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Greater Manchester Metrolink
All photographs of this railway in date order.
![Metrolink tram 1024 takes the direct line in Piccadilly Gardens on a Bury to Altrincham service. The other lines are the links to the Piccadilly Station branch. View from nearby City Tower.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 25/02/2009]](/images/22000/22641.jpg "Piccadilly Gardens")
![A Metrolink tram rolls into Piccadilly Gardens, in Manchester City Centre, from Piccadilly Station. From here it will either turn right for Bury or left for Altrincham or Eccles. View from nearby City Tower. [see image 29737] for an update.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 25/02/2009]](/images/22000/22642.jpg "Piccadilly Gardens")
![Manchester Metrolink tram at St Peter's Square on 5 March 2009. The building on the left is Manchester's Central Library.<br>
<br><br>[John McIntyre 05/03/2009]](/images/22000/22796.jpg "St Peters Square")
![The new Metrolink Trafford tram depot, as seen here looking north from the down platform at Old Trafford station prior to opening. This huge facility sits in the 'V' of the Altrincham and East Didsbury lines stretching almost to the next station at Trafford Bar. It houses part of the new fleet of 3000 series trams being introduced for the Metrolink extensions to Rochdale and Disdbury. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 30/06/2010]](/images/29000/29623.jpg "Old Trafford")
![Piccadilly Gardens tram station has recently been rebuilt with a new full length canopy. In this view from nearby City Tower new 3000 series tram 3002 rolls in on an Eccles service as a sister unit heads for Piccadilly Station. [See image 22642] for a similar view taken in early 2009<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 09/07/2010]](/images/29000/29737.jpg "Piccadilly Gardens")
![The <I>new order</I> on Manchester's Metrolink as Tram 3006 climbs to Piccadilly Gardens on a Piccadilly station to Eccles service. The stations are steadily being improved and rebranded in this new corporate scheme of yellow and grey but the earlier 10xx and 20xx series trams are all still in the original turquoise, white and grey livery. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 09/07/2010]](/images/29000/29752.jpg "Piccadilly Gardens")
![A Bury to Piccadilly service emerges from the <I>Hole in the Wall</I> at Manchester Victoria station to climb up to Shudehill. Trams from Bury arrive in the area that used to hold the bay platforms for the electric trains but then swing right through 90 degrees and leave the trainshed by this gap specially created for them to join the street running section. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 19/03/2011]](/images/33000/33280.jpg "Manchester Victoria")
![New generation tram 3006 leaves the Shudehill Interchange heading for the next stop at nearby Manchester Victoria on its way to Bury. Shudehill tram stop opened in 2003 and the full bus interchange some three years later. The 3000 series trams are being introduced to cover the services on the new Metrolink lines to Rochdale, Ashton and Didsbury but are being used alongside the existing 1000 and 2000 series vehicles on Bury and Altrincham service in the interim. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 19/03/2011]](/images/33000/33605.jpg "Shudehill")
![Velodrome - one of several new Metrolink stations taking shape on the route from Manchester Piccadilly out to Ashton-under-Lyne. This station will serve <I>Sport City</I> which includes the National Cycling Centre and the Manchester City Football Ground. Evening view looking east towards Ashton. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 12/05/2011]](/images/34000/34050.jpg "Velodrome")
![For almost twenty years all trams to Manchester Piccadilly terminated in the undercroft station, but the new line to Droylsden opened in 2012 and will later extend to Ashton-under-Lyne. First of the Metrolink fleet No. 1001 climbs away from Piccadilly back to the city centre. The bridge in the background carries the railway line from Manchester Oxford Rd. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 12/07/2011]](/images/34000/34884.jpg "Manchester Piccadilly")
![Metrolink tram 3014 waits briefly on a wet day at Eccles before returning to Piccadilly via the Salford Docks estate. Eccles tram terminus is only a short walk from the main line railway station. Pity about the litter at this town centre interchange.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 28/12/2012]](/images/41000/41616.jpg "Eccles (Metrolink)")
![3000 Series tram 3012 pulls away from Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre with a service for Bury. The tram will swing right behind the camera to initially head through the streets to Victoria station. New developments continue apace on Metrolink and in January 2013 it was announced that the extension from Piccadilly to Droylsden in the east will open in February 2013. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 28/12/2012]](/images/41000/41670.jpg "Piccadilly Gardens")
![There are several parts of the Manchester Metrolink system that take advantage of climbing abilities of modern trams compared with heavy rail traction. Immediately after leaving the Eccles terminus the tracks dive under a large roundabout and climb back for street level running on the other side. 3014 enters the underpass on 28 December 2012 while operating an Eccles to Piccadilly service. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 28/12/2012]](/images/41000/41711.jpg "Eccles (Metrolink)")
![A Metrolink tram calls at Rochdale railway station on 23 April 2013.<br><br>[John Yellowlees 23/04/2013]](/images/42000/42849.jpg "Rochdale")
![Metrolink street works in Oldham as seen from a passing Rochdale to East Didsbury tram. Completed in January 2014, trams now turn right at this point to pass through the town centre to rejoin the railway line formation at Werneth. The new Mumps tram stop is seen being built near the buildings at the top of the hill. [See image 44095] for a view of this location in the opposite direction. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 31/07/2013]](/images/44000/44114.jpg "Oldham Mumps")
![The only first generation Manchester tram to receive the latest <I>Metrolink</I> livery, no 1003, arriving at the tram stop in St Peter's Square on 31 July with a service to Altrincham.<br><br>[John McIntyre 31/07/2013]](/images/44000/44132.jpg "St Peters Square")
![The new, 3.9 mile line to Droylsden opened in February 2013 and involves mainly street running into Manchester but also reserved track around the Velopark and football stadium. Droylsden is a temporary terminus as a 2 mile extension to Ashton-under-Lyne will be opening in winter 2013/14. Tram 3036 has crossed to the Manchester line at the turnback siding and runs into the platform to form a service back to the city centre. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 31/07/2013]](/images/44000/44177.jpg "Droylsden")
![Another temporary terminus. 3008 stands at the tram stop known as Rochdale Rail Station before returning via Oldham to Manchester then East Didsbury. Construction work continues to take the trams on from here down into the town centre. This image taken from the island platform of the main line station.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 31/07/2013]](/images/44000/44193.jpg "Rochdale")
![Quite a bow wave is created by the rear bogie of Metrolink 1022 as it leaves St. Peter's Square, indicating that all is perhaps not as it should be with the drains in this city centre tram station. This section now carries trams to Altrincham, Eccles and East Didsbury and so the performance was repeated every few minutes on this very wet day.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 31/07/2013]](/images/44000/44231.jpg "St Peters Square")
![One of three brand new town centre tram stops, this is Oldham Central, opened in January 2014. Tram 3050 is leaving for Manchester on 13 February, seen from a Rochdale bound service.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 13/02/2014]](/images/46000/46302.jpg "Oldham Central")
![Extensive rebuilding at Manchester Victoria will see it close to trams for nine months from February 2014. The famous <I>Hole in the Wall</I> has already gone as seen here. One of the very few operational early series trams, 2001, passes 3056 near the station entrance four days before the station tram stop closed. Trams will continue to pass through while work takes place but passengers will have to use Shudehill. [See image 33280] for the same location prior to the rebuilding work. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 13/02/2014]](/images/46000/46315.jpg "Manchester Victoria")
![An interesting civil engineering solution. The Oldham Loop line climbed through South Chadderton on an embankment without a station. On conversion to Metrolink a tram stop was built but at street level with the trams dropping steeply down on either side before climbing back to the original formation. In this view looking towards Oldham Tram 3020 drops down to the new halt passing what remains of the original L&YR railway embankment. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 13/02/2014]](/images/46000/46324.jpg "South Chadderton")
![Curving away from the original railway alignment onto the new Oldham town centre street running section a Manchester bound service approaches the new Mumps interchange. The short lived and now redundant level crossing, closed in January 2014, can be seen beyond the new landscaping. [See image 44114] showing construction works at the same location in 2013.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 13/02/2014]](/images/46000/46344.jpg "Oldham Mumps")
![This steep switchback section of tram track is a reminder of why the L&YR did not go into the centre of Oldham but instead went by tunnel from Werneth to Central and on to Oldham Mumps, all skirting the edge of town. The new Metrolink line employs some substantial engineering to reach the town centre and this is a driver's view of the climb from Westwood to Oldham King St. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 13/02/2014]](/images/46000/46386.jpg "Oldham King St")
![A Rochdale to East Didsbury (via Manchester) tram calls at the new street level stop of South Chadderton on a gloomy February morning. Ahead of 3020 is the short rise that will take it back onto the original L&Y railway formation to continue down to Hollinwood and Failsworth. [See image 46324]<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 13/02/2014]](/images/46000/46412.jpg "South Chadderton")
![A 4-car Metrolink tram leaves the old railway formation at Oldham Mumps and climbs to the interchange stop, one of four new Metrolink boarding points through the town centre. A large railway bridge once dominated the background here and the location, including the surviving building on the left, featured in a Railscot mystery image which ran in March 2012 [see image 37965]<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 13/02/2014]](/images/46000/46432.jpg "Oldham Mumps")
![A four-car Metrolink tram leaves the new Oldham Central stop heading for Rochdale on 13 February. Road vehicles are excluded from this particular stretch of the <I>street running</I> section of the new line, which had only opened during the previous month. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 13/02/2014]](/images/46000/46541.jpg "Oldham Central")
![Metrolink trams 3039 and 3053, on a Rochdale to East Didsbury service, call at the new Mumps interchange stop just to the east of Oldham town centre. They will climb through the town before dropping steeply down to rejoin the old railway formation at Werneth. [See image 44114] for a view of this location under construction during the previous summer. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 13/02/2014]](/images/46000/46687.jpg "Oldham Mumps")
![Grab shot showing several lines of withdrawn T68 trams at Old Trafford Metrolink depot in June 2014, seen from a tram on the East Didsbury line. The last T68 run was a special two weeks previously and, whilst set 1007 will be preserved on the Heaton Park Tramway, C F Booths have already started cutting up others. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 09/06/2014]](/images/47000/47623.jpg "Old Trafford")
![An addition to the Manchester Metrolink network in 2013 was Ashton-under-Lyne. The East Manchester line has been extended from the temporary terminus at Droylsden on a route that uses or closely follows the main road. This is the terminus, which is part of a transport interchange. The bus station is adjacent and the railway station close by. Tram 3072 waits to leave for Eccles via Piccadilly. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 09/06/2014]](/images/47000/47640.jpg "Ashton-under-Lyne")
![While Manchester Victoria's Metrolink area is being rebuilt there is temporary single line working through the area (and the tramstop is closed to passengers). This is the view over the driver's shoulder on a Bury bound tram showing the ongoing construction work as it passes the site of the famous <I>Hole in the wall</I>. [See image 33280] for the same location in 2011.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 09/06/2014]](/images/47000/47830.jpg "Manchester Victoria")
![The temporary single line working through Victoria operates on a sort of staff, ticket and pilotman arrangement whereby two or three trams travel in the same direction before running is reversed. A narrow control cabin has been built between the tram tracks at the <I>Platting Bank</I> end of the section, seen here over the driver's shoulder of a Bury bound tram. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 09/06/2014]](/images/47000/47863.jpg "Manchester Victoria")
![Single line working in action. The pilotman, arriving at Shudehill on the last tram through the Victoria station single line section, uses the token/key to unlock and swing back this <I>STOP</I> barrier that was across the northbound track. 3057 will proceed towards Rochdale, and the pilot will follow on a Bury service, closing and locking the barrier behind the tram. At the north end of Victoria, where the track doubles again [see image 47863], the process will start again. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 09/06/2014]](/images/47000/47889.jpg "Shudehill")
![The newest addition to the Metrolink network is the 1km <I>street running</I> extension from Rochdale Railway station, down the hill into the town centre. Tram 3054 is at the new Rochdale tram terminus, which opened in March 2014, on a brief layover prior to returning to East Didsbury via Manchester. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 07/08/2014]](/images/48000/48279.jpg "Rochdale")
![Single line Metrolink working through Manchester Victoria continued in August 2014 although the staff was being carried through the section by drivers rather than a pilotman. 3057 waits at Shudehill for a four car set to bring the staff through and the barrier across the tracks to be opened. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 07/08/2014]](/images/48000/48313.jpg "Shudehill")
![As the new roof at Manchester Victoria is installed by two huge cranes, Bury and Rochdale trams continue to pass on the temporary single line. Metrolink 3003 drops down from Shudehill to pass through the building site heading for Bury on 6th August 2014. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 07/08/2014]](/images/48000/48325.jpg "Manchester Victoria")
![A brace of trams, led by 3061, roll down the new street running section in Rochdale towards the terminus. The sole purpose of the traffic lights appears to be to stop road vehicles while Manchester bound trams come off the short single line section and cross over to the other side of the road. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 07/08/2014]](/images/48000/48341.jpg "Rochdale")
![Metrolink 3060 leads a four car tram off the temporary single line section through Victoria and climbs towards Shudehill. This is now the only stop in the district while Victoria is closed to trams and so the pavements behind the <I>Heras</I> fencing are busy with commuters who wouldn't normally alight here. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 07/08/2014]](/images/48000/48387.jpg "Shudehill")
![A brace of M5000 series trams approaching Rochdale Railway Station on 7 August along the new section of the Metrolink system from Rochdale Town Centre. They will run via Oldham to Manchester and then out to East Didsbury. The fire station and its prominent tower are still for sale! [See image 34125]<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 07/08/2014]](/images/48000/48609.jpg "Rochdale")
![A tram heading for Bury threads its way though the single line section from Shudehill on 31 October, with construction of the striking new roof of Manchester Victoria at an advanced stage. <br><br>[Malcolm Chattwood 31/10/2014]](/images/49000/49303.jpg "Manchester Victoria")
![The Metrolink tram terminus at Media City UK, as seen from the Air Shard viewing platform at the Imperial War Museum on 16 November. A tram is arriving off the Eccles line, the triangular junction with which is just behind the large building on the right of this picture. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 16/11/2014]](/images/49000/49462.jpg "Media City UK")
![One of Manchester's shorter branch lines. Metrolink 3087 travels along the 360m spur off the Eccles line and approaches the two platform terminus at Media City UK. On most days the station is served by direct shuttles between here and Piccadilly but on Sundays the service is provided by the Eccles line trams that call here in both directions before reversing and rejoining their original route. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 16/11/2014]](/images/49000/49490.jpg "Media City UK")
![In the shadow of the BBC and ITV studios, Metrolink trams 3089 and 3087, both engaged on services to and from Eccles, pass at Media City on Sunday 16 November. Trams reverse here to rejoin the Eccles line proper and continue their journeys. Monday to Saturday this terminus of a very short branch is served by shuttle services from Piccadilly. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 16/11/2014]](/images/49000/49510.jpg "Media City UK")
![The brand new tram line to Manchester Airport opened in November 2014, over a year early. The line involves a mixture of reserved and street running sections. One month after opening, Metrolink 3063 swings round the 15mph curve just to the north of Benchill tram stop heading for Manchester. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 02/12/2014]](/images/49000/49629.jpg "Benchill")
![Wythenshawe Town Centre is one of fourteen intermediate stops on the Metrolink line to Manchester Airport, which opened in November 2014. The line was originally planned as a loop that would have also served Wythenshawe Hospital but funding for that is not yet in place and an <I>out and back</I> branch service operates. M5000 3072 calls at the new stop on its way to Cornbrook. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 02/12/2014]](/images/49000/49693.jpg "Wythenshawe Town Centre")
![Deansgate-Castlefield is the new name for the tram stop formerly known as G-Mex. It is currently being rebuilt and the previously staggered platform has been moved alongside its counterpart. A third platform is also being built in connection with the new <I>second city crossing</I> line. 3007 rolls in with a Piccadilly service from Media City UK on 2nd December. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 02/12/2014]](/images/49000/49747.jpg "Deansgate-Castlefield")
![Metrolink tram 3025 photographed at Shudehill Interchange on 2 January 2015 with a service to Rochdale.<br><br>[Veronica Clibbery 02/01/2015]](/images/49000/49992.jpg "Shudehill")
![Rochdale bound Metrolink tram 3025 turns into Balloon Street shortly after leaving Shudehill Interchange on 2 January 2015 and heads for Manchester Victoria.<br><br>[Veronica Clibbery 02/01/2015]](/images/50000/50047.jpg "Shudehill")
![All the first generation Metrolink trams have now been withdrawn and most of them scrapped by Booths of Rotherham. However, three sets remain in open storage at the Old Trafford depot. T68 trams 1023 and 1020 are seen here with T68a 2001 hidden behind them. One of them was used for ice breaking duties last winter but it is unclear what is planned for the three at this time. [See image 47623].<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 13/01/2015]](/images/50000/50055.jpg "Old Trafford")
![The temporary single Metrolink track through Manchester Victoria has been replaced by a complex junction for the <I>second city crossing</I> that is under construction. Metrolink 3043 negotiates the pointwork as it enters the covered area in April 2015. [See image 49303] taken six months earlier. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 20/04/2015]](/images/51000/51095.jpg "Manchester Victoria")
![The first stop on the Manchester Airport tram line is Barlow Moor Road. Metrolink 3095, heading towards the city, leaves the Hardy Lane street running section and pulls in to the new station on 8th June 2015. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 08/06/2015]](/images/51000/51573.jpg "Barlow Moor Road")
![Double tram tracks are in place again from Shudehill through Manchester Victoria, while at the new side entrance two further tracks are being laid for the <I>Second City Crossing</I>. A double tram led by 3036 climbs Balloon St on 25th June heading for Shudehill as a further double set passes through Victoria bound for Bury. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 25/06/2015]](/images/51000/51774.jpg "Manchester Victoria")
![Construction work and tram track laying taking place in Corporation Street near Manchester Victoria station on 25 June 2015 in connection with the planned 'second city crossing'. [See news item]<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 25/06/2015]](/images/51000/51803.jpg "Manchester Victoria")
![Double track working has been reinstated along Balloon St between Manchester Victoria and Shudehill. Additionally, all the setts are back in the roadway and the <I>Heras</I> fencing has been removed. Brand new tram 3099 drops down towards Victoria heading for Rochdale on 25th June 2015. [See image 48387] for the same location during the previous summer. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 25/06/2015]](/images/51000/51979.jpg "Shudehill")
![Saturday evening tram services crossing at Shudehill on 18 July 2015.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 18/07/2015]](/images/52000/52148.jpg "Shudehill")
![Metrolink Tram 3036 gets ready to return to Manchester from Rochdale on 18th July 2015. This new tram terminus is approximately at right angles to the station.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 18/07/2015]](/images/52000/52156.jpg "Rochdale")
![Metrolink trams to and from Eccles usually reverse at Media City. The unusual proboscis above the station notice board on the left in this April 2016 shot is part of the Imperial War Museum (North).<br><br>[Ken Strachan 16/04/2016]](/images/55000/55068.jpg "Media City UK")
![I'm afraid I can't see Neddy Seagoon anywhere. The brick building on the right is the station shop, kindly supplied by some company called Morrisons. <br><br>[Ken Strachan 16/04/2016]](/images/55000/55202.jpg "Eccles (Metrolink)")
![Metrolink Tram 3094 reverses on Corporation St, just beyond the temporary terminus at Exchange Square, before running back to the platform and forming a service for Rochdale. When the Second City Crossing (2CC) is complete trams will continue through to St Peters Square to rejoin the existing Metrolink tracks. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 21/10/2016]](/images/56000/56940.jpg "Exchange Square")
![The new tram stop at Exchange Square, Manchester is on the Second City Crossing (2CC) that is nearing completion. At present Exchange Square is the limit of operations but it will soon be on a through line between Victoria and St. Peters Square. Tram 3094 is newly arrived from Rochdale and will shortly reverse to return there.<br><br>[Mark Bartlett 21/10/2016]](/images/56000/56949.jpg "Exchange Square")
![A Metrolink tram calls at Deansgate-Castlefield whilst working to Manchester Airport on 19 May 2017. Deansgate railway station is to the right and the roof of the former Manchester Central station is in the left background.<br><br>[John McIntyre 19/05/2017]](/images/59000/59647.jpg "Deansgate-Castlefield")
![Metrolink 3031 swings round the corner from the new <I>Second City Crossing</I> line and into the greatly enlarged St Peters Square tram stop on a wet 27th March 2018. This was a Rochdale to East Disdbury service. <br><br>[Mark Bartlett 27/03/2018]](/images/63000/63551.jpg "St Peters Square")
