I really enjoyed this Video of the Elsecar branch. It is such a shame the railway hasn't survived, as if it had got down to Morrisons there could have been some extra parking available, and People could enjoy a trip to Elsecar. Hard to believe in such a short time how much the track bed has overgrown, it will take a long time if it ever does get started on again. We all live in hope.
Enjoyed this very much, some fantastic remnants left and that heritage Railway is fabulous, it would be really lovely to see it up and running again, just need a scythe, not sure about millions 😉 x
The decline of the mining industry in the uk started after the first World War was completely inevitable and we are now far better off without it. History is interesting but there is a lot of false sentimentality about the past.
Another great video . Thanks . A bit of a pointless fact but the foot bridge at Elsecar heritage railway used to be located at dovecliffe Station which I believe you covered on your worsboro incline videos . Keep up the good work ......
@@simonbartley3424 thank you yes the lady or wetdog actually told me that ! But totally forgot to mention it ! Far from a pointless fact ! Things like that facinate me too 😀! I wish I would have remembered to mention it and thank you 😀
Great stuff, I love how far you have come with your videos, Ashton my friend! It’s when you compare both you realise. Healy House tunnel is beautiful but eerie. Thank you to you both. X
Good video. The spring at the south portal of Netherton tunnel used to be directed into a tank from which engines were fed on their return journey. From memory I think the military vehicles stored at Healy House were chemicals maybe in the 1914 war and camouflaged. again from memory Alan Earnshaw's pamphlet on the branch suggested that trains of tanks were taken to Meltham to have gear box repairs and repaired on the trucks at some point in the last war. Thanks for the video keep em coming.
Really enjoyed your video. There is nothing on the NLS map to show a turntable at the tractor testing site. If one didn't know of the tractor testing there, it would be easy to mistake it for a railway turntable.
Great footage Ashton. Not sure if you've used it but railmaponline is a great site to use. I'm currently looking for an opening near hepworth pipeworks that comes off the pennine trail. Found some nice bridges.
@@anthoneyswiffen3160 thank you so much Yh I think the map at the start of the video is from Railmaponline Wooo I’ll have to lol at maps and go up see if I can see anything
I went wandering there as a child about 50 years ago😮. I think the filled in bridge was still there. Maybe this is what started my fascination with railways. You are doing a great job of documenting this❤. In the pennine weather. Tradgedy in that it could be of great use today
Unfortunately, I don't think that it would have much use today. The main revenue for the railways was goods traffic, so passenger traffic revenue would have been very small even back in the late 1800s and even smaller today. With the huge expense of keeping the line open, it would not be justifiable.
Have to agree that you are right. Road transport shut the railways. Some of this was political. I dream of an alternative future where private cars never happened. Then we would have had an amazing transport network... I can dream 😂. Holmfirth branch is a different story. The busses sit in queueing traffic....
Yes,absolutely! I used to enjoy travelling by bus when they were just off and away and not get clogged up in traffic and didn't wait at stops with people queuing to pay as they get on. Holmfirth would have a good passenger usage especially in the morning for work with through trains to Leeds and Bradford.
From my birth to going to university (1962 to 1980) my family lived on Bradley Road and went to the Primary School on the Bradley estate. The Anglican church was still in its old location on the other side of Leeds Road from most of the people (only later moving its operations to off Bradley Road) My very faulty memory is that the old church was near the former station and their were "station cottages" near the site. The station cottages were a Victorian row of cottages But my memory might be wrong on that. Cooper Bridge we went passed every Saturday to go to the market in Dewsbury or the library in Mirfield. So the bricked up arches were clear even then that there had been a station there. The Dumb Steeple was even in the middle of a roundabout too. This was before the M62 was built and opened when access roads were improved. I suspect that the Mirfield station which was a bridge based station would be similar to Cooper Bridge - if you want a comparison.
Thank you so much for this - it's really helpful, during my reconstruction of the LNWR Leeds - Manchester route in the 60's, on Train Sim. But the bridge that you mention at 11:23 is causing me some real problems... I know the Newtown Goods Line did stay open until sometime in the sixties, but only from the signalbox at Red Doles Junction, where there was a connection to the Up Slow LNWR line. From Red Doles Jnc to Mirfield, the line was abandoned in 1937. What I'm trying to find out is when that bridge - the one you mention, which took the old Midland line over the LNWR line - was demolished. As it was out of use for 23 years, I'm assuming that by 1960 - the approximate period I'm modelling it on, it had been removed. In a way hope so, because I can't find any photos of it anywhere, so I don't know if it was a small viaduct, or a metal girder bridge. I have a photo of showing the demolition of the Midland line bridge over Leeds Road, and that looks to be about mid 50's, as far as I can tell. If anyone reading has any info, I'd be grateful. By the way, the bridge you're standing on at that point is called Colliery Bridge. I'm assuming there was a mine there at one time, and on the 1930's OS map, there appears to be something like that between the old Bradley station and the canal, with an internal railway system that ran from a point just North of the old Kirkburton branch, right through L B Holidays Dyes, under the Midland viaduct, through the colliery, under the bridge at Colne Bridge Road, to the lock on the canal, near to Heckmondwike/Spen Valley Junction. The only OS maps I have are downloaded from National Library of Scotland and are mapped during the mid 30's, so much would have changed between then and 1960. maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=7.0&lat=52.67700&lon=-2.01970&layers=101&b=1&z=0&point=0,0 As I say, if anyone has any info on that bridge, I'd be really grateful.
Great video , the "ladder/" is a deer stalkers/hunters high seat , there is another vent shaft that IS fenced off where it has just sunk down about 40ft
Very interesting, just a pity the vegetation covers a lot of the ground I reckon there is a lot more hidden under there. Again excellent coverage and well researched.
The "wooden posts" on the tunnel sides are bat boxes. After closure the infra-structure associated with the railway was completely removed during 1959-60. Toft was the only true tunnel on the M&GN and was on a risding gradient to the west of Bourne, the first real gradient encountered by trains from the easterly direction. The spoil from the tunnel was deposited mainly on the western side of the Bourne to Essendine railway to the south of Bourne Station after diverging from the M&GN at Bourne West box. The area was known locally as "the Spoil Banks" and was a popular play area for youngsters certainly into the 1950's and 60's. I did not know that some spoil was deposited on the Spalding avoiding line between Clenchwarton and Weston. My grandfather came to Bourne as a fireman on the M&GN in 1911 and retired as a driver from the railway in 1952 on the closure of Bourne shed. Jim Lee, who fired to him transferred to New England (Bourne was in the New England "pocket" along with Spalding and Stamford East) and worked on the main line to KX in later years. We could hear the trains going "up the bank" towards Toft Tunnel as they worked towards Melton, in contrast to those coming down towards Bourne which had the regulator closed and the brakes rubbing as they coasted into the station. As an aside, I never saw an 8F at Bourne' but that's not to say they didn't appear. I would have thought they were a bit too heavy for the line. About maximum size were 4MTs, B12s and smaller types.
Thats scary - you were saying the water can get upto 12 feet in depth in the tunnel when bad, and then you showed footage of bricks that are clean a fair way up - and no Victorian rail tunnel has clean as new bricks - that suggests to me the water has cleaned all the smoke off the surface of the bricks - which when you study your footage - thats high.
Thanks for showing us the state it’s in it won’t be long before they seal it up for safety reasons, tbh looks extremely unstable. Great research and an excellent educational video.
You and the others are so brave Ash 😢😢Scary stuff.....Thanks for the Scary history, gosh the water under the tunnel, the water will help the wall to crumble
Now then lads a cracking video , been in there (both ends) to the full collapses this is now a very dangerous place to venture into as the brick faces falling you filmed shows , imagine one of the huge sheets coming down on you .
Cracking video ,walked through this one dozens of times as well as Brierley before it got filled in ,the vent cap coping stone are from when they were capped they just dumped the bricks down the chimney it used to be dry at the east end until they put that barrier up so i reckon they blocked a drainage pipe .
Thank you ! I’ve done quite a abit aorund Barnsley ! And I’m looking to cover more of The H and B once the vegetation dies down 😎 it’s amazing how all those lines connect at stairfoot
@@exploringthepastandthepres9793 Indeed there were a lot of lines round Wakey as well the rail maps do not do it justice at Royston where the sheds were the inspection pits are still there if you look closely
@@daystatesniper01 I did the Barnsley coal railway passing Royston But saw the midland line which I’d like to cover in future 😃 if you havnt seen my Barnsley coal series
Spent many a happy hour here as a kid spotting it was a very busy place with sidings full of coal wagons etc' and now NR are considering re opening this line lol
Hi,I’m of down there today and I been to hang man bring too it’s fun down there and last time I’ve been down i caught paranormal activity my emf reader went crazy
When we were young lads we were up there every evening in the early 60s, and there was a lot more to see back then, the Thornhills viaduct was open to walkers and it was a popular walk along the tracks with hardly any undergrowth !
