Guide Bridge railway station serves Guide Bridge in Audenshaw, Greater Manchester, England, and is operated by Northern Trains. The station is east of Manchester Piccadilly on both the Rose Hill Marple and Glossop Lines.
History
It was built by the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway on its new line from Ardwick Junction, near to the Manchester and Birmingham Railway's terminus at Store Street station, to Sheffield; it opened as Ashton and Hooley Hill on 11 November 1841 when the line opened as far as Godley Toll Bar. It was renamed Ashton in February 1842 and became Guide Bridge on 14 July 1845, when the line was extended to Sheffield.
The station had a four platform configuration originally, with a large office on the southern side. However, the southern (former slow line) platforms were decommissioned and the tracks were lifted in 1984–85; this was part of layout alterations associated with the changeover from 1500 V DC to 25 kV AC working on the Hadfield line, with demolition of the buildings following a few years later. The area has been covered, with a section forming part of the car park, but some evidence remains of the previous two tracks. The junction at the country end of the station was also remodelled in 2011 to allow Stockport-Stalybridge Line trains to cross the junction at 30 mph (max) rather than 15 mph as previously.
With the electrification of the Woodhead Line between Manchester and Sheffield in the early 1950s, Guide Bridge, already a major centre of railway operations, increased in importance. Express trains called here, as well as EMU trains between Manchester London Road and the north Derbyshire towns of Glossop and Hadfield. There were also DMU-operated services from London Road to Macclesfield, via , which closed south of Rose Hill in January 1970; Stockport Edgeley to Stalybridge; and to Oldham, via the Oldham, Ashton & Guide Bridge Railway, which closed to passengers in 1959.
The station was also where express services, to and from Manchester Central on the London Marylebone route, changed locomotives. Drawn by a Bo-Bo or Co-Co electric locomotive from Sheffield, a steam (or in later years) diesel locomotive would take the train the final few miles to Manchester Central and vice versa. The Woodhead Line was busy with goods traffic, especially with coal traffic from South Yorkshire to Lancashire power stations. The station also accepted goods under British Railways "Passenger" freight service and had a licensed buffet.
There was a large marshalling yard about a mile east of Guide Bridge at Dewsnap. There was also a stabling point immediately to the east of Guide Bridge station, where engines could be fuelled. Guide Bridge was also where the local retail coal merchants transferred coal from British Rail coal wagons, carefully weighed into one hundredweight sacks for delivery to homes around Ashton, Audenshaw and Denton. Express passenger trains via the Woodhead line ceased operation on 5 January 1970, but Dewsnap sidings and Guide Bridge stabling point were busy until the final closure of the Woodhead Line east of Hadfield on 20 July 1981. The Class 76 electric locomotives were a frequent sight here, along with Class 25, Class 40 and numerous others classes of diesels.
The former TransPennine Express operator, Arriva Trains Northern, had plans to establish Guide Bridge as a major interchange station, coupled with hopes that the Woodhead line might re-open. Such aspirations seem to have fallen by the wayside, however, since First TransPennine Express took over the franchise.
On 22 October 2006, a fire gutted the waiting room, footbridge and ticket office. The fire has subsequently been attributed to arson and caused around £1m of damage to the station, necessitating the demolition of the footbridge. This has not been rebuilt, necessitating a lengthy walk out of the station and along the adjacent main road to change platforms.
In January 2009, the previously free car parking was abolished, with a daily charge of £3 being introduced. As a result, the once busy car park largely fell quiet. A subsequent review was taken, following complaints from neighbouring residents, with backing of local councillors over the re-distribution of cars once parked on the ample station facility to the surrounding residential streets with charging dismissed soon afterwards.