![]() Station Name: UPPERMILL[Source: Alan Young]
![]() Uppermill goods station, looking north-west from near Ballgrove. This view (circa 1905) highlights the goods warehouse, a commodious structure in engineering brick. Some rakes of goods and mineral wagons occupy the sidings. A traction engine is standing in the yard (left). Uppermill (or Saddleworth) Viaduct is seen on the original Huddersfield-Manchester route which runs parallel to the Micklehurst Loop. Den and Ladcastle quarries, both in operation at this time, are excavated into the distant hill.
Photo from Peter Fox 'Old Saddleworth' collection ![]() ![]() 1893 1:2,500 OS map. Although shown as ‘Upper Mill’ on this map, Bradshaw timetables called it ‘Uppermill’. The two passenger platforms are seen on an embankment with buildings and awnings (shown by cross-hatching). The main building, west of the tracks, is in the angle between Station Road (not named, but passing under the railway) and the forecourt. The station is on the eastern edge of the village, but High Street and the Square are within two or three minutes’ walk. The goods station is south of the passenger station. Two sidings pass through its shed (warehouse) where a weigh house (WM=Weighing Machine) is shown extending to the north. There are two further goods loops and two dead-end sidings, all on the down (west) side of the running lines. The station’s signal box is placed alongside the goods facilities, on the up side of the running lines.
![]() 1906 1: 2,500 OS map. Little has changed since the earlier survey. However the station (still open) is no longer given a name.
![]() Uppermill ceased to be a passenger station in 1917 and is no longer identified as such. The platforms are not shown distinctly and the accompanying aerial photograph of 1926, although indistinct, shows that they had been removed. Assuming they were of timber construction, they would probably have deteriorated rapidly after the station closed and maintenance ceased. The up platform building (east of the tracks) is still shown. A crane (C) is now shown towards the southern end of the goods yard.
![]() 1952-53 1: 2,500 OS map. The goods facilities appear not to have changed. However the former passenger station’s main building and the up platform waiting shelter are now shown as ‘ruin’. Housing has now spread up to the goods yard and to the east of the railway.
![]() The southern part of Uppermill station, looking east c1905. The station building with its hipped roof is at road level, just left of the bridge. It is flanked by single-storey wings; the left wing (containing the booking hall) carries an awning. A retaining wall supporting the embanked railway is seen behind the building. On the left the covered staircase leads upwards to the down platform, whose timber trestle construction can be observed. The rear of the timber building on the down platform is at the extreme left of the photo. It is worth comparing this view with the exterior of Micklehurst station, shown on a clearer picture, which is a mirror image of Uppermill. The purpose of the lengthy single-storey building at ground level close to the staircase is not known.
Photo from Peter Fox 'Old Saddleworth' collection ![]() A panoramic view eastwards across the old Diggle-Stalybridge line (with train) towards Uppermill c1910. In the village are Victoria Mill (cotton), lower left, with Alexandra Mill (cotton) on its right and Dam Head Mill (cotton spinning) in its dominant position beside Church Road. A little right of centre in the distance the platforms and waiting sheds of Uppermill station on the Micklehurst Loop can be seen, with the station building to the right, at a lower level close to the railway bridge. Click here for a larger version.
Photo from Peter Fox 'Old Saddleworth' collection ![]() Photos of Uppermill station are few, but this low resolution view from August 1926 includes the station building, just right of centre, and the up platform building towards the left edge of the photo. The timber platforms have been demolished, but what appear to be their supports are in place to the right of the platform building and on the down side towards the left edge.
Reproduced with the kind permission of Simmons Aerofilms Ltd ![]() Uppermill goods station looking east c1937. A cricket match appears to be in progress on the ground to the left. The goods warehouse dominates the scene, built on a generous scale, as were those at the other Micklehurst Loop stations. The single storey section of the warehouse contains offices and toilet facilities. The sidings are occupied by numerous wagons. New houses can be seen beyond the railway, on Bankside Avenue.
Photo from Peter Fox 'Old Saddleworth' collection ![]() In the late 1940s a Leeds-bound goods train is seen from Rush Hill Road bridge approaching the goods station at Uppermill. The locomotive is Bowen-Cooke-designed ex-LNWR 7F 0-8-0, built at Crewe works in August 1896. Numbered 9020 by the LMS, and previously 2540 in LNWR ownership, she continued to work as British Railways No.49020 until October 1961 when she was withdrawn from 10A, Wigan Springs Branch shed, and cut up the same month at Crewe works.
Photo by Jim Davenport ![]() At all four stations on the Micklehurst Loop the passenger and goods facilities were some distance apart. This northward view from Rush Hill Road bridge is of the goods yard at Uppermill, and the passenger station is ahead but out of sight. The tall, brick-built warehouse on the left was a standard feature of these goods stations. On 5 June 1958 ex-WD 2-8-0 No.90671 is hauling loaded coal wagons southbound from Diggle (dep 5.55pm) to Heaton Norris (Stockport). The Riddles-designed locomotive was produced from 1943 for the War Department and entered British Railways service in 1948, based initially at 73C, Hither Green shed in Kent. She was withdrawn from 26F, Lees Oldham shed, on 30 September 1963 and cut up at Crewe works the following December.
Photo by B Hilton ![]() At all four stations on the Micklehurst Loop the passenger and goods facilities were some distance apart. This northward view from Rush Hill Road bridge is of the goods yard at Uppermill, and the passenger station is ahead but out of sight. The tall, brick-built warehouse on the left was a standard feature of these goods stations. On 5 June 1958 ex-WD 2-8-0 No.90671 is hauling loaded coal wagons southbound from Diggle (dep 5.55pm) to Heaton Norris (Stockport). The Riddles-designed loco was produced from 1943 for the War Department and entered British Railways service in 1948, based initially at 73C, Hither Green shed in Kent. She was withdrawn from 26F, Lees Oldham shed, on 30 September 1963 and cut up at Crewe works the following December.
Photo
by Jim Davenport
![]() Uppermill passenger station building is seen in residential use in November 1970. The station closed in January 1917 as a ‘wartime economy measure’ and never reopened. The timber platforms were on the embankment behind the station building. This type of building was found at all four of the Micklehurst Loop stations.
Photo by John Mann ![]() A footpath follows the trackbed of the Micklehurst Loop through Uppermill. The view is southwards in May 2015 towards Station Road bridge. The passenger station platforms were on both sides of the double-track line at this point, and the building is out of sight on the right behind the trees near
the two pedestrians. Photo by Alan Young ![]() Uppermill passenger station building, looking north-east in May 2015 – almost a century after it closed. The building is in residential use and has undergone some minor alterations since photographed by John Mann in 1970. The timber platforms, long since demolished, were behind and to the left of the upper storey of the building.
Photo by Alan Young
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