RAILDATE 2024.08.02

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Thank you to this week's contributors.

The Weekly Poser: Where is this?

The buildings of this former terminus still stand, and now house a well-known business. Where is it?

Please send your answers to raildate.co.uk@gmail.com

Last week's Where is this?

A 1930s 1" map of where?

Answer: Ashton-under-Lyne (and Guide Bridge). Congratulations are due to the following for their correct answers: Chris Parker, Simon Wass, Colin Penfold, Richard Maund, Paul Hopper, Dave Goodyear, Phil Deaves, Jim Allwood, Tony Hall, David Goddard, Jeremy Harrison, Paul Reeve, Tony Fox, Andrew Treves, Chris Gibbard, Bryn Pitcher, John Czyrko

Three railway companies offered trans-Pennine routes and wanted to be represented in the thriving cotton town of Ashton-under-Lyne. The Great Central (Woodhead route to Sheffield) passed through Guide Bridge, and had a branch to Stalybridge; the London & North Western had the direct route to Leeds via Huddersfield; and the Lancashire & Yorkshire used a branch to Stalybridge to gain traffic for its Calder Valley route.

Cotton mills lined the canal. One mill was converted to be a TNT plant during WW1, despite being in a populated town centre location next to a gas works. It is marked by a red circle. It blew up on 13 June 1917, and took away several streets. This was less than a week after a planned series of 19 underground explosions at Messines killed an estimated 10,000 German troops.

Looking west from Guide Bridge on 2nd Sep 1956, from the left are the lines to Stockport, Manchester, and Oldham. Image credit: Tom Noble RCTS Collection

SMALL PRINT

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©  Matthew Shaw 2024