[Source: Alan Young]
Diggle Station Gallery 3: July 1968 - 1983 old13.24.jpg) Diggle station is seen in July 1968, looking south-west. Complete closure of the station is just weeks away, and the air of neglect is overwhelming. The down platform (right) has lost its passenger building which formerly stood between the hut and the bridge. The up platform (left) still has the LNWR building, complete with awning, and the booking hall can be seen, top left, beside the road bridge. The platform surfaces have been invaded by vegetation and spoil has been dumped on the up platform, extreme left. Platform lighting appears to be in a bad way, with one lamp standard decapitated and others seeming to lack their glass. Some totem signs are still in place. In 1966 the two single-track tunnels and the former up and down fast lines had been taken out of use.
Copyright photo by John Alsop old15.25.jpg) A demoralising scene at Diggle station on 13 July 1968. The view is north-eastwards along the disused up fast platform. In October 1966 the former ‘fast’ lines and the two single-track Standedge Tunnels (whose portals are seen in the distance) were taken out of use, and consequently this platform and the near side of the island are redundant. The building on the up fast platform was demolished in the 1950s. The booking hall can be seen at road level, upper right, still with a small awning projecting towards the footbridge. Access to the platform seems to be obstructed by a plank slung across the head of the staircase from the footbridge, but this has not deterred the photographer from reaching his vantage point. A BR(LM) nameboard and totems, installed for under 10 years, are in place, and LMS gas lamps are provided, though some are undoubtedly broken. Notice had already been given of the station’s closure which would take place on 7 October 1968.
Photo by G C Lewthwaite
old14.jpg) The north-eastern end of Diggle station’s island platform is seen from a passing down train in July 1968. The train is entering the double-track Standedge Tunnel, the only railway tunnel here to remain in use after the closure of the two single-track tunnels two years earlier. The tank that supplied the tunnel water troughs is seen far right. Diggle station closed in October 1968.
Photo by David Milburn from his Flickr photostream 1.jpg) Looking north towards the Standedge Tunnel portals in November 1970, just over two years after Diggle station closed. The old down fast (island) platform is seen, still occupied by permanent way huts and the water tank, plus a couple of road vehicles. The old up fast platform (foreground) is still in place. The two single-track tunnels were closed in 1966 and the tracks have been removed. All trains now use the double-track, former slow lines, tunnel.
Photo by John Mann 2.jpg) The north-eastern end of the disused Diggle station and the Standedge Tunnel portals are seen in November 1970 from Station Road bridge. The platform edges have been removed on either side of the line after the closure of the station in October 1968, but mounds remain on the platform sites. Permanent way huts still occupy the northern end of the island platform (formerly served by the up slow and down fast lines), and the platform site clearly provides a useful place for parking British Railways road vehicles used by permanent way and tunnel maintenance staff. The two disused single-track tunnel mouths are seen to the right.
Photo by John Mann 3.jpg) Looking north-east from the ramp of the old up fast platform of Diggle station in November 1970. This platform ceased to be used in 1966, along with the down fast side of the island platform (largely demolished – on which several staff vehicles are parked) when the tracks through the two single-track Standedge Tunnels were closed. All rail traffic is handled on the former slow lines which pass through the double-track Standedge Tunnel (left). Diggle station’s two remaining platforms closed in October 1968. A mound marks the site of the northern end of the old down slow platform in the distance just before the tunnel portal. Station Road bridge crosses the line, and the booking hall formerly stood at road level, on the extreme right, where it crossed a siding behind the up fast platform. The brick parapet on road bridge indicates the site of this building.
Photo by John Mann 46.jpg) New Years Eve 1980 sees Class 47 47511 'Thames' on a Newcastle to Liverpool service running past Diggle Junction signal box just after leaving the Standedge Tunnel.
Photo by Mark Bartlett 4-27.jpg) Looking north-east in August 1983 along the trackbed of the former fast lines through Diggle station. These two tracks ceased to be used in October 1966 with all traffic handled thereafter by the two tracks seen on the left. The station closed to all traffic in October 1968, and only the former up fast platform (right) survives, invaded by vegetation and with some masonry missing. The slender brick columns on the former platform edge are intriguing. The position of the former booking hall can be seen at the right end of the road bridge where the parapet has been filled in with bricks. The footbridge which gave access to the platforms has been removed. Trees and bushes have obscured the two single-track tunnel mouths, but the double-track Standedge North Tunnel is clearly visible.
Photo by Nick Catford 5-28.jpg) The photographer is standing north-east of the former up fast platform ramp at Diggle, looking towards the two single-track Standedge Tunnel portals. The earliest Standedge railway tunnel is on the left; it opened in 1849 and was known by railwaymen as the ‘Nicholson Tunnel’. Its profile is straight sidewalls with arch. To the right is the ‘Nelson Tunnel’, opened in 1871 and of the same profile as its neighbour. The Nicholson Tunnel carried the down fast track whilst the Nelson Tunnel accommodated the up fast track. Both tunnel mouths are securely barricaded. To the left, partly obscured by bushes, is the tank that supplied water to the troughs in the tunnel. The double-track Standedge North Tunnel (1894) which remains in use is beyond the left edge of the picture. This view dates from August 1983, some 17 years after the two single-track tunnels, each 3 miles 62yd in length, were closed. After closure the two bores were used for research in connection with the Channel Tunnel project. In this process the horizontal ventilation shafts were sealed off and test trains were run through by the Channel Tunnel Co as part of an investigation into conditions in a possible ‘Chunnel’ – as it was popularly known at the time. This project foundered in 1975, and it was not until 1986 that a revised scheme was approved by the United Kingdom and French governments resulting in the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994. The two tunnels are still used for maintenance purposes.
Photo by Nick Catford 6-29.jpg) The former water tank is seen at the portals of the Standedge Tunnels looking north-east in August 1983. The north-east end of Diggle station’s island platform used to occupy much of the area in the foreground. The purpose of the tank 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 locomotives to take on water without stopping. With the demise of steam traction the troughs were redundant.
Photo by Nick Catford  This undated view of the Standedge railway tunnel portals is looking north-east from Station Road bridge at Diggle. The site of the former island platform occupies the centre of the picture, with the water tank, elevated on a red-brick base, at its far end. The earliest Standedge railway tunnel is to the right of the tank; it opened in 1849 and was known by railwaymen as the ‘Nicholson Tunnel’. Its profile is straight sidewalls with arch. Far right is the ‘Nelson Tunnel’, opened in 1871 and of the same profile as its neighbour. The Nicholson Tunnel carried the down fast track whilst the Nelson Tunnel accommodated the up fast track. Both tunnel mouths are securely barricaded. The double-track Standedge North Tunnel (1894) is left of the tank. 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. The two earlier railway tunnels are still used for maintenance access to Standedge North Tunnel. Photo from Forgotten Relics website (now defunct) Click here for Diggle Station Gallery 4:
|
Home Page