UNDERLYNED

From Stalybridge it's only a short hop to Ashton-under-Lyne. At one time it was possible to use the Great Central Railway and cross the Park Bridge Viaduct.

The present station at Ashton-under-Lyne, served by Northern.

Today, another form of railed transport serves Ashton - the Metrolink.

On its way into Ashton-under-Lyne, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, now restored, passes beneath an Asda supermarket.

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal meets the Peak Forest and Ashton Canals at Portland Basin.

At Ashton-under-Lyne bus station, there's long been a good variety of buses. Greater Manchester Transport's Metropolitans were frequent visitors.

GMT was later split and part became Greater Manchester South.

Greater Manchester North became part of Firstbus.

Greater Manchester South was sold to Stagecoach.

Pennine Blue, a post-deregulation independent, was later purchased by First-PMT.

Other independents included Mayne's, Stott's, Tame Valley and Dennis's.

Our first pub stop is at the Angel Inn, with marvelous Shaw's tilework, though selling John Smiths.

There's a Wetherspoons in Ashton, the Ash Tree, handy for the station.

A bit of a diversion now, back towards Mossley, for the Junction Inn, a Robinson's house.

From there, across the top of Ashton, to Oldham Road and the Marston's owned Dog & Pheasant.

West now to Droylsden, where Mayne's had a depot. One of their AEC Regent V 'deckers is seen outside, during a crew change in 1980.

Directly to the north is Failsworth, once served by Manchester Corporation trams.

Failsworth is still home to the Millgate, a free house. More info here.

Heading towards Oldham, Hollinwood is our next stop, where the station was controlled by this ex L&YR signal box. All gone now, as it's part of Metrolink.

Oldham Corporation's trams once reached Hollinwood.

And so to Oldham, where the local brew could be sampled at the Bath Hotel. Sadly both brewery and pub have long since vanished.

We'll look at Oldham in the next post. Meanwhile, follow progress on this map.