Photo-a-Day  (Saturday, 19th April, 2025)

It must have been awful living around that area with all that muck and noise.

Steam trains I love 'em & am lucky to still see them here.
When living with my grandparents my sister & I would run down the road, across rough ground ( where there are houses now) to watch what we thought was the Flying Scotsman go by while standing by the tracks on a wooden fence...those were the days !

Makes me think of the Wheel Tappers and Shunters Club.

Didn’t Thomas The Tank live here?

Bring back steam.

Springs branch no2 Signalbox was situated there, demolished in the late 1960s or very early 1970s. (I think)

I can understand the beauty of looking at steam trains in their various shapes and sizes but cannot really see the fascination of modern trains which by enlarge are boxes on wheels

In its heyday Springs Branch was a very busy maintenance Depot from Steam and Diesel locomotives. I think recently the depot has had a new lease of life for new electric trains and rolling stock.
Great news for Spring View.

Like Colin, I have happy memories of Springs Branch in the 1950s and 1960s, as my older brother , (also called Colin), used to take me there to collect his wages on Friday afternoons. After being treated to a cup of tea and a cake in the rest room, I was, (as I have told before on here), lifted up onto the platform of a shunting engine and watched as coal was thrust into the firebox; the blinding glare and the intense heat are in my mind to this day and I have often wondered what today's "Health and Safety" gang would make of it! However, I never caught any harm.....just the envy of a lot of little Ince and Spring View lads who would have loved it even more than I did. Thanks to both "Colins" for the memory.

It's no wonder Queen Victoria used to have one of her servants close the curtains of her carriage as she journeyed from her palace down south to her palace in Bonnie Scotland

Helen I am not sure if it was yourself that posted a photo and comment on The Album / Recently Viewed re The Bradshaw Family. If so could you take a look?
Winnie and myself have posted some comments, there is confusion over Wallgate and Hallgate and even the existence of a Pub named Bay Horse. You might be able to clarify.

Do you mean noisey like Shevington sand and stones Quarries Mick.

Forgive me for adding another comment, but yes, it WAS mucky and noisy, as was The Wagon Works in Ince where my Dad worked, and The Empress Cotton Mill, with its clattering looms. That's how life was then. Spring View was full of the clanking engines, smoke and the wonderful smell of coal and steam, augmented by the smoke and coal smell that came from hundreds of chimneys and I LOVED it. Yes, we are in a healthier environment now, as are our children and grandchildren, and I am grateful for their sakes, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. You can keep your Chanel number 5 perfume.....give me the smell of a steam train any time.

When we first lived in Shevington in the 1970’s the Bone Yard was still open in Appley Bridge and the sickening smell used drift over like a toxic cloud in Summer, Impossible sit outside without feeling nauseous.
Give me the noise, smoke, smell and excitement from a steam engine any day.

I echo what you say Irene most train drivers were friendly and used to let us climb into their cabs, never in a million years would that happen today.
I’m surprised you don’t like the smell of No 5. Isn’t that by CokeCoal Chanel!

The description Irene gave of the intense heat when shovelling coal in the firebox reminded me of a comment my dad often made, having an egg fried on a shovel in the firebox - that was at Horwich works where he was an apprentice in 1943. It was a common thing among railway men.
Central Wagon works scrapped many steam locos in the 1960s, including the Stanier pacific City of Lancaster. Seeing the lines of dead engines in 1963/64 made me realise then how quickly change was happening and the old ways of life on the way out.

Irene, I had you down as a 4711 Eau de cologne woman, the same stuff that Hilda Ogden used to wear a weekends.

“ It must have been awful living in that area with all the muck and noise”…..Same in the trenches of WW1. You are correct Irene that’s because we had ‘industry’ and the majority of people worked. We needed all that industry to win two wars and the people who fought. God bless them all who took part. The anniversary next month 80 years ago.

No, I prefer the coal -and steam-train aroma of "Evening in Spring View" rather than "Evening in Paris", Mick, although my singing voice is admittedly reminiscent of Hilda Ogden! Colin, I remember going past the bone works at Appley Bridge on the steam train to Southport when I was a child.....the windows of the carriages were held open on hot days by a big leather strap, but when we passed the bone-works at Appley Bridge the rapid sound of those windows being shut all along the train was like machine-gun fire!

Another noisy and active place in Lower Ince was some kind of railway yard (I never knew what it was exactly) was behind the then Britannia Bridge school. We people of Ince were well and truly blessed with places of employment .

You can just picture Irene can't you with hair rollers, pinie and clogs, cleaning the rug with a stiff brush and rubbing stone on the door step. I think she's fabulous and what a great childhood she had.
I miss the smell from house coal fires in the streets when we were kids.

You can capture the smell of coal, steam and oil at East Lancashire Railway, many steam trains run there and is an heritage preservation railway.
A good day out.

All the steam train drivers and firemen give us a wave every time they passed.

Colin, the Borno was never in Appley Bridge it was in Shevington, the border is the Calico Brook.

I remember in the late 50s going to springs branch to see the namers.They used to let us in to look around knowing we were sensible in those days.Colin i remember the bone hole when i used to fish matches on the canal.It certainly had a whiff about it.

And Mick, I had you down as an Eau de ‘Bono’ man.
The essential fragrance of Appley Bridge which all Shevington men aspired to if you wished to be recognised as the man all women desired.
Sadly it is now discontinued along with the House of Bone Yard.

Colin /Winnie see Bradshaw family/album
Message posted.

Malc, it was my Mam who wore pinnies and mopped steps in the 1950s and 1960s, not me.....I only got married in 1974, but your lovely comment made my day! Thankyou. However, I remember the donkey-stones she used for mopping....the rag-bone man gave them out in exchange for a few rags. She DID brush the rugs with a stiff brush too.....we didn't have a fitted carpet and she didn't own a vacuum cleaner. I can remember my Dad chopping blocks of wood into sticks for the fire, and holding a sheet of newspaper over the fireplace to help the fire to "draw", and oh! the excitement to us kids when someone's chimney caught fire! I'm so glad you share my memories of the smell of a coal fire....we have gained a lot in cleaner air and safety for our children and grandchildren as the years have passed, but we also lost something along the way.

Springs Branch is a railway line. The locality shown on the photo is Springs Branch Junction. The engine shed was Spring View Engine Shed. It was never called Wigan as it's in Ince.

I remember that God awful stink wafting from the Appley Bridge Shevvy La area. Some folk have short memories. The stink caused very much slamming down of the train windows.

Helen I have just spent half an hour looking at your very interesting Family History. It is wonderful…I especially like the comments in 2018 on the later Bradshaws as Little Billy Bradshaws was mentioned and “He” answered my comment. Brilliant! That’s what you call a very interesting Ancestry.

Fact, Ince had more railway lines and connections in Wigan and District than anywhere. It was indeed the railway that once connected you to all over the Country. Ince was aswell the main industrial artery of Wigan and District with very big Companies employing thousands of people for very many years. Springs Branch Depot, Ince Central Wagon works, Park Web Co, Iron and Steel works and Empress mill.
So to answer your question Mick, of course there's going to be noisey with all this heavy industrial activity. I
Was going to include Clarrinton Forge, but was just outside Ince at Clarrinton Brook. Many have long since disappeared, including all the Coal pits.

Mick, the muck and noise was created from our industrial past that employed very many people from all over Wigan.
We have lost so much and gained very little, thanks to cheap imports and poor quality goods.
I need a Sherry.

Slippery Mick, it was not called Spring View engine shed but Springs Branch. This was the correct name designated by British Railways as it was then known. Its British Rail shed designation code was 8F. Every BR shed was given a designation code, e.g. Willesden Junction was 1A, Crewe was 5A, etc. 8F was Springs Branch, not Spring View.

Looks like we are about to witness one more chapter in the disappearance of steam.

There is a recent Telegraph article, I cannot read it, as it is behind a paywall, but ascertain the gist is that the preserved steam locomotives that operate enthusiasts' steam specials on the national network may have to cease. Network Rail is proposing to do away with trackside signalling.

I guess a more high tech replacement communicating directly with the trains is envisioned.

Something which apparently the steamers are not equipped to deal with.

Hello Garry! So good to know you're okay. Enjoy the sherry....cheers! Owd Reekie, yes, it was Springs Branch. Sometimes, Our Colin was called on to change his shift or to do a "double shift" , going up to Carlisle, and someone from Springs Branch used to just push a note through our front door with the information.....we had no telephone! Life was simpler somehow!

Wigans Got Talent Show, so much entertainment. Golden Ball from me.
Great view by the way.

Irene, I'm not sure why you wrote '...the blinding glare and the intense heat are in my mind to this day and I have often wondered what today's "Health and Safety" gang would make of it!'

As Robert posted 'You can capture the smell of coal, steam and oil at East Lancashire Railway, many steam trains run there and is an heritage preservation railway.' I don't think there are any H&S restrictions on shovelling coal into the firebox.

I have never called Steam Engines, "Steam Engines", I have always called them "Choo Choo's", because they "Chuff", and the faster they travel along, the faster they "Chuff".

And I bet the staff at Springs Branch were reet "Chuffed", when it was chosen to be the site of a brand new £46m 'Rolling Stock Stabling and Light Maintenance Facility'

Ticsmon, My husband and I are 1940s re- enactors and have often been on the heritage railways at Pickering and elsewhere. My comment just meant that railway workers on steam trains today would be held back by rules and regulations when it came to allowing a small child up on the platform of an engine next to the firebox.

Garry nice to see you posting. It seems like it’s only at certain times when you surface but with a voice of sanity. Hope you are well - have a nice Easter.

Irene, no they wouldn't

Irene and Veronica, thank you for your kind words. X

Ticsmon stop winding Irene up, you know she's right Health & Safety put a stop to many things today even if supervised. Also insurance companies would almost certainly have in large print, employees or volunteers insured only. For instance, HGV drivers are not allowed to carry passengers adults and children on their journeys not because of Health & Safety
but for insurance reasons.

They hold regular Steam Train events in Ramsbotham, apparently it’s a very popular event for enthusiasts.
I plan on going to the next one.

Irene , they'll let anybody in the cab if you want to pay for the experience, and even let the shouvel coal into the fire, have you never watched Michael Portillo train journeys.

Ronald, do you have examples of Health & Safety putting a stop to many things (your example was of insurance, not H&S)?

Both Ticsmon, both Insurance and Health & Safety go hand in hand.
Let face it, even fairgrounds have restrictions if you child isn't tall enough for certain rides, they don't let them on.

Let face it, even fairgrounds have restrictions if you child isn't tall enough for certain rides, they don't let them on.

Do you not think that is a good thing?