Wigan Album

Hi Barry, the photo was taken at Springs Branch. My Dad is on the photo. I have the same photo somewhere. I'll see if it has a date on

Surely not going to Wembley in their overalls ?

It was common for mainline express locos to be stabled overnight at Springs Branch prior to working Wembly specials where they would be cleaned up for the occasion.The loco is a Jubilee class, probably No. 5738 Samson. This loco was painted in BR livery in 1949 so if I've got the right loco the photo would pre-date that.
Wigan went to Wembly in '44, '46 and '48. The condition of the old LNWR shed looks as if it is being prepared for demolition to make way for the new brick and concrete shed so I'm going for 1948. Could be completely wrong about everything of course!

Hi Steve
I was given this photo from mebmer of my family whos name is CASEY Can you let me no your second name as we would like asmany names as possible.

Hi Barry my surname is Price. My Dads name was Tony and he was a fitter at Springs Branch. I can add another couple of names. Next to my Dad is Bill Ralphs and just in front of Bill is Arthur Lewis.

Hi Steve
This photo belong to a EDWARD CASEY in SURRY he was born in wigan.The name i was looking for was HARDACRE or CASEY.

Hi Barry, I can't remember any of my Dads workmates with the name Casey. There are quite a few ex Springs Branch people on WW so someone may come up with some info for you. My sister has most of our old family photo's so i will have a look through them to see if the name Casey comes up on any of them.

My Uncle, Jack Robinson, is on the photo. He is on the second row in the middle, to the right and behind the chap with arms folded. He worked at Springs Branch until retirement in the late Fifties.

Message for Stephen Price - we're looking for pics for our 2010 Calendar featuring railway scenes in St Mary's Parish, and would appreciate being able to use your copy of this pic (I'm assuming it's not as marked as Barry's copy). Please get in touch via my email address.

Stephen kindly sent me his pic. Thanks to its condition and the clarity of the image, plus being able to enlarge it in Photoshop, I've been able to identify the loco. It's Jubilee Class 5668 "Madden", built Crewe 1935, and named after 1st Sea Lord, 1927-30, Charles Madden. Scrapped at Crewe in January 1964. Based at Patricroft in 1948. It was renumbered 45668 in 1949 - so the 1948 date looks probable.