tarboat's photos with the keyword: littleborough

My train to Wigan arriving at Littleborough with 158 905 leading.

When I finally arrived at Littleborough on my recent trip there was just time to catch 156 412 departing on its way to Burnley as 158 754 arrived on a train to Manchester. This is a busy line with freight as well as passenger services.

Today I went walking with a friend in the hills above Hollingworth Lake near Littleborough. Lunchtime found us at a farmstead called Syke where we sat on a colliery spoil tip to eat our sandwiches and take in the view. The hill across the valley is Syke Nab and running down to the left is the flagged access road. The line running across the centre of the image, curving under the track and back off to the right is the feeder channel from the reservoir (Hollingworth Lake) to the summit level of the Rochdale Canal several miles away. The impoverished canal company sold the reservoir to the local water supply undertaking many years ago and the feeder channel is no longer used. The operation of this supply was expensive as the water had to be raised 45ft into the feeder by a beam pumping engine as the reservoir was at a lower level.

This broken firebrick was found at the site of Foul Clough Colliery high up on the moors to the east of Bacup. It appears to be a product of Ireland Buckley & Co. fire brick and sanitary tube manufacturers, Blackstone Edge Rd, Littleborough. The works was operating by 1879 when they were also running the nearby Swaindrod Colliery. It was closed and the site cleared before 1910.