See the Leicestershire section of the M1 Motorway under construction and and scenes of the brand new motorway in use. See also busy roads filled with brand new "Classic" vehicles and London traffic in 1966.
Back in 1963 I worked on George Wimpey's Lutterworth section of the London-Yorkshire M1 Motorway driving a Terex earth remover. Sometimes, whilst loading, the machines skidded and had to be given a hefty shove by a Caterpillar D8 bulldozer. My time with Wimpey was a fascinating experience. "We Import More Paddys Every Year!"
I worked for Wimpey construction as a trainee estimator in 1971, left them 2 years later, then went back there in 1992. The estimating department was a complete joke, living 50 years in the past. Stayed for 3 months and wrote them off. In 1995 were gone, traded to Tarmac for a pound and formed Carillion who went bust.
what a truly stunning piece of history this film is . the sad reminder of cars and commercial vehicles of days gone by . the hillman minx and husky , mk1 cortina super , ford corsair and 105e anglia . morris oxford and austin cambridge . excellent footage of a mickey mouse cabbed foden wagon , in brooke bond tea livery . other wagons such as AEC , dodge, albion , and bedford tk , and ford d series also feature . thankyou for putting this on (-;
Thanks for your very kind comments. Planning in the UK has always been chaotic, not much different than the USA no doubt. In 1957 at the start of building the M! was projected to reach capacity of 80,000 vehicles per day by 1980. It reached 120,000 per day by 1961!!! Roads just generate traffic. Need I say more
totally cool video, I remember when they tore up the forest in leicester forest east to build this monster they called a motorway. One day we were climbing trees and picking damsens, the next day watching earth movers and cranes :(
I remember going down the M1 in Northern Ireland a week after it opened and never saw another car. Then I was told there was a terrible accident on the first day and nobody would go on it. Eventually I'll get round to uploaduing M! footage 1960 when the first bit was brand new.
My sentiments entirely. M1 was to carry 80,000 a day by 1980 - it reached 120,000 in 1961. Roads generate traffic!!! Thanks for viewing and your kind comments.
Oscar Wilde's remark that when the Gods want to punish us they give us what we want , applies here. I've found in life that it's often from the things we don't want that we most benefit.
Excellent video! There is an interesting article on the motorway turning 50 this month in Top Gear magazine - a must read if you are a car buff! UK motorways had a utopian feel about them when they first opened - nowadays they are generally loathed. It's the same here in the USA with the Interstate system, unless you are driving in rural areas.
No speed limit ,no traffic jams, but no crash barriers - loads of crossover crashes and littered with busted fan belts and boiling radiators. The cars weren't built for sustained high speed, cross ply tyres, no ABS. Those were the days???!!!
The comment about Markyate now being traffic-free (approx <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="450">7:30</a> in) is slightly odd given that it was already bypassed before the M1 opened.
Thanks for the kind comments. Nice to have a response from somebody who knows his subject. Did you notice that the in-car shots in Baker Street were from a MkI Cortina????
Not much I could of done it was the Yr I was born but I love the old trucks and cars and most if not all made in the great Britain I'll take every one of those mk1 cortinas and minis I'd be rich
Nice 'mickey mouse' Foden at 1,31..just before the continental makes started taking over and effectively closed down the antiquated British truck building industry.
Thanks for your comments. Two years ago I had to drag my caravan from Galway to Rosslare in a hurry --- you do need those motorways. But they tend to be the victims of their own success. Exciting days when they were building the M1 and the rest -- they were going to solve all our problems!?!
I grew up in the UK, so the M roads have always had a soft spot in my heart. I can remember stopping for snacks or lunch at various M6 Services throughout the Midlands. There is little point for that these days unless you need to relieve yourself! It's much the same in the USA of course. Only a few of the interstates even have proper "Services" (the toll roads like the New Jersey Turnpike come to mind). Yes the interstates handle far more traffic today than originally planned for!
Unfortunately the construction of the motorways spelt the death knell for the railways in general...and have never really recovered back to what it was.Very interesting piece of travel history,many thanks for posting. But back then all that empty road ahead...go on the motorways now and you literally take your life in your hands?
@Paspiedreamcast Yes, I know... I remember when thye first opened it (I think the Dartford Tunnel was open long beferoe the M25 was open all the way.) OI also remember when they built the Queen E II bridge.
Do you know the reason why that short little spretch of the M25 isn't motorway around Dartford? It's so legally, ANY motor vehicle can cross the Thames at that point, which is why a lot of obviously motorway-standard roads in Ireland are still signed "N" instead of "M" - as parts of these roads used the old road as a single carriageway and the old road literally doesn't exist any more.
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="331">5:31</a> Oh look, the now redundant hard shoulder “nah we don’t need a hard shoulder - they won’t notice if turn it into another lane....🙄”
I take your point about service areas - you need to take out a second mortgage to eat there these days and I can compare with your Interstates having toured the whole of Florida five years ago. The European model is better in some coountries - no enormous expensive gin palace service areas many miles apart. In France and Benelux they have stopping "Aires" every 10km with fuel stops every 20 - 40KM. In Belgium if you buy gas they have to give you free coffee by law.
True; but few shall ever exchange the private, warm, and now entertaining space of car transport, waiting for you on the driveway , for crowded metal carriages, to which you have to travel just to reach, ( often in a car ), un-airconditioned , sweaty-or-cold,dirty carriages, shared with often rude , always thoughtless people , bellowing misery, gossip, tedium, filthy-language into mobile 'phones, departing , ( if it does at all ), when IT wants , not when the traveller wants , only to leave you at a place near to , but not at , where you want to be ; from which you have to travel again : by road.
Why do so many film and early video tapes from this era, sound like they were made in 1930? even the BBC official stuff sounds/looks like it's been in the sea.
It's due to the Boomers going on strike all the time in the 1970s. The millennials dont go on strike as they're not a bunch of leftie lay-abouts like the boomers were.
The motorway killed the railways with the axing of some of it branchlines and the Great Central Railways thanks to Beeching and Marble, look at the states of our motorways today chocker block and now the UK Goverment spending billions to reinstate some of axes Railways lines. Big mistake.
