| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/2722 Written by Lee on Thursday, 4th January 2007 Politicians had fallen out over what was perceived by Reddish Labour MP Andrew Gwynne and Labour councillors as a political snub by Stockport Council Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/2752 Written by Lee on Friday, 5th January 2007 Here is a link on the efforts of Andrew Gwynne MP & others to save Denton & Reddish South stations. http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=20617 Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/2825 Written by Steve35 on Tuesday, 9th January 2007 A bit of history may be of interest: Manchester has two main stations - Victoria in the north of the city and Piccadilly in the south. Until 1989 (give or take a year) trains from north of Manchester (eg Preston, Bolton) used Victoria and trains from the south (eg Birmingham, London) used Piccadilly. The Transpennine trains from Newcastle/Scarborough/Hull/York/Leeds to Manchester and Liverpool also used Victoria station, passing through Stalybridge en-route. If you were making a journey from the North into Victoria and required a connection to the south from Piccadilly you had to get across Manchester city centre either by walking, taxi or using a bus that existed specifically to link the two stations (this was a few years before the tram system opened). All in all a bit of a hassle. To try make things easier for any Transpennine passengers travelling to and from the south BR ran a shuttle service from Stalybridge to Stockport via Denton and Reddish South. Stockport is on the line from Piccadilly to the south so by using the Stalybridge-Stockport train you could pick up a train to the south at Stockport rather than having to go into Manchester and make your way from Victoria to Piccadilly. So the shuttle was there basically for the convenience of passengers making a North-South journey across Manchester. However in 1989 (give or take a year) the Transpennine trains were rerouted from Victoria to Piccadilly so now there was no need to make the awkward journey across Manchester from Victoria to Piccadilly. This re-routing made the Stalybridge-Stockport shuttle somewhat redundant and it was reduced to the one train per week service needed to avoid having to go through with the closure procedures. I don't know how much traffic Reddish and Denton attracted when there was a regular service but I suspect it was just a bonus to BR, the end-to-end traffic from Stockport to Stalybridge would have been the reason for the service. It's worth pointing out that even if Reddish and Denton were to close the line itself would remain open. For the future it would be interesting to see if a Stockport-Manchester Victoria service via Reddish and Denton would be viable. In recent years there has been a lot of office development in the north of Manchester near Victoria so there's potentially a demand from commuters living south of Manchester who want easy access to the northern part of the city. In addition, looking at a map, Denton station is adjacent to the M60/M67 interchange so there might even be Park and Ride potential assuming it was possible to get from the motorway to the station. Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/2829 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 9th January 2007 [quote author=Steve35 link=topic=975.msg2825#msg2825 date=1168305700] A bit of history may be of interest: Manchester has two main stations - Victoria in the north of the city and Piccadilly in the south. Until 1989 (give or take a year) trains from north of Manchester (eg Preston, Bolton) used Victoria and trains from the south (eg Birmingham, London) used Piccadilly. The Transpennine trains from Newcastle/Scarborough/Hull/York/Leeds to Manchester and Liverpool also used Victoria station, passing through Stalybridge en-route. If you were making a journey from the North into Victoria and required a connection to the south from Piccadilly you had to get across Manchester city centre either by walking, taxi or using a bus that existed specifically to link the two stations (this was a few years before the tram system opened). All in all a bit of a hassle. To try make things easier for any Transpennine passengers travelling to and from the south BR ran a shuttle service from Stalybridge to Stockport via Denton and Reddish South. Stockport is on the line from Piccadilly to the south so by using the Stalybridge-Stockport train you could pick up a train to the south at Stockport rather than having to go into Manchester and make your way from Victoria to Piccadilly. So the shuttle was there basically for the convenience of passengers making a North-South journey across Manchester. However in 1989 (give or take a year) the Transpennine trains were rerouted from Victoria to Piccadilly so now there was no need to make the awkward journey across Manchester from Victoria to Piccadilly. This re-routing made the Stalybridge-Stockport shuttle somewhat redundant and it was reduced to the one train per week service needed to avoid having to go through with the closure procedures. I don't know how much traffic Reddish and Denton attracted when there was a regular service but I suspect it was just a bonus to BR, the end-to-end traffic from Stockport to Stalybridge would have been the reason for the service. It's worth pointing out that even if Reddish and Denton were to close the line itself would remain open. For the future it would be interesting to see if a Stockport-Manchester Victoria service via Reddish and Denton would be viable. In recent years there has been a lot of office development in the north of Manchester near Victoria so there's potentially a demand from commuters living south of Manchester who want easy access to the northern part of the city. In addition, looking at a map, Denton station is adjacent to the M60/M67 interchange so there might even be Park and Ride potential assuming it was possible to get from the motorway to the station.[/quote] Funnily enough , that's pretty much what Andrew Gwynne is proposing. The "parliamentary service" was introduced not long after 1991 (see link below for more background info) http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/G1517 The latest info on the Denton / Reddish South closure battle can be found in the links below (along with a name - check for our good selves....) http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=20617 http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=20628 http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=20629 Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/2886 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 10th January 2007 Here is a link entitled "Riding the weekly train from Stockport to Stalybridge - Pleasures of using the train." http://www.aidan.co.uk/hyperblog/riding-the-weekly-train-from-stockport-to-stalybridge-pleasures-of-using-the-train/ A further article on the closure battle can be found in the link below. http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/01/manchester_link_may_derail_con.html#more Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/2922 Written by Lee on Thursday, 11th January 2007 Andrew Gwynne is to lead a delegation from Stockport and Tameside to put their case directly to the Railways Minister , Tom Harris MP (link below.) http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=20653 Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/3183 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 17th January 2007 The Speaker of the House of Commons has granted Andrew Gwynne MP his request for an urgent Parliamentary debate on the proposed closure of Denton and Reddish South railway stations (link below.) http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=20702 Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/3407 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 24th January 2007 Steve Webb was not the only one busy in Parliament today. In a debate , Andrew Gwynne was due to deliver a strong defence of Denton & Reddish South stations (link below.) http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=20736 The campaign to save Denton and Reddish South stations is picking up steam. The Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (GMPTA) , whose support is vital , have called Network Rail Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/3460 Written by Lee on Thursday, 25th January 2007 Here is a link to a transcipt of the debate in which Andrew Gwynne spoke. http://www.eyeonmanchester.com/local-mp-fights-for-denton-reddish-rail-line-in-parliament/ He also got an interesting viewpoint on the DfT Closure Guidance from Tom Harris , so well done to him. Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/3484 Written by Nick Field on Thursday, 25th January 2007 Heard on the news that Manchester is to bring in congestion charging will may help the case Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/3489 Written by Lee on Thursday, 25th January 2007 Further campaign updates can be found in the links below. http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=20741 http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=20737 Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/4223 Written by Lee on Friday, 9th March 2007 Andrew Gwynne has led a delegation from Stockport , Tameside , and the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority , to meet with Tom Harris , to make the case for saving Denton and Reddish South stations (link below.) http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=20972 Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/5039 Written by Lee on Monday, 30th April 2007 The battle for Denton & Reddish South stations has been won (link below.) http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=21494 Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/9712 Written by Lee on Monday, 28th January 2008 On Saturday 26th January 2008, Andrew Gwynne MP joined up with almost 50 local residents from Reddish and Denton and members of the Friends of Reddish South Station to mark twelve months since Network Rail's proposals to close Reddish South and Denton train stations were announced (link below.) http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/news?PageId=b46abd47-6168-4094-21b4-913b02fc50c6 Re: United Front For Reddish South Closure Battle - 975/9723 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 28th January 2008 I like some of the wording: [/b]... the campaign focus is now on securing a proper functioning train service ... [/b] Which I think would be an admirable sound bite to adopt. Right times, to right places, and with cancellations being very much the exception. I would have thought that was quite a reasonable target! link to index of articles |
|||
Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham. Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome. The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users. We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can. -- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021 | |||
|
|||
Further Information:
Home
Current Summary
Daily update
User forum
Consultation
Service now
Service future
Future Analysis
Recent Statistics
Recent letters
Letter to DfT
Save the train
Presentation
Support us
Other Maps
Station facilities
Station approach
Pictures
Trains diverted
History
About Melksham
Site Map
About this site