Wilbraham Road railway station

Wilbraham Road
1937 OS map showing the location of Wilbraham Road railway station
General information
Location	Whalley Range, Manchester, Manchester England
Coordinates	53°26′24″N 2°15′05″W / 53.4401°N 2.2515°W / 53.4401; -2.2515
Grid reference	SJ834937
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Central Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
2 May 1892	Station opens as Alexandra Park[1]
1 July 1923	Station renamed Wilbraham Road[1][2]
7 July 1958	Station closes[2]

Wilbraham Road railway station was in

History

Alexandra Park station opened on 2 May 1892.^[1] From 1 August 1897 to 1 January 1923 the station was owned by the Great Central Railway (GCR). The GCR was absorbed by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) during the Grouping of 1923.^[4] The station was renamed Wilbraham Road on 1 July 1923 to avoid possible confusion with the north London suburb of Alexandra Park on the same network.^[2] The naming was an unusual choice, since the station was about a 1⁄4 mile (400 m) from the A6010 Wilbraham Road, and was not visible from there.

During 1918–19 the station goods yard was used to receive aircraft fuselages, wings and other major components from Avro at Newton Heath and the National Aircraft Factory No. 2 at Heaton Chapel for assembly at the nearby Alexandra Park Aerodrome, which lay 300 yards (270 m) to the south.^[5]

Passenger services on the Fallowfield Loop line were infrequent; the line suffered from competition from alternative rail services into Manchester provided by the

The electrification of the line was briefly considered but, instead, the local stopping services were withdrawn and Wilbraham Road station was closed to passenger services by

Fallowfield Loop path

Following closure in 1988, the Fallowfield Loop railway line tracks were lifted; the route became derelict and overgrown for several years. Around 2001, a new use was found for the line and the old trackbed was converted into a public

v t e Fallowfield Loop Line
Legend
Sheffield Guide Bridge M60 motorway Metrolink Fairfield to Manchester Piccadilly Deansgate-Castlefield Gorton Manchester Central to Manchester Piccadilly Cornbrook Hyde Road Liverpool–Manchester lines Hope Valley line   Trafford Bar Reddish Depot Manchester, South Jn & Altrincham Railway / Levenshulme South   Metrolink to Altrincham West Coast Main Line Chorlton-cum-Hardy Styal line St Werburgh's Road Fallowfield South District Railway / Metrolink to Didsbury Wilbraham Road
Key
Fallowfield Loop line present National Rail service Metrolink

Railways in the area of Chorlton and Withington

References

Notes