Delph Donkey One is the introductory video for the series following the Oldham to Delph branch line. This section begins at Oldham Clegg Street station and follows the trackbed to Oldham Mumps station.
Hi. I could tell you some tales from there. I used to walk the tunnels when they were used. At night as a kid. With class 40s and dmu,s I knew the station guys. A Russian named Alex. And Winston the Jamaican. We used to find detonators. And put them on the track. 😮 I helped in the signal box. And gas street bridge I used every day ". As a kid there were dozens of locomotives moving around. Ohhhhh the things I could tell you. Lol. Thanks for the video brilliant. Tears in my eyes 😢
Down from central station on Clegg St was a long bridge that went over to Woodstock St. The Gas St bridge had long second fabricated bridge running by its side carrying high voltage cables coming from the electic station on Marlborough St towards Glodwick. I also remember the 5,30. Jubilees mainly off Holbeck Depot. Fond memories.👍
Gas St bridge ! About 1980, after school, about 6/7pm my dad would take me there and we would see the class 08 pilot, believed it was manned by redundant Lees men who moved to Newton Heath when Lees shed closed. They had their own link at Oldham so I was told. We would also see 25s, 40s and 47s on parcel trains too.
I remember that semi circular building, right by Ashton road. I always thought it was listed and it was on sale for 1£ but not sure if that is just my mum making stuff up!
With regards to the bridge sign, it was provided by Metrolink and the first 3 letters indicated the line section - ORL - Oldham Rochdale Loop. I am not sure about the meaning of the other letters, but together with the number 50 will be the unique bridge identity code.
Actually there were SIX stations if you include derker, or royton junction. And here's a boring fact, mumps station was once used on the coronation street TV soap opera show to impersonate broad green station which is at the western end of the M62 motorway near liverpool! who were they trying to kid?! It was no good just changing the signs as I've been to both stations and broad green is nothing like mumps was, it's still there and it's miles more basic with just two tracks and two platforms, though it did once have a short siding which is long gone now.
I grew up nearby in Mossley, and worked in various Oldham suburbs as a joiner (Derker, Glodwick, Lees, Springhead, and even on the new market in the early 90s). It's depressing how run down Oldham looks these days; some of the grand old buildings show that there was some serious money in the town once.
Why take the footbridge over the oldham way out? What a stupid decision that was! Especially as it was wheelchair accessible too. And that stretch of line only closed in about 2012 if I remember right, when it was briefly used by the metrolink tram service, where they had the only level crossing I've ever seen crossing seven lanes of traffic! How quickly it has overgrown in just 12 years or so. And it's good to see some pictures of central and clegg street stations actually in use at last, I think the only ones I've seen so far only show them seriously decaying after closure. And I actually got to see the old grand Lancashire & Yorkshire railway freight building before it was so outrageously destroyed, that could've been put to good use like providing somewhere for youngsters to go and play instead of just wandering the streets looking for victims to pick on, a bit like what's been done at the old central station building in Leicester, which is also shown elsewhere here on you tube. And I've travelled through werneth and mumps a few times, and also on the trams after those stations too were demolished, as well as the bridges at mumps.
