It’s 60 years since the last steam loco was produced at Horwich Loco Works and to mark the occasion Horwich Heritage Society staged an exhibition.
The exhibition paid tribute to the golden age of steam locomotive production at Horwich Loco Works between 20th February 1899 (when the first loco, Sir John Aspinall’s 1008, rolled out of the erecting shop) and 27th November 1957 (when the last steam loco BR Standard Class 4, No.76099, left the Works).
During those 68 years some 1,830 steam locos were constructed and 45,000 repaired.
It might have been the end of an era but it wasn’t the end of steam at Horwich or of loco production. For the next seven years, until 1964, a further 5,000 steam locos were repaired and 169 diesel locomotives were produced.
After that, however, it was largely a matter of repairing diesel and electric locos, carriages and wagons before the Works closed on 23rd December 1983 after 97 years of operation.
The closure was a devastating blow to a town which had been so dependant on the Works, but fortunately new sources of employment came along shortly afterwards with the Middlebrook development and Horwich is thriving again.
Unfortunately, it is almost time to say goodbye to most of the Railway Works premises, which have been an industrial estate for the past 30 years, as they are gradually being demolished to make way for 1700 new homes on Rivington Chase.
The Society hopes that sufficient heritage will be retained in the new development to remind future generations of Horwich’s wonderful contribution as one of Britain’s six major railway towns.
Time passes… the Works closed 34 years ago, so if you were 30 years old or more when it closed you would be retired by now. If you were an apprentice at the Works during the steam era you would be in your mid 70s. So, as there are fewer and fewer men and women left to remember the age of steam at Horwich, it is all the more important to remember and celebrate it while we can.
Horwich has a remarkable railway legacy which needs to be preserved and passed on down the generations.