Wigan Queries

[M60lad]

Just looking at Google Maps and I have the following queries:

1> Is anything booked to use the line that links WCML with the Bryn line, I'm talking about the line if your heading northbound towards Wigan NW branches off to the left just after Canal Bridge and loops onto the Bryn line not the one Northern uses

2> Also in the same area there is a line that branches off WCML and goes under it but seems to rejoin it further up near Springs Branch is there any reason for this (hope people know what and where I mean)

 

[John55]

Just looking at Google Maps and I have the following queries:

1> Is anything booked to use the line that links WCML with the Bryn line, I'm talking about the line if your heading northbound towards Wigan NW branches off to the left just after Canal Bridge and loops onto the Bryn line not the one Northern uses

2> Also in the same area there is a line that branches off WCML and goes under it but seems to rejoin it further up near Springs Branch is there any reason for this (hope people know what and where I mean)

1 This curve is the Ince Moss Goods line from Bamfurlong Jcn to Ince Moss Jcn. The rails were shiny the last time I looked and there used to be an occasional freight to St Helens.

2 The is from Bamfurlong Jcn on the slow lines west of the WCML to Springs Branch No 1 Jcn on the east side of the WCML. Presumably kept to reduce crossing moves on the WCML as access to Springs Branch loco depot/Bickershaw Colliery/Wigan (Wallgate) was a potential source of delay on the running lines.

Originally it was part of the access to the large marshalling yard at Bamfurlong, the Whelley Loop and the complex of lines east of Wigan. The Whelley loop used to run from Bamfurlong to Standish Jcn (north of Wigan on the WCML). There was a flying junction at Standish so southbound goods trains could leave there and run into Bamfurlong without crossing the WCML on the flat. Similar situation for northbound goods trains. There were also 8 junctions for other lines off the Whelley loop so the arrangement kept the WCML through Wigan station clear of slow goods trains.

With the loss of general goods traffic and modernisation of the rest the loop and the marshalling yard closed in the 60s and 70s to leave the railway as it is.

 

[Joseph_Locke]

Just looking at Google Maps and I have the following queries:

1> Is anything booked to use the line that links WCML with the Bryn line, I'm talking about the line if your heading northbound towards Wigan NW branches off to the left just after Canal Bridge and loops onto the Bryn line not the one Northern uses

2> Also in the same area there is a line that branches off WCML and goes under it but seems to rejoin it further up near Springs Branch is there any reason for this (hope people know what and where I mean)

1) no, this a freight chord at the moment (Bamfurlong Jn to Ince Mass Jn, the Bamfurling Goods Lines)

2) yes, it's to allow coal traffic off the WCML slow lines (which are on the west side) to access the former collieries on the east side of the line and to the so-called Whelley line which rejoined the WCML at Standish.

See also John's longer and more detailed answer ...

 

[- Cal -]

Also used as a diversion for if springs branch points failure to get to Wigan from Bryn, leave Bryn head over fishermans crossings change ends, under WCML then join back up.

 

[PR1Berske]

Someone get TPE on the phone. Liverpool > St Helens > Wigan > Preston > Scotland

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

Someone get TPE on the phone. Liverpool > St Helens > Wigan > Preston > Scotland

I fully agree with this. I presume Liverpool LS - St Helens C - Wigan NW - Preston - Lancaster - Carlisle - Glasgow Central/Edinburgh H then W
because some TPE do run non-stop Lancaster-Carlisle then to Glasgow.

 

[mister-sparky]

I fully agree with this. I presume Liverpool LS - St Helens C - Wigan NW - Preston - Lancaster - Carlisle - Glasgow Central/Edinburgh H then W
because some TPE do run non-stop Lancaster-Carlisle then to Glasgow.

agree with the service but not the operator. this kind of service should be the intercity west coast operator, ie virgin. not TPE.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

agree with the service but not the operator. this kind of service should be the intercity west coast operator, ie virgin. not TPE.

I get where you're at. Virgin (an intercity operator) mostly stop at Oxenholme but TPE (a mainly local operator) have a few services that pass through non-stop! Does anybody have an idea why this is? Pathing or something different?

 

[Joseph_Locke]

agree with the service but not the operator. this kind of service should be the intercity west coast operator, ie virgin. not TPE.

Give us a bit and you can run 390s, but you couldn't call at St Helens, the platforms aren't long enough.