The only old bits of railways in London I can think of (and not doing a video, because there's no point when you can't access the alignment or there's nothing to see!) are ... - Wembley loop (nothing to see, all built over) - Broad Street (definetely all wiped out, nothing to see) - That bit of track that goes beyond Chessington South that you can't access - Holborn Viaduct (which i covered in my Blackfriars Bridge video)
Duckies! Sad to see the end of a lovely little series. I doubt Geoff can ever appreciate how many of us from away are so fond of his looks at things we may never yet see.
The second line i suggested to look at! I used to drive trains over this one, there are two freight terminals at Brentford. The southern most one is the West Waste 'binliner' terminal. The regular run was to Appleford near Didcot. At one point Appleford landfill lost the contract and the train ran to Calvert on the freight only line north of Aylesbury. But after a couple of years reverted back to Appleford. The other Brentford freight terminal is Days Aggregates which is to the north of the waste terminal. Once you pass under the Picc line, to the London side of the branch is Days Yard. That used to recieve stone trains once a day to unload, sometimes two. Normally from Westbury, but once a week a train left from Bardon Hill at night to Brentford (normally ran as the Angerstein's 6O59 all week except Thursdays, for Brentford was 6V26). To get into Days you opened a Ground Frame and locked the train inside. It was then possible to send another train Up the branch to Brentford, the Liners Change-over job (back in the mid 90s) being one where two trains were on the Branch at the same time, all under the control of the Southall Yard Shunter using the Ticket & Staff system. I don't think the line was ever double track but provision was made for another to be laid if required. The line from Princes Risborough to Aylesbury is the same, it has only ever been single but the bridges had room for two tracks. It was a nice, peaceful way to spend a summers afternoon, sitting in your class 60, moving up one wagon at a time while the stone was dropped through the hopper house onto conveyer belts below. The only problem was trying to get back across all 4 lines at Southall to get back to Acton Yard, once the peak started you had no chance!....Happy days.....
3:34 to answer your suspicion: there are no tracks left up there judging from satelite images. only a car repair shop has put some cars on top of one end of it for some reason.
As a boy in the seventies I used to watch operations on the branch line near the transfer station. Day aggregates had an 08 shunter which would shunt mineral wagons onto a rotary tippler one at a time. These would be tipped and the aggregates would be taken from the hopper beneath by conveyor. There was also a hydraulic car crusher which was fun to watch. I would quite like to insert the BMWs which regularly undertake me in bus lanes into that crusher. The branch used to have a railmotor service. The great Western society restored an auto trailer to original railmotor condition and ran special a couple of years ago on the Brentford branch. They have also constructed a replica of the railmotor shed which stood at Southall to house it. The docks used to be larger. The arches were indeed the base of a warehouse. Tracks did not loop around the dock but fanned out both sides with sidings along the river front too where lighters could lie on a relatively level standing for loading first by travelling cranes and then by electric portal cranes. More information and illustrations are to be found in, 'Great Western Docks And Marine' by Tony Atkins.
Haha, I enjoyed reading your comment. Especially about when you said crushing BMW's undertaking on bus lanes!! That made me laugh!! It's the same here in Manchester with some arrogant drivers.. lol
Thanks @Geoff Marshall for bringing so many lost London railways to life - a compelling series: great research, superb narrative, tight editing. Really enjoyable.
@@tommcgrath2496 And he appeared in some of them as well,as I remember from seeing them on TV as a small child. For a long time that was the first thing I thought of whenever Brentford was mentioned.
Yes, I've done that walk. It's quite well marked out on the info boards. Great photo opportunities along the canal and down past the old asylum (now hospital) to the mainline and the famous Wharncliffe viaduct.
Oh how I loved it when my Dad used to drive me over the three bridges and I could see the canal and railway. That was 70 years ago & I’m so excited to see it us still there!!!
Thanks Geoff, the series has proven to be very interesting! I remember the Tooting-Merton and Wimbledon line when it still had tracks, and then walking it once the tracks were lifted and abandoned. Keep up the good work. Ian.
I used to live in a flat at Brentford Dock. It was a long time before I realised that I was living in a former GWR siding! A nice touch though as my grandfather was a GWR bridge inspector. Let's hope that the plans to reopen the branch to passenger use come to fruition.
You can occasionally see freight trains in the Brentford goods yard from Piccadilly line trains between Osterley and Boston Manor. There's also bits of wide gauge track left a bit further down Brentford docks.
wahhhh! geoff thank you so much for this video. i grew up around here and always used to go for walks along the canal but have recently moved away, so seeing that special little trail get some attention is so lovely. made my day!
I have only seen Brentford Dock from across the river. From 1946 to 1954 I lived at Kew and often walked along the river sometimes as far as Richmond and would often view the dock which was quite busy in those days.
At he Three Bridges the road is called Windmill Lane, not Road. This place is well known to transport enthusiasts of a certain age as it was home to the associated Equipment Company, or A.E.C. for short. They are well known as builders of many of London's buses including the famous Routemaster, as well as producing commercial vehicle chassis and even components for a number of diesel railcar types. The factory was situated in a triangular plot on Windmill Lane bounded by the Great Western main line and Brentford branch. Opened in 1926 to replace a factory in Walthamstow, the factory was closed in 1979 when under Leyland Motors ownership all production was moved to Leyland.
The "binliners" from the Brentford waste transfer station go to SITA's Severnside Energy Recovery Facility, an energy-from-waste station on the Severn Beach line near Bristol, known to Realtime Trains as "Severnside Sita". The empties come back past the back of my flat in Bristol, but the full containers have usually gone via the Henbury Loop since the big GWR timetable change a couple of years ago.
A real nostalgia fest for me... I concur with everyone that these have been a fascinating series, but the ending is extra poignant because I used to live just across the road from the Brentford Dock estate, and once in the mid 90's I even had my car repaired by the garage that you showed under the rail arches. Many times I crossed that bridge into Brenford Dock without once realising its fascinating history, or that it was possible to get underneath it. Sadly those halcryon days are long gone, and even the partner with whom I shared my life back then is also long dead, but upshot is that this video brought it home to me again, how often in life we fail to properly appreciate where we are, or rather were, until we have long since moved on...
There were recent plans to resurrect a line from Southall to Brentford - clearly some rerouting in parts but there was seemingly strong support but suspect that will collect dust for the foreseeable future
I remember the council were advocating extension to the current Brentford station. I always thought it would make an excellent addition to the Overground from Clapham Jct via Barnes and Kew Bridge (darn them level crossings!)
Great Video Geoff. I can think of another lost railway. Just to the west of London, The metropolitan waterworks railway, that ran from Hampton Warf to the pumping station at Kempton.
Yes, perfect for the series as fairly short but interesting and a bit unusual too. There's a miniature railway running at the water works end now and they are hoping to expand it I heard.
Thanks for this series. Made me notice my town"s lost railway features - a station Road, industrial estate on the site of the station, footpaths following the route, double lines of trees, embankments but best of all allotments!
Lived in Brentford my entire life, and this was a fascinating answer to a big question mark I had every time I passed London road and saw the railway arches on the buildings over the bridge. Now I can imagine the track route towards the dock!
There used to be a footbridge some 100 metres (east?) of Southall station that crossed the tracks down to Brentford, next to the AEC factory. It was meshed in even in the late Fifties, someone was 'hip' to us little terrors throwing things at passing trains (I was small, it was scrunched up newspaper and lollie sticks) but I used to love to stand over the steam locos going full blast, and we'd wave through the mesh at them...until one day a hot coal came flying up, and lodged between my little finger and the adjacent one. I have the white scar tissue to this day. It was worth it for the memories! I'm looking at it now, and remembering those days. This LLR episode is one to remember with it.
That is just amazing old engineering there at the Three Bridges. I'm still baffled at how the British managed to built entire houses and buildings on overhead bridges over the rails, something that I think is very infrequent in most other countries, at least outside of major constructions like Penn Station in New York. Thank you for this lovely series, Geoff. I might as well never be able to set foot in London so your videos will have to suffice. For now, hopefully.
Fascinating. I've been through Three Bridges on the canal and the road. In the 70s and 80s a friend live on a narrow boat at Little Venice, so we spent a day pottering down the Paddington Arm and then along to the locks at Hanwell. I've also been to Osterly Cricket Club, which is south over the road bridge and immediately right.
The empty arch at 1:30 is most likely the remains of the temporary viaduct for the canal to keep the canal open while the present viaduct was built. The canal predates the railway and there hefty charges every day it was not navigable. Ironically the ' 3 bridges' only has 2 bridges - but would have 3 bridges if the 3 transport lines didn't intersect at one point. The eponymous Windmill might be the famous one paired by Turner.
Hi, Geoff! I've finally stopped procrastinating and watched the entire series in one go, and I think it would definitely make an amazing movie! (especially because you've occaisionally found some rare and hidden pieces of railroad tracks in forests) Even though I'm from Slovakia and I sometimes have no idea what you're talking about, I've very much enjoyed the series! Love your videos and keep up the good work!
LSWR loop from Olympia to Hammersmith Grove Road & Ravenscourt Park. You can access the track bed at Shepherd's Bush station. Also various over bridges & the Motorail car park.
Fun Fact 1 - the bridge has a central median point. One point that is the centre of all three bridges. Fun fact 2 - is that it was the first bridge completed after the death of IKB Fun Fact 3 - during building, the canal was rerouted through the grounds of Hanwell Asylum on the North side of the Canal with a temporary road bridge over the canal constructed. The former bridge over the canal being demolished to make way for Three Bridges to be built.
Google Earth 1945 view clearly shows the railway at Brentford Dock and the line leading from Southall. This series has been extremely interesting and really professionally produced and the hard work done by Geoff was well worth it. I am holding my breath in anticipation of the next Marshall production !!!
A glorious nerdgasm of a video, thanks Geoff! Apart from the highly entertaining and educational aspects of the video overall, here are some of my favourite moments: 1. The Ham. Mad road name. 2. Ducks. 3. Trumpers Crossing Halt....and how you were very grown up and didn't even smirk at the name. 4. "LOON" under the bridge, and how you stood beneath this piece of graffiti without the slightest hint of a reaction, when you doubtlessly knew it was there! Loved it, thanks for another brilliant piece of work.
A seriously cracking piece of film. I have relatives that live in that area. All done by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. What a guy. Thanks for making and thanks for posting.
I never knew there was a station at Trumpers Way crossing. Thank you for this video, I lived on a canal boat there for years, and its very nostalgic to see it all again.
Lovely bit of repurposed railway line there. Used to work on the border between Chiswick and Brentford, between Gunnersbury Tube Station and Brentford Train Station. Mainly used the former, as it was closer, but used the latter on a number of occasions, especially when going to the pubs down on the Thames at the weekend, or leaving them after work. :D
I was taken to Kew Gardens in about 1956, and was very surprised to see a load of railway wagons on the opposite bank; I couldn't imagine what they were doing there.
what about the reused railway track at 0:17 at the edge of the canal, i love it when Geoff points out the subtle clues pointing to a railway having been there in a past life
Fascinating. I remember walking around that bit of Brentford a couple of years ago and walking under that railway bridge at The Ham, and not twigging what it was 😁
I remember being told that local residents, back in the day, campaigned to have the Bodmin to Wadebridge line connection closed, as they didn't want outside influence, or indeed, the town to expand as a result of which. It did close, and there was a supermarket built on the site where the station and tracks used to be. Whether this happened because of the local populace opposing it or cuts made by Dr. Beeching, remain to be seen. Now, it would appear that there are plans to restore the line, as it was, and return Bodmin General Station to passenger use once more.
Just north of Three Bridges on the west side of Windmill Lane, what is now an industrial/retail area was originally the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) factory where London's buses were built, as well as a range of lorries. The London General Omnibus Company started building its own buses and when the LGOC was taken over by the Underground Group the bus building business was formed into a separate company, AEC.
Nice one Geoff. And a splendid line to bookend the series. I always found this curious little line most fascinating as it is a fine illustration of the way London and its trade has changed so fundamentally within a few decades. From what I can gather it was actually a fairly busy basin with plenty of traffic but this all changed when the dynamics of water transport changed with things like containerisation and increases in road transport. It caused the closure of myriad ports, basins and quays as it became uneconomical to run them I guess.🤔 I have got some great b/w shots of the railway in a few then and now type books which do show how extensive the dock was! As a young lad, we did venture down that way as we combined it with a visit to the London Transport Museum which at the time was nearby in Syon Park. The marina had only recently been built but there was still plenty of railway crud to be seen up the line, though to be honest I couldn’t say where exactly we went 🤷🏻♂️ Have a great weekend mate 🍀👍🍻
Brentford Dock was very important hub as seagoing vessels came up the the transgipped to barges which into Brentford Dock and and went up the canal system or onto rail system but avoiding costs and delays and I early days Pirates/Thieves while sitting in Thames waiting to unload as long delays. Another example would be Limehouse Basin which was a massive ship lock until 1980s allowing access onto Lee Navigation or direct via another onto Grand Union Canal Route.. Not sure if any rail links were onsite...
Hi Geoff, great video as usual. You might want to look into the bit that went from Hammersmith to Kensington Olympia, via a different Shepherds Bush station. Though probably not much left now - mostly street walking...
Fun fact: I have lived in Three Bridges (Sussex), and Hanwell, about a mile away from your stated Three Bridges in this video. Have driven over that bridge on Windmill Lane many times without ever knowing what lurked beneath. Nice work, Geoff.
I work at Sky and you can see the old railway line behind our building. Looking on Google at the stretch of track next to The Ham, there's some old cars up there.
I looked at the old abutment at 3:02 on Google Earth. A roofed structure was built up there in the late 2000s but it looks like attempts to reuse the space go back at least to 1999 (the oldest image that has any detail.)
Just to add, the line also sees occasional aggregates traffic as there is an aggregates facility just before the waste terminal. These dont run too often, but when they do, they run during the day which offers quite a rare chance to see this line in use during day hours.
I love watching your videos Geoff. You have a great knack at making it informative and entertaining at the same time. Keep up your good work and I look forward to watching your next video 👍👍
Hi Geoff. You asked at the end if there were any more lost railways. Don't know if you covered this yet but there was a branch railway in our local park. As a kid I had always wondered why there was in a single way engine shed (extant) and in our park an over engineered bridge (extant). Turns out there was a brach which came off the Kings Cross main line at Hendon went under the tube line (Bridge extant) and ended at the Graham-White aeroplane factory (now long gone) where planes were manufactured for WW1. Graham-White is still memorialised at the RAF museum on the old aerodrome. Worth checking out. (The park is called Montrose Park access via The Greenway NW9 5AR) Marc
Hello There, a great end to a fantastic series, thank you for sharing with us this fantastic experience and journey, it was very fascinating and interesting to see, it's much appreciated. Cheers Peter :)
I did this line as far as it went (near a scrapyard at the end of Transport Avenue off the Great West Road) on a special rail trip from Southall Station some decades ago. Steve Pound a local MP at the time also enjoyed the trip on the same train probably in an old 1st Class compartment?!
Thanks for explaining about that line, i was always curious how those abutments all came together and surprised i never knew of the Three Bridges! That area is still a confluence of transport with railway, canal, tube line and motorways all being so close together.
Great series. Like most everything you produce, a real pleasure to watch. Thanks for the series and all your hard work. I can't help but notice that Brunel strikes again Ever think of doing a series on some of his most underappreciated rail oriented projects?
It was also known as the bluebell line I've been on it when they ran steam trains on it in the summer holidays back in the 70s and 80s it was really great going under the 3 bridges.the upper bridge (road)had to have withe and weight restrictions put on it because they were causing lots of damage to the structure now it's been repaired it's safe for future generations to enjoy.
Another nice one Geoff, most of the subjects you've covered in the past I've often had at least some knowledge of (though there have been one or two surprises in this series!!) , but I knew next to nothing about the Brentford Docks Branch, let alone the fact that there is a Three Bridges Park near there, the other Three Bridges having been my local station for over 40 years, when I lived in Crawley!! Btw, there is at least a 3rd "Three Bridges", there's "Trois Ponts" station in Belgium, near the Luxembourg border!!
"Hey, have you heard the big news from Brentford this week?" "I sure have: Geoff Marshall's dropping a video about the disused railway line! Biggest thing to happen to Brentford in years!"
What about the Northern Line to Morden South? It was supposed to run to Sutton, but the plan was cancelled. However, there are still rails of the Northern Line at Morden South, just not for passengers. Behind Quaker Street, Shoreditch, the old warehouse has a unique feature, it's own platform! It was originally a stables for horses for Bishopsgate - I have a ton of information on it. If one expands your defintion to include abandoned lines of London Transport there's Amersham to Aylesbury and beyond (just not run by LT now), and thence Quainton to Verney Junction and Quainton to Brill, both of which are abandoned. Finally, one could also include Edgware to Bushey Heath & the Central Line to Denham, and even the other schemes, such as Stanmore to Watford Junction, Bushey Heath to Watford Junction, Watford to Watford Junction (the original plan). BTW did you cover King William Street? I can't remember. Are you going to include abandoned stations? There are stations such as Welsh Harp (I don't think one can see anything), all the abandoned Midland stations, etc. Then there are the abandoned goods lines, for good stations, such as the bridge over ther canal for Marylebone, etc, and the abandoned curves and loops, such as St.Mary's Curve, the Met Line to Kensington Olympia, Holborn Viaduct to Moorgate etc.
That is the end of London Lost Railways? (gets out of chair) Let me just get my London Railway Atlas out to see if there any more to add to this wonderful London Lost Railway series! But another awesome video Geoff.
I suspect you are one of many assembling a petition to Geoff...call it the Marshall Declaration...of lovely tit-bits missed and worth of...at least one more...odds and sods episode.
What about the Surrey Iron Railway, Geoff? There is a sign about that on a wall near the Ram's Brewery in Wandsworth. Supposedly it is the first railway in the world or somesuch.
Trumpers Halt wasn't at the end of Trumpers Way where the crossing over the track is. If you go along the path north by the railway towards Southall, about quarter of a mile, you'll find another crossing over the railway into Warren farm field. Trumpers Crossing Halt was by this crossing. The site of Trumpers Crossing Halt is shown on old Ordnance survey maps. You'll also find more of the station and the Brentford line on Disused Stations website.
It would be great if they made a Highline path on those sections of old railway viaduct, like they have in Paris. (I know about them from watching The Tim Traveller's videos)!
What about the Millwall Extension Railway? There are some great disused arches in a park, where the modern DLR has dived underground. And there are a few disused goods spurs off the line out of Fenchurch Street, but I guess too short to be of interest!
Great video Geoff. Unfortunately the Trumpers Way crossing you were stood on didn’t exist when the line was fully open. If you’d taken the path down the side of the track back towards Southall, after about 400 yards you’d have come across another foot crossing. That is where the halt was situated. It probably would have been a candidate for least used station in Middlesex.
whhhat! no way? it was at the other one a little way further west up the line?? then why is the road here called "Trumpers Way", that's very misleading !! now i'll have to go back and find the other one ...
@@geofftech2 Not only was the crossing not there, but the road wasn’t either. It was just a dirt track that stopped short of the canal. The Trumper family owned Warren farm that was adjacent to the line. The halt was named after them. Presumably after closure they wanted the name to live on so it was given to the road when it was extended instead. Although I’m just guessing at that. Keep up the good work Geoff.
You finally found that foot crossing me and someone else mentioned on your foot crossing video :) I used to cross there when coming back from a shift at The Osterly Hotel. Also that path then leads to Windmill Lane where the Sultan Of Brunei has a house.
The Royal Docks area has abandoned railway lines! Silvertown tramway complete with tracks, North Woolwich Station, Beckton coal railway and even Island Garden further in. Come on Geoff, go East!
This has answered an internal question of my own. Between Brentford & Syon Lane on the Hounslow Loop, there is a bridge abutment on the south side of the railway line. I wondered what line ran over it. Now I know!
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The only old bits of railways in London I can think of (and not doing a video, because there's no point when you can't access the alignment or there's nothing to see!) are ...
- Wembley loop (nothing to see, all built over)
- Broad Street (definetely all wiped out, nothing to see)
- That bit of track that goes beyond Chessington South that you can't access
- Holborn Viaduct (which i covered in my Blackfriars Bridge video)
What about old docks railway is any of them that are walkable or any remains
The Kings Cross widened lines , north and south access tunnels?
I l'm lerning so much ,about the railways i knew that much
@@robinbiswas7047 reopened the widened lines tunnel at kings cross
Old Oak Junction must have been massively changed?
Duckies!
Sad to see the end of a lovely little series.
I doubt Geoff can ever appreciate how many of us from away are so fond of his looks at things we may never yet see.
The second line i suggested to look at! I used to drive trains over this one, there are two freight terminals at Brentford. The southern most one is the West Waste 'binliner' terminal. The regular run was to Appleford near Didcot. At one point Appleford landfill lost the contract and the train ran to Calvert on the freight only line north of Aylesbury. But after a couple of years reverted back to Appleford. The other Brentford freight terminal is Days Aggregates which is to the north of the waste terminal. Once you pass under the Picc line, to the London side of the branch is Days Yard. That used to recieve stone trains once a day to unload, sometimes two. Normally from Westbury, but once a week a train left from Bardon Hill at night to Brentford (normally ran as the Angerstein's 6O59 all week except Thursdays, for Brentford was 6V26). To get into Days you opened a Ground Frame and locked the train inside. It was then possible to send another train Up the branch to Brentford, the Liners Change-over job (back in the mid 90s) being one where two trains were on the Branch at the same time, all under the control of the Southall Yard Shunter using the Ticket & Staff system. I don't think the line was ever double track but provision was made for another to be laid if required. The line from Princes Risborough to Aylesbury is the same, it has only ever been single but the bridges had room for two tracks. It was a nice, peaceful way to spend a summers afternoon, sitting in your class 60, moving up one wagon at a time while the stone was dropped through the hopper house onto conveyer belts below. The only problem was trying to get back across all 4 lines at Southall to get back to Acton Yard, once the peak started you had no chance!....Happy days.....
3:34
to answer your suspicion:
there are no tracks left up there judging from satelite images. only a car repair shop has put some cars on top of one end of it for some reason.
From what I have seen however, according to a 2013 or 2015 photo, the platforms are still intact on those car repair shops
As a boy in the seventies I used to watch operations on the branch line near the transfer station.
Day aggregates had an 08 shunter which would shunt mineral wagons onto a rotary tippler one at a time. These would be tipped and the aggregates would be taken from the hopper beneath by conveyor.
There was also a hydraulic car crusher which was fun to watch.
I would quite like to insert the BMWs which regularly undertake me in bus lanes into that crusher.
The branch used to have a railmotor service. The great Western society restored an auto trailer to original railmotor condition and ran special a couple of years ago on the Brentford branch. They have also constructed a replica of the railmotor shed which stood at Southall to house it.
The docks used to be larger. The arches were indeed the base of a warehouse.
Tracks did not loop around the dock but fanned out both sides with sidings along the river front too where lighters could lie on a relatively level standing for loading first by travelling cranes and then by electric portal cranes.
More information and illustrations are to be found in, 'Great Western Docks And Marine' by Tony Atkins.
Haha, I enjoyed reading your comment. Especially about when you said crushing BMW's undertaking on bus lanes!! That made me laugh!! It's the same here in Manchester with some arrogant drivers.. lol
Thanks @Geoff Marshall for bringing so many lost London railways to life - a compelling series: great research, superb narrative, tight editing. Really enjoyable.
thanks Richard, appreciate the kind comment. sadly, that is the last one .. but other videos to move onto now!
Geoff , I like you reporting style - straight to the point and with very valuable and dense information.
Ooh a railway I don't know about. How Geoff teaches me so much! I LOVE it
For Brentford I'd have expected an electric railway powered by static from all the nylon...
[Only people of a certain age are going to get that...]
Haha. I remember the "Brentford Nylons" adverts on TV and in newspapers.
@@Mortimer50145 ruclips.net/video/9h1VOgn1nQ8/видео.html
@@Mortimer50145 It was the late DJ Alan "Fluff" Freeman who did the Brentford Nylon voiceovers.
@@tommcgrath2496 Not 'arf.
@@tommcgrath2496 And he appeared in some of them as well,as I remember from seeing them on TV as a small child. For a long time that was the first thing I thought of whenever Brentford was mentioned.
That triple bridge is fantastic, going to look that one up - thanks Geoff!
Yes, I've done that walk. It's quite well marked out on the info boards. Great photo opportunities along the canal and down past the old asylum (now hospital) to the mainline and the famous Wharncliffe viaduct.
Oh how I loved it when my Dad used to drive me over the three bridges and I could see the canal and railway. That was 70 years ago & I’m so excited to see it us still there!!!
Thanks Geoff, the series has proven to be very interesting! I remember the Tooting-Merton and Wimbledon line when it still had tracks, and then walking it once the tracks were lifted and abandoned. Keep up the good work. Ian.
I used to live in a flat at Brentford Dock. It was a long time before I realised that I was living in a former GWR siding! A nice touch though as my grandfather was a GWR bridge inspector.
Let's hope that the plans to reopen the branch to passenger use come to fruition.
You can occasionally see freight trains in the Brentford goods yard from Piccadilly line trains between Osterley and Boston Manor. There's also bits of wide gauge track left a bit further down Brentford docks.
wahhhh! geoff thank you so much for this video. i grew up around here and always used to go for walks along the canal but have recently moved away, so seeing that special little trail get some attention is so lovely. made my day!
I have only seen Brentford Dock from across the river. From 1946 to 1954 I lived at Kew and often walked along the river sometimes as far as Richmond and would often view the dock which was quite busy in those days.
3:29 I always love to see houses over canals, after walking along the Regent's Canal once (exactly 3 years ago)
At he Three Bridges the road is called Windmill Lane, not Road. This place is well known to transport enthusiasts of a certain age as it was home to the associated Equipment Company, or A.E.C. for short. They are well known as builders of many of London's buses including the famous Routemaster, as well as producing commercial vehicle chassis and even components for a number of diesel railcar types. The factory was situated in a triangular plot on Windmill Lane bounded by the Great Western main line and Brentford branch. Opened in 1926 to replace a factory in Walthamstow, the factory was closed in 1979 when under Leyland Motors ownership all production was moved to Leyland.
Thanks for correcting that. As a local it did grate a bit lol
Enjoyed so much the London's Lost Railway series, which prove all is not lost.
The "binliners" from the Brentford waste transfer station go to SITA's Severnside Energy Recovery Facility, an energy-from-waste station on the Severn Beach line near Bristol, known to Realtime Trains as "Severnside Sita". The empties come back past the back of my flat in Bristol, but the full containers have usually gone via the Henbury Loop since the big GWR timetable change a couple of years ago.
A real nostalgia fest for me... I concur with everyone that these have been a fascinating series, but the ending is extra poignant because I used to live just across the road from the Brentford Dock estate, and once in the mid 90's I even had my car repaired by the garage that you showed under the rail arches.
Many times I crossed that bridge into Brenford Dock without once realising its fascinating history, or that it was possible to get underneath it. Sadly those halcryon days are long gone, and even the partner with whom I shared my life back then is also long dead, but upshot is that this video brought it home to me again, how often in life we fail to properly appreciate where we are, or rather were, until we have long since moved on...
There were recent plans to resurrect a line from Southall to Brentford - clearly some rerouting in parts but there was seemingly strong support but suspect that will collect dust for the foreseeable future
I remember the council were advocating extension to the current Brentford station. I always thought it would make an excellent addition to the Overground from Clapham Jct via Barnes and Kew Bridge (darn them level crossings!)
Great Video Geoff. I can think of another lost railway. Just to the west of London, The metropolitan waterworks railway, that ran from Hampton Warf to the pumping station at Kempton.
Yes, perfect for the series as fairly short but interesting and a bit unusual too. There's a miniature railway running at the water works end now and they are hoping to expand it I heard.
Thanks for this series. Made me notice my town"s lost railway features - a station Road, industrial estate on the site of the station, footpaths following the route, double lines of trees, embankments but best of all allotments!
Lived in Brentford my entire life, and this was a fascinating answer to a big question mark I had every time I passed London road and saw the railway arches on the buildings over the bridge. Now I can imagine the track route towards the dock!
When I stopped at Southall, I often wondered about that line.
There used to be a footbridge some 100 metres (east?) of Southall station that crossed the tracks down to Brentford, next to the AEC factory. It was meshed in even in the late Fifties, someone was 'hip' to us little terrors throwing things at passing trains (I was small, it was scrunched up newspaper and lollie sticks) but I used to love to stand over the steam locos going full blast, and we'd wave through the mesh at them...until one day a hot coal came flying up, and lodged between my little finger and the adjacent one. I have the white scar tissue to this day.
It was worth it for the memories! I'm looking at it now, and remembering those days.
This LLR episode is one to remember with it.
That is just amazing old engineering there at the Three Bridges. I'm still baffled at how the British managed to built entire houses and buildings on overhead bridges over the rails, something that I think is very infrequent in most other countries, at least outside of major constructions like Penn Station in New York. Thank you for this lovely series, Geoff. I might as well never be able to set foot in London so your videos will have to suffice. For now, hopefully.
Looking forward to seeing some of this when I get round to completing my goal of running the full length of the Grand Union Canal.
I had no idea how excited abutments made me, until today.
Thanks Geoff.
Thanks Geoff for such a great look at another time In London. I have enjoyed every one of them thanks from Australia
Fascinating. I've been through Three Bridges on the canal and the road. In the 70s and 80s a friend live on a narrow boat at Little Venice, so we spent a day pottering down the Paddington Arm and then along to the locks at Hanwell. I've also been to Osterly Cricket Club, which is south over the road bridge and immediately right.
The empty arch at 1:30 is most likely the remains of the temporary viaduct for the canal to keep the canal open while the present viaduct was built. The canal predates the railway and there hefty charges every day it was not navigable. Ironically the ' 3 bridges' only has 2 bridges - but would have 3 bridges if the 3 transport lines didn't intersect at one point. The eponymous Windmill might be the famous one paired by Turner.
Hi, Geoff! I've finally stopped procrastinating and watched the entire series in one go, and I think it would definitely make an amazing movie! (especially because you've occaisionally found some rare and hidden pieces of railroad tracks in forests) Even though I'm from Slovakia and I sometimes have no idea what you're talking about, I've very much enjoyed the series! Love your videos and keep up the good work!
LSWR loop from Olympia to Hammersmith Grove Road & Ravenscourt Park. You can access the track bed at Shepherd's Bush station. Also various over bridges & the Motorail car park.
I saw the visual pun you made at 05:01. Good series, a lot of fascinating history if one knows where to look.
0:15 too
Fun Fact 1 - the bridge has a central median point. One point that is the centre of all three bridges.
Fun fact 2 - is that it was the first bridge completed after the death of IKB
Fun Fact 3 - during building, the canal was rerouted through the grounds of Hanwell Asylum on the North side of the Canal with a temporary road bridge over the canal constructed. The former bridge over the canal being demolished to make way for Three Bridges to be built.
So glad you covered the Brentford branch, as the docks were still being used but coming near the end when I was young. Keep up the good work. 💖
Wow! I lived in Brentford Dock back in the 90s, but never knew there was a railway line up there! Nice info! Thank you for sharing.
Google Earth 1945 view clearly shows the railway at Brentford Dock and the line leading from Southall. This series has been extremely interesting and really professionally produced and the hard work done by Geoff was well worth it. I am holding my breath in anticipation of the next Marshall production !!!
A glorious nerdgasm of a video, thanks Geoff!
Apart from the highly entertaining and educational aspects of the video overall, here are some of my favourite moments:
1. The Ham. Mad road name.
2. Ducks.
3. Trumpers Crossing Halt....and how you were very grown up and didn't even smirk at the name.
4. "LOON" under the bridge, and how you stood beneath this piece of graffiti without the slightest hint of a reaction, when you doubtlessly knew it was there!
Loved it, thanks for another brilliant piece of work.
Nerdgasm..!!!
A seriously cracking piece of film. I have relatives that live in that area. All done by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. What a guy. Thanks for making and thanks for posting.
Glad you enjoyed it, thank you! very kind.
I never knew there was a station at Trumpers Way crossing. Thank you for this video, I lived on a canal boat there for years, and its very nostalgic to see it all again.
Lovely bit of repurposed railway line there. Used to work on the border between Chiswick and Brentford, between Gunnersbury Tube Station and Brentford Train Station. Mainly used the former, as it was closer, but used the latter on a number of occasions, especially when going to the pubs down on the Thames at the weekend, or leaving them after work. :D
Thanks Geoff, I’m born and bred in Brentford and even now, this video taught me a lot about my home town!
even though the series ended, we will still remember allotment #allotment
Thank you. You keep looking and I’ll keep watching ( when you find them ).
I was taken to Kew Gardens in about 1956, and was very surprised to see a load of railway wagons on the opposite bank; I couldn't imagine what they were doing there.
what about the reused railway track at 0:17 at the edge of the canal, i love it when Geoff points out the subtle clues pointing to a railway having been there in a past life
Lived there my whole life never thought it was old rail
Fascinating. I remember walking around that bit of Brentford a couple of years ago and walking under that railway bridge at The Ham, and not twigging what it was 😁
Thank you Geoff! Uploaded so I can watch whilst I eat! Very good timing!
I remember being told that local residents, back in the day, campaigned to have the Bodmin to Wadebridge line connection closed, as they didn't want outside influence, or indeed, the town to expand as a result of which.
It did close, and there was a supermarket built on the site where the station and tracks used to be. Whether this happened because of the local populace opposing it or cuts made by Dr. Beeching, remain to be seen.
Now, it would appear that there are plans to restore the line, as it was, and return Bodmin General Station to passenger use once more.
Just north of Three Bridges on the west side of Windmill Lane, what is now an industrial/retail area was originally the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) factory where London's buses were built, as well as a range of lorries. The London General Omnibus Company started building its own buses and when the LGOC was taken over by the Underground Group the bus building business was formed into a separate company, AEC.
Nice one Geoff. And a splendid line to bookend the series. I always found this curious little line most fascinating as it is a fine illustration of the way London and its trade has changed so fundamentally within a few decades. From what I can gather it was actually a fairly busy basin with plenty of traffic but this all changed when the dynamics of water transport changed with things like containerisation and increases in road transport. It caused the closure of myriad ports, basins and quays as it became uneconomical to run them I guess.🤔
I have got some great b/w shots of the railway in a few then and now type books which do show how extensive the dock was! As a young lad, we did venture down that way as we combined it with a visit to the London Transport Museum which at the time was nearby in Syon Park. The marina had only recently been built but there was still plenty of railway crud to be seen up the line, though to be honest I couldn’t say where exactly we went 🤷🏻♂️
Have a great weekend mate 🍀👍🍻
Would love this to be encorporated into the West London Orbital to connect it to Southall!
Thanks Geoff. I liked hearing about old and lost railways.
I live in the area and its amazing to learn the history of my area I have walk over that track so many times and I never knew.
I attended UWL and used to walk around here a lot. Never knew about the railway, but next time I'm there I'll have a look for it
Brentford Dock was very important hub as seagoing vessels came up the the transgipped to barges which into Brentford Dock and and went up the canal system or onto rail system but avoiding costs and delays and I early days Pirates/Thieves while sitting in Thames waiting to unload as long delays.
Another example would be Limehouse Basin which was a massive ship lock until 1980s allowing access onto Lee Navigation or direct via another onto Grand Union Canal Route..
Not sure if any rail links were onsite...
Hi Geoff, great video as usual. You might want to look into the bit that went from Hammersmith to Kensington Olympia, via a different Shepherds Bush station. Though probably not much left now - mostly street walking...
Proper cool. A mate of mine used to live by the marina there - the bridge has had a lick of paint since then...!
Fun fact: I have lived in Three Bridges (Sussex), and Hanwell, about a mile away from your stated Three Bridges in this video. Have driven over that bridge on Windmill Lane many times without ever knowing what lurked beneath. Nice work, Geoff.
As a local school boy to the 3 bridges this was very much a haunt to us kids during our school holidays,
I've mentioned Hendon factory platform before which was on a spur off the main midland railway and served the Graham White aircraft factory.
5:00 That's rather the Brentford duck line!
I work at Sky and you can see the old railway line behind our building.
Looking on Google at the stretch of track next to The Ham, there's some old cars up there.
I looked at the old abutment at 3:02 on Google Earth. A roofed structure was built up there in the late 2000s but it looks like attempts to reuse the space go back at least to 1999 (the oldest image that has any detail.)
Just to add, the line also sees occasional aggregates traffic as there is an aggregates facility just before the waste terminal. These dont run too often, but when they do, they run during the day which offers quite a rare chance to see this line in use during day hours.
Thanks for that. I live not far away from Brentford and didn't know about the railway line you talked about.
Cheers, Geoff - really enjoyed this series.👍
thank you! very kind. it's been a lot of work, but that is the last one now ..
I love watching your videos Geoff. You have a great knack at making it informative and entertaining at the same time. Keep up your good work and I look forward to watching your next video 👍👍
Great to find out a bit more about the town I grew up in.
Hi Geoff. You asked at the end if there were any more lost railways. Don't know if you covered this yet but there was a branch railway in our local park. As a kid I had always wondered why there was in a single way engine shed (extant) and in our park an over engineered bridge (extant). Turns out there was a brach which came off the Kings Cross main line at Hendon went under the tube line (Bridge extant) and ended at the Graham-White aeroplane factory (now long gone) where planes were manufactured for WW1. Graham-White is still memorialised at the RAF museum on the old aerodrome. Worth checking out. (The park is called Montrose Park access via The Greenway NW9 5AR) Marc
Hello There, a great end to a fantastic series, thank you for sharing with us this fantastic experience and journey, it was very fascinating and interesting to see, it's much appreciated. Cheers Peter :)
I did this line as far as it went (near a scrapyard at the end of Transport Avenue off the Great West Road) on a special rail trip from Southall Station some decades ago. Steve Pound a local MP at the time also enjoyed the trip on the same train probably in an old 1st Class compartment?!
Thanks for explaining about that line, i was always curious how those abutments all came together and surprised i never knew of the Three Bridges! That area is still a confluence of transport with railway, canal, tube line and motorways all being so close together.
Amazing piece of construction, that triple-bridge!
Great series. Like most everything you produce, a real pleasure to watch. Thanks for the series and all your hard work.
I can't help but notice that Brunel strikes again Ever think of doing a series on some of his most underappreciated rail oriented projects?
It was also known as the bluebell line I've been on it when they ran steam trains on it in the summer holidays back in the 70s and 80s it was really great going under the 3 bridges.the upper bridge (road)had to have withe and weight restrictions put on it because they were causing lots of damage to the structure now it's been repaired it's safe for future generations to enjoy.
Nice to learn about history so close to home, thanks Geoff
Excellent series. I think you may have walked every road, path and (disused) track in London.
Another nice one Geoff, most of the subjects you've covered in the past I've often had at least some knowledge of (though there have been one or two surprises in this series!!) , but I knew next to nothing about the Brentford Docks Branch, let alone the fact that there is a Three Bridges Park near there, the other Three Bridges having been my local station for over 40 years, when I lived in Crawley!! Btw, there is at least a 3rd "Three Bridges", there's "Trois Ponts" station in Belgium, near the Luxembourg border!!
googling it now to look it up Ian, thanks... nice info!
"Hey, have you heard the big news from Brentford this week?"
"I sure have: Geoff Marshall's dropping a video about the disused railway line! Biggest thing to happen to Brentford in years!"
What about the Northern Line to Morden South? It was supposed to run to Sutton, but the plan was cancelled. However, there are still rails of the Northern Line at Morden South, just not for passengers.
Behind Quaker Street, Shoreditch, the old warehouse has a unique feature, it's own platform! It was originally a stables for horses for Bishopsgate - I have a ton of information on it.
If one expands your defintion to include abandoned lines of London Transport there's Amersham to Aylesbury and beyond (just not run by LT now), and thence Quainton to Verney Junction and Quainton to Brill, both of which are abandoned.
Finally, one could also include Edgware to Bushey Heath & the Central Line to Denham, and even the other schemes, such as Stanmore to Watford Junction, Bushey Heath to Watford Junction, Watford to Watford Junction (the original plan).
BTW did you cover King William Street? I can't remember. Are you going to include abandoned stations? There are stations such as Welsh Harp (I don't think one can see anything), all the abandoned Midland stations, etc. Then there are the abandoned goods lines, for good stations, such as the bridge over ther canal for Marylebone, etc, and the abandoned curves and loops, such as St.Mary's Curve, the Met Line to Kensington Olympia, Holborn Viaduct to Moorgate etc.
That is the end of London Lost Railways? (gets out of chair) Let me just get my London Railway Atlas out to see if there any more to add to this wonderful London Lost Railway series! But another awesome video Geoff.
I suspect you are one of many assembling a petition to Geoff...call it the Marshall Declaration...of lovely tit-bits missed and worth of...at least one more...odds and sods episode.
What about the Surrey Iron Railway, Geoff? There is a sign about that on a wall near the Ram's Brewery in Wandsworth. Supposedly it is the first railway in the world or somesuch.
I'm sure Gordon Kaye from Allo Allo lived in those flats in Brentford dock.
They were built as council flats, then they decided they were too nice.
He did, and so did Lonnie Donegan.
Thanks Geoff, I'm glad you liked it. Initially the branch was broad gauge.
Trumpers Halt wasn't at the end of Trumpers Way where the crossing over the track is. If you go along the path north by the railway towards Southall, about quarter of a mile, you'll find another crossing over the railway into Warren farm field. Trumpers Crossing Halt was by this crossing. The site of Trumpers Crossing Halt is shown on old Ordnance survey maps. You'll also find more of the station and the Brentford line on Disused Stations website.
It would be great if they made a Highline path on those sections of old railway viaduct, like they have in Paris. (I know about them from watching The Tim Traveller's videos)!
What about the Millwall Extension Railway? There are some great disused arches in a park, where the modern DLR has dived underground. And there are a few disused goods spurs off the line out of Fenchurch Street, but I guess too short to be of interest!
Great video Geoff. Unfortunately the Trumpers Way crossing you were stood on didn’t exist when the line was fully open. If you’d taken the path down the side of the track back towards Southall, after about 400 yards you’d have come across another foot crossing. That is where the halt was situated. It probably would have been a candidate for least used station in Middlesex.
whhhat! no way? it was at the other one a little way further west up the line?? then why is the road here called "Trumpers Way", that's very misleading !! now i'll have to go back and find the other one ...
@@geofftech2
Not only was the crossing not there, but the road wasn’t either. It was just a dirt track that stopped short of the canal. The Trumper family owned Warren farm that was adjacent to the line. The halt was named after them. Presumably after closure they wanted the name to live on so it was given to the road when it was extended instead. Although I’m just guessing at that. Keep up the good work Geoff.
You finally found that foot crossing me and someone else mentioned on your foot crossing video :) I used to cross there when coming back from a shift at The Osterly Hotel. Also that path then leads to Windmill Lane where the Sultan Of Brunei has a house.
I very much enjoyed watching your series Geoff - Thank you very much!!! 🙂🚂🚂🚂
I’m really enjoying the series so far 👍
The Royal Docks area has abandoned railway lines! Silvertown tramway complete with tracks, North Woolwich Station, Beckton coal railway and even Island Garden further in. Come on Geoff, go East!
Great video love this series love looking at old railways
I think I enjoyed all these episodes! It was such fun, Geoff!
This has answered an internal question of my own. Between Brentford & Syon Lane on the Hounslow Loop, there is a bridge abutment on the south side of the railway line. I wondered what line ran over it. Now I know!
Petition for Geoff to make a whole "all the allotments" series?
YES
Before or after "All The Abutments" is made?
@@the-thhorseman2484 I thought the Abutments was a soul-influenced group from a movie.
Petition for Geoff to make All the withdrawn bus routes series
Great start with this amazing structure. Thanks for the series, loved it👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻