The Haigh, Aspull & Blackrod Vintage Ploughing match was held today at Brinsop Hall Farm, Westhoughton. Having passed the sign on the A6 (right), I was curious and went along.
The competition is divided into six classes: trailer ploughs, vintage hydraulic, classic, novice, juniors (13-18 year olds) and Ferguson tractor & plough.
More photos are available on my flickr account.
Expect fun and games in the next few weeks as Blackrod Bypass will be closed northbound from the junction with Manchester Road into Blackrod and the junction with Station Road (see map).
Bolton Council’s roadworks bulletin is currently listing the closure dates as Monday 26th September to Friday 11th November.
The diversion is through Blackrod which already struggles to cope with traffic in the morning and evening. Southbound traffic is unaffected.
The closure is required to complete the resurfacing work that has already been carried out on the section of bypass to the north of Station Road.
You will have probably seen the following image forwarded by email, with a caption about ‘stupid builders’ or ‘lack of forward planning’.
A number of forum discussions have placed the image in various cities but this is in fact in Manchester, UK at the junction of Quay Street and Lower Byrom Street, and the accusations of stupidity are unfounded as the following pictures show – the bollards are removable. The key can also be seen in the second photo.
Following my posts on Blackrod Station being treated as a poor relation to Lostock Station, it now appears that, as a category E station, Lostock could be set to lose its ticket office.
Oddly, a category E station is classed as one that is staffed and handling more that 250,000 passengers per annum. By contrast, Blackrod is classified as category F1 (unstaffed with fewer than 250,000 passengers). With 388,000 passengers served, this classification justs makes the lack of a ticket office even more ludicrous.
A full list of stations and their categories can be seen here.
