York to Newcastle - NOVA 1 

Notice how the overhead electric cable zig zags from pylon to pylon to prevent it cutting a groove in the pantograph

I have my sandwiches and flask of coffee and I’m sitting in my living room in Canada looking forward to this video 😄 Thanks in advance Don .🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚒🇨🇦

Don, this is a superb production. I really hope the Ministry of Transport is aware of the sterling work you are doing. Thank you so much.

What an achievement - from Stevenson to the present day technology and routine high speed travel. I'd love to see the reaction of Stephenson, Gooch, Brunel at al if they could be placed in a modern train cab. I think they would approve. Great video, Don. Loved every minute of it.

My grandfather worked in our royal railways here in Bulgaria pre-1945. Ive always had fascination for trains but Ive never been to the UK and man do I wish that I could go or live there! Love your commentary sir, thanks for offering people like me the virtual trips they couldnt take otherwise IRL. Great stuff!

13:44 Thirsk 18:27 Northallerton 24:04 River Tees 26:44 Darlington 43:56 Durham 49:00 Chester-Le-Street 54:56 King Edward Bridge 56:17 Newcastle

I live about 300ft away from the ECML and I remember watching the electrification works going up and having a closer look as I went over the bridge to see school friends.

Excellent video. At roughly 46:25 was the location of the former Newton Hall Junction. Here the long closed Sunderland line veered off the ECML to the east crossing over Belmont Viaduct high above the River Wear and the spectacular wooded Kepier Gorge. It then joined the former ECML ( latterly known as the Leamside Line) at Belmont Junction. Here the line continued in a North Easterly direction through Penshaw into Sunderland. This entire route has been lifted except the last 5 miles into Sunderland which was reinstated in the late 90s to form the southernmost part of the Metro network between Sunderland and South Hylton.

Love this video, very high quality. The ticker is great. This line is a real race track. Thanks for posting.

What a splendid way this is to "get out".

Truly excellent production, thank you!

Brilliant! Absolutely stunning photography and extremely well-presented and informative running captions. Thank you!

What an amazing video. I loved it, very clear and great detailed comments all the way through. A a pleasure to watch. Thanks to all.

The quality is spot on! Thank you Don :)

I find the point work fascinating, as well as the scenery. I love this

Thanks for all additional info you provide !

Another enjoyable video .Vey well shot and captioned . Well done and many thanks !

Don you truly are the King of the cab view. Well done

Thank you for this intelligent, informative and enjoyable video! You certainly put the hard work in to make the video as enjoyable for the viewer as possible.

Don, you are an absolute legend for making these in cab videos! I love how in depth you explain each landmark and sideing, I have travelled some routes you have covered

Fantastic. Love it as the Nova 1 powers its way through Northallerton station.

Loved it, Loved it, Loved it! Loved Darlington station and after the Freight trains to go fast was great! I'll watch again over the weekend! Also to see snow was nice as it's warm here down south! Thanks Don and thanks to Aaron.

Once again, a superb video production. Thanks Don...Stay safe.

I've subscribed. Thanks for a very informative clip. I love watching this type of stuff and your little side tid bits of information makes for a well rounded presentation. Thanks heaps. From New Zealand.

Beautiful! Watching from the USA. Done this trip mny times.

Just wow. I just watched this a second time. The first was at work on an ancient pc. Today, I'm watching it on a brand new laptop with a 4 gig video card in HD. This is like being there without the wind in my face. Thank you so very much for this excellent production.

Added to my favourites! Brilliant video.

Thank you for these videos. Love seeing the UK and the information you provide along the way. The view from the drivers cab is awesome. Thanks again.

A great production, informative, enjoyable & no insect splatter to spoil the view!

Great Video I noticed the three bridges out of DARLINGTON the Thompson Street bridges and Green Lane I remember them as a boy during the days of steam I am now 73 and live in Western Australia..cheers

Great production video. Came across this and will now view the others you have made. Great....many thanks

Superlative. This quality and amount of information sets the standard for train videos. Thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

Hey , I love your video , I watch every single one , I love them , keep doing what your doing cause your video are lovely to watch 😊😊!

Think I've caught all your videos Don. They are very educational as well as teaching a lot about railways and just how complex they are. Can't make up my mind if the returning Binliner to Wakefield or the North Wales coast to Holyhead is favourite. The 113 thumbs down must be competitors without hope!

Another enjoyable ride on the rails with beautiful weather and scenery to complete the ride. Liked your comment on Whittaker’s classic song, reactivated my (Ian) dormant musical grey cells, still humming the tune!! Thanks for your video, never tire of any of them.

This is amazing iv done this journey many times it takes 1 hour to get from York to Newcastle

i like the info tidbits as well as the camera work, well done.

Thameslink driver here. Love your content!

Very nice trip. I really love all the explanations, it really ads value to the discovery. Thanks a lot !

Love the approach to Newcastle Station. Another great cab ride, with great in-cab shots as well. What a contrast to the Class 66 ride! Many thanks Don, as always.

Another excellent entertaining film! And folks, don’t forget to support the appeal at the end!

26:30 I'm glad the points were set correctly

Although we didn’t see much of the area, I found this a wonderful trip! I love trains and scenery. Could have used more of what surrounded the tracks, but a great getaway today! Thank you😊

Thank you Don for another interesting and educational video. Your videos are always full of facts of local interest. It was a pleasant surprise when I saw information of another video from your stable to watch on these cant do this or that days, what a great way to spend two hours watching English country side going past at a rate of knots and learning so much to. A big thank you Don and the driver for a great trip.

Absolutely wonderful Don....as I expected. Many thanks to yourself and the driver. While enjoying this video I’ve been comparing the overhead catenary style to the new overhead line system between Paddington and Bristol (thanks to a cab ride video) and the new overhead on the GWR seems to be far more intrusive and heavily engineered compared to the ECML system. Things have changed so much over the last few years haven’t they? Keep up the good work...your style has become the ‘standard to achieve’ in my opinion. Best wishes , Rob

I've been waiting for this moment all day and having had a very nice chicken biryani and bombay potatoes for tea, I'm now going to settle down for some thrilling entertainment.

Really enjoyed this video especially your on screen information. Looking forward to watching more

An excellent video. Worth watching during lock-down. Thanks, Don Coffey.

Wow this is nice!!

I'm saving the return trip for later, so please accept my apologies if you've already covered this. The line diverging to the right at Tursdale Junction formed part of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway, built in the 1830s. For several years it acted as the main line between London and Edinburgh, crossing the River Wear by means of a spectacular viaduct just south of Washington. Later known as the Leamside branch, it carried freight and was used as a diversionary route until as recently as the 1990s. It hasn't been abandoned altogether; the tracks are gone, partly because people kept stealing them, but mainly because they'd have to be relaid anyway if the line was ever to re-open. The ballast remains, in an attempt to stop vegetation encroaching. There are still hopes that some of this route might one day be made into an extension of the Tyne & Wear Metro system.

Thanks for another great one Don. See, there are so many things that I love about your videos - nostalgia for childhood (riding a single car diesel unit, no idea what class, on Middlesbrough to Whitby where you could see out of the front window in the early 70s); love of Victorian architecture and civil engineering (the man hours involved!); fascination with the mechanics and physics of rail travel and stock; and just a love of the British countryside. Looking forward to more!

great video, love the comments explaining thing rather than endless line views

As Einstein asked "Does York stop here" Strangely satisfying in an ambient way, many thanks.

Very nice "up & down" ride and thanks Don for all the information.

I have traveled the globe. Love traveling your train and thoroughly enjoy the scenery. Wonderful experience and most appreciated.

Travelled this section of line many times on DMU’s, Class 45/47 loco hauled, Class 158’s, HST’s, Class 91’s and Class 185’s. Still to make the trip on a Nova 1 or Azuma though! Acceleration looks impressive compared to the stock of old. This section of line was electrified 1988-89 with electric services officially commencing in July 1991.

Whenever the train stops at York, it always sounds to me like the announcement says Björk 😂

Thanks for another great journey.

I just don't want to stop watching, the point of singularity is genuinely hypnotic ... Especially after acceleration thx for bring to us this experience... I m loving it...

Thanks for, once again, a wonderful trip around the eastside of the UK (as well to you Don, as to Aron ofcourse). I never understood the difference between the 800's and the 802, and now I finally do! Great to once again see the architectural wonders of the UK with your personal in-depth look, as well as seeing a little bit more of the 802's driver cabin. Last summer I went on a vacation to Newcastle with my father (who happens to work for our national railway; NS), and neither he nor I realized the number of tracks on top of us, when taking a few beautiful pictures on the below deck of the King Edward Bridge. This was quite the surprise for both of us, and we loved to see it from this perspective! By the way, are you being assigned to drive the Nova 1's in the future? I remember seeing in one of the last livestream feeds, you're usually only assigned to the TPE 185's. Just wondering, that's all! I'd love to know what it is like, driving such a giant at speeds up to 125 M/ph. Thanks again, and I wish you all the best in these times of the coronacrisis. Cheers!

As always, informative AND relaxing! British Rail is so far in advance of North America. . .

You guys are awesome, to me this is the ultimate ride!

Great video.Informative and nostalgic. We used to do this run on our way from Newcastle to Cheltenham in the fifties.In some ways the train journey was the most memorable part of the holiday.Many thanks.

44:59 Funny you should mention that song, I was thinking of it as you came into the station at Durham. The song dates back to 1969.

AND WE'RE OFF‼️

Thanks for this Don, excellent quality with great facts along the way. Very proud to have been selected to become a driver on the ECML, starting my training next month, so doing a bit of early studying!

A very very well produced video...Felt in the cab real time...Thanks keep up the good work..

How nice to go on a train journey and get away from all this s**t

Lovely Don. Line off to the left at Darlington was also the North Easterns route over Stainmore Summit to Tebay on the WCML, and also the Middleton in Teesdale branch too. Any chance of getting Newcastle to Edinburgh please?

Another great video Don. Thanks for putting it up.

Another top notch video Don, thankyou and stay safe sir.

Excellent quality as ever Don, now I've just got to make my way home from York....When's the next train to leeds? ;-) Stay safe and well mate.

22:54 the richmond & catterick garrison joins mainline also this was the site of dalton station

Amazing 😉 Loved every second ❤️

Wonderfully done! I appreciated not only the commentary but also the references to the map. I watched from Boulder, Colorado. I travelled London-Newcastle once in 1969 or 1970; my main memory was of the very nice dining car! Thank you.

9:30 Convoy of Class 66s

You may have left "old Durham town" but there was no "fog on the Tyne" for you

125mph!! Corking speeds! And I remember the mass floods last year too, and happened this year as well! Love the videos! Keep up the great work! 💯

This is some racetrack out of York another wonderful video I.

When switching to diesel power how much time is needed for pre-load warm up?

Excellent video again Don! Are you acctually together with the driver on the trip? Best wishes in this corona-times!

Great video as always Don, thanks for posting.

Hi Don I have only recently come across your cab ride videos. They are superb being both educational and thoroughly enjoyable.

Absolutely terrific video, Don. I would have preferred the speed showing permanently, but that's just me. Excellent commentary and detail. Probably the best train video I have seen. Two things I don't understand. Is the poor signalling and the poor track that keeps speeds down? And with this wonderful new train, why are the interiors so damned uncomfortable and unwelcoming. The seats, as everyone says, are like ironing boards. Surely we can do better?

As impressive as this train is, it reached Thirsk in 13 mins. I remember hst in the early 90s passing in just over 11 mins.

Brilliant video with excellent description on the way. Top marks to all involved. Well done 👍

Another classic, best yet Don !

It has always struck me to think that for about 20 years after the Battle of Waterloo that all these surrounding flat fields were exactly that , a backwater of a rural society with peasants and yokels slaving away on the land to make a living, probably having no knowledge of worldly events beyond their horizons.. Then , sometime in the 1830s men wearing tall top hats arrived to measure up followed soon by navvies who started to dig up the land to make ready for the great rail road , then life and scenery were never the same again

We really could implement 140 mph running on these straight bits of the ECML without too much difficulty...

Thanks Don for your time and hard work, been catching up on your other brilliant videos, cant wait for this one, thanks again.

I commuted frnewcastle to London for five years so seeing this view is fascinating!

Both Darlington and Newcastle stations are magnificent. THX

Another great video, Don. Thanks.

This train goes through my part of the world! Ferryhill! Great video! :)

Don, have enjoyed riding the rails with you from here in the states. Enjoy your time off. You are definitely going out on top mate! Thanks very much.

I was wondering why watch the return trip but I was glad I did. This line is well worth watching both ways and I was also glad to watch the EVR snippet at the end. Great job...

Nice one Don - love your postings! Thanks!

Watching this excellent video from Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. Thanks so much for the high quality video. The clear sunny weather makes a difference at these speeds.

Another great & informative video, Don. Many thanks to you, and Aron, of course. You can easily see why the Darlington - York section was regarded as a racetrack in steam days.

Fantastic picture,so relaxing to watch,👍😄