Worst thing Nottingham ever did closing Victoria station far better positioned than Midland station. Remember traveling to London in the late fifties via the great central, a straighter and faster line than the midland mainline. Beeching has a lot to answer for.
Brilliant video - I remember the line so very clearly from the 60s when we went spotting at Grantham. must have travelled over it 7 or 8 times. Still got my ticket Derby Friargate to Grantham August 1964.
This is brilliant - I clearly remember all the route from Derby Friargate to Nottingham Victoria in the 60's on our way to Grantham for a days spotting. The sad part is that it has virtually all been built over, so all we're left with is our personal memories and photographs.
My dad was a fitter but in the mining and power industries. I was told at school that there was no such job. When we went to register his death I said this to the registrar and she said it was a perfectly acceptable job title.
i can remember taking the train from Ilkeston north station to Nottingham Victoria when i was a kid as though it was yesterday, shame there"s hardly any of it left
So strange to think that I once used this line as did many to reach the East Coast resorts like Skegness (Skeggy) from my home town Derby. Such a pity its gone, would have been another useful route between the West Midlands and Nottingham.
I’m reading the wonderful book, Electric Eden, and there are many references in it to folk songs. It’s a joy that so many of the pieces music in this book can be found on RU-vid.
It looks like you recorded the screen while manually scrolling and occasionally adjusting the direction. GE will do this automatically and far more smoothly -- have a play with the "Tour" feature. Click the button at the bottom right of the "Places" list. The default speed is far too fast, but there is a setting in the preferences top slow it way down.
Thanks Marc. That was brilliant. As a young lad I occasionally managed to get to Nottingham Midland Station for trainspotting but never managed the Victoria. But then there was a bridge over the Midland station where the line from Victoria went.
I did use Nottm. Vic. and just once, on a 'special' went from the old GN station (now Virgin Fitness) on the curve into Victoria. I can just glimpse the short tunnel into Victoria as the tram curves off the rebuilt Colin Street Viaduct to take the road into Lace Market.
Not really a shame, the housing and industry provide habitation and work for many people. Shazam says the music is Whispers asmr freedom meditation by Dawn Harrington. Who knows if that's right!
What memories and really can't beleive how it's so built over now. I also remember going to Pinxton from Kimberly on a bitterly cold winters snowy day and onwards from Ilkeston to Friar Gate, Derby. Many, many thanks for the excellent video.
Absolutely amazing piece of history. My Grandfather worked in the shunting yards at Colwick/Nottingham after the war,so bring a little nostalgia to my day! Cheers for memories 😊
Well done Marc - that’s amazing. I’ve often wondered about the exact route, including the spot where the line branched off at Foxfield. What a great little line that must have been.
Am I missing something? I can just pick up my phone or tablet and just do the same thing? Absolutely no information. And this gets 6k views. Geez some people are easily pleased.
It’s an abomination that this and other railways have disappeared, they would be so valuable to us now and a way we could get the numbers of vehicles off the road.
A bit of raised embankment easily spotted* in Oakwood near Bishop's Drive/ Earl's Crescent (Oak and Acorn Pub) Wouldn't carry a Wessie, though...........(You probably know that, anyway..)
I am a roving rambler, a fitter to me trade I can fix you anything, a camshaft to a spade I can fix a dodgy gearbox or mend a broken tread Decoke a Leyland engine while I'm standing on me head So shift,boys,shift, do the job and draw your pay When this road is finished I'll be moving on me way I'll clean me tools and wrap 'em in a pair of oily jeans You'll always find me working where you find the big machines I've worked in far off places since I left the coaly Tyne I work among the heavies and I wear a roving sign I keep the tractors on the job, a-turning up the soil And I've followed me nose around the world by the smell of diesel oil So shift,boys,shift, do the job and draw your pay When this road is finished I'll be moving on me way You'll find me where the tractors are, on roads or hydro schemes Playing the lousy nursemaid to a pack of big machines
Excellent video and the background music gave it poignancy. Incredible to think that construction of the GCR was completed little more than a human lifetime ago, and yet much of it has been obliterated forever.
HS2 could have saved much money had the GC main line of 1901-1967 been retained. It possessed no level crossings and was built to the Berne loading gauge.
Fascinating piece of work. Amazing how time and nature swallow up these old lines but if you look hard enough there's an old remnant of embankment here and there. This footage gives a great sense of the overall geography - well done. Let's hope there'll be more of these.
I never knew that they had turnapulls in the British isles. I have spent my life on the centerline in America. Most of the past few decades as an engineer, the first years as a laborer. Love the song and identify with the sentiment.
Interesting but also distressing. Torn up and built on without a scrap of foresight about the future. Could have been so useful today instead of bloody rails to trails for cyclists and people to let their dogs shit all over.
