Me back again! Now had chance to watch this all the way through....whoever made it has put a lot of thought into it and has had access to parts of the railway not normally accessible to the public. Fantastic editing to produce such a choreographed trip out and back....obviously filmed on different occasions then spliced together......fascinating to see the Trans Pennine DMU at a stand at a very peculiar position in New Mills Station, wonder why that was? And the haunting shots at the end, very moving. What a boon this railway would be now to the whole area and local economy, so typically short sighted to allow it to be built on. They should all have been mothballed, not ripped up. Tragic.......but at least we have these memories. This has made my week, thank you so much again for posting.
I'd like to clarify the origins of this. The footage was originally shot by Ken Rangeley, and all credit to him for the thought and effort he put in to this way back then. Ken asked me to arrange for the transfer of his Super 8mm footage to video, so that he could show it in the window of his shop for May Queen. As I recall, it got a good response and Ken then asked me if I could edit it so that he could provide DVDs for the folks who had expressed an interest. The sequencing is as Ken shot it - I made a few tweaks and dropped a sequence that Ken wanted to lose at the end of the original film. The result is what you see here. A labour of love from Ken (and just a tiny labour of love from me). Neil Wieteska
It was wonderful to find this. We moved to Slacks Crossing Cottage (now Clark's Crossing) in 1966 and I was only a kid, but well remember the trains that ran past our house (shown 2 minutes, 16 seconds into the film). Sometimes, on a Friday or Saturday night, the driver of one of the Hayfield-bound trains would stop outside our house and pip his horn to see if my dad (Clark Mellor) wanted fish and chips dropping off on the way back! We'll never recapture those times. I remember Ken Rangely well and am grateful that he filmed this - what foresight!
Used to love walking round Hayfield up Chinley Churn,Lantern Pike and Kinder Scout.Used the bus,the train had long gone.The bus stop at Hadfield was were the old Rail Station used to be!.
Fantastic film, thanks for posting this. I was born in Hayfield in 1963 and lived there until 1972...some two years after closure. It has been great to share this with my son as we walked the line a few weeks ago...sad pictures at the end, I remember playing on the empty station...nice times!
So the branch was shut somewhere around 1970? Wow...I'm surprised it survived Beeching only to have some other weilder of the railway axe give it the chop. Not that long ago either. A mere 18 years before I was born, and I'm now 35. I've frequently walked the footpath they've replaced this with during my childhood. Always kind of wondered about the railway line that was once there.
Amazeing footage , what a shame the branch shut for good after 102 years of use...a big credit to who ever made the filming and thanks for uploading..a sad ending..I bet the people of Hayfield missed this railway..
The end was unexpectedly sobering. I've walked along that route dozens of times now that it is a footpath, but I'd never seen the station buildings at Hayfield, or had any idea that there was a halt somewhere near Birch Vale. Thank you for uploading it!
Many happy memories of this line. Our playground stretched the whole stretch of the line as youngsters. Sad it went and wasn't preserved although the walkway opened up all sorts of new opportunities for exploration. Lovely video to watch, thank you for posting.
Thank you for posting this wonderful film. Although I didn’t know this particular line when it was working, it was so typical of the hundreds of branch lines which were swept away in the sixties and seventies, so a real nostalgic trip.
Thank you so much for posting, so nostalgic for me! I remember taking a trip from Reddish North, where I lived, to Hayfield about this time when I was 11 and kids could travel alone by train with complete confidence and parents didn't worry! I went just to say I'd been, as I'd heard the line was closing. Will post again, have to rush off now!
Not sure what year, i went to Hayfield with my dad and we walked up this road and came to the cricket ground.Seems like yesterday, felt sad at the end of your film xx
Lovely , lovely film of a place I regularly visit. Brings back memories of the special trip by train to the open air swimming pool c1966 and of Gloucester 100's which regularly ran the route. Really made my night - thanks again.
Fantastic to see footage of Hayfield as it was nearly 45 years ago. I was about 3 years old when this was shot and lived many many miles away in Cumbria but seeing this has made me nostalgic for the village I now live in. I guess that level crossing was just around the back of our house at the bottom of the cobbled road. Fascinating... thanks for posting it up.
The last piece of music in the footage is about as poignant as they come. I love this typical Pennine scene, with its Mills and homely Farmsteads. It shows an England of fragile post war prosperity. So much of Northern England is like this still, but the farms and small holdings are likely homes for well off city workers and some still catch the train to their desks in Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Bradford.
Lovely to watch this. The last minute or so is so sad to see. I was born in Birch Vale 1962 and went to Primary School in Hayfield. Like the earlier poster, this stretch of line was also my childhood playground in the early 70s after its closure. It was also my route to and from school in the village. Ken Rangeley, of course, ran the Newsagents shop on the corner in Hayfield's main street. Such wonderful memories. Thank you.
It's lovely to see history right there. I've cycled the Sett valley trail a few times now on my way to Hayfield campsite, it's nice to see the original history
Thank you for posting the video. It brought back happy memories of when I travelled by train to Hayfield in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I briefly knew the Byle family who had a hardware shop on the corner of Church Street and what is now Fishers Bridge. With other teenagers from the village I remember going by train to the cinema at Romiley. That's gone too. So long ago!
Such a shame that this short branch line closed. I always thought that, being so near Kinder Scout, it would always remain open for walkers and tourists....but increasing car use was just around the corner. The regular bus services to Marple (where I lived at the time) and Stockport were the nail in the coffin. Actually, I have a feeling that it was the upkeep costs of that tunnel that ensured the end of the line?)
Oh wow this is treasure, I remember the crossing that brought you down from the back of ollerset avenue to the grave yard path, we used to pull up the boards so nobody could cross it. Bloody kids hey.
I can't remember travelling on this train route but I do remember the station at Birch Vale and many of the old landmarks - how sad this is no longer running. Thanks for sharing Martin :-)
Great piece of film! I was just checking RU-vid to see if there was any film of the Hayfield branch - and there it was! I agree that the line should never have been closed - it would probably be doing quite well now. (Look at Glossop - they wanted to close that in 1968 too!) At least it wouldn't be too hard to put back compared with some closed lines.
just spent a few days on the campsite in Hayfield, we cycled along the old track to New Mills, the trees have grown so that it's hard to see some of the views on the video! what was the station in Hayfield is now a bus station! well worth a visit the views upto Kinder are stunning.
Was brought up in New Mills and vaguely remember some remains of track as seen on the end of the video what was to become Set Valley trail. Ran along that trail a few hundred times and back!
Nice historic film - I cycle along the former route of this line, now the Sett Valley Trail and it is fascinating to see some of the line-side buildings in their original context in the film. Sad that ALL of the old chimneys appear to have gone though.
Amazing footage of the route that should never have closed. And now in it's place is a bus station and a tragic housing development that should never have been built - Legoland! Very sad.
I used to travel that line with my friends to go hiking up Kinder Scout. Exciting days. I recall getting off at Hayfield where we saw the notice announcing the closure of the line. Very sad. We used to walk through a few ginnels from the train station into the village but years later was a bit shocked by what seemed to be a freeway running almost through the village. I know it was designed to cut down on traffic and you get used to it I suppose but it still was a bit of a shock. Anyway, after the trains had finished, we had to get the bus that stopped at the terminus outside the hotel/cricket ground. Not as good as the train but that's gone too I see.
Malcom Hough you are not kidding given the price of travelling by local rail these days. The line will be gone through under use before common sense prevails.
Hi Alan, what the signalman passed to the driver was called a token, it was his permission to be on the single line and had a safety function. It is an unlocking device for the lever frame for the signals in the box, and when it was passed to the driver it prevented the signalman allowing another train onto the single line until the token was returned and given up on the return journey.
