Dawg

Edit - just seen the above post by Apollo!!!! Haha....

Dragging this thread back - I don’t know how many folks are aware of the timepix.co.uk Ordnance survey photos from 1946-1953 of the Manchester area. Wigan Railways and surrounding areas are heavily featured and include the Whelley loop, the Dobbs brow - Dicconson lane line, the Pemberton loop, the Bryn - Pemberton LMS owned colliery branch, the Standish pits, Leigh, Hindley, Etc etc etc. Here are a few selected shots.... 

Nice work at Hindley Green there. Pity it's all gone. Yes Dennis Sweeneys railway books on the Wigan / Leigh areas are superb - I have em all.

 

I only traveled on the Wigan NW - Tyldesley - Manchester line once on a rugby special (Black 5 hauled) to Huddersfield, many years ago (not as a supporter back then - just a train-nut !!).

 

What are your thoughts on the new Guided Busway (Leigh to Manchester) ?. I've yet to travel on it (with my old fart's pass !!). I reckon an extension of Metrolink (the tram) would have served Leigh better. Leigh really needs either a railway or a tram link.

 

Brit15

If anywhere needs a rail link, it's Leigh. A railway would invigorate the town so much, but I believe it's all down to Wigan Council who did absolutely nothing to encourage the extension of the Metrolink as some have suggested that it would perhaps be detrimental to the 'mother' town.. And so a guided busway is built forcing the A580 into a 2 lane road causing even more congestion without giving Leigh a real lifeline. I honestly do think that a tram or light rail service would attract way more interest and ultimately, investment into what is essentially a dead area of Lancashire.

Having said that that, I heard rightly or wrongly, that the original Wigan - Tyldesley - Eccles line closed partly because of the amount of mining subsidence affecting the track which in turn affected the maximum speed limit - large sections limited to 25mph in the 1960's? Not great for passenger services..

Btw Apollo, did you ever travel on the Wigan Central - Glazebrook line at all? My late father had a summer job at Irlam steel works in 1959 just before he went to University and used it daily. Said it was a very slow journey and remembered most of the stations - particularly the dilapidated wooden platforms of West Leigh & Bedford..

Just curious..

I distinctly remember a class 26 running light engine through Wigan on the WCML around 1985 - it was heading south. No idea where it was going, but it caught us all unaware - quite a shock at the time.

I also had 08 'haulage' - on a trip to London in the early '80's, the APT had brought down the wires just north of Nuneaton and we (hauled by a class 87) were following. Stuck for 3-4 hours, an 08 came to the rescue & dragged us into Nuneaton station.

Since being a kid, I've long held fascination with the railways of Wigan. As a very small child, I was held up to watch a lengthy passenger train go under Hall Lane bridge on the Whelley Loop line - I know know that this would have been a southbound WCML diversion around the time electrification was happening in the area - probably double headed class 50's too! A few years later when I was old enough to look over myself I remember being shocked that there was no track there - just the remains of scattered ballast. Hooked ever since.

I have a few HC Casserley photos of the Wigan GCR and the Boars Head, Red Rock, Adlington line - particularly interested in that one if anyone's got a previously unseen photo knocking around!?

I would imagine that when the above chord was closed the trains ran via Farington Jcn then down the WCML to Standish Jcn & onto the Whelley Loop there. Boars Head Jcn faces north, so no use to southbound trains.

 

Some ran on through Wigan North Western to Springs Branch / Ince Moss Jcn. Here's one passing Wigan NW No 2 box southbound.

 

 

Another route which I have heard mentioned was down the Preston - Liverpool line to Ormskirk, then left onto the line to St Helens & on down to Widnes. Again have seen photos of Anhydrite trains crossing over the L&Y Wigan - Liverpool line at Rainford Jcn. This would require a run round at Ormskirk.

 

These trains had a few choices of route around Wigan, most if not all were used at some time or another.

 

In 66 / 67 I spent many hours trainspotting at Taylors Lane bridge, where the St Helens part of the Whelley Loop crossed the WCML. I nearly allways saw an Anhydrite train, most always a 9F, later a 40 back then, the 9F's usually taking water at Fir Tree House Jcn

 

This shows the choice of routes, and the chord you mention at Red Rock

 

 

Brit15

The Red Rock/Adlington - Blackburn line could still be accessed at Boars Head north and southbound? It would just mean that the Whelley loop wouldn't be used.. would that have been possible?

Just thought i'd pull this one back, more a question about routing paths for these trains...  I live in Adlington not far from White Bear Station - I walk the dog in the park where the line used to pass through. I find it unimaginable that 9Fs, 8Fs, Black 5s class 40's and the odd grimy Britannia used to pass through. Amazing how things have changed...

Anyhow - can anyone confirm that this line was used for these trains after 1965? The junction and short chord line between the Whelley loop and the Boars Head - Read Rock line at Haigh Junc had 'no booked traffic' after late 1965. So - would these trains have gone up the WCML and swung over to Adlington & Blackburn via Boars Head Junct? 

Btw - the Chorley bound platform building and platform edging stones are still apparent at White Bear. Real shame it was shut in 1960... 

Thanks. 

D.

Were they always BR blue? Or were the very first ones built in '67 ever BR two tone green?

I know this is about the CLC lines - but is there much film available of the MR Manchester Central - CLC junction section through Didsbury and Heaton Mersey village?

Just wondering...

Just a thought about the route to the north through Wigan where it rejoins the WCML - I'm from Wigan and am all too aware about the bottleneck that was created when the 4 main lines to Preston were cut back to just two between Wigan and Euxton - there was an avoiding line called the Whelley loop which bypassed Wigan at Bamfurlong near to where the Hs2 route joins the WCML and rejoined at Standish that carried a lot of freight. With super fast trains heading to Scotland, how will this be dealt with? The Whelley loop returns?! (See my avatar - fantastic viaduct over the river douglas still stands)

Very interesting to see that it follows part of the old GCR Wigan - Glazebrook route straight through the site of Lowton Jcn station. I used to teach at a school that was very close to Lowton Jcn station. No more Derby 4F's on lengthy 20mph coal trains or Stanier 2-6-4's on 3 coach stopping services through there again though!

Hi, i'm new on here - really great photos; didn't realize that the Tiviot Dale line was being used by heavy freight until so recently, but are there any photos west of St George's bridge? - particularly interested in the mersey bridges carrying the CLC and Midland lines

In fact - although it's slightly off topic, but still kind of related is there anything on the Heaton Mersey Midland line??? any previous threads? I'm new to the area and take my dog for walks around the Heaton Mersey station site - now an industrial estate. Love to see some shots of where the line ran parallel to Chapel Street... ?

thanks,

D.