nigb55009

Just watched the video, brought back some memories of how the railway used to run. Saw quite a few familiar faces. One thing strikes me, if it ain`t broke don`t fix it. That was a proper railway run by proper railwaymen.

Happy talk - Captain Sensible

Another piece of meat - Scorpions

Unknown loco unknown station, could be Leominster?

The Engineers livery, or "Dutch" as it became known, first appeared around 1982. The first wagons I remember carrying it were the Turbot wagons used for spoil. They were rebodied using redundant bogie bolster E underframes, IIRC. The photo at Ince Moss reminded me of when they used to appear in the north west. In the early 80s I was a Shunter at Springs Branch. In 1983 I became a Guard at SP, we regularly had Turbot on spoil trains during weekend possessions. The loaded trains would be left at various locations such as Ince Moss and Kirkham tips. Others would be left at Edge Hill or Guide Bridge, to be to the tip sites during the week when room was available. Empty wagons would return ready for the following weekend.

The area around Springs Branch Wigan had several triangles. Bamfurlong Junction to Wigan NW via Ince Moss. Also Springs Branch to Platt Bridge then via Fir Tree House Junction to Ince Moss and back to Springs Branch. There was also a triangular junction at Amberswood on the Whelley Loop. To the south there was another triangle formed by Lowton Junction and Parkside East and West junctions as well as Earlestown, which also had a line through the middle of the triangle that was part of a local colliery system. On the former LYR system east of Wigan the lines from Crow Nest to Dobbs Brow Junction on the Atherton line then to Hindley and Blackrod Junction also formed a triangle. There are many more north west towns and cities with large numbers of triangles, Manchester also had more than it`s fair share.

Looking at the shape of the sides I`d say it was a 4 wheel Sentinel, similar to the Hornby model.

Princess of the night by Saxon. A song about childhood memories of steam locos.

Allerton had a small number of class 115 units allocated for trains over the former CLC route via Warrington Central. No doubt Trans-Pennine class 124s would have been diverted during engineering works. The class 110s would probably be used if they`d been pinched by Allerton or Longsight depots, who normally provided units for former CLC services. Newton Heath and Chester sets could also be used throughout south Manchester. Buxton units also worked services to Irlam and Warrington.

Shortly after passing Kenyon Junction, heading towards Newton-le-Willows.

After the Keswick branch was rationalised in the late 1960s, some special trains ran top and tail. There is a photo in "Rails through Lakeland" by Harold D Bowtell of class 50 D417 heading ECS through Threlkeld en-route to Carlisle with D313 on the rear.

During the 1980s I worked as a Guard at Springs Branch. Two freight flows used brake vans for operational reasons. MGR trains from north west area collieries at Bickershaw, Parkside, Bold and Sutton Manor, all had brake vans on the rear to allow trains to be propelled between Walton Old Junction and Arpley Junction. This saved having to run round the train twice, in order to reach the low level lines at Warrington in order to get to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station. Trains from Yorkshire were originally routed via the Woodhead route and Skelton Junction and didn`t require brake vans. When Woodhead closed these trains ran via Standedge and the WCML, but still didn`t have brake vans. Instead they ran round at Walton Old Junction and Latchford sidings just beyond Arpley Junction on the stub of line towards Skelton Junction. The other flow was from Lindsay near Immingham to Kelbits Sidings at Ashton-in-Makerfield, these trains conveyed bitumen for road surfacing. Springs Branch train crew worked these trains from Manchester Victoria via Chat Moss to St Helens Junction then round to St Helens Shaw St [ now Central ] then via Ince Moss to reach the Haydock branch. Once on the branch the train was propelled into the sidings. The route was like a big dipper and with only a class 31, the move had to be made on full power, which made for quite an interesting ride with very little room to spare at the end of the siding. Once the loads had been positioned for unloading the loco then attached to empties on the adjacent road. These were then drawn back to the single line and then propelled along the down slow line and the down goods to Springs Branch, about 3 miles, before heading along the WCML to Golborne Junction and back to Manchester. Later the train via Golborne and collected and deposited the brake van from the Branch. Instructions for other propelling moves would be contained in the relevant Sectional Appendix.

When the platform extension works were carried out at Wigan NW, the ramp at the north end of platforms 5 and 6 was levelled up and squared off to make the platforms longer. However, the stop board for 9/11 car trains is beyond the fence which now forms the end of the platform. A similar mini extension was carried out at the south end of platform 5. When all the platforms were resurfaced using block paving, it was necessary to put a fence at the south end of platforms 3 and 4 because the two platform edges were found to be at different heights. There are plans to extend platforms 2 and 3 bays to accommodate the new class 195 and 331s.

It looks like a sandite unit in platform 1 at Salisbury. The leading vehicle has been converted from an ex Tyneside 2EPB, these units are recognisable by the slightly smaller headcode panel than the standard 2 EPB. The class 33 will be a 33/1 Push-Pull variant so the train can be driven from either end.

Ralf, look on Flickr for Deadmanshandle. There are several pics of the area you want. They were taken by Arnie Furniss who was, at the time, a guard at Guide Bridge who worked trips to Wellington Road.