The tram now at West Didsbury... (WE DID IT!!!)
Today was the first day of Metrolink's scheduled passenger service from East Didsbury! Starting at 5.49 a.m.
I didn't go to East Didsbury, though I suppose I could have got there by bus - my primary interest was in my local stop at West Didsbury. So I got up at 5.20, gave the puzzled cats their breakfast, and set off for West Didsbury (about eight minutes' walk, though I think I did it in seven).
It was a lovely sunny morning, and there was a small crowd on the platform - two Metrolink officials and five other punters. It occurs to me that we were nicely gender-balanced: one male and one female official, plus three women, two men and a boy. The officials were there in case the inhabitants of Didsbury didn't know how to operate the ticket machine, though I think most of us (excluding the boy) had had a couple of decades' practice on older parts of the network. They also gave me a complimentary copy of a Metrolink guide and map.
Excitement mounted as the clock showed 5.49 - the time of the tram's departure from East Didsbury, two stops down the line! A lady took a photo of a pony-tailed guy and me pointing at the display board while grinning manically, but I didn't know her so don't have that to show you.
(The tram runs every 12 minutes - the noticeboard rotates the second and third services, so the second one was actually expected in 15 minutes. In fact, we saw it heading down the line without stopping a few minutes later.)
And then, we heard a rustling in the distance, and the historic moment arrived!
So the six of us jumped on board what may very well remain the most crowded 5.49 tram ever to run on this line - there were a few seats free, but not many. I forgot to count the passengers, but I knew at least seven of them (four Labour councillors, two other Labour members and my hairdresser). So I bounced around the carriages chatting to them - some were even going on serious journeys (my councillor was on his way to Birmingham, changing to the train at Piccadilly). A friend took a photo of me on board, which I don't have yet, but I can show you the "Back on Track" badge I was wearing, to celebrate the success of our 2004 campaign to overturn a government decision to cancel the extension.
I got off at Trafford Bar, as I had decided that the most appropriate first journey for me would be a round trip to Old Trafford.
The off-peak return, which is what I'd usually pay as first-class cricket doesn't normally start before 11 a.m., is £3.60. But even the peak fare is a couple of pounds less than I'm used to paying when I take a bus into town and then change to the tram. And the journey time, platform to platform, was 23 minutes, including a three-minute change at Trafford Bar - so call it 35 minutes including the walk to the tram stop and the walk into the ground. My best by bus-and-tram is about 45, and it's usually more.
Coming back, I walked to Trafford Bar, which is what I plan to do during Test matches when the trams are packed, to check the timing (about ten minutes). I had a short wait for an East Didsbury tram, which took 15 minutes to get me back to West Didsbury; I arrived at 6.48, so the entire trip had taken 55 minutes platform to platform. The Metrolink officials were still on duty, so I gave them a wave, and then spent some time looking up fares, weekly rates etc on the ticket machine. My camera batteries had unfortunately given out by now (I knew they were low, so I'd changed them, but the new ones didn't seem to have charged properly), but here are some I took earlier - I found the station had been opened last night, so went down for a look.
This is the machine on the platform for Didsbury Village and East Didsbury...
...and these are the six machines for all stops to Rochdale via Chorlton, Manchester and Oldham.
And finally, just a shot of the Tracks We Got Back. It's the old railway line which closed in the 1960s, but Manchester council made sure it was never blocked or built on - unlike Stockport council, which is why the line terminates at East Didsbury, the border between the two.
My hairdresser just rang, convinced that he had my glove - a lady's glove, found on the floor near where I had been sitting - but I assured him that I didn't have any gloves in that coat! He'd been to Bury market and bought two black puddings for breakfast before coming back to start work. Meanwhile I had come home to a fresh loaf baking in the bread machine.
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.
I didn't go to East Didsbury, though I suppose I could have got there by bus - my primary interest was in my local stop at West Didsbury. So I got up at 5.20, gave the puzzled cats their breakfast, and set off for West Didsbury (about eight minutes' walk, though I think I did it in seven).
It was a lovely sunny morning, and there was a small crowd on the platform - two Metrolink officials and five other punters. It occurs to me that we were nicely gender-balanced: one male and one female official, plus three women, two men and a boy. The officials were there in case the inhabitants of Didsbury didn't know how to operate the ticket machine, though I think most of us (excluding the boy) had had a couple of decades' practice on older parts of the network. They also gave me a complimentary copy of a Metrolink guide and map.
Excitement mounted as the clock showed 5.49 - the time of the tram's departure from East Didsbury, two stops down the line! A lady took a photo of a pony-tailed guy and me pointing at the display board while grinning manically, but I didn't know her so don't have that to show you.
(The tram runs every 12 minutes - the noticeboard rotates the second and third services, so the second one was actually expected in 15 minutes. In fact, we saw it heading down the line without stopping a few minutes later.)
And then, we heard a rustling in the distance, and the historic moment arrived!
So the six of us jumped on board what may very well remain the most crowded 5.49 tram ever to run on this line - there were a few seats free, but not many. I forgot to count the passengers, but I knew at least seven of them (four Labour councillors, two other Labour members and my hairdresser). So I bounced around the carriages chatting to them - some were even going on serious journeys (my councillor was on his way to Birmingham, changing to the train at Piccadilly). A friend took a photo of me on board, which I don't have yet, but I can show you the "Back on Track" badge I was wearing, to celebrate the success of our 2004 campaign to overturn a government decision to cancel the extension.
I got off at Trafford Bar, as I had decided that the most appropriate first journey for me would be a round trip to Old Trafford.
The off-peak return, which is what I'd usually pay as first-class cricket doesn't normally start before 11 a.m., is £3.60. But even the peak fare is a couple of pounds less than I'm used to paying when I take a bus into town and then change to the tram. And the journey time, platform to platform, was 23 minutes, including a three-minute change at Trafford Bar - so call it 35 minutes including the walk to the tram stop and the walk into the ground. My best by bus-and-tram is about 45, and it's usually more.
Coming back, I walked to Trafford Bar, which is what I plan to do during Test matches when the trams are packed, to check the timing (about ten minutes). I had a short wait for an East Didsbury tram, which took 15 minutes to get me back to West Didsbury; I arrived at 6.48, so the entire trip had taken 55 minutes platform to platform. The Metrolink officials were still on duty, so I gave them a wave, and then spent some time looking up fares, weekly rates etc on the ticket machine. My camera batteries had unfortunately given out by now (I knew they were low, so I'd changed them, but the new ones didn't seem to have charged properly), but here are some I took earlier - I found the station had been opened last night, so went down for a look.
This is the machine on the platform for Didsbury Village and East Didsbury...
...and these are the six machines for all stops to Rochdale via Chorlton, Manchester and Oldham.
And finally, just a shot of the Tracks We Got Back. It's the old railway line which closed in the 1960s, but Manchester council made sure it was never blocked or built on - unlike Stockport council, which is why the line terminates at East Didsbury, the border between the two.
My hairdresser just rang, convinced that he had my glove - a lady's glove, found on the floor near where I had been sitting - but I assured him that I didn't have any gloves in that coat! He'd been to Bury market and bought two black puddings for breakfast before coming back to start work. Meanwhile I had come home to a fresh loaf baking in the bread machine.
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.