Padiham branch - help with the final days

[Andy873]

Hi,

Many of you know I have spent a few years covering the final years of the Great Harwood loop line, AKA The North Lancashire loop or the Padiham branch.

With a lot of research and your great help I have managed to factually record the long, slow events of its removal.

The final years (1969 to 2008) saw the line renamed by BR as simply the Padiham C.E.G.B. Sidings as its last purpose was to supply Padiham power station with coal and oil. The line by this time had become only 1 mile 55 chains long.

The power station closed September 1993 and from then on the line was left extant until the last section was finally removed on / by 20/5/2008.

I have contacted Network Rail about the final removal and they are very kindly looking into it for me but they think it is possible that the records have bot been retained from so long ago.

Can anyone of you help me please with the following:

Do you have any WTT's covering the East Lancs area from say 1980 to 1993? if so, could you please let me know what year the WTT is & does it show any coal trains? - I can see coal was in the 1978 one but the 1979 one no coal trains at all. BR lost the supply of coal (1979) but got it back November 1991 until the end (or so I think).

Do you have any details about the final lift of the Padiham section? I can't see any photos of it, and due to my location I am unable to go to any local libraries etc.

Also, I can see a photo (latest dated 23/7/1993) of a coal train taking away coal from Padiham to Rugeley, by now the coal stockpile is gone, do you know of any more train movements on the line after 23/7/1993?

If you can help with any of these or suggest how I might find some of these things out remotely it would be a great help.

Thanks,
Andy.

 

[randyrippley]

This is only third hand, but I was told years ago that occasional trains still ran until 2002/3 as part of the site clearance, prior to the Supanet call centre and other buildings being built. I understood partly to shift old derelict wagons.
Never saw them myself so....................

 

[Andy873]

Sorry I couldn't reply sooner.

This is only third hand, but I was told years ago that occasional trains still ran until 2002/3 as part of the site clearance, prior to the Supanet call centre and other buildings being built. I understood partly to shift old derelict wagons.
Never saw them myself so....................

It's one of those "did they or didn't they" things.

But it's funny you should mention the line might have been used later to help clear up the power station site, I have been wondering about that possibility lately, but I am unable to verify it...

I can tell you the line still had wooden sleepers to end and even by 1993 the line was full of weeds, so what sort of state it would have been in on or around 2002/3 I don't know. Not sure if BR did any kind of checks on it after 1993 (and I can't see why they would have).

Thanks,
Andy.

 

[Bovverboy]

I remember sometime in the period 1992-4 a Class 37 hauling a train away from Padiham getting stuck in the loop at Rose Grove, the track having partially collapsed underneath it. It took a fair few days to sort it out.

 

[507020]

I’ve just realised from looking at pictures of Rose Grove that there was a power station there at all. I was certain the loop would have been lifted by the 1960s, so I’m very surprised it survived as late as 1993, let alone 2008!

In fact I’m surprised any route mileage has been lost from the network this century. Surely it would be incredibly easy to reopen to passengers with a service to either Colne (Skipton!) or Manchester Victoria via Todmorden, diverted from Blackburn, with a change at Rose Grove possible from the other service.

I don't know. Not sure if BR did any kind of checks on it after 1993 (and I can't see why they would have).

BR obviously didn’t exist much longer after 1993, but Railtrack certainly wouldn’t have done any sort of maintenance during its tenure, so what state it was in when Network Rail finally inherited it if any pictures exist must have been unbelievable. Perhaps it simply didn’t survive the initial reorganisation into the highly safe railway we have today, the infrastructure all being completely unusable.

 

[Gloster]

There is also a possibility that once there was no longer any likelihood of trains running regularly, even the paths would disappear out of the timetable. Any workings would either be in a trip booklet, if BR still produced such things that late, or just arranged on a local basis. There might be no printed evidence of trains running, even if they tended to run around the same time on those days they did run: that would just be because it would be when a loco and crew tended to be available.

 

[507020]

The line is hardly busy anymore, so it wouldn’t be especially hard to path extra freight. Google Maps actually has satellite images going back to 2000 and 2003, but you need the now free Google Earth Pro application. By 2003, the buildings on the site of the power station had started being built, but most of the line appears to still be extant, extremely heavily obscured by trees and grass, however some sections do appear to be missing. If only the images went just a bit further back into the 1990s so much more that has gone would be visible.

 

[Andy873]

BR obviously didn’t exist much longer after 1993, but Railtrack certainly wouldn’t have done any sort of maintenance during its tenure, so what state it was in when Network Rail finally inherited it if any pictures exist must have been unbelievable.

There are a couple of photos, unfortunately I can't find them again but they show trees growing between the tracks and looked to be around 5 or 6 feet tall. The photos are undated.

There is also a possibility that once there was no longer any likelihood of trains running regularly, even the paths would disappear out of the timetable. Any workings would either be in a trip booklet, if BR still produced such things that late

I've been able to piece together what really happened, or what didn't happen to be more precise...

Around the time of the last trains, Railtrack took over Britain's track etc, the line remained extant during this time as there's always a cost to lifting track and Railtrack had bigger problems to deal with. Network Rail then took over, and it's almost as if the line was forgotten about, although it was still listed in the sectional appendix.

The local council asked about the line's status only to be told it was technically operational (2005).

The track from the former power station to the former Padiham railway station area was lifted 30th April 2008, and the very last section on 20th May 2008.

And that was the real end of the line...

 

[6Gman]

On Twitter today Brian Newton has posted a photo of a train of empty HAAs dated 30 June 1993 on their way to Padiham PS for loading.

Thought that might be of interest to @Andy873

 

[30907]

Surely it would be incredibly easy to reopen to passengers with a service to either Colne (Skipton!) or Manchester Victoria via Todmorden, diverted from Blackburn, with a change at Rose Grove possible from the other service.

I suspect the inhabitants of Accrington and Church (and the Councillor for Rishton who wants the Tod service to call additionally there) might object.

Capital cost apart, I suspect the business case for reconnecting Padiham after 65 years closed to passengers would be challenging - the local bus operators seem to think the primary demand is towards Burnley (4 buses an hour on the most direct route) which an hourly service to Manchester wouldn't compete well with.

 

[Andy873]

On Twitter today Brian Newton has posted a photo of a train of empty HAAs dated 30 June 1993 on their way to Padiham PS for loading.

Thought that might be of interest to @Andy873

Thanks for that.

Capital cost apart, I suspect the business case for reconnecting Padiham after 65 years closed to passengers would be challenging - the local bus operators seem to think the primary demand is towards Burnley (4 buses an hour on the most direct route) which an hourly service to Manchester wouldn't compete well with.

I think it wouldn't be practical at the moment. If it was re-instated you'd still have to climb the 1 in 40 up to Rose Grove. In any case, a new station at Padiham would have to much smaller than the original due to new housing etc.

Thanks,
Andy.