Wigan Album

An excellent series of photos Brian. This is the only one I have ever seen of the cutting that the GC ran into after leaving Strangeways West Jct. running towards Lower Ince station. Today the only remaining portion is the flooded cutting about two/three hundred yards long near to where the L & Y avoiding line went over the GCR. Again fabulous pictures lets have some more. Dave

What would the bridges have been uesd for, the are quite a number of them very close to each other?

re the Bridges I think the nearest one was to cross the fields from Mellings Farm to get to Bushellls the further one is under the Whelley loopline then onto Strangeways and Hindley South station

If you look at a map of the area, there were several colliery mineral lines that crossed the GCR between Hindley and Platt Bridge and Lower Ince. I think that at least some of these bridges in this view may have been for that purpose. I too initially though that the bridge in the far background was the whelley line, however the signal post in the foregeround appears to be a fixed distant (which you can see on the signalling diagram posted in picture No.15153). This is shown as being 960 yards away from the home signal or nearly 5/8ths of a mile.This is also visible on the area map of the time and seems to put the bridges much farther away from the Whelley line, than I originaly thought. I will bow to Brian's knowledge if he took the piccies, but i am not convinced that it is the Whelley line overbridge in the distance in this picture.

dave ,yes it is the whelley loop line bridge in the far distance and yes you are right it,is hindley south fixed distant signal you can see.i actually took the picture in 1977 for a school project.my dad asked me to put it on the wigan world web site.....got some more in a box somwhere....at my dads house when he finds them. on the right of the picture was the bluewaters fresh water pond we used to swim in .the one one the leftside was to dirty to swim in......

Tony,I have just noticed your latest comments on the picture. I notice you say that you have some more tucked away, so I hope you will be able to get them on the WW site soon, I for one enjoy them very much.
I first got to walk around here exploring the network of old lines in the area in about early 1983. So if you took the pictures in 1977 it must have been between then and the early 1980's when the open cast men started work and unfortunately wrecking the last evidence of the railway at this point! Dave