West Didsbury
Metrolink station
General information
Location	Didsbury,Manchester England
Coordinates	53°25′28″N2°14′10″W / 53.42441°N 2.23602°W /53.42441; -2.23602
Grid reference	SJ842921
Line(s)	South Manchester Line
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	In operation
Fare zone	3
History
Original company	South District Railway
Pre-grouping	Midland Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway British Rail (London Midland Region)
Key dates
1 January 1880	Opened asWithington
1 July 1884	RenamedWithington and Albert Park
1 April 1915	RenamedWithington and West Didsbury
3 July 1961	Closed
23 May 2013	Reopened and renamedWest Didsbury
Services
Preceding station Manchester Metrolink Following station Didsbury Village towardsEast Didsbury East Didsbury–Rochdale Burton Road towardsRochdale Town Centre East Didsbury–Shaw (peak only) Burton Road towardsShaw and Crompton Disused railways Chorlton-cum-Hardy Line closed, station open   Midland Railway South District Railway   Didsbury Line and station closed
Route map Legend toTrafford Bar toOld Trafford 0:12 Firswood 0:10 Chorlton 0:09 St Werburgh's Road toManchester Airport 0:07 Withington 0:05 Burton Road 0:04 West Didsbury 0:02 Didsbury Village Styal Line 0:00 East Didsbury ( East Didsbury) This diagram: view talk edit
Location

West Didsbury is atram stop on theSouth Manchester Line (SML) ofGreater Manchester's light-railMetrolink system. It opened to passengers on 23 May 2013,^[1][2] in WestDidsbury, southManchester, England.^[3][4]

The Metrolink stop is 300m south-east of the formerheavy rail station of theMidland Railway, which opened 1 January 1880 asWithington; was renamed on 1 July 1884 toWithington and Albert Park; renamed again on 1 April 1915 toWithington and West Didsbury; and closed on 3 July 1961. The route was earmarked for redevelopment with alight rail system during the 1980s, and was confirmed and funded as part of Metrolink's Phase 3b of expansion in 2006.

• 12 minute service toShaw and Crompton, with double trams at peak times;
• 12 minute service toRochdale Town Centre, with double trams at peak times;
• 6 minute service toEast Didsbury, with double trams at peak times.

Withington and West Didsbury railway station opened in 1880 as "Withington" when theMidland Railway opened its newManchester South District Line out ofManchester Central Station. The station was renamed "Withington & Albert Park" in 1884 and then "Withington & West Didsbury" in 1915.^[5][6]

The station closed in July 1961, although local services to other stations on the Manchester South District line continued to pass through until January 1967, and express trains continued to use this route until 1969, when the entre line was closed as part of theBeeching cuts. By the 2000s, the original cobbled station approach road and wall were still visible off Lapwing Lane, and the remains of the station platforms could still be seen at the bottom of the overgrown embankment.^[6]

In 1984,Greater Manchester Council andGMPTE announced theProject Light Rail scheme to develop a newlight rail/tram system by re-opening use of disused railway lines in the region, including the route through West Didsbury.^[7] The first phase of theManchester Metrolink system opened in 1992, but it was not until 2013 that the network was expanded to reach as far as East Didsbury, as part of Phase 3b of the Metrolink expansion project. Tram tracks were laid along the formertrackbed and a new tram stop was constructed in the railway cutting on the opposite side of Palatine Road from the original railway station. The West Didsbury Metrolink stop opened on 23 May 2013.^[1][8]

• 
  Midland Railway lines out of Manchester, showing the Manchester South District line
• 
  1911 OS map of West Didsbury, showing the old railway station to the north of the present tram stop
• 
  The disused railway line (pictured in 2008)
• 
  The disused railway line (pictured in 2011)
• 
  Construction of the new West Didsbury Metrolink strop in 2011
• 
  Map of Didsbury showing the locations of the old station and the tram stop

• Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee
• Midland Railway
• Didsbury railway station

Wikimedia Commons has media related toWest Didsbury Metrolink station.

• "Withington & West Didsbury Station (1880-1961)".Disused Stations. Retrieved23 October 2020.
• "Map of West Didsbury Metrolink Stop"(PDF). GMPTE. 2009. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 11 June 2015. Retrieved6 November 2017.
• Metrolink stop information
• West Didsbury area map

• Withington
• Didsbury
• Tram stops in Manchester
• Former Midland Railway stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1880
• Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1961
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2013
• Manchester South District Line
• Tram stops on the East Didsbury – Shaw route
• Tram stops on the East Didsbury – Rochdale route

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from March 2015
• Use British English from March 2015
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles with OS grid coordinates
• Pages with no open date in Infobox station
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension