the stopping services and mostly used the line for express trains. After 1948, the line was under the ownership of the nationalised British Railways. Briefly, consideration was given to electrification of the line; however, the local stopping services were withdrawn instead and Hyde Road station closed to passenger services on 7 July 1958. Hyde Road goods yard remained in active use as a depot for local coal merchants. Express passenger services out of Manchester Central continued to use the line, until that terminus was closed in 1969 during the implementation of the Beeching cuts. For another two decades, the line was used by freight trains until the line closed completely in 1988. Project Light Rail Shortly before its demise, in 1987, the Fallowfield Loop line played an important role in the early development of the Manchester Metrolink system, when the stretch of track at Debdale Park on the site of the former Hyde Road railway station was used for a public demonstration of Project Light Rail. This was the working title for the development of a new light rail tram network in Manchester. The event made use of a Docklands Light Railway train, DLR P86 no. 11, on loan from GEC Transportation Projects, prior to its introduction onto the fledgling Docklands system in London; it was the first ever light rail vehicle seen in operation in Manchester. The event was staged jointly by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, British Rail, British Rail Engineering Limited, GEC, Balfour Beatty and Fairclough Civil Engineering; it was opened formally by David Mitchell MP, Minister of State for Transport, on 10 March 1987. Demonstrations were held on 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22 March 1987 at a specially-constructed railway station at Debdale Park. Ticket holders were treated to a short ride on the DLR vehicle along a stretch of track, from just north of the Hyde Road junction to just south of the closed Reddish Electric Depot. The DLR train was specially fitted with a pantograph and powered by overhead line; it was driven manually rather than in automatic mode, which was to be normal practice when in operation on the Docklands system. The test track was closed to normal heavy rail traffic on demonstration days and, at night, the DLR train was stationed in a siding and the line was re-opened to freight trains. An exhibition also exhibited examples of street track, overhead