Wigan Album

What a great photo! My mom and her family would have used this station back in the 20s 30s .... thanks for sharing, Ron!

I wonder what their jobs were, Station master, porters, ticket office, ticket collector, what else?

Hi Tuddy, Your description of jobs are correct, these 12 Railway workers
covered 3 work shifts, Early morning shift, day shift, and late evening
shift, so there would be 3 or 4 station workers per shift. The tall man on
the right is the Station Master.

They look smart and proud and the station looks well-cared-for, not soul-less, as small stations look today. People, plus a bit of care and pride, (as in Hindley Station), make all the difference.

They would have been responsible for parcels collection and delivery and even goods if there was a goods depot nearby. They would have covered two shifts, seven days a week and each shift would have been 10 hours long and each would have worked 5-6 days a week. The stationmaster would have lived nearby and would have been 'on call' if anything went wrong.

The Modernisation plan of 1955 and the Beeching cuts ended the importance of these small stations and the staff was cut dramatically. It's all unmanned now, every station on that particular line.