A closer look at one of Britain's forgotten railway oddities 

More in the works, plenty of history left to explore from the last 400 years or so of railways in Britain!

Glad you enjoyed it

Short sightedness combined with a lack of clear direction for what kind of service a nationalised railway should provide! The use of electric vehicles on our roads, will not reduce congestion.

@@AdventureswithTrains damn Beaching is all I can say. Good luck to you Sir. Keep doing what you love.

@@christiantamminen8998Thanks! I see Beaching as Judge and Jury, while the transport minister was the executioner!

@@AdventureswithTrains But Beaching had all those shares in Tarmac! :) keep doing what you love 😀

​@@AdventureswithTrainsall said with hindsight and through rose-tinted glasses. Beeching was given a clear mandate, to make the railways profitable. He was not asked to consider socially needed lines or the hardship closure would mean. The majority of the lines and stations cut by the Ministry of Transport were lines that even the Big 4 considered economic liabilities. The four lines in the 1930s serving Whitby are a prime example of this. In the mid-1930s the LNER asked a researcher from Leeds University to look at their lines and report back on their economic viability. The researcher came back with a damning report on the lines to Whitby pointing out that these lines passed through sparcely populated areas with limited freight exports making these lines expensive to operate and maintain. Looking at the first to close, the line from Whitby to Loftus which closed in 1958, passenger figures had peaked in 1926 and had fallen year on year (they went by thechalf-hourly bus and then by car instead of waiting for one of the four daily passenger trains). The line had no freight exporters east of Boulby ironstone mine and that closed in 1934. It's a similar situation for the other 3 routes, all but 1 of which were closed. The surviving line remained open to allow school children to get to school in Whitby from the various villages along the Esk Valley line. Beeching and the Ministry of Transport just completed what the LNER started, and the same is true for many of the other lines closed. As for the short-sightedness, how long is that in years? It's 60 years since the report was published and I that time we've had 2 major financial crises (the first hapoened 2 years after the first Beeching report was published and only ended after 2 years and the Pound being devalued by 14%), a couple a major recessions plus at least 1 minor one. None of these economic problems were expected by the people in charge of the country. Whilst I accept that after 60 years there are cases for some of the closed lines being reinstated at the time of closure they could not have seen the need for reinstating them in the distant future.

Thanks for your comment! According to the sign near the spot, installed by Norfolk County Council, the 'Themelthorpe Curve' was the sharpest bend. Not being familiar with rail track geometry, I am unsure if this makes any difference. It is also my understanding that the Gotham Curve, was part of a standard gauge industrial railway system. The 'Themelthorpe Curve' linked two former lines built to carry both passengers and goods.

The tightest curve on a standard gauge railway still in use is the curve on entering Crimple Viaduct in Harrogate from Leeds, the sound of the wheels of the L.N.E.R. Trains on the curve can be heard from a long way away.

@@AdventureswithTrains Ah - "sharpest bend" not "tightest" as you said in your video. "Sharpest" means the greatest change in direction (in this case about 180 degrees) over a short distance, whereas "tightest bend", means the smallest radius of curve. Looking at old maps I measure the radius at Themelthorpe at about 260 metres, so not all that tight.

@@Nastyswimmer thanks for the clarification in terminology, I did quantify it though, by saying 'if not on the whole of the British network, then certainly within Norfolk'.

​@nickbannister775 LNER express trains are better than Pacers. At least HSTs and their replacements have bogies which can swivel so the axles at either end of a carriage are no longer parallel and therefore they follow the curve. In contrast, Pacers have fixed axles so the wheels at either end of a 20 metre carriage have to remain in line and they make a godawful screeching noise, even at the very low speed limit for the Crimple curve.

Thanks! Will do!

What a coincidence! I was a track engineer (based at Bournemouth ACEO) and relaid the Northam curve about 1982ish for the St Denys - Totton resignalling project. I was based in a portakabin at Northam junction. If I remember correctly the curve radius at Northam was 200m just reaching the requirement for a check rail. I then moved to Norwich for the Anglia electrification at Norwich DCEO and had responsibilty for the Themelthorpe curve! which by the time I got there was in the process of being lifted. Plenty of sharper curves about but not many on a passenger route. Each Engineer's office had a curve register listing the radius/speed of every curve, now replaced by the"five mile diagrams" in a lot of places.

@@petes6814 Probably after that resignalling that it became bi-directional Pete unless it was before too? I used to be a BR guard before becoming a driver and working with a Waterloo driver we hit a pushbike on the curve with a Pig (442) on the UP. The driver put a short circuit bar down and I phoned the signalman at Eastleigh (pre CSR). I told him about the circumstances and that the driver had put a bar down and that he would remove the bike from under the front bogie. He said that he wanted to run a couple of trains by first so after checking with the driver I said OK. 25mph with very short signal sections of course, a train approached from behind us and stopped at the signal. Due to the curvature it looked like he had stopped at the signal on the DN on the reversible. In the opposite direction a slammer approached on the DN and I thought 'OH SHIT!' I gave him a red from my Bardic and he came to an emergency stop. Driver jumped out, Alec from Eastleigh, someone I had previously worked with with. He said 'what's up?" I said 'train...your line' He said 'nah, that's on the UP, it's the curvature. Makes it looks like it's on the other line.' Nice bloke, he was alright about it. Better safe than sorry. I also found it funny if you were going DN into P4 at Soton and a train was leaving UP from P3. Two sets of points into P3 but the closest ones made it look like you were going to have a head on collision in this situation. Only experienced it a few times in 31 years and 20 driving.

No I have not, I hope to visit some railways in Wales soon though!

Thanks for your comment!

Thanks for your comment! Would that be considered more of a junction, rather than a curve or bend within the route of a railway line? According to the sign near the spot, installed by Norfolk County Council, the 'Themelthorpe Curve' was the sharpest bend. Not being familiar with rail track geometry, I am unsure if this makes any difference. As I said in the video, the 'Themelthorpe Curve' linked two former lines built to carry both passengers and goods.

I'm 20 stones. Does that make me a big Boulder?

@@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne Likely not. You've got legs.

@@Stefan_Boerjesson A boulder with legs.....how unusual...

Does it? I was taking a closer look at something local to me, that is the sharpest 'curve' in Norfolk.

I was wondering how long it would take someone to recognise it!

Thanks for your comment! It was my understanding that the Wensum Curve was built to do away with the need of express trains to Cromer and Gt Yarmouth to reverse. It has a speed limit of 20MPH, and is still occasionally used by trains entering Crown Point. The Themelthorpe Curve on the other hand, was built at a time when railways especially in rural Norfolk, were being closed and lifted. 468 yards in length, it had a 10mph speed limit to prevent freight trains from derailment as the curve was so sharp.

Really? I put it down to my mum naming me Thomas, going hand in hand with Thomas the tank engine popularity peaking on TV.

​@@AdventureswithTrainson track with that comment .... oh what's the point really ... shut up now ..... oh might as well sleeper it off now ..

I think there is an element of truth there. That and probablistic chaotic mechanisms such as lava lamps.