Wigan Album

brilliant photos brian thanks for sharing them with us

Excellent photo's Brian,a lot of track is now the cycle path,and lots of things are still there eg St Peters cricket field.

This very important loop line could and should have been working today. British Railways spent a lot of money in 1970 upgrading section of the track, replacing old and weak bridges with new concrete and steel reinforced bridges. All this work had to be done because the upgrading of the WCML in 1972-3. Heavy freight and express passenger trains had to use the Whelley loop because of the over head electrical cables being installed. As I say, the line should be in use today and get those heavy freight lorrys off our road and back on the rails, where it belongs.