I was on duty at Uffington SB when this was filmed- I remember thinking 6Z12 was an unusual headcode for a quiet Sunday shift; great to see the line from a first person perspective for once :)
Oh excellent. You’ll maybe know our regular member Tim who signs several boxes including Oakham. He’s been on one of my Class 185 simulator days for signallers at Ardwick. Contact me via messenger if you’d like to attend.
The sound in the tunnel at about 30 minutes sounds like the sort of mad non-musical stuff I used to create & save as a memory patch on an old synth I used to have.
Hi. Thanks very much for another great video. Just one question - regarding the temporary(?) speed restriction just south of Loughborough Station, I didn't see any speed-limit signs or hear an AWS warning. Does this rely on the driver's route knowledge?
Yes, correct. Network Rail issue a set of fixed instructions via a document called a NR3973 which are a list of speed restrictions that apply to heavy freight trains. They are not signposted so drivers need to refer to the list when driving a route. The last one we came across was on Harringworth Viaduct in the Tunstead to Bedford via Corby video.
Hi Bruce. I think you’re referring to their hopper wagons which are loaded under a chute and discharge through the bottom but the box wagons in our video are loaded by a clamshell excavator and it gets them surprisingly clean.
I had spectacular views of the Hope Valley flying a K4 vintage glider from nearby Camphill Airfield in September 1971. Travelled by Derby Lightweight DMU from Sheffield to Edale before getting an unexpected lift to Great Hucklow. Also walked the Pennine Way in Easter 1969, obviously starting in Edale. Lived in the Pennines in 4 different locations over a period of 22 years. Your videos of this whole Pennine area bring back so many memories of my early years!
I have just scoured the info about the “return trip” but have come up blank. Has it been posted yet? This video of the outbound trip was simply wonderful!
Yes, sorry Michael, I probably didn’t explain it well but it’s actually the attached that goes back via part of the route but has come from the same stone terminal near Ely. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EFnzTGuu47U.htmlsi=DKt1RjcWhHl9pfj-
Hello, Don. You asked, so damn the torpedoes, here goes. First, as an American, my opinion of "The Beeching Issue" is worthless, and it's none of my business. I acknowledge this. As a lover of British Railways of ALL kinds, I will say that I HAVE an opinion, regardless of its worth. Dr. Beeching was hired to generate a list of all the stations and railway lines that were either not generating or losing revenue, and recommend their closure. Did he generate hatred, YES. Did he put people out of work, YES. Did he do the job he was hired to do? YES. I think the closures were already in progress, and he just accelerated the procedure. That being said, I hate him for the loss of the Somerset and Dorset. This opinion is a result of the data I have been presented with, and is subject to change, provided you have sufficient evidence. I welcome any rebuttals, provided they are unemotional and civil. Oh--Norman's Bank is named for a person called Norman, who owned a financial institution 😁🧐. Prove me wrong. Cheers, Don
Good to see you Chuck. I think it’s safe to say that the root cause of the Beeching Report was the car. The public were losing interest in the railway and we were entering an era of personal transport being a status symbol. The vultures were waiting and the road lobby moved in. It’s a shame so many rural lines were lost - my local branch to Hayfield went with them but they were haemorrhaging money at an alarming rate. I think British Railways Property Board went crazy selling land that would make reopening a route virtually impossible. It’s a shame but it’s progress I suppose.
Good to see you Richard. I think it took about three hours to upload then another hour or so to finish processing and checking. There’s no rushing these long videos.
That was awesome. Thank you so much for posting this content. Getting to see such footage and yet still raise money for a good cause can't be a bad thing.
While they look nostalgic and all... I still find it hard to understand how there are still semaphore signals in use on lines in the UK....! This is a real nice scenic trip... love the cab views and thanks for sharing...
Great Video as always Mr Coffey, but i have a question. With two thirty seven's working together you have roughly the same power available as a single sixty six. With the two thirty seven's working together that power is transferred to the track via twelve axles while the sixty six is transferring the power by only six axles. isn't "wheelslip" a problem with such a heavy load especially on a wet track?
Apparently, if you put two 37s in multiple, they don’t add up as you’d expect and there are losses. The only time you see two 66s double headed are on the occasional Jumbo which is 4000 tonnes.
Don, thanks a lot for this video. I enjoyed it a lot as I do all your videos! But hopefully you will know this:- I noticed that the signal with position 1 route indicator into the loop at Bamford has been plated DE. Do you happen to know what DE stands for? Thanks a lot, Alan.
Congratulations on that fantastic donation ,Don . A question if I may ? The track side signs that look like a national speed limit sign on a road , seem to have many aspects . Are they based on semaphore signals ?
I can’t think which you mean. There are small signs with a diagonal line which are temporary or emergency speed limits that were terminated earlier than published. I hope that’s what you meant.
Great video Don. It always amazes me how fast these freight train go these days. I remember as a kid they used to crawl slowly making a squealing noise as they went.
It still seems weird to me that when my parents were teenagers living in the Greater Manchester area the first miles here were still part of a main line headed to what I always knew as the GMex centre rather than Manchester Central. I suppose we usually think of progress moving forward with time, but not always.
The Hope Valley Line was effectively the line that ran into Manchester Central. The nearest you can get now is the Metrolink Line into Deansgate Castlefield. See the East Didsbury to Rochdale video.
Dr Beeching was bought in by the government of the time to make the railways more profitable. Yes... BR at that time closed a lot of lines. However, the 2nd part of his report bought in InterCity travel and containerised freight trains.... the precursor to Freightliner. Unfortunately, there was a lack of foresight from BR when the lines were closed and sold off...
Thank you for that. I now better understand the impact of the changes on our local line. As ever, Don, excellent video and captions. Thank you to Vinny, the driver.
Although I've never asked the 'toileting' question in the comments, I have to admit I was bursting to know the answer. So thankyou for relieving my curiosity on that one Mr Coffey. 😁
Very impressive video. I watched a few months back and never got round to leaving a comment! Dave was fantastic with his knowledge and passion. I do miss the class 43s and the roar of the 91s but i like these Hitachi trains, their acceleration is excellent and their versatility to bring intercity/high speed services on non electrified stations to towns such as Hull is a positive things in my eyes.
Impressive how this speed of 125mph is maintained on Victorian-era routing, and that there's an upgrade to 140 in the works. As much as I bash UK rail for it's shortcomings, you have to commend the 19th century engineers who built this, and the following generations who maintained and upgraded this stuff to support speeds currently sustained today.
As a kid we used to "explore" the lines around Hazel Grove and later in life I used the service mainly from Manchester to Hazel Grove, but sometimes all the way to Buxton, so I was surprised the train didn't stop at every station. Is this a fairly new development or has it always skipped some stations?
It’s something they’ve done for at least 10 years but they now “skip stop” so they miss Dove Holes and call at Middlewood and the next hourly service does the opposite. They all stop at Furness Vale now.
Having worked that branch when it had 2 tracks which reduced the risk of being held on the main line either way, wouldn’t it make ultimate sense during the present upgrade, to close this very neglected’ branch with its very acute curve and sand drag and use Mirfield Stn as a passenger stop and change ends. Obviously it would be a problem for chartered specials, but regular services.? Thanks Don great video memories flooding back. Barry
The problem with that Barry is they’d need a crossover and wrong direction signals. They have talked about twin tracking the junction at Bradley Wood which would ease things.
It’s a common question. They basically plan ahead but they sometimes take advantage of a stop at a signal if it’s out of sight or they can retreat to the engine room with a container etc.
Thanks for the cab ride. My 2nd cousin 4x removed George James Crosby Dawson was Chief Engineer of the North Staffordshire Railway from 1886-1914. He would have travelled the same route on his work in the area as he worked in the main engineering shop at Stoke and lived at Newcastle under Lyme.
