I was on officer based on CMPG, Central Motorway Police Group parading from the southern base at Hindlip. We covered the M50 but never routinely patrolled it as the lions share of our work was on M5, M6, M42. Whenever we did attend incidents down there it was usually at Junction 3 east bound exit slip. Vehicles would travel too fast and couldn't take the sharp left hand bend and would frequently go straight through the deviation boards/fence panels. They must have been replaced numerous times over the years. Have a look next time you're passing. 🚔
“It seems to have been left behind in the 1960’s, having seen little to no upgrades in its lifetime” As a Herefordian, this sums up way more about the area than just the motorway
The removed railway bridge spans were not scrapped, but instead donated to the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. They can now be found sitting stored in Horsted Keynes station yard, with their future use being a few hundred yards away as they were obtained to form a replacement for the 6-arch Sheriff Mill Viaduct, which stood just West of Horsted Keynes on the link line between there and Haywards Heath. Demolished in 1963, the viaduct will be replaced with the bridge spans, as part of the Bluebell's intended re-opening of that line.
Also just watched Jago and then John and my head is spinning from all the rapid fire delivery. I give the M50 the LOL award particularly for the sh!t interchange commentary. Hoping Jago can match this next week and come up with an underground station with cattle grids. FFS, cattle grids and sh!t junctions! This is a truly bizarre motorway.
Back in the day, I was an engineer on the M5/M50 and was about when the widening and re modelling of Junction 8 was designed and executed (thanks for using one of MY pictures here - the upside down lorry RTA). I don't know where the idea that making Jct. 8 a roundabout was to facilitate abnormal loads comes from, but I do not think that is true at all. The bit of road in the middle where the loads now park is, in fact, a piece of ''temporary' road that was installed to provide a temporary small roundabout during construction. Some bright spark suggested leaving it extant afterwards for the wide load use (!!). I have an aerial picture taken while works were in progress -but I don't know how to post it here . The bridge/viaduct at Kempley was hit by a lorry in 1978. Not many people know, but the rail part of the combined road/rail bridge at Ripple was last used in the year of 1982:- This was during an M5 reconstruction contract and spoil was taken to the fields alongside the M50 at the bridge location. "Someone" had the bright idea to use the redundant rail bridge as a means of U-turning the lorries, leaving and regaining the M50 with some temporary sliproads which were installed for the purpose.
We frequently drove from Derby to South Wales to see family when I was a kid in the 80s. One of the many things we did to alleviate the boredom in the rear of an Austin Maxi was to try and identify the bridge that an unfortunate lorry driver hit - my mother always mentioned it and said that the driver had died of a heart attack. The middle support was noticeably newer than the rest of the bridge! From memory it was between junctions 2 and 3 - maybe the same incident you refer to in 1978?
@@johnenglish3429 Kempley bridge [more of a viaduct really]. About a mile and half before junction 3. 1978. The lorry veered off the carriageway and ''took out'' the pier on the verge.
It took bloody ages to film that bit... the constant traffic and noise etc was a nightmare. Just as I'm about to leave that lovely E type turns the corner!
I live on the side of junction 3 of the m50. There's accidents on the sliproad on a monthly basis. It's incredibly dangerous if you're not expecting such a sharp turn. You summed it up perfectly. The fence and signage is smashed so often that they've stopped bothering to repair it. Also... Lazerpig brought me here
Considering I have almost zero interest in cars or roads, I always find myself enjoying these videos. I think you do a great job researching and writing these mini documentaries. I reckon you could talk about any other subject and I'd be onboard for listening. Great work.
We definitiely need more locally sourced, grass fed organic bridges. The E-Type going over the cattle grid was painful to watch. Such a sad story of Marie Wilks. Thanks for another fine production.
The weekly dose of road-related trivia and things. The drone/map wotsit thing is really handy to understand just how crazy some of those junctions are. Thanks very much for another fab video in this series.
Well.. sensibly we filmed the drone stuff first.. the magic of editing put it in the right order :D We just escaped the rain.. the storm you can see in the background was massive!
As an Irishman I love the casual swearing in these videos, information that has nothing to do with motorways and other shenanigans, these are actually great story telling videos! Well done John, you created a nice niche.
American here. Spent a few days in England once. Bunkers next to the "motorway" struck me as a bit odd, then I remembered I was in southern England (not far from Dover).
I live in the village at J3, I strongly believe it's the worst junction in Britain. Every month or two someone goes through the fence when exiting and ends up in the woods. There's also a golf course on the far side and it's not unheard of for golf balls to end up on the eastbound carriageway
“I think this is because of bridge repairs and maintenance vehicles “ says John, with a fevered excitement on his lips! Your a rare and wonderful man John
Just in case the YT algorithm fails this is the sort of comment that helps find those interesting channels. Anything off the motorway network near Manchester area (plus a bit along the M62 and the odd bit of Sheffield) and it's Martin Zero. He's done one or two bits with Paul and Rebecca
Driven it both ways many many times & broke down at midnight on a Sunday evening in the past. Very quiet motorway and a shorter & aside from the severn bridge a much more scenic route to get to South Wales from the midlands.. keep up the vids
Every concrete bridge has been replaced on the M50 within the last 10 years, because of concrete cancer. Caused absolute chaos. Those slip roads have been there as long as I can remember.... I'm now a Devon resident, but I'm from Ledbury originally.
Haha! When I saw which motorway was being covered this week I smiled, because I knew what was coming with J3! I did not know about the case that was discussed right beforehand though... Yikes.
Excluding peak summer the M50 is usually nice and quiet and you could make " good progress!" along it . Now I might have a better look around . Great content as always
Nice to see a video from my neck of the woods. A little fact about the M50 that when it's hot the amount of trucks coming down there actually create ruts in the tarmac
I remember in the mid 1990s the Slip Road joining the M5 northbound Carriageway from the M50 was way too short for larger vehicles to accelerate to fit in with the M5 traffic flow. The Slip Road is now so long it reaches the Services.
No need for comment other than the usual thx for your continued hard graft in keeping us educated, entertained and the reverence paid to the sad historic death. I hope viewers consider supporting your efforts in whatever way they can...
The gravel pits shown at 4.50 were recently worked and all the aggregate was moved by boats, you could often see them moored to the jetty just south of the bridge, loading was via a loading shovel filling the hopper on the elevator you were stood by under the bridge. The other piece of equipment was a power screen used to grade the aggregate, remove gravel from the sand etc.
As a regular user of the M50 I can put you right on the new bridge. Originally there was a raised embankment with a culvert for the water course below, unfortunately the culvert wasn't big enough to cope with floods and acted like a dam causing extensive flooding of the fields on the upstream side. The replacement elevated section was carried out in two stages with two-way traffic using the carriageway that wasn't being worked on. I'm old enough to remember when the M5 stopped at the M50 and was just a two lane motorway like the M50.
It's always interesting to see how highways/motorways/bi-ways or any combination across the global compare and there's always those stuck in time or designs unexplained.
Yes, that would be good. I live 5 mins from it. Nice bit of motorway, until you hit the roundabout and Mottram Village, then bonnet to tail traffic and then Woodhead.
As you specifically asked, Kings Caple is pronounced Kings Cape-all. I went to the primary school in the village and have very fond memories of the bridge to Sellack.
My parents bought apples from a farmer around there. Mr Grimwood, a South African farmer who moved to the UK to run a fruit farm. Do you know of him and his apple farm?
Having lived for many years in Ross on Wye I’ve been up and down the M50 regularly. As a child in the back seat I used to love the old M5 / M50 junction. As for junction 3, I remember it being referred to as ‘the hole in the hedge’, by quite a number of people.
Love this as I live nearby. Locals tend to not use the junction 1 if they want to get on the M5. They just sneak in at Strensham Services lol. I'd also heard that the motorway was meant to come near Defford, and I see that on your map at 1:42 as it skirts around Eckington, and that's a reason why there's a super massive dual carriage way railway bridge for no apparent reason at Defford. It could have been a junction / slip road connecting onto that motorway that was never built.
I'm not usually a guy that would watch a video like this...but I've watched every video in your series! Your hosting is fantastic and make what could be a fairly dull subject seem really interesting. Subscribed for you wit and banter!
I used to drive this several times a week going from Preston to South Wales and back in the mid/late 80's driving a company director around. Very few cars on the M50 back then, lovely scenery along the route.
As a kid in the 1960’s we’d travel from Barry Sth Wales to Tadcaster Yorks (visiting relatives) on a regular basis. Originally we’d head to Chepstow and bottle neck it from there. In the early 70’s they completed the A449 (Ross spur link) which eventually hooks up with the M50 it made a big difference in journey time. Every year the journey would get a bit shorter as new motorways came on stream, and my old man’s cars improved. In the late 70’s I’d use the A449 and M50 to test the performance of my latest motorbikes, it was one of the quietest motorways perfect for doing this.
The m50 is quite an enjoyable stretch of my Manchester to Cardiff journey visiting the parents. The nice bit before all the speed camera patrols on the a40.. Mind if its a 1960s driving experience i now get a 1920s one when i get to Wales and have to crawl around at 20mph..
I lived near junction 3 when the Motorway opened. It rapidly became popular with boy racers and bikers as a "test track". With virtually no traffic and with no speed limit, for a time it was THE place to drive your motor to it's maximum speed. Initially the hard shoulder wasn't even properly surfaced, it was a sort of rolled red grit rather than tarmac. Each 1/10 of a mile was marked with a coloured post in the centre of the shoulder. These were made of rubber so weren't as vulnerable as they looked. No centre barrier and cattle grids on every junction. Where the motorway went over a road, the central reservation didn't as there was a hole in the bridge with railings around. Why?
All the bridges were built by the relevant local authority, rather than the Dept. Of Transport - that’s why they’re weird. An interesting side note is that a guy committed suicide by jumping off one onto the motorway - and in the process jumped from one county (the one that owned the over bridge, into another that the motorway technically belongs to. The incident was further complicated in that the motorway police attending belonged to the Central Motorway Patrol Group, and the officers were from the West Midlands force, a police area nowhere near the incident
Ahh yes I've used this one quite a few times when going to and from South Wales. It's quite a scenic route, and avoids the chaos of the M4/M5 junction.
I drive Junction 3 very often, it is a menace, the fence opposite is always smashed due to drivers going straight on or flipping. My first time around it I very nearly tipped my Morrisons van, I was a lucky boy that day, the shopping in the back, not so lucky.
The M50 also known as the Ross Spur holds many happy memories for me. Living in Hereford from 1969-75 we often used it. I remember my Dad explaining why it was there and Mum liked the elegant bridges, one of my sisters lived in Newent so we knew about that turn. On our regular trips to Kettering we use it still. It’s a bit busier these days
Always remember having a night out at Strensham southbound after it was revamped a few years back (probably quite a few years now tbh). It pissed it down in the night, quite a few trucks up to the axles in water the next morning and bleary eyed drivers, imagine being in a tin shed during a rainstorm for several eyes and you get the idea.
hey its the start of the a449 that disappears into the a40 by raglan! and if you stay going straight at that junction you’ll end up on a different road, regardless of which one you start from!
At the time of being planned it was known as the Ross-Spur and didn't have a motorway number. It was intended as an experimental stretch of motorway, constructed out in the sticks and isolated from the rest of the network, to try out construction methods, junction designs, traffic behaviour. At school in Worcester at the time I was one of a group of us who visited the County Highways Dept in Worcester to learn all about it. Afterwards I wrote an essay about it (which is probably still in the attic if I can find it). There was much discussion in Worcester at the time about traffic congestion in the city, and theories that the Ross-Spur would somehow cure it. It didn't - when it opened there was hardly any traffic on there. In the first few weeks it was not unknown to drive from one end to the other without seeing another vehicle. p.s. I enjoy your videos but I play them at 0.75 playback speed to have any chance of following what you are saying. Have you tried speaking a bit more slowly, and maybe even stopping to breathe occasionally?
I’m from Nottingham but went to uni and still live in Cardiff, and this is a beautiful piece of road. The entire time I was a student though they were repairing those bloody bridges, 50 zones with no one working 🙄, traffic’s always pretty light and I don’t believe there’s any cameras from what I can tell, so it’s perfect for those who enjoy motorway driving.
As a child I remember the huge quarry pits by the Severn in use, they used to load the rock onto huge barges in the river and ship it out, there’s more quarries further up by Upton which still do the same. The bridge works around there went on for years and endless 50 mph cameras were in effect. The ‘slip roads’ either side were installed then. All of that land floods every year which is why the bridge works were needed and the slip roads are only for maintenance access. Great video, thanks for making it
Junction 3 fascinated me since I was 14 and came off there heading to Tenby for a family holiday. That was over 40 years ago and every time I've driven past it since I've told my passengers about it's uniqueness
Informative presentation. I use this road a lot and it is a lovely motorway, but the junctions are wild. So sad about Marie Wilkes and that such a rural highway has such a macabre association, but I respect you for mentioning it
Love this channel, use this motorway lots. Always surprised that it stopped at Ross and the subsequent dual carriageways weren,t made part of the motorway. Would love people opnions on this
I often use j3 when heading west. It always seems to coincide with my bladder deciding it needs emptying. Come off at j3, immediately turn down the lane to the right and park up for a pee. Turn around, rejoin the M5 and continue my journey home.
Ive driven the M50 numerous times on route form South Wales to the midlands, but until lasy week i had always driven thr full length to/from Ross and the M5. Last wednesday however I drove from our glamping holiday in Lydney up to Drayton manor in Tamworth. Blindly following the sat nav and whilst the Mrs dealt with a spewing baby, o was suddenly faced with a tight corner and a blur sign. Yep I'd joined at junction 3. What followed and was me enthusiastically telling the Mrs about this channel and Johns love for wierd junctions. She didnt seem very enthralled!
Ah, I asked for a video of the M50 and here we have it, cheers! As a resident of Gloucestershire it is one of my favourite motorways and the only motorway I’ve ever cycled on (allegedly, obvs), quickly wandering on and off at junction 3 before venturing down the unclassified lane on the south side about 20 yards from the main carriageway. This is how we do motorways in these parts and even our motorway services are farm shops (see Secrets of the M5, Gloucester Services) with organic, locally-sourced food and a fishmonger! Let’s hope we keep this motorway with its odd quirks and it doesn’t become declassified. Too many of the odd things in this country are disappearing and it’s all becoming way too homogenous.
Fun fact: While they've replaced them with the curved type seen in the background, the junction signs for J3 used to be of the 90-degree T-junction type. They may be visible on Street View if they've got images old enough. They were utterly bizarre.
Hello, me again. There’s an additional story you need to research and add in as during the late 1970’s early 1980’s the next bridge after Four Oaks was knocked down when a lorry driver was stung by a wasp and hit the central pillar whilst a milk lorry was passing over and left tilting on the collapsed edge like the Italian Job movie scene. Sadly driver died. This incident resulted in all bridges being strengthened throughout the U.K. or barriers to deflect the energy away etc.. It was on the main news and a major change to motorway safety. When rebuilt couple of years later the milk lorry was on the main news completing its journey. Hope this helps 😊
Jct 3 is very similar to the M876 northbound at Jct 1. Although there is more separation between the on & off lanes they are both short and end in a 90 degree bend.
I live relatively near to the M50. It’s known locally as “The Forgotten Motorway”. We all think it was just made so that the Welsh could leave Wales faster. Sorry Wales, just joking, plus my family is Welsh and this is them saying it!
Very interesting, John, thanks. There’s a similar sort of junction to the original M5/M50 junction near the Dutch town of Bergen op Zoom, where one motorway ends and you have to go right round a 270 degree turn to join motorway two, which then runs through to Vlissengen. Quite a surprise, the first time I came upon it! It’s been there years and is well signposted in advance, so I guess everyone is happy with it.
Of course I enjoyed the video. I always do. Excellent piece of cinematography in your final shot; looking forward to your remake of ‘The Bridges of Madison County’.
