we're talking my kinda language! Brilliant video chief, takes me back to being 4 and bashing down to Penzance with the family.

miss those sprinter trains, the red one i loved the most

WOW!!!! MEMORIES!!! :D

I was working in Manchester then and using the trains between Piccadilly and Handforth, usually 323s but the odd 305.

Do you have any videos of the main station concourse? I would love to see what it used to look like.

you can still see all of the 323 stock in operation today !

Must have been one of the last 305’s still running also amazing that the class 101’s kept going for another 6 years. I was on the last ever one December 24th 2003 to Piccadilly from Rose Hill. They had the detonators out when we came in. Sadly no chance of them doing that again in the current climate I guess.

1:37 Was that the island platform?

Also, what was that weird walkway over the approach. What happened to it?

I could be on ANY of THOSE!!!

This was only 4 weeks before intercity and br was finished

The 158 at 5.23 is 158809

This video was in 1997.

Mixed livery video, the "156" three coach diesels are in use to day. They live on in southwest trains and First Great western livery's

Goodbye 👋 142 pacer trains 🚆 and don’t come back again. 🙂

Was this video filmed in 1997?

142s are being phased out now, they are really shit, but it'll be sad to see em' go

The "305" at around 6.06 is probably coming from Hadfield/Glossop: in 1997, "323s" took over on that line. A class "101" dmu can be seen: one of them that often ran to Rose Hill stayed in BR green and is now preserved (as a cut-down 2-car unit, the centre car having been taken out(