What the Railways Left us. The Barcombe Story.
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- #Barcombe #BarcombeBridge
This week you join us in deepest Sussex with the Barcombe Bridge Story. We learn a little more about the questionable tactics that National Highways have deployed to recklessly go about infilling our heritage structures.
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Sign the petition here: www.change.org/p/national-highways-protect-our-railway-heritage-from-highways-england-s-wrecking-ball?recruited_by_id=be72d160-42bd-11eb-a3fc-8fc851075b36
Check out the map and find your local Structure here: www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1_9GtFIDW-QuYPvp8vBcSUD4gH9cOMdZt&ll=54.67264711578748%2C-3.144142287597238&z=6&entry=yt
Arricle mentioned here: www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/lewes-district-council-news/council-leader-demands-stop-to-barcombe-bridge-destruction/
already done it
Can non-English sign this too?
I signed the petition this morning after watching your videos. I’m guessing there has been a substantial boost since your video went on air. Hopefully this will give Highway’s England cause to reconsider. If not I’ll try gluing myself to the bridge. That worked for the people on the M25 so it might work here, although with a smaller audience. 🤔
Done it, shared on facebook with a suitable rant against the concrete Nazi's.
Nice shot from the DFR, are you doing a video about the mineral railways?
"Our" government treats the electorate with utter contempt, happly wasting our money time and again and ignoring the petitions that they claim are intended to enable better decisions being made. I'm signing it - but expect it won't make any difference.
These old railway track beds (and byways) should be kept open for cycling, walking, commuting etc. The constant focus on cars and lorries and more roads really should be looked at seriously.
Wel given that we should ALL be reducing our use of fossil fuels and putting more freight back on the rails, then yes.
10mins in video.the viaducts .ever thought how they where built .who dug the aggregate formed the bricks fired them got them to site dug the footings laid them ..in the year 1800 something.... with a horse and shovel....l The London to Birmingham rail laid by the side of the existing one took longer to lay than the old one ......
I’ve signed. Let’s home it doesn’t get infilled and this sensitive environment is saved.
Let’s hope instead of home.
paul and rebecca it called Barcombe ok paul
Sorry if pedantic, but its important to get details right. What you are talking about is Highways England. There is no “National Highways”. Don’t go against a non-existent organisation because you weaken the argument
Highways England have now rebranded to National Highways.
Apologies. Ignore the comment
its quite obvious that any infilling won't strengthen the Bridge.
The real objective of infilling bridges to make it harder to reuse the Permanent way future!
Lovely cut and colour, Rebecca! I hope the campainers save the path.
"Short hair don't care!" Luv it!
Has Rebecca changed the colour of her hair? I only noticed because my wife changed the colour of her's a few years ago and I got a bollocking when I didn't notice. Looks nice!
I've reported the potential bat concerns to The Bat Conservation Trusts Investigation email address for them to review. I will update via comment if I hear anything back. Thank You Paul & Rebecca
Excellent *I Chapman* - Thank you.
If the bridge is infilled, it would prevent that section of Bluebell Railway from being reinstated at any point in the future. They recently managed to extend the railway north and reconnect with East Grinstead, so reinstating the line going south must surely be a possibility. I hope the local community are successful in preventing this act of environmental vandalism.
Highway people don't like railways?
Totally agree that it's vandalism and betrayal by idiots that we pay to make decisions, which very often are wrong
"If the bridge is infilled, it would prevent that section of Bluebell Railway from being reinstated at any point in the future." I think that is the whole point? In the 1960s I saw many cases where bridge crossings were dynamited and station waiting rooms smashed up with sledgehammers for no good reason other than to prevent them ever being used again.
It will never get to Lewes again as there's a housing estate in the way!
@@althejazzman Also there is another cutting filled with a tip, much more extensive than the tip at Imberhorne that was cleared for the Northern extension but also containing far more potentially "dodgy" industrial waste. So a Southwards extension is out of the question I'm afraid, much as I'd like to see it (as a Bluebell Railway Preservation Society Member!)
Cheers Paul and Rebecca. Signed 👍
Well done Paul and Rebecca for bringing this to the attention of everyone and showing the waste of tax payers money highways England are going to do.
Thank you Andrew
Signed...hope H.E. can be stopped, Bloody vandals!
Let’s throw a Bailey bridge (portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge) across the span and call it problem solved for the next 100 years.
Can I just make a suggestion. I have seen your video where you explored the Cheltenham to Banbury railway. Again, in Banbury, Along the canal in Banbury there is this abandoned room. It isn’t a railway but it is still interesting. My new video will be me and my friends exploring this. Just a quick suggestion
Who at National Highways is responsible for these acts of vandalism ? Surely a Freedom of Information request would reveal more ? This stinks to high heaven of pocket lining to me ! Someone needs to be held accountable
Agreed Richard. There have been plenty of FOI requests.... unfortunately they aren't always forthcoming
The plastic over the bat roosts could be blown off by a gust of wind. Except highways England would just put cement in them instead. Electronic petitions are just ignored. Legal action over the bats could make headway. Local boycotting of companies that do the infilling could also help though possibly only retrospectively. Proving corruption would be priceless but difficult. At some level money will be changing hands but the culprits whether in the private sector or civil servants/both usually get away scot free.
It seems to me that there is a potential conflict between heritage and historical preservation verses a wildlife sanctuary, at least as far as bats are concerned. This is regardless of what National Highways may intend.
It's too bad the Bluebell Railway can't run trains over that bridge again.
I am sure the Govt have 100s of other tax payers waste schemes it is almost if they want to upset us and waste money at the same time these are not single issues but this is particularly wrong I signed and gave for the cause thanks for high lighting. If Highway England have so much spare money repair the awful roads.
have signed
(HEAVY SARCASM) The vast amount of heavy traffic using that bridge is shocking. The hundreds of vehicles that crossed it as you were filming, was simply phenomenal. It doesn't need infilling at all. The money should be spent on sensible projects, like infilling the millions of potholes in the country. The person who suggested infilling these perfectly good, beautifully built structures needs firing, or moving sideways to a department where their uninformed, biased ideas can be utterly ignored.
I think that it's completely illegal to interfere with Bats and their habitats in any way. It looks here as if they are trying to scare the Bats off, which, if they have made the structure of the bridge into an Hibernaculum, is definitely breaking the law.
Absolutely agreed. However, we are not exactly sure what those plastic coverings are (at least not from this angle...). They could be subsidence markers? If they are coverings to impede the movement of bats, then most certainly the act is illegal and those coverings should be removed by anyone concerned. A call to the RSPCA might be a good place to start.
Bats are a great benefit to control flying insects, and in rural US, we welcome them in our outbuildings.
Utterly thuggish that anyone could consider such an unsightly act of vandalism as infilling these wonderful structures like this. Petition signed and a small contribution made. Keep up the good work.
@1:37 @1:57 Abbey road?
Keep up the crusade. Highways England just don't understand at all
Living in Barcombe, I travelled on this line as a child and later when the line was closed, spent time playing on the disused track and workman's hut. Horrified to hear that they would infill under the bridge instead of repairing the bridge properly.
It is my understanding that this infill has now been cancelled
Yup. Which is very similar to what they have suggested before and then carried on, so we remain a tad skeptical.
I've signed and so should everyone else. And Hazel - what a brilliant, eloquent advocate she is. Thanks for the bonuses of that extraordinary bridge and that magnificent station!
you the gent who put my 219 photos on Wikipedia? Nice to see you
@@johnmasters504 If you are who I think you are - yep, this is the same Lewis! That collection has been a goldmine and shows up EVERYWHERE way past what I thought they would all those years ago when you very kindly released them. Good to see you again!
Signed
Signed
Blonde Becca !
People just don't care about railways and history anymore
The railways built Britain the roads didnt
That was my first disused line to explore back in 1979 and I've recently been back during the winter lockdown. OK the preserved Bluebell Railway are unlikely ever to lay track along that section but almost the whole route is left exactly as it was when trains last ran in 1958. It's a real pleasure to walk alongside (on legal paths) and absorb the history and how nature has taken some of it back for everyone to enjoy,
Spend some money to maintain this history Highways England!
Thanks P and R and the Barcombe people!
Signed.
Someone should start removing whatever the company has dumped down there!
Well done, Paul and Rebecca for "flagging this up". This is surely a most worthy cause and deserves the publicity which your video has given it. Lets hope for many more signatures to the petition!
Under both UK and International Law it is illegal to ''Intentionally or recklessly obstruct access to a bat roost.'
So in theory we could just move the obstruction these highway engineers put in to stop the bats.
@@FowlorTheRooster1990 No as the obstruction now forms part of their habitat moving it would be as illegal technically and since it likely it would be re-instated considerable more disruption would be caused to the bats. Far better to take the responsible agency to court and establish there actions as being illegal, preventing further disruption to bat colonies. There is an upside since the fact that the screens allow exit some consideration has been given to the bats, they could have just sealled the cracks and blamed it on sub-contractors.
So thumbnail. 2 ladys are now 2 guys
very Abbey Road there on the bridge
There's a piece in the Hampshire Chronicle about National Highways planning to do the same to the Stoke Road bridge on the Watercress Way. Vandalism.
The Pod People have taken Becky!
This was well worth posting, thanks!
I thought the National Highways agency were starting to see sense and stopping this nonsense but clearly not. I'm sure people power will prevail and knock some common sense into them!
Yup. They paused it at the exact same time they carried on.
Hang a rainbow flag off the bridge and make out that it is an important part of local LGBT culture. You’ll soon see it fully restored and preserved forever.
Infuriating! Deeply infuriating. (And I'm not even English nor living there.)
Wow paul who is the hot blonde lol
Awesome - why would they do such a stupid thing? Bender thinks it is money. "A social conscience is like a garden shed - you try to eat it and it'll stick in your throat!" - Mike. OK Brits - where is that line from? PS Rebecca great look love the hair & I like your sweater Paul. LOL
Saw the campaign had reached the BBC news tele text service. Let's hope the Bluebell can help.
Good work. But sneering at the DM? They covered the story!! Did the Grauniad? Be grateful to journos and papers that consider what we are interested in to be important.
Everybody covered the story, the DM are their purely to sell papers. Unfortunately they are a paper largely responsible for the division of our nation. I shall sneer on forever more.
@@pwhitewick the guardian isnt responsible for division/
a newspaper that insists my grandfather was so valueless that being in the trenches was just a good ol gender privilege , and such a privilege that im inheriting it,but harriet harman is oppressed or that being 3x more likely to be murdered another privilege, a paper that insists men can simply declare themselves women and boom they are. a paper that pushes division under the guise of toxicity and privilege all based on a very dubious hierarchy. yep all the daily mail...
dont even read the mail but come on...
So 10 grand to fix 100 grand to fill it in yep that sounds like the government
Signed. I loved the Bluebell Line... Including the disused stretch. Thanks for another great video.
Rebecca. Nice hair. 👍😊
Please say some locals ripped that plastic off! I agree Don't fill in this bridge!
It's a legal to do that to bats There is a law regarding bats har protected.
So this infill overstep was not first subjected to some kind of environmental impact assessment?
Nice one guys.
I love this, I was walked and cycled the Bluebell Line when I was a child. I am from East Grinstead. They should leave the track alone and let people walk and cycle it!
Didn't highways get told to unblock that bridge as they didn't have planning and was illegal??
Ask Jonathan if he's sure the line closed in the 50s as I left school in 66 and joined the S&T.
My duties included walking the line from Isfield to Lewes every fortnight doing line maintenance.
You got a beautiful morning to be around the viaduct. I'm often down there to take photos. Keep up the effort guys, your video's are always fascinating.
Shared to the Bald Explorer
There is another bridge further up the line just before Sheffield Park Station. It's North of what was Newick Station and has three arches. Quick! Look at it before it too gets the dose of concrete! Between these two Bridges . . . there's a Tunnel! Albeit a short one, named Cinder Hill Tunnel. All part of the Bluebell Railway track between Sheffield Park Bluebell Railway Station and Barcombe Cross Station. LBSCR
Congratulations Paul and Rebecca for another informative and interesting video. Your passion for our industrial heritage has always been entertaining and illuminating, but now you have managed to elevate this work, whether deliberately, or not, into a 'channel' for locally based individuals and groups to highlight the governmental and corporate vandalism which is slowly blighting our industrial architecture. Thank you.
Shame on The Highways agency - They just do NOT care. They are trying to stop a regeneration group abandon the Queensbury tunnel in West Yorkshire.
If you have bats it is an offence to tamper with their environment in any way.
Shame on them. Someone at some level is responsible, rip that plastic off someone. They should have fixed the bridge for ten grand, not waste £127 on putting it beyond reach. Why destroy these legacy railway structures, Shame on you Highways agency!
HOABL
All that time Hazel was speaking not one vehicle went across the bridge, it would interesting know how much traffic passes over per day.
Thanks for all your history on railroads and canals. Always looking forward for the next one. Also like the new haircut, seems more practical for traveling around in the bushes along some trails.
National Highways seem to be in league with the contractors to just dish out (taxpayers) money for pointless projects. They are a law unto themselves
It makes you laugh government go on about climate and nature then want to Bury countryside under concrete
Any chance of getting wildlife camera footage to document how wildlife are using that path? So glad you guys are helping shine some light on what look like very shady dealings!
Paul, I hope you noticed Rebecca’s new ‘do!
YES y'all saved it! And they might even exhume the Musgrave bridge.
At the risk of sounding of controversial, I must say that in part i do agree with "Highways England" ethos of structure protection, although I will also say, I do not particularly agree with their methods. For sure to bury a structure is to protect it, but that then dashes the hopes of anyone wishing to re-use it in the future most problematical, and also any wildlife habitats that have been built up over many years would be destroyed in a few short weeks. To have to dig out possibly of over a 1000 tons of earth spoil and concrete to re-open the thoroughfare if required would make this undertaking way beyond the financial realms of most people, councils or groups. Absolutely there is more and more traffic now of ever greater weights traversing the highways and byways of England than ever before but surely to install "Arch supports" to a 'Weak Bridge' or whatever must be a cheaper alternative? such as steel uprights to hold the weight or even partially brick or stone filling the arch that would support the weight but still leave access for pedestrians or cyclists would be more befitting and more beneficial long term. It is possible you could even incorporate bat and wildlife roosts and hollows within this filling. This way, should the route in question be put back into rail use of any type or indeed opened to foot or cycle traffic it would not be such a massive undertaking to do so! PS, great video and very informative, thank you. Keep up the great work!
At least if the bridge is preserved, then so is the line of the trackbed, which can then be used for a footpath/cyclepath/bridleway, a haul road for tractors. Might even be needed for a railway one day...
In addition to the treatment of the wildlife and in particular the bats, what is the CO2 impact assessment of infill with concrete (and associated works) and how does this sit with the governments own global warming targets and initiatives? This just smacks of some faceless official literally just trying to bury a problem without any ownership of the consequences.
We lost our local M&GN railway bridge only a few years ago. I wish we had such a campaign to save it. It was obliterated
Signed the petition and best of luck to the campaigners. I live in the local area to Barcombe and just down the road from the Ouse Valley Viaduct and hope the Barcombe bridge does not become a victim of an unsightly and unnecessarily expensive infill.
Yep, we must not get in the way of road based transport and if a bridge may cause a perceived hazard then it must be filled in or demolished, it appears. A classic example of desk jockeys knowing the "Cost of everthing but the value of nothing" What a complete waste but then short sightedness and self interest has always been an enemy to the future of sustainable transport. I weep.
Check the original act for creating the railway and its bridges, if not specifically repealed or a general transfer of responsibility that act will stand
If nothing more than cost this needs highlighting because considering the economic state of our country, WHY are we funding this?!
Set aside the great historic and cultural heritage with these architectural marvels.
This second point is of greater importance to me personally, though a great many people who don’t care about old bridges could very much be brought on side through point A
If the bridge really is in a dangerous condition surely there are other ways to fix it, at a low cost, other than pouring tonnes of concrete into the middle of the countryside. Britain is full of smart engineers and architects, surely they could be consulted.
I'm Australian with a deep, mapped, ancestral tie to the UK and a strong desire to visit and explore our history, I'd hate to not be able to explore these locations due to what appears to be short sighted pig headedness. Celebs are filling in pot holes over there of their own accord, I'm sure highways can find something else to spend the money on.
Back to abandoned Stations, now do you go to the fully re-opened Okehampton Line - and at least visit the missing stations and those beyond , or does Geoff Marshall visit for all the stations for the new daily ones or do you both go ?
Great video and nice to see you down 'my way'! Have signed the petition :)
So you back and cement over and first heavy rain your disused line becomes much more of a ditch, increasing the risk of flooding (and costs to government) as places along the old line are now possibly filing damage claims.
Discontinued railways have left behind some remarkable masonry structures. They are sculptures in brick and stone, works of art that we no longer create in our modern building practices. And as pointed out here, the rail rights of way that pass over or beneath these structures serve as valuable trails for hikers and for wildlife. Unless a higher-priority project needs to blast its way through, what is the purpose of destroying (or smothering) these historical monuments that required so much artistry, skill and labor to create? Hundreds of thousands of tourists come to the UK to see such things each year, yet it seems that some in authority don't care.
In total agreement that this should be preserved and not infilled. However, regarding the plastic coverings, are you sure they are not just monitoring the stress crack in the wall using survey markers to see if the structure is continuing to shift and the bags are protecting them, rather than doing anything specifically to hinder bats? They certainly looked to be following the route of a significant crack in the wall.
What condition is the structure of the bridge in? Have the steel plate girders rusted out or are the jack arches between the girders loose? Looks ok from here and seems not a busy road above it.
I would be removing those plastic screens every time they were installed, doing anything whatsoever to bat roost is illegal and has been for many many years without a special court order, so pull them off and kep pulling them off whenever the highways idiots put them back on. It is time we started reinstating the railways that Beeching axed, if we had the network we had before Beeching then far more people would be using it instead of car journies
Wonderful video thanks. What a trying shame they want to infil that beautiful bridge. What an eyesore that would be. Pleased you there to fight the good fight. Thanks for taking me along. Please stay safe and take care
We could really do with help at Crewe getting exposure to what remains of Crewe works and the surrounding area. Theirs some real gems left that are under real threat of being lost due to the local council demolishing and building over vast areas.
Very bad what the N. H. are doing!!! (signed)🙁😠🚂🚂🚂
Engineering schools have only been teaching how to calculate structures built of reinforced concrete. Masonry or stone bridges don't fit their notions of proper infrastructure. And then there's the lobbying pressure from big cement
Why does it feel like highways want it to be even harder for lines to be reused for other uses or return to rail use in the future as it would be too expensive to remove and repair the bridges once they are blocked up or removed!!
I hope it is saved.Nice hair Rebecca !!
Well I'm off to sign the petition then
I know this isn't really the right place for this but I love Rebecca's new bob style. 😊
I can't see or use the word "bob" without hearing it in Rowan Atkinson's voice.
Did I mention that I'm weird?
"BOB"..... 🤪
There's money in those works projects, not in preserving heritage. Sad that context of local culture isn't taken into equal account to cost and schedules of works projects.
Nice promotional video. Signed the petition. Be gentle with the environment and industrial heritage. A slight preservation of this viaduct will do. Success. Love your 'new look' Rebecca.
Bravo I've been seeing some of what's been going on and upset indeed...To hear it's costing more at a time like this, rather than repair, makes matters worse. There enough people who care to help look after such areas. If I wanted to dump a huge mound of concrete in a field all hell would back lose, yet highways England can get away with this sort of vandalism...
Loving what you two are doing here, Schnapps, or whatever his name is has just said how wonderful it is to restore the line from Okehampton to Exeter, brand new along an old route, why the hell is he infilling possible future lines, protect our bridges and tunnels, they are part of our history and heritage, I love what you do and the blonde hair is just cool Rebecca.
was that not known as the primrose line Barcombe
Bluebell I think?