Perfect for going into Manchester Picc/Oxford Rd and also great for going to the airport. also…read moregreat location being just off the A34 and within walking distance to Gatley village which is rather posh. Ticket machines and ticket office are also quite helpful.

Didsbury Village Metrolink is a fairly new addition to the Metrolink network, the station opened in…read more2013. It is in a great location for Didsbury Village with the suburb's shops and restaurants a couple of minutes away on foot. It is on the South Manchester Line between East Didsbury and Rochdale Town Centre, with some Rochdale-bound trains terminating at Shaw and Crompton. It is a pretty basic tram stop, it is fairly clean, with ample shelter, it has ramped access onto street-level which is easier for everyone, to avoid dealing with slippy steps or slow lifts. 4* - Nice tram stop. It would be even better if they finally set the Stockport extension into motion.

Very close to the heart of Didsbury village, a useful service to get into Manchester or to the…read morenearby shopping area of Parswood.

That is a pretty funny story Angela has told there, and I must say that I also found the man in the…read morelittle ticket hut a sour faced twit. However, my experience was not sprinkled with a funny occurrence at all, it was just plain miserable. The station is small and out of the way, and consists of just a couple of platforms. Trains are usually on time and go to Manchester Piccadilly in about 16 mins so if you can catch one, the you'll save yourself 45 mins or more on the bus. These trains are at 26 minutes past the hour, and 55 minutes past the hour. So if you're going from Didsbury to town and these times suit, then grin and bear the miserable codger, and get there faster.

Agreed that it is a real pain in the backside that there are no self service machines. You get…read moretreated at Picaddilly as if you'd tried to steal the Crown Jewels if you did not have time to purchase a ticket and the train conductor did not sell you one on board. The gentleman referred to in the ticket office was helpful to me when I was travelling for work a lot and suggested travel passes where it was cheaper. Even at 6.45am he gets a bit annoyed though if you get on without having bought a ticket - even if you've just made it on time after running a mile.

I like Stockport Station, it's a great, large station for a small town, it's on a good number of…read moreroutes and has easy access into the town centre as well as buses to continue onto your journey, once arriving into the station. Avanti West Coast manages the station; it's served by a good number of operators including: Transport For Wales, CrossCountry, Transpennine Express, Northern and East Midlands Railway. Most services go into Manchester Piccadilly which is only 7-14 minutes away, depending on which service you take but then you can go to a lot of destinations including London, Norwich, Sheffield and Liverpool. If you're heading into Manchester, you'll want the Northbound platforms (3 and 4) There is a Starbucks inside the station which is temporarily closed at the time of writing (January 2021), as well as a WHSmith, both on Platform 2 (London / Southbound platform) The staff inside the station are friendly and there's a good amount of ticket machines. The station is slightly open so it can get pretty cold if you're waiting for a train, compared to Manchester Piccadilly. There is lift-access to all platforms from the subway level. 4*

As explained by others, Stockport is a major transport hub in Greater Manchester as some Victorian…read morebylaw passed at the time the viaduct was built means trains passing over it have to stop here. Given that it is a bit surprising there aren't any substantial shops - it's mostly small outlets for food and drink to take away. These options are mostly terrible...Starbucks etc. However I'm not sure when this started but in recent months I have noticed food stalls in the underpass beneath the platforms. I've had several good quiches from Cheese is Grate who also sell local cheese, cakes and soup I think on a Tuesday and Wednesday. Most excitingly, my Kirkham (Preston) based favourite Pudding & Pie is now here every other Thursday and Friday. Their pies are consistently excellent and the sweet potato and chilli tart I tried today is my new favourite! Way to go Stockport supporting local businesses making good quality non mass produced food and provided better options for hungry travellers!

cheap way to get from Manchester to Leeds. Unfortunately it takes 2 hours..... @45 miles. Oh, well…read more.... part of the UK charm.... suck it up Americans and deal with it. 5 times better than Amtrack. but 5 times expensive. clean seats most impressive.

Manchester Airports railway station is located inside the airport, just a lift up to the coach…read morestation and a short walk to all the terminals. Here you can board the metrolink now, on the blue line which goes up to Cornbrook, from there you can go near enough any stop what is run by the metrolink network. Trains also run from this location to Middlesbrough, Glasgow and Manchester Piccadily, even Liverpool and Leeds runs a direct train from here. The train takes 25 minutes to Piccadily which calls through East Didsbury and Gatley, the train works out much quicker as it would take 55 minutes to get to Piccadily on the metrolink, which includes a change at Cornbrook and doesn't include the waiting time expected there. Ticket inspectors seem to get on and off at this station from my experiance today. It is quite a quiet station and only something you would use when going to the airport really, it does not have any faciltieis close by apart from in arrivals and that is abit of a walk away. Toilets are avaliable here, I did only notice a ladies toilet but they is both genders around the corner near the National Express coach station. This railway station is just what you would expect from a big place like Manchester, with metrolink and rail links and they is shops and resturants, although few a short walk away but you don't want to be going there if you are not visiting the airport. for a Venue - Airport hub this is good however if it was supposed to be a major station then it could command 1 star but I feel 2 is fair. It would be nice if they was a newsagents or cafe in the station, to get the things you had forgot to get in the airport. UPDATE: This station just seems to far away from other terminals, for example being a good 10 minute walk away from Terminal 2 to the point where I can't really understand it, I understand they can't put this directly in the Terminal as there are three large terminals at Manchester too, but people travel to Airports with bags, and it just is too hard to get off the train and then find your Terminal from there and perhaps a service for holidaymakers to get help to the Terminal would be much better, rather than having too many staff who simply can't, so for now I sadly feel this station deserves a single one star in this update - Also this station serves at nothing more than getting you to and from the Airport and there is a lack of facilities until you get to the Airport anyway.

Since my last review here in April 2016, this station seems to have improved and considering it…read moreserves a small town, it is a pretty good station. I like how they have ramped access between each Platform, rather than lifts which I find can often be slow, smelly and overcrowded in such stations. The station is managed by Northern Trains but is still served by Transport for Wales and Avanti West Coast. Near enough every service goes into Manchester Piccadilly, other destinations here include Crewe, London and Cardiff. The station doesn't have much in terms of facilities but it is in the town centre where there are nearby newsagents including a decent-sized Waitrose supermarket just around the corner. The station has Amazon Lockers right by the entrance which is handy. I didn't see any ticket gates at the station, so hopefully, they do check tickets elsewhere, I'm not sure if it's because of COVID reasons but no one checked my ticket here or on my recent journey to Manchester. 3* - Good local station but limited in terms of facilities, many stations with more facilities nearby including Crewe and Stockport, even Manchester.

At complete odds with the bustling mess that is Manchester Piccadilly, Wilmslow Railway Station…read moretypifies what its like to catch a train from one of the quieter towns in the North West. Wilmslow station has just three or four platforms, and a small set of tunnels allowing you access to each platform. Don't think that it's so small that you can get by without getting a ticket though! For most of the time during the day there are a couple of guards by the entrance. Annoying if you're trying to dodge a fare (never me) but really useful if you need to quickly grab a ticket because you're running ridiculously late (always me). If you're heading up to Manchester from Wilmslow, try to avoid getting an airport train, as it takes ages! Much better are the Virgin trains, which only stop at Stockport before hitting Manchester Piccadilly.

One stars seem to low so two is where I am even though there are a mixture of issues with my local…read morestation. The staff tend to be quite nice, although hardly ever there, the ticket office seems to shut in the early afternoon and this often means that you will have to que for sometime in one location or another (destination station) to get a ticket, as there is no ticket machine available (it annoys me quite a lot). There have been some improvements made over the past year, such as adding self opening doors at the ticket office/waiting room (when it is open) so that you won't suffer from the wind while waiting in there, but on the whole this is a fairly dismal place to end up waiting for a train, even more so if the train you were hoping to catch has for some unknown reason been cancelled.

Maybe I'm just biased because I've spent far too many hours of my life freezing my arse off on the…read moreplatforms of Burnage train station, but during the Winter months, it is - without a shadow of a doubt - the coldest place on earth. There's no indoor seating, and your face is regularly whipped by the wind from the intercity trains whistling past you at 80 mph. 90% of the time, you're unable to purchase a ticket before getting onto the train to Manchester Piccadilly, and if you're REALLY lucky, you'll be able to see some of the charming local characters attempting to lob rocks through the open doors of any train which decides to stop there. Still. At least Northern Rail has deigned to "do it up" over the past few years. By which I mean they've repainted a few benches and added a few digital train times boards. If you ever find yourself stuck here for more than twenty minutes, I heartily recommend that you either get a can of something strong, warming and alcoholic to keep you company or just get the bus.

Hazel Grove Railway Station is a small station serving the Hazel Grove area of Stockport, it is an…read moreold station, which opened in 1857, and it has two platforms. It is operated by Northern Trains, there is one train which is run by another operator per day, which is run by East Midlands Railway. I did find the station layout confusing at first, I originally struggled to get out, there were originally gates along the platform and then gaps, I did originally find the way out which is actually through the car-park. The lifts at the station are a little strange, lift access is actually closed on Sunday's, which I can't understand, do they think people who require a lift can somehow dance and run up the stairs just because it's a Sunday Platform 1 does have access from platform to street level without the need of a lift. 3* - Decent station serving Hazel Grove, the services are limited so odds are if you're travelling further than Stockport/Manchester, you will have to change at one of those stations, I do think for such a small station the layout is so confusing, and they could do with some signage, but still a decent station with friendly staff and Amazon Lockers right outside.

A fairly standard train station located around the Stockport area of Manchester. Equipped with a…read morecar park, free of charge and the service of the staff was quick, friendly and acceptable. Direct trains only run straight through to Picadilly at about a 25 minute journey.

Handforth Station is quite a nice, smaller station in Cheshire East, it is quite a small station,…read moreoperated by Northern Railway who seem to be the only company to pass through the station. During the day, it is served by 2 trains per hour in each direction on the routes from Aldery Edge to Manchester Piccadilly and between Crewe and Manchester. This station opened in 1842, and they do seem to show a bit of history on their Southbound platform, with older signs including signs with DLR, and Underground on it, which are a little strange as this station isn't in London, and does not have those services. This station also has volunteers to make this station nicer, "The Friends of Handforth Station" were formed in 1996 and work on a lot of projects here such as including signs from other railway operators from other countries and London, and working on a station garden, as I only used the Southbound platform, with the unusual signage on, I didn't notice anything special about the gardens. This is only a small local station, mainly used to get into Manchester, Crewe or any smaller cities around that, the train doesn't really have many facilities but with it being a local station with an average of 0.2 million visitors or so each year, there probably isn't a huge demand for it, but this store is okay, yet below average so does not warrant anything over than a 2 star rating.

I've never used the Manchester shuttle, but then again I quite enjoy walking. However, Stockport…read morehas hills, so this bus is a nice idea. This handy little free shuttle bus can be picked up from the 300 bus stop in Stockport Bus Station every 12 minutes between 8am and 6.30pm Mondays to Saturdays and between 10.30am and 5.30pm on Sundays. Unless you're disabled, have a lot of shopping or are just damn lazy, you shouldn't need the shuttle to get from the bus station to the train station (5 minute walk) or to the main shopping area (another 5 minute walk). However, it could be useful if you want to get up the hill towards the Town Hall or Stockport College or in the other direction out to the Peel Centre (which just isn't the same after the death of Border's Books) or to the giant Tesco on the other side of the M60.