Notes: Diggle station enjoyed a spectacular location, where the four tracks of the Huddersfield-Manchester line emerged from the southern portals of the Standedge Tunnels. It opened about a year after the line itself, and at that time there was only a single-track railway tunnel. The opening date of 1 July 1850 is given by Quick, based on an entry in the Times. Research by Wells (1996) from Huddersfield Chronicle has turned up a reference to an excursion on 26 August 1850 from Mossley to York which called at Diggle, and the same author notes the content of a personal letter from a Delph mill owner who instructed the recipient to meet him at the station on 16 October 1850. However, by the end of the year the station appeared in Bradshaw’s timetable.
Rather than being a single settlement, Diggle consists of several clusters of houses bearing the names of Diggle Lea, Harrop Green, Kiln Green and Weakey, as well as a number of individual cottages and farmsteads. These, in turn, are all within the extensive parish of Saddleworth, the name carried by the next station south from Diggle. The name Diggle is derived from a Saxon word ‘Degle’ , meaning ‘valley’.
Up trains: weekdays
February 1863 |
Destination |
Down trains: weekdays |
Destination |
7.33am |
Manchester |
8.05am |
Leeds |
9.10am |
Manchester |
9.35am |
Leeds |
12.00 noon |
Manchester |
1.33pm |
Leeds |
5.30pm |
Manchester |
2.48pm |
Leeds |
9.35pm |
Manchester |
4.40pm |
Leeds |
- |
- |
6.22pm Tue & Fri |
Leeds |
- |
- |
8.40pm |
Leeds |
- |
- |
10.11pm |
Leeds |
Up trains: Sunday |
Destination |
Down trains: Sunday |
Destination |
7.04am |
Manchester |
8.45am |
Leeds |
8.36am |
Manchester |
10.25am |
Leeds |
2.35pm |
Stockport |
7.00pm |
Leeds |
8.20pm |
Manchester |
9.40pm |
Leeds |
The station at first possessed only a single short platform immediately north of a level crossing over Sam Lane. At what stage it gained a second platform is not known. However, after only two decades the LNWR in January 1871 was severely critical of its facilities describing its ‘wretched accommodation’ and noting its low platforms. In that year, when the second single-track Standedge Tunnel was opened, both platforms were extended up to the tunnel portals and the company expressed its intention to install additional sidings and a second signal cabin. In the late 1880s the decision was announced to replace the existing Sam Lane level crossing at the station with a bridge over the tracks, a short distance north-east of the crossing, and the construction of another Standedge Tunnel. This new tunnel was to carry two tracks and would require the provision of a new four-platform station at Diggle. Carrying this exciting news the Mossley & Saddleworth Reporter on 17 September 1888 opined with ill-concealed glee: ‘verily, Diggle is becoming a place of great importance’. Indeed, since 1886 Diggle had been the junction where the Micklehurst Loop left the original Huddersfield-Manchester line through Greenfield, and the extensive Marsh Sidings had been laid out on the north-west side of the running lines. Although the points to enter or leave the Micklehurst Loop were about a quarter of a mile south-west of Diggle (at Diggle Junction) the Greenfield and Micklehurst lines ran parallel for another quarter of a mile before they parted company, the latter disappearing into Butterhouse Tunnel.
In the late 1880s, prior to the rebuilding of Diggle station, there were buildings on both platforms and a signal box at the south-west end of the up (south-east) platform. Staircases descended to each platform on the south-western side of the new Station Road bridge. Probably in anticipation of the 1890s rebuilding of the station a new booking hall building was constructed to be entered directly from the south-west side of the road bridge. The brick-built, hipped roof structure straddled a siding behind the south-eastern platform.
The contract for the rebuilding of Diggle station was let to contractors Messrs Holme & King in 1889. Four platform faces were to be constructed, two flanking and one island. The south-easterly platform extended further south-west than the others, but, unlike its neighbours, it did not reach the tunnel portals. The booking hall, entered from the road bridge, was already in place, as stated above. The Board of Trade report noted the new arrangement and was satisfied with the ‘good waiting rooms and conveniences for both sexes’. Each platform was given timber, hipped-roof structures which abutted the north side of Station Road bridge, and carried flat awnings with serrated valances. The island platform building’s awning extended not only towards the rails, but also on its northern side. These timber buildings were typical of LNWR architecture of the late nineteenth century which could be seen scattered across its sprawling network. Biddle (1973) ascribes their origin to the influence of the company’s long-standing chairman, Sir Richard Moon, noted for his ‘stern discipline, ruthless efficiency and, above all, economy’, and describes their characteristic horizontal boarding, deep sash windows and full-length flat awnings, and their ‘ungainly’ appearance. Certainly in the local landscape of blackened sandstone buildings, at Diggle the utilitarian timber structures looked out of place. The clutter of ‘permanent way’ huts and sheds that appeared over the years towards the northern end of the island platform did nothing to improve the station’s appearance, but they were necessary to store materials for use in maintaining the four lengthy tunnels and tracks within them. At the extreme north-eastern point of the island platform, between the 1871 and 1894 tunnel portals, was the iron water tank supported on a red-brick base – and it survives in 2015, although somewhat disfigured by graffiti. Because the tunnels were a level stretch on a hilly route, water troughs were laid towards the south-western end to enable steam locomotives to pick up water whilst passing through at speed. The tank supplied water to these troughs. They were no longer required when steam gave way to diesel traction.
The new quadruple-track arrangement at Diggle was to designate the 1849 ‘Nicholson’ tunnel as the ‘down fast’ line and the 1871 ‘Nelson’ tunnel as the ‘up fast’, while the 1894 double-track tunnel handled ‘down slow’ and ‘up slow’ traffic. Much of Diggle station’s business was to be handled at the two platforms serving the slow lines, as the optimistic prediction of its ‘great importance’ was misplaced. With few exceptions Diggle was served by trains which called at all of the neighbouring stations, and the opening of the Micklehurst Loop had negligible impact on Diggle’s train service, as few local stopping trains were to use the route and its four stations had closed between 1907 and 1917, but some trains via Micklehurst trains in the early days of the service started or terminated their journey at Diggle.
The Railway Clearing House Handbook of 1904 notes that Diggle’s goods facilities could handle livestock and that a 5-ton capacity crane was installed. The station also supervised a siding that served the premises of Hutchinson Hollingworth & Co.
Up trains: weekdays
April 1910 |
Destination |
Down trains: weekdays |
Destination |
7.21am |
Manchester Exchange |
5.43am |
Leeds New |
8.04am |
Manchester Exchange |
7.43am |
Leeds New |
8.35am |
Stockport ¶ |
8.28am |
Leeds New |
10.15am |
Manchester Exchange |
9.39am |
Huddersfield |
11.35am |
Stalybridge |
10.25am |
Huddersfield |
12.52pm |
Manchester Exchange |
11.01am |
Marsden ¶ |
1.56pm |
Manchester Exchange |
11.25am |
Leeds New |
2.45pm |
Stalybridge ¶ |
12.43pm |
Leeds New |
3.14pm |
Manchester Exchange |
1.47pm |
Leeds New |
4.48pm |
Stalybridge |
2.37pm |
Leeds New ¶ |
5.46pm |
Stalybridge |
4.00pm |
Huddersfield |
6.30pm |
Stalybridge |
5.04pm |
Huddersfield |
7.56pm |
Manchester Exchange |
6.04pm |
Huddersfield |
9.44pm |
Manchester Exchange |
6.45pm |
Huddersfield |
- |
- |
7.35pm |
Leeds New |
- |
- |
9.03pm |
Leeds New |
- |
- |
10.25pm |
Leeds New |
Up trains: Sunday |
Destination |
Down trains: Sunday |
Destination |
8.00am |
Manchester Exchange |
10.53am |
Leeds New |
1.35pm |
Manchester Exchange |
7.32pm |
Leeds New |
8.09pm |
Manchester Exchange |
10.02pm |
Leeds New |
¶ Via Uppermill (Micklehurst Loop) before or after leaving Diggle
In January 1923, at the ‘Grouping’, the LNWR was one of the companies to be absorbed by the new London, Midland & Scottish Railway. Under this administration little was to change at Diggle. The 1938 timetable below shows an increased frequency compared to the 1910 service, but trains call at irregular intervals. The LMS retained earlier LNWR station signage but the style of gas lamps was modernised by the LMS, the casements being replaced with the ‘Sugg’ design.
Up trains: weekdays
July 1938 |
Destination |
Down trains: weekdays |
Destination |
5.58am Mon excepted |
Stalybridge |
6.09am |
Leeds City § |
6.42am |
Manchester Exchange |
7.05am |
Leeds City |
7.04am Sat excepted |
Stalybridge |
7.28pm |
Huddersfield |
7.04am Sat only |
Manchester Exchange |
8.16am |
Leeds City |
7.19am |
Manchester Exchange |
9.36am |
Huddersfield |
7.58am |
Manchester Exchange |
10.48am |
Leeds City |
8.29am |
Stalybridge |
11.37am Sat excepted |
Huddersfield |
8.58am |
Manchester Exchange |
11.37am Sat only |
Leeds City § |
9.34am |
Blackpool Central |
12.44pm |
Leeds City |
9.53am |
Manchester Exchange |
1.28pm Sat only |
Huddersfield |
10.55am |
Manchester Exchange |
1.37pm |
Leeds City |
12.08pm Sat only |
Manchester Exchange |
2.40pm |
Leeds City § |
12.10pm Sat excepted |
Manchester Exchange |
3.54pm |
Huddersfield |
12.20pm Sat only |
Manchester Victoria |
4.52pm |
Huddersfield |
12.33pm Sat only |
Greenfield |
6.15pm |
Leeds City |
12.57pm |
Manchester Exchange |
6.46pm |
Leeds City § |
1.50pm |
Manchester Exchange |
7.47pm |
Leeds City |
3.00pm |
Manchester Exchange |
9.04pm |
Leeds City |
5.03pm |
Manchester Exchange |
9.22pm |
Leeds City |
5.40pm |
Manchester Exchange |
10.06pm Sat only |
Leeds City § |
6.25pm |
Stalybridge |
10.55pm |
Leeds City |
7.39pm |
Manchester Exchange |
11.54pm Sat only |
Marsden |
9.37pm |
Manchester Exchange |
- |
- |
11.30pm Sat only |
Oldham Clegg Street |
- |
- |
Up trains: Sunday |
Destination |
Down trains: Sunday |
Destination |
8.12am |
Manchester Exchange |
8.37am |
Leeds City |
11.53am |
Manchester Exchange |
11.06am |
Huddersfield |
1.22pm |
Manchester Exchange |
5.46pm |
Leeds City |
6.27pm |
Manchester Exchange |
9.25pm |
Leeds City |
9.41pm |
Manchester Exchange |
- |
- |
§ via Heckmondwike (Spen)
From January 1948 Diggle was within the new British Railways’ London Midland Region (LMR), which in England & Wales closely corresponded to the extent of the LMS network. However in April 1950 there were many regional boundary adjustments, one of which handed the Leeds- Huddersfield-Manchester route to the North Eastern Region as far south-west as the portals of the Standedge Tunnels at Marsden. The June 1950 timetable was not greatly changed in frequency in comparison to that of 1938. It remained irregular with some noticeable gaps in the late morning and mid afternoon.
Up trains: weekdays
June 1950 |
Destination |
Down trains: weekdays |
Destination |
6.42am |
Manchester Exchange |
6.10am |
Leeds City § |
7.24am |
Manchester Exchange |
6.46am |
Huddersfield |
7.58am |
Manchester Exchange |
7.06am Sat excepted |
Huddersfield |
8.25am |
Stockport & Leeds City |
7.25am |
Huddersfield |
9.01am |
Manchester Exchange |
8.14am |
Leeds City |
10.48am |
Manchester Victoria |
10.58am |
Leeds City |
12.35pm Sat only |
Manchester Victoria |
11.37am Sat only |
Huddersfield |
12.58pm |
Manchester Exchange |
12.44pm Sat excepted |
Leeds City |
1.54pm Sat only |
Manchester Exchange |
12.56pm Sat only |
Leeds City |
2.26pm |
Manchester Exchange |
1.37pm |
Leeds City |
5.01pm Sat excepted |
Stockport |
3.59pm |
Huddersfield |
5.41pm |
Manchester Exchange |
4.52pm |
Huddersfield |
6.22pm |
Stockport |
5.18pm Sat excepted |
Leeds City |
7.16pm |
Manchester Victoria |
6.15pm |
Leeds City |
7.44pm |
Manchester Exchange |
6.28pm |
Marsden |
9.40pm |
Liverpool Lime Street |
6.54pm |
Leeds City § |
11.33pm Sat only |
Oldham Clegg Street |
7.52pm |
Leeds City |
- |
- |
9.35pm |
Leeds City |
- |
- |
10.10pm Sat only |
Leeds City § |
- |
- |
10.54pm |
Leeds City |
Up trains: Sunday |
Destination |
Down trains: Sunday |
Destination |
8.10am |
Liverpool Lime Street |
8.35am |
Leeds City |
11.41am |
Manchester Exchange |
11.27am |
Leeds City |
1.15pm |
Manchester Exchange |
5.54pm |
Leeds City |
6.00pm |
Manchester Exchange |
9.11pm |
Bradford Exchange |
9.34pm |
Manchester Exchange |
9.28pm |
Leeds City |
§ via Heckmondwike (Spen)
Diggle station closed on Sunday from 1956/57, whilst all of other local stations retained Sunday trains for several years more. Although this measure must have been taken on economic grounds, it is surprising in the light of Wells’ recollection that Diggle station was ‘an ideal place to set off from for a day’s walk in the surrounding hills or along the quiet lanes’, an activity particularly suited to Sundays. By 1958 the waiting room block on the ‘up fast’ (south-east) platform had been demolished. It was probably little used if trains generally called at the ‘up slow’ face of the island platform. On 1 February 1958 in a further regional boundary adjustment the Standedge Tunnels were transferred to the North Eastern Region, with that region’s Chief Civil Engineer responsible for their maintenance, although the LMR Chief Mechanical & Electrical Engineer remained responsible for the water troughs and tank at the south end of the tunnel. At some date after August 1958 the LMR installed vitreous enamel nameboards and totem signs at its ‘frontier’ Diggle station but left the gas lighting in place.
Diggle was one of the stations earmarked for closure in the ‘Beeching Report’ of March 1963. The proposals for the Huddersfield-Manchester route meant, in terms of passenger traffic, that all local services would cease and it would become just an inter-city line (though this term was not used at the time). Only Stalybridge would keep its station. On 4 November 1963 Diggle closed to goods traffic. The ‘Beeching Report’ did not list specific stations where goods traffic would cease to be handled, but there was a stated intention to modernise freight transport by rail which would spell the end of traditional small goods stations and ‘pick-up’ goods trains.
Whereas ‘Beeching’ closures to which objections had been received kicked in as early as January 1964, the process was much slower for the Huddersfield-Manchester route, and the decision was eventually taken to reprieve certain stations (including Marsden, Greenfield, Mossley and Ashton) but to close others, which included Diggle and Saddleworth. The Micklehurst Loop, lacking any intermediate passenger stations, apparently escaped the attention of Beeching’s advisors, but it was swiftly closed to passenger traffic on 7 September 1964. Closure of the Micklehurst Loop to goods traffic on 3 October 1966 (north of Hartshead Power Station) coincided with the closure of the two single-bore Standedge Tunnels. Although this was all part of route rationalisation - as traffic was declining, whereby the four tracks between Huddersfield and Stalybridge were reduced to just two - the closure of the two older railway tunnels enabled them to be used for research in connection with the Channel Tunnel project. In this process the horizontal ventilation shafts were sealed off and test trains were run through by the Channel Tunnel Co as part of an investigation into conditions in a possible ‘Chunnel’, as it was popularly known at the time. This project foundered in 1975, and it was not until 1986 that a revised scheme was approved by the United Kingdom and French governments resulting in the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994. The single-bore tunnels are barricaded but are still used for maintenance purposes.
The closure of what had been the fast line tunnels made the corresponding platforms at Diggle station redundant. At an unknown date the waiting room block on the ‘down slow’ (north-west) platform was removed, so in the run up to closure passengers travelling to Marsden and points north had no shelter from the weather. Whilst British Rail -as British Railways had rebranded itself in 1965 - was keen to be perceived as forward-looking, sleek and innovative, in reality much of the infrastructure was jaded, neglected and shabby. Geoffrey Lewthwaite and John Alsop’s evocative photographs taken in July 1968 capture this run-down atmosphere perfectly at Diggle station three months before closure. By May 1968 closure was confirmed, but a respectable number of train calls were still made at the station. However the irregular intervals had always been a deterrent to potential passengers, and in this final timetable, except on Saturdays, no trains left towards Huddersfield between 08.17 and 16.42. On Monday 7 October 1968 Diggle station closed, the final trains having called two days earlier. On the same date several other stations on the Huddersfield-Manchester line closed: Longwood, Golcar, Slaithwaite, Saddleworth, Droylsden and Clayton Bridge. This was one of the closures which went unacknowledged in the BR(LM) passenger timetable book, but a brief reference appeared in an amendments booklet, assuring would-be passengers that ‘the area is suitably served by ‘buses’. Slaithwaite has subsequently reopened, but Park and Miles Platting were eventually closed in 1995, a mere 32 years after Beeching had sounded their death knell.
Up trains: weekdays
May 1968 |
Destination |
Down trains: weekdays |
Destination |
06.50 Sat excepted |
Manchester Victoria |
06.43 |
Leeds City |
06.50 Sat only |
Manchester Exchange |
07.23 |
Leeds City |
07.24 |
Manchester Victoria |
08.17 |
Leeds City |
07.49 Sat excepted |
Manchester Exchange |
11.42 Sat only |
Huddersfield |
08.10 |
Manchester Exchange |
13.42 Sat only |
Huddersfield |
09.02 |
Manchester Exchange |
15.42 Sat only |
Huddersfield |
09.55 (Starts here) |
Manchester Victoria |
16.42 |
Leeds City |
12.46 |
Manchester Exchange |
18.15 |
Leeds City |
13.57 Sat only |
Manchester Exchange |
19.00 |
Huddersfield |
16.53 |
Manchester Victoria |
21.41 |
Hull ¶ |
17.40 |
Manchester Exchange |
22.44 Sat only |
Leeds City |
18.10 |
Manchester Exchange |
- |
- |
19.50 |
Manchester Victoria |
- |
- |
21.21 |
Manchester Exchange |
- |
- |
23.20 Sat only |
Manchester Victoria |
- |
- |
No Sunday service |
|
No Sunday service |
|
The old down slow and island platforms and station buildings at Diggle were demolished within six years of closure; the up fast platform survived until the 1980s. However today, even from a train speeding through the site, it is clear that there was once a station here from the general untidiness of the scene. The broad swath corresponding to the former island platform and fast lines has been invaded by shrubs, and the water tank remains in place. Where the booking hall building used to straddle a siding, a traditional-looking stone-built house now occupies the site, abutting the road bridge. The station cottages are still in place immediately south-east of the station site; they look entirely in keeping with other houses in the neighbourhood, being built of local stone. Further south-west of the station the formerly extensive Marsh Sidings have been removed leaving only a long loop on the down side between Diggle Junction signal cabin and Station Road bridge.
In 2012 a local councillor, Garth Harkness, presented a petition to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) in support of reopening Diggle station and the two disused single-track Standedge Tunnels, as part of the ‘Northern Hub’ investment plan. TfGM replied that the possibility of reopening the station had been considered in 2001 and 2005 and on both occasions, set against capital and ongoing operational costs, the case for reopening was found to be poor. On re-examining the matter in 2012, TfGM concluded that Diggle should not be reopened, and made the point that 76% of passenger demand at Diggle would be abstracted from Greenfield station, and that a better option for improving accessibility in the Saddleworth area would to be to improve the attractiveness of Greenfield station (which – having survived Beeching! - is used by an estimated 327,000 passengers per year and is now the only national network station within the Borough of Oldham).
CLICK HERE FOR A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HUDDERSFIELD & MANCHESTER RAILWAY AND THE MICKLEHURST LOOPLINE
Tickets from Michael Stewart. Bradshaw from Alan Young. Route map drawn by Alan Young
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- Bairstow, Martin The Leeds, Huddersfield & Manchester Railway: the Standedge Line (Author, 1990)
- Holt, Geoffrey O A regional history of the railways of Great Britain: Vol 10 The North West (2nd Edition, revised by Gordon Biddle) (David & Charles, 1986)
- Hurst, Geoffrey Register of closed railways 1948-91 (Milepost, 1992)
- Joy, David A regional history of the railways of Great Britain: Vol 8 South and West Yorkshire (2nd Edition) (David & Charles 1984)
- Quick, Michael Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (RCTS 2009)
- Clinker, C R Clinker’s register of closed passenger stations and goods depots (Avon Anglia 1978)
- Wells, Jeffrey Miles Platting to Diggle (via Ashton) (Challenger, 1996)
To see stations on the Micklehurst Loop Line
click on the station name:
Uppermill, Friezland, Micklehurst & Staley & Millbrook
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