Secrets of The Motorway - M26 

Hello! How the devil are you!? What a fun episode this is... of course the usual motorway nonsense but also a wonderful cameo from a special guest star. That cost me a fortune... be sure to like/subscribe and share the video. Special prize (no prize) for anyone who can work out what the outro song is and why it's featured in this weeks episode. See you next week for more Auto Shenanigans. x

You know you're good at making videos when I'm a dedicated viewer with 0 interest in roads😂😂😂

Love the bit with Ringway! 😂

Im a truck driver (lorry) here in the US and travel all over America. But I have always taken interest in UK highways too. I enjoy seeing the differences and similarities our two nations make when designing highways. 🇺🇲🇬🇧

I’m Canadian, haven’t been to the UK, or really care about motorways.. but i love your videos!! Between you and JAGO I don’t know why i love UK transport so much! thank you!!

“If you’re on the M25 and want to remain on the M25, you have to come off the M25 and then re-join the M25…” don’t ask me why but that had me in absolute hysterics! I blame tiredness.. 🤣🤣.

I believe the council have rejected the plans for the new services, which means Kent is still woefully lacking in facilities, despite promises from the Government to get more facilities to encourage people to become HGV drivers. Even with Ashford Truckstop doubling in size they still have to turn trucks away on many nights. As for hold ups at Dover, they've been going on ever since I've been doing European driving some 20+ years now. In 2015 it was chaos for weeks when My Ferry Link had to stop trading (something to do with P&O complaining about its links with Eurotunnel) and loads of French workers lost their job and blocked Calais. The locals got all upset they couldn't use the M20 and demanded action, the government then said they would build a holding area for some 4000 trucks just off the M20, which seemed a sensible place to put a holding area for HGv's using the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel, but the locals forgot all about the M20 being closed for weeks in 2015 and complained it was in the wrong place, basically they want a holding area somewhere near the Shetlands.

Haha Manchester Ringways 😂 Should have done a tie up with Map Men too 😊

Excellent stuff as always, with a team up with Ringway Manchester. All we need now is Geoff Marshall, The Tim Traveller and the Whitewicks for a full house. :-)

As an American, it's pretty fun to see that other country's highway systems have as many quirks and "one day this will be completed" sections as we have.

In the 1990s and early 2000s I used to commute from Chatham to Croydon, and then Chatham to Heathrow. In those days, the M26 was relatively unused. After leaving the hell-hole that is the Medway Towns, and the short but congested stretch of the M20 at Maidstone, the M26 was a chance to relax for 10 minutes and enjoy (snatched) views of the North Downs before joining the M25 car park. It's not as free running now, and certainly not an opportunity to relax.

I lived in Wrotham when the M26 was built. One of the major benefits of the M26 was that it took traffic from the A25 which starts at Wrotham Heath and goes to Westerham and beyond. In the 1960s and 1970s the A25 was a congestion nightmare. People in Westerham literally cried tears of joy when the M26 was opened. I am not exaggerating. The other advantage of the M26 was that it provided a shorter route westbound (for traffic on the M20) as opposed to a route which would have meant joining the M25 at Swanley. So there were very good reasons for building the M26. It was actually built at the same time as the section of M20 that goes past Wrotham (up Wrotham hill). A million tons of chalk were taken off the hill to lessen the motorway gradient and the chalk was used to make an embankment for a new Wrotham bypass which was constructed at the same time.

@RingwayManchester Brilliant, obscure reference or is it? A day or so ago I looked up the 6 DUGA TX/RX sites known as the 'woodpecker' back in the day because of a Ringway Manchester episode. One still standing near Chernobyl. And in 1966, who owned a radioset on the mono radiaogram the size of a settee in the front room capable of receiving Radio 3 in stereo? Probably only the Director General of the BBC! Fantastic episode about another short/strange motorway that almost makes sense when you explain the drunken bureaucracy that caused it and the sebsequent traffic jams. Right, I've got to empty my Pollution Control Valve.

That RingwayManchester knows his stuff!

I just love the cameo by @RingwayManchester, it's just magic !

Secrets of the Motorway AND Ringway Manchester IN ONE VIDEO??? I must admit I'm moderately overwhelmed

I’ve had a good week , thanks for asking 😉

I love the Ringway Manchester Cameo

Interesting motorway the M26, when you showed the map of the ringways project it shows the M10 and up until 2009 it was a motorway and got downgraded following the widening of the M1 near Hemel Hempstead, you should make a bunch of episodes called Britains lost motorways, I'll give you a clue, used to be 3/4 motorways in central London until 2000

John……. Whatever it is you are on, please take steps to maintain a reliable supply……. it clearly is of great creative benefit…… 🥳🇬🇧 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I don't even live in the UK and I find these videos extremely fascinating.

I found myself repeating almost everything you said about the Wrotham tower and nodding in agreement. The amount of times i had heard this info from my late Father growing up its embedded in my mind until its my time, too. So nice to see home again ive not been back to the Dartford area since before my nan died. Its almost like this video has a message that im going to have to return soon, despite me knowing already what i dont know is when. Needless to say thanks John for that little bit of a reminder of something good i once had with the man i never got to reconcile with.

Just want to say hello to my mate Jules from SA. I just met him last week for the first time in 10 years and we found we were both subscribed to this channel!

Bloody pirate radio jamming your signal! 😉

Hahaha wasn't expecting Lewis to appear here.

An excellent Cameo. Two great tastes that taste great together. Enjoy the rest of your week Mr Shenanigans

Nice to hear Ringway Manchester appearing in a Ringways vid!

Great video. It was interesting how many references you could make to different ringways in one video, including the Manchester one. I actually sent Lewis some links to BBC research papers about Wrotham's role in FM development a month or so ago, but it seems like he knew it all already!!

Loved the Ringways Manchester bit 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Ha! The Ringways Manchester cameo was great!

As a Radio Ham, my ears perked up when I heard you using a clip from Ringway Manchester's ultra boring chat about the Wrotham Hill transmitter tower and the antennas on it. It all makes sense to the radio nerds, but not the car nerds. Mind you, put me inside a car engine and I'm kind of lost. I can hardly count the lost years of commuting from Essex to Crawley in the early 1980's using those Motorways... Fun!

The lack of eastbound junction at m25/26 is locally rumoured to be due to the govt resident living in Chevening House in the 80s complaining about the potential rise in traffic noise ,there was also talk of HRH Prince of wales and his new wife moving into it. There’s a good secret junction a little further along on the M 25 that was the turn to the now defunct Brasted station site.

This is probably one of the most complicated to explain motorways, and all that for a glorified slip road... Well you made it interesting so thank you again 😊

Had a great week this week, having passed all my exams on my course! This video topped it all off :)

That cameo from @ringwaymanchester was amazing! Bravo!

Never driven a car, but these videos are both fascinating and informal. Keep up the great work!

A genuine pleasure to hear Lewis @ringwaymanchester popping up on here. Both of you very different in your offerings yet both just as appealing to me. The joy of having eclectic interests.. Another great vid Jon - cheers. 👍

😂 love the Ringway bit , amazing how many of us watch his channel too.

Patrolled those roads in the early 90's nightmare if you needed to go the other way in a hurry! When I retired I used that road almost daily to travel from East Kent to the airports. It is rumored that one of the supports at J2a has organic matter as well as concrete holding it up.😉

Great to see a crossover episode with two of my favourite content creators - thanks!

"Fun fact for the pub quiz coming up after this traffic passes" - it completely v a n i s h e d ! ! ! ! 😱 Thanks for the entertaining look at another of our amazing motorways!!

This is unironically becoming one of my favourite weekly series' on youtube.

You manage to tuck in some of the best channel cameos.

The junction makes for a weird quirk (I believe). Assuming you drive North from Hastings on the A21, and always stayed in the right lane on the motorway sections….. you’d end up in Dover (eventually)!

5:40 Ringway Manchester X Auto Shennanigans is the crossover I needed. Thank you! ❤️

I lived in Northern California for a time, and there is a small piece of "interstate" highway, located completely within the northern part of the state, called the I-505. It's sole purpose is to connect the north/south I-5 with the east/west I-80, even though the two interstates do cross and interchange in the state capitol of Sacramento. This is because the I-5 does this strange thing where it sort of shifts over, running east/west for a bit, routed in an odd direction to and through Sacramento. To prevent HGV drivers coming out of the San Francisco Bay Area from having to go all the way over to Sacramento to get to the I-5 heading north, the I-505 was built as a bypass of sorts. It makes sense when you look at a map from high level, but it does seem odd to have this one "short" section of oddly numbered interstate out in the countryside, passing through no major city or large town.

Might as well have done an M621 and called this the M250. Fantastic video as always!

Love the way You present what appears to be completely bonkers road planning decisions and explain how we ended up with some proper crackers junction layouts. Never expected to hear Ringway Manchester doing his radio mast information thing on Your channel :-) Keep up the good work John. Your wombling around the road network finding interesting places in the countryside is appreciated :-)

What's hilarious about this series is that during the 70's, motorway news filled the airwaves for years. 50 yrs later, Jon.

Love the Ringway Manchester bit really good

Nice to see Lewis make a appearance. Wicked vid as always dude.

Heeeey!! @Ringway Manchester!

Heh, funny to see you do my own local routes, drove this today. Glad you showed off some of Knole park too, truly beautiful. Used to feed the deer there as a kid

The m26 only being accessible one way kinda makes sense. 99 percent of traffic thats coming south and would use it can and do just jump on the m20. Love your videos man, you crack me up. And teach me stuff I didn't know!

Hello from St. Louis, Missouri, I've never been to England or any other parts of the UK but I find it interesting to see how another country handles building and maintaining of their major roadways which we call interstate highways here in the US.

Good stuff as usual, excellent cameo from Ringway Manchester, lol

Wasn't expecting to hear Ringway Manchester over here! 😂

I know its not a motorway but the A21 down to Kippings Cross (where it becomes 2 lane) is a very interesting piece of road

“Imagination required” …..when showing the empty field 😂 👍🏻

Nice injection of Ringway Manchester.

This was the best episode yet, I got so excited a little bit of wee wee came out 😮

A mile or 2 south east of the Chevening junction is Dunton Green; along the High Street you can see the remains of the disused railway line which Westbound, became the alignment of the M25 southern section

Ringway manchester has finally arrived

Cheers John!

Love a bit of Ringway Manchester :)

Enjoyed this video especially as I live fairly close to Junction 2A and I never knew it was a leftover of the ringways project. Thanks for creating some truly interesting videos.

"imagination required" love it!

Nice cameo from Lewis there

You mentioned that the M26 is basically a glorified slip road - if you look at the driver location signs, the M26's carriageways aren't marked up as "A" and "B" like usual, but instead use J/K/L/M, which are usually reserved for driver location signs on slip roads!

You are an absolute hero Jon! Got hooked on your videos when you did the all the service stations series (I can't blame you for forgetting Bridgwater!), and this is equally as addictive. Keep up the good work. And yes, I did have a good week, I hope you had a good week also!

loved the sound clip of "ringway Manchester " lmfao

Thank you. Never travelled the M26, don’t need to know thanks to your excellent video. Looking forward to the M27!

Another great video John and I’m not surprised that your subscriber numbers are growing so quickly. Looking forward to next week’s episode already!

5:00 Was worth tuning in just for this.

Hahaha... Ringway Manchester there as a cameo! Jago Hazard and Paul and Rebecca Whitewick next week along with Geoff Marshall? Are my interests so predictable? Infrastructure I guess... :-)

haha love the crossover with ringwaymanchester another channel I watch in a similar vain... no interest in radios or radio towers etc but I just can't stop watching.

Really enjoy how you highlight local points of interest along the routes as when driving them you are going too fast to notice. I appreciate the hidden gems you uncover and look forward to seeing more! Thanks for your content so far

Loving the Ringway Manchester upstage! Just need a collab with Jay Foreman and Geoff Marshall too and my life will be complete.

Cracking intro. Absolutely love the humour in these vids as well as the interesting content. Fast becoming a firm favourite with me.

Who knew you could find so much to say about a motorway with nothing much to say about it! Originally the Motorway was supposed to be located further. north. But the council bods and upper class who lived in Trottiscliffe at the time complained and put it bang next to the house we currently own. At 7.15. Anyway another informative vid. Well done.

You ramblings have quickly become part of my Sunday. There are many a bit I've seen when travelling over the years and I'm a curious so and so, some my say a bit nosey, you vids give an insight into what I many have passed or seen. 👍

Another motorway used by yours truely … albeit back in the early 90’s … love it when you touch on ringways … I’m probably in a minority but do think a trick was missed with this project! I know you’ve reverted to Jay Foreman in the past for a video on Ringways, but I would love to see your take on the project (it would be 10 plus years on from the aforementioned video!). Loving your work, Jon, keep it up!

Thanks John, I live in Otford and have always wondered why that duel carriage way is there.

This video popped up on my home page and watched a bit of it and know I am definitely going to love watching any new content from this channel. Just subbed

Love hearing Ringways Manchester 😂😂 brilliant

Excellent!! A new video!!

Brilliant !

You need a blue cape with a white M on it “Motorway Man” 💪🏼💪🏼 Yet another glorious episode

Another fascinating video and I enjoyed listening to the history of the M26 😀

Thank you another great vlog roll on next week 😀😀😀😀

Great videos always , and as planned ( I guess always end up rewinding and watching bits twice)because you speak so fast !!!! 5 stars mate !

As a genuine Man Of Kent, well done on your pronunciation of "Wrotham". I award you one shiny sticker.

This is an absolute gem of a channel and to hear Lewis/RingwayManchester was a hilarious wee Easter egg. I feel absolutely called out by how I am a follower of both channels but loved it. Right, back to catching up with the episodes!

Love the cross over with Ringway Manchester. Another great channel. 🤣

I live in Dover and honestly the occasional mass traffic jams haven't changed in frequency or duration and typically happen whenever the French go on strike which they do annoyingly often. It's only since Brexit that these traffic jams which have always been happening, have gained so much attention as people try to argue it's because of Brexit... which is just not true!

Brilliant as always. I have shared your fun and interesting channel on facebook today. Thanks, Jayne

I only ran into @RingwayManchester channel in the last week, so it was a nice surprise to have him show up here as well. :)

Top notch 👍😀

Very well put together interesting facts and a blend of English humour

Great fun video... loved the cameo. But now I have Mary Bennett singing Slumber Dear Maid running through my head. Thanks!