England, 1937-1942 - Photos from LIFE Magazine

[brianusa]

One very noticeable thing is the quality of the perfectly exposed pictures.  No ordinary Brownie here!

       Brian.

[Hroth]

4 hours ago, APOLLO said:

I love (and miss) our "grotty" industrial townscape, hence I model it in generically OO - My O layout is based in the American Rockies - what a contrast !

 

Having started work at Wigan Gas Works back in 1969 I had to have a model of a gas works. Not technically correct (was ever a gas works so ?) One problem I need to solve - it's not grotty enough YET !!

 

Here is an interesting 1938 view of one of Wigan's grotty parts. Up top is Wigan North Western with the gas works centre right. The L&Y line is far right, alongside the LNWR by the gas works. The electric works is bottom centre.  The junction of the Leeds Liverpool canal and the branch to Leigh & manchester is Bottom right.

 

Nearly all buildings  in this photo have long gone, the cull starting in the mid 60's. Wigan NW is still there, as is the L&Y to Wallgate, but the goods yards went years ago. The gasholders went quite recently. All the terraced houses in the Chapel Lane & Wallgate area is now light industry / commercial units.

 

I was born just off picture to the left. just a tad less industrial back then.

 

I've never heard of Eclipse Jam till today - no doubt many years ago us Wiganers had Eclipse Jam butties for breakfast and a pie for tea !!

 

 

I've posted the photo below before, but it's such a good photo again from the 30's - perhaps the same day as above.  Again the L&Y runs diagonal across, with the LNWR top left and the Great Central on the right. Darlington St Goods is seen, as is the GC loco shed at Lower Ince, along with some of it's J10 locos. Running left to right mid photo is the Leeds & Liverpool canal, here is the start of the many locks up to Top Lock, alongside Wigan Coal & Iron's "Top Place" ironworks at Kirkless.  At the bottom of the triangle of terraced houses top centre is where George Orwell lodged, and wrote his god awful book "The road to Wigan Pier" (Yes I'm no Orwell fan !!!!).

 

 

Brit15

 

Nice photos!

 

I never knew Wigan North Western was so near the Leeds&Liverpool canal.  On one canal holiday we came up the Leigh branch from Manchester, turned right at the end and up the Wigan flight.  There was a lot of demolition and digging work going on in the area to the right of the junction and we didn't stop in Wigan.  You get a funny idea about where things actually are when on the canals, its rather like working things out on the London Tube Map...

 

The south end of the Down platform is where the Wigan railway disaster of 1873 occured, where a train of grouse shooting enthusiasts split some facing points and ran up the platform.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigan_rail_crash

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

11 hours ago, APOLLO said:

It was grim in Widnes !!

 

 

 

 

This photo must be 1890s or very early 1900s, judging by the large number of LNWR D32 or D33 vans with their prominent roof hatches and no later types. I'm wondering what traffic called for vans at this date - when they were very much in the minority and sheeted opens would have been much commoner for the general run of merchandise traffic. Is that a railway-owned goods shed or part of the factory complex?

[Corbs]

4 hours ago, APOLLO said:

 

 

Brit15

Thanks for the photos and stories! I particularly like the 'WESTWOOD CARS' lettering on roof in this picture - presumably sighted so that passengers on the railway could read it.

[APOLLO]

Some interesting Orwellian 1939 Wigan photos here.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2011/feb/20/george-orwell-wigan-in-pictures

 

Brit15

[Corbs]

1 hour ago, brianusa said:

One very noticeable thing is the quality of the perfectly exposed pictures.  No ordinary Brownie here!

       Brian.

Similarly, before he ever went overseas, Don McCullin took some incredible photographs of the Britain he grew up in, a rough place.

The Guvnors in their Sunday Suits, Finsbury Park, London, 1958: after a policeman was murdered, McCullin’s photographs of a local gang were picked up by the press

Source:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190212-don-mccullin-the-photos-we-cant-look-away-from

 

The recent (last few years) documentary on his life is well worth a watch.