Pendlebury Station.

[pavorossi]

Hello and welcome to the forum Tony.

[Tony]

I find it amazing that there are only two pacers per hour. When I started spotting in 1947/8 there were over 20 per hour! Remember that this was the L & Y main line out of M/c serving Blackpool, Southport, Liverpool, Morecambe, Barrow and Windermere. All these destinations had express services leaving Victoria during rush hour, two or three to B/pool & Southport. There were expresses outbound at about 6 minute headway from 4pm to 6.30pm. Local services to wigan and Southport ran approx every 15 minutes. Outbound coal, cotton and wool trains for Liverpool docks slotted in between these and were invariably provided with a banker which boosted them to Swinton. The line was so crowded that the 4.30pm M/c-Glasgow was routed out through Eccles and Tyldesley(always a Scot or later a "Clan").
My usual spotting place was near Agecroft Road bridge, there are houses there now, it used to be open rough ground - ideal for playing Nazis and Commandoes! The sight and sound of an L&Y 0-8-0 at full bore on a coal train banked by a WD 2-8-0 was quite something!
P.S. Between the Station and Station Hotel was a barbershop, is it there?

[Tony]

After very extensive research on t'internet, the photo of Pendlebury station was taken after 1902. If you look carefully above the pub roof, you can see the carriers for the tramwires which were erected after 1903. Salford trams reached Irlams o'th Height (top of Swinton Park Road) in 1903 and Bolton trams reached Clifton the same year, but I cannot find who built and operated the trams up Bolton Road. I remember trams passing grandma's house at No 306.
The little house between the station and the pub used to be a barber shop. The barber was a little Irishman who fancied himself as a great tenor. He would constantly sing "Take me home again Kathleen" as he cut your hair!
For some local history, type in "Clifton Hall Tunnel" into google. I went through that tunnel when my mates and I were about 9 years old, very dark, very wet and full of rats! Only a few trains ran through it although there was a Saturday passenger train from Colne to LLandudno until the disaster occurred.

[bendoyle1983]

Hi all,

I have just found this forum, and have read with interest all these tidbits about Swinton and Pendlebury stations. I attended St. Augustine's school just opposite the old station site, and we sometimes messed around on the old Black Harry Tunnel entrance, which by that time - late 1980's - had been sealed up and track lifted!

I myself have been to Salford local hsitory library and I have found some goodish shots for Swinton station.

However, I'm particularly interested in the goods yard and goods facilities at Swinton... I have seen from the Salford photos and an old OS map that there is a fairly good sized yard and shed at Swinton.

Does anyone have any info regarding the buildings and facilities at Swinton Goods Yard?

By the way Neil, you have posted a picture of Swinton that I have been looking around for for the past 4 months! THANKS!

Ben

[Tony]

Hi Ben, welcome to the forum.
I went to school at Cromwell Road which was opposite Swinton goods yard. My trainspotting years started here!
Swinton goods yard was dominated by a very large two road shed, large enough for lorries to drive inside for direct trans-shipment of goods. Outside, between the shed and the main lines, were either four or six sidings which ended at Station Road. Access to the yard was from the down fast at the Moorside end, trains had to reverse in. There was a headshunt at the Moorside end but I can't remember if it went past the bridge off Cromwell Road. There was a weighbridge at the Station Road end along with a range of smaller buildings and coal staiths. In 1950 there was a daily throughput of approximately 30 waggons which meant a lot of shunting usually by the train engines. The pick up goods trains were usually powered by Hughes "Crabs" which had good acceleration for fly shunting.
If you have any more questions, please ask.

[bendoyle1983]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for that insight, it's really nice to hear from you, and it's really good to hear about the operational aspects of the yard.

I know it's a long shot, but I don't suppose you have any photos of the yard do you?

I've been trying to find one for ages, and bar a couple of aerial shots from when Swinton Precinct was built, it's been a bit fruitless! Of course I would reimburse you for any costs incurred!

I too went to Swinton High School (Cromwell Road school in a new guise!), but now of course the dreaded Matalan is on the site!

Ben

[Tony]

Hi Ben, sorry no photos of Swinton goods yard. When I was at Cromwell road Juniors, the only cameras were "Box Brownies" or the annual school photographer!
I lived near the top of Agecroft Road up to 1951 then moved over the border into Irlams o'th Height till I joined the RAF in 1958. All my spotting was done within cycling distance so I knew the area very well.
Try to get a copy of the book "Salford in the days of steam" by Paul Shackcloth ISBN 0-9543128-2-1 Published by Steam Image at £17.95. It has some very interesting photos of places you will probably recognise.

[bendoyle1983]

Hi Tony,

No problem, I thought that would be the case to be honest! I too used to live at the top of Agecroft Road, opposite the Henry Bods, and we used to take our dog for a walk on the "rabbit hills" as we called them behind the field and long the railways tracks. The fast lines were lifted long beforehand, as I think this is where we used to walk our dog! We were able to walk over the bridge at Bank Lane and down towards Pendleton, but as they demolished that bridge a while back now, you can only go as far as Bank Lane.

If you walk along there though, you can still see bits of old rail and whatnot, very heavily rusted though, to practically nothing. If you can manage to get across Agecroft Road to the other side, there are also the odd few items of disused railway paraphernalia.

It's really interesting to see that what is now an under used slow line was once the LYR's main line to Liverpool... it's just a shame I never saw it, as I am sure I would have had many hours of fun looking out of our bedroom window onto the bridge over Agecroft!

Ben

[Tony]

Hi Ben, I can give you some history of your area;
I lived at 4 Beverley Road, the pub? you mentioned (at the corner of Agecroft Road?) used to be the house belonging to the NCB which was occupied until about 1956 by the Manager of Sandiholes Colliery which was just beyond the M60/East Lancs Road Junction - the biggest in the area.
The playing fields used to be undulating ground forming a big bowl dropping away from Bolton Road to the railway which was on an embankment about 40 feet high. About 1949/50, Salford Corporation used the area as a landfill site, eventually filling it to today's level. The land now is nothing like as exciting as it was for us, it used to be the biggest area of silvergrass in Lancashire. There was a spring down near the railway which ran through a little culvert under the embankment. It was an exciting day when divers had to be sent for to unblock the culvert after we boys blocked it up and it reached a depth of about ten feet overnight!
Are the sloping trees still near the war memorial? The estate on the left of Agecroft road was built about 1952 on what was originally a sand quarry, a great place for playing commandoes. There was another sand quarry on the Lumbs lane side of the railway, a big lake and the big spoil tips from Wheatsheaf Colliery - a wonderful playground where we used to play all day.

[Tony]

Hi Ben, I can give you some history of your area;
I lived at 4 Beverley Road, the pub? you mentioned (at the corner of Agecroft Road?) used to be the house belonging to the NCB which was occupied until about 1956 by the Manager of Sandiholes Colliery which was just beyond the M60/East Lancs Road Junction - the biggest in the area.
The playing fields used to be undulating ground forming a big bowl dropping away from Bolton Road to the railway which was on an embankment about 40 feet high. About 1949/50, Salford Corporation used the area as a landfill site, eventually filling it to today's level. The land now is nothing like as exciting as it was for us, it used to be the biggest area of silvergrass in Lancashire. There was a spring down near the railway which ran through a little culvert under the embankment. It was an exciting day when divers had to be sent for to unblock the culvert after we boys blocked it up and it reached a depth of about ten feet overnight!
Are the sloping trees still near the war memorial? The estate on the left of Agecroft road was built about 1952 on what was originally a sand quarry, a great place for playing commandoes. There was another sand quarry on the Lumbs lane side of the railway, a big lake and the big spoil tips from Wheatsheaf Colliery - a wonderful playground where we used to play all day.