oldham loop
 

well saturday the 3rd is only 3 days away,then that will be the end of the manchester victoria rochdale line[via oldham],for the past few years it has seen a good passenger service-4 per hour each way,although a cinderella compared with other lines as track bad and only oldham mumps and shaw with ticket office,still gonna miss it tho,2 charter services running round the loop so some good photo opportunities,they are being replaced by metrolink trams,the new trams are smart but have 20 or so less seats than the current metrolink fleet,anyone going on a bash on sat,any memories of the line?the end of an era:confused:

I'm sure that quite a few of the East Lancs volunteers will be going along to pay there respects on Saturday, myself included.

Did anyone else make it down for the final service? It was a good run, stopping at all stations, and complete with detonators on the approach to Oldham Mumps. Truly the end of an era. Network Rail where already standing by at Shaw & Crompton to take the level crossing out after we passed over it. RIP Oldham Loop 1880 - 2009

i went as far as shaw in the afternoon and it was spotters galore,i live 2 miles from the branch and have always taken it for granted,it was given a good send off by 2 156s 1 named gracie fields,brass band played too,after seeing the final farewell on youtube,how sorry i am to have not travelled round on the last one,lets hope the units stay in the north west tho..goodness knows they are needed.

Heres a few DVD and pictures of the loop, I think Northern Rail should be congradualted for putting on an excellent last train, a sincere well done to all involved

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bIvatc5MQg

part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4xVWXYchPU

some pictures taken over the last few years including the last 3 days

http://gall.theonlyalien.co.uk/v/oldham/

This brings back memories.
It reminded me of beeching and I wish I had made it down.
At least this time it is not being closed completely.
It would have been good if we were told how things were to look when it reopens as metrolink.

The good news is that metrolink use class 66's for track maintainance as standard gauge will not disappear, so maybe it is not all black.
Passenger trains are no longer as we all know however.