Wigan Album

Great pic of the water tower. This could be the American mid-west in the 40s!

This is very similar to a photo in Album, Places, Central Station, 3rd on lat row on page 1.

they where called parachute water towers.

It's still a different photo Ernest. Thank you Cindy.

A very interesting relic of the days of steam.

Not my favourite Wigan station, and the rot had already set in. An alternative route to London? Yes, it actually was - via Manchester and Derby; but almost eight hours if you dared to use it. By 1968, the line had become redundant; and would eventually close a year later. Beeching got it right on this occasion...

jarvo wrong again this line would have been invaluable to the people alongside it today,as a local commuter link.
leigh a town without a railway ,no wonder wiganers think their thick,how did smiffy's predecessors in leigh town hall fall for the removal of their rail link total madness.

BB: The line was losing money hand over fist and had to go, thus, giving Wigan valuable extra space in the town centre. In the end, Manchester Central went with it. A similar thing happened on Merseyside with the closure of Woodside. These lines could not make a dime; it didn't take a genius to decide what was best for everybody...Money talks...

I agree 100% baker boy, you are spot on. I could have been dropped off at Ince, Platt-bridge, Bickershaw/Abram, West Leigh and Bedford, Plank Lane, Lowton St. Mary's, Culcheth, Newchurch Halt, Glazebrook moss, Irlam and on to Manchester Central. With all our traffic jams it would have been well used today.

The Central station was "run down" deliberately from Wigan to Manchester. A much needed line today. Don't forget, you could branch off to other destinations too, who cares about London!!

jarvo
money talks, where talking national govt, when did they ever care about sensible policies.
take the Waverley route from Carlisle to edinburhg cost an absolute arma nd aleg to get halfway back down to Carlisle.why ?
short sighted politicians you cant leave important decision making to the idiots in Westminster,unfortunately we have to,650 mp's and barely a brain amongst them.

BB: Nostalgia is a potent thing, but it must not blind you. Perhaps the only the local railway line that should have been preserved, was the Pemberton Loop; but NOT for rail travel. The 'Route 225' was on our doorstep from 1969 onwards, but I suppose we never really realised it...

jarvo common sense isn't nostalgia,having a rail link through the borough is good thinking .
we could still link up rail wise to leigh via the old bickershaw colliery line or via the old tyldsley route.
railway's are the "new" mass transportation way forward,nowt to do with looking back.

Jarvo: the line was closed to passengers by 1964.
Why on earth would you want to take this line to London anyway??? when we have a more direct line on the Wigan North West station.This line was ok for local travel that's what it was designed for.

You could by a ticket to London St Pancras via Manchester and Derby. For many railway buffs, this was a great trip, and a folk travelled by that route. The west coast route was the quickest by far, but not always the one chosen if you wanted an interesting journey....if you know what I mean...

Too much emphasis on North-south travel and not enough on East-West to have the right balance. It would be nice to have options to get over to the East coast way, Yorkshire, East Anglia, etc..... maybe then the motorways would be somewhat relieved. Bìut its too late.