The Railway that went to Alton Towers - Could it see Trains ever again?
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- The Railway that went to Alton Towers - Could it see Trains ever again?
The Churnet Valley Railway between Denstone & Oakamoor via Alton Towers Station ( originaly Alton Station ) opened in 1849 and had trains running and operation right the way up until 1965
In this Disused Railway Walk i begin at Denstone Station, where i walk along this picturesqe railway line and follow it to walk near to Alton Towers Theme Park and the former Alton ( Towers ) Railway Station. This one is a lovely Station.
Beyon Alton, i push on towards Oakamoor where there was a Station, Level Crossing, Keepers Cottage ans Tunnel too, both of those still exist today.
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#alton #towers #railway #train #station #travel #hike #history
"Sewage works on my left, some kind of alarm going off --- but I'm sure all is fine"
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Thanks to Ant for his time and effort in keeping local and regional History Alive.
That's the "incoming solids" alarm.
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Great video, had it all, disused railway and canal, stations, bridges, tunnel and great commentary and filming as always
Very kind Gary thank you 🙂
Beautiful walk ❤
Thank you for watching as always 🙂
The vans you walked past contained loads of carriage windows when i visited a couple of years ago. The tunnel was accessible from the portal in the woods, a depression had been dug under the fence.
Ahhh I had a feeling you could get in at that end. I may go back sometime. Thank you for watching
Great walk on what appears to be well-preserved former trackbed. It would be a major undertaking to extend the line from Oakamoor, but with the support of Alton Towers, it could happen.
Excellent as usual Ant
Interesting vid, thanks.
Oakamoor quarry was a sand quarry, not a stone quarry, with BR sand trains running until the 1980s out onto the main line at Stoke. The Churnet Valley railway used to run as far as the old sand quarry, but the track between Froghall and the quarry was lifted some years ago and sold for scrap as it was in very poor condition. That would explain all the sleepers you saw but no rails.
Oakamoor tunnel is blocked I believe, and has been for a long time, so it is highly unlikely the Churnet Valley railway will ever reach Alton again.
It would not be a very practical way to get to Alton Towers anyway, as the station is some distance from the theme park. Also, it is highly unlikely the Leekbrook to Stoke line will reopen as there is no bay platform at stoke station to terminate it, and there are no spare paths on the railway through Stoke for trains from Leekbrrok. HS2 would have addressed that freeing up paths, but sadly Richie Sunak threw the benefits of HS2 away when he cancelled it north of Birmingham leaving us with most of the costs and almost none of the benefits it was designed to give us..
I'm a volunteer signalman at Consall box on the Churnet Valley Line and have travelled down as far as Oakamoor many times, the last time in the replica GWR steam railmotor when it visited the CVR.
Back in the late '70s my wife and I travelled on a DMU special from Stoke to Cheddleton, back when the sand trains were still running. I remember the '4-foot' (the bit between the rails) was full of sand which had leaked from the railway wagons.
The Churnet Valley Heritage Railway has Track down as Far as Just North of at was OAKAMOOR Sand Sidings + I remember watching Your Leek Brook to Stoke Trackbed Video.
were all lifted a few years ago .
Interesting you mentioned Stavely Station along that route, in North Yorkshire (old line between Knaresborough to Boroughbridge) was a single track line that passed through the village of Stavely. The actual station in Stavely was named Copgrove (nearby village) due there being another station called Stavely on the British Rail network. I never knew where this duplicate staiton co existed so now you've solved that little puzzle! Great presenting as always mate :)
Although you are correct to say that the Alton station was renamed for the park, it wasn't until the 1980s that it became a "theme park". Before then it was mostly just a nice walk with a carousel, a miniature railway and a chairlift. We used to visit it often.
Darren from Adventure Me did this line very recently. He managed to get a look in Alton station as people had just arrived and were unpacking and they kindly gave him the tour. Great video as always Ant.
I can remember visiting Alton Towers as a lad in about 1956 or 57. We arrived by train and walked to the then Amusement Park which I recall had a rather nice Miniature Railway in the grounds. The station looked very much as in the photo taken about the same time. It was quite an impressive station for what was a rather small village. Perhaps that was as a result of Alton Towers being nearby. I photographed Oakamoor crossing just after closure but was completely unaware that the line had been built on the remains of a canal.
Thanks for another very informative video Ant.
Fantastic as always top man keep them coming star turn 👍👍
Very kind Andrew thank you
Fantastic as usual. I don’t know if you noticed but there was some beautiful flowers on the side of the track. Lovely area. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care
Thnaks Ant
Thanks for watching 🙂
Superb walk! It was more than the forest that was "enchanted". I had to search for some more information on the canal, and I found some surprising info:
(I'll have to 'despoil' the text so that RUclips doesn't scrub this)
[However, xyx the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust xxx believes it can xxx be restored, and one day xxx boats will cruise these lengths, to a ccc new terminus in Uttoxeter.]
-: Cruise Guide: Caldon Canal
That may initially sound manic, but there are canal restorations ongoing in the UK that are far more ambitious than this would be.
As always, the colours, the atmosphere...the *charm* of these episodes is exquisite.
great video Ant mate loved it.
Thanks very much Andrew
great vid mate, come on folks give this lad a like it's free
Very kind thank you
excellent video , you're in my neck of the woods here , i grew up in the house on the right at the edge of the railway at Oakamoor just before the crossing keepers house , i remember the trains running above our garden wall and waiting at the crossing gates for the train to come , the industrial area in Oakamoor was a massive factory Thomas Boltons copper and brass works and they made the wire for the very first transatlantic cables to America . One problem with attempting to re-open the railway was highlighted in your video , the high voltage plate in the floor , a few years ago they laid a high voltage cable along the bed of the railway and this would have to be moved if the railway was re instated and also in opposition to the railway is a suggestion to re-open the canal from Froghall to Uttoxeter ,either suggestion would be very expensive but the railway could help reduce traffic in the local area caused by the theme park , it should have been done years ago when it was first suggested . You missed a very interesting area just outside of Denstone ,Crumpwood weir , where the canal boats were lowered down via locks into the river to cross along the top of the weir and then raised to rejoin the canal on the other side , the railway was built along the route of the canal but they straightened the route and left the remnants of the canal criss crossing from side to side , great to see i've not been for a walk along there for a couple of years . thanks for the memories ..
Grew up in Kingsley Holt, spent countless hours doing this walk. Now live in Western Australia, love your videos but this one’s made me very homesick! Great video please do the rest of the line. Beautiful 👍
My relatives are mainly Denstone....I'm in leicester....but as a kid me and my cousins used to follow the old line to the towers when I stopped at my grandparents house....great video...brought back some nice memories.
A good few years ago with my father and brother, We walked the route from Cheddleton station down to Oakamoor sidings. The tracks were still down and I think I remember Churnet Valley keeping some rolling stock there, looking at google maps the tracks have now gone.
Good to see so much preservation. Nice flat walkable surface and then the bury a couple of trip hazards in it - nice to see some rails but, really!!! Great walk Ant, thanks as usual for the use of your legs👍👍😂😂
To extend the line back to Alton station could be a big money winner for the CVR. Tapping into the Alton Towers trade.
It's a goldmine if done right I believe
Great video Ant!
Walked down the line in the early eighties, very overgrown at that time and the tunnel was full of bats. 🙂👍
Thanks very much for watching Ian
Super film! Just been doing some reading on the original company and the various lines. I hope the CVR do manage to extend, as it looks such a pretty route. A shame about the derelict canal, and lost station buildings, but I like the fact that there are so many platforms and how well kept they are, plus the canal mileposts. A very nice touch. I absolutely loved the crossing cottage with the tunnel portal at the end of the garden! It was even painted in the same cream and wine colours as the Alton B&B and both look ready for steam engines to go chugging past.
I enjoyed this and as always your knowledge is 2nd to none and I like the respect you always give to people who live around the area.
Thanks very much Jane. It's important to those around when respecting them ☺️
Love the haunting music and photos of the old station.❤
Thank you for watching 🙂
Another excellent video Ant. Thank you very much.
The depth and detail of your research before you visit your locations always impresses me. The details you include in your commentary brings the whole thing together very nicely.
The line up to Alton Station and beyond looks to have great potential for the extension of the Churnet Valley Railway to link up with Alton Towers. Sadly it also has some seemingly impossible obstacles in its way. The main one looks like the tunnel. Would the owner of the crossing cottage want a railway running literally feet from his home?
Another belter, Ant! The stretch between Oakamoor and Froghall is much better walked in Late April/Early May before it gets too overgrown. It's one of the most beautiful walks I've done in Stafordshire (and there are so very many) and the views are much more open earlier on in the year :)
Not much more in terms of infrastructure if you'd carried on other than a couple of old BR signs but still worth it.
REALLY VERY WELL PRESENTED. THAK YOU
So nice of you thank you
Yes, and the most intimate and unaffected of rail RUclipsrs.
Really enjoyed the video👍🏻🙂I regularly do a circular walk from Alton village which takes you along a section of the railway line, turning off just before you reach the bridge that’s half walkable now, last time I saw Alton station they were renovating the buildings.
I spoke with a man from the CVR some years ago about the extension to the south of Froghall. I learned of the difficulty that would be involved in the CVR getting to Oakmoor and Alton. Apparently, there are more permits and assessments, etc.. needed to get from Froghall to Alton than are required to build HS2.
Alton Towers, who have said that they are supportive of the idea on many occasions in the past, are now disinterested.
It would be great for them (CVR) to make it back to Alton Station but it may take many years to achieve it.
On the plus side, they have put in the triangle at leekbrook jn again and are well on the way to returning to Leek, so we can have high hopes for that being completed in the not too distant future.
great video yet again thank you for doing all the videos for us nice one.
What a lovely walk.
Schade, ich kann nur sehr aufmerksam zuhören.
Danke für das schöne Video 😚
At oakamoor, the cottages by the crossing are known as the island. The industrial branch from oakamoor Station ran into the Thomas Bolton copper works. Boltons had a small four wheel battery operated locomotive that I believe is now preserved in the national railway museum in York. My dad was an electrician at Boltons, and one of his jobs was to maintain the batteries on the four wheel locomotive.
Love the cottage with the tunnel portal at the end of the garden. Superb video as always.
It's lovely isn't it? Thank you for watching ☺️
Just followed you on Facebook
Beautiful walk and commentary. Lovely houses and water features. Old photos are nostalgic. Excellent video Ant. Thank you. It is sad to see miles and miles of country walks but you hardly meet anyone.
Having a lovely country walk without seeing anyone else is ideal for me and my family. Heavenly even.
Nice station structures. The north staffs. Been to churnet valley a few times. Nice to have a combination of canal & railway
Oh I do love your videos exploring abandoned railways. The Alton station is fascinating. Would’ve loved to have seen the station in its heyday - sheer amount of people that would’ve been there. Great stuff
Alton is one good looking station.🚂🚃🚃🚞🚋
Fantastic video, as a local the idea this trackbed hasn’t been relaid from Froghall to Alton is just criminal for 5 or 6 miles. It makes no sense. Hopefully CVR get the support and investment they need
The owners of the property adjoining the southern portal probably not so enthusiastic.
North Lindsey Light Railway and in particular the branch of the Flixborough Mineral line is definitely worth a look, stages of track and lifted track, curious gradients and infrastructure as it weaves down to the Trent - fantastic video as always, thank you 🙏
Hi as you walk towards Alton Station about 1/2 a mile or just less, in the field up above you to your right in the field is a old canal bridge. Also the Churnet Valley railway used to do a dvd about the old line to uttoxeter very good DVD brilliant video well done 👍as a extra piece if you to other side of Oakamoor tunnel you should pick the end of Railway as the tracks I believe still go down to the old sand Quarry, they supplied high quality Silica Sand for the glass works of pilkingtons at Liverpool 👍
Concrete panels in trackbed just over churnet bridge look very much like ww2 tank traps. Steel RSJs or cut off rail sections could be dropped in to stop any enemy tanks using the rail route to advance. Examples of these can be viewed on the GCR stacked at birstall.
Just done a similar walk, the tunnel at Oakamore apparently has resident bats and there are lots of other issues for CVR in making an extension beyond Froghall work financially.
Every now and then some will say open up the line to get people to Alton Towers, but Towers customers are not the same as heritage railway customers. So even if you could magically fix the no mainline connection, very different priorities.
There is a bus service from Stoke Railway Station that gets to Alton Towers in around one hour and then there are many out of area coach trips if you don't have a car. Locally to ride a magically opened service from Stoke would probably take longer as it is a circuitous route to Leekbrook first before heading in the right direction.
No, they are different things entirely. Personally I'd like to see a path/cycleway opened on unused parts of the route in partnership with CVR and others rather than leaving it abandoned for some hoped for HS2 money that's not happening. There is also a scheme to bring back the Uttoxeter Canal too, apart from the basin at Froghall that seems to be mainly aspirational rather than achievable.
If you ever go back there are the remains of some locks where the canal dropped into the river at Crumpwood weir. There's a footpath over an old canal bridge into some woods behind the Alton Towers hotels. There you'll find the rock walk and Ina's rock, where a Saxon king prepared for battle.
I recently walked this disused railway line I enjoyed the walk I was surprised how good of a condition Alton Station was I saw a guy who was staying there with his dog and he did mention about the landmark trust and that you could stay there another gem along the route was Oakamoor Crossing house and the Oakamoor tunnel that’s where I finished my walk have you walked the High Peak Trail Monsal Trail or the Tissington Trail as these were all old railway lines until your next video keep up the good work take care and stay safe
We've done this walk a couple of times, starting from either end of the trail and stopping at the Ramblers Retreat for refreshments, there's also a network of trails that make a good circular walk with the tea room as the start/end.
Excellent video. Nice history lesson there 👍👍
Lovely video. Wish we could have got into the tunnel ! Such beautiful scenery round that area.
It really is! Thank you for watching 😊
Perfect lunchtime viewing
Thanks for watching Phil
Thank you for this excellent video presentation of this beautiful line with such impressive architecture. I once attended an art class and they had a book about the Landmark Trust properties and of course I had to do a copy of the first railroad station you were at. I did it in ink as I felt it would bring out the detail better. It would certainly be a great place for a vacation.
I reckon you should do a collab with Paul Whitewick on a railway canal special as he is the dogs danglies when it comes to canals and you could have featured both in such a video here?
Great idea! I'd enjoy seeing them present together.
They should make a walking/cycling path from Oakamoor to Froghall.
Yes that trackbed is horrendous currently
It goes through such a beautiful part of the valley if they cut back the vegetation a little.
@@TheThorntonBrapper I agree I found it extremely peaceful too
The platforms were extended for the Earl to impress his guests with a vast platform array, also he had a personal lift installed to take his luggage up to his residence from the station which must have been impressive. Would be nice to drive the line back down to Denison, certainly Alton Towers the theme park would greatly profit from such if someone put on Leek to Alton trains and the platform lengths means the buildings could be left as they are and folks could wander through onto the park or maybe reinstating the direct walkway from platform to park. Both the current heritage class 33's I rode in during the 1970's riding the secondman's seat next to my uncle Ray who was a Hoo Junc yard rostered 33 driver who took me on some summer holiday days often depositing me at Hoo Junc signalbox for me father to take home. It all ended unhappily when needing a wee on a hot summer day and uncle said to widdle out the open door, the loco was passing a resting farmer on the fence as I let go and his raised hand became a fist of injustice as he got a full face of little lad juice and he rang up BR to complain most earnestly and I was not allowed to go cab riding any more...
Very interesting to watch 👍
Thanks very much for watching 🤠
Well done, a nice informative video as usual. You mentioned the Ramblers Retreat, which is now a rather nice restaurant, it also has an extensive outdoor garden seating area, loads of tables serviced from a hatch at the back of the building. What you didn't mention is an equal distance on the opposite side of the trackbed was the "Chained Tree". Way back in history, I think it was the local lord upset a resident hag (witch) so much that she cursed the entire family. Any sons of the lord would be knocked from their horse and killed by falling trees. This terrified the lord so much that he had certain trees chained upright to prevent them falling, one of which still has a number of chains wrapped around it today.
I was going to say the same... a quick detour off the track to the chained oak and then further up to a very impressive B&B building with a bell tower
Excellent keep it up. 😊
Thanks for watching Ian
Even though Leek will be the Planned Northern Terminus of the C.V.R. Alton Is Their Future Southern Terminus, but with a New Station Built in a Different Location because of the Original Station being in Private Ownership.
😊
Just Breaks my heart they weren't even thinking about people needs just there pockets...😡 It's like today's...
Many, many years ago Alton Towers theme park were talking of parking coaches bringing people to the theme park at Denstone and having some sort of shuffle along the old railway line between there and Alton Towers Station. Then a cable car or similar to go between the station and the theme park, but I don't know what happened.
This was to try and avoid a lot of coaches going through the village of Alton.
Camping coaches would have been good at Alton Station too.
I imagine if it ever sees trains again it'll be the heritage railway
Those concrete structures in the path near the bridge are interesting. Anyone know what they are/ were for? Giving me WW2 home guard vibes.
17:18 You say people coming to the theme park that used the station? I wanted to just find out a little about that, it seems that the owner of the house started allowing people to visit the site in 1860 but it was around the 1970s when they started adding rides to the site and then the theme park was opened properly in 1980? So I guess it would have been originally for the estate that people were coming to see?
We walked through the tunnel a couple of times in the eighties.
I’ve watched your stuff a long while and I never realised you were American, vacation!!!!!! It’s holiday dear boy we are British.
Absolutely shocking !! Not sure why so many British people these days speak American.. it's like being coloniZed !!! 😣 😉
If I remember I think Churnet Valley own all the way to the fence at the end of the tunnel.
Yes I think they do. Thanks for watching
Thanks Ant.😂
Thanks very much for watching
You will never see anything of our glorious past ever being resurrected, we are finished as a nation of normal native people.
Those old vans belong to churnet valley railway society mate
AHH lovely
14:28 That gap under the platform is the void where the point levers and signal wires entered the base of the signal box. Oh I may be mistaken perhaps this is the point that the signal box was? 17:06
Not a chance anymore I'm afraid.If you look along the trackbeds ands one or 2 of the bridges, you can see remains of WW2 Stop line (Derby),anti invasion defences etc,The tracks from Oakamoor onwards were only recently lifted in the last few years and the quarry elevator demolished.All the stored Locos and stock were removed due to damage .
Ant...would you agree that there is nothing ornate about todays architecture? What on earth is going on in the University Architecture departments??? Great post as always thanks.
Alton towers would benefit from a good rail link and if they coughed up the money to fund it i bet it would pay for itself over time. They would need to run 30 min interval services during park opening and closing times to make it attractive for people to use
Another great video 👌🏻
BTW, look into the camera lens and not at the monitor. 😉
I don't have a monitor
would be nice to see at least some action on it Ant
I actually live next to an abandoned railroad in sweden
I bet that's pretty cool
@@TrekkingExploration yeh but they have plans to remove the tracks
@@theaveragegameyt 😯😞😞
@@TrekkingExploration ik ;( my grandpa used to drive train on the line
@@theaveragegameyt awwww fond memories
A tramway might be possible ?
:) :)
🧡
Hello Ant - Well in your title you asked 'Could it see Trains again?' well at the start of your Video you showed that a house had been built on the Track-bed, so I think that the answer is NO!!! 🤔😉🚂🚂🚂
It could be demolished ! 😀 I really despise people who build on track beds. 😡
Well yes I know I suppose I meant from the other direction ☺️
@@PaganPriestUK1234 I know how you feel but that's progress for you - but it makes it really difficult to demolish it b/c it is some one house!!! 😐🚂🚂🚂
@@TrekkingExploration oh ok 🤔🚂🚂🚂
At 19.03 again the virtue signalling that recently has been ruining your videos…On many many of your previous vids you have sent up the drone showing private buildings, houses and businesses and active lines…I don’t know why you’ve started this but it’s really starting to grate…You are very good at what you do so please don’t ruin it.