I live next to the former Hunts Cross to Aintree branch , North Liverpool Loop Line and it has some very well preserved buildings in the form of businesses and private dwellings including the Station building and platforms at the former West Derby station.
Acrow are best remembered for producing those large screw-jacks used to support buildings, especially during reconstruction. I think, even now, the generic name for these supports is "Acrow", even though the original company went into liquidation in 1985.
I remember travelling on that line in the early 1960s. As you say, it was a short walk across the yard from the Cambridge trains out of Liverpool Street to join the little railbus. I'd forgotten about Acrow Halt, but the station at Bartlow was familiar. I think some of the services used to terminate at Bartlow and go back down to Audley End, but the occasional one used to continue out onto the Stour Valley line and then reverse into the main platform for the rest of its journey to Haverhill. I remember the feeling of being deep in rural countryside - watching rabbits hop off the line into the bushes when a train trundled into their view.
I was born a stones throw from the Borough Lane bridge in Saffron Walden, I was the third generation of my family to work at Cleales Ltd, the local Ford dealership who bought the old station site and opened a new garage there in 1971. The weighbridge from the old coal yard is retained as a feature among the new housing too. Later I moved to Ashdon, and lived at the top of the lane that led to the halt. The coach body at Ashdon was GER five compartment second class coach number 342, built in October 1883. Sometime between 1902-1904 the body was widened from 8' to 9' and the coach continued in service until withdrawal on December 31st 1915. Soon after that date, the body was removed from the underframe and sent to Ashdon where the partitions were removed and wooden perimeter seating installed.
At the East Anglian Railway Museum located at Chappel on the still open section, the wooden jib crane from Saffron Walden goods shed has become a feature. Some years ago, one of our volunteer members was approached by someone from Cleales who were expanding their showrooms and found it in the grass and wondered if we would like it. Accepting the offer, we loaded it with a front loading little grey Fergie tractor onto a Transit flat-bed truck. The journey to Chappel was somewhat interesting with the crane sticking out either side a considerable distance! We also have one of the German built railbuses which was restored to operating condition a couple of years ago. No. 79963 featured on the last passenger train working when the service was withdrawn, and there are other photos and vids elsewhere. Great stuff - and thank you.👍
Another wonderful exploration! That former carriage at Ashdon really needs preserving before it's too late. Love the aerial work, really places you firmly in the current landscape while picturing the heyday.
Oh what a truly nostalgic journey you have helped me relive. Wonderful memories are rekindled of long ago family visits by rail from Liverpool Street to Haverhill. This branch line and family all sadly gone and very much missed. Bittersweet indeed! Thank you for posting!
In your introduction you describe the history which provides the fascination surrounding lost railways and I totally agree. What set me of was a local line, the Melbourne Military Railway, which was a branch between Derby and Ashby taken over by the War Dept during the war. Initially used by the British then the Americans in preparation for rebuilding the destroyed rail systems in Europe after D-Day, so many little stories associated with this one short line, it is truly fascinating. Thanks again for another brilliant video.
Once again, a sterling job in documenting the obscure history of these long forgotten lines. Rather sad to see the rapid deterioration of that signal box over the last five years.
Thank you for yet another interesting and well researched film, proving that even a short branch line holds many surprises. Certainly the big skies and flat fields remind me of a lost Essex childhood of which, unlike the railway, nothing remains apart from memories and a very few photos. Your videos are the nearest we can get to reliving the heydays of the branch lines, some of which I actually traveled on without realizing how fragile their future would be.Thanks once again, Mike.
Thank you for a very well produced video. It is a shame that the rail buses, which were supposed to save uneconomic branch lines, were not, in the end, successful. It is also a shame that the old coach has not been rescued and restored. Thank you again.
Thanks for this, excellent as always. It would never surprise me if the line through Bartlow towards Cambridge got reactivated at some point. Haverhill with a population approaching 30,000 is crying out for a rail link and putting it along some of the old alignment through Bartlow would be one of the options.
Coming from Doomtown (Haverhill) there has been several feasibility studies done about re-opening the line but the problem is circumnavigating the town to the towns expansion.
I saw the last passenger train depart. They should have run through trains from Haverhill to Audley End. Thank you for this. People like ti drive to Audley End station.
Whilst many of our rural branch lines may have been unprofitable, many rail systems around the world are unprofitable and only exist with government support to provide a transport system affordable for all. We did our country a great disservice when our rail network was dissected by the Beeching cuts with no regard for the future at all. Yet again a government solely interested in profitability not providing a service for the people for the country !
Excellent piece. My great-grandfather, a brewer and maltster, was Mayor of Saffron Walden in the mid-Victorian times. He lived at 'Farmadine' and the railway ran across his land. He had his own access to the station and a porter would bring him his ticket whenever he wanted to travel to London. The house 'Farmadine' is still there, but the garden has all been developed into the housing estate named after the house. The stained glass windows in the church were donated by him in memory of his first two wives. His third wife was my great-grandmother - and my grandfather, Archie, was born in 1879 when Joseph Lecand Taylor was over 70 years old!
Beautifully shot and narrated once again. If you fancy venturing further west, my local disused line - the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton railway - is worth exploring. Quite a few buildings, including my local station in Whitchurch and some fine red brick bridges, plus stretches of track bed still exist.
Thank you for posting this film it brought back lots of memories as a 16yr old that used to bicycle from Haverhill to Bartlow to watch the filming of The Virgin Soldiers "What excitement" for a boy. Also at Bartlow in the triangle of the old railway lies Bartlow Three Hills, a former Roman Burial Tumuli which we played on.
As a small boy, in the 1950's, I loved travelling on the 'Walden Flyer' from Audley End to Saffron Walden as the final stage of the rail journey from Sussex to spend all my school holidays with my maternal grandparents, who lived in Thaxted Road nextdoor to Walden Dairies. For me part of the magic disappeared when steam was replaced by the W&M diesel railcars. These days I can barely bring myself to visit Saffron Walden, what with virtually all trace of the railway removed and six decades of developments that have destroyed the beautiful town of my memories.
Another wonderful video, always a joy to watch - looking back on railways past. In my youth I was fascinated by the lost railways on the Isle of Wight. Spent many a happy time over there exploring and finding lots of clues to the long gone railways. Some times just standing on what would have been the old track bed, just letting my mind wander back a few decades to imagine the sights and smells that would have once been there. I live in north Devon now, and one of my local pubs is the old station at Blackmoor Gate. The original building is now enlarged, with the dining area now directly where the tracks once were of the narrow gauge line that once went from Lynton to Barnstaple. I line I remember you covered quite a while back now. So once again, thank you for such an interesting and well put together film.
Utterly fascinating as usual. The GER made their little coaches very well; there are so many all over East Anglia, some recovered, others slowly (very slowly!) rotting away. The pair at the halt on the branch look remarkably good given their age and lack of maintenance. Can't imagine Acrow were particularly impressed that their new build halt was forcibly closed just a few years later!
Congratulations! Another outstanding documentary that includes fascinating historical and environmental detail, balanced with just a little nostalgia! I wonder how the nearly 18,000 inhabitants of Saffron Walden feel about their two-mile trek to catch a train to London or Cambridge. No sign of a 'reversing Beeching' campaign here, presumably!
I think most folk there who commute consider the car journey to Audley End quite convenient, but it would have been great had their railway remained! Really glad you enjoyed the film!
The fact that Ashdon Halt's Great Eastern waiting room still survives today is absolutely incredible! Surely someone needs to give it a light restoration at some point, it still looks incredibly good!
A very interesting film. Back in the 40's & 50's my late father drove this line, along with the Stour and Colne Valley lines. I remember (vaguely) him telling me how sometimes he used to go to the loco shed at Saffron Walden early in the morning to get the loco ready for service.
Brilliantly made, and well researched as usual. I live in Scotland, so I have never been there, but throughout Britain and Ireland, so many lines were closed. I remember hearing about the Black Five was cut up in situ after the filming was over.
After I watched this enjoyable & well researched video, I noticed in the right hand column, the Saffron Walden Line 1961 Railbus journey video posted 5 years ago by the Alan Snowden Archive. The Great Eastern carriage is clearly visible on the platform at Ashdon Halt.
excellent commentary once again... i will say this using the music the way you do breathes life into the history of these old forgotten lines and gives, to me at least, a magical feeling of being there during it's active life seeing all the pictures and information and everything mixed together in a stunning representation of what once was... is just amazing to me... without these videos i would never know such smaller lines would exist and im glad i know now that regardless of how small a line is in the grand scheme of things... it was and still is a peace of history that has been remembered once more through your hard work and dedication.... i can not wait to see what forgotten line will come on the next stop of this grand adventure that is rediscovering lost railways!!!
Excellent. From December 1962 we moved to a house immediately to the north of the line between South Road and Thaxted Road and later I lived just to the south, where one night the Royal train was stabled. I occasionally rode the Maybach buses between Saffron and Audley End but have no memory of the steam trains. By a well known local landlord, I was told an amusing anecdote about the steam train crew. It was the practice of the guard to nip across to the local pub (Neville Arms IIRC) for a swift 'alf. The footplate crew one day ran the loco back and forth to give the rails a really good sanding. Spotting the guard returning they started off very briskly and with no hint of wheelslip shot off down the line towards SW leaving the guard swaying in the wind. I wish I knew the outcome .....
Thank you for yet another beautifully presented and narrated film. So pleasing to still find that some of the buildings remain in some sort of form or another.
I walked from Audley End to Saffron Walden a few weeks ago, and included a visit to the station. I was rather surprised the branch platform at Audley End had never been flattened, but I'm sure non-rail fans wonder why it's on two levels. Great drone shots, particularly as you can't really walk much of the line.
Interesting read about the Black 5, I knew Gerald Pagano as a customer of a place I worked. He had been a press photographer in Fleet Street and had moved on to running an antiques shop by then. He always seemed a very confident man, so I’m a little surprised he couldn’t raise the money to re-rail the loco.
I’ve been waiting for another video from you. It’s made my weekend. Absolutely glorious. I am happy to wait as it’s just so nice to see your editing and hear your narration. Polished is the word. We are blessed with your work about Railways and Jago Hazzard with his history of the tube. History is alive.
WOW! Another brilliant video. So well made with fantastic camera and drone shots, superb historical facts, great old photoraphs and a wonderful commentary. Can the carriages be saved before it's too late? Reopening the line? Unfortunatley I don't think it would be a viable proposition.
These videos just get better and better! Although I have no connection to the Saffron Walden area, I still found this very interesting and, as ever, the quality of the filming, production and the narration is very professional, thank you!
Thank you for yet another trip down memory lane! For two decades from the early 1990s, I lived not far from Saffron Walden, and often visited there. It was fascinating to find traces of the old railway line in the town and at Audley End Station and to imagine how it used to be.
Should the line re-open? Yes, probably. Needs a bit of input from the good citizens locally. Make a big thing of Saffron in Saffron Walden. It's not that far from London that chefs can't go and buy *properly* fresh spice. Make a thing of Audley End house. Find out how the Special Operations Executive worked. Understand why you wouldn't want their operatives tipping-up at your front door.
i really enjoyed this film , some superb relics still to be found too . my mate and i like to try and find fragments of wigan s many long lost signal boxes , once again , thank you as ever for all you do for us , top bloke , very best wishes from lancashire
First time I've come across your work. Am about to hit the Subscribe button with pleasure and anticipation. As a keen student of railway history in both the UK (mainly Southern Railway et al) and here in Victoria (Australia), I know I'm going to enjoy both catching up with your offerings to date and being among the first to view your forthcoming offerings.
Hi, Thank you once again for a wonderful reminder of the past,(We should rebel and demand the return of the railway s,) I look forward to hearing the past , All the best Brian 😃
Once again you have produced an excellent video and deserve congratulations. Alas! - like all your other videos there is a tinge of melancholia when we remember just how much has been lost over the years in our country and can never return. Sad.
Another great film, thanks..... I believe instead of widening roads for cycling lanes. Reconditioned old track beds, should be turned into cycle paths. I know Costains have done some. But there so much more out there......
I did use to live near a lost railway (Bedford to Northampton), and aired the fact on this channel, whereupon you fairly promptly made a film about it, a fact that bowls me over to this day. I dine out on it. 11:08 one of my hobby horses: preservation railways in England suffer a dearth of late Victorian and Edwardian two- and three-axle carriages such as those shown here at Ashdon. I think those actual shells are probably beyond rescue, but hopefully they can serve as a template for some enterprising railway preservationist to recreate a rake of Great Easterns with their compartments (here removed), varnished teak with gold lettering, brass fittings and slam doors. We have more of such carriages here in Germany, and riding in them is an unforgettable experience. You wonder why anyone ever bothered with cars.
@@RediscoveringLostRailways If I may say so with all due modesty, it made for one of your most beautiful landscape films. I also referred the mayor of Olney to the video in the hope of drumming up support for the rerouting of the new East-West line that way in order to serve Olney and to relieve the Marston Vale line, which is an awkward railway to operate. Shortly afterwards he approved a new Morrisons on the trackbed, which I took as cocking me a snook.
Wonderful. I suppose the nearest "lost line" to me is Stamford to Wansford, of which the track bed is clearly visible along with road bridges and station buildings at each end survive, to wit Wansford Road and Stamford East - although the M&GN at Bourne must come closer still.
The starter signal for the Saffron Walden branch at Audley End still exists. Also, the weighbridge is still in situ at what once was the saffron walden goodsyard.
Nice work. The aerial shots help complete the picture where the alignment is inaccesible on the ground. Really agree with your comment about getting out and exploring the remains of old railways. In fact, it is this very line (and the stour valley line) that triggered my interest in them. I was absolutely amazed when I stumbled across the remains of the carriage at Ashdon whilst on a walk a few years ago. My grandmother was in Saffron Walden during the war, and recounted the incident with the train being shot at, though the story was a little different.
I think it's unfortunate that this line closed, but with the Stour Valley Line also gone, the line wouldn't really have anywhere to go, even if it were still open. The part between Saffron Walden and Audley End could re-open and use a class 139 like the Stourbridge Town branch line
Thank you for your most interesting video- especially the then-and-now photo overlays, and with the green-line map marking showing old line path- ww2 fuel dump spur line- you can still see the round oil tank "shadows" on the ground. ;)
I quite like your videos! They are very entertaining and informative. However, may I make a suggestion? When you show before and after photos, can you please show them side by side, so as to make it easier to see what is different? I can still tell the differences, but sometimes its fun to pause and stare at them for a while and try to note every detail. Either way, keep up the good work!
Glad you enjoy the films. I take your point but the problem with side by side pictures is that invariably they have to be cropped or reduced in size some way. But I appreciate your view, thank you.
Your videos are always worth the wait; I loved the impression you gave of the German aerial attack with drone skill and sound effects! This one is a wonderful juxtaposition of archive photos and footage, and the modern environment. Thank you.
Enjoy the history of the lost lines. It would be fitting that the station carriages at Ashton halt to be restored one day. It would be a excellent tribute to the line.
Those GE coaches could be restored. There is enogh left for woodwork to be matched and replaced. All lines should have been kept as a strategic reserve and never built over or filled in. I remember, in 'Railway World, the Black 5 having survived to the every end of steam, becoming a film prop. It was cut up on site afterwards...the Malayan 'Emergency' was only 20 years before.
Excellent documentary again sir, very enjoyable and interesting. It’s interesting to note it seems the line terminii did not bring you directly into those stations, like Audley End where you had to come out of the station and walk a few steps to the Saffron Walden line. With only Saffron Walden station being the largest and only brick built station and the rest being timber built halts they can’t have been expecting much from the line in the way of passengers. A great piece of work though and one can appreciate the amount of work and time that goes into these videos. We look forwards to the next one.👍
Yet another brilliant and very well researched film! Ashdon Halt was a real eye opener with the former Great Eastern Railway carriages still in situ! Many thanks for posting! 😍👍
