I am indebted to Alan Young for a number of the images in these articles about the Micklehurst Loop. This is his drawing of the Loop which appears at the head of his article about the Loop on the Disused Stations website. It is used with his kind permission, (c) Alan Young. [7]
During January 2021, my wife and I walked the majority of the length of the Micklehurst Loop from Stalybridge to Diggle. This was the goods relieving line for the main Stalybridge to Huddersfield railway line. It had been hoped to alleviate congestion by making the mainline into a 4-track railway but the geography mitigated against this and a route on the other side of the Tame Valley was chosen instead.
The most plastic-polluted riverbed in the UK
The most plastic-polluted riverbed in the UK
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Raw sewage that scientists say is “laced with microplastic” is being released into UK rivers routinely, according to a study by scientists at the University of Manchester.
The researchers found that one site on the River Tame in Greater Manchester was the most plastic-polluted riverbed in the UK.
BBC News
By Victoria Gill
Untreated wastewater routinely released into UK rivers is creating microplastic hotspots on riverbeds.
That is the conclusion of a study in Greater Manchester, which revealed high concentrations of plastic immediately downstream of treatment works.
The team behind the research concluded: untreated wastewater was the key source of plastic pollution.
The water company that operates along the river the scientists studied said it didn t fully accept the findings.
image copyrightJamie Woodward
image captionResearchers compared their sediment samples to water they collected from sewer overflows
Lead researcher Prof Jamie Woodward from the University of Manchester told BBC News that, at the most contaminated site in the River Tame, where the team carried out their study, there were concentrations over 130,000 microplastic particles per kilogram of sediment on the riverbed .
14 hours ago
Human remains discovered in woodland next to the M6 in the Black Country have still not been identified, police have said.
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Police at the scene in Wednesbury where remains were found. Photo: SnapperSK
The bones were found near Junction 9 of the motorway in Wednesbury on the evening of April 12.
Police have confirmed that officers were still trying to formally identify the deceased – after the remains were found in woodland.
At the time officers said they suspected the remains had been there for some time .
In an update provided this week, a spokesman for West Midlands Police said: The death is not being treated as suspicious, and we’re still trying to formally identify the deceased.