We walked much of the Monsall Trail in 2023, really enjoyed it, took loads of photos of the viaduct, many thanks for sharing your journey and showing us the rest of it. Many thanks
45 minute infrequent bus service. Vs much shorter journey. What the hell was beastly Barbara thinking of? Bakewell is a big town. Mind you, every year I walk from Millers Dale ( faaaab double bridge) to Bakewell. Great Longstone Station. Monsal Head viaduct Mon amour. Interesting about Haddon Hall. I thought the stations were commissioned by the Cavendish family as the stations at Hassop and Bakewell look like mini Chatsworths, very neo classical.
Well done you for referencing Barbara Castle- the real enemy of railways. I am a Labour supporter but I have to shamefully admit that the real enemies of the railways were the in-coming Labour Government. Beeching never was the real perpetrator of wiping out so many railway lines.He was given the job of justifying the closure of many railways, and he did what the then Tory Government - with the appalling Ernest Marples as Transport Minister told him to do - and try and justify as many closures as possible and we don't care how you get the figures and results. Bare in mind - Marples ran a haulage business, so no conflict of interests there! Then in came the Labour government and despite Harold Wilson' making an election promise to reverse Beeching's recommendations, this didn't happen and instead Transport Minister Barbara Castle went ahead and closed all but 2 of the railways in the report. She should have dealt with this much better. Admittedly, some had to go but she could have closed fewer lines. In a radio interview not long before she died, she at least had the good grace to say she regretted closing some of the lines and she made mistakes.
Hi Ant, thank you for the AMAZING video The Matlock to Buxton (Monsall Trail), loved it, your choice of music gets me every time, can't wait for the next one, cheers, Pete.
Thank you so much for making this video. It really brightened my mood this morning. Beautiful Derbyshire in beautiful England at its best. I live about 3 miles from the Derbyshire border, so I must hasten that way soon!
Brilliant video Ant! When I used to walk the line in the 1980's the tunnels were sealed, it's good to see them unsealed. My late father was a regular user of Great Longstone station in his national service days in the early 1950's. In my opinion,this line closure was complete lunacy! They took a section of the line from Blackwell Mill to Matlock and removed it. Where is the the rationale in that? Just so glad we have archive footage to view.👍🙂
Nice archive footage and music. . . . . If the railway were to be reopened in full, as a single track, there would still be room for a walkway/cycle track.
@@TrekkingExplorationWith respect, I personally think it will never happen, because there is neither the vision nor political will to carry it through.
If scenary was the only determining factor, this would be a cert. for reopening as an extension to the existing heritage line from Matlock. Thank you for showing some really superb railway architecture and great archive footage. Your suggestion is a good one and there must be many who would support such a reopening. But, considerable financial and material resources would need to be mobilised to make the dream come true. It's been done elsewhere and against bigger odds. So, why not here?
Another absolutely delightful video, it’s amazing how much unspoilt countryside we still have. I really look forward to your excellent videos, keep it up.
Epic vid, nothing will change regarding trains to bake well cost will prevent it, also there was talks about extending the monsal trail to rowsley the money was available to do this, but, I also heard the owners of Haddon hall was holding things up, would be amazing to get through Haddon tunnel legally, at about a mile long be the longest on the trail ( like you I've walked it ) 👍
Yet again Ant another wonderful video, you know Derbyshire is a beautiful county. With all your wonderful footage, and as always superb soundtracks, which adds that lovely romance to the landscape. I am always sad with all the railways which have gone, but at least there are remnants of those magnificent days of a bye gone era.
Great video Ant. Familair with this route, cycled it many times. Well used and looked after. Like the idea you could train it all the way to bakewell from derby again!
I was lucky enough to go from Matlock to Manchester when this line was still open in the 60s. An incredible train ride. I do so hope that the line could be re-opened again. The tunnels were so exciting - particularly Dove Holes and Disley!
Another excellent video Ant. Looking forward to part two. My opinion is the line should be reinstated. The potential benefits to the community, the economy and the environment are huge. Rails not roads.
When visiting Bakewell show, first week in August 1968 a works train running on the wrong line, the uphill from Derby , took all day to travel south from Bakewell station, picking up chairs, bolts, fishplate, wedges, and other track fittings from the lifted track (the down hill to Derby). Going out of site after 5 or 6 hours.
There is a clash of interests in the future of this route. One. Tourist access. If a tramway was built on this trackbed running max 25/30 mph the foot/cycle path could be retained at its side.(as in most towns with trams). The tram being electric (battery), diesel, steam(fireless) compress air, flywheel, etc.. powered in a green way and run Buxton to Matlock. Two. Heavy trains carrying stone and back to its original purpose. Except now taking stone out of the Peak area and not coal into and burned lime out off it. The heavy stone trains would have a near full down hill run to Derby instead of via Sheffield and Chesterfield or round north Manchester to go south (check out route track profiles.) However it looses its sole status as a tourist foot/cycle route.
@@TrekkingExploration Alas, those Clever People who mange to wheedle their way(s) into positions "In charge" seem to disagree.........full stop; Goodnight!.
What a fantastic walk that was. Gotta say I love all those beautiful bridges. The stonework is stupendous. Loved the look of your snack. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care
How about the idea of putting down single tram tracks and running some small single carriage battery/diesel/petrol trams on them? With passing loops strategicaly placed along the route, the 'tram' could actually leave the line and go much nearer to places (Bakewell itself, for expample). I'm sure Quackers etc would beneifit too and with the the track being set into the path, the existing businesses won't be adversley affected (bike hire etc).
Up until the mid 1990's the trackbed between Hassop and Bakewell was used by Hulleys buses on Bakewell show days to avoid queuing on the main road into Bakewell and also provide a park and ride facility on the show days as well
What an amazing stretch of trackbed. I totally agree with you on the reopening of the section you mentioned. Looking forward to seeing your next video. Thank you for your efforts and dedication
@@TrekkingExploration sorry Ant I have to disagree, a new bridge over the A6 would decimate the beautiful village of Rowsley for very little purpose. Plus the cost would take absolutely decades to recover as there wouldn't be enough custom, so it's not a viable option. The monsal trail runs from Coombs road end just under a mile south east of Bakewell right up to the Blackwell Mill end and it has hundreds of thousands of visitors to the fabulous peak district year on year out all year round. Walking, jogging, cycling, running, horse riding, climbing and absailing surely this is a more fitting use now as it has been for years. Realistically trying to reopen the monsal trail to rail traffic is nothing more than a romantic pipe dream that can't sustain the numbers that would be required to make it a reality. Yes, I would love to see a steam engine and carriages heading over the viaduct and into the headstone tunnel but I'll resign myself to knowing that it'll never happen in my lifetime.
What a lovely footpath this is now. And Ii'm interested in the cycle hire. I'd love to cycle these old railways. Aaaand any trails with a cafe is always good!
Lovely video Ant. A route I travelled on as a boy and more recently cycled over as a pensioner! Should never have been closed, but would now be missed as a tourist attraction. Surely there would still be space for a single track which would be an even bigger tourism feature and would reduce the dependence on cars in the National Park?
Very well produced video all round Ant, from the stunning photography, vintage archive footage.. sublime musical accompaniment and your narratives.. 5 star stuff.. loving this old line and it's history, and very much looking forward to the second installment..cheers
Fabulous place. Photos amazing. Beautiful scenery. Meant to say love how you show your map at the beginning. Let’s us know where you are. Music brilliant. Thank Ant. Superb.
Rowsley is said as row as in the boat sl and then lee as general le and y by locals 😁 hope that may help Have a look for a book called though limestone hills very detailed book by Bill Hudson out of publication Matlock station used to be a book shop owned by him
Hello Ant Welcome to my Area - perhaps we could met up & I could tell you a few secrets that I have found - also one thing about Bakewell Station @ 9:35 you may not realise is that just after the Station platform they have built some Units trudging on the original Track Bed - so it might be a bit difficult to continue it they wanted to 😐 @ 15:29 Have you noticed something about the Bridges - I thing some of them were originally Orange but as b/c they had many decades of Steam Engines going under them - they are now turned black with soot from the Smoke from the Locos!!! @15:50 Not quite too sure, but as b/c that Cottage so close to the M. T. & style of the Railways - it might have something to do with the Railway - I.e. Station Master House Perhaps??? 🤔 Yes @ 16:24 I think that as well - That slab of concrete (if you look closely around the edge - you will see some remains of bolts) the foundation of an old Signal Box, @18:23 oh there is plenty of Ballast to be found along the M. T. specially along the side of the 6 Tunnels, @ 19:00 Ballast Bins - there is 1 or 2 of them as well!!! @ 22:26 That 2nd Building " like a Castle" is a 2nd Station for the Duke - I can tell you more if we ever meet up!!! Thanks for showing the old B / W photos / footage of the M. T. Back in the day 😉 I hope that I haven't wrote to much here!!! 🤔🚂🚂🚂
I love that beautiful area, but haven't been able to visit it for many years (I now live 12,000 miles away). It would be a crime if that line is not rebuilt. As a tourist route it would be priceless, and certainly would be a better way of accessing Buxton than by road - even on my last visit decades ago, there was far too much traffic.
Ho Ant ,we have ridden the monsal trail many times. I can't understand why they filled up the track bed to platform level! The castle type building apparently is a holiday let us. It was on the local news, central TV channel.
Hi, a great video. I really think they should turn some of these tracks should be turned back into railways but by todays standards I don't think that will happen but you never know.
Bakewell definitly needs a station. The traffic is horriffic. I avoid the place as much as possile but weather a station would take some of the road traffic away or just bring in even more tourists who wouldn't have come by car anyway I'm not sure. A lot of foreign tourists visiting the UK would probably visit if it was accessible by rail. It certainly wouldn't be a bad thing.
Well don't come to Bakewell then, if you need a railway line and get there it isn't going to make things better because the station is at the top of a steep hill and ill suited for a lot of casual day trippers, let alone the 200,000 people per year who use the Monsal Trail including disabled, cyclists, and walkers.
Very shortsighted closure. At the very least they should have made bakewell the terminus not matlock. The whole route would earn decent returns now I bet, as a scenic journey like the settle and Carlisle, and likely busier as its more centrally located. And also a more direct route south for the quarry traffic.
All the money wasted on HS2 should have been used to reopen railways to towns like Bakewell. There’s so many tourist destinations in the UK that aren’t served by rail that it’s embarrassing. Would massively ease congestion, be better environmentally and create jobs !!
All pretty ignorant stuff. If you have two stations on a re-worked line you have two stop off points and the rest of the scenery is now out of bounds to the 200,000 walkers, disabled people, cyclists, and riders who use the Monsal Trail each year. At peak times there are 2,000 people per day enjoying the tranquillity and easy access to the Monsal Trail along it's length, and you will not get 2,000 people on a train on those days because they won't come since there are now only a couple of places to go to. And then on weekdays there will be the quarry trains rumbling along the line to make it pay, under Haddon Hall, leaving their filth along the length of the track. You wish for a railway line next to where you live, but the people who enjoy the Monsal Trail don't deserve airy fairy dreamers making RU-vid content with plans to destroy it.
