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I'd like to watch someone go trainspotting on Westwell Lane, Ashford. That's where Kent Downs and Highspeed 1 have the closest approach outside Ashford International station.

Wow - the image in the thumbnail reminded me so much of Rickmansworth, I thought it was that station at first!

Really nice video of a really nice station. Wow it looked like it was a big station back at its peak, with all those sidings etc I am guessing that goods traffic was its main revenue. What a waiting area, that looks really nice and puts a lot of others to shame. So if you cant use the bridge to cross to the other platform you can just use the level crossing? Im guessing that's how you would do it? What a delightful line this is and I cant wait for next weeks one.

Very nice video of my local station and i enjoyed it. The dissused cafe was a coffee shop which moved to its other store in Ware station instead as the one at St. Margarets didn't seem to be doing that well. However, you forgot to mention it was once the terminus station for the Buntingford line branch. Keep it up and can't wait to see the other videos on the branch

The design of this building reminds of Banbury Station. Almost mirror- image.

Really nice video, i like the shots you got of the trains coming and going. Thats quite a large waiting shelter which is good. Yes I guess the station used the river to transport goods to the yard and then off to London. I have been on the Lee valley walk but I haven't been to this station so nice to see it here and thank you for sharing. You said on the last video I would like this series and I agree

I have been using Doleham since the mid-1960's and remember the all wooden platform on the Hastings-bound side (now gone). There used to be no lighting on the station and each day a guard off one of the daytime trains (2-3 hourly service then) would position an oil lamp at the end of each platform, so that at night the drivers would see the light and know where to stop. By that standard the station today is positively 'urban'. Thanks for reviewing my little station, forgotten in the glorious East Sussex countryside.

so this just came into my recommendations, I believe I saw you at Ware one afternoon doing your filming (I was working in the booking office)

Really nice video, i have never been to this station before so its nice to see it here. Being situated next to a canal like this I'm guessing the railway used to move goods from the canal for onward travel? The building itself does look a very 1960s style. I like how the retail is built into the bridge, I have never seen that before but it probably does exist elsewhere. Its also nice to see the signal box still in place especially after being decommissioned in 2003 so over 20 years ago. This was a nice visit to a station with a historical building, thanks for sharing and cant wait for more in this series

I grew up in earshot of the line and went to the primary school next the line at Park Street. The clacketty clack of the rails and accompanying and gear change noises drifting across from the embankment, would wake me up every morning, and is sound I miss. My mum used to take me to Watford and St Albans when I was very young and I remember the guard in the old Cravens 105 helping us up into the slam doors from the (then) wooden platform. I think if she had a buggy (push chair), you could ride in the guard's van part. IIRC, the bottom of the door was at my head height then. I moved away in the late 1980s, but did just about see the electrification and the opening of How Wood. Before that, we used to walk home from school acroos the level crossing in Summer. Also as kids, at the level crossing in the Summer Holidays, we put old pennies or 2p pieces on the line to get the train to flatten them. St Albans Abbey used to have a scrapyard opposite and I would watch the crane with the giant magnet moving clumps of rusty metal while wating for the train. I can remember there must have been literally thousands of soft drinks cans on the line, all in various shades of black with layers of diesel oil, I can remember trying to count them, and there were just too many, and wondering if they would ever be cleared up. The old shelter was always being vandalised and the smelll of urine was seeped in to the blockwork. So I am delighted to see that the Abbey station is much nicer now. I can remember the train used to go over the embankment next to the school and there was a thing (a silly game) where you had to get your feet off the ground when the train went by. The teachers eventually stopped it. In the classroom we lifted our feet, but I remember outside on the playing fields we all laid down on our backs and put our feet in the air. I think this was what made the teacher finally lose his patience with it! Some of the local kids would sometimes walk along the line from St Albans Abbey, after the train had left, in order that they could save the fare and then spend it instead on sweets when they got to back Park Street.

Nice, I am just about to lay track on my layout and will be ballasting soon. I must say I enjoyed your series on the Abbey Line.

I remember those emus in network southeast blue and white

Excellent video, brought back so many memories for me, the earliest standing on the platform and seeing West Country class 'Clovelly ' heading an up train on the opposite platform. I used to enjoy walking up those old stairs, full of atmosphere, like going back in time, Thanks for all these well constructed videos !

I live near there, and have been to the station many time such a shame it’s such a degraded state, from it losing its level crossing, to the ticket office being boarded up

Really nice video, i have never been to this station so you did a comprehensive tour of the station and its facilities that I could make my way round it now easily. I do like that older staircase with the columns still in place after the newer staircase has been put in. The station looks to have retained a lot of its older features which you highlighted, I do like that. Nice tour of the outside of the station too. I looked up on the old maps where the sidings used to be, it looked a nice station back then.

My local station these past 28 years! Excellent video, one of your very best to date, especially the walkabout section as a real bonus. Oh, and you even managed to catch one of South-Western's relatively few Class 377 units in the closing part of the video: most of their Electrostars are Class 375, as we saw as well.

Its a shame that so few trains use Islip and its seems pointless Network Rail having spent all that money rebuilding the station.

Which services do the networkers still operate from Rochester? We can’t ever seem to find them here any more!

Why doyou say 'ticketing' machine, rather than just ticket machine?

At the end of the video; wasn't that a 466, as it was not coupled in multiple to a 465? Yes, it is a geeky quesion. Nice video btw.

How much has changed in ten years !

Great video, as someone who lived in the Gravesend area all my life, until I retired to the Philippines eleven years ago, this was of particular interest to me . Hopefully you find an excuse to visit Gravesend, which hardly changed since Dickens stood on the platform, but as soon as I left was completely redesigned. Maybe Abbey Wood too, which is so different now to when I traveled past it , Keep up the excellent work !

Nice video as always. It’s good to see this station as I have never been there so it’s good you also showed some of the surroundings too. So you can go to Luton from here? That’s quite a journey. Good to see all platforms are accessible as I’m guessing in the old station they weren’t? Also a nice nod to the old station with the pictures up there. Pxx

Great video 👍 I really like that painting of the 375

I remember using the old Rochester station back in the 1950s - to visit the cathedral and castle, as well as the pictureque high street. As you say, the new station is nearer the centre, and better for bus connections too and, as your video shows, is better appointed than the old. I have friends in Cuxton - just down the Medway Valley line from Strood - who are always hoping for an 'Upper Cuxton' station on the Chatham main line, which would ease their journey into Bromley for shopping: changing in both Strood and Rochester is somewhat tedious ...

Yawn yawn

Ah, this is my local station! I've never seen more that around 3-4 people use this station at once

Nice video as always. Those are wide platforms for the size of the station. Not much use considering its not far from Coventry arena so more people. I guess it just serves the housing estate close by?

What a great station!! One wonders what would have happened if the Midland Region hadn't butchered the GWR network around Birmingham? I still don't understand why the Honeybourne to Stratford line isn't reopened and Snow Hill vastly upgraded?

Thanks for this - yes, Community Rail has worked brilliantly to make rail travel enjoyable even at low-use stations like this!

This took me back a bit! I travelled daily to and from secondary school at Stratford from Wilmcote station. I parked my bike in the bike shed highlighted in your video too. This was from early the early 1970's to 1981. DMUs were the order of the day and train doors that you closed with a solid clunk. I recall Mr Booker was the station master back in the day and he maintained the hanging baskets and won awards for the best kept station. Happy days. Thanks for highlighting such a lovely place.

As one of the Station Volunteers at Wilmcote. I should like to thank you, on behalf of our volunteer group, for your great video of our station. We are working to replace the modern seating with period specific benches that are more appropriate to the character of the place. We also have the benefit of periodic steam trains (out of Tysley) running between Stratford and Snowhill as the Shakespeare line.

Great detailed video. We used to take the train from there to Stratford every day! There was still a helpful station master then and the buildings were still open. It was a bit less pretty then though!

Thanks for a nice video. All the stations between Birmigham and Stratford have been adopted by their local communities under Friends of The Shakespeare Line. Volunteers are always required!

Such a nice station and well filmed as always. It sure does look like a heritage railway station rather than a main line station. You really captured the feel of the station well. The footbridge looks really nice considering its over 130 years old. Having the canal nearby is nice too for a walk along it. Im guessing at some point in the past they would transfer goods from the canal to the trains and vice-versa. Thank you for sharing this lovely station.

What were the overhead cables ?

Great video

I still can't believe they built housing there. The old canal and settling ponds in and around the collieries and brickyards here were used for chemical dumping after full closure in 1960. Cyanide was certainly known to have been dumped there in large quantities in 1972-3, as was discovered when they demolished the remains of Stanleys Brickyard.

Nice video as always, this station does look nice compared to some other new stations. It may be a bit cold during the winter though with the open ground next to it and the pretty open shelters but it does look nice and functional. The fact it has braille on the signs too is a nice addition. Its also brightly coloured having the orange on there too. Are you doing any more on this line or is this the only one?

There is a pdf document online produced by waveney council that includes detailed history of Somerleyton with some information about the station and swing bridge. If you Google "somerleyton conservation area character appraisal with management plan" it should come up. (East suffolk council website).

You will get a great view of trains going over the bridge and through the marshes if you leave the station and head up to the Dukes Head pub. The path beside the pub takes you down to the river from where you get a decent side on view. 👌 An even closer view of the bridge might be possible from the marina too, but strictly speaking it is private access. Personally, I would opt for the Dukes Head option.

Really nice video on what now is just a basic station. Its nice to see that stations like this are still here and not abandoned or closed down, even if they are seldom used. I do like the flower bed arrangements and the sign made out of stones, that does give the station a nice touch. Cant wait to see where you are next week.

Thank you, I was a teenager during the 1980s and lived in St Margaret's Bay on the White Cliffs. The majority of users of the station were children from St Margaret's at Cliffe who attended school at Sir Roger Manwood's secondary in Sandwich i.e. where a train journey was necessary. These were few. For schools in Deal and Dover and the rest of the kids in the area, the bus was always used as an alternative means of transport.

Thanks for this - I'd often wondered about Water Orton, and your video does show an interesting station. The services are quite interesting, too: although the station is managed by West Midlands, the trains are actually Cross-Country - though only one of them is at all exciting - the 17:59 from Cardiff to Nottingham: no good for a day out in Nottingham (though excellent for getting back to Nottingham after a day out in Water Orton), but OK for a quicker return after a short day out in Cardiff (outward you have to change at New St and Bristol Parkway). The other trains are really a Birmingham-Leicester shuttle. The service pattern is also interesting in that it is run as two separate single line operations! - the New St - Leicester shuttle uses one platform and that Nottingham train uses the other. I wonder if there are any other UK stations which are like this? - I think Whitby uses two separate platforms for the Middlesborough and NYMR services. The service to Birmingham is only every two hours, but does take only 15 mintes. Probably, though, the X13 bus, costing only £2, will get most of the custom, as it runs every half-hour. Look forward to your next video

Round the corner to Me. The Grove Park to Bromley North service is sometimes handy I must say

Nice video as always, shame you couldnt film any more in the station but at least you could show the Abbey Line platform. It looks a serviceable platform and like the rest of the line, i like the school artwork thats been put up there.

I love the Abbey Line, but the train service is abysmal. You cannot rely on the trains to arrive. Such a shame. A station without trains is useless!

Another great video, I am liking this series of the Abbey line. This station was a halt before it was an operational station with some sidings. It served the farms nearby, then after it became the station, then all the industry came. Its a nice station with the crossing. I like the stencilled pictures on the waiting area, thats a nice touch. You highlighted the main points at the station and i cant wait for the Watford main station at the end of the line. Nice filming and editing too.

Not sure it was necessarily "secluded countryside". There are hundreds of homes that were built late 1890's and very early 1900's (pre 1910) just a few minutes walk away

Nice video for what is a small station. You managed to show the main areas in the station and i think it would be enhanced when the garden opens. It does look like a halt really but it does look ok. I used to go to Garston back in the late 80s as they had a McDonalds drive in which was the closest one to where i lived at the time so i do know the area well. One of my friends also lived in the area. This is a nice series showing this line in a good light.