Nelson Railway Station in the 1960s

This week’s photo shows us another rare Nelson railway scene courtesy of Nelsonian Ian Rushton, of Bentley Street, who captured this excellent view over a half-century ago.

By Geoff Crambie

Published 25th Jun 2013, 10:00 BST

Looking back towards Nelson Railway Station in the distance, with the mighty “Victory V” works chimney just beyond, here at this point in time powerful steam locomotives would breathe smoke and steam all around as they raced along the rails.

Note in the left foreground (signal in up position) is the huge goods station where tons of freight would arrive and also be despatched every day of the week. Look carefully far centre where the 1893 Nelson Station signal box number 278 can be seen. This replaced the original box built in 1876.

I have fond memories indeed of this L. and Y. box number 278 (closed June 1969) for here 50 years ago in the hot summer of 1963 I trained as a British Railways signalman. They were some of the happiest days of my life.

Nelson British Railways