Hastings Underground Railway - You Can Ride it!
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- A quick break from the usual abandoned railways, canals and landscapes. This week we took a mini tour of the Hastings Funicular railways. Yep there is two! So join us as we try and find the Victorian splendour that is The Hastings Funicular Railways.
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Side Clip in Tunnel: SecretLondon (CC)
Wheel Image: HastingsInFocus
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Oh wow 😍. Loved this one, Paul & Rebecca! Quirky railways, secret passageways, obscure world records, AND climbing a hill, all in the same video? Can't wait for the next episode in the series! (You're planning a series, right? Right??)
Incidentally, on behalf of my adopted homeland: France might have a thing or two to say about that "Oldest Surviving Underground Funicular" claim. They've got one in Lyon that dates to 1878. Someone should probably make a video about it...
I've no idea who that someone is Tim but I'm certain they will make an epic video about it..... veeeeery soon. Please.
@@pwhitewick It would have to be someone who is fluent in multiple languages, lives in France and has an alliterative RUclips channel...
@@hairyairey nope.... no idea still.
Worth noting the Metro C in Lyon is from *another* funicular that opened in 1891, and it has the steepest metro platform in the world at 17%! Of course, it was converted into a rack railway in the 70s, which is a delightful addition to Lyon's varied modes of transit.
I should have guessed that Paul and Rebecca would find the funicular with a tunnel - thanks for the insight into Hastings which I have never visited!
Bristol has The Clifton Rocks tunnel Funicular Railway,heard a few years ago, it was going to be reopening,don't know if it ever did,as Covid got in the way.
The interplay between this man and woman is lovely, cute and joyous! Great video too.
I agree they are both very nice people and I would love to move in their circle, especially as their subject interest and research done for their postings, they should. Be on mainstream TV 👍🏻❤️
Didn't know these amazing gems existed!
You always learn something with Paul and Rebecca's channel!
Gotta love a funicular!
My first (and so far, only) experience of this type of travel, was the water-powered Lynton & Lynmouth Cliff Railway.
Is Folkestone on your list but if you want a really nice trip try going to Paris in August and go to the funicular at Mont Marte
That second one I've never seen before, never even been on a Funicular :(
You could have thrown in a recording of “Funiculì, Funiculà” if there’s one with copyright permission. Which there may not be one!
Lovely video - I hope the fish and chips at the Blue Dolphin is as excellent as ever...
1066 of Course Pevensey Bay and somewhere near Battle (abbey and town).
You're in Sussex it's a twitern not an alleyway 🙂
I was looking for this comment. Spot on!
Regarding Hastings history, the town also lays claim to being 'The Birthplace Of Television" , as John Logie Baird , the television pioneer conducted his early tv experiments in the town when moving here in the early 1920's .
What a Fun* video :D
Quirky Alleyways? Heck, why not!
*...icular
im down for quirky alleyways videos !
This is brilliant 😊
There is a funicular in Istanbul that runs entirely within a tunnel and is called something like the Tumel.The one in Haifa, Israel is supposed to be in a tunnel too but, sadly, I've never been on it.
Never knew it existed!.... that because I never been to Hastings which is a place I always want to go, something different but a lovely video.
Three in Bornemouth, one in Redcar.
There's another lovely one at Saltburn by the sea , remember riding it lots when I was a small child
Well, you've made it to Hastings, this was probably one of my late father's favourite places and of course over the years, we travelled on both cliff railways and the miniature one. Hope whilst you're down there you explore the trackbed of the Rye and Camber Tramway (some track sections still exist in the Rye Harbour area) and over to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, where there are also abandoned railways in the Dungeness and New Romney areas.
And the WW2 Sound Mirrors. I think the exploring of Dungeness Power Station has ceased , but the Lighthouse should be visitable
@@highpath4776 Indeed, I have stayed at Romney Sands caravan park many times, often right up against the railway trackbed (not the original branch, but a diversion built by the Southern Railway later on) and could see the sound mirror structures quite clearly.
@@davidcann4329 I have walked around them and had a book on them, there were others in Essex too.
@@highpath4776 They are very impressive things to see, in these troubled days it's interesting what our engineers and technicians came up with to detect enemy aircraft early.
It is an amazing town that could be far more so. The lower promenade is interesting, the walls are cast with thousands of recycled glass bottles in them , not a recent thing. It's lit up at night with a coloured light show. Also hidden under the prom is a disused victoriana swimming baths later converted to an also disused roller rink
It was an Ice Rink as well.
Nice video. I go to Hastings for Jack in the Green most years, and always include a ride on the West Hill Lift. Sometimes the East Hill too.
Nice video, I've been on that railway back in 2005. :)
Very interesting. Have been on the one (now closed I think) in Bournemouth and the little train one in Shipley near Saltair. Wonderful devices. And yes - love the short format of this one. Well Done. Cheers
Use to be two in Bournmouth,they only ran in the summer season.
@@stuartandrews4344 thought there were three in Bornemouth.
@@highpath4776 Yes your right,West Cliff ,Fisherman's Walk, & East Cliff, did this one ever reopen after the landslide some years ago?
@@stuartandrews4344 I forgot the landslip , not been in years
This just pipped by three months the Funicular dos Guindais in Porto which runs in a tunnel for about half it journey. It has lovely views over the the quay of the river Douro and the magnificent River bridge that now carries the metro.
I was going to suggest Clifton, but you already know about it!
Good stuff as ever…love Hastings but haven’t been in years, and I never knew about that subterranean funicular. Just one point of pedantry Paul…you quoted the incline as 1 in 29. I’m guessing it is actually 29%, which would make a bit steeper than 1 in 4.
29% seems way more like it! I was wondering if he meant 1 in 2.9, but your version seems likely. 1 in 29 isn't _that_ much steeper than Lickey!
Thanks again, Paul.
@@hoagy_ytfc Yes, I caught that one too. For the record, the steepest gradient on currently operating UK railways is the 1:30 Golfa Bank on the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway. Lickey Incline is 1:38 for a continuous length of 2 miles.
What a great channel of interesting places to share.
Isnt Hastings St Leonards depot is home to some much more interesting to me the Restriction "O" hastings DEMUs
Heavens! In the 1970s I lived for a year or two at St Leonards, just along the coast from Hastings proper, and never even knew there was a West Lift. The Eastern one is easily visible from the sea front, but the West one must be less obvious. Come to think of it, I didn't often go to Hastings Old Town, which is very touristy.
One was out of use for many years , getting a restoration later.
Another great video! I was in Heidelberg recently and they have two funiculars, one of which has an underground section.
O love everything you guys do, and coming from North Devon and having spent a few years as a Bristol copper, I know the Lynmouth Lynton beauty, been on it many times, of course it's powered by the water in the tanks, simple weight transfer, but also have seen a lot of the inside of the Clifton railway, which during the war was an incredible BBC broadcasting studio. How crazy is that. I'm sure the group that run it and are slowly preserving it would give you a tour for the publicity as they are so desperate for funds, any exposure helps. Of interest, my dad, a WW2 tank driver, worked as a bulldozer driver at Lynmouth after the floods 15th and 16th August 1952,, and I worked at Boscastle re-building after the floods 16th August 2004, 52 years later.
Can't believe you came to Hastings and didn't say "hi"!
And then, to make matters worse you went up a twitten and called it an alley 😲
Did you visit the cafe at the top? Last time I went the service was so amazingly bad it was like Fawlty Towers 😂😂😂
Twitten.... pray tell more!?
@@pwhitewick Sussex lingua franca for alleyway, Wynd, close... but since you were in Sussex...it is correctly named a "twitten" ...from between and betwixt
@@pwhitewick basically twitten is the Sussex word for alley! 😂
What I can tell you about... the cliffs above the West Hill railway, one May Day about 12 years ago, during the "Jack in the Green" (big Hastings event involving processions, Morris dancing and an apparent contest to drink the beer tent dry by 3pm) some teenagers were "hanging out" on those crags under the castle. We were walking down the path you went up, on the open bit up the top, and saw one of them slip, fall off the cliff, land about 20ft below and bounce! He just got up and staggered off... think he was so drunk he didn't realise he had just fallen off a cliff. We were all standing open mouthed, thinking we had seen someone plummet to their death! He must have hurt the next morning 😂
@@pwhitewick Twittens are a very Sussex thing - loads in Worthing! Ill let you investigate.
@@pwhitewick Southern Name for a Snicket
i do so like there adventures ..
Salzburg castle cable railway dates from 1515
Just watched this video with my 5 year old train fanatic as we have come back from holiday in Hastings and he was very sad that both funicular railways were out of service! So he has now ridden one vicariously at least 😂
Ah sorry to hear they are both out of order.
Funicular Alleyways 🤣
Aberystwyth funicular railway Is my local one great video as always
And you have one at the eco-centre place nearby too
@@highpath4776 At Corris ?
@@colin125gwr Its nearby , I keep wanting to call it the Earth Centre, but its not , but has similar ecological claims.
There is a lift at lynton and lynmouth also visit the lynton and Barnstaple narrow gauge railway
We almost did a few months back
great video
Now you need to do the Lynton to Lynmouth one, and compare to Bridgnorth. Lots of fun! I've not used the hatsings ones since I was quite young, it being the nearest seaside to where I lived at the time. Now I need to go back:-)
Good to be reminded of Bridgnorth which I think is Britain's only inland funicular?
Hi Paul & Rebecca. Hope you two are doing well.
That was so cool to see one of my UK home towns again.
Stay safe and take care.
Cheers.
i went to Hastings when i was holidaying in Kent in 2018 and ive been on that train its brilliant as far as i know Scarborough still has a cliff railway keep up the awesome work
Scarborough's is still running!
If you ever decide to make a trip the the USA, please consider visiting Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. It has lots of railroad history, more bridges than you can shake a stick at, three major rivers, an old French and then British fort, and TWO functional funiculars with AMAZING VIEWS!
Rock nore should be fixed every one as to walk up the stairs dose anyone now whan it going to be fixed
Hi Paul and Rebecca,
I do enjoy your videos on railways past and present. However, I must correct you regarding the west cliff funicular, the F1 funicular in Lyon (France) which is almost entirely underground was opened on 8 august 1878 and is 783 metres in length. Lyon once boasted 4 funiculars, today there are but two, one has been converted to a road tunnel in the early 70's and the other now forms part of line C of the metro - interestingly the only rack and pinnion underground in the world. Well worth the visit.
I see that and raise you Tünel in Istanbul. Opened 1875 and still going today!
Facepalm - I've been to Hastings many times and traveled on the East Cliff Railway quite a few times. I never knew about the West Cliff one - and no, I see it isn't 1st April, so it must be true. Oh well, one more for the bucket and spade list. Trust the Whitwick's to sniff this out!
Would a channel devoted to "quirky alleyways" be called "England's back passages"? On reflection, perhaps not.
Last time I was in/on a funicular was the one in Los Angeles (show-off).
Hi, for those of us who don't speak American, could you explain 'facepalm'?
I'm English but, I suppose it's like slapping yourself in the face with a sudden realisation!
The kind folks at google say: A facepalm is the physical gesture of placing one's hand across one's face, lowering one's face into one's hand or hands or covering or closing one's eyes. The gesture is often exaggerated by giving the motion more force and making a slapping noise when the hand comes in contact with the face.
I love hastings! I'm glad the West Hill Railway's up and running again! There are prettier ways up to the top than that alley!
Why do you use the word "cliff"? It is never used by anyone who lives in Hastings or knows the town at all. They are known, as all the signage clearly indicates, by the proper term, "hill". I may appear to be a tad pedantic, but I am from Hastings and it feel obliged to correct you. You're welcome!
Castle, caves and the lift! That was my childhood in the sixties. Happy days!
Think I travelled on the open air one as a child with my parents nd sster. Well overdue for another visit.
I have some amazing memories of going on both the Hastings Funiculars aswell as the one at Folkestone, which, was actually a water balanced funicular from around 1885. I believe the Folkestone one is currently being restored although I haven't been there for a while so not entirely sure.
Quirky Alleyways - Qallayways
Sounds like another good subject to make videos on.
Wow been on East Hill Funicular but never West Hill had no idea it was underground! Amazing stuff!
Great quick video. Enough time for plenty of cheesy pun.
I use to work on both the cliff railways in Hastings - 1999 - 2004
Very "Fun"icular!!! & yes I have subbed!!! 😉🙂🚂🚂🚂
I’m from Vancouver Canada. My wife lived in Hastings when I met her. I stayed 7weeks and have been on both lifts and walked the same path (down). Like you said Hastings has a lot of history. The Smuggers Caves are a must see.
Awesome video cobber grew up in st Leonard's/ Hastings fond memories of the alley and what i got up 2 .all best cobber from AUSTRALIA Nick
Thanks guys didn't know Hastings had the railways very interesting
I remember using such a mode of tranport (we called it the cliff lift back then in the 1970's ) as a child in Scarborough. I believe this is still operational. Happy days.
it is still working away - visit us soon!
I went on this in Hastings, I liked the place and the big black fishing net dryer buildings.
We have a funicular here, built 1879, Funiculaire du Vieux-Québec.
Very interesting video I’ve never been to Hastings looks very good place to visit thank you from NZ
So two new series, Paul and Rebecca? Alleys and funiculars? I can't wait!
As you say, that was loads of fun...icular! I look forward to your new series "Great Abandoned Funicular Railways".
And seriously, as someone who is as obsessed with funiculars as I am regular railways (we've got Angels Flight in LA), I thank you and hope we'll see more of these cliff-y trips.
Great Video both - short and sweet 😀
If you go back to ride the East Cliff I would recommend Maggies' for Fish & Chips. On the first floor above the Fish Market (You can just see it in the clip of the minature railway)
You get a fantastic view of the channel, whilst feeding the inner man, or woman.
Any viewers tripping to Hastings should also make time to visit all the old "collectables" shops in the Old Town.
Excellent. Despite living all my life in the SE, and having been to Hastings many times, I did not know it had a funicular, never mind two!
Back in the day, I used to walk down from school past the West Hill railway. In those days it was steam driven and used to chuff on working up and down. The school (Priory Road) playing fields were on the East Hill, and the wind and rain from the South West made games periods awful. On a cross country run through Ecclesbourne Glen (just past East Hill), I nearly stepped on an adder. So if the weather didn't get you, the wildlife tried to!
Hastings is an amazing Place one of my favourite places on Earth. You two really must walk along the Coastal Path at Hastings to Fairlight it is stunning!!
Great video guys there are three funicular railway lifts on the seafront cliffs down here in Bournemouth. All are running except the East Cliff lift which hasn’t operated since a cliff collapse in 2016👍😎
Pittsburgh has a few of these operating daily, especially during the rush hour.
Was last in Hastings the weekend before the first lock down. The East cliff funicular was meant to be open that weekend, but wasn't . The walk to the top though was worth it. The West cliff funicular is easy to miss ,especially in the summer when it can be quite packed in the Old Town.
Seeing the instantly recognisable artwork in the background of your opening shot, I thought you were going to start a new series of videos visiting Premier Inns. Please don't do that. But a series on fun-iculars would be great. :-)
Fabulous! And that's a yes, please for quirky laneways.
Oh wow, this was so cool! We had a family friend who had a holiday house near Hastings which my family stayed in for 1-2 weeks a year when I was a kid. I live in Australia now, so it was really lovely seeing Hastings again, it's just like I remember it! I remember going up and down the eastern funicular, but had no idea the western one existed!
Sorry we missed you, in our home town. I'm often to be found in a pub somewhere between the two lifts! So much more history to Hastings than just 1066 & all that.
You’ve just put Hastings on my to-do list! One thing though, the funicular that you rode must be much steeper than the quoted 1 in 29 gradient; normal trains run on 1 in 27 in Liverpool and the angles that can be seen in your video suggest something more like 1 in 5 or steeper. Just an observation!
Anyway, thank you for introducing me to genuinely new knowledge!
Very good point. Something not right there.
@@pwhitewick Just looked at Wikipedia - it says 33% (1 in 3), plus it is broad gauge!
@@pwhitewick maybe 1 in 2.9?
We live near Eastbourne and didn’t know of the underground vernacular railway, we will have to take a look , thank you.
There are plans to get the Clifton rocks railway in Bristol back into service. Watch this space.
There’s also a mini railway in Alexandra Park Hastings 🤓
It was short and it was fun! Sure hope you'll do a serie of the quircky and also more of Hastings.
Came for the funicular got distracted by the cerniera.
Always great fun done so many times love Hastings great for railways
East Cliff Railway is visible on the Hastings webcam when it pans across
Yes, quirky alleyways, please.
I didn't think it was underground although I havn't been on that for years.
Makes me wish Bristols Clifton Rock Railway was still going but it would just finish at the bottom on the busy Portway Road but its history is still interesting anyway
You should pop over to France and do the "Le Tréport" (Haute Normandie) one, the area at the top of it was once a hotel and the hotel and area around it was used as an allied WW1 military hospital.
It's just down on the coast from the town of Eu, where my great grandmother came from, there are also some abandoned railways around there as well.
Great video guys, the East Cliff lift was shut for quite a while due to a problem with the cables, hopefully it will be open soon.
Hi Paul and Rebecca. Did you count all the steps going up to the lift, how many was there ? (Dave)
Given the harsh environment at the coast I would suggest that the entire tunnel should be lined. You can see where many bricks have lost their weatherproof facings and that's never good. Obviously it won't look as good but it also needs to last.
My mates fr Hastings! Had no idea about these two Fun places though 😂
Is the Dumpton Park to Ramsgate Amusement Park miniature railway in the Isle of Thanet , Kent open ? We used to ride it as kids 60 years ago but it closed down decades ago and with the resurgent interest in these things I hope its been restored and reopened .
Wow that was fantastic. Really loved that. Look forward to your next one. Please stay safe and take care
Great little video .. I knew the funicular railways existed but didn’t realise the left one ran in a tunnel!
I had to look up finicular. 🙂 Very nice little short Video.
You didn't add that next to the top entrance there's a marvellous tea shoppe where you can have a piece hot apple crumble with piping hot custard poured all over!
✅✅✅
“There is two”? Is this correct grammar in the UK? Because it sounds like a clanger to me.
Hello Paul and Rebecca., as always enjoyed your video. I had a parallel experience this week. While not a funicular railway a cable based tram located in Albuquerque, NM USA, a name I am only able to spell with he help of spell check. We were visiting a part of our country I'd never been to the desert Southwest and several friends told us oh you must ride the tram, a guide we had up in Colorado also said you must ride the tram our friends who live in the city said - well you get the idea. The tram climbs from the city of Albuquerque to the top of the ridge of the Sandia Mountains. The city is at 5,300 feet and the mountain peak is at 10,300 so nearly a mile higher and two miles above sealevel. Like the finiculars it hold records,, till 1966 it was the longest in the world, its now the third longest, it is still the longest in the Americas.
However like the East Cliff when we arrived it was closed it had closed three days earlier for its annual maintenance and regrettably will not reopen till four days after we'd left. On the plus side we now have an excuse to return to the area as we have many things left undone. The ride is 15 minutes long so a bit longer than most of the coastal finiculars we have ridden in the UK. Regards from the states.
Morecombe and Wise did bedroom comedy also... They were better!... "He'll never discover abandoned railway stations going at that speed"!!!!