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Bolbury Crescent, MANCHESTER, M27 8AJ

Saddle tank locomotive "Agecroft No 2", complete with replica 1830s carriages, gives passenger rides during the open day to mark the last day of operation for the three steam locomotives at Agecroft Power Station. The power station's two huge stacks and cooling towers, which can be seen behind the locomotives, were demolished in 1994 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ianfitter/sets/72157623104950245/ flickr). The site now has a mixed development of housing, parklands and a prison, HMP Forest Bank which was opened in January 2000. The locomotive has been preserved and is now operating on the Ribble Steam Railway https://ribblesteam.org.uk/2-uncategorised/45-rsh-7485-1947-agecroft-no-2 .

RSH saddle tank locomotive "Agecroft 3", complete with replica 1830s carriages, gives passenger rides during the open day to mark the last day of operation for the three steam locomotives at Agecroft Power Station. Built in 1948 and purchased by the Salford Corporation Electricity Department to shunt coal wagons between the Agecroft Colliery the power station on the opposite side of Agecroft Road. The railway became largely obsolete when the conveyor (above and to the left of the train) was built to carry coal from the mines.

Agecroft No 3 saddle tank locomotive standing on the sidings at the former Agecroft Power Station. This was taken on the last day of operation for the three steam locomotives at Agecroft. Agecroft No 3 is currently (March 2017) undergoing full restoration at the Whitwell & Reepham railway station in Norfolk http://web.archive.org/web/20170301105058/http://whitwellstation.com/agecroft-3-restoration-progress-update/ . The cooling towers which can be seen in the background were demolished in 1994 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ianfitter/sets/72157623104950245/ flickr). The site now has a mixed development of housing, parklands and a prison, HMP Forest Bank which was opened in January 2000.

RSH saddle tank locomotive, Agecroft No 3, provides train rides an Agecroft open day in 1981. The carriages are replicas of those used on the first passenger railway between Liverpool and Manchester which had recently celebrated its 150th anniversary.

Agecroft No 1 RSH saddle tank locomotive, sporting a bright red livery, on static display outside the engine shed at Agecroft Power Station on the 1981 open day marking the final day of steam train operations at Agecroft. The locomotive has recently been restored and is now in its original livery at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.

Two of the three RSH saddle tank locomotives pose for photographers during the 1981 open day to mark the final day of their operation at Agecroft. The power station’s two huge stacks, which can be seen behind the locomotives, were demolished in 1994.

Few traces remain of industrial Agecroft, dominated by its colliery, power station and ancillary works - all notable landmarks adjacent to the old Manchester ring road. This modern housing estate occupies what used to be the Thermalite works: a factory producing construction blocks out of waste ash from the power station. The rest has been landscaped out of all recognition.

Until the 1970s, Agecroft was dominated by its former coal mine (one of the most modern in the UK) and the coal-fired power station. Agecroft CEGB used the readily available supply of coal to fire one of three small steam engines to shunt wagons around the complex. In the background is the unloading and weighing station from which coal would be transported by conveyor to the power station, located where a prison now stands.