Discovering the Looe Valley Branch Line
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- It's time for another branch line discovery. This time, we're are fairly close to my home in Devon as we are in Cornwall on the Looe Valley Line, which runs between Liskeard (on the GWR mainline) and the seaside town of Looe.
Originally the line was built to ship quarried granite down from the mines in Bodmin moor to the quayside at Looe. But when the curve up to Liskeard's mainline station was built in 1901, it really took off as a passenger service.
There's some very cute little request stops along the route, and with some judicious checking of the timetables, I think I can visit all-but-one of them during this trip.
There may even be a chance for a trip to the beach and a pint of beer!
Departure: Liskeard, England, UK
Destination: Looe, England, UK
Distance: 13.4 km / 8.3 miles
Duration: 28 mins
Average speed: 29 km/h 18 mph
Anytime return (standard class): £5.90 / €7,00
Date of Travel: June 2024
Operator: Great Western Railway
Motive power: Class 150 2-car DMU. Built: BREL York (1984-1987)
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Great video, lovely scenery, interesting information from yourself as usual and also good weather showing the Looe Valley Branch Line. The journey from Liskeard to Looe just so quintessential of the British countryside at its best, and Looe looked so picturesque in sunshine and definitely Looe Station had the most gorgeous views. Thank you Johnny for taking us along. 😊
@@Diana-andre2018 you are very welcome. I certainly picked a great day for it.
Great video of an unusual branch line, West Looe getting very busy in the peak season
@@SimonPJohnson i was back there recently in August. It was packed! That was a very short visit though...
Thanks for watching another 👍
Nice little tour of a favourite branch line. My! The weeds have certainly taken over north of Coombe Junction Halt!
@@RichardWells1 Yes, it is very green there now, for sure.
Thanks for watching 👍
Excellent video. This brought back nice memories. Used to know this line like the back of my hand! We even walked the whole length from Looe to Liskeard along those lanes, calling in at every station on the way, and up the hill from Coombe to Liskeard. Such a shame seeing Coombe all overgrown. I remember when the line carried on to Moorswater for clay and Blue Circle cement traffic.
@@liamburke1741 thanks for the kind words and also for sharing the memories. The line at Coombe does look a lot more overgrown than even in previous RUclips videos of the line that i have watched.
Best wishes to you 👍
Very enjoyable video. Welcome back to the UK. However, beautiful Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Slovenia are, there is nothing like good old Devon Cornwall for me
@@martinbradshaw7877 well it is my home, so i probably agree!
Thanks for coming along 👍
What a great line!
@@WINGSANDRAILS thanks mate 👍
Went to looe many many time and there was lightning there once never returned 🤣 its not the reason why I haven't been for a couple of years great video Johnny👍
Thanks. I am told lightening never strikes twice, so i think you'll be ok to go back 😉
Thanks for watching 👍
@@JohnnyHooverTravels yes I was think to do a video to and from there with my buddies
What a lovely report - you packed in so many different elements. All beautifully filmed as ever, I swear I could detect the scent of that narrow lane. Oh, interesting to see a seagull waiting for the train at Looe :D Thanks for sharing such a nice day.
I totally agree, but particularity 'you packed in so many different elements'.
@@ampersand. you are very welcome. As you could tell, i did have a nice day mucking about on a branch line!
👍
When i was a child in the early 1960s, my parents took us on several summer holidays to Looe....always by train. I enjoyed the journeys as much as the holiday. I went back again for the first time in 2018.....again by train, lovely trip down memory lane. I remembered and easily found the place where we always stayed. It's divided into private flats now, but on the stone gate pillar there was still an old faded sign "Sea Breeze Guest House".
@@deewat9618 What lovely memories. Thanks for sharing them.
Thank you so much for watching 👍
Great video! I love Cornwall and as a Scottish Gaelic speaker I love to see the signs in our Celtic cousin, the Cornish language, Kernewek!
@@AlasdairMacCaluim Yes. Always nice to see a bit of Cornish. Apparently the number of speakers is rising again.
Thanks for watching too 👍
Lovely stuff, thanks. Never been to Looe, nor St Ives for that matter, so all my "experience" comes vicariously from you and The Geoff. Yes, yes, I know, both places are on my list... 🤣
@@horsehollerer haha, i don't mind. You can sit on my virtual shoulder whenever you like!
Thank you Johnny for another extremely interesting video. Perhaps the most impressive feature of this video is the huge variety of shots you took. Some trains, some stations, some people, some scenic, some town, some hiking! and so on..... For me the best part of all was early on when you showed us the inside of the building on platform three at Liskeard. What a fascinating exhibition! It was particularly interesting to see the small card 'Edmundson' tickets on display. Growing up in the nineteen-fifties those were the ONLY tickets used by my local station. And no doubt that was true of thousands upon thousands of stations all around the world.
@@Fan652w tbh Roger, gazing at all those old tickets was one of the highlights of my day too. Brought back a lot of memories. Pleased it does for you too. 👍
One of the best branch lines in the UK. I used it in 2009.
@@nathantew946 Yes. It is a little gem.
Thanks for watching 👍
That looked like such an enjoyable day out. Such a beautiful branch line.
@@Timstravels01 Yes, it was certainly a lovely day for it!
Thanks for watching another Tim 👍
Lovely line what a lovely little seaside town. Thanks for sharing.
@@terryosullivan2620 you are very welcome. Thanks for watching 👍
Views in this video is very very beautiful and feeling of experience very fantastic 👍
@@trailwayt9H337 thanks. And thanks for watching 👍
Thanks Johnny great trip cheers from Bruce sunny Blenheim South island New Zealand
@@BruceJohnston-gi5wx Thanks Bruce. I have been to South Island, but not that far north. As my friends live in Otago, I flew into Queenstown.
Thanks for the views from all that ways away 👍
Inspirational video Johnny, love the hop off at Coombe Jn Halt, will have to visit the well at St Keynes when I'm back down that way ... 😊
@@ventureglen1601 thanks! I will take "inspirational" 😀
If you are fit, the walk up from Coombe Jct to Liskeard station is steep, but not far. I'm pleased i put in that effort to see the halt more closely.
Thanks for watching 👍
What a lovely video, a nice summer vibe 😊
@@Trond_travels thanks, that's very nice of you to say. And thank you so much for watching 👍
Lovely video. I have used that service many a time.
Thanks!
And thanks too for watching 👍
Great explanatory video! I’m on a short vacay in Cornwall right now and will definitely be trying out the Looe Valley line tomorrow, including visiting those two quiet but cute halt stations. I’ve also subscribed to you 👍
@@customtransport2777 thanks for the kind comment and for the sub. Hope you have a lovely time in the Looe Valley too 👍
Johnny, what have I told you about uphill walking! Great trip, looking forward to more branch line trips.
@@kevinellis8869 I know... I'm a fool to myself sometimes 🤷♂️
Still it turned out ok 😀
Finally did you reach this little but very pleasant railway
@@Kulla1berg Yes. I really had to do it. And that day was perfect for it .
Thanks for watching another 👍
Excellent video Johnny. I use to live in Polperro and used the line a few times.
@@jimindevon9661 Thanks! That's very kind of you.
And thanks for watching too. 👍
Great Video Johnny
@@paulgibsonphotography cheers Paul 👍
Perfect but envious.
@@user-eg8pv2om7j haha! What can i say 🤷♂️
Except, thank you so much for watching 👍
Yes, this is a fantastic experience and well worth the trouble of finding it! Just one small point, Liskeard is pronounced Liskaad, not Liskud.
@@citizen9378 thanks. It really is worth the trouble, as you say. Haha, i get pulled up with pronunciations even in the UK!
Thanks for watching 👍
Nice video! Les is my dad 👍😀
@@simsonie Do give him my best wishes. It was a pleasure to bump into him 😀
And thanks for watching 👍
Some lovely little stations, as usual, and making friends along the way, too. Better watch out for those Canadians though. LOL #iamcanadian
@@sandiandgregh oh i know what you mean... a funny bunch them Canadians. They were actually great fun and very relaxed. They had a tent with them and had no idea where they would be camping that night.
Thanks, as ever, for coming along 👍
Before the line from Coombe Junction to Sandplace was a railway it was a canal.
@@librarian16 ah very good point. I could have mentioned that!
Thanks for watching 👍
Lovely video. I enjoyed the slower pace. Is this line unique in the UK in using this way to tackle steep gradients? We see it all the time in your European videos. Just back from an Exeter to Okehampton and bus to Tavistock trip . These branch lines are special; I expect to see Bernard Cribbins waiting at every station.
@@colinriley123 thanks. I will try and keep it slow in some future ones. Although Friday will be All by Twos East... so that will be a bit more frenetic!
Those halts have better infrastructure than the 'bus shelters' that constitute new modern stations. Did Looe have a loo?
@@tonys1636 i know what you mean.
The pub provided the conveniences i needed although, in common with its name, the town, I understand, has several... Sadly the station no longer has facilities, but of course, the old 150 does!
Could have called it "Pissing around on the Looe branch", but the RUclips bots would have red flagged me!
Theres a actual megabus coach from Plymouth to London try it
I think I've spotted it. 07:00-13:00 . It doesn't run Tuesdays or Wednesdays . It's shown as a Falcon all the way to London.
@@JayJourneys_1 haha... I'm not sure I want to... 😉
Thanks for watching 👍
Lovely video, but what about the ticket prices?
@@dafrankp thanks! Oh, ticket prices are in the description. Day return on the line is just over a fiver. I was on a Freedom of the West Rover.
Thanks for watching 👍
You amde a comment about a northbound trackbed, was this a double tracked line reduced to single track at some time?
No, the line used to continue north to a cement terminal, freight trains stopped a couple of years ago
@@imsbvs as Stuart says, it used to be a freight line. I think the branch was always single tracked as space is very limited by the river.
Thanks for watching too 👍
Nice 👍
Thanks 👍