Thanks for a very enjoyable and beautifully put together video Colin. Werneth Station used to be my local station and I first started work at Platt Brothers which was alongside the 1 in 27 incline. Platts had it's own branch line which came underneath Featherstall Rd and entered the works yard just behind Werneth Station. They also still had the remains of one of their own designed and built shunting engines that was sheeted over in the yard. After spending some months in the apprentice training school I moved into the factory under the supervision of two engineering Fitters. One of the first jobs that they gave me was to take a large adjustable spanner and remove every thing that was made of copper or brass and leave it in a sack on the footplate. The second and much more emphasised instruction was to do this quietly beneath the tarpaulin sheeting and not to let anyone see or hear me. From memory the engine was just about the ugliest thing I've ever seen yet it still had nameplates on the side tanks although because of the tightly roped down sheeting I was unable to read the name.
Good memories of the Oldham tunnel. As a kid I used to play with my mates on the railway embankment in between the two tunnels . We used to put old pennies on the line and dodge the trains to collect our flattened pennies. We often sat on the top of the tunnel and get covered in smoke from the steam trains. I actually still have a scar on my leg after cutting my leg open on broken glass after slipping down the embankment. Fond memories. Thanks for the video .
The bedroom of the house where I grew up faced Werneth brew, we were always fascinated by the old steam trains slogging up that incline. We also used to place pennies or halfpennies (anyone else remember them?) on the track to see them crushed by the locomotives. There was also a small narrow and incessantly wet tunnel under the incline that led from the Cowhill side to the Stockfield road side of that incline, there were many tales of the 'haunted' tunnel :) In wintertime, and sometimes summer too, we would find an old bath tub or sheet metal to slide down the side of the brew. I left Oldham via Werneth Station to go to live on the Isle of Man. If memory serves, I think the ticket took me directly from Werneth to Liverpool Lime Street ( a station I have loved ever since) and included the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company ferry ticket too. Later in life, I used Werneth station twice every day to commute to work. Fond memories of the station and railway line. Thanks for the video.
well yes i will like and subscribe and probably check out your other vids. these are tunnel im going to have to check out and explore. went through lydgate , Grotton tunnel a few month back, not a million miles away.
I travellled through this on the Metro. What a waste to convert a useful heavy-railway link into a tramway. Oldham is now one of several large towns including Newcastle under Lyme, Leigh, Hanley and Fleetwood with no rail link. What Beeching set in motion his successor mindless planners have continued.
Thanks for a very enjoyable and beautifully put together video Colin. Werneth Station used to be my local station and I first started work at Platt Brothers which was alongside the 1 in 27 incline.
Platts had it's own branch line which came underneath Featherstall Rd and entered the works yard just behind Werneth Station. They also still had the remains of one of their own designed and built shunting engines that was sheeted over in the yard. After spending some months in the apprentice training school I moved into the factory under the supervision of two engineering Fitters. One of the first jobs that they gave me was to take a large adjustable spanner and remove every thing that was made of copper or brass and leave it in a sack on the footplate. The second and much more emphasised instruction was to do this quietly beneath the tarpaulin sheeting and not to let anyone see or hear me.
From memory the engine was just about the ugliest thing I've ever seen yet it still had nameplates on the side tanks although because of the tightly roped down sheeting I was unable to read the name.
Good memories of the Oldham tunnel. As a kid I used to play with my mates on the railway embankment in between the two tunnels . We used to put old pennies on the line and dodge the trains to collect our flattened pennies. We often sat on the top of the tunnel and get covered in smoke from the steam trains. I actually still have a scar on my leg after cutting my leg open on broken glass after slipping down the embankment. Fond memories. Thanks for the video .
Wonderfully put together video, thank you very much 🌟 The Lone Figure on the platform at 5:22 somehow sums it all up 😐
The bedroom of the house where I grew up faced Werneth brew, we were always fascinated by the old steam trains slogging up that incline. We also used to place pennies or halfpennies (anyone else remember them?) on the track to see them crushed by the locomotives. There was also a small narrow and incessantly wet tunnel under the incline that led from the Cowhill side to the Stockfield road side of that incline, there were many tales of the 'haunted' tunnel :) In wintertime, and sometimes summer too, we would find an old bath tub or sheet metal to slide down the side of the brew. I left Oldham via Werneth Station to go to live on the Isle of Man. If memory serves, I think the ticket took me directly from Werneth to Liverpool Lime Street ( a station I have loved ever since) and included the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company ferry ticket too. Later in life, I used Werneth station twice every day to commute to work. Fond memories of the station and railway line. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for all this information, it's what I need to make more videos.
Brilliant Colin, good to see inside the old tunnels, hopefully will be used again soon.👍
Thanks, David. I really doubt they'll ever have another use.
Pretty cool video
Great video again! :)
well yes i will like and subscribe and probably check out your other vids. these are tunnel im going to have to check out and explore. went through lydgate , Grotton tunnel a few month back, not a million miles away.
I travellled through this on the Metro. What a waste to convert a useful heavy-railway link into a tramway. Oldham is now one of several large towns including Newcastle under Lyme, Leigh, Hanley and Fleetwood with no rail link. What Beeching set in motion his successor mindless planners have continued.
Very true. At least Fleetwood will one day be reconnected to the network thanks to the heritage railway and forward thinking preservation.
What nonsense! It’s much much busier as a tram line than ever it was as a heavy rail line!