A railway across a swamp with weak bridges and crossing the land of two companies that hate each other. What could possibly go wrong? Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/jagohazzard Patreon: / jagohazzard
Ariel's Girdle refers to a line from The Tempest. Ariel: "I'll put a girdle round the earth in half an hour!" The fact that it took two years to lay half a mile of track, makes Ariel's Girdle the "perfect" name for the engine that ran on it.
It was not Ariel but Puck; it wasn't The Tempest, but A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the line was "I'll put a girdle round about the Earth. In forty minutes", not half an hour, but apart from that, you're correct.
OBERON That very time I saw, but thou couldst not, Flying between the cold moon and the earth, Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took At a fair vestal throned by the west, And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow, As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts; But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon, And the imperial votaress passed on, In maiden meditation, fancy-free. Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower, Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound, And maidens call it love-in-idleness. Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once: The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid Will make or man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees. Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again Ere the leviathan can swim a league. PUCK I'll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes. [Exit]
Well, as the commentators have pointed out, it wasn't Ariel: but when I heard the name of the loco, I immediately misattributed the timed girdle quotation to Ariel. When I was checking, I discovered that a character in an Aldous Huxley novel also thinks the girdle is Ariel's. Which suggests that our mistake may be widespread, and that perhaps the people who named the loco were making the same error. So you were right by being wrong. I think that's quite interesting, though doubtless some people don't give a flying Puck.
The viaduct abuts my back garden, and when DLR trains ran into the high-level Island Gardens station, I had to be careful not to alarm train passengers by wandering around undressed in the early morning. And then there was the time when a pressure test on the new tunnel to Greenwich caused an explosion under the local school’s playground that partially damaged my conservatory. But that’s another story…
"Goods trains continued for a while longer" I'm just trying to get my head round what sort of goods would be carried on a line where weight was such a critical issue. Perhaps feathers? Then it would be a down line...
Duck as a rock gets lobbed at you for such a bad pun, even though it takes quill to write it down. Or Tar and Feathering. Nice to see you trying to be a pilla of society though. I'll swan off now.
@@mariannehawes9609 I’ve had workers show up to drive sections of track undergoing maintenance, but they understood my being there and ensured I got back in the seat when they exited a station or two later ☺️
@@ReubenAshwell If they're not intelligent enough to understand that roller-skating backwards along a rather narrow pathway where people are going to be walking the other way is inconsiderate and potentially dangerous then they're not going to understand that it's more so when the narrow space has a wall one side and a drop onto the tracks the other. As with people who think it's OK to ride bikes along busy footpaths swerving in and out of pedestrians who then instinctively take avoiding action and those who park cars half-on footpaths so that anyone with a pram or a wheelchair can only get past by going into the road, they're not only generally unaware of the risks they create, they're simply too selfish and inconsiderate to care anyway.
Overend Gurney sounds like a village somewhere near Chew Magna, that just has to be down the hill from Barrow Gurney. Or an accident in a US hospital. Manning Wardle made 4 of the 5 narrow gauge 1' 11 1/2" engines for the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway. They they don't look dissimilar but were 2-6-2's and, even for narrow gauge, were far more substantial than the Millwall locos. The last one, Lew, was built under Southern Railway owners.
Brilliantly informative as always. I have to ask though - 4:05 - 'Imagine hating someone so much that you're willing to lose your own revenue just to make sure that they don't get theirs...' - That HAS to be a dig at someone, right?!
Our entire rail industry used to be like that, before it was nationlised. A number of competitive companies sprang up that all wanted to own certain parts of London...or England...or Scotland or Wales. They would build railway lines in front of the routes other companies wanted to make, just to block another company's attempts at getting permission from Parliament. In the end the government was forced to step in and force mergers and eventually the railway companies needed to be entirely nationalised. When the railways were privatised, we went back to the railways not functioning properly and services got worse.
Having grown up in the area 63-72 all older locals have been puzzled by the Dockland Railway station names. Thay all had local names which I forget . One of my favoriites in Poplar was Stink House Bridge (end of Upper North St, canal end)
A nicely detailed video showing that tortuous and disputed rail projects come in all sizes, (cough) HS2. Congratulations! You've made me want to visit Millwall just to see the remains of the viaduct.
As a fan of all things Underground/Metro/Subway/U-Bahn I've travelled on the DLR during all its iterations, thus including its original form with the unusual V-shaped Island Gardens platform layout. Then one had to use the foot tunnel to reach Greenwich of course and in fact if I'm in the area these days I'll still occasionally do that... the system's very different now and all the better for it! 🙂
Every time it's astonishing the number of completely unknown and forgotten rail companies and lines you succeed in unearthing. I get the feeling in London every house used to be a forgotten trainstation and every loo an abandoned line. 😉
I started work 1963. I went on a nostslgic trip some 10 years ago, and there is a plaque in the pavement, where I used to work, saying, this is the site of Millwall football club ( opposit John Lennonton' timber works)
Very entertaining! Your timed delivery always cracks me up. And the episodes are heavily laden with interesting information. Well written and produced.
My first ever railtour was an East London outing by the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society on 21st October 1967, six days before my birthday and the trouble I had getting my dad to buy me a ticket for a birthday present. He wanted to buy me a football but I have never been interested in kicking a bag of wind around in the hope it goes between two posts, not then and not now neither. This tour started at Fenchurch Street and ran via the old Bow Road station to Stratford then onto the Tilbury system at Forest Gate junction to the Thames Haven branch via Upminster and Ockendon. Returning from Thames Haven, the train ran back to Barking via Purfleet and then over what was then the Kentish Town line to South Tottenham, then to Enfield Town via the spur from South Tottenham to Seven Sisters that had been part of the North Woolwich to Palace Gates service, that ceased in 1963. The train then returned via the same route to South Tottenham, then down to the Lea Valley line but ignored Stratford station and crawled round via Hall Farm junction and onto North London Line at the site of Victoria Park station where the GER joined the NLR. In the 1960s, the brick viaduct over Wick Road was still there and, on the embankment, a signal box with Victoria Park emblazoned on it, in BR London Midland Region colours, long after the station of that name had closed. This was the most interesting part of the journey for me as I used to cycle round the Hackney and Poplar areas as a boy when this part of the NLR was freight only and the stations silent empty ghosts The railtour went as far as Dalston Western junction where it reversed and then went all the way back to Victoria Park and then down to Poplar through Old Ford which section is now completely abandoned and built over. The tour continued beyond Poplar to Millwall Junction which had weathered its 41 years of closure remarkably well, so much so that passengers were able to alight here for awhile on the rather overgrown platforms, looking across to the L & B's equally overgrown Harrow Lane Sidings where the DLR's Poplar depot now stands. The train then reversed again and stopped in the ruins of the once grandiose Bow station before yet another reversal up to Gas Factory junction, part of the original 1850 route of the NLR and now also built over and then back home to Fenchurch Street. But if anyone then had said we would be one day riding along the Hackney stretch of the NLR on a system called the London Overground and that driverless trains would also one day run from Bow to Poplar and beyond on the course of the old NLR lines, we would have all thought they were in cloud cuckoo land as such later developments as these were not even in the realms of fantasy back in 1967. Millwall Junction isn't even a ghost station anymore, having been completey demolished so I'm glad I got to visit it and ride on the eastern stretch of the NLR before its transformation in the late 1970s and early 80s. But I do feel quite sorry for the residents of Old Ford as its the one district on the line that has never got its trains back. Indeed, while Old Ford station was still standing in 1967, a short while later it was completely demolished and now the Blackwall Tunnel/M11 Link Road runs through the site, as ghastly as any urban motorway could be and which has done far more damage to the landscape than the railway ever did. Kind regards, David, Crouch End, N8
Hi Jago once again you have done more for this generations enlightenment than many college Don's I have a particular reason to comment on the clip @ 6:49 o the right of the shot The building although renovated(and no doubt worth a fortune)is recognisable as a Peabody Building(1864-1956) I and my Family both up and down the generations have lived in these London wide Homes Might I Hazzard a request for an in depth study old boy
When the Island Gardens (elevated) section station closed in the late 1990s, it was a Saturday. The following day (Sunday) it was being dismantled very rapidly! The building remained for a while, until being demolished and a block of flats built on the site.
It's always interesting to flick through the comments of other enthusiasts of your productions Jago. You are held in very high esteem, and rightly so! I saw the skater, and thought that's interesting. Not thinking that other viewers would even notice. But James Blair picked up on it too. You eagle eye James. And please, Jago, keep including those small snippets. Don't edit them out. Those small things shall prove to be most interesting in future years to comin g generations. Good on ya!
Sir, I take me hat off to you. Three shows a week and all of them packed full of interesting facts and puns. I don't know how you find the time. Thankyou.
Apparently those coffeepots (which incidentally were numbered 3, 4, & 5, as they arrived just before the old engines left) were painted a very fetching shade of yellow. Similar to Stroudley's livery but brighter. How long it stayed bright is up for debate, however.
Cheers Jago! I had no idea there had been a Millwall Extension Railway. Still trying to get my head around the fact that Millwall football club were originally from north of the river (almost the opposite of Woolwich Arsenal moving from south of the river to Highbury, north London). 👏🏾 👍🏾
They were from Millwall, which is North of the river on the South East side of the Isle of Dogs, a former industrial area with shipyards, ironworks, prints works, and other industries. At least Arsenal dropped the Woolwich from their name when they moved, I guess Millwall didn't have anything to stop so had to stay Millwall even though they didn't play in Millwall anymore.
@@RJSRdg No, but it's still not the right side of the river for Millwall, they may as well have renamed themselves New Cross. I guess it wasn't far away (although they'd already had to move before this to play in North Greenwich, again across the river), and they moved because they needed to boost support and increase attendances. I'm so glad Wimbledon are back at a stadium at Plough Lane though and wish them all the best in the years to come.
Great stuff! I worked by South Quay and usually just walked home to my flat above a pub in near Island Gardens until 1997. Nice to see the old viaduct again, though it is sad that it is derelict once again as I always thought it was nice that it got a new lease of life. We still use the line to get to Greenwich (via West Ham and Canary Wharf) but I am always a little sad when we go through Island Gardens. I have yet to get out there and have a look for myself, but it still looks strange to see there is no station on the viaduct anymore 🤔 It is always great to hear about the idiosyncratic early railway companies, especially in what were little backwaters that entrepreneurial types sought to exploit with ideas of grandeur. Just shows how knife-edge success and failure can be. If Millwall hadn’t gone to Bermondsey then who knows what may have happened to the railway? 🤷🏻♂️ Funny but they call odd looking locomotives coffee pots, yet I have never once owned a coffee pot with wheels. Am I missing something?🤔 Cheers Jago , great fun as ever. Nice to have a bit of reminiscence first thing in the morning 👍 🍻🍀
It was called Mudchute because it was literally the site of a mud chute. They used to dredge the docks regularly, and Mudchute was where the spoil went.
Thanks for this really excellent video. Minor point: Millwall left the Isle of Dogs in 1910 as you said, but they didn't move to Bermondsey until 1993. For 83 years they played at "The Old Den" in New Cross.
Always love a video with lots of Millwall in it hehe Would love to see a video on Beckton gas works which had a sizeable railway network and backdrop to tons of films and tv progs like the Professionals but also Cyprus next door to it.
I always wait until something you say makes me laugh out loud before I press the ‘Like’ button. I don’t think I have yet got more than 25% of the way through any of your videos before reaching that point 🙂.
Some great footage of the DLR there Mr.H. and from some different locations to those I've seen before. It's surprisingly photogenic for a train set in disused docks.👍😁 Of course, being allowed to "drive" the trains is a bit of a bonus. Where's the scene at 11:00 taken? Is that the tunnel?
Millwall FC played at a few grounds on the isle of Dogs with one being nearby to the viaduct and there’s still some terrace there but when they moved it was to New Cross, Bermondsey would be several decades later and indecently the land in New Cross was former railway land.
Yey. You got to my suggestion. There was way more details that I expected. I do still wonder why they needed a viaduct but hey if they just like viaducts so they can rent out the arches underneath then that's a good enough reason as any.
A little thing to add: at 10:00 you say "in 1926 the decision was made to close the railway". This isn't *quite* true. What really happened is that on 4th May 1926 the General Strike began, and it wasn't really feasible to run trains at that point (quite a few lines all around the country "closed" on that day). When the strike ended the railway company simply never re-instated the service as it was never that well used anyway. So the line's closure in 1926 was more of an accident, had the General Strike never happened then it would have lasted a little while longer (though if so it's doubtful it would have survived much beyond 1930, if even that).
Greetings XJ6. Billingsgate moving to Barking ? Something fishy there matey. Must be to do with the landowners of the Isle of Dogs obviously. Do keep up the good work in the community.
You're wrong, Jago, I do need to worry about the dislike button! Not because I want to use it, but because I can't help worrying about the three people who have already used it. 3 in the first hour! There must be something wrong with them, poor things 🤯
Sir: might you consider making a video about the defences that were built on the Underground during the Second World War? Examples might be the pillbox at Putney Bridge or the two pillboxes on the north side of the District Line bridge over the Thames at Kew. I'd love to see such a study. Thank you for your excellent videos.
So apparently Millwall as a area is in East London next to Mudchute but the football club called Millwall FC is in Bermondsey in Southeast London. And yes that football club does have history of football violence and hooliganism. But now it’s a family friendly club. Maybe the DLR could of extended from Island Gardens to Bermondsey and to serve the area of Bermondsey. Plus with a new London Overground station at Surrey Canal Road is on schedule to be built and could be opened in 2 years.
The Mudchute stop is called so, and not Millwall, to stop travelling football fans ending up there my mistake. Millwall FC was founded at a Scottish owned jam factory in the Millwall area, but moved across the river to South Bermondsey when they lost access to the pitch they played up Millwall got its name due to the marsh walls they... keep the marsh back, in an attempt to drain the water oit one of the wall used pumps powered by mills
I find it remakable that a large company in 1863 would cite concerns over fire and safety risks: " Our chief concern mlud, is the very REAL risk of fire in such an enclosed area, ESPECIALLY when the proposed line passes by our private Fireworks, matches, nitroglycerine and explosives factory located next door to our guncotton and explosives research shed. Now, if you don't mind, I shall smoke this cocaine in a tiny compartment on our newest train. We are VERY serious about safety mlud" . . . .
This got me thinking, why isn't street running a thing in the UK. There were harbour tramways and the like, but nothing like La Grange in the USA. Main line railways running down the middle of Oxford Street, what's not to like?... Ta.
Very stupid question I'm sure but they were banned from using "steam locomotives" but got to use trains powered by coal/steam? Is this a weigh/category train naming thing or did I miss something here? (watching this I initially assumed they were going to use cables or something for that portion until politics were resolved)
9:20 One of those GWR railmotors, or one very similar, lives at Didcot Railway Centre after a extensive reconstruction was completed in the early 2010s: No.93. Possibly one of the greatest achievements of the railway preservation world in the last decade or so. If you ever have a hour or so to kill, here is a vid showcasing it (from the Classic Traction channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Dx8dGxjO-7U.html&ab_channel=ClassicTraction
