Hindlow to Crewe 

For a viewer from North America, this is worth it just for the use of semaphores and tokens on an operating line! Brilliant!

Another beautiful video.

My favourite way of relaxing! Thanks again. The social history of the railways is a bonus.

I split it up in 3 sections of about an hour each. During each section I pedalled about 18 miles on my hometrainer enjoying the landscape and your remarks during the ride. Great exercise material for an octogenerian! Great camera, too!

A fabulous video showing parts of the Buxton area that are not seen by many people.

Wonderful video and a great archive piece for future generations. Unlike the majority of other 'cab-ride' videos, you expertly point out all of the places of interest (and pause to highlight the items we should be looking for). This is now my number one RU-vid channel, Thank you sir, from a frustrated "wannabee" freight train driver.

Once again thank you Don. I’ve been with the railways for 24 years, and a driver (locomotive engineer) for 22. This has been in the US and Canada. It’s neat to see how things are done in the UK. I can’t wait for the travel restrictions to ease so that another visit can be made.

Another satisfying Saturday evening picture show.

I just feel asleep and woke up to these videos overnight.

Watched the whole trip this time and was interested to see our old local station Cheadle Hulme at 2:28:55. On the 28th of May, 1964 when I was almost 3 years old my mother was driving us to the station to pick up my father who had just arrived from Manchester. As we were approaching the railway bridge there was a crashing of bricks and lumber and my mother exclaimed "Oh dear!". One of my oldest memories. I had witnessed the "Lolipop Express" accident in which two children and a teacher on a special excursion were killed. My father helped evacuate the other children. The line speed had been reduced due to bridge construction and the train involved was coming from the left at excessive speed.

Enjoyable video, passing my home station, as caver the drainage issues in Dove Holes tunnel are interesting. The tunnel broke into a number of cave passages during its construction, most active water carrying passages which due to the westward falling gradient of the tunnel had their flow taken to the Goyt and then the Irish Sea whereas the original flow emerged mostly at Wormhill Springs beside the Wye. It's postulated that there is probably an extensive streamway cave system in that area waiting to be found.

Quite fascinating video - so very different from our American and Canadian train system from what I have seen. Our freight trains tend to be much longer, especially out west where I live. Our coal trains can be miles long with a half dozen traction units. So seeing this is very different from our videos. Love it!

I really enjoyed that. I was a tipper driver running out of Dowlow mainly and often wondered where the trains went. I was expecting to watch the first half hour and ended up watching the whole video!

Your videos are so interesting, with all the information, too. I watch them while doing my exercise bike, makes a boring task so much more interesting while allowing me to listen to a Spotify playlist. My late dad would have loved these videos.

Another excellent production! It was one of your videos that caused many memories with travel on the 1722 Manchester Central to Buxton calling at Chapel en le Frith Central and Peak Forest behind Jubilee 45705 Seahorse on two days in August 1965, my first office after training at Romiley as Area Supervisor and later at Crewe for a period of Assistant Area Manager. All wonderful times!

Just found this and gotta say this is the longest vid I've watch ... and well worth it! Thank you! What I noticed especially is that there are no at-grade crossings! Sooooo different than here in the u.s. Good on y'all! In my small town the trains have to blow for about 10-15 crossings. But you get used to it and don't hear it anymore. Also, I see that graffiti is universal. Unfortunately. Again, thanks for this video. I learned a lot and wish my sweetheart was still alive to share this with.

I often have them on in the the background just for the sound track whilst I work - nice atmosphere :)

Don, as always a cracking video very informative and well captioned. A fascinating insight into freight working.

Excellent production as always! Thank to all concerned!

An excellent video. Why are these railway videos so addictive and hypnotic?

Thank Don, very interesting,

Fantastic video. Very informative as well.

Should you have the time, would you give me, and maybe others, what are the forces that are exerted too come to a gentle halt? Are all signals far enough apart for this to happen? Or is the drivers rout knowledge is vital, to avoid spads? I notice that many of your comments are from knowledgeable. I do enjoy your your tours, many thanks forvso much detail; mant thanks, picture and voice timing, make the watching timeless. Thank you, Patrick Speaight

Nice video! It might sound strange, but this train’s length is around that of some local jobs here in the USA; heavy hauls here are starting to reach 4 miles long.

Beautiful video

Lovely. Enjoyed it.

i Fell asleap while watching a video and boom i suddendly was here

Another great video. Thanks for living my dream for me. Keep safe and take care.

Really good video that shows alot!

Another cracking video, very enjoyable. It's interesting what you said about the tunnel or not a tunnel at Crewe. It also applies to the Tube, such as the Circle line were they just 'cut and cover'. When they did the electrification of the GWRML from Paddington to Wales, they had to lower the bottom of Box Hill Tunnel by 24inches to fit the electric overhead cables. When you said about Dove Hole Tunnel had problems with water, the Severn Rail Tunnel had a problem with an underground fresh water river, which they called The Great Spring!

Ying ying ying. What a cool job! Do you hope more of our goods are carried by rail freight in the future? Seems like a no brainier compared to loading up lorries

The DC generators used on these engines can be used as motors in other industry. I used to do maintenance on a 2500HP motor used to run a recycling plant. It is sizeable...and loud.

Great video as always, with such stunning scenery in the Peak District. The engineering involved is staggering and I hope isn't taken for granted by passengers where they share those sections with the freight route. One thing though. In one of the captions you stated that the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway became part of the Midland empire. Is that right, because I was always under the impression that they renamed themselves as the Great Central once their London Marylebone route was built in order to reflect the increasing ambition and scope of the company, rather than give the semblance of only a regional one? I think it became part of the LNER after grouping, rather than the LMS which it would have done had it been part of the old Midland company.

Very nice video.....🥰🥰💓🥰🥰🥰

Thanks a lot for this video Don, I agree with you about graffiti just idiots ruining a beautiful countryside. I lived in this area years ago for a while in Buxworth and remember the rail tracks across the road from where I was staying in Brierly Green. A great loco, what a job.

It's nice to see there's still so much 'Green' left along our Railways. Despite the growth of sanitised concrete. New lines and facilities are good, but so barren.

Just had to watch this again. ;)

#thumbsup nice work, thank you for sharing

Previous comment relates to the Earles Sdgs - Basford Hall light engines vid, not this one! You Tube had moved on to the next without me realising it - so much for route knowledge!!

Hindlow to Northants then... but not as the crow flies! :-)

I guess the new/reused 69s will run out of Buxton hope you get a chance to ride in one for us all

Why are there two sets of AWS ramps at 2:32:28 and 2:32:40 in the Up and Down Fast and why do many of the "AWS" ramps not generate a signal in the cab...e.g 2:46:48? Are they not, in fact, AWS ramps? Intrigued! :) Again, another brill video covering track I've always wondered about. Thanks!

Great video. I'm fortunate to have a two-screen set up on my desktop so follow youtube and google earth at the same time. get a good reference as to where you are on the route.

Wow, I'm exhausted after that. Something I've often wondered. How does our driver get back to where he came from? In fact, how do you get to and from that signal box in the middle of nowhere?

Another great video. If you ever get chance to do a Drax power station to Tyne docks I'd love to see it.

The dock and pw access ramp at 2:32:30 just north of Handforth Station marks the location of a siding serving the long gone former REME Tank Repair depot some half a mile away to the left. Overhauled tanks would be driven to that spot via a reinforced roadway and loaded on to the 1940's equivalent of "warflats". Having been vacated by the MOD, the Cooperative Wholesale Society used the place for warehousing non edible products until the structures became life expired, whereupon the site was cleared and developed for housing.

Want to ask about the boxes around stockport and heaton norris junction. Are there still people working in the boxes?? Also are some signals controlled by them and are some automatic via computer? I use that route every week and see a lot of signal boxes in that area. Didnt know some colour light signals still had human control.

What a privilege to travel these tracks put down with hard labour by an army of navvies. We don't know how lucky we are in 2022. Keep up your great work.

Great to watch from Sydney Australia! Well done! What was the siren at the 50 minute mark? Was it Emergency services from a road nearby or was it from the loco (opening a door you shouldn't?)

Another excellent video. Thank you. I totally agree with you about graffiti on rolling stock. This is a very poor advert for our country as it travels the network. An influential organisation should take this up at a national level and force our MP's to actually do something beneficial. It just seems to get worse.

Ive worked with 11kV33kV up to 300kV, I cant believe 25kV does not spark to those girders, especially in damp weather.

Don, thank you, as always. Is there any possibility / are there any plans for reducing the length of this journey by adding some new links between the various lines?

Hi Don, thanks for the video. Can I ask why the direct route to Stockport can’t be used then a run around behind Stockport station? All those extra miles and it still involved one run around. Very informative as usual, great insights into freight.

Thanks for this Don. Great inspiration for a visit to a part of EnglandI don’t know well. And my girlfriend can enjoy the spas while I retrace this route! One question… You say this service has to take a roundabout route to come into Stockport from the north and be facing south heading for Crewe. Why can’t it come in from the south and then the have to loco run around to head back out facing south? Thanks.

Only one thing to say SSSI interlocking takes 2 minutes to drop out mechanical interlocking is as quick as the signalman can pull the lever.

Hi Don Thanks you once again - a another really interesting vid. Awesome railway construction. Google calls that area Peak Dale but the signal box says Peak Forest ... (which is not far away I guess). Once traveled from Manchester Central to Millers Dale on that line in the early 60s. Strange now those 2 lines from Buxton area towards Manchester have survived even though they cover so much ground together almost as far as Stockport! How many trains a day leave the area carrying stone?

Kinda sounds like an SD70ACE freight locomotive from North America

hello don do you know if any of the lines in this video are due to be electrified in the future? another brill video and history lesson ty

Why so much AWS going past Tunstead ?

Thank you Don for another great video,hope you and family are well? You pointed out your home, so where is your booking on point?Kind regards

Sadly your reference to HS2 at about 22 minutes is probably no longer applicable due to our present esteemed leader pulling the plug on the Manchester link.

Do you get chance to ride the 66s throug Bingley towards Carlisle I'd like to see that one

Jus curious are u the driver

So how did you travel from Crewe? Walk to the main line station?

I surfed in here by accident. I generally don't do any form of "train-watching" at all... But having just drifted in, I've left it running... I just wanted to say, I still DAMN Dr Beeching; Not because he wanted to prune and close lines which were uneconomical as such.... No, for the wanton vandalism of not moth-balling them but having them pulled up!!! I cannot get my head around WHY! And the other thing - those caught vandalising trains and railway sidings should be given the correct materials and made to paint them to bring them back to the way they should have been left! The vast majority of the rest of us are SICK AND TIRED of living in the detritus of their "tags". Rant over.

56:28 What's with the frequent beeps on this section?

How do u do ur pov videos and I seen on or channel u post a lot of other train POV what company do u work for

How are you able to be in the cab and film this

Thank you so much for one of the most interesting & informative videos you have made.

Hi, this part would think I am in my home country The Netherlands if I wouldn't know better. Only the maximum speed signs given in miles would have made me realise this is Great Britain.

These videos keep getting better and better. Victorian railway civil engineering projects never cease to amaze and seeing them from the cab shows how epic they really were given there was no CAD or heavy machinery to assist

What an excellent Video. 👍🏻👍🏻 A lot of Informations about the Route and about what we see at the Moment. Really cool. Thank you for that. Greets from Germany...

Well done! I cannot tell you enough how much I enjoy watching these videos. Thank You!

Good old Victorion signaling technology can't beat it.🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Really appreciate the time and effort you must put into these videos. They keep me involved for hours. Many thanks.

WOW!!! I especially loved the Buxton part where we got so see parts of the network that us lesser mortals never get to see. The Great Rocks line was so scenic (I've seen it many a time driving along the A6) and the quarry looked like something out of a Bond Movie. All we needed was a couple of Russian tanks, lol. Well done Mr Coffey and friends.

This has to be my all-time favourite freight video, full of interest and excitement. I too, followed the route with my rail atlas. I grew up near Stockport and travelled to school in Macclesfield by steam train back in the 50s. Trainspotting was a hobby then and I took numbers on Stockport station, also being taken to Crewe where I spent time on the platforms. I became keen on hiking and have had many walks in the Peak district and around Buxton, observing some of these stone quarries from a different angle! So I know that particular part of England quite well and it was fascinating to explore the single track freight only lines too. Great scenery from the high vantage point of a loco cab and fine weather all contributed to a brilliant video. The historical detail which you provided along the way was a bonus. Thanks!!

As a lorry driver who has spent the last 42 years delivering all over the Uk it is very interesting for me to see the railfreight side of goods transport and i recognise so many of these places and bridges etc .Well done for bringing this to us and yes bulk goods should be on the rail wherever possible but I understand its limitations in last mile ( or a bit more delivery) The Goverment wants all diesel locos gone by 2040 really? they gotta spend a few trainloads of cash on infrastructure,my bet is it wont happen.

Excellent captions. Don Coffey for king!

Don, as know my background in transport this is my area the A515 or A6 even the A523 and seriously sick of heavy freight on our roads and this is heavy freight. Secondly new houses in Buxton cost 350/400k+ built with local stone, do me a favour please. After that rant great upload and thanks.

Hi Don, once again thank you so much for your splendid videos, sitting at my computer, I have virtually travelled all around the UK and all this while we are still in lockdown in New South Wales, so although you may not realise it, you're a blessing in disguise, I reckon you have `helped` lots of people who are going through the same experience, many thanks from Australia.

Snacks at the ready! What a superb cab ride! All I can say is wow! Absolutely terrific! Another tremendous video!! Loved where we were in the quarrys and Peak Forest, it was interesting to see 67005 there and where it was stored, I remember catching it at the bottom of my garden, route learning for the RHTT season it was. Very enjoyable, inspiring, interesting and just wow! I can see how they shunt round Peak Forest now and the Signal Box, thank you! I loved the token machines at Buxton and the points change too! Excellent in every shape or form! What more could you want!? A perfect example of why I recommend your excellent channel! Job well done and top class as well! Great work from you! I also loved the whole journey through Guide Bridge and then down to Stockport, I can see where the freights wait now! I loved the 'Its another Buxton to Manchester Piccadilly trains' I see them every half an hour past my garden! Really majestic this was! Nice to see Crewe and the yards there! Well done! A very enjoyable 3 hours! I love how you can hear the power of the 66, very atmospheric! Look forward to the next cab ride! Really enjoyed, thanks for sharing! Keep up the fantastic work! Take care, stay safe and well, keep up the fantastic, inspiring and enjoyable videos we all appreciate your time and effort into them! Have a great day and all the best!

What a wild region ! And a surprise: Freightliner is busy also in Germany by carrying Limbstone from Scharzfeld (Part of the town Herzberg am Harz) to Wülfrath (near Düsseldorf), using Class 66 or 67 and about 20 Lorris named EAOS.

Hi Don, a couple of model railway viewers of yours recommended this one to me as I'm modelling a stretch of this line as it heads out of Buxton down the Wye Valley so found it really useful. Many thanks for sharing. I did a video from the ground level as part of my planning and its great to see it from the drivers perspective. many thanks and all the best, Paul

Great video, the locomotive you drive sounds very similar to our EMD SD45-2 ,known as the 'porch' here in the USA ,I absolutely enjoyed the cab ride.

Thank you Don for one of the best videos I have seen on heavy haulage thanks again

Wow! A working token system! There were similar ones before in the Russian Federation, but they have not been used for a very-very long time. Thanks for the sharing. 👍

Thank you for enabling me to be on the footplate. A great experience and very informative commentary.

I'm not even a trainspotter, but I spent my formative years in the UK, and I've since become a bit of an anglophile. I've always loved British Iron -- Nortons, BSA's, Judas Priest, etc, so this just fits the bill. :)

The "tokens" are exactly the same as our old "Staff" here in NSW, Australia and with the CCT operation nowdays, they have very few operating "Staff Sections" ----- BTW, love your videos Don.

Thank you so much Don for this splendid video, once again I am continually amazed at the amount of information you manage to input into your videos, I am seeing freight lines I only could have dreamed of when I was trainspotting, it all makes for a thoroughly splendid couple of hours, and also a great thank you for the many hours you put in to produce such great videos.

Another great video Don. It was good to see the 'Independent Lines' round the back of Crewe Station for the first time in nearly 30 years, and also to see Northwich - Middlewich -Sandbach, which is a route I never worked over. I can vouch for what you say about the frequent weather disparities either side of the Pennines - I distinctly remember leaving Man Vic for York with a class 45 and 8 bogies as a 23 year old 'passed man' on one of my first driving turns. Glorious sunshine on 'our side' of the hill - dense fog from Marsden all the way to York! Certainly tested your route knowledge! Keep up the good work.

Just discovered your channel and subscribed. A big thanks for the information provided throughout the journey. Excellent!

Hi, I have a question. These very old rails are 100s of years old in some places, right? How can they still handle such modern heavy trains like this? Are those wooden sleepers? Is it that they were built so well back in the day or do they get constant maintenance? Also as others have said it's AMAZING to see how advanced they were with railroads and makes me proud to be British because we were the first industrialised nation with the earliest industrial railway system and it seems they built it to last. Also: A lot of people in the comments seem to want to flex about the US railway system but they forget that most of those lines are very modern with modern trains and huge industry in mind. Britain pays the price for being the first country to fully industrialise because for example, like our water piping system, most of our infrastructure is very old as it was pioneered before any other country. Considering the US is physically enormous, it makes sense to use extremely long trains to maximise freight throughput and cost. So it's not really comparable and it sort of bothers me that some folk comment just to flex about US railroad system lol.

Really enjoyed this . Many times have i passed through Buxton heading to Sheffield and drove under the railway bridges . Never seen a train using them . Amazing to see from the drivers perspective

Don Coffey, the class 60 (60 096) used to be owned by Colas, but GBRF bought all of them from Colas - even though most of them are still in Colas livery! Only 002, 021, 026 and 087 have since been repainted into GBRF colours. 60 026 was repainted into the livery of the leasing company, Beacon Rail Leasing.

Wonderful & Well-Done Vid. I'd never seen token system done before, as its not practiced--that I know of--here in the US. Wonderful hilly terrain in this vid as well. We call aerosol cans of paint, "spray-paint" cans here and almost every train--even unit coal trains--looks a bit like a "rolling mural" of words & multi-colored artwork (wonder how long those traincars have been sitting in order to be painted-up like that)? Buxton--with spas & medicinal waters--sounds like nearby Hot Springs, Arkansas, which has the same (you may care to do a search of Hot Springs, Arkansas). The famous & infamous have frequented the spahouses of that town from the 1800s through today. Great vids, looking forward to more.

Great video with informative captions. Really enjoyed it. I understand about the ads and have no problems but I was starting to get concerned when I was nine minutes in and on the third ad break!! The prospect of three hours with ads every three minutes wasn’t attractive. However it settled down after that, thankfully. Keep up the good work.

Limestone is also used to filter sulfur from the gases emitted at Drax Power Station (Before they started to burn Biomass) and still used coal.

2300 tonne? Is that about 2500 or so US? For decades the standard US train was 100 cars, and if a heavy, 10,000 to 12,000 gross US tons. It does not sound like dynamic braking is being used. "Y" tracks are an essential part of US rail operations. Most yards and many junctions have a "Y.'' Many are capable of turning an entire train of any length around and heading back in the opposite direction. And the EMD's, being two-stroke, rev up faster, more responsive to throttle, and simply has that engine sound that is like music to this old ex-railroader, son of railroader. As far as vandalism such as tagging rail-cars, as far as juvenile mischief, not as bad as driving loud, souped-up motor vehicles as fast as possible, which a lot of people do in the USA.