Hello Stuart. I was aware of this feature. My name is Mark Holland and my Grandfather was stationmaster at Halesworth and was killed when a bomb was dropped on the station during the second world war. The Holland Clarke room in the museum is named in honour of him and their house help Ms Clarke who also died. My father worked for BR when I was young and I remember visiting Halesworth when he did wage runs. I also worked for Boulton & Paul in the 90's (though not the engineering division) who made the swinging platforms. Thought you might be interested. MH
Hello Stuart. It was actually me who made the model of the moving platforms for The Halesworth & Disrict Museum back in 2004. it was a joy to make & a real "head scratcher" to sort the order of opening. Loved your video and your channel👍
Great model and I can’t believe it’s 20 years old - still in good condition which cannot be said for many of that age. It really shows the public how the platforms worked. I’m glad you like the channel.
The Victorians sure did find the easiest and amazing solutions to their problems. It's a shame really that they aren't used anymore, but thanks to that museum (and Stuart) we are reminded of them. I'm sure lots of ppl use that platform daily and never knew about it. Thanks Stuart
Interesting! My parents moved us to Halesworth in 1951. Father worked at United Dairies, just the other side of the crossing, and I later went by train to Lowestoft Art School, so one way or another I saw the crossing platform being hauled about for several years. What I wonder now is why they didn't employ the much simpler solution, as they did at Market Rasen where I lived when it started the London service with longer trains, of informing passengers that due to the short platform please move forward to the front two carriages to get off!
Hi Stuart, Halesworth is a few miles away from where we live, and whilst I was aware of the crossing, I've never actually seen it, despite visiting the town on many occasions. Halesworth station was also the transfer point for fish etc being transported on the narrow gauge railway that served Southwold, which closed in the 1920s. History under our noses!
Well done, Stuart; that was informative! I’d no idea such a thing existed. Our country is riddled with such innovative solutions to strange problems. I hope you can find more!
They used a similar solution on the London Underground. The old Wood Lane station that was on the Central Line had a swinging platform to ensure that a train turning off to got to the depot didn't hit the platform.
There was at least one platform on the Chicago Elevated set up this way as well, to allow a platform extension on the North Side Main Line over the junction to an overflow terminal for rush-hour traffic and specials.
Restored in 1998 (or thereabouts) with a grant, (by Waveney District Council conservation team and partners such as English Heritage) not to operate but to retain the feature, which was decaying. (The bearing photo was taken at that time)
Born and raised in this area with a love of engineering I didn't understand why I never heard of these platforms. Turns out I'm late to the party as usual, born 3 years after they became redundant. Love the vid, glad to find this channel. Thanks.
Something so evocative about a country train station. Reminds me of being a kid and going on adventures, getting lost on purpose. Great video and nice to see some blue sky too.
This is an underrated channel. I would have assumed you have at least 200k subscribers. The video quality is really good and it was easy to understand as well
Really glad to see this channel, I really enjoyed when you're proper DIY channel started and you explained more engineering so it's great to see this channel spin off and looking forward to the content
The swinging platform reminds me of the timber swing gates that were used at level crossing. Unfortunately most have been replaced now by the more modern boom gates. I always have a smile on my face when ever I can still have a chance to see the occasional timber swinging gates still being used . Thanks so much for bringing us along to show us this now forgotten piece of Engineering 🙂👍
What a brilliant video. As a rail buff I have never heard of that type of crossing. It is so simple but works like most of the old engineering. Just subscribed, and look forward to your other videos
Amazing. I was born and brought in nearby Beccles. Often passed through on the train (younger brother was a trainspotter). Never knew that this was there.
Long time Proper DIY subscriber Stuart. Very happy to see this new channel exploring engineering. These moving platforms are incredible, and shows how skilled and creative they were back in the day. Look forward to seeing more uploads!
There was a moving section of platform at the old wood Lane station on the Central Line of the London Underground which was closed when replaced by the new White City station when the line was extended. It only moved back a short distance from the tracks to enable a train to enter the depot.
Great to see you and your engaging, accomplished presentation skills branching out Stuart. Especially with your professional background. I'm looking forward to what you have in store for us. There's always room for more high quality engineering/transport content on YT.
Noticed that too! Bolton & Paul had a big business making pre-fabricated small buildings in the later part of the 19th century. The business took many twisting turns before making the (ill-starred) Defiant turret fighter. During WWI they actually built the most Sopwith Camels of any firm.
Hi Stuart What an excellent presentation of a unique bit of Victorian thinking and engineering. I have been lucky enough to have lived (retired) in Halesworth for about 6 years now. So I know about this old level crossing cum platform creation. My family was old GWR and I did part of my engineering apprenticeship at Swindon works so all this was of great interest when I first used the station and since. What is interesting is that in Halesworth itself there is the canal (The Blyth Navigation) which replaced the horse and cart operators and was cut through in 1761 to Southwold to enable larger Wherry boats to move the malting and agricultural goods for export at Southwold and bring coal and other products in but it closed in 1884. The canal's end was brought about by the Southwold narrow gauge railway which opened in 1879 and had its depot adjacent to the up platform at Halesworth. That railway was effectively replaced by road services for passengers and freight and closed in 1929. Parts of it are being restored by volunteers. By WWI the bigger main line railway had the massive malting warehouses you showed built complete with an extensive set of sidings and a workshop and served the rest of the nation and larger ports. So you can see the historical stages of development of transport from horse and cart via canal and small railway to large railway and road transport as each new invention replaced the previous one.
6:28 I love the historical paradox of him leaning over looking at the Victorian engineering, and praising it, with a modern LED single-aperture multi-aspect signal in shot... This station is definitely now on my "must visit" list. Sadly I'm rarely in Norfolk and never in Suffolk, so it means a special trip, but I must see it...
Fascinating video Stuart. I’ve come over from the DIY channel and am delighted you’ve started this new one. I’m a Chartered Surveyor and have a real interest in these often overlooked features of our towns and cities and really think you’ve hit on a great idea for a channel here. Keep them coming. All the best for a successful New Year.
2:09 that curved brickwork around the pivot is lovely, we should bring that sort of thing back - nowadays it would be a piece of prefab concrete, how boring.
I was born in Beccles and grew up in Lowestoft and Oulton Broad. I was a rail fan from an early age. The line (from London Liverpool Street and Ipswich) through Halesworth went north to Beccles, here it split - one line continued north to Haddiscoe, St Olave''s and Yarmouth Southtown, another line went east to Oulton Broad South and Lowestoft Central, and a branch went westward to Bungay, Harleston and Diss (joining the Norwich-Ipswich main line). All except the Diss branch was double track - the Diss branch closed first, then the Yarmouth line closed and only the Lowestoft line remains. Even that line is mostly single-line now! Halesworth was also the terminus of the narrow-gauge line to Southwold - the line terminated next to the (up) platform for Ipswich and London.
Love this sort of video. I watched your first video on this channel back when it first appeared and I'm so pleased to see more. Two great channels Stuart. Keep up the great work.👍
I grew up in Halesworth and used to walk on those platforms and even take the longer london train from them in the 80s (I think there were signs saying not to back then, but I was a kid). Haven't been in years, but it's still so, so, familiar. I knew about the platforms' history as my Dad used to be into local history and told me. What I just spotted though, is that they were made by "Boulton and Paul, Norwich". Who if I'm not wrong, later became an aircraft manufacturer and produced a rather unsuccesful fighter plane from WW2.
Thanks Stuart. An excellent video. The swing bridge wasn’t quite as unique as it is today. There was a similar arrangement at Chantry Road in Saxmundham that, whilst closed to road traffic, connected the original down platform to the goods platform to the south of it and allowed the unloading of milk churns and other perishables that would have travelled on passenger trains. If you visit the Saxmundham museum you will be able to meet someone who has actually operated them before they were wiped out by an overloaded freight train in the early 60s.
Great idea for a channel , a whole mountain of interesting engineering in the UK , liked and subbed , just work your way up and down the country .your stuff to camera is believable , relatable , honest , not awkward or weird , great style , more please .
Boulton and Paul were aircraft manufacturers who also made prefabs and supplied components for R101. They also supplied gun turrets for other aircraft manufacturers.
Boulton and Paul were general manufacturers working in steel and wood. They got into aircraft production in First World War but sold off the aircraft division in 1930s and that moved to Wolverhampton were there was a large workforce for such work. Boulton Paul at Norwich were innovators in prefabricated buildings but little remains of their industrial heritage in Norwich itself.
This is great! As soon as I saw your video on Proper DIY this morning, I was straight over here to watch and of course..... subscribe. Happy New Year everyone!
Great video Stuart, it's nice to see how things were done and most of the time we walk straight passed them without noticing or knowing about them. I look forward to being enlightend on other interesting marvels in the future.
I am surpirsed you are able to find something like this that wasn't on Tom Scott or Tim Traveler.. I suppose it being non operational now is probably what helped. Fascinating regardless
Interesting solution for the problem - some problems need special solutions, like public transportation between the towns along the Wupper river in Germany. _That_ solution is more than 120 years old and still in use.
I rather enjoyed this video, I love how back in the day people came up with all kinds of ways to deal with interesting problems. I feel like if this kinda thing where more common, they'd probably mechanize it to make it easier to move (like maybe with a lever or button) or even automate it so that the crossing would close automatically like crossing gates/barriers do when a train is coming (though I imagine an advanced warning for people on the platforms would be a good idea or just disallow regular people on it when the crossing is open to cars)
Everyday is a learning day, I've been into railways from more than 40 years, I was not aware of this unique crossing system many thanks for sharing, funny how the trains grew in length in the last century yet now they run short trains again rendering the crossing out of use. again thanks for sharing your knowledge on this.
I just wanted to say thanks for making this episode. A very interesting and practical solution to a problem. Something like the manual crossing gates that used to protect many a crossing here in Melbourne, Australia. On the subject of things out of sight, during the recent tramways works in preparation for the new Underground ANZAC Station and tunnelling for the underground section of the Sunbury to Cranbourne railway line, the work crews discovered a buried tramways turntable from the Cable Car era. This turntable was buried under layers of asphalt on St Kilda Road just near Toorak Road West a major road intersection in Melbourne. The turntable had probably been buried for around a century. Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺
Thanks Mark - fascinating stuff - and funny how people used to 'bury' stuff. We tend not to do that any more when we are paid to update anything. I have a video in pipeline where a piece of engineering history was buried at the bottom of a London Underground lift shaft - coming soon!
Absolutely fascinating! This must have popped up because I watch a lot of transport related videos, and now I can see the connection between how engineering solves problems and in doing so affects everyday life. Looking forward to some new journeys in this area! Thank you!
Nice to see a Bolton Paul product in situ from long ago. Bolton Paul designed and built many aircraft, one of the best known being the Bolton Paul P82 Defiant turret fighter. Wouldn’t it be marvellous if both structures were donated to a preserved railway and incorporated as a working exhibit.
Right up my street this. Thank you for going to all the effort of making this video. I am looking forward to this channel growing and its inevitable success.
Hello from New Zealand and thank you for a fascinating insight into some historic UK railway infrastructure. So much of NZ's railway history has been lost. Too many lines closed and ripped up, some of them now "cycle trails" - unlikely that trains will ever run those branches again.
hello stuart, i was born and dragged up in suffolk, but i did not know about this at halesworth. i now live in diss on the county line, you live and learn everyday.😀
Thanks for this, I find it amazing, very interesting. I’m grateful to the Halesworth, etc, Museum too. Just subscribed and looking forward to more videos.
With the advancement of computers, software and AI in the last few years surly they can't compete with the advancement made during the industrial revolution, and particularly the Victorians, from manpower and horsepower to steam and electricity. As a retired toolmaker/engineer I love the content of this channel. Many thanks Keith.
