Oldham Road Goods Station


The map above is shown with the permission of Eric Rowland of Artus Genealogy Resources

The Oldham Road Goods Station occupied a site north of Oldham Road and east of Lees Street for 132 years.  The aerial photograph below shows the complex of warehouses that occupied the site, outlined by a red line.



It began life as a passenger station in 1839 but closed to passengers 5 years later and was transformed into a goods terminous.  The map below, from 1844, shows the extent of the station in its early years.  The line came into the station by way of a viaduct that stood 30 feet above the surrounding streets.  It is said that, "a flight of spacious stairs was used by passengers to reach the very commodious station building."



It soon became apparent that the station was too far from the centre of the city, so a new station, called Victoria Station, was built on Hunts Bank and the line was extended to it.


The transfer of passenger traffic to Victoria resulted in the conversion of Oldham Road to the trans-shipment and storage of goods.  An elaborate system of lifts and turntables facilitated the unloading and loading of goods.  A number of warehouses were built on the site dedicated to the storage of a variety of products including fruit, fish, cloth, grain and potatoes. 


Below are two views of the activity inside the station on April 23, 1924.  The images are shown with the permission of the Science & Society Picture Library website.  Both images are copyright the National Railway Museum.




Eventually the location of the station became a problem.  The cost and inconvenience of trans-shipping goods destined for Smithfield Market challenged its viability.  The station closed in 1968.



If you visit the site today there are few signs that the station was ever there.  You can see fragments of the wall that enclosed the site, including the section along Rochdale Road, shown below.






The rough ground, on the left of the photograph below, marks the viaducts' former route along New Allen Street as it approached the station.



This segment of the viaduct remains.



Much of the station site is now occupied by a large postal sorting office (seen below) and the Wing Yip Chinese Superstore.