The Changing Face of Trafford: Transport

In 1974:

‘Trafford is divided by three waterways. On its North the Ship Canal runs alongside the giant Trafford Park Estate, once the world’s largest, and still the chief reason for the large resources the new council will inherit. Between the Ship Canal and the river Mersey lie Urmston and Stretford, old established suburbs of Manchester, the latter sharing many of the inner Manchester housing problems. The Mersey keep Stretford and Sale apart, though its valley provides useful open space. Between the Mersey and the Bollin lie the Cheshire suburbs, linked by an electric railway from Altrincham to Oxford Road.’ [i]

The Bridgewater Canal was still just about in commercial use and carried freight traffic until 1975. The last regular cargo was grain from Liverpool to Manchester for BOCM.[ii].Pomona Docks on the Trafford side of the Manchester Ship Canal were also still in use. From 1970 onwards, they began a steady decline caused by increasing use of container ships for ocean transport and the decision to close the swing bridge between Salford and Trafford, thus preventing the larger ships from reaching Pomona. The remaining docks closed in 1982.

As far as Public Transport was concerned, as Trafford was being formed in 1973, SELNEC (South-East Lancashire and North-East Cheshire) had complete responsibility for passenger transport by bus in the new county. This was replaced by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (PTA) with a Passenger Transport Executive (PTE) to manage its operation. Once established it had to raise fares in most areas to face the deficit it inherited as bus journeys had fallen by fifty percent over the six years leading up to 1974. The PTA also had responsibility for eighteen commuter lines in and out of Manchester, including the service to Altrincham and Hale. In these early days proposals were first put forward for a Rapid Transit System which would eventually become Metrolink.[iii]

2024

The Bridgewater Canal in 2024 is very much used for leisure. It throngs with canal narrowboats and other pleasure craft. There are canal cruising clubs in Sale and at the Watch House in Stretford, and marinas at Oldfield and Stretford.  Trafford Rowing Club has a strong presence on the water from its club base in Walton Park, Sale. Warrington Anglers Club hold the fishing licence. The towpath has been tarmacked and converted to the Bridgewater Way, eventually to be a thirty-nine-mile leisure route with links to the Trans Pennine Trail for walking, cycling and running.

There are plenty of opportunities for eating and drinking at the pubs on or very near to the canal, most of which would have been present in 1974, such as the Swan with Two Nicks, Dunham; Old Packet House and the Navigation at Broadheath; the King’s Ransom, at Sale; the Bridge Inn, Dane Road, Sale, though the Bay Malton at Seamon’s Moss has closed. There are restaurants and bars at Sale Waterside and around Sale Station and in Stanley Square close to the canal as well as Walton Perk, a café boat moored at Walton Park, Sale. 

The major development in transport has been the roll out of the Metrolink network, a tram and light rail system. It now has eight lines which radiate from Manchester city centre, the first of which was the line from Altrincham to Bury which began operating from Bury to Victoria in April 1992, with the line from Altrincham starting in June that year. One of the Trafford Local Studies volunteers is looking at the detail of the history. Therefore, this will not be covered in this document.

Metrolink in 2024 has become part of the Bee Network, an integrated transport network for Greater Manchester. Under this scheme the buses are gradually being brought back under local government control by 2025.

Motorways

The motorway network in and around Manchester was opening up or was planned to open soon at the time of the introduction of Trafford. This would vastly improve the access from Trafford to the rest of the North-West.

Priorities for road construction laid out in ‘Greater Manchester Votes’ in 1973 included the M63 Mersey Valley from Stretford, through Sale to Gatley and the M60 Carrington Spur to make access easier to Partington.[iv]

The M60 circular motorway did not open fully until 2000. It started as the Stretford to Eccles by-pass from Worsley to the A56 between Stretford and Sale. It was renamed the M63 in 1968 with the section from Sale to Cheadle opening in 1974.

To the south of the new county the M56 Motorway from Sharston to the Junction with the M6 opened between 1972 and 1975.

The Altrincham Guardian announced in July 1974 that a 10-mile section of the M62 from Risley to Worsley was to be opened on 22 Aug 1974. The motorway would then stretch all the way from Liverpool to Leeds. The following weekend a 4.5 mile stretch from Sale Eastern and Northenden to join with the Eccles/Stretford By-Pass at Stretford.[v]

Only 36% of households had a car in 1966. According to the Department of Transport’s National Travel Survey, ‘There have been long-term increases in the proportion of households with access to more than one car since 1971, with 34% of households having two or more cars in 2022 compared to 8% in 1971. By 1981 63% of Trafford residents had access to a car  and 18% of households had two or more cars.[vi] The proportion of households in the UK with one car was 45% in 2022, however, the long-term trend has remained broadly constant since 1971 with an average of 43%.’[vii] In ‘Greater Manchester Votes’, car ownership was forecast to reach saturation point at about 75%.[viii]  According to this data, the UK figure had reached 79% in 2022.

In 2024 there is a comprehensive network of motorways with easy access to the M6 for London or the North, the M56 for access to Chester and North Wales, the M61 to Preston and beyond and the M62 for access to Yorkshire. Congestion around Manchester is still a problem at peak times despite the conversion of the hard shoulder to create an extra lane and a traffic management system to control the flow of vehicles.

Electric Vehicles

In 1974 the most common electric vehicle was a milk float.  The moon landing in 1971 had raised the profile of electric vehicles. Sebring-Vanguard's CitiCar was introduced in 1974 and the company produced more than 2000 of them. Tesla, a Silicon Valley start-up company, announced its first car in 2007.[ix] Electric vehicles were not a new idea. They had been developed during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.[x] Porsche introduced the first hybrid electric in 1901 but were overtaken by the internal combustion engine.  The Toyota Prius, so popular with taxi drivers, was the first mass produced hybrid, introduced in 1997.[xi]

In 2024 there are increasing numbers of electric cars and vans, even buses. There are also hybrids, both self-charging and plug-in which remove the fears of range anxiety. The RAC estimate that there are 1.2 million fully electric cars, with more than 300,000 new electric vehicles sold in 2023, and 615,000 plug-in hybrids on the Road in 2024.[xii] The number of charging points is increasing rapidly and both electric bikes and scooters appear frequently.

Article researched and written by Trafford Local Studies volunteer Richard Nelson

Sources

[i] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[ii] Wikipedia [accessed 17 Mar 2024].

[iii] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, p. 21. Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[iv] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[v] Altrincham Guardian, 11 Jul 1974.

[vi] Bernard Thorpe & Partners for Trafford M.B.C., Trafford Shopping Study Main Report, September 1986’, Sep 1986, Trafford Local Studies, TRA/4/3/2/2.

[vii] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-travel-survey-2022/national-travel-survey-2022-household-car-availability-and-trends-in-car-trips [Accessed 9 Apr 2024].

[viii] Clark, David, M, ‘Greater Manchester Votes: a guide to the new metropolitan authorities’, Redrose, Mar 1973. Trafford Local Studies, 96698098.

[ix] https://www.energy.gov/timeline-history-electric-car [Accessed 26 Mar 2024].

[x] https://www.energy.gov/timeline-history-electric-car [Accessed 26 Mar 2024].

[xi] https://www.energy.gov/timeline-history-electric-car [Accessed 26 Mar 2024].

[xii] https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/electric-cars/choosing/road-to-electric/ [Accessed 26 Mar 2024].