An interesting aside , the Colonel, being in charge of many disparate, desperate lines scattered around the country ( including the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland at one point) generously issued a first class Gold pass, in perpetuity, to the directors of the Midland, London and south western, London and North Western, the great western, the Great northern and Great eastern railways. A free pass to use on any of Col Stephens lines, whenever they wished. And being the gentlemen they were, of course they had to reciprocate by giving him a Gold Pass to unlimited first class travel on all THEIR lines.
I'm imagining a metre guage railway worthy of a swiss alpine line given some of the hills! Have you done a video on the unbuilt Chessington South to Leatherhead line? If not, i'm sure your sort of thing.
Very interesting and well made. Thank you for this. For those interested in learning more about this most idiosyncratic of railway promoters, constructors and managers, there are lots of interesting books about Colonel Stephens and his light railways. There is a Colonel Stephens Society with a quarterly newsletter, and even a Colonel Stephens Railway Museum at Tenterden Station in Kent at Stephens' now preserved Kent and East Sussex Railway.
Having lived for 3 years in Limpsfield, and knowing Westerham and Tatsfield well, the thought of a line linking the two is intriguing. Especially given that the former is at the bottom of the North Downs, and the latter at the top! Even modern buses struggle up the delightfully named Titsey Hill which links Limpsfield with Tatsfield. I suspect that one or other of the stations would have been situated well away from the community it purported to serve. Interestingly Tatsfield did become more developed in the post-War period, though more because of the ascendancy of the motorcar than public transport access. Fr Matt, former Assistant Curate at Limpsfield and Tatsfield
I was thinking much the same about height at the other end of the line. Running level through Warlingham and Hamsey Green is fine, but the plunge downhill from Sanderstead could be problematic. There's a good reason why Sanderstead station is over a mile downhill from Sanderstead!
It's very likely that some of the stations would have been some way from the communities they purported to serve, although on an electrified line steeper gradients were possible; the Wimbledon-Sutton line built round the same time includes stretches up to 1 in 44. Col Stephens had also engineered the Cranbrook/Hawkhust branch again through hilly country, and both Cranbrook and Hawkhurst stations were a couple of miles from the town/village centres to keep costs to a reasonable level.
Thank you for introducing the Colonel's empire to a wider audience! Loved the shots of the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead .... the reason the GW ended up with two ex-LBSC Terriers. Even today, the Kent & East Sussex (currently Tenterden - Bodiam) has a very different 'vibe' from any other preserved standard gauge line.
@@truckerallikatuk In Clevedon, there's a nice mural on a wall of a loco, where the line ran through (literally) the town. When a train ran through, a guard with a flag had to walk in front of the train.
That "vibe" maybe came from the fact that for a very long time, it ran from Tenterden to nowhere and back at 25 mph (15 mph at the top of the bank from Rolvenden). It now goes to Bodiam, which is "somewhere" (and has a real castle), and will from 2026 get to the mainline at Robertsbridge (thence to the south coast). Tenterden is very attractive, as is St. Leonards in t'other direction, as are the countryside views inbetween, so I fear that the line will lose its Col. Stephens Lost World quality. It may even gain a quite un-Col.-Stephens-like popularity.
@@RogerPritchard-k4p Used to walk up Col Stephens Way on my lunch break when I worked in Clevedon. Light rail would be a godsend for the southwest these days.
@@1258-Eckhart Interesting point. In a sense it preserves the characteristics of the original line that was 25 mph all the way (Headcorn-Tenterden-Bodiam-Robertsbridge). But the original line was certainly never able to carry Bulleid Pacifics like the KESR now! It's also probably now a lot smarter than it ever was under Col Stephens, when Rolvenden was a repository for all sorts of dilapidated stock.
Hello Jago, H F Stephens was indeed a great name in economically built and operated light railways, that included the WC&P, K&ESR, Rye & Camber and Ashover Light Railway, and many others. At 1:23 you have included the Ashover Light Railway featuring a narrow gauge train at the station at Ashover. Also this shows an octagonal building in the background, this building still exists but was moved to Clay Cross. The building was the ALR’s cafe serving tourist/visitor passengers on, what was originally a mineral traffic line, to the picturesque part of the Amber Valley during holidays and to dinner dances in the summer months. The cafe sported a roof of coloured “tiles,” the colours of the rainbow. The cafe was called “Where The Rainbow Ends.” Sadly the cafe closed in 1939. The ALR period of operation was short, from 1924 to 1950. Best wishes from Oxfordshire
A London connection ..... Quite a few of the Ashover's carriages, two of which survive, came from the 1924 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, which made a nice change from the Colonel's usual narrow gauge WD Surplus sources, whence came the Ashover's fleet of Baldwin 4-6-0PT locos, which gloried in the names Guy, Bridget, Hummy, Joan and Peggy. Col Stephens steam locos more usually bore classical names, such as Thisbe, Hecate and Hesperus, or places connedlcted to the line e.g. Ringing Rock, Selsey and Clevedon. When a loco wore out, the nameplates often reappeared on the replacement acquisition. Here's another London connection for you ..... Stephens' premium apprenticeship was served on the Metropolitan Railway at Neasden.
A sign of a great RUclips channel and video - you walk away more happy, informed and entertained than before you clicked on said video. Wonder when Mr Hazzard going to cover East West Rail... the railway line that will re-establish a rail link between Cambridge and Oxford via Bletchley (hint Bletchley park video) that was closed due to the Beeching cuts?
East West Rail would make a very interesting subject but would need a pretty mammoth video, or a series. Incidentally Beeching gets blamed unfairly for the Oxford-Cambridge closure; in the Plan it was down as for retention (which was partly why other parallel east-west routes were chopped). Then in the late 60s, what Gerry Fiennes called "the bandwagon of nihilists" got the bit between their teeth. The really tragic error was cutting Bedford to Sandy, which would otherwise have retained come sort of through route, though roundabout. Oxford-Bletchley might well have survived and a Hitchin North curve could have been added close to the current flyover. Commuter trains could have run from London and Stevenage to Bedford as well as Peterborough.
Thank you Mr Hazzard. Much enjoyed. I believe there was an embankment built in the Farnborough area but little else, I also believe that it still stood a few years ago but have no more information. An interesting line, certainly a challenge to motive power, especially the climb either way from Westerham. Thank you for covering this final throw of the good Col.
..So many "what ifs" in Southern England, when it comes to railways! I didnt know about this one, or Lt-Col Stephens..and now I do! So another bit of Railway education, thanks to Jago, maybe he should be Sir Jago! thanks again!
A nice description of typical Col Stephens railways. I suspect that the SHLR might have been rapidly upgraded, in part or full, if traffic had taken off. New estates might well have been built on its route instead of New Addington. Col Stephens also engineered the Paddock Wood-Cranbrook-Hawkhurst branch, heavy rail through similar hilly country with steep gradients (1 in 66). Even so, Cranbrook and Hawkhurst stations were a couple of miles from the places they served, while Goudhurst was 300 feet below the hilltop village.
Don’t worry. On my railway, I have the Bakerloo going to Hayes via Elmers End, and to Locksbottom via Bromley. I also have the Overground to Orpington via Grove Park, and to Swanley via Catford.
Up to your usual excellent standard Mr H. All most interesting. Very early in my working life, I worked in a gas-lit office at New Beckenham, not too far from this railway. Thanks, Simon T
With the Northern Heights and Biggin Hill aerodrome getting a mention, your video has given me an itch to rewatch Jay Foreman's Unfinished London videos. I wonder what the subscriber crossover is on your two channels?
If the line could have gone from Orpington to East Croydon (with its ample connectivity) then perhaps it may have appealed...but Sanderstead? I doubt it. The 25mph speed restriction and single track operational issues would have killed it very quickly as buses could have provided better options. However, I can see the appeal of being able to alight at Orpington from the Kent coast and travel due west (albeit in an undulating way) . Had the line been built it would undoubtedly have seen its period of glory in 1940 during the Battle of Britain when Biggin Hill was a key airfield but, after that, would have been a victim of Green Belt regulations as far as development was concerned (and quite right too!). It may have gone on longer than the Crystal Palace High Level Branch but the economists of the early 1960's would have eaten it for breakfast. Certainly a charming line in concept but wholly impractical. Thanks for an enjoyable broadcast about a little-known pie in the sky.
The interesting question is if the line had been got into place quickly, being relatively cheap to build, it could have begun generating traffic (as happened with the DLR). Biggin Hill is an obvious source, but at the other end, New Addington estate might not have been built where it was, but on the rail route instead. Those end sections might have been upgraded to heavy rail and survived, or the western end even if culled by Beeching could have been converted to Tramlink in the same way as the New Addington route, making use of the whole of the Bingham Road-Selsdon line rather than part of it.
"Southern Heights" - the Southern's Publicity Office could have made much of that mythical destination! Trekkers would have boarded trains at Charing Cross with hiking poles and survival kits...It rather reminds me of their exaggerated promotion when the Tattenham Corner branch was electrified...housing estates with "medicinal pines" and where "illness is unknown".
There were any number of streetcar/Interurbans built on spec(speculation),in the US,and many became rather prominent as passenger lines! The entirety of what is now,the Brooklyn subway lines,was originally steam services,that connected with horse cars,and steamship lines! The basic countryside was,to be blunt,very empty! So from,what is now,Cadman Plaza[the Eastern side of the Brooklyn Bridge],the elevateds,and streetcar lines,spread out in all directions,and the pictures you see now,came to fruition! Long history,condensed! Thank you for your attention! Thank you,Jago,and if that line,had been built,supplying Biggin Hill,would have a great deal easier from a logistics point of view,and the line itself would have been double tracked,out of necessity! Thank you 😇 😊!
A very interesting one - like many villages of 1000-2000 inhabitants on the outskirts of greater London, Chelsham and Tatsfield nowadays get half-hourly buses to their nearest shopping centres, taking 2-3 times the car journey time, and making a job in central London not very practical. Not really encouraging to anyone who has the option of driving - though actually much better public transport than is available to people living just a few miles further out! But probably the residents would not have appreciated the building programs envisaged by the Southern Railway - I wonder if anyone has asked them?
Rick, the scheme had received parliamentary approval and appeared on the map in the video, so it must have been at quite an advanced stage. It may be that some land between Green Street Green ("everything is kinda cool there" according to the New Vaudiville Band, which included someone named Geoff Stephens) and Westerham Hill was acquired - see another of my comments in which I offer some clues.
A fascinating character, was old H F Stephens - as someone has mentioned below, the museum at Tenterden is well worth a visit for anyone wanting to know about Light Railways - and... there's a rumour he got most of his ideas from the Brill Tramway - a video I'm sure will eventually turn up on the channel, too as it was once an offshoot of the Metropolitan!!!! (But I realise Mr Hazzard already knows this...)
I’m a fan of light railways because of mixer of second hand locomotives & coaches as well the infrastructure like stations. So knowing that there was going to be an light railway in the London suburbs is very interesting. One light railway that you should go and visit is the Kent & East Sussex Railway, it celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year and it would be nice if you do a video talking about the line history as it one of my personal favourite railways that I enjoy visiting.
As coming from Orpington I find this very fascinating , who knows if this line had been built what it may have grown into by today as the area's it would have served became more built up and Orpington and Sanderstead became more of a commuter hub.
Its a beautful area for walking so would have made for a specatacular journey. A shame really, Biggin Hills lack of a train station is a bit of an issue for what is actually a large town within Greater London. It has good bus connections but it still feels a bit cut off from the rest of Bromley.
Same problem on the other side of the pond. What I found interesting was Steven's looking to America for $$$£££. Don't know if many viewers know this, but it was mostly British finances that helped build many railroads here in the USA.
One wonders if built what the C21 rolling stock would have been . DLR type side contact electric units, or overhead electric Croydon Trams - indeed connected to the Croydon Tram network via Sanderstead into existing DLR
Thanks for the great video, I am into trains on a more or less daily basis, and do like the odd railway too. You certainly have reached the heights this time Jago.
Interesting! If it had gone ahead, it's doubtful a Southern Heights Railway would ever have made much of a profit although, it might have been a good candidate for later conversion to a tram route!
It wouldn't be commercially viable as a tram route either: nobody wants to go to Orpington, and the places the route would serve wouldn't attract any traffic to speak of. Bus services that serve them are relatively few and far between, and modern trams essentially are a substitute for a limited-stop bus service rather than anything else.
@@OscarOSullivan No it wouldn't. And why would or should it be part of London Transport? It would needlessly connect two National Rail stations, and a large chunk of it is in Surrey. Nobody would want to travel from Sanderstead Station (which is nowhere near Sanderstead, incidentally) to Orpington. Near neither of those terminals is anything of the slightest interest located. The same is true of all the halts in between, none of which serves a densely-populated area.
@@highpath4776 No,sorry. In the 1920s and 30s, when this line was being touted, any development in the areas it served would have been ultra-low density, high value properties. The sort of district where, even then, householders would have had a car. They wouldn't have been impressed by a ramshackle, low speed railway operation that took them nowhere of any use, on which they wouldn't have been seen dead.
As a resident of Biggin Hill I can honestly say it would have been a great project- coincidentally I've been trying to work out where the route would run.....its kind of hilly up here!
6:05 where did you get this footage? I wasn't aware there was a museum anywhere with a segment of a pre-war southern region electrical control room panel!
That line would have been very useful to me and my entire family for many years. Interestingly, much of the proposed route is probably still viable to this day, with the biggest problem being Orpington. Divert it to Knockholt instead (facing the other way) and it's probably doable. (although Knockholt is obviously a less attractive destination and interchange than Orpington) . Maybe a London facing connection is viable somewhere near Chelsfield but I imagine the terrain would be tricky...
Colonel Stephens's HQ was at Salford Terrace in Tonbridge, Kent, and that building survives - a short distance S of Tonbridge Station. The Bishop's Castle Railway in Shropshire was in such a ruinous condition in the 1920s that even the Colonel turned down the opportunity to take it over, and it closed in the early 1930s.
Interesting that it would have run near Farnborough, but a quite different one to the one in Hampshire. Running past Biggin Hill it might have been quite useful during the war, I can't help thinking 🤔
Mr Hazzard, can you please make a video about the branch line that extends from Sutton to Belmont to Banstead to Epsom Downs, and the branch line that extends from Reedham to Coulsdon Town to Woodmansterne to Chipstead to Kingswood to Tadworth to Tattenham Corner? I know they aren't strictly London, and there may be nothing interesting about either branch, but I grew up in that area and I love your videos so it would be lovely to see my rarely used local lines get a mention.
Video suggestion based on what I saw in this video. Any Train routes that don't exist anymore - when I was younger I remember there was a southern train from London Bridge to Victoria via Peckham. Do more vids on circular train routes other then Circle line. I would like to mention though that I was looking at the Circle line on the December 2023 tube map I downloaded from transport for London website and I noticed if you follow the route it starts off in one colour and it changes I don't know if it was my mobile I didn't notice any other line doing that.
@@JagoHazzard I also saw you commented on reddit. The current London Underground map has and issues and mistakes. Yeah I hope I'm not posting too many videos suggestion comments.
Another of the Colonel's other lines was the Selsey tramway, also called the West Sussex Railway. Initially steam hauled, it migrated to railcars (built by Ford and Shefflex) until close in 1935.
I do remember the "highs and lows" proposals, the highs being the line here and the lows the extension of the Westerham branch to Godstone and to merge with the Tonbridge to Redhill line creating with the Redhill to Reading a viable chunk of the planned "circles" of London. Similarly a connection from the point where the Southfleet line came in under Farnborough Road to sweep across to come out somewhere near Orpington was looked at, north of the water the plans saw extending from Watford to Uxbridge and well, the gap left over would have been fairly easy to make one creating quite a cross London connection for those not wishing to travel into London to come down along another line.
Wow, what a great idea "a parallel universe of the London comuter network". Jago, do you plan to make any videos on this parallel universe. So many unanswered questions, Where do you catch a train to it? Is Charles Yerkes in it? Do you have a favourite parallel universe station? etc. It is certainly a part of Hugh Everett's theory that he seems to have overlooked!
The concept of this is quite fascinating to me, as someone that lives kind of around the regions it would have run through. I do wonder how it would have gone if it was actually built; I would like to have lived in the timeline where that was the case. I feel like the more likely outcome would be that the Beeching Axe would have shuttered the line completely (as it did to the branch line that once served Westerham, one of the towns this line would have run through.) But maybe, *just maybe* it could have survived that on the grounds that it serves areas like Downe, Green Street Green, Biggin Hill and Tatsfield that are not well served by rail links and the road links being deemed inadequate to 'replace' the line - in effect, becoming something like what the Marshlink Line is today. There is something else though. See, I knew about this idea from your other videos, but not the specifics. I would have figured it would be a light, steam-hauled rural branch line, effectively. But the fact that it was to be electrified and a light rail line speaks to the fact that, yes, this was honestly ahead of the curve. The Marshlink is one of the few diesel-powered lines still found in this part of the country, and electrification of this line puts it way ahead of that. The fact it's electrified light rail, and connected to a line that would mostly become a part of Tramlink, makes me think: For a very fanciful proposal, what if this line - no doubt battered by years of closure by stealth and just, low traffic on account of serving small communities prevented from expanding by the green belt... became a part of Tramlink, and revitalised under that scheme? That network gave a shot in the arm to so many underutilised and neglected commuter lines in the region, and perhaps there's a timeline where now on the Tube map, we have a branch of Tramlink running down to Sanderstead and then, around and out into Orpington potentially. The stops were meant to be halts instead of full on stations - which lines up well with how Tramlink (and tram systems generally) work already. This is purely hypothetical of course and clearly, it just was not meant to be - but it is interesting to think about. I am a proponent of extending Tramlink to cover more of south London and that corner of London especially could definitely use some rapid transit, so the idea certainly pleases me. I think the Colonel was ahead of his time on this one - perhaps, too ahead of his time. Aah well. o7 Great video!
A big What if would be What if the line had gone to Biggin Hill, could that have become a major London Airport? I understand the Colonel built the Sheppey Light Railway which served the east of the Isle of Sheppey to Leysdown
Well, the routing of the line was chosen because it was primarily a high-speed cutoff line to Tonbridge and had to pass through hilly country. But looking at the map one does wonder why it wasn't called Halstead, for example. Maybe Knockholt was a more prestigious place that they wanted to give the impression of serving. Apparently it was provided a few years later than Chelsfield, and was called Halstead and Knockholt till 1900, but may have caused confusion with the Essex station and also the SECR's deputy chairman lived in Knockholt.
Some of my earliest memories are of Orpington A and B signalboxes going in on nights with me father as me mum was in hospital with my newborn brother. I even got a look inside the nuclear bunker as my father opted for nuclear war training at Orpington and at Reigate, something that became in later years a bit of bone of contention as my old mum a Fleet St journalist of some stature and through working with the "branch" earned a place in the bunkers up in London leaving questions as to brother and I would be left out with father at Orpington or Reigate and mother under Whitehall or Holborn deep shelter.
Looking at the (rather sketchy) map, it seems to have been planned to follow one of the many valleys that run up the north slope of the North Downs. Doesn't seem to have a name, but Cudham is on the ridge to the east of it.
If there were a service from Charing Cross to Charing Cross as mentioned in the video, would one be able to buy a ticket from Charing Cross to Charing Cross? And would it be a single or a return ticket?
If it were down to me, I would have had the Northern and Southern Heights built. My logic is to go bankrupt in Chicago, go bankrupt in London and then go back to the US asking them to bail me out in London.
Great channel & content so keep up the good work. I am trying to find a video you did maybe last year or the year before where you talk about an overground station where it was closed and the actual platform was shipped down the south of the country to be used in another but I just cannot find it. Can you help? Cheers
Well, it saved a bit of Kent and Surrey countryside from falling under London's urban sprawl. I used to enjoy cycling in the country south of West Wickham and around New Addington as a child and it wouldn't have been countryside if this had got the go-ahead.
Thanks - interesting video on a subject that had passed me by until now! It must be an interesting debate about whether Col Stephens management really contributed much to the long term well being 'his' railways. They normally came into his management because they were bankrupt anyway! I'm sure he staved off closure for a few years. There again, maybe the fact that he did keep his railways going is the reason why the Kent & E Sussex and even the Ffestiniog are still around to be explored, albeit as heritage railways. There is very little to see of the rest of his flock.... I suspect that actually being a passenger on most his lines in the 1920s would have meant a frustrating slow, uncomfortable and infrequent journey which made the shiny new Bus services becoming available seem even more desirable!
The Colonel sounds like a very shrewd bloke, and an anti- Yerkes. It's a pity he died so relatively young. Worth a series. Good Omens meets Ivor the Engine.
I think it's a shame that places like Biggin Hill are still rather isolated to this day. But I can see the introduction of the Green Belt killing off this proposal if it was still mooted in the 1940s.
Apparently the colonel was named after the painter Holman Hunt through a family association, although I've found someone else called Holman Stephens who died in 1921. The Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser noted in an article of the 18th of January 1929 that the other promoters were Sir Charles Igglesden of Ashford, Mr S Jaggard ( a local landowner, and sharer of a surname with the man who printed Shakespeare's First Folio) and Mr Jeremiah Macveagh ' a director of the Dublin and South Western Railway'. This is presumably the Jeremiah Macveagh who was an Irish Nationalist MP (1902-22), Labour candidate for the UK parliament (Sunderland 1924) and then contested an Irish senate seat in the new Free State. According the Dictionary of Irish Biography he was the director of a number of English railway companies and so might be worth a look himself.
Having watched this SHLR video my memory was jogged of reading an article long ago about two proposed other lines around that area. One to extend the Mid Kent line from Hayes to Westerham, via Biggin Hill valley ; the second to continue the Bromley North branch line to a Biggin Hill Aerodrome station. Have you come across any evidence of these?
I'd have found that line very useful when I was a youngster living in Orpington. An easy way of getting to West Wickham for 'hobbytime" model railway shop, and westerham, to the westerham valley railway where I was a volunteer , but this is all fantasy!
Dear Jago, Old fruit. As a fan I would like to express my appreciation for all you do with a small gift. I know you often express your own gratitude to Patreon and Kofi,but I don't know how do it through either of them. I have tried to help someone else using by using Patreon but have found them to be a bit clunky, complicated and greedy, so that I paid more for my donation than I thought I would, and they didn't get it all anyway. K-o-fi seem a much nicer lot and definitely less greedy, but I don't know how to work that either.
I run a small website and it has a PayPal link for donations which accepts credit cards. It seems to work easily for people who want to help me cover costs.
An interesting aside , the Colonel, being in charge of many disparate, desperate lines scattered around the country ( including the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland at one point) generously issued a first class Gold pass, in perpetuity, to the directors of the Midland, London and south western, London and North Western, the great western, the Great northern and Great eastern railways. A free pass to use on any of Col Stephens lines, whenever they wished. And being the gentlemen they were, of course they had to reciprocate by giving him a Gold Pass to unlimited first class travel on all THEIR lines.
I'm imagining a metre guage railway worthy of a swiss alpine line given some of the hills! Have you done a video on the unbuilt Chessington South to Leatherhead line? If not, i'm sure your sort of thing.
Very interesting and well made. Thank you for this. For those interested in learning more about this most idiosyncratic of railway promoters, constructors and managers, there are lots of interesting books about Colonel Stephens and his light railways. There is a Colonel Stephens Society with a quarterly newsletter, and even a Colonel Stephens Railway Museum at Tenterden Station in Kent at Stephens' now preserved Kent and East Sussex Railway.
😮😮😮
He's also who my other half's teddy bear is named after.
Great to know he is suitably remembered. Thank you.
Having lived for 3 years in Limpsfield, and knowing Westerham and Tatsfield well, the thought of a line linking the two is intriguing. Especially given that the former is at the bottom of the North Downs, and the latter at the top! Even modern buses struggle up the delightfully named Titsey Hill which links Limpsfield with Tatsfield. I suspect that one or other of the stations would have been situated well away from the community it purported to serve.
Interestingly Tatsfield did become more developed in the post-War period, though more because of the ascendancy of the motorcar than public transport access.
Fr Matt, former Assistant Curate at Limpsfield and Tatsfield
I was thinking much the same about height at the other end of the line. Running level through Warlingham and Hamsey Green is fine, but the plunge downhill from Sanderstead could be problematic. There's a good reason why Sanderstead station is over a mile downhill from Sanderstead!
It's very likely that some of the stations would have been some way from the communities they purported to serve, although on an electrified line steeper gradients were possible; the Wimbledon-Sutton line built round the same time includes stretches up to 1 in 44. Col Stephens had also engineered the Cranbrook/Hawkhust branch again through hilly country, and both Cranbrook and Hawkhurst stations were a couple of miles from the town/village centres to keep costs to a reasonable level.
@@me890092I should think it's far quicker to run from Warlingham to Biggin Hill rather than drive...
My day is made: fascinating story AND passing mention of Charles Yerkes!
I'm always somewhere
Thank you for introducing the Colonel's empire to a wider audience! Loved the shots of the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead .... the reason the GW ended up with two ex-LBSC Terriers.
Even today, the Kent & East Sussex (currently Tenterden - Bodiam) has a very different 'vibe' from any other preserved standard gauge line.
Ah, the WC&P, the line whose jokes write themselves. Sadly the only monument to the line here in Weston is a small line of text on a sign.
@@truckerallikatuk In Clevedon, there's a nice mural on a wall of a loco, where the line ran through (literally) the town. When a train ran through, a guard with a flag had to walk in front of the train.
That "vibe" maybe came from the fact that for a very long time, it ran from Tenterden to nowhere and back at 25 mph (15 mph at the top of the bank from Rolvenden). It now goes to Bodiam, which is "somewhere" (and has a real castle), and will from 2026 get to the mainline at Robertsbridge (thence to the south coast). Tenterden is very attractive, as is St. Leonards in t'other direction, as are the countryside views inbetween, so I fear that the line will lose its Col. Stephens Lost World quality. It may even gain a quite un-Col.-Stephens-like popularity.
@@RogerPritchard-k4p Used to walk up Col Stephens Way on my lunch break when I worked in Clevedon. Light rail would be a godsend for the southwest these days.
@@1258-Eckhart Interesting point. In a sense it preserves the characteristics of the original line that was 25 mph all the way (Headcorn-Tenterden-Bodiam-Robertsbridge). But the original line was certainly never able to carry Bulleid Pacifics like the KESR now! It's also probably now a lot smarter than it ever was under Col Stephens, when Rolvenden was a repository for all sorts of dilapidated stock.
Hello Jago, H F Stephens was indeed a great name in economically built and operated light railways, that included the WC&P, K&ESR, Rye & Camber and Ashover Light Railway, and many others. At 1:23 you have included the Ashover Light Railway featuring a narrow gauge train at the station at Ashover. Also this shows an octagonal building in the background, this building still exists but was moved to Clay Cross.
The building was the ALR’s cafe serving tourist/visitor passengers on, what was originally a mineral traffic line, to the picturesque part of the Amber Valley during holidays and to dinner dances in the summer months. The cafe sported a roof of coloured “tiles,” the colours of the rainbow. The cafe was called “Where The Rainbow Ends.” Sadly the cafe closed in 1939.
The ALR period of operation was short, from 1924 to 1950. Best wishes from Oxfordshire
We are known for being "frugal", well at least I am.😉
Presumably you weren't permitted to use the WC&P while the train was standing in the station...
A London connection ..... Quite a few of the Ashover's carriages, two of which survive, came from the 1924 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, which made a nice change from the Colonel's usual narrow gauge WD Surplus sources, whence came the Ashover's fleet of Baldwin 4-6-0PT locos, which gloried in the names Guy, Bridget, Hummy, Joan and Peggy.
Col Stephens steam locos more usually bore classical names, such as Thisbe, Hecate and Hesperus, or places connedlcted to the line e.g. Ringing Rock, Selsey and Clevedon. When a loco wore out, the nameplates often reappeared on the replacement acquisition.
Here's another London connection for you ..... Stephens' premium apprenticeship was served on the Metropolitan Railway at Neasden.
@@TheHoveHeretic which is interesting as the Met didnt get lumped into the Grouping either.
Oh, a railway history I’d never heard of . Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Cheers JH
Aha, a trip through the light railway fantastic! Thank you for the bio and the history of this unbuilt line.
I founded The Colonel Stephens Society in the 1980s, but had never heard of this. Thank you!
"The Colonel's lines were not... Major". I see what you did there.
A sign of a great RUclips channel and video - you walk away more happy, informed and entertained than before you clicked on said video.
Wonder when Mr Hazzard going to cover East West Rail... the railway line that will re-establish a rail link between Cambridge and Oxford via Bletchley (hint Bletchley park video) that was closed due to the Beeching cuts?
East West Rail would make a very interesting subject but would need a pretty mammoth video, or a series. Incidentally Beeching gets blamed unfairly for the Oxford-Cambridge closure; in the Plan it was down as for retention (which was partly why other parallel east-west routes were chopped). Then in the late 60s, what Gerry Fiennes called "the bandwagon of nihilists" got the bit between their teeth. The really tragic error was cutting Bedford to Sandy, which would otherwise have retained come sort of through route, though roundabout. Oxford-Bletchley might well have survived and a Hitchin North curve could have been added close to the current flyover. Commuter trains could have run from London and Stevenage to Bedford as well as Peterborough.
A really interesting video to brighten a cold, damp and wintery Wednesday. Thanks Jago.
Thank you Mr Hazzard. Much enjoyed. I believe there was an embankment built in the Farnborough area but little else, I also believe that it still stood a few years ago but have no more information. An interesting line, certainly a challenge to motive power, especially the climb either way from Westerham. Thank you for covering this final throw of the good Col.
You had to squeeze Yerkies in 🤣🤣
Here I am! I must stop traveling with Avanti, they keep delaying me by days.
Excellent video Mr. Hazzard, thank you.
..So many "what ifs" in Southern England, when it comes to railways! I didnt know about this one, or Lt-Col Stephens..and now I do! So another bit of Railway education, thanks to Jago, maybe he should be Sir Jago! thanks again!
Southern Heights
This is a really good piece of history
I’ve never heard so much about this before
I like these rather unheard of type stories 👍🏻
A nice description of typical Col Stephens railways. I suspect that the SHLR might have been rapidly upgraded, in part or full, if traffic had taken off. New estates might well have been built on its route instead of New Addington. Col Stephens also engineered the Paddock Wood-Cranbrook-Hawkhurst branch, heavy rail through similar hilly country with steep gradients (1 in 66). Even so, Cranbrook and Hawkhurst stations were a couple of miles from the places they served, while Goudhurst was 300 feet below the hilltop village.
Thanks again Jago. I liked the pic of the Southern L1 class shown at 3.15
Don’t worry. On my railway, I have the Bakerloo going to Hayes via Elmers End, and to Locksbottom via Bromley. I also have the Overground to Orpington via Grove Park, and to Swanley via Catford.
Very interesting, we please need more on Colonel Stephens and his light railways 🙏
.... with some images of those lovely Ilfracombe Goods (AKA LSWR Class 0282) 0-6-0s.
Another great video Jago. Areas I only vaguely know but fascinating all the same.
Up to your usual excellent standard Mr H. All most interesting. Very early in my working life, I worked in a gas-lit office at New Beckenham, not too far from this railway. Thanks, Simon T
I like the B/ W photos / maps that you use Jago - Thanks for sharing 🙂🚂🚂🚂
Southern Heights - sounds utterly charming. As charming as a honey badger....
With the Northern Heights and Biggin Hill aerodrome getting a mention, your video has given me an itch to rewatch Jay Foreman's Unfinished London videos. I wonder what the subscriber crossover is on your two channels?
Well, I, for one, am subscribed to Jago Hazzard.
@@JayForeman you're not subscribed to Jay Foreman though. Disappointing.
@@sporkafife Wouldn't subscribing to oneself create some sort of infinite loop?
If the line could have gone from Orpington to East Croydon (with its ample connectivity) then perhaps it may have appealed...but Sanderstead? I doubt it. The 25mph speed restriction and single track operational issues would have killed it very quickly as buses could have provided better options. However, I can see the appeal of being able to alight at Orpington from the Kent coast and travel due west (albeit in an undulating way) . Had the line been built it would undoubtedly have seen its period of glory in 1940 during the Battle of Britain when Biggin Hill was a key airfield but, after that, would have been a victim of Green Belt regulations as far as development was concerned (and quite right too!). It may have gone on longer than the Crystal Palace High Level Branch but the economists of the early 1960's would have eaten it for breakfast.
Certainly a charming line in concept but wholly impractical.
Thanks for an enjoyable broadcast about a little-known pie in the sky.
The interesting question is if the line had been got into place quickly, being relatively cheap to build, it could have begun generating traffic (as happened with the DLR). Biggin Hill is an obvious source, but at the other end, New Addington estate might not have been built where it was, but on the rail route instead. Those end sections might have been upgraded to heavy rail and survived, or the western end even if culled by Beeching could have been converted to Tramlink in the same way as the New Addington route, making use of the whole of the Bingham Road-Selsdon line rather than part of it.
At one point in the video, JH mentions that a circular route was planned: Charing Cross - Orpington - Southern Heights - Sanderstead - Charing Cross.
"Southern Heights" - the Southern's Publicity Office could have made much of that mythical destination! Trekkers would have boarded trains at Charing Cross with hiking poles and survival kits...It rather reminds me of their exaggerated promotion when the Tattenham Corner branch was electrified...housing estates with "medicinal pines" and where "illness is unknown".
There were any number of streetcar/Interurbans built on spec(speculation),in the US,and many became rather prominent as passenger lines! The entirety of what is now,the Brooklyn subway lines,was originally steam services,that connected with horse cars,and steamship lines! The basic countryside was,to be blunt,very empty! So from,what is now,Cadman Plaza[the Eastern side of the Brooklyn Bridge],the elevateds,and streetcar lines,spread out in all directions,and the pictures you see now,came to fruition! Long history,condensed! Thank you for your attention! Thank you,Jago,and if that line,had been built,supplying Biggin Hill,would have a great deal easier from a logistics point of view,and the line itself would have been double tracked,out of necessity! Thank you 😇 😊!
A very interesting one - like many villages of 1000-2000 inhabitants on the outskirts of greater London, Chelsham and Tatsfield nowadays get half-hourly buses to their nearest shopping centres, taking 2-3 times the car journey time, and making a job in central London not very practical. Not really encouraging to anyone who has the option of driving - though actually much better public transport than is available to people living just a few miles further out! But probably the residents would not have appreciated the building programs envisaged by the Southern Railway - I wonder if anyone has asked them?
Rick, the scheme had received parliamentary approval and appeared on the map in the video, so it must have been at quite an advanced stage. It may be that some land between Green Street Green ("everything is kinda cool there" according to the New Vaudiville Band, which included someone named Geoff Stephens) and Westerham Hill was acquired - see another of my comments in which I offer some clues.
A fascinating character, was old H F Stephens - as someone has mentioned below, the museum at Tenterden is well worth a visit for anyone wanting to know about Light Railways - and... there's a rumour he got most of his ideas from the Brill Tramway - a video I'm sure will eventually turn up on the channel, too as it was once an offshoot of the Metropolitan!!!! (But I realise Mr Hazzard already knows this...)
Anything about Colonel H.F. Stephens is always welcome. An early National Treasure, really!
I’m a fan of light railways because of mixer of second hand locomotives & coaches as well the infrastructure like stations. So knowing that there was going to be an light railway in the London suburbs is very interesting.
One light railway that you should go and visit is the Kent & East Sussex Railway, it celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year and it would be nice if you do a video talking about the line history as it one of my personal favourite railways that I enjoy visiting.
the Colonel Stevens stans turned out in the comments today, this is why I love this channel
As coming from Orpington I find this very fascinating , who knows if this line had been built what it may have grown into by today as the area's it would have served became more built up and Orpington and Sanderstead became more of a commuter hub.
Its a beautful area for walking so would have made for a specatacular journey. A shame really, Biggin Hills lack of a train station is a bit of an issue for what is actually a large town within Greater London. It has good bus connections but it still feels a bit cut off from the rest of Bromley.
Same problem on the other side of the pond. What I found interesting was Steven's looking to America for $$$£££. Don't know if many viewers know this, but it was mostly British finances that helped build many railroads here in the USA.
Thank you for saying Lieutenant correctly
One wonders if built what the C21 rolling stock would have been . DLR type side contact electric units, or overhead electric Croydon Trams - indeed connected to the Croydon Tram network via Sanderstead into existing DLR
Thanks for the great video, I am into trains on a more or less daily basis, and do like the odd railway too. You certainly have reached the heights this time Jago.
Interesting! If it had gone ahead, it's doubtful a Southern Heights Railway would ever have made much of a profit although, it might have been a good candidate for later conversion to a tram route!
It wouldn't be commercially viable as a tram route either: nobody wants to go to Orpington, and the places the route would serve wouldn't attract any traffic to speak of. Bus services that serve them are relatively few and far between, and modern trams essentially are a substitute for a limited-stop bus service rather than anything else.
@@allenwilliams1306But would work if part of London Transport
@@OscarOSullivan No it wouldn't. And why would or should it be part of London Transport? It would needlessly connect two National Rail stations, and a large chunk of it is in Surrey. Nobody would want to travel from Sanderstead Station (which is nowhere near Sanderstead, incidentally) to Orpington. Near neither of those terminals is anything of the slightest interest located. The same is true of all the halts in between, none of which serves a densely-populated area.
@@allenwilliams1306 the population is a function of green belt planning, which might have come too late had the line been built
@@highpath4776 No,sorry. In the 1920s and 30s, when this line was being touted, any development in the areas it served would have been ultra-low density, high value properties. The sort of district where, even then, householders would have had a car. They wouldn't have been impressed by a ramshackle, low speed railway operation that took them nowhere of any use, on which they wouldn't have been seen dead.
Great video, as always. In that parallel universe, it would have probably run through my back garden in Orpington! What a miss!
The description of the Colonel's typical lines reminds me of the Brill tramway, which became a branch line of the Metropolitan Railway!
Brilliant video sir.
There were plans for the LCDR to build its own route to Woolwich, which is basically the Greenwich Park branch, it was supposed to reach Woolwich
As a resident of Biggin Hill I can honestly say it would have been a great project- coincidentally I've been trying to work out where the route would run.....its kind of hilly up here!
6:05 where did you get this footage? I wasn't aware there was a museum anywhere with a segment of a pre-war southern region electrical control room panel!
Amberley!
The electrical museum there is absolutely fascinating
Great video Jago
That line would have been very useful to me and my entire family for many years.
Interestingly, much of the proposed route is probably still viable to this day, with the biggest problem being Orpington. Divert it to Knockholt instead (facing the other way) and it's probably doable. (although Knockholt is obviously a less attractive destination and interchange than Orpington) .
Maybe a London facing connection is viable somewhere near Chelsfield but I imagine the terrain would be tricky...
Colonel Stephens's HQ was at Salford Terrace in Tonbridge, Kent, and that building survives - a short distance S of Tonbridge Station. The Bishop's Castle Railway in Shropshire was in such a ruinous condition in the 1920s that even the Colonel turned down the opportunity to take it over, and it closed in the early 1930s.
There would have been some serious incline to tackle from Sanderstead to Hamsey Green
Interesting that it would have run near Farnborough, but a quite different one to the one in Hampshire. Running past Biggin Hill it might have been quite useful during the war, I can't help thinking 🤔
Mr Hazzard, can you please make a video about the branch line that extends from Sutton to Belmont to Banstead to Epsom Downs, and the branch line that extends from Reedham to Coulsdon Town to Woodmansterne to Chipstead to Kingswood to Tadworth to Tattenham Corner?
I know they aren't strictly London, and there may be nothing interesting about either branch, but I grew up in that area and I love your videos so it would be lovely to see my rarely used local lines get a mention.
I guess they are all to do with the race to Epsom downs?
Excellent video. So much that I didn't know.
Video suggestion based on what I saw in this video.
Any Train routes that don't exist anymore - when I was younger I remember there was a southern train from London Bridge to Victoria via Peckham.
Do more vids on circular train routes other then Circle line. I would like to mention though that I was looking at the Circle line on the December 2023 tube map I downloaded from transport for London website and I noticed if you follow the route it starts off in one colour and it changes I don't know if it was my mobile I didn't notice any other line doing that.
I have been thinking along these lines, so to speak.
@@JagoHazzard I also saw you commented on reddit. The current London Underground map has and issues and mistakes. Yeah I hope I'm not posting too many videos suggestion comments.
Most educational, Jago. Hadn't heard of this scheme before...
Another of the Colonel's other lines was the Selsey tramway, also called the West Sussex Railway. Initially steam hauled, it migrated to railcars (built by Ford and Shefflex) until close in 1935.
One thinks of the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway with main line connections at each end.
Top draw. Thank you Sir!
I do remember the "highs and lows" proposals, the highs being the line here and the lows the extension of the Westerham branch to Godstone and to merge with the Tonbridge to Redhill line creating with the Redhill to Reading a viable chunk of the planned "circles" of London. Similarly a connection from the point where the Southfleet line came in under Farnborough Road to sweep across to come out somewhere near Orpington was looked at, north of the water the plans saw extending from Watford to Uxbridge and well, the gap left over would have been fairly easy to make one creating quite a cross London connection for those not wishing to travel into London to come down along another line.
Wonderful history lesson, thanks
The Colonel was in the Study with a wrench. Jokes apart, he seems like a cool person.
Thanks
And thank you!
You like place names, how did Orpington (tun is normally a settlement on a hill) get its name ?
It apparently just means "Orped's Town", Orped being a landowner in the time of King Canute.
Wow, what a great idea "a parallel universe of the London comuter network". Jago, do you plan to make any videos on this parallel universe. So many unanswered questions, Where do you catch a train to it? Is Charles Yerkes in it? Do you have a favourite parallel universe station? etc. It is certainly a part of Hugh Everett's theory that he seems to have overlooked!
The concept of this is quite fascinating to me, as someone that lives kind of around the regions it would have run through.
I do wonder how it would have gone if it was actually built; I would like to have lived in the timeline where that was the case. I feel like the more likely outcome would be that the Beeching Axe would have shuttered the line completely (as it did to the branch line that once served Westerham, one of the towns this line would have run through.) But maybe, *just maybe* it could have survived that on the grounds that it serves areas like Downe, Green Street Green, Biggin Hill and Tatsfield that are not well served by rail links and the road links being deemed inadequate to 'replace' the line - in effect, becoming something like what the Marshlink Line is today.
There is something else though. See, I knew about this idea from your other videos, but not the specifics. I would have figured it would be a light, steam-hauled rural branch line, effectively. But the fact that it was to be electrified and a light rail line speaks to the fact that, yes, this was honestly ahead of the curve. The Marshlink is one of the few diesel-powered lines still found in this part of the country, and electrification of this line puts it way ahead of that. The fact it's electrified light rail, and connected to a line that would mostly become a part of Tramlink, makes me think:
For a very fanciful proposal, what if this line - no doubt battered by years of closure by stealth and just, low traffic on account of serving small communities prevented from expanding by the green belt... became a part of Tramlink, and revitalised under that scheme? That network gave a shot in the arm to so many underutilised and neglected commuter lines in the region, and perhaps there's a timeline where now on the Tube map, we have a branch of Tramlink running down to Sanderstead and then, around and out into Orpington potentially. The stops were meant to be halts instead of full on stations - which lines up well with how Tramlink (and tram systems generally) work already. This is purely hypothetical of course and clearly, it just was not meant to be - but it is interesting to think about. I am a proponent of extending Tramlink to cover more of south London and that corner of London especially could definitely use some rapid transit, so the idea certainly pleases me.
I think the Colonel was ahead of his time on this one - perhaps, too ahead of his time. Aah well. o7
Great video!
Interesting indeed. Respect for the colonel.
A big What if would be What if the line had gone to Biggin Hill, could that have become a major London Airport?
I understand the Colonel built the Sheppey Light Railway which served the east of the Isle of Sheppey to Leysdown
Seeing as you’re in that area, Jago . . . do you know why Knockholt station is so far from Knockholt? It’s always perplexed me.
Well, the routing of the line was chosen because it was primarily a high-speed cutoff line to Tonbridge and had to pass through hilly country. But looking at the map one does wonder why it wasn't called Halstead, for example. Maybe Knockholt was a more prestigious place that they wanted to give the impression of serving. Apparently it was provided a few years later than Chelsfield, and was called Halstead and Knockholt till 1900, but may have caused confusion with the Essex station and also the SECR's deputy chairman lived in Knockholt.
@@iankemp1131 Thanks for that explanation. My sister lived in Knockholt for many years and I never gave it any serious thought, but always wondered.
Some of my earliest memories are of Orpington A and B signalboxes going in on nights with me father as me mum was in hospital with my newborn brother. I even got a look inside the nuclear bunker as my father opted for nuclear war training at Orpington and at Reigate, something that became in later years a bit of bone of contention as my old mum a Fleet St journalist of some stature and through working with the "branch" earned a place in the bunkers up in London leaving questions as to brother and I would be left out with father at Orpington or Reigate and mother under Whitehall or Holborn deep shelter.
I hadn’t heard of this proposal - very interesting ; not sure how it would have worked in practice; it’s exceptionally hilly there!
Looking at the (rather sketchy) map, it seems to have been planned to follow one of the many valleys that run up the north slope of the North Downs. Doesn't seem to have a name, but Cudham is on the ridge to the east of it.
If there were a service from Charing Cross to Charing Cross as mentioned in the video, would one be able to buy a ticket from Charing Cross to Charing Cross? And would it be a single or a return ticket?
How far from the future site of Biggin Hill Airport was the proposed Southern Heights Railway route to run at?
great video jago! :D
If it were down to me, I would have had the Northern and Southern Heights built. My logic is to go bankrupt in Chicago, go bankrupt in London and then go back to the US asking them to bail me out in London.
Great channel & content so keep up the good work. I am trying to find a video you did maybe last year or the year before where you talk about an overground station where it was closed and the actual platform was shipped down the south of the country to be used in another but I just cannot find it. Can you help? Cheers
West Finchley?
That would have been an eye opener coming down from Biggin Hill to Westerham O.o
Am keen for more Colonel Stephens. Gazelle is quite the story alone
Well, it saved a bit of Kent and Surrey countryside from falling under London's urban sprawl. I used to enjoy cycling in the country south of West Wickham and around New Addington as a child and it wouldn't have been countryside if this had got the go-ahead.
Brilliant! We asked and you delivered, Jago.
Thanks - interesting video on a subject that had passed me by until now! It must be an interesting debate about whether Col Stephens management really contributed much to the long term well being 'his' railways. They normally came into his management because they were bankrupt anyway! I'm sure he staved off closure for a few years. There again, maybe the fact that he did keep his railways going is the reason why the Kent & E Sussex and even the Ffestiniog are still around to be explored, albeit as heritage railways. There is very little to see of the rest of his flock.... I suspect that actually being a passenger on most his lines in the 1920s would have meant a frustrating slow, uncomfortable and infrequent journey which made the shiny new Bus services becoming available seem even more desirable!
He had a line in Kent mainly serving coal mines
@8:03, I predict that the Southern Heights would have gone the way of the trams.
New stairways at Orpington do I see? I imagine with lifts in.
The Colonel sounds like a very shrewd bloke, and an anti- Yerkes. It's a pity he died so relatively young. Worth a series.
Good Omens meets Ivor the Engine.
I think it's a shame that places like Biggin Hill are still rather isolated to this day. But I can see the introduction of the Green Belt killing off this proposal if it was still mooted in the 1940s.
1:32 Is that a rare example of use of American end-platform suburban cars in the U.K.?
Yes. Probably on the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway.
GOD DAMN IT YERKES
Apparently the colonel was named after the painter Holman Hunt through a family association, although I've found someone else called Holman Stephens who died in 1921. The Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser noted in an article of the 18th of January 1929 that the other promoters were Sir Charles Igglesden of Ashford, Mr S Jaggard ( a local landowner, and sharer of a surname with the man who printed Shakespeare's First Folio) and Mr Jeremiah Macveagh ' a director of the Dublin and South Western Railway'. This is presumably the Jeremiah Macveagh who was an Irish Nationalist MP (1902-22), Labour candidate for the UK parliament (Sunderland 1924) and then contested an Irish senate seat in the new Free State. According the Dictionary of Irish Biography he was the director of a number of English railway companies and so might be worth a look himself.
Having watched this SHLR video my memory was jogged of reading an article long ago about two proposed other lines around that area. One to extend the Mid Kent line from Hayes to Westerham, via Biggin Hill valley ; the second to continue the Bromley North branch line to a Biggin Hill Aerodrome station. Have you come across any evidence of these?
Ahh railways, a truly parallel universe. M xXx
Finally thanks to an old ITV news story on naming overground lines, I have a face to the name.
I'd have found that line very useful when I was a youngster living in Orpington. An easy way of getting to West Wickham for 'hobbytime" model railway shop, and westerham, to the westerham valley railway where I was a volunteer , but this is all fantasy!
Jago can you bring back your model trains please
could re-build the hobby in one go ?
They kinda did the Colonel dirty. No chicken for them😤
Dear Jago, Old fruit. As a fan I would like to express my appreciation for all you do with a small gift. I know you often express your own
gratitude to Patreon and Kofi,but I don't know how do it through either of them. I have tried to help someone else using by using Patreon
but have found them to be a bit clunky, complicated and greedy, so that I paid more for my donation than I thought I would, and they didn't
get it all anyway. K-o-fi seem a much nicer lot and definitely less greedy, but I don't know how to work that either.
I run a small website and it has a PayPal link for donations which accepts credit cards. It seems to work easily for people who want to help me cover costs.
Thank you! There is also the Super Thanks option here on RUclips.
@@JagoHazzard white fivers in a birthday card ?
I think the Colonel would of liked his line to have been completed, and in honour of him. He was indeed ahead of his time.
You mentioned the dodgy American! That’s ruined Dry January. Thanks, Jago. Ps great video.
Have you seen the new South Western Railway Class 701 Arterios that have entered service. Will you be doing a video of them at some point.
Great, would love to know what the staff’s “secret signals” to warn of the colonel’s proximity were . . .