📋 Tender Overview
An Historic Part Of Manchester Piccadilly StationS Heritage Has Been Returned Home - Thanks To The Hard Work Of A Retired Train Driver. The Manchester & Birmingham Railway Plaque - A High-Quality Replica Of The 1839 Original - Was Installed At The Newly Built Manchester Piccadilly Station In The Mid-1960S. The Three-Ton Plaque Was Removed In 1998 When An Upgrade Began On The Station. But It Never Reappeared When The Work Ended In 2002. It WasnT Until 2019 That Retired Train Driver Mel Thorley, 77, Discovered The Missing Historical Artifact For Sale On Ebay For Ps3,700. Mel, From Stockport, And His Friend, Retired British Transport Police (Btp) Officer Dave Smith Put Out A Call Which Reached The Ears Of Lord Peter Hendy, Then-Chairman Of Network Rail And Current Rail Minister. The Plaque Was Then Retrieved By Btp Officers. Now, More Than 25 Years After Its Disappearance, The Plaque Has Finally Been Returned To Its Home In Manchester Piccadilly Station After A Restoration Project Which Has Brought It Back To Its Best. Passengers Will Now Be Able To Spot The Plaque Standing Proudly On Platform 10. Phil James, Network RailS Route Director For The North West, Said: This Is An Incredible Story That Has Been Possible Because Of The Hard Work Of Our Colleagues And Mel. ItS Great To See The Plaque Returned To Its Rightful Place And It Shows How Important The History Of Our Stations Is. Manchester Piccadilly Is A Vital Transport Hub For Our Passengers, And Now They Will See The Plaque Daily. Mel Thorley, Who Discovered The Plaque On Ebay, Said: I Am So Proud To See The Plaque Returned To Where It Should Be Inside The Station. I CouldnT Believe It When I Spotted It For Sale Online But ItS Great To See It Back Where It Belongs. Find Out More About Manchester PiccadillyS History On Passengers / Community Members Network Rail National Helpline 03457 11 41 41 Latest Travel Advice Please Journalists Network Rail Press Office - North West & Central Region 0330 854 0100 We Own, Operate And Develop BritainS Railway Infrastructure; ThatS 20,000 Miles Of , 30,000 And The Thousands Of , Level Crossings And Stations. We Run 20 Of The UkS Largest While All The Others, Over 2,500, Are Run By The CountryS . Usually, There Are Almost Five Million Journeys Made In The Uk And Over 600 Freight Trains Run On The Network. People Depend On BritainS Railway For Their Daily Commute, To Visit Friends And Loved Ones And To Get Them Home Safe Every Day. Our Role Is To Deliver , So We Carefully Manage And Deliver Thousands Of Projects Every Year That Form Part Of The , To Grow And Expand The NationS Railway Network To Respond To The Tremendous Growth And Demand The Railway Has Experienced - A Doubling Of Passenger Journeys Over The Past 20 Years. Follow Us On Twitter: Visit Our Online Newsroom:
