22 members gathered at Victoria station on this fully booked fixture, to visit the old Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway offices, latterly used by British Rail. It was very ably organised and led by Adam Turner and John Hampson. I have been on four tours with Adam previously. He has visited these offices before - BLN 1461.2912 of 7 Dec 2024 reported this in detail. I will not repeat this report (view report). The majority of the building has not been used for many years but is being refurbished to provide modern offices for NR. This will enable NR to give up leased office space in central Manchester. A relatively small part of the building is also used by Northern.

NEWSFLASH (6 July) NR has cancelled the Victoria office refurbishment, presumably to save money.

I first visited Manchester Victoria about 1959, when there were many steam trains. I have made periodic visits until the end of steam and since. I remember there was a steam train, 16.35 or 17.35 Fridays only, to York until the end of 1967 that I came north to travel on several times. I visited Newton Heath Shed up until 1968 and recall seeing steam locos in the station waiting to bank freights up Miles Platting Bank.

After a comprehensive visit to the old offices, Adam showed us the site of Manchester Exchange station. The London & North Western Railway opened the station on 30 Jun 1884 (so they no longer had to use Victoria). The site is now redeveloped with several large office blocks. From 1929 until 5 May 1969, when Exchange closed to passengers, the longest passenger platform in the UK (2,194ft) joined the eastern end of Victoria (P11) to the western end of Exchange (P3). Exchange had five platforms, 1 & 2 were bays, the others were through platforms. P4 & 5 were reached by a footbridge near the entrance. I well remember arriving at Exchange from Chester by steam and walking the length of this platform to watch the trains from the east end of Victoria. The long platform could hold three mainline trains at once.

After Adam had departed south, I visited Victoria and found a bar that I had not seen before with a very pleasant barman. There were photos on the wall of the station in the 1970s. The drinks menu (including hand pumped beer) was on an old train departure board, he told me. I asked what the room had been previously. It was a tailor's shop; railway staff used to bring their uniforms to be altered to fit properly.

Once again, many thanks to Adam who led the trip in his usual way, telling us about the history of the station and the rooms we visited in detail enhanced by images on his tablet. Also, thanks to John Hampson who was instrumental in bringing about the fixture and with vital on the day arrangements and to NR for allowing access. Our fixture raised £650 for Mustard Tree, a local charity which combats poverty and homelessness. For me, it also brought back memories stretching back 65 years.