Banbury & Cheltenham Direct Railway -
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- Опубликовано: 17 апр 2021
- Welcome to Episode 35 of Every Disused Station from the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway. Yup its abandoned railway time and we walk along this long forgotten railway which aimed to connect the ironstone quarries with south Wales.
There is a lot to see in this weeks little video, from viaducts to abandoned stations and even a little hint at the odd tunnel. Join us as we venture from Banbury to Kingham and all in between.
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Развлечения
As soon as you said Hook Norton the word "beer" came into my head. Just me?
Old Hooky :-)
@@billyruss Haymaker is summer is a superb pint. Hook Norton Brewery is wonderful, and still family owned!
Cant beat a pint of hooky 😁
I always add the suffix 'brewery' whenever I read Hook Norton!
Thoroughly recommend the tour of the brewery and eating there as well... as soon as you can that is! - On another note, this was a line I was planning to walk but having watched Rob Bell’s documentary and now part 1 of this trip, it has reminded me how unnavigable the route is. Time has taken it’s toll I’m afraid. Good accompaniment is the book on the line. 😀
The dark bricks are known as "engineers' blues" and were extremely durable. They were used on canals and railways all over the country.
And appear randomly in my walls, usually in at least one of the holes I try drilling to put up any shelves!
Quite a lot on the Great Central
As a kid we knew a railway beige in my village as the blue bridge.
Also used for manholes and other below ground structures.
i realize Im kinda off topic but does anybody know of a good website to watch newly released tv shows online?
Coming home after a tiresome day of training after having been ill, and finding this reward in my list of subscriptions, there's only one thing to say: Thank you!
Allllways a pleasure.
The blue brick are engineering bricks . Used on many big civil engineering projects ( well , back in the day when bridges were beautiful structures built from brick 😥) . We still use them now mainly for their strength and they don’t absorb water so ideal for brickwork below DPC on houses . They are also used a lot to top off walls for the same reason . They are also used for decorative brickwork because they look nice too .
Wow got a bit carried away there 😳.
As for those beautiful stone bridge supports my guess is the holes were there to aid lifting the stone blocks into position because they looked seriously heavy 🥵.
Looking forward to the tunnels 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱👍🏼
I lived in Banbury for seven years and travelled the road through Bloxham to Chipping Norton regularly. I followed the line visually from the road as I drove, sighting all the embankments and bridges, but never got around to exploring beyond that. It's good to have the missing links at long last, so thanks for that.
Out the other side of Banbury is, what the locals called, the "Iron Railway" that went on up to the Stratford Road where the iron ore was extracted. The Stratford Road appears elevated, not because the road was elevated but because the land around it was lowered by the diggings. If you think the buildings in Bloxham have a reddish hue you should see the stonework of the houses around Wroxton!!
Hi I live in Banbury and really want to find out how to get in. Can you help me lol. I explore abandoned places and this would be perfect but I just don’t know how to get in :(
As an inhabitant of Great Rollright I find it hilarious how you couldn’t remember the name. Loved the video.😂
🤪...... you should have seen us deliberating off camera.....
"If Long Compton thou canst see,
Then King of England shall ye be.
But if Long Compton see not ye,
Then King of England thou shall not be!"
The Rollright stones (King Stone and Whispering Knights)...
It’s amazing the things you two find in the woods 🙀.
Great snippets of railway history with hidden bits of viaducts and looking up at embankments !
What a tease to say there are two separate videos. Can’t wait.
Fabulous vlog. Scenery was wild and beautiful. Hook cutting ,tunnel, trees round walls great to see. Again sad that all the railways ,lines and stations gone now. Look forward to next vlog.thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it
Holes drilled in stone were mostlikely used to place "feathers and wedges" (US terminology) used to split off blocks of stone in a quarry; keep driving line of wedges until stone splits. Back when, explosives were quite wimpy- black powder.
plug and feathers here.
Tare and Feather cutting. Drill shallow holes along a line of weakness in the rock, place two curved iron 'feathers' in each hole, tap in a wooden plug or 'tare' and soak the wood in water - as it expands it forces the feathers apart and splits the rock. A process still used in rock quarries today where building stone is required. Explosives are used more for the production of aggregate and track balast.
In the holes you could also use tapered round steel wedges they may also have used wrought iron ones also the holes for the lifting tongs/calipers would be 2 thirds up from the bottom on the outer and inner faces
My favourite local walk. It took 200 men 4 years to build the viaducts (with 2 fatalities). At closure the main metal bridges, atop the piers, had gone in 4 weeks. Long live the ‘Oxfordshire Pyramids’🙂
Lets hope they are long lived indeed.
Thanks for a great video ! I lived in Adderbury for many years and remember the line being active. From our house in Manor Road it was a shirt walk across the fields to the line where we could watch the steam services go backwards and forwards.
Sadly I also remember the line being lifted and houses being built on part of the line.
Once again - thank you.
Living near to Banbury, I can say that there is a kind of boundary between the use of what is known as Horton ironstone which is orange-coloured and the use of the creamy-coloured Cotswold stone which explains why there are Cotswold stone viaduct pillars in an area where Horton ironstone otherwise prevails. Some villages in this area contain cottages built from both types of stone which makes them very colourful!
Hornton stone...
There is a wonderful Victorian tower brewery at Hook Norton (mine's a pint of Old Hooky).
How did we miss this!!!!
@@pwhitewick one of the nicest Bitters you can buy. They used to do Brewery Tours as well. I wondered why you didn’t mention it! 🍺
I've delivered to Travis in Chipping Norton. Theres an old guy who drives the forks who was more than happy to tell me about the history of the railway there
Love that Nathan
All sorts of relics and remains on this one. The viaducts must have been impressive before their destruction. Looking forward to the tunnels.👍😁
Great vid once again guys. Thanks for the Entertainment on a Sunday afternoon. You have noe over 20 new Fans here in Hamburg Germany. Have a nice rest weekend all our love from a cold Hamburg your Nr1 Fan Club
Is there an official club now??
Thank you so much for that, fantastic as usual. I love the masonry those stones are just gorgeous. Same as those tunnels. Thanks so much for taking me along, enjoying the history. Please take care and stay safe
Great video guys. Thanks so much for posting it. Looking forward to part 2. Superb remains of the viaducts., bridges and cuttings.
Thanks for the video totally enjoyed it looking forward to seeing the tunnels!!😎🚂🚃🚃🇬🇧
Yet another very interesting Blog well done
Loved the vlog! So glad y’all are able to get out and move about again. The stonework pillars on the viaduct where my favorite bit. I just love the old historical things lost in the woods.
Would make for a beautiful rail trail. Thanx guys.
We agree!
great video again paul and rebecca and thank you for all the hard work you put into these videos for us all well done :)
It's very relaxing watch you roam around the British Countryside. Thanks!
You are walking a line that I walked as a child, the tunnels were open. edit...late 60's Been across the Hookey viaduct, as a baby in my mothers arms on the train.
Awesome video as always. Great content, very interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing.
as always entertaining and informative you do know how to entertain us Thank You Rebecca and Paul
Nice to see you in my neck o' woods. Some good local history books in Banbury Library covering these lines in detail. Lots too about the Ironstone quarries and railways spurred off by the old Alcan works towards Wroxton. I bet the Hooky viaduct was an impressive sight in it's day. Really appreciate your work and looking forward to the next installments.
Very enjoyable great video , beard emergency level 4 ha ha ha 👍thanks for sharing look forward to more 🙂👍🚂
Another nice video.Glad to see you travelling a little further from home,looking forward to parts 2 & 3.
, very informative about a line I never knew existed, thank you and look forward to the rest of the line and tunnel videos!
More excellent content! Sad to see those viaduct towers with no deck on top. More of these structures should be revived and turned into proper footpaths and cycle ways.
It does look like something is defintely missing
Pleased to see you are able to get back out. Kudos for the return to the EveryDisusedStation!
The holes in the bridge stones may actually be for 'lifting dogs' an iron scissor type clamp where the weight of the stone latches the lifting tool
Ahhhhh that makes sense
They also could be from the splitting process to shape the stone
ruclips.net/video/ZMsCMBjJXSA/видео.html
The hole you have your hand on at 6:27 was drilled from above and used to split out the stone block. Often a dry wood wedges were placed tight in the holes and soaked with water. The wood expanded and split the stone. Later steel splitting rams were used. The hole or indent above this hole was used to give a point for the lifting tongs to bite into the stone.
That was my thoughts of the holes. If it was blasting pockets there wouldn't be visual evidence left.
Great adventure Paul and Rebecca.
A lot to see but still fascinating Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it
Good afternoon Paul and Rebecca,
Thank you once again for a great video, I live in Cheltenham and have a great interest in this railway. I would be most happy to show you some of the features still visible in the neighborhood.
Keep up the good work and I am looking forward to your next excursion out on film.
Having been brought up in Witney (from 58 - 79) I didnt know those viaducts around Hook Norton existed. Quite a surprise. Certainly, I was aware that the Oxford to Worcester line had been reduced to single track working sometime in the late 60s / 70s so its interesting to see that it looks like its now double tracked again. More people living u there now :-)
"quick look up the embankment" ... giggles!!!
Nice video enjoyed that nice to see you guys up in the shire 😊😊
Thanks 👍
Cheers, great video. Thanks for this!
Thanks William
Fab video for a Sunday evening, look forward to the next two.
Cheers Simon.
Great video as always! I've often wondered what there was to see on this disused line as I've passed the junction of the old tracked when passing through Kings Sutton. I'll look forward to seeing the rest of the videos from this line!
A lot to see but sadly not in the Stations themselves
Was up that way a couple of weeks ago doing the other lines from Banbury, hope to walk this one soon great job with the video's
Morning indeed, it's 0040 when I'm watching this lol. Loved the embankment bit, made me actually laugh. Yes, that looks like an explosives drill hole to me.
I see from the map that you will be going near Hook Norton. There's a top brewery there, that produces really good beers. Most of which I'm rather partial to.
Rollright - site of a famous stone circle, called 'The Rollright Stones', or, in local folklore, 'The Uncountable Stones.' Plenty of slightly sinister folk tales connected with them.
We actually learnt of these when we got back!.... a shame as we would have visited.
You mention the local Jurassic ironstone (iron bearing oolitic limestone actually). This is fortuitous since Churchill is the birthplace of William Smith, the father of English Geology (and also the TV Rick Stein).
The Hook Norton viaduct supports look impressive. Thanks again.
As this is very local to me and coincides with many of my travels to and from hone, I enjoyed this very much, thank you!
Our pleasure!
Starting in my home village! Nice
....and a lovely village it is too
That’s one impressive viaduct at Hook Norton; I’ll have to search for pictures of it when it was fully intact. Not sure about the holes in the stone. They look just like drill holes as you suggested, but I’ve never known holes to be left in full view on decorative blocks. Can’t wait for the tunnels!
Cheeeeeeeers Malcolm
Hook Norton Local History Group has a RUclips channel with some interesting videos of old Hooky. Including photos of the intact viaducts. Grab yourself a cup of tea and take a look. Very interesting.
@@PROPHETVberlinschule Ah thank you: something for the weekend! Cheers for that.
Great video been looking forward to you both doing my local line. Some great books available on it. Interestingly it was a land slip that was never repaired by Hook Norton tunnel that closed that part of the line in the 1950’s I believe. Cant wait for the next video to Cheltenham through Bourton on the Water 👍🏼
Those snow pellets are called Graupel :)
another terrific video guys - tick
Looooads of ticks
Looking forward to the tunnels video. I have explored the Hook Norton and Chipping Norton ones. Dying to know where the third one is!
I was in the Hook Norton area looking the the tunnel etc just a few weeks ago myself.
This is just what we have been filming recently!
Just a note about splitting stone, I don’t know what method that they used there, but will explain how that they used split granite here in Australia,
A series of holes were drilled, about 100 mm deep and 30 cm apart along the line that they wished the split to occur, next wedges were inserted into the holes and they were tapped with a hammer (well, a bit harder than a tap, but not forcefully), up and down along the line of the holes.
No explosives were used and eventually the block of stone would split in a perfect straight line.
If every visible stone of the Hook Norton viaduct pillars has a (blind) hole bored in it then I would suspect that the pillars were "faced" with some more valuable stone. This facing stone has later been "re-cycled" somewhere else and what you are left with is the holes for the fixings.
Definitely for putting something in. Maybe lifting points?
@@SteveInskip Scaffolding.....there are books about the Viaduct.
I hope you got some Old Hooky on you way through. 😊
The look at the embankment segment of the video was funny, Yep you're still funny Paul! but was really a lovely video to watch.
Phew.... I try
I like Rebecca’s hat! 9.07.23
Hasn't Paul done that quick look at something gag before? Still as good as ever! :-D
Haha... you noticed!!... but when....
@@pwhitewick Ooh, I don't know, it was some time ago and I don't have the time right now to go back through loads of videos, perhaps you should make a prize quiz out of it? :-)
@@andyhill242 I would start with these five, as he mentioned a search for a goods shed in this video (and I think that joke sequence was original from that other video): ruclips.net/user/pwhitewick1search?query=goods%20shed
Having grown up in the steam era and working this area as a sales rep, it's interesting to see all these old rail lines
Recently found your site and enjoy the content. Have you covered the various stations for Bognor, including Yapton and others?
Love the video guys, it's great to see you doing EDS again and I can't wait to see the tunnels!
Am I missing something about the pyramids? I've watched three times now trying to see what you mean 😂
A quick look up the bank..... I'm still laughing at that one. It's like the gang I grew up with. great fun.
“Rollright. You weren’t right and there were no rolls, innit”
Nice episode and looking forward to the follow ons. If you get back to the area and covid rules allow, check out the Hook Norton brewery!
Very tempting I can assure you.
Charming as Always. I just discovered a new old disused railway. I've lived in Bournemouth/Poole my whole life but I never knew til yesterday that there was a railway from the old MOD Cordite (explosive) factory at Holton Heath down to a jetty in Poole Harbour by Rockley Bridge. You can see the eastern end of the trackbed on google earth but the Western end is part Industrial estate and part MOD secret bits I think. (I agree with others that it's unlikely that every stone in that bridge would have a drill hole from the mining process - you'd see it more often on other structures and surely they would hide the side with the hole on the inside surface).
Are the holes re-used plateway stones ?
@@highpath4776 That's a possibility I reckon. The early mineral plateways of Purbeck had stone sleepers. But, those holes looked like the wrong angle for rail spikes to fit in!?
@@gaugeonesteam Scaffolding ends for as the arches were built ?
If you ever get a chance to visit, which I did probably 20 years ago, there was a scale model of the whole in the old gate house. Plus a tour was done showing how the cordite was made. There was a boiler house right next to the railway line which supplied high pressure steam across the site which was then used for steam heating the buildings. Well worth a visit if you can.
wonderful
Oooh, I've been a member for 7 months, times flies! Yay, tunnels, oh....
Ooooh, has your colour changed Andy!?
@@pwhitewick Yeah orange now, don't remember what it was before though!
3:33 Priceless !
Always lol
Seeing how these lines have disappeared reminds me of the disappearance of the great wooden sailing ships. Such a loss. Love your series, tho.
Cheers Crow
Great video as always. I think I mentioned in a previous post that you two must be the fittest railfans in UK although Geoff Marshall may give you a walk for your money.
Trick of the camera I am sure!
Drill holes in the stone blocks but likely split with wedges.
Yes you have now a Fanclub here in Hamburg.
Can I join!??
@@pwhitewick yes Naturaly
There’s a cool station, I’m not sure whether you’ve been there but it’s called Lydd railway station in Kent, not too far away from the Dungeness nuclear power station
Hope you tried a pint from Hook Norton brewery while you were there! Can't beat a pint of hooky!
Channel 5 covered this line in one of their "Walking Britain's Lost Railways" series. Makes a good complement to this, as usual, excellent video. PS YT won't let me post the link but you can Google it!!
Ah thank you, we did watch that.
Hi , the holes in the blocks were put there so that they could be hooked up to a crane and be hoisted in to position .
Did you see any evidence of the massive ironworks when you were exploring the viaducts in Hooky? Eric Tonks book on the Oxfordshire Ironstone works has some good pictures.
Also a trip to see the steam engine in the brewery in Hook Norton is also good.
good video
Thanks
Hiya Paul & Rebecca - @ 3:37 - That was sooo silly - you made me laugh!!! 😀 @ 4:37 - I agree with you - it's sad & disappointing - I don't like it when they fill in old railway lines - it is as if they are trying to cover up the past!!! Also all that hard work building a railway & for what - just for nothing??? 🙂🚂🚂🚂
Also at Other places round Oxfordshire!
the holes are more likely to be from the feathers used to split the rock, the dynamite would generally have been pacekd at the end so you would be less likely to see them.
6:12 That's some crazy ivy! I suppose it formed that way because it puts out those tiny grippy filaments to hold on with, that ruins brickwork the world over. :) -7:20-- what IS that top tune playing there?- I read the show notes! Quality sounds though. Nice! :)
At 10:08 I'm sad to report a graphics overlay error: name of the station is as the previous one, station number of the day is correct, total station number is missing the final digit.
Ha... oooops. Had to change them all around last minute and messed that one up it seems.
@@pwhitewick These things happen every once in a while, no biggy. (Other than having regular errors in graphics such as with the videos of the TLDR News channels. That's annoying. - But I don't wanna bash too much against other channels here.)
This is the bit I don't get - you have miles and miles of embankments, huge viaducts, massive supporting structures, deep cuttings and - what did you say - 3 tunnels? To move a bit of ironstone? Sounds more like a folly. And yet, had it remained open, it would now be one of the most scenic and well patronised lines in the UK, passing through the heart of the Cotswolds.
Great video again. Beautiful engineer's bricks. A sight not often seen since most have been replaced by bland and clinical concrete or iron plating. The holes in the stone do look like quarry activity. It might be the drill holes for explosives, or ir might be the holes used for the splitting wedges. Just a question. When you say "every disused station", will that include Ludgershall and others like it? Or have you already covered that one and I missed it?
Thanks Tardis. I'm afraid we have already done the Ludgershall line (Midlands and South Western Junction Railway).
@@pwhitewick Thanks. I had a feeling you might have. I shall have a rummage and see if I can find it.
If only the viaduct was still there, it must have looked amazing.
Brilliant as per usual. Your plan to cover the next section, Kingham to cheltenham is of particular interest as a number of disorganised locals would love to see at least the Kingham to Bourton on the Water section opened up as a low carbon transport route. Much of is is used today by locals as an unregistered footpath. I cyclEd from the A424 through to the B4450 unhindered only the other week. We then took to the Bleddington road and rejoined at what3words ref. ///aviation.relishes.marzipan to note the route to Bledington well trodden. The local Sheppard told us that the route was well used by the locals.
Tunnels out this Sunday. Followed by Kingham to Andoversford next Sunday.
Current EDS completion estimate: 16/06/2064
. That's 6 months knocked off the estimate following EDS 34.
Can the London ones be done Virtually as Geoff M has just done the abandoned lines (but not all abandoned stations in the TfL area). (Question are stations that are now tram or light rail counted as abandoned or not, and are the disused station numbers incliuding railways (standard guage or above) that have never been part of British Railways ? / Grouping ( mostly London Underground/Met ones)
Coming next week.... Crystal Palave Branch with said Big G.
Ah yes, a number 4 on the Beard Emergency Scale, that we are all familiar with!
........and.... its now gone. (But you'll have to wait three videos for that!!).
Hi there! I just received a piece of the Collingham Bridge Station in Yorkshire I believe at an auction, it is an old kerosene lamp, so beautiful. Have you been? Do you know anything about this disused station?
Unfortunately we haven't been, but there is a great article here for you to have a look at: www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/collingham_bridge/index.shtml
the hole in the stone could also be from were a wedge would be used to split the stone to size
Market Harborough..are you sure, that's miles away (I grew up there) and I know there were brickworks in the town (my house was the victorian chairmans)
About half an hour from Banbury.... or am I getting the wrong Market.... XYZ
@@pwhitewick no it's about 30mins...but not on the line...
you didn't vist hook norton brewery when you were there
When you were at the first old viaduct did it smell of garlic? It did look like a lot of wild garlic growing there.
Most definitely did yes.....
Holes.....scaffolding was braced via these holes.
we have the fluffy back again
Surprise visit!
👍❤️🇬🇧🚂
Was there a Cheltenham and Banbury Indirect railway ????
Did not consider this!!!....