As the world’s first industrial city, Manchester is home to many firsts and impressive innovations. Not only a city that put itself on the map for its textiles industry, Manchester brought modernisation with the introduction of the world’s first inter-city passenger railway. Liverpool Road Station was the Manchester terminus for all services hauled by steam locomotives and still remains standing today, making it the world’s oldest surviving railway station.
When did the oldest railway station first open?
First used on September 15, 1830, trains to and from Liverpool Road Station carried first and second class passengers as part of the world’s first steam-powered inter-city railway. With tracks running at a second floor level behind the building, the oldest railway in the world could also be considered one of the world’s first elevated railway stations.
However in 1844, passenger services ended with the opening of an extension of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway line from Ordsall Lane to Hunt’s Bank. The station was converted to a goods yard and all passenger services were then transferred to the new Victoria Station.
What did the oldest railway station become after it closed?
Although the station building is still standing and has been well-preserved, it has not been in use since September 30, 1975 when it finally closed and abandoned by British Rail. After the Liverpool Road Station discontinued operations, it was purchased by Granada Television and used for the Granada Studios Tour and other parts were used for the set of long-running British television soap Coronation Street.
But many of us know the Liverpool Road area of Manchester for a different reason. The Liverpool Road Station building and the adjacent historic railway warehouses, of which two of the buildings are Grade I listed, form part of the much-loved Museum of Science and Industry.
Museum of Science and Industry
Originally known as the North Western Museum of Science and Industry and opening in 1969, the museum was located on Grosvenor Street in Chorlton-on-Medlock. Having outgrown its temporary premises, Greater Manchester Council purchased Liverpool Road Station once it closed in 1975 and it then become the museum’s new home.
Reopening in 1983 on the 153rd anniversary of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the museum introduced its first major gallery the Power Hall. Over the course of the next 30 years, the museum gradually opened more galleries, centres and exhibitions for the public to visit including the beloved Air and Space Hall (1985), the Electricity Gallery (1991), Futures Gallery (1998), Collections Centre (2001), Body Worlds 4 (2008), Learning Centre, Conference Centre, Restaurant, Cafe and Museum Shop (2010) and Robots exhibition (2017).
Despite no longer being a functioning railway station, the museum aimed to retain some of Liverpool Road Station’s transport history. The Friends of the Museum helped to bring the site to life by running steam train rides at the weekends. In 1989, they launched a major project to build a full size replica of the Planet locomotive, which came into service on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in December 1930.
Badly derelict in 1983 when the museum reopened, the world’s first railway warehouse from 1830 underwent major restoration in 1991, with the first phase completed in 1992. By the time the third phase of renovation was complete in 1997, the total cost stood at £5.5 million.
In 2005, the museum celebrated the 175th anniversary of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with a Riot of Steam festival, which featured a restored Lion locomotive that ran on the railway from 1830 to the 1850s.
What is the oldest railway station still in operation?
Like Liverpool Road Station, Broad Green Railway Station also opened on September 15, 1830 as part of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Although the site has been in continuous use since 1830, none of the current station buildings are original and only date to the 1970s, hence why the station is not the oldest in the world despite being the oldest train station still in operation.