The 2 Crumbling Railway Viaducts Abandoned in the Woods

The 2 Crumbling Railway Viaducts Abandoned in the Woods

Wigan in Lancaster once had a busy and flourishing network of railway lines passing through and beside the town.

located just north of Wigan hidden away and almost forgotten sit two long abandoned Railway Viaducts, both in close company of each other.

Boars Head Haigh Viaduct and The Douglas Valley Viaduct both closed in the early 1970s.

In this video I try to locate and look at what remains of both of these relics of our Railway History

‘Rise Above’ by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Would you like to help support my Channel? Hit the link to find out how: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL6BAVDccOWUt16LFzdv0LA/join

Buy me a Coffee at https://ko-fi.com/trekkingexploration

PayPal at https://paypal.me/trekkingtowpaths?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GB

Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TrekkingExploration
Twitter at https://twitter.com/TrekExploration
Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/trekkingexploration

Subscribe to my Shorts Channel for regular content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Wdq4H_kCZIO6rBRfFD57A

#disused #railway #viaduct #douglas #valley #wigan #abandoned

Everybody and welcome to Lancashire I’m just on the outskirt of Wigan somewhere a bit different today and I’m on the hunt for not one but two former Railway vucks and were quite commonly de closed in the 1950s and 1960s these lasted until the 19 1970s I believe 1971 for

One of them and 1973 for the second one I’m around about a quarter of a mile out I’m hoping to find it down there I’ve got the river Douglas flowing just down there so that might be a giveaway for locals of where I’m going I’m going to push on following this road and

Hopefully we’ll find these two Railway vucks this road I’m following got for Railway sleepers look holding up the barb wire and probably stopping the land from slipping a little bit I don’t think we’re far away this is a private road but it’s also a public foot path too so that there look

Distinctly like track bed doesn’t it nice and flat so I think we are very very close to where we need to be this line opened on the 5th of June in 1882 and the route of it as it heads off North actually passes below the second vial that we’ve hopefully come to find

They didn’t crisscross but it was more like one VI up went one way and then the other one just above it went the opposite way I think I can see Brick work coming up Now today we’re in Wigan and we’ve not come to look at a pi or go and find some cakes near Charlie we’ve come to look at two long disused Railway viu just look at all the railway lines that were in and around Wigan Wigan being dead in the center

Multiple colors of lines blue purple and green and the red ones are the ones that are still active today you can get a train service on any of those lines or you might see a freight working now we’re going to move Slightly North of Wigan to look at former Railway line

Which joined onto the current West Coast Mainline and that has got a viu on it known as the Douglas Valley viot and also to look at the remains of a second viot on a completely different rilway line which actually crossed over the previous line I just mentioned let’s

Zoom in a little bit and you can see it more clearly now the purple line going from top to bottom that joined onto the active West Coast main line that again is the red line and that had the Douglas Valley viot also known as the 20 archers

And for many decades the viot carried passenger terrains and also Co and other Freights across the valley passenger trains running from Manchester to windir and Blackpool used the line until the 1960s and it closed to Frey in the early 1970s now with the Douglas Valley viu

Opening in 1882 of a height of 50 ft across the valley the balls head hay viol opened earlier in 1869 and there a lot less remaining of this one it once carried 755 ft raw iron spans across the pillars now locally known as The Dominoes now this line it

Was still used by passenger trains up until January 1960 but was closed completely on the 5th of October 1971 this is looking a bit of a state isn’t it I mean I’ve already seen two signs warning of falling masonry this is in quite a bit of disrepair isn’t it look at

That I wonder who is actually responsible for the maintenance or upkeep of this because the state it’s in it does need some work on it doesn’t it and that’s just from the first bit that we’ve seen already we go over here you’d already clearly see the erosion of the brick work at crumbl

Lot that’s astonishing isn’t it that is locally known as 20 arches the 20 arch bridge but there actually only 19 spans 13 brick like the one I’m underneath now and another six which are iron and concrete so it looks like we’re at the end where the brick archers are I

Don’t think we can get on top of this one but I’ll see if I can can at least get onto the track bed and we’ll see what it does look like just look at all this it’s crumbled away oh my goodness that is extraordinary isn’t it look at it carefully just my way

Around the other side that is Bonkers cuz I got great big crack just there look and a slug another section getting ready to fall away isn’t it a few trees growing underneath there’s another great big crack there wow more separation of bricks isn’t it and cracks there’s a few crack

Ones there see if we can get around against the next one there a wheelbarrow there it’s quite random ah so of archers I could have dropped down now they old posts from up there some more there does appear that if we can safely get down there which I will

Attempt we can be at the very bottom ah yeah some sort of path there look let’s Go [Applause] I So we now made it to a central section so it looks like the iron and brick sections are and the concrete are the central I’m not expecting to find archers on the other end you can see that iron troughs going across there and there concrete either side of it too so

It’s a completely different formation the brick work there still some bits look just like that bit there which don’t look very good at all I think I should be able to get the Drone up there at some point as well and you’ll be able to see on top a little bit better So this I believe is the tallest part of the entire VI got the river Douglas just there you see that look how high it is that’s so huge is it compared to those archways that we still under right at the very beginning I’m going to try and navigate

This I’ve got decent shoes on should be all right that’s it yes so there’s the river dougl is just there look so yeah we are going to get the problem of the river being there aren’t we and getting to the other side not quite works out how we’re going

To do that yet cuz this I don’t think is an actual foot path that I’m on either we can get down here a little bit there we go look so there’s a little wear down there and wow state of back can you see that at that decay goodness

Gracious back to the archers as well look it seems where the archers are the brick work is in far worse condition now we’ve left the Douglas Valley right up behind there’s we attempt to get around to the other side of it but through there you might notice

That just there that is the remains of one of the BS head hay VI up pillars or stanions locally known as The Dominoes So this must have been in much worse State than the first one because for that to still be standing with its archers in the condition that’s in that’s surprising I believe these were iron again going across you could just see actually the little bit sticking out

Still in that one there’s none in this one I can’t really get around there I may attempt although there are Nettles if I can get over here carefully no I thought I just nettled myself then but it was Bracken there we go that’s as far as we’re going to

Go you can see the other pillars just through there look absolutely huge I mean look at that it’s more like a chimney that is amazing isn’t it we do need to get on the other side of the river but I’m going to see if we can get

Around there as well and have a look at these a little bit closer so where I said earlier the lines do cross each other the other vdal ends around about there then it’s back onto embankments and then it would have passed underneath this line before shooting off over in

That direction so essentially it is a complete cross just over There So that day is quite clearly track bed nice and flat but very very high quite an embankment there isn’t there so that has got to be the line that goes off to the dominoes the balls have hay viu let’s see if there is an opportunity to get up there but it does

Look very very steep uh probably that way I think there we go made it up there we go look so we’re on the embankment of the balls head hay line so we’re not going to find any up here but it’s just pretty cool get it up here isn’t it actually managed

To get along here a little bit I can see one of the pillars coming into sight just there bloody hell look at that cool what near that that’s just collapsed so we go around lot there we go so that’s where our V began and the ior steel trough would have gone shooted over

There and there’s the first of those support beams look wow that hole is extraordinary in there I think it’s just where this has been built up and it’s just collapsed wonder what that was for that’s huge isn’t it that piece of wood that’s a cing stone just there

Look quite a few bricks LED about so something to do with signaling or there not going to be wooden beans like that for supporting is there should we go down and have a look at this one it’s not that steep it’s like there’s a remains of a sleeper over there or

Something it’s not a sleeper but it actually had something to do with it look at that look at these here these are great aren’t [Applause] they wow you can just see the cut sections where it’s been chopped off as well just up there I think there’s six of these down there I

Think no I think it was the one after that we was stood out at the bottom next to the river I can’t see the river down there but again the other side Lot is the other end of those support rods that are going through the wall it looks like it’s slightly

Leaning that’s marvelous Actually I’ve met up with the track bed again it’s more at the same level now it will be just there and I’ve just had a look over there and it just drops down onto private farmland and then the river Douglas is there again which ends up going off towards

The leads in Liverpool Canal shortly up there viu’s back that way so there’s nothing for me to do at this end other than walk back this way and get back to the very first viu the Douglas Valley viu and see if we can well a I want to

Fly the Drone which hopefully you’ve already seen some of that footage B I want to get up on the back on the other side to see if we can see along the top on track bed level and see it’d be nice to see if we could still find a way to

Get the other side somehow before we give up for the day you see as I leave that track bed behind up there this almost looks like another track bed just here it really really does I wonder if this somehow joined both lines together and it was like a

Spur I mean I usually do do my well I have done my research before but I’m have missed that off so if there’s anything to tell you about it I’ll I’ll look at Rail map online and show you there you see I’ve just run up not a lot

But it looks like this is going up whereas um the 20 Bridges VI Douglas Valley is lower so what this was or if it was anything don’t know now we can see on Rail map online it was indeed as expected a Spur that joined both railway lines together there

Is the BS head hay viot and here is the Douglas Valley viot and we’re stood right next to this former track bed we’ve just jumped on top of it and you can see at the bottom down here and the top just up here there are two Junctions

Connecting both lines I just feel like I’ve been walking around these Woods for absolutely ages now I’ve got the BL Wich project Vibes going on track bed still over there I see a massive embankment so going the right way I just don’t think these are actual

Paths and I’m just having a bit of a free-for All I’m back at the Douglas Valley VI up now I’ve made it out of the woods they were pretty creepy in there I didn’t don’t really like it all that much I’m not a wuss but I just it just felt like I was being watched even though probably wasn’t

Probably just the animals but just a weird eeriness about it so back here again I bought you around the other side look and there’s that main section over the river Douglas and there is a little wear over there that looks like someone’s Garden to me it looks well manicured like a

Orchard so we wouldn’t have been walking on that side anyway and the other track bed I can just see you can’t but it’s just there in the distance I’m going to walk back up this side now and show it you from the opposite side what makes it more creepy as well

Is the fact the leaves are falling now is middle of October you see them falling all around and that’s what I keep hearing squirrel’s stting around as well probably preparing for hibernation To actually only saw these two V dos by chance when I was looking at something else and then ironically somebody sent me an email a couple of days later um telling me about them so it was really really weird I knew nothing about them the vcts that i’ can’t say I’ve

Really seen on social media that anybody really seems to put photos on so hopefully I can put that right we’re almost at the southern point now where we began looks like one of the archers have actually been bricked up down here on this side did I not notice that before from

The other side look been bricked up hasn’t it how weird it’s almost like it’s almost like it was built like that and then the central Arch has just been bricked that’s a different color brick in there so it’s like it’s been built to a similar height to that

One and then filled in let’s run around the other side again and have a little look I think that’s the no I don’t know if that’s the road or not we’ll have a look again these posts got to be from up top haven’t they surely I can’t see what it would be

Cuz they’ve got steel fencing along the edge but they do look like they fell So there is that brick up section there let’s run around I did come under here on the way down cuz I’ve just seen the wheelbarrow saw at the beginning so we did come this way oh that’s really weird isn’t it so this side there’s no AR at all but it’s bricked

Up it’s a solid brick section but on the other side oh look at that Sandstone there on the other side take note of that I run around it is oh you’re not really good to see it but it’s that it’s like an arch just there it’s bricked up it’s

Wider H maybe that’s where the 20 Arch name comes from and that is the 20th Arch and it’s just not included in the count there’s the wheelbarrow again so what we’re going to do now is get back to where we began which so that’s the way we came

Through it’s got all that decay and Rubble let’s go this way if we can just [Applause] so that’s nasty isn’t it so back at the start lot the very first Arch I’m on the foot path and the private road don’t think there’s going to be any way that I

Can get to have a look the track bed looks like it’s all security fenced off Too That was absolutely marvelous very very tricky and difficult and slippy I did land on my hand once but I managed to get the muck off so Douglas Valley viol 19 archers but is it 20 were they not counting that one that was bricked up and never really in Arch that could be

The 20 of arch who knows comment below on that one and also balls hay vdal not much left of it locally known as the giant Domino’s we got close to it didn’t we saw the track bed and also it was very difficult to get the drone over

There cuz I couldn’t get anywhere to take it off nearby but I got a little bit of footage so that’s it thank you very much for watching please like subscribe comment below any more suggestions for up here in the Northwest and I’ll come back again and

We’ll take a look at it see you in the next one bye-bye I