The Lost Cambridge to Mildenhall Railway 

A lovely insightful film! I feel it is worth mentioning for those interested, that the locomotive shown in this film regularly worked the Mildenhall branch (E4 class no.62785) and was preserved as the last of her type. She is on display at Bressingham Steam Museum restored to the original Great Eastern Railway livery.

Beautifully written, researched and edited. The recreation of the bomber attack on the train using the drone was a great idea. Thank you.

Superb, as always. The archive footage really adds a sense of what life was like. Sadly, a lost age. The closure of so many lines like this was a national disgrace.

Delightful, nostalgic but rather sad. Thank you.

Superb film as always! The archive footage is remarkable! 👏👍🙂 Well, my own personal view is that closing any railway is the wrong decision!!

A very enjoyable and nostalgic film from a beautiful bygone age. So sad to see all those branch lines gone forever but at least the memories will live on. Thank you for all the work that went into the making of this film it is much appreciated.

I've been waiting for you to do this one. I grew up very close to the dismantled railway in one of the villages it passes by. Ever since I was young I've been fascinated by the old cuttings and bridges. I was sad when they demolished the bridge just outside Fordham about 15 years ago, it was great fun to go over on the school bus. Just like our very own rollercoaster!

A wonderful film, and lovely to have the archive footage spliced in to help me imagine what it was like. Excellent work, thank you for bothering.

Thank you for posting. Thanks too for the inclusion of the archive footage.

How did I miss this one!. Excellent film yet again. Thank you.

Thank you for another great video and your time to make it. Just one small point I'd like to make, the oil terminal near to Barnwell junction is anything but defunct, I can only think you refilmd it when Certas was spending £1.5 million on its referb and upgrade. 😁 Other than that small point, another brilliant film. Thank you.

I walked part of this when I was aged about 7, to Lode. So interesting to see the whole line and how it now looks some 35 years later. Thank you!

Just about remember travelling on this line with my parents and as a very young child; alighting Worlington Halt to stay with my Great Aunt & Uncle who owned a small farm in Worlington. Then my Father bought his first second hand car in 1953 - so no more train journeys!

simply wonderful and beautiful , oh how i wish i could go to those simpler times , thanks to to you at least we can get a real glimpse , god bless from wigan lancashire , full of lost railways too

My Great-Grandfather witnessed the German attack on the train. He was farming on a field right next to the track at watched the plane circle above the track until the pilot went in for the attack. My Grandad still works the land there and he told me the story about his dad watching the plane this morning ironically.

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Thanks again for this brilliant documentary film. Thank you, you should have your own TV slot.

Fantastic video as always. Beautifully edited and thoughtful presentation. As for the decision to close it. Of course it was wise. Look at the resources required to to run it day to day, Then the maintenance. If were reopened today it would not pay for itself. unfortunately nostalgia is not a currency but it is a marketable product that keeps many such lines operating as preserved railways and alike but only as non profit organisations.

Another excellent film of another forgotten line, thank you for posting! 😃👍

Yet another insight into a railway long gone and although the recent annoucement heralds the Great British Railways, we're probably fooling ourselves. Like all your films, it was a pleasure to watch. I look forward to others. Many thanks.

Excellent work! 👌

Very interesting! Great job!

How peaceful it is to watch, and learn from your considerable talent and efforts. Once more you make a video of pure class........thank you.

In the late 1950s, as a very small boy, I travelled by train from London to Burwell accompanied by my paternal grandparents, my grandmother originating from Exning, about halfway to Newmarket, to stay with a grand uncle and aunt in a former convent in Burwell. There was a substantial vegetable garden and beyond that chickens scratched amongst ruined stone walls while providing eggs and dinner. What the ruins were I know not. My uncle had not long since given up keeping pigs. One of the ground floor rooms was a huge kitchen with a cast iron range from which my aunt produced the most fantastic dinners. I don't recall much about the journey other than boarding what seemed to be a very peculiar train at Cambridge which, I've since learnt was an AC railcar.

Living in Exeter now but brought up in Bury St Eds. in the 50s so had the good fortune to travel on some of the lines that are now gone; Bury to Thetford for example. Fascinated in history and archaeology..

I've always had an interest in railroads have any kind. I grew up on the New York centrals East west road from Chicago to Detroit. About 100 meters from the main tracks. Still remember the steam engine why I was a little boy. I really enjoy Great discovering last rare ways. Although it has no relevance to me directly I find it Quite nice for the folks who live in Great Britain. I am subscribed to your channel.

A bitter-sweet presentation, thanks. I love those E4 locos and glad that one survives in York National Railway Museum

That was simply wonderful. Thank you for sharing such a well made film. I'm of an age where I often find 'What was', far more likeable than 'What is'. Thanks again.

I love footage like this of the old railways and stations, routes and bridges. I guess there is a bit of an anorak in us all! Ok maybe its only me😁

A good documentary requires excellent research and as much evidence as can be found. This video ticks ALL the boxes....excellent work. Thank you for your time and effort.

Thoroughly enjoyed this new chapter in your work

Glorious, as always! Thank you.

Another superb documentary. Thank you. The juxtaposition of archive footage and modern scenes is particularly effective.

Great job!!! What amazing footage you found! I love love old railways and what they meant in history! Have you ever gotten in trouble for filming on private land? Great work!

Another good video thank you!

Thank you for this excellent video.

i think you're the only channel i am subscribed to where i don't even need to watch your video; it automatically gets a like great work, as usual! loved the addition of the archive footage and the drone footage!

All your videos are an absolute delight, and the work you put into them is much appreciated. It always seems the sixties were just a few years ago until you count back. Thank you so much for this wonderful footage.

Lovely! Thank you

Well yes ,I did enjoy that film very much! Thankyou for producing it so expertly!

On our social cycle ride on Friday night, we were talking about your channel as we looked at the trackbed that's going to be part of the Chisholm Trail. And lo, you give us this! Good timing! My Mum used to use this line between Cambridge and her home town of Mildenhall in the 50s.

As always, a fascinating, but sad journey. Cutting in archive footage really brought the line alive with its smart little stations. Good to see some repurposed. Hopefully the boarded up one is getting a new lease of life too. Thank you for a lovely film!

A marvellous piece of work which I've watched several times. I think your narrative style is delightful.

These videos are fascinating. How something so substantial can be so temporary in the grand scheme; erased so easily. The UK certainly embraced rail like no other.

Again always an excellent film! Bravo!

Fallen behind on the videos. An absolute belter. The recreation of the fighter attack using a drone was terrific.

So much research has gone into this, great history of this line. Really enjoyed this.

What a fantastic video.I live locally and it brings it to life as things once were.well Done!!

Thank you so much for such a professionally narrated, scripted and edited film. I have walked all around there as far as Burwell, especially Fen Ditton to Lode and Anglesey Abbey. Also Devil's Dyke at Reach. Happy memories. Excellent.

Brilliant program, always look forward to the latest release, fascinating content

I enjoyed this, thank you very much. Nice to see the archive footage too.

Another delightfully-narrated passage along a lost rail line. Thank you.

Absolutely fantastic videos. So professional, well researched and filmed. Thank you

Lived in Fen Ditton in 1957 to 1959. Often used this train nicknamed the "Ditton Dilly" to travel to Cambridge. I loved the E4s, great little engines. They were later replaced by a railbus in 1958.

Historical/archival movie film can always stand on its own. Here, you've nicely spliced in snippets of appropriate footage to resurrect the old railway in your presentation of what remains. Doing so brings the line back to life, if only for just a few moments. Nicely done. 2:41 The main is protected by a derail in the branch line's trackage visible in the lower-right. Little wonder you're so expert at strafing trains, RLR, given that F-35 you shot down when first practicing your drone flying.

A nice touch is the sound effect of a projector at the beginning of this video. The colour film sequences of the line as it once was, are wonderful. A definite upgrade of the original video.

Brilliant ! Dumpman Films is a big fan of this and your other productions, great stuff.

I was waiting for the next one!!! What an interesting intro. I love these videos. Thank you again.

Another interesting video, you certainly did your homework on this line. The archive footage shows so much that was lost. Nowadays, maybe a Parry People Mover or light rail would have kept it open. The drone footage about the train being shot at was a great idea too. It reminded me of the Kilmarnock incident, where a German bomber saw the light from the firebox of a locomotive and tried to bomb the train, luckily they missed, but destroyed a house adjacent to the line. Today, the more modern house can still be seen. The other bombs landed in the nearby cemetery. That was at Kay Park Junction, where the Riccarton branch came off the Nith Valley GSWR line. Your videos should be on TV, they are certainly good enough.

One of your best films. Nice footage from the past... I like to watch your series !

I know the area well and it is intriguing to see how these still quite small towns and villages were once linked by rail. The archive footage is excellent, and it is wonderful to see the J15 0-6-0 locomotives going about their work. These were built by the GER at their Stratford works and thankfully a sole survivor of the class is stabled on the North Norfolk heritage railway.

Being local, this is a fascinating slice of history.

Loved that! thank you!

Great Video lots of work around Cambridge and lots of new houses around the areas covered. If railway could have lasted another 10 years it could have been still be in use

Thank you so much, I grew up in Kingston Blount, and this was wonderful to watch.

Enjoyable and well made video. Thank you for documenting the past and allowing us to enjoy it.

OH GOOD!! I am soo happy to see another video! I love this history! Hello from HOT Tennessee)

Another outstanding piece of research, so eloquently told …. Absolutely brilliant Roll on the next episode Thank you

Enjoyed walking this line a couple of months ago great video loved seeing it as it was great work thanks

Thank you for creating a wonderfully informative video. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and am glad that some of the beautiful old stations continue to be well kept and loved.

I am an Ely resident and took the train every day to go to 6th form in cambs a few years ago and always wondered what that part of the track was for, great video!!

Farcinating footage and beautifully composed footage. Your research is such a credit to you. One of my best loved RU-vid channels. As for the sustainability of this line I guess economics necessarily have to play out and unfortunately the lines demise inevitably concluded with its closure.

so much history witin a line a lost line waiting to be rediscovered years after abandonment,,,, excellent vid as always and the journey footage mad this vid extra special.... i cant wait to see which line you feature next time!

Yet another beautifully researched and presented video. Thank you, we appreciate the time these videos must take to produce.

Excellent and informative as always. Thanks.

That was amazing, thank you.😁❤️❤️

Did enjoy that 👏🏻

Another very interesting video. I remember visiting Anglesey Abbey as a child and had no idea a former railway was so close.

Excellent, a well researched and presented video, enjoyed this very much, looking forward to more of your videos.

Once again, many thanks for another wonderful video, for me another "lump in the throat "event

A beautiful video (as always) and made especially effective by the use of the archive footage, well done and many thanks for your efforts in the making of these videos.

Excellent production - Thank You! Great to be able to following it on Google Maps at the same time as watching - a trademark of the Lost Railways series is the map & stations view - a great help 🙂

A fascinating video of an area/line I know well - thank you for all your hard work. It's nice to see the old station at Bottisham & Lode finally having some work done to it. The site has completely changed now that enormous conifer hedge has been felled.

As usual well produced and interesting

Good editing, past and present works really well!

Superb as always my good man , i never understood why this branch closed esp' with the massive USAF bases at Mildo; and Lakenheath with connections to London

Its amazing the way you tell the stories of theses lost lines, thank you really good 👍💯

brilliant great video i missed ur uploads and been looking forward to see this

Excellent work. Thank you very much.

Its great there's footage of a trip made on the line. It really adds to the video. I travelled from cambridge to colchester on the line via newmarket where it connects with the line from ely. I'm surprised that it still exists, I remember it being a single track going through the urban sprawl and the train mostly empty.

A brilliant video I really enjoyed this loving in central beds these lines are not too far from me. It is odd to think our way of life today and the closure of certain things today which we mostly ignore will maybe be seen with the same nostalgia as the ways of life back then.

As always, a superb film, thoughtfully narrated, benefiting from so much historical background. Your research always serves to make your videos compelling viewing. Thank you! It's difficult to argue that this line should have remained for social reasons, in view of the financial losses. However, I suspect there will always be energetic discussion among transport and infrastructure planning enthusiasts over whether trackbeds across the country from the Beeching days should have been protected from development against the possibility of future expansion of rural communities. If only we'd polished our crystal ball in the 1960s...!

The contemporary views were well enhanced by the historic footage. The boy on the platform at Mildenhall could still be amongst us.

Fantastic, lovely too see the Mildenhall Branch some justice. Have you considered or heard of the Kelvedon & Tollesbury Railway, another very interesting little railway which I highly recommend you look into.

Can you imagine the benefit today if all these lines were still here.... saddens me to watch these wonderful vids.

Well done👍 it must take so much time to make these videos. And we appreciate it.. keep up the good work 👍👍😁

This once again a very good video keep up the good work. I can not wait for the next one

My grandparents lied and worked at Swaffham Prior station and I spent most of my childhood there. They told me about the King visiting. They had to keep very quiet about it at the time.

Finely got round to see this :) and thank you for the use of my pictures ! At the time I think there was good reason to close the line but now working at Cambridge station you realise just how much of bonus that line could be. With the process of reinstating Soham being a strong example of the need for more access from small towns to the city's.

Very well presented, the archive film was taken by well known local historian & railway enthusiast the late Michael Gates on 8mm film shortly before closure of the branch.