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

A winters walk along a famous freight avoiding line close to Wigan. it was officially called the Lancashire Union Line but it was fondly known, by the locals, as 'The Welley Loop Line'.
We discoved loads of clues including access to the famous 20 bridges viaduct.
INFO: The key purpose of the Whelley Loop was to enable trains to avoid Wigan. It is therefore surprising that passenger stations were even constructed on the loop. All lines to or through Wigan were radial. The loop was connected to every one of them, allowing trains arriving at Wigan from all points except Southport and Pemberton to leave Wigan to all points, without gridlocking the centre.
The dominant traffic was goods, especially coal, but passenger diversions used the line from time to time.
The Whelley Loop was built to serve collieries and iron works before the loop split at De Trafford junction joining the Manchester to Southport Line just before Hindley railway station to the East and to Amberswood to the West, before re-joining the Lancashire Union Railway at Bryn or heading further south to Warrington via the Ince moss The line which was built primarily for Freight opened in 1869.
On the 1st January 1872 the Lancashire Union Railway opened two stations on the line, one at Whelley and one at Amberswood. Whelley station was located on the south side of a road overbridge that carried Whelley Road. The station had two platforms and a station master’s house was provided. At the time of opening Whelley was served by three trains per day which ran to Liverpool. The service was not a success and ceased after only two months. The two stations on the Whelley Loop - Amberswood and Whelley - are believed to be among the shortest lived passenger stations in the country, opening at the beginning of 1872 and closing in March of the same year. Their goods yards remained open until the Whelley loop closed in the 1970s. The Stations closed on the 1st March 1872.
The Whelley Loop itself carried numerous goods, excursion and diverted passenger trains well into the 1960's. The line was closed in 1970 but reopened briefly in 1972 when it was singled and it went out of use in 1976.
Directed by Allan Roach.

[@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!

[@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.

[@Thornaby37]

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

[@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

[@anth5122]

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

[@malcolmfairhurst7293]

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

[@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.

[@seany84uk]

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

[@MM0IMC]

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

[@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.

[@chrism8705]

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

[@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”.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@Ondr4H]

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

[@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!

[@tracya4087]

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

[@1228839]

The uncovered Haigh Hall tunnel

[@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

[@tracya4087]

the strange structure was once haigh tunnel

[@AndrewG1989]

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

[@AndrewG1989]

@@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.