Secrets of the Manchester Metrolink (Part 2) 

Left Manchester in 1991, just as construction for Metrolink began. 30 years has seen much change. Thank you lads!

Very very good, for someone like me, who's old enough to remember metrolinks inception and first build, this is accurate fun and interesting ,I watched both videos, one after the other. Well done

Nice one, thanks, I'm 71years old so I remember lots of the transformations. Keep up your good work.

You should make part three of this

Absolultyyyy love this video. One of my all time favourites. You should do part 3.

Wow, I was last in Manchester in 2002, the metrolink has expanded a lot since then...

Just came across this and I'm impressed! Well researched and presented, pleasure to watch! 👍🙂

GOOD VIDEO GUYS

Excellent Doc's lads, from a Met driver u pointed out some stuff I've never noticed while driving the network.. Keep up the good work 👍

Like Part 1, very well researched and informative. I'd quite forgotten about the early tram stops that had subsequently been closed or replaced. p.s. Weaste tram depot came under Salford Corporation Tramways, not Manchester, you don't want to wind up Salfordians!

In Weaste, the old tramways belonged to Salford City, not Manchester Corporation, as did the depot and tracks you pointed out. Greater Manchester contains two cities, and is not a city in itself: it is merely an administrative area. Weaste is in the City of Salford, not the City of Manchester. One thing you have not mentioned (and which is of some importance, though, arguably not a secret) is that Metrolink Trams are built to a passenger loading height which enables them to use National Rail platforms. This was convenient seeing that they could then use the stations on lines taken over from National Rail without replacing the platforms, but highly inconvenient for street running, since mini-railway stations effectively had to be built along roadways but off the road and into and out of which trams had to veer in order to stop and load or unload. To let them do that, complicated traffic control systems had to be installed at each stop, and passengers on these sections are obliged to make a decision to use the tram passing along that roadway prior to setting off. Having made that decision, they then can't catch a bus even though one might turn up before a tram. Weaste is a case in point. The Journey Planner indicates that from there to Manchester by bus is actually two minutes faster than the tram. However, passengers just do not know which is going to turn up first, so can't tell if it's best to go for one or the other modes. The other point about this loading height is that no other system in the world uses it, so there is no market at all for ex-Manchester trams. Metrolink has to run them their full useful lives and then sell them for scrap. They did this for the original fleet, and will have to do the same for the current one, so at some time time in the future, they will all have to be replaced at the same time, requiring another vast investment programme, for which there may not be funds at the time. and this will repeat itself indefinitely. They cannot adopt a system of continuous renewal, which most transport operators opt for. In Altrincham, you failed to mention that the tram terminus at the station is visibly not the original “end of the line”; the track went on to the carriage sheds used by the electric units which formerly operated the line, and before that, in steam days, to Bowdon Station (actually in Altrincham, at Lloyd Street, where Fitness First now is). One could go on, but I don't want to criticize what is a very good video overall. Plenty of maps, too, unlike Geoff Marshall's efforts. Oh, but btw, you discussed the proximity of “Old Trafford” stop to the footy ground of the same name, commenting a little unfavourably on its situation. However, one should point out that there is another sporting ground called “Old Trafford”, namely the HQ of Lancashire County Cricket Club, which literally could not be nearer to the tram stop if it tried. Perhaps those naming the stop were thinking of this, far more important institution, rather than that of the chaps booting about the round ball.

A couple more secrets. A short section of the Fallowfield Loop was used for a demonstration of light rail technology when Metrolink was being planned. It used the original Docklands Light Railway unit 11 and a a.c. EMU as a substation to supply it. in 1864 the disused Wilbraham Road station was used by Granada Television for a programme titled ‘Blues and Gospel Train’. The audience was taken by steam train from Manchester Central and were set down on one platform, while the performers were on the other. Typically for Manchester, it was raining for part of the show. The performance was recorded on film, the recording still survives and can be found on RU-vid.

Nicely done boys, well done!

On the Fallowfield Loop map you show Fallowfield Station as Fairfield. You guys Manchester's answer to Geoff and Vicky?! Keep up the good work.

well done boys, a very informative and knowledgeable watch, maybe a part 3 to cover a few things you have missed maybe?

As a resident in Weaste, I am used to that Ice Cream van song. The guy comes round rain or shine, day or night,

Great short series ! Well done - will there be a part 3 ?

I live around Skelton Junction. How i wish it was as large and bussling as it was in its heyday

Part 3!

Top work again! And again, a bit of pedantry - the Warwick Road-Old Trafford / Old Trafford-Trafford Bar name changeovers happened a short time after the Metrolink opened. Warwick Rd was my nearest station at the time, and I there was a bit of confusion. I can remember the blue Warwick Road Metrolink sign - I wonder where it ended up...? That'd be an ace relic.

Weaste Tram Depot was actually part of the Salford City Transport tram network (latter becoming a bus garage) not Manchester City Transport.

At the bottom of Ashton new road near holt town you can see the old Metrolink logos even before the star logo

11:12 its crazy how things have changed

10:58 - My neck of the woods! (Hence my username) - remember the Metrolink extension to the Airport causing chaos during the construction days!

Trafford park line is now active as of mid/ end of 2020

2:40 Another Update Now The Trafford Park Line Terminates Here Temporally

Should go to Ashton bus station its actually nearly done I'll he working on it soon

You need to film inbetween failsworth and hollinwood, I have been there and the metrolink gets extremely loud.

Manchester United has its own mainline station which is no longer used. I asked Tony Burnam about it on radio Manchester and he believes it is safer to have fans making their own way their then to get off a train and straight into the ground with no roads to cross. 😳🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤠

The original link seems broken

8:44 Is there supposed to be two Fairfield's?

too loud music

🍺

🚋🚋 👍

9:12 northern heights

These are hardly secrets,

You see you have made a fundamental error in this programme series, you have provided lots of easily verifiable facts, unlike modern broadcasts which are full of wank, bollocks and cocksplatter.

stop recording with a potato