Exploring the Rishworth Branch Line.

The Rishworth Branch Line was a double track railway that ran from Sowerby Bridge through the villages of Triangle and Ripponden before terminating at Rishworth near Slitheroe Bridge. The plan had been to continue on to the main line at Smithy Bridge, Greater Manchester by tunnelling under the moor but sadly despite the surveys being done this plan was abandoned due to cost overruns and land slip issues with the line already built. 

The line opened in 2 stages with the first section from Sowerby Bridge to Ripponden completed in 1878, and then the final stretch to Rishworth opening in 1881. Stations were added at Triangle in 1885 and Watson Crossing Halt in 1907. The line was already in decline by the end of the first world war and in 1929 was closed to passengers, with goods services continuing to Rishworth until 1953 and Triangle and Ripponden until the 1st September 1958. The track was removed between then and 1961 and the line was left to abandonment and nature. Despite this many of the bridges remain as well as Scar Head Tunnel (inaccessible), and even the station platform at Rishworth although overgrown still remain. It must have been a great regret to the railway company that the lines completion to Lancashire near happened, had it done so I have wonder if it would still be open with 1 station serving the villages of Triangle, Ripponden and Rishworth.

The video is taken from my YouTube channel and features images from when the line was in operation as well as pictures taken in 2013 and 2017 along the disused trackbed.

The images from 2013 and 2017 are my own personal pictures, the pictures taken from the days of the lines operation I searched for as public domain and believe them to be so, if I am incorrect I will be happy to add a credit to the video for the pictures owner.

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Sowerby Bridge, Nearly Flooded Again.

On March 16th 2019 after many days of constant rain, the water levels of the Rochdale Canal and the Rivers Calder & Ryburn began to rise causing great concern amongst the residents of the town of Sowerby Bridge. The town was badly hit by flooding on Boxing Day 2015 and it still lingers in the memory of many people who were affected by this. These are video clips I took and have uploaded to YouTube of the night of the high water and the morning after when the town breathed a great sigh of relief.

The first video shows the town as the levels were rising.

And the next 2 show Mearclough Bridge and Sowerby Bridge Cricket Ground on the nights when the levels were rising and the morning after when the rivers were much lower.

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Winter at Willow Hall Dam, Sowerby Bridge

I haven't posted for a while despite having loads of pictures and videos available, just been busy job hunting. I think that that problem is now addressed so I thought I would post today about a set of pictures I took a year ago at Willow Hall Dam, Sowerby Bridge. Last years winter seemed to be the  winter that kept on giving and looking back now after a normal UK mild winter I have no nostalgia for how bad the weather was. I know it was only a few inches at worst but in the UK any weather that is deemed out of the ordinary seems to bring the country to a standstill, we as a nation are just obsessed by it.

Willow Hall Dam is actually 2 dams, with the lower used as a fishing lake and the upper mainly feeding it and looking overgrown. I'm not sure what the dam's original purpose was, there were a number of mills nearby which have long since disappeared so I assume it was to help drive power to one of those. The dam is surrounded by woodland on 3 sides and is popular with locals walking there dogs. Dam Head Road runs across the head of the dam and there is terraced housing either side of the dam head. These pictures were taken using a Nikon d3300 SLR camera on the 18th March 2018, they can be seen below or on Clickasnap un-watermarked.

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All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.