Wigan Album

The tower of Winwick Hospital and Winwick church spire are just visible on the left, so I guess, with the council houses on the left, that you were somewhere around Dallam and Bewsey?

Correct Rev Long, the train is on the slow line just north of Dallam.

Erm, I meant to say that Winwick Hospital and church were on the right of the line....

Hi Tom, Thanks for your kind words and an action photo with the lads up in the air, I never got the chance to take such a photo primarily because Les Blake never gave one the chance, all hands to the pump etc, etc on a Sunday or an incident! I reckon its about ¼ mile south of Hawleys Lane, Dallam and the Royal Mail postal depot now stands to our right in the expanse of open ground. I think that there may have been some problems as it looks like the OHL structure in the foreground has suffered damage and is being repaired - pots (insulators are hanging down vertically, and some of the OHL equipment is held on lines and temporary rigs pending re-instatement. It does look suspiciously as though the bottom cross-span wire has failed. I think the train is stood on the Up Fast line.
Ladder working was a staple part of all OHL works until recent years when elevated platforms seem to have taken over as the preferred method of working, as the health and safety goons got to grips with us under the auspices of private rail. As Fred Dibnah repeatedly demonstrated to us, it is an intrinsically safe method of working provided you remember what you are doing!