I remember tanks coming from up Duky. Cavendish St.they turned at the library on to Oldham Rd.probablt going to the goods yard(Wellington Rd Oldham Rd.) Ikea site
Ferguson & palin seems to ring a bell, they may have been made or overhauled there.
I seem to think we have been down this road before about tanks
In the immediate post-war period, I lived at the top end of Astley Street in Dukinfield. It was not uncommon to see tanks trundling along the bottom end of Astley Street, passing the Chapel House and Gardeners Arms public houses as they approached the junction with King Street. Having gone through the lights at that junction, they then proceeded down King Street - passing the Princes cinema and the (Seven Stars?) public house as they headed towards Ashton. We were always led to believe that, before that, they had travelled through Globe Square after being assembled at Robinson and Kershaw's factory on Globe Lane. I think the buildings might even still be there.
I don't believe the road surface was tarmaced in those days and the tank tracks made a right mess of the cobbles, especially as they "swivelled" to turn at a forty five degree angle to go through the King Street traffic lights.
The war was well and truly over by then but, presumably, this was the government's way of ensuring that we weren't going to get "caught with our pants down" if any trouble started again.