Wigans Freight Avoiding Line. The Whelley Loop. Lancashire Union Railway. Standish to Ince Moss Jct.

[@dennismiller1120]

When you are standing on the 'hill' overlooking Wigan Coal & Iron and say you cannot see any slag tips.... you are in fact standing on it! It is known locally as Rabbit Rocks. Brilliant video!

[@Thornaby37]

Fascinating video. As with a lot of places, Wigan was an absolute maze of lines in Pre-Grouping days

[@davecornett4056]

Excellent Video. I have walked the loop line from Whelley upto the Canal several times , will now look at in a different light now.

[@tracya4087]

few know that a third branch passed under twenty bridges from haigh foundry to brock mill junction on the spur to red rock , at high junction the signal box rubble is still there , it was there that the first sod of the line was cut indeed by sir richard moon , chairman of the lnwr , during the war a single bomb fell . but luckily it missed the nearby houses and railway , how do i know , my late grandparents and father lived lived in brock mill cottages , grandad was a signalman and retired with 49 years service . just wish i had spent more time with that wonderful gentleman , looking back now age 53 he was the most incredible man i have ever met

[@lilchris26]

Nice video guys very in formative, I love these kind of videos about our railway history. Where I live we once had 5 stations in the town, just been a walk today down one of the old lines its now a nature trail.

[@michaelheaton5469]

Superb video just goes to show what a myriad of railways there was in the Wigan area, loved the steam trains at the end magical sounds.

[@seany84uk]

Great stuff again! :) You guys would make great tour guides for this type of stuff :)

[@48firefox]

Thanks guys for finding remnants of the old lines, I was a trainspotter in Wigan in the 60s, never got to see any of these lines as most of the interest was on the WCML to spot the main line expresses at the time, I have a large scale map of the Wigan area railways c1950S it was a spiders web of junctions and avoiding lines.

[@ronvalente65]

When coal was King, all the industry and the connecting infrastructure, mostly by rail, 99% now all gone , thanks Guys for showing us just what is left.

[@Ondr4H]

Thank you for very informative videos! I love trains, this my point of interest. Really thanks!

[@historyinfo-bites]

The hill you climbed up is locally known as "Rabbit Rocks", although officially it is called Kirkless Nature Reserve. Lots of rare orchids grow up there and huge nuggets of discarded iron are littered about the place. I did a film up there myself one windy day last year.

[@chrism8705]

Never been in to train's but love the history that's lost 👍

[@MM0IMC]

You certainly gave it some Whelley! Wellies would be needed in some parts of the walk!

[@MisterAshbrook]

Thanks for this video. I lived in New Springs in the the early 1970s. I still remember the diesel-hauled freight running along the line and over the canal. There is/was a proposal to extend the cycle lane northwards over the Twenty Bridges to Standish. Whether this will ever happen remains to be seen. Haigh Hall is pronounced locally as “Hay”.

[@pasquill]

The Lindsey pit was also right next to the Alexander Pit, in the 70s it became an open cast mine, which was later filled in and landscaped.

[@willz666]

Cracking video Lads. Well done.

[@malcolmfairhurst7293]

very interesting video, by the way, Haigh Hall is actually pronounced 'Hay Hall', keep on making videos!

[@ronaldchives2486]

Thanks for this great video, so glad to come across this, i’m totally fascinated by the old lines that used to be around the Wigan area, could you make a video about the old Pemberton Loop line?, :-)

[@johnwebster3224]

Not much left of the Pemberton Loop Line - it sits under the A49 Goose Green to Westwood new dual carriageway!

[@anth5122]

When the Wigan Coal & Iron Works was built it was one of the biggest in Europe if not the biggest in the world

[@tracya4087]

the brickwork was whelley junction signal box . there is lots of bits down the embankment

[@andrewg5623]

Sadly the advent of more powerful electric locomotives that could make the gradient from Wigan North Western to Standish at a faster speed, plus the decline in the coal industry, saw the Whelley Loop close by the mid-1970s. I'm just old enough to remember the rusty tracks still surviving until about 1976.

[@tracya4087]

me too

[@beagleuk3233]

Excellent video, great fill of my local knowledge. I did my time at Haigh Hall for the council and the failed hotel project if you're ever interested in a chat

[@tracya4087]

is the hall not a hotel now

[@beagleuk3233]

@@tracya4087 closed down in 2019

[@tracya4087]

@@beagleuk3233 did nt know that , thanks what about the hall now

[@beagleuk3233]

Taken back by Wigan council, currently trying to decide what to do with it. The council has two arts people as consultants and I believe the council have approved funding for the roof and window replacements that the hotel company had costed at £5-£7 million. I have a video of me just sort of wandering about during the final days of the hotel when all the nice stuff had been removed on my channel

[@beagleuk3233]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmjYXq2joLuWnMk

[@1228839]

The uncovered Haigh Hall tunnel

[@tracya4087]

the strange structure was once haigh tunnel

[@Andrewjg_89]

Maybe that could of been used for diverted passenger trains to avoid Wigan North Western.

[@tracya4087]

it was last used for that very reason as wcml was being electrified

[@Andrewjg_89]

@@tracya4087 Yep

[@MisterAshbrook]

Isn’t there a rumour that British Rail regretted closing that line, very soon after it was closed, because of the delays through Wigan.

[@historyinfo-bites]

At 2.36 they were not holding sidings, it was the southbound spur off the West Coast line. The photo is of a Class 40 heading from Preston onto the Whelley Loop.

[@jemmyh2511]

The "Lancashire Union's Wigan Avoiding Line" is not Wigan's at all.