Wigan Album

A good overall view with the bridge decking completely removed to reveal the five main transverse girders with tie rods in between. The voids were originally filled with brick arches. This bridge was re-built using a concrete road deck and stands intact and complete to this day; unlike nearly every other disused railway bridge in the borough. Wigan MBC (who have always seemed to me to have a vindictive attitude to old disused railway lines) have spent vast sums of cash to rush headlong and destroy much of the temporarily redundant railway infrastructure in the borough. The contrast between Wigan MBC’s approach and that of Cheshire council couldn’t be more marked. If we walked about one hundred yards to our right in these photos, we would cross over the 1830 Chat Moss line (Liverpool Manchester main line) and start to walk along the same piece of old railway line but now under Cheshire council’s domain. What a contrast: cuttings remain unfilled, embankments remain un-levelled, bridges remain intact. Wigan MBC planners be pleased to take note! Jan/Feb 1986