Station Name: DIGGLE

[Source: Alan Young]

Diggle Station Gallery 2: c1930s - 1961


Standedge North Tunnel, looking north-east from Station Road bridge, Diggle, circa 1930. Note how the down slow platform (left) and the island platform (right) abut the tunnel portal. On the up slow line ex-LNWR ‘Prince of Wales’ Class 4-6-0, LMS No.5805, is emerging from the tunnel at the head of a passenger train. The loco has just passed over Brun Clough stream where it flows under the railway; the stream is concealed beneath the metal sheeting under the gantry. In the foreground are the awnings and valances of two of the platform buildings. The tank to feed the tunnel water troughs is seen far right. This Cooke-designed loco was built for the LNW in 1921 by Beardmore of Dalmuir, Glasgow and was originally numbered 359, being renumbered 5805 by the LMS in 1927. She was withdrawn and scrapped in June 1945.
Photo by D. Ibbottson


The two single-track Standedge Tunnels are seen from the Station Road bridge at Diggle, looking north-east c1930. Ex-LNW R ‘Experiment’ 4-6-0 No.5509 ‘Chillington’ is emerging from the up fast single-track Standedge Tunnel. The loco was built at the LNWR Crewe works in February 1909 and was numbered 2626 by the LNWR; the LMS number was allocated in 1927. The loco was withdrawn in May 1935 and cut up at the LMS Crewe works.
Photo by D. Ibbottson


Diggle Junction signal cabin is seen alongside the down slow line, looking north-east towards Diggle station circa 1950. Diggle No.1 signal cabin is a London and North Western Railway Type 4 design which opened in November 1885 fitted with a 59-lever LNWR Tumbler frame. In 1891 the cabin was extended to allow the frame to be enlarged to 81 levers and was renamed Diggle Junction after the closure of Diggle No.2. The frame was reduced to 26 levers sometime after closure of the Micklehurst Loop and the old single bore Standedge tunnels. The cabin carries a London Midland and Scottish post-1935 design nameboard. It remains in use in 2015, still carrying a Diggle Junction nameboard but of a ‘Corporate Identity’ design. Marsh Sidings, beyond the signal cabin, are occupied by numerous mineral wagons, some identified as ‘LMS’, the company whose lines in England were allocated to British Railways’ London Midland Region in 1948.
Photo from David Ingham collection from his Flickr photostream

Looking south-west from the up fast platform of Diggle station in April 1951. This platform extends further in the up direction than do the island and down slow (far left) platforms which had greater length at their opposite end, abutting the tunnel portals. The LNWR running-in nameboard is still in place on the island platform. The former casement tops of the gas lamps have been replaced with a ‘Sugg’ design supported from below in the favoured LMS style. The goods warehouse is seen beyond the rake of trucks; such structures were normally aligned parallel to the adjacent running lines, but not at Diggle.
Photo from John Mann collection


On 12 April 1952 a freight train is using the down fast line through Diggle station. The island platform retains its LNWR running-in nameboard. The locationof construction and date of this Riddles-designed WD ‘Austerity’ loco are not known. Allocated to 52D, Tweedmouth shed at nationalisation the loco ended her days as a resident of 20D, Normanton shed, from which she was withdrawn on 31 March 1964 to be cut up the following September by Loom Albert of Spondon, Derbyshire.
Photo by ER Morten


Diggle station, looking south-west from the island platform on 6 September 1956. The standard LNWR platform buildings (circa 1890) are shown clearly, of timber construction with flat awnings of generous proportions. The station has the distinctive LMS gas lamps, and BR totem signage has yet to arrive. An unidentified ‘Black 5’ is arriving at the down slow platform with a passenger train. More than 800 of the Stanier-designed Class 5 4-6-0 locos were built and some were in service until the last days of steam on British Rail in the late 1960s.
Photo from Oldham Chronicle


Diggle station looking north-east from the up fast face of the island platform on 6 September 1956. The buildings on the island and up slow (far left) platforms were constructed by the LNWR circa 1890, but their companion on the up fast platform, beyond the bridge, has been demolished; presumably few trains called at this platform so the building would have been little used. LNWR running-in nameboards are still on display.  Several passengers are ascending the staircase, probably having alighted from a train from the Huddersfield direction, and they will turn right to leave the station via the booking hall. The two earlier single-track Standedge Tunnels are ahead, and the later double-track tunnel is to the left. A glimpse can be had of the lofty moorland under which the three-mile-long tunnels were excavated.
Copyright photo from Oldham Chronicle and John Mann collection

Diggle station, looking south-west from above the ‘Nelson’ single-track Standedge Tunnel portal circa 1958. The station and its surrounding semi-rural, semi-industrial landscape, framed by Pennine moorland, are shown to perfection in this view. The up fast platform on the left has lost its building, formerly on the near side of the road bridge. At road level, far left, is the booking hall building which straddles a siding. The island platform retains its standard LNWR (circa 1890) timber building with its hipped roof and generous awning, and it is also graced by a curious assemblage of huts; the three subterranean miles require storage and other permanent way facilities, and the end of the platform is a convenient place to accommodate them. Lower right, the tank which supplies the water to the troughs in Standedge Tunnels can be seen. The ground between the tracks, left of centre, seems to be a dumping ground for permanent way materials. The down slow platform, far right, also retains its LNWR building. In the distance, beyond the booking hall, the goods warehouse is visible, and an unidentified loco hauling many mineral wagons from Marsh Sidings has stopped at the ‘Down Loop’ signal.
Photo from Michael Schofield and Jeffrey Wells collection


The south-west portal of the double-track Standedge Tunnel, looking north-east from the down slow platform at Diggle on 14 August 1958. An express is on the up line hauled by ‘Black Five’ (Class 5MT) 4-6-0 No.45211. Some of the miscellaneous huts at the north-eastern end of Diggle station’s platforms are seen together with the tank which feeds the tunnel water troughs. Gas lamps and an LNWR running-in nameboard are visible. The Stanier-designed locomotive was built by Armstrong Whitworth at Scotswood (Newcastle upon Tyne) in November 1935, and it was allocated No.5211 by the LMS. The loco was in use almost until the end of steam on British Rail being withdrawn on 31 May 1967 from 20A, Leeds Holbeck shed, and cut up in October 1967 by Drapers at Neptune Street Goods Yard, Hull.
Photo by P Hutchinson


The south-west portals of the Standedge Tunnels at Diggle are seen c1960. The purpose of the tank, seen near the centre of the picture, was to store water for use in the troughs located towards the south-western ends of the tunnels; level sections on the Huddersfield-Manchester line, such as that through the tunnels, were few, and the troughs enabled steam locos to take on water without stopping. From nationalisation in 1948 the tunnels were wholly within British Railways’ London Midland Region, but since February 1958 this region’s jurisdiction ended at the Diggle portals, and the tunnels were transferred to the North Eastern Region. Maintenance of the water tank remained the responsibility of the LM Chief Mechanical & Electrical Engineer whilst the NE Chief Civil Engineer was responsible for maintenance of the tunnels. Diggle station has been re-signed with BR(LM) totems; one is seen on a lamp. The ‘shanty town’ of miscellaneous permanent way huts at the end of the island platform can be admired. The earliest Standedge railway tunnel is immediately right of the water tank, carrying a single track; it opened in 1849 and was known by railwaymen as the ‘Nicholson Tunnel’. Its profile is straight sidewalls with arch. At the time of this view it carried the down fast track. To its right is the ‘Nelson Tunnel’, opened in 1871 and of the same profile as its neighbour. It carries the up fast track. Far left is the Standedge North Tunnel, opened in 1894, of horseshoe-shaped profile and carrying the up
and down slow tracks.
Photo by Alan Blower


On 21 December 1960 a passenger train is calling at Diggle station’s up slow platform: the north-west face of the central island platform. The photographer is standing on the up fast platform and looking north-east towards the twin portals of the single-track Standedge Tunnels. The booking hall is seen to the right, and below it a rake of mineral wagons is parked in the siding. The station is gas-lit, and it would remain so until it closed. The loco is Stanier-designed ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No.44696, built at the former Lancashire & Yorkshire / LMS Horwich works by British Railways (LM) in November 1950, She was withdrawn from 26A Newton Heath shed (Manchester) on 31 May 1967 and cut up by Cohens (Kettering, Northamptonshire) in February 1968.
Photo from DK Jones collection


Looking north in 1961 from the up fast (south-east) platform at Diggle station towards the portals of the Standedge Tunnels. On the island platform to the left is the awning of the LNWR building (circa 1890) and a sign indicating the entrance to the gents’ toilet. Various permanent way huts are clustered on that platform, close to the tunnel mouths, and further structures are between the up and down fast tracks. The tank to supply water to the troughs within the tunnel is seen in the centre of the picture. The earliest Standedge railway tunnel is immediately right of the water tank, carrying a single track; it opened in 1849 and was known by railwaymen as the ‘Nicholson Tunnel’. Its profile is straight sidewalls with arch. At the time of this view it carried the down fast track. To its right, and obscured by smoke or steam, is the ‘Nelson Tunnel’, opened in 1871 and of the same profile as its neighbour. It carries the up fast track. To the left is the Standedge North Tunnel, opened in 1894, of horseshoe-shaped profile and carrying the up and down slow tracks. The arch (far left) at right-angles to the railway tunnel carries Station Road over Brun Clough stream, which then passes under the railway tracks.
Photo from Gordon Biddle collection

Click here for Diggle Station Gallery 3: July 1968 - 1983



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