Photo-a-Day  (Wednesday, 29th January, 2025)

Haigh Hall Railway Station?
I think that was the tunnel Mick.

Is it not the remains of the cut and cover tunnel used to hide the line when first constructed, and later removed?

If you did not know it was the remains of a platform you would just think it was a retaining wall for the embankment. It is part of Haigh Halls hidden history. Is there a plague/board to tell people who walk past it what it is?

Good photo Mick, that's a really good walkway now instead of a mud bath. Let's hope it's used that way and not for offroad motocycles.
Did Wigan Council lay the new path?

We could make new road links with disused railway infrastructures, they are mostly straight and direct. After saying that, this looks a great for walkers and pedal cyclists. Hopefully people with dogs will clean up after them. Trust me, many dog owners Don't clean up dog poo and if they do, they throw the bag in the trees instead of taking it home and dispose of it properly. But on a positive note, this looks great.

I would like to see some sort of steel barriers that only walkers can use, otherwise offroad and dangerous motorbikes will find this as a great speed track. If dangerous offroad bikes speed up and down our roads without
Tax, insurance, MOT and Licence conditions, they'll definitely use this.
Electric and offroad bike are a great concern for walkers and genuine road users.

I love bits of history like this & pleased its still intact...nice pic Mick.

Re off road pedal bikes , they are a menace here...we have lots of footpaths etc & holiday cyclists dont know what a bell or warning sign is....they come up behind you & expect you to jump out of their way....and dont get me on about lycra clad road cyclists !!

The station was at Red Rock near the bridge and Arley Lane. This is something else.

His Nibs and family had a private waiting room at Red Rock Station where they could wait in comfort for a Train without having to mix with the great unwashed.
This tunnel was created at great expense because His Nibs didn’t want to see the trains passing from his study at Haigh Hall.
Unfortunately, they had a great amount of trouble with flooding and had to remove the top of the tunnel.
This trackbed as been renovated before and then left to go to wreck and ruin. Let’s hope the money isn’t wasted again.

There was only two stations on the Whelley railway line and that was the short lived Whelley and Amberswood.
This new walkway looks great.

Good photo Mick.
See comparison of the railway in it's working environment on item number 16566.

That looks so nice, clean and dry to walk along; let's hope people respect it.

Malc only trouble with barriers is how do wheelchair users get past them. If you put a barrier every 10yds the scrotts know how to get passed them

See Dennis Seddon's photo in item number 21619 of the same location.

Redrock and Arley is not on the Whelley railway line, Wn6.

Yes PeterP I understand your point.
The Barriers I'm thinking of is like they use on the canal walkways.

The Lancashire Union Railway known locally as the Whelley loop line from platt bridge to Standish, the Redrock line linked off the Whelley line at Boars head and went on to Chorley and Blackburn. The Lancashire Union line at redrock closed well before the Whelley line. But your right about redrock station and Great bear but nothing to do with the Whelley loop section.

GOOD PHTO

Sorry to hear that, Peter.

I'm not too sure if its the camera angle or optical illusion, but that seems a fair climb for trains to conquer. If the line was so steep, a banker must have been used.

The iron bridge in the distance holds many memories for me.
When as children in the 1950’s walking up Haigh Hall through the Plantations we would hear the distant noise and whistle of the train through the trees. We would run as fast as we could to poke our heads through the rails as it chugged along below belching out smoke and steam.
Finding and making your own entertainment was both an easy and exciting pleasure in those days.

Regarding Haigh station, at one time a branch line had been built from this line and initially for carrying goods to and from the Brock Mill and Leyland Mill iron forges.
Around 50 years ago an elderly lady told me that a small station, or possibly a halt and named Haigh was at the bottom of Leyland Mill Lane, apparently besides the goods trains running folks were also able to get onto passenger trains too, now if they were trains scheduled to stop here or otherwise, I don't know.
During the early 1970s when I worked at Potter's I and others too would at lunch walk along a footpath which went from there and along the old track bed into the plantations, this went for a short way before bearing left and up an incline and going past the old quarry and the path to the Alms Houses, then carried on through what would have been a small cutting before joining the main rail line.
It's also said that prior to the building of this railway branch line, spurs from the canal had been routed through to Leyland Mill Lane for deliveries and the picking up of goods from these forges. I have no idea as to where these canal spurs ran, but I do remember seeing on dog walks a wide ditch like run of water and mud behind the houses of Hall Lane from Lady Mabel's wood.
See link for info on the canal and railway to Brock Mill and Leyland Mill forges:
https://www.wiganarchsoc.co.uk/blog/?m=201411

Wishing you all the best Peter and hope that you are on the mend.
None of us know what’s around the corner.
Take care, Colin.

I hope you are very soon on the mend Peter. God Bless. xx

God bless you Peter..sending you lots of love.xx

Peter W, I too add my good wishes for your good recovery.

Don’t know what happened with two earlier comments I put on, both complimentary to Mikes photo and informative.
Double and triple checked the Verification Code before sending as this is a frequent occurrence. Gremlins?????

John, I don’t think I mentioned anything to do with the Whelley Loop line, just mentioned that the photograph does not depict the station at Red Rock. It’s something else perhaps the remnants of a tunnel further up the track as others have suggested.
Anyway, just read Peter Walsh’s posting, his health and well being are far more important than trivia and I wish him the very best and a full recovery.

Ive just been down the Whelley loop line, and I can't believe how many people are walking their dogs there. I overheard three people saying that they only found out about the path because of a photo they had seen on Wiganworld, so well done, Wiganworld.
Today three workmen were installing solar and wind-powered lighting on the path so how good is that?

WN6 you did mention Redrock station and Arley Lane, that has nothing to do with the Whelley railway line that's on today's P a D.

I rode along there as far as Hall lane on Sunday Mick , and I have to say I was well impressed , but as others have already intimated , my first thought was … a perfect drag strip for the Wiggin
Bellend Illegal Motorbike fraternity .
However … they’ve done a top job … and if Andy Burnham has had a controlling input , then the lad’s gone up a notch or two in my estimation .
Money being spent for the benefit of Wigginers at last , is how I see it .
But with regard to solar and wind powered lighting ??? … Hang on a minute !
Being the eternal sceptic that I am … I’ll give that a couple of months … tops , given that those solar panels fetch a good price at the scrapyard … working or otherwise . Not to mention the generators on the fans .

Just being realistic here you understand … still …
I hope I’m proven wrong.

We’ll see .

P.s. Big H … I forgot to mention that I find it encouraging to see that you’ve been practising your grammar .

I told you that recognising the difference between there , their and they’re didn’t require a masters degree in Astro physics didn’t I ?

Or did I ? … wait ! … maybe it was someone else .

Either way … perhaps this may be a good time for us to work on the difference between “as” and “has”.
After all , it is the English language that we’re speaking of here , and it’s been around for as long as I can remember .

Give it a go why not ?Who knows , you may well be among the first few posters in the entire history of this site that gets it right .

Now If anyone is experiencing a problem with this one, might I suggest contacting Veronica .

She gets it right …
Occasionally .

Paul, the track was the flat Tarmack path running towards the bridge, not the steep embankment to the right.

Alan is wrong saying that "The Lancashire Union Railway known locally as the Whelley loop line from platt bridge to Standish", and "the Redrock line linked off the Whelley line at Boars head and went on to Chorley and Blackburn".
It's the other way about.
The Redrock line is the Whelley Loop line and it went on to Chorley and Blackburn. The Whelley Loop line didn't go from Platt Bridge to Standish.

The Whelley line and Redrock line are totally separate. But both are the Lancashire Union Railway co, that started from Liverpool docks to Blackburn. But I understand your theory.

Thank you everyone but I'm absolutely fine, l commented at 7:15.