Astley Green and Walkden Railway 1969, Part 1
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2016
- Heavy coal train on Astley Green Colliery Railway, near Manchester. The train's coming round Boothstown curve and under Leigh Road. One steam engine at the front and another at at the back banking. Both engines slipping and struggling to keep the load on the move on the steep gradient. Shot on 8mm film and scanned to 2K.
It's very good of you to make this historic footage available on here, thank you.
I've just stumbled on this set of clips and I love them! What thoughtful and informative narrative as well as great footage. Thanks so much for sharing.
A tip : you can watch series at flixzone. I've been using it for watching a lot of movies recently.
@Gianni Jerry Yea, have been watching on flixzone for since november myself :)
Thank you for bringing to life footage of my grandad Albert Longstaff (Warrior Driver) as mentioned on clip 2 as I never got to meet him as he died whilst I was a baby
I live three houses away from the former Roe Green - Wigan line, a short way west of Ellenbrook station. Every Saturday, I volunteer at Boothstown Football Club and walk along that road, Booths Hall Way, to get home from the club. I never knew it used to be a colliery railway and I thank you so very much for this video: I'll never be able to walk home from the football without thinking about this video again!
Hi, thanks for the interest. Boothstown curve was an exciting place to watch steam engines as you can see. I made many visits there all these years ago and have more films to come. So stay tuned
Thank you for having the foresight to realise the importance of this for future generations. I was lucky enough to witness scenes like this at the time in South Wales. So much was missed, such as steam running on LT lines. I would see a steam working on the Central line through Leytonstone on my way home from school in the early sixties and saw steam PW workings at Faringdon as late as the early 1970s.
This is amazing footage and well filmed too. Thank you for capturing this excellent and largely forgotten part of our industrial past.
Great stuff. Thanks for sharing these films.
Fantastic stuff ! Cannot believe I have come across these. I grew up in the 60's and 70's in Boothstown. We moved there in 1965 into one of the first 50 houses built of the modern era, Ridgmont Drive. The trains used to wake me up. I can recall the lines being torn up in the early 70's. Looking at the basin and curve in Boothstown is especially weird given what is there now. And many thanks for posting such historical gems.
Many thanks for posting these. I grew up in Boothstown, but I'm just a little too young to remember the railway, although I did spend many an hour down at the canal basin and at what was Mosely Common pit.
I remember Walkden workshops very well.
Thanks for sharing this. In the 60's my friend and I used to beg footplate rides along this route every Saturday morning and in the school holidays, waiting at the bridge by Walkden baths where the colliery line crossed the old low level railway through Walkden (adjacent to Parr Fold Park and is now, I believe, a designated country walkway). The coal basin at Boothstown was one of our fishing spots - often ended up in the water and then getting a good telling-off when we got home covered in muddy coal dust
Great story thanks for sharing. The area has certainly changed since then.
Just found this via the moving coal thread first on Western Thunder which led me to RMweb where I found your links excellent stuff and great commentary.
Cheers
Absolutely brilliant .
Absolutely brilliant
Thanks for your reply.
From what I can remember the coal basin at Boothstown was on its last day’s when we played there from the children’s home as we lots of time on our hands in those days!!
The last barges were sunk in the basin and the coal shoots left to rot that made an excellent play ground at the time I was there.
The derailment was behind the B5232 towards Hilton lane on the line to Walkden shed MGR wagons had fallen down the embankment and they lay there for weeks. I remember this as I was attending Birch road secondary school at the time and a few of us had to investigate the derailment after hearing about it.
I don’t recall a loco being involved but just a few wagons!!
Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera in those days it’s all just from memory and seeing your clips on TH-cam brought them back.
Hope this helps.
Stevie.
Was that Walkden High School on Birch Road?
Fantastic. I live nearby and walk here regularly. Hard to believe how it was then. The walk up the hill from the marina is fairly steep, I'm surprised engines were going up there, I thought they would struggle to function on such an incline.
The road up out of the marina is much steeper that the railway was. The railway went under Leigh Road now the cutting has been filled in. The gradient was 1 in 50 well within the capacity of the steam engines.
Hi Gandy Dancer Productions. I lived at 69 Wyre Drive, Boothstown. I saw this train on a regular basis. We moved to 69 Wyre Drive in 1968. The houses were a new build then. The train ran along the rear of our garden. This was before Standsfield Estate was buit. Alan
Hi, this is an awesome film, a great step back into time when industry was all around the North West of England. Great top and tail of the two engines going up hill. Lovely bit of local history. I heard your interview on The Railway Mania Podcast and thought I’d give your channel a look and I’ve subscribed. Can’t wait to see more of footage from times gone by.
Kind regards,
Joe (The Trainspotters)
Hi Joe, thanks for your comment. There are many videos on my channel if you care to dive into them and more to come.
Thanks for sharing these awesome videos clips of this mineral line.
I was in Alderwood children’s home at the time this railway was running and remember the housing estate being built!!
We all played at the Bridgewater canal basin watching the coal being loaded into barges from the mineral wagons then watching them roll back with gravity.
Moseley common pit just past the A580 and remember playing there at a weekend.
I moved from there to Little Hulton and saw the coal trains climbing up between the hoses from Walkden.
I also remember the sheds at Walkden.
Do you remember the coal train derailment?
Sad times in the homes but happy memories with the little steam trains.
Thanks Stevie.
Hi Stevie, I didn't see any big derailment just small ones with wagons around Astley Green yard. Tell me more about what happened. I wish I'd taken a greater interest in the coal tippler at Boothtown. It was still working when i first visited in 1968 and I filmed Harry shunting wagons there but not the filling of barges. We were so fortunate in having very active steam railway on our doorstep. Thanks for your input.
Just come across your channel & it's fantastic. I'm very interested in industrials especially around manchester.
Hi Simon, I have many more adventures at Astley Green to come plus my record of the last two years of BR steam around Manchester.
@@jonathanguilbert8658 I look forward to those to they are excellent videos especially with your narration. It's funny I was in Astley Green 2 weeks ago doing my hgv test. Never knew a colliery existed there. I've enjoyed learning more since.
Hi Jonathan,. I cant thank you enough for these amazing videos of the Walkden area Engines as I spent many many hours as a small child watching them on the far northern section between Ashton Field colliery and Brackley Colliery. Respite, Renown and Warspite being regulars on that section. I was lucky that a neighbour was the level crossing operator at the top of St James Street where I lived and he would take me with him to work where I sat in the little brick hut next to the crossing. I have been searching in vain for a photo of that crossing and its hut !! I hope you dont mind but I have shared links to the videos several local groups for Farnworth, Walkden, and Little Hulton along with a Bolton in Steam Days Group. aand I am sure you will be getting many more visitors ! Keep up the good work .. I cant wait to see more !
Hi Wes, thanks for your comment. Please share with as many people as you can. It's great to have the appreciation of local people. When were at the level crossing watching the trains?
It would be 69-61 when the old guy took me .. but I would often go later on my own. From about 55-6 I had also regularly walked the track with my late father going to see his parents and can remember the cutting having lots of Lizards and frequent Grass Snakes along the embankment, things you never see today !
btw are you aware of Alan Davies Book about the engines from the Walkden Yard ? He was the curator of Salford Mining Museum till Salford but the scheme and has written several books about the local industry. It gives a history of each Loco along with photos etc
www.amazon.co.uk/Locomotives-Lancashire-Central-Coalfield-Connection/dp/144563483X
I have more film coming once I get it converting to digital files for the computer. I had cab rides up to Aston Fields but mainly filmed around Astley Green and Walkden shed. Yes, I have Alan's books and we met up last May when I visited the museum at Astley Green. It's amazing how it's changed round there.
That was really interesting. I moved to walkden in 1975 as a 5 year old. I lived just off Newearth Road. I spent a lot of my childhood on the old pit site at mosley common and walkden. I never knew that a train passed along this path. I know exactly were this is. I remember the rubbish tip just on the other side of the canal still
Hey Tibor. You knew me and my brother Keith along with the Backhouses and Nick Jarrod? I still live on Queensway
Hello Roy. Yes!!! I still remember you and your brother. And you still live on Queensway, no way. I still go on the banking lol
And yes, i use to know Nicks brother Jason better as we were the same age. Mr Backhouse still lives at Waverley too
I passed the collier and power station almost every week between 1960 and 1966 but never saw these trains! 🤢
There was a turntable on the left hand track just before the bridge. You could lift a hatch up and climb inside, was always full of frogs.
Hi Phil, I remember that turntable but never lifted it to find the frogs.
Beautiful and Brutal
Brilliant
50 years on
So is the audio added in after the fact or is it original?
Hi there found very interesting on line a site called old maps on line co.uk the maps start from 1850 some of the rails where run by Manchester Collieries Railways and connected to the main lines and it shows how extensive this was. The amount of Collieries and goods siding around 1920 is truly staggering. May be you all ready aware of this site ?.
The Manchester Collieries system certainly was most extensive and now little remains except an occasional bridge under a road or a cutting were the tracks used to be. I do have some old maps that show the system.
A more appealing type of rick rolling..
This series is wonderful. I’ve really enjoyed watching it. Do these six parts represent the full film? I’d certainly purchase a copy of this if it were available. Thank you.
Hi Chris, this represents about half the film I have of the railway. I'll be putting more up as I digitize it. Unfortunately It's not in a form to purchase yet but stay tuned.
Thank you. I have subscribed and quite enjoy your videos. I’m certainly looking forward to further instalments in this series. Thank you for making these available.
Was the sound recorded on site when the filming took place or is the sound over dubbed from else where?
I didn't have sound recording equipment at the time. However the sound is build up from various recordings I made later. The main sound being Bickershaw Colliery which was close by and had the same tank engines. I'm pleased you think the sound was convincing enough to ask the question.
Well the sound is very fitting, especially the amount of wheel slipping. Some archive footage DVDs, they have dubbed sound but not always as well synced.
Now that the technologue is available to get the best digital pictures out of 8mm film I thought it was worth putting the time in to construct and edit a detailed sound design. Thanks for noticing.
very nicw video I live 10 minute walk from kearsley railway station and can remains of the railway that joined the line their
Hi, I've seen those remains from Google map. The steam locos used to leave their loads at sidings on Lynnishaw Moss for a BR diesel to pickup to take to the sidings on the mainline a mile away. Then a Kearsley Power Station electrics would take them the final 1/2 mile to the boilers.
yep me and my grand dad take the dog for a walk over the old railway bridge onto blackleach the place I live is called prestolee and when dad moved their in the early eighties had a view of the cooling towers and thank you for the reply its some interesting footage and just watched all 8 episodes just wondering did you ever get footage of the line to kearsley exchange sidings and walk next to most days as to get to me granddads I walk up stoneclough road with the bridge on Manchester road still spanning the old line
No, unfortunately I didn't get that far down the line with my film camera.
+Gandy Dancer Productions ah OK well thank so for sharing these vids
Pleasure, thanks for watching.
Where are you from fella ......... I can't place your accent ?
I'm from Manchester in the UK. Lived in US for many years now back in the UK.