Wigan Album

Now this is a rare photograph. Thanks for posting it.

It's a brilliant photograph. Thanks for uploading it Chris.Good research to get the details right.

I agree with Willy Wackum....a piece of old Wigan that we can all remember. Thanks.

Great nostalgic photo.

Thats how I remember the booking office -but the passage to the station always seemed to be dripping with water down the walls and in a very poor state. Perhaps that's why there is no photo of that part.

That is now the rear entrance to the station, where the Royal Mail vans and other deliveries go now, the booking office was replaced by a loading bay, but the entrance is still the same, with that smallish alcove still there on the left as you go through and then immediately to the left the stairs up to platform 4 the ticket barriers seen in the picture, were replaced with sliding, concertina type shutter doors.

Royal Mail vans? Many years now since mail went by rail!!

Some good memories here Chris, thanks for posting it.

The poster on the door says Engine Spotting Prohibited, was that ever enforced I wonder.

Mick

The Royal Mail still use trains to transport mail, they have their own fleet of trains to do so ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_325

Most mail is sent by road now, but at busy times such as Christmas, more mail is sent by train, because these days with the Royal Mail being a private company, they will use the cheapest transport options available.

I can remember many times in the 1950's going to the station in the morning, with my butties a bottle of pop and my Ian Allan Train Spotting book, only to be met by a message chalked on a blackboard "NO TRAINSPOTTERS TODAY" What a sickner that was!!!!!! We then went down to the side of the Wallgate station, but not being in close proximity to the trains it wasn't the same.

Yes, it was enforced, Cyril. You used to be able to buy a Platform Ticket from a machine for 2d before they banned spotters.

It was certainly reinforced Cyril. Even when we had bought a 2d platform ticket, the collector wouldn't let us on.

Indeed Ron. sometimes a 4 penny platform ticket could get you in. Otherwise it was Whitley level crossing or sitting on the wall by the bridge down Walkden Ave.

See? Unlike you plebs, I used to buy a return ticket from Garswood, so that I had no need to pass through the ticket barrier. Observe my mystic ways, my children, and in so doing, assimilate the knowledge of the master.

There was another alternative. Going down Great George Street and scrambling over the wall and up the embankment. There, by the side of the signal box, you could lean on the small wooden railing and spot all day. Good memories.

Jack, is Walkden Ave the road behind Mesnes Park ? I remember we used to sit on the embankment and watch these massive Steam Engines thundering over our heads. It was an awesome experience for a 10/11 years old like me.
I seem to remember there was a neglected old house across the road from there. It looked like a set from a scary film, or is my old brain playing tricks on me?

DTease,that's the one. I think the bridge is actually in Buckley St., which is the continuation of Walkden Ave. As you say a good spot for spotting.

When I was working in Glasgow 1965/66, I used to catch the "Mid-day Scot" from Glasgow Central to Wigan.It left Glasgow at 1-15pm and arrived at WNW 5-10pm.always thought the subway was a bit dingy. Later on in 1966 the train missed Wigan out as a stop. For Jack-I have posted a photo of Whitley Fields where "spotting" used to be good.

Remember this well! Regulation trains to Blackpool in the 60's. Also remember man on tickets. In the late 60's he let us gang on platform 4. When it was modernized in 72, we bought a ticket to Bryn. This allowed us to stay on the station. Even better: a 'Mersey Rail' ticket for fifty pence in 73!!

I remember the 2d platform tickets, we would go and print out names etc. on metal strips on the machine on Wallgate station platform, train spotting didn't, for some reason, appeal to me, I did go along with a cousin a couple of times to Springs Branch on Sundays - we just walked in and no one asked what we were up too or to be mindful of engines etc being shunted around.