An on-line business in the literal sense

Matchmaker Marketing's connection with the internet of the 1860s.

150 years ago, the equivalent of today's SEO consultants would have been gainfully employed by the railways, which had their equivalent of the dot.com boom in 1846.  They would have been the builders and the dreamers of many a rail scheme successful or unsuccessful. For the fate of the Atmospheric Railway in Dawlish, one could also find parallels with the demise of Pets.com, whereas the nascent Great Western would have been the equivalent of Amazon.com till its nationalisation in 1948.

Readers of this article would be wondering where Matchmaker Marketing comes into this, and would be thinking this a railway history piece. Well, you are half right. Matchmaker Marketing has two offices which are both near railway lines and buildings past and present.

Our Manchester office on Peter Street is close to the site of the Great Northern Railway Goods Depot and the neighbouring Central Station. The Edwardian goods depot has in recent years seen extensive refurbishment with a variety of shops, the AMC cinema, a gym and Bar 38. Central Station was opened in 1880 by the Cheshire Lines Committee, closing in May 1969. After lying derelict for years, and serving as a car park, it was tastefully renovated and reopened as the G-Mex in April 1986.

Had Matchmaker Marketing existed before 1969, it would have been possible to get from Manchester to Altrincham without having to walk a great distance to A and from B. A train from Manchester Central to Chester Northgate would have got us to Altrincham in about 30 minutes - likewise with the present day service between the two cities (albeit from Manchester Piccadilly). Today, Deansgate and G-Mex Metrolink station is a short walk from Matchmaker Marketing's Manchester HQ, with a service every 7 minutes (which some would say is 'allegedly' given recent engineering works).

Matchmaker Marketing's Altrincham office is on the side of the railway line to Chester. This is served by an hourly service (every 2 hours on Sunday) linking the two Roman cities taking in the sylvan setting of Delamere Forest, views of rural Cheshire, and a chemical works on Lostock Gralam. A regular working along this line is the Tunstead - Oakleigh goods train which passes our office at about 4.30pm. As a result of this, our cups and PCs rattle due to the passing of this heavy train.

The section closest to our office used to have a branch leading to a depot. This was built to house Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway's electric trains which were in service from 1931 to 1971. These followed the current Metrolink service to Manchester Piccadilly via Oxford Road. The depot closed in 1971 as standard 25kV electric trains took over. A Sainsburys store exists on the site of the former depot.

Further reading:
Wikpedia has a detailed history of the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham railway including maps and a list of recommended books.

S.V., 07 December 2009.