Does anything use the Bryn underpass on the WCML?

[Gathursty]

Just south of Wigan North Western and south of the diverging line to Huyton, there is a line that dives under on the east side of the WCML and reappears on the other side. This also joins the Huyton line with a curve going north-west to south.

What, if anything, uses the dive-under?
What, if anything, uses the WCML South to Bryn curve (avoiding Wigan)?

I don't know the official name for either of the things I've described so not easy to see them appear on RTT.

Thanks.

 

[Y961 XBU]

Is that the one that splits off just before Springs Branch? If so its used by 1 Passenger Train a day (morning am Wigan - Liverpool via St Helens Junction) and 1 Freight working every monday (Arpley - Ravenhead)

 

[Gathursty]

I refer to this bit...

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d53.518594!4d-2.609302

 

[Y961 XBU]

Yea, thats the one i had in mind

 

[notlob.divad]

Wigan to liverpool via St Helens junction does not use the bit of track.
I think the bit you are looking at is only used by freight trains. It is used by trains serving the ravenhead sidings in st helens (oil / sand for Pilkington glass) and it was used by deliveries to/from Heyes. I don't believe any passenger services traverse the curve.

 

[Y961 XBU]

Its just Sand Trains to Ravenhead these days

 

[Darren R]

The lines which pass through the dive under are the Up and Down Goods, which join the Slow lines at Bamfurlong Junction a couple of miles south of Wigan North Western. Originally they allowed the vast amount of freight which came down the Springs Branch and Whelley Loop, or light engine movements to Springs Branch loco shed, to access the Slow Lines on the opposite side of the formation without hindering the passage of passenger trains on the Fast lines. The Springs Branch and Whelley Loop are long-gone, and the dive under is all that remains of a former era.

I don't think they are used much these days, except by the odd movement in or out of Springs Branch sidings. Most freight through Wigan seems to use the Fast lines.

As mentioned above, the only trains to use the Ince Moss Chord appear to be the Ravenhead to Arpley Sidings movements.

 

[Loop & Link]

The dive under (Good lines) under the WCML used to be used by an ECS (5J02) from Warrington-Wigan Wallgate, not sure if it still follows the same route now though. Used to be worked by a Lime St driver who signed the move into Wigan Wallgate.

The Ince Moss curve has been used lately for diversions (there was a fatality at Earlestown a few months ago) and there were services that went Parkside Jn-Golborne Jn-Ince Moss-Bryn-Huyton.

 

[6Gman]

I used the Ince Moss Curve once on a Trans Pennine service out of Liverpool (might have been during Rocket 150 in 1980). Class 47 + Mk I/IIs.

My recollection is that we took it very steadily ( ) and there was a distinct bouncing sensation (mining subsidence? tipped ground?). A very odd feeling.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

It looks like the Ince Moss Curve hasn't been used by an electric train in service since being wired. Possibly the odd ECS.
The whole layout in the area is over-engineered now, but simplification would also be expensive.
The only thing you can say for it is that an Up freight through Wigan NW can reach the Slow line via the underpass without crossing the Down Fast.
But the Fast/Slow crossing at Springs Branch has been expensively upgraded to do just that!
I suppose it provides a loop facility for freight, off the four through lines.
At one time, the underpass also used to provide a route to the Platt Bridge line and all the LNWR lines to the south-east of Wigan.
The real problem is the way the WCML keeps switching the slow lines from side to side (or having none at all).
It will be interesting to see how it all pans out with HS2 merging with the WCML in the area.

 

[Loop & Link]

It looks like the Ince Moss Curve hasn't been used by an electric train in service since being wired. Possibly the odd ECS.
The whole layout in the area is over-engineered now, but simplification would also be expensive.
The only thing you can say for it is that an Up freight through Wigan NW can reach the Slow line via the underpass without crossing the Down Fast.
But the Fast/Slow crossing at Springs Branch has been expensively upgraded to do just that!
I suppose it provides a loop facility for freight, off the four through lines.
At one time, the underpass also used to provide a route to the Platt Bridge line and all the LNWR lines to the south-east of Wigan.
The real problem is the way the WCML keeps switching the slow lines from side to side (or having none at all).
It will be interesting to see how it all pans out with HS2 merging with the WCML in the area.

The Ince Moss Curve has been used a few times in passenger service - see my post above.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The Ince Moss Curve has been used a few times in passenger service - see my post above.

Ah yes, proved its worth then.

 

[PHILIPE]

I remember the dive under route when it was known as the Whelley Line and continued, rejoining the WCML at Standish Jn. It bisected the present Bolton to Wigan route at Hindley with a junction. It was used mostly for excursion trains to Blackpool, of which there were many at one time, to by-pass Wigan.

 

[Philip Elliott]

It is known to us as the Bamfurlong goods lines and we last ran Voyagers over it for 3 consecutive weekends in October/November 2010.

 

[WatcherZero]

Im expecting a grade seperated junction with existing tracks slewed and a new viaduct coming down in the centre similar to a grade reversed Norton Bridge flyover.

 

[Francis]

The Whelley loop ran right round the east side of Wigan. It carried junctions to all the incoming lines, I think, L@Y, GC, LNW, and then rejoined the WCML at Standish Jc by a grade separated flying Jc. It was four track then all the way through Coppull to Preston. So in effect you had 4 tracks all the way from Acton Grange Jc to Preston (using the original line via Earlestown and Newton-let-Willows stations between Winsock Jc and Golborne Jc.