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Holiday "Wakes Week" excursion train services from Middleton station and Royton station.

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Andy873

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I will certainly try and help.

The first thing to do is to establish just when Royton and Middleton took their wakes holidays, the link below gives the traditional dates for various towns. I've checked it for Burnley etc and it's correct.

From this site, it states Royton & Middleton's wakes weeks were the third Saturday in June to the first Saturday in July:


Next up, most of the towns holiday trains ran that first Saturday out to say Bridlington for example, the next Saturday the train would return. Rochdale I believe was an exception, they changed to the second week instead.

Carrying on, my WTT's don't show the wakes trains, they would have appeared in special / weekly traffic notices. Trying to get a copy of one that covers a specific week and line is almost impossible as most were simply thrown away.

I will ask my friend over in Yorkshire who has been a great help if he has any spotters notes regarding the trains in question.

One thing to note, the C223 Blackburn - Scarborough train (as mentioned on another post) started from various points in East Lancs, e.g. Padiham - Scarborough 4 July 1964, returning 11 July 1964. Only twice did this train start at Blackburn. It started at the local town who's holidays had just begun.

I can see no logical reason why other trains wouldn't have done the same. I have been sent a couple of photos showing wakes trains returning from Scarborough back to Manchester Victoria / Exchange, perhaps this might be one of those trains?

EDIT:
According to Steam World, this Blackburn - Scarborough train started (1959) at Oldham Clegg street 20 June 1959, could this be one? I'm not too well up on the geography around Manchester. 20 June 1959 is indeed the third Saturday of June and fits with Royton & Middleton's holidays.
 
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Sir Felix Pole

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Oldham Clegg Street is interesting - it closed to passengers on 2nd May 1959, so kept being available for a few weeks more just for Wakes specials. Quite why the adjacent Central (still open at the time) or Mumps wasn't used is interesting - you can see why Dr. B. was keen to eliminate all this uneconomic working.

There is an interesting account of the working (and the problems) of Wakes specials on the Oldham Loop in the November 1963 Railway World.

Railway World

THE L.Y.R. and subsequently theL.M.S.R. made lavish provision for the peak summer Town Holiday traffic of Lancashire. The practice of Lancashire and West Riding towns of closing down for a week led to a mass exodus of the population from each town in turn, and meant that for eight weeks a full programme of outward-bound trains set out on Friday night and Saturday, to return one week later. Since the motorcar was the perquisite of only a few, the peaks of holiday traffic were far greater than today.

No specific mention of Royton, but a nice shot of a Metrovick CoBo 'smoking' out of Shaw on a special.
 

Mcr Warrior

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When would Royton station last have been open for possible Wakes Week traffic? 1965?

Middleton the year before, probably?
 

Springs Branch

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I can't help with Paul's original question - but for anyone interested in the excursions, summer specials and railtours in that part of Lancashire during the 1960s, take a look at this link to one of the David Heys webpages.

This one contains extensive photos, mostly by Barry Hilton, and useful commentary on rail traffic around Rochdale, the Oldham loop, plus the line to Bacup during the mid-1960s. It seems that Mr. Hilton was out and about photographing the remaining steam-hauled trains, which meant mostly goods, passenger excursions & summer specials.

Unfortunately, there's mention of neither Middleton nor Royton - although section 6 'The Oldham Line' (about two-thirds of the way down) is vaguely relevant, as these trains would have passed or served Royton Junction station, and happily the photographer was able to record origins and destinations of the fascinating array of excursions which either started or travelled through the area. The page does make the comment that
Further details of the following excursions lay buried in the mists of time
. . . the usual lament for those of us interested in this sort of thing.

One interesting point is that many of the excursions which picked up or set down at stations along the Oldham loop, en route to Rochdale and the seaside, seem to originate or terminate at Failsworth station. This made good operational sense as the trains could conveniently start or end their journey at the carriage sidings around Cheetham Hill or Red Bank without either rolling stock or locomotive needing to go too near to Manchester Victoria.


Oldham Clegg Street is interesting - it closed to passengers on 2nd May 1959, so kept being available for a few weeks more just for Wakes specials. Quite why the adjacent Central (still open at the time) or Mumps wasn't used is interesting - you can see why Dr. B. was keen to eliminate all this uneconomic working.
I wonder if that Oldham to Scarborough train started from Clegg Street and continued on the ex-LNWR line via Lees to Greenfield, then through Standedge Tunnel? Despite the local 'Delph Donkey' already having been eliminated by 1959, the line though Glodwick Road and on to Greenfield was still open. Given it was a Wakes Week Saturday, maybe the ex-L&Y stations in Oldham were flat out dealing with large crowds heading for Blackpool, Southport, Morecambe etc. The Lancashire coast specials from the Oldham Loop frequently seemed to go via Shaw & Rochdale, then Bury Knowsley St and Bolton, avoiding Manchester Victoria.


When would Royton station last have been open for possible Wakes Week traffic? 1965?

Middleton the year before, probably?
Yes, summer 1965 looks likely as the last year it was technically possible. According to the Disused Stations website entry for Royton. . .
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk said:
Despite the heavy passenger use, the line was earmarked for closure in The Reshaping of British Railways (Beeching) report of 1963. Goods services finished on 2nd November 1964, and the last passenger service departed Royton at 18:50 on Saturday 16th April 1966; official closure took place on 18th April. Shortly afterwards the line was lifted, and the station demolished.
 
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Xenophon PCDGS

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Given it was a Wakes Week Saturday, maybe the ex-L&Y stations in Oldham were flat out dealing with large crowds heading for Blackpool, Southport, Morecambe etc. The Lancashire coast specials from the Oldham Loop frequently seemed to go via Shaw & Rochdale, then Bury Knowsley St and Bolton, avoiding Manchester Victoria.
Many years ago. whilst speaking to an elderly rail enthusiast, he recalled such a train as this passing through Broadfield station (situated between Heywood and Bury Knowsley Street railway stations).
 
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