Donkey line relic snapped up by £220 bidder
Date published: 07 January 2009
It may not look like much, but this much-valued piece of Delph’s heritage has sold for £220 on ebay.
The iron and aluminium baton is from the old Delph Donkey rail line, which used to run from Oldham to the village.
It is almost 2ft long, and lettered on the side with “Delph Junction Delph”. It was passed between train and signal box to ensure only one train at once was using the single-track line.
There was a signalbox at Delph Junction on the Stalybridge to Huddersfield line, and a branch to Delph was included in the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway and Canal Company proposals in 1845.
But the branch was not built until James Lees, of Delph, pressed the London and North Western Railway company for its construction. It was built to service textile mills in Dobcross and Delph with coal, but also took passengers.
It opened in September, 1851, but closed to passengers in 1955, and is now a country path used by ramblers and cyclists.
When the line was originally built, one coach was drawn by a horse, and the nickname Delph Donkey stuck, even though it was replaced by locomotives.
