Secrets Of The Motorway - M1
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- Опубликовано: 7 июл 2024
- #motorways #infrastructure #m1
We're on a journey up the M1 to discover what lies beneath, or to the side perhaps... hidden motorway junctions, abandoned structures, ghost roads and lots more awaits.
In this series we aim to explore what our motorway network is hiding. As we drive along at the 70mph..ish...we simply just wouldn't be aware of what we're missing. This series aims to uncover some of the hidden secrets our motorways have to offer. 
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My nan dont like the m1, she says sometimes when she uses it, everyone else is driving toward her the wrong way and it scares her
😂😂
Your nan nuts!
I think I followed her one day 🤪😜😝
Ah yes the oldies are still the best, pun intended 😇
Stolen old joke
The turning between junctions 14 and 15 on the M1, locally known as Cattle Creep, is infact used as a turning point for the emergency services!
The distance between J14, and J15 is roughly 13 miles, one of the biggest distances between junctions in the UK!
Emergency services use it to turn around to reach incidents on the M1 more quickly, otherwise they’d have to go all the way to Northampton (J15) or Milton Keynes (J14) to turn around.
It’s also been used to store plant equipment and vehicles during the ‘upgrade’ to Smart Motorways.
It’s always had the “no unauthorised vehicles” sign, but since the works they’ve put in ANPR cameras, so any one using it for a quick turn around will get a fine now!
Yes, when I saw the thumb nail I immediately thought 'Thats cattle creep crossing'. Ive been involved with the SMP upgrade and learnt to recognise it. And yes it for offical use only, emergency services and highway operatives such maintenance teams. So if anyones thinking of using please dont. Just drive to the next junction to turn around. Good video though.
Tinsley Viaduct confuses the hell out of sat navs if you're on the lower deck. It thinks you're on the motorway above and will re-route you accordingly, usually just as you approach the roundabouts so you have no idea which exit you were supposed to take 😂
You might notice that the older part of the M1 has much longer straight sections than the newer parts. After the motorways had been around for a while they got to thinking that the long straights were too monotonous and were causing drivers to lose concentration or even fall asleep. When the later sections were built it was decided to include very slight curves in all sections of motorway and it’s actually quite rare to see totally straight sections on later motorways.
I would imagine it also helps to subconsciously prevent speeding if the driver can’t see as far ahead
I still almost nod off on the M6 because of how boring it is
Awesome info, I wasn't aware of that.
@@heyjakeay TYhe M6 isn't boring. It has the best Service Station on the M6. There is another great Serevice Station owned by the same family on the M5. No, the M6 is great because it has the BEST Service Station.
@@Demun1649 Won't disagree with you there but it's still quite a long, straight, boring road getting to it
At 5.36 I attended that incident, it was a Sunday night around 8ish the bells went at Loughborough Fire Station, everything from our station went plus pumps from Leicester, Shepshed, Long Eaton, Coalville, we were sat on the airport apron and saw it coming in, then nothing, my mate said its crashed, we all replied "Don't be daft" then the call came over the radio to divert to the Motorway, how it didn't involve any road traffic was a miracle.
You have to appreciate the effort put into making this video.
I enjoy filming it despite the 20 hour days by the time you get home. As long as you guys enjoy watching then it's a fair deal.
Awesome video. Just to solve your Tinsley Viaduct conundrum. 6 Million in 1967 is the equivalent of about 58 million (adjusted for inflation) in 2006. The strengthening was still more than the initial build cost, but from an engineering perspective a bigger project because they were effectively rebuilding the bridge from the inside out whilst it was still in use.
The turnback junction between J14 & J15 corresponds with the boundary of Thames Valley Police and Northamptonshire Police's remits.
I never have been to the UK. Still, I'm sitting here watching a video of someone driving down a motorway... RUclips is intriguing
I used to travel on the M1 with my family, Dad driving of course, between 1960 - 1964. It was awe inspiring journey back then. Have not travelled on it since then 'cos we had all moved to Australia. It's good to see it upgraded.
Also next to the M1 in Sheffield, there used to be two cooling towers. When they set to be demolished that part of the M1 had to be closed for safety, also to check for any damage after the cooling towers got blown up. From what Mum and Dad told me is that they felt the vibration when the cooling towers came down at night, but me ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
Another secret of the M1 is the curse of the inside lane.
90% of travelers are too afraid to use it which causes all sorts of problems.
Suits us, it creates a mostly traffic free lane ;)
Same as junction 4, A1(M) - middle lane hogs all the way thru the bend, north and southbound 🤦🏾♂️
I love the inside lane on long motorway journeys, a steady 55 keeps me alert watching for HGV's behind, saves loads of fuel and keeps emissions down. When they overtake a flash of my headlights so that they can see they are clear of me to return to the inside lane. Thanks boys and girls. Keep Britain great.
Why am I watching this.... subcribed can't wait for next episode...
At 7:23 in the video at the 'Graffiti Underpass' in Horbury, the mural on the right of the young lad is that of Joel, - a nice lad in my year at school who tragically lost his life in 2013 after an asthma attack. Amazed to see its still holding up almost 9 years later.
Wow... I saw it and wondered what the story behind it was, it makes it far more saddening when you find out. What a shame but kudos to the artist.
I know an old guy called Joe that worked on the construction of the M1. He overheard a conversation between one the machine operators & one the design engineers. One question was "why aren't we digging out for four lanes instead of 3"? The reply was "we'll never need four lanes". 🤔 🤣🤣🤣
I live in the US and have never left the country and probably never will be able to due to financial difficulties but I'll try my best to memorize these M1 facts just in case I find myself on the M1 motorway
Excellent.. I'd also suggest keeping an eye out for the M25... another gem.
M62 is best 'M'
@@AutoShenanigans A gem that many people dread.
What I love about RUclips is this guy has a niche interest, can record himself talking about his passion and now loads of us are also interested. Great job
You'd never see this kind of niche programming on any regular cable TV or broadcast channel. YT is made for this kind of unique video adventures. It's even more enjoyable when the post-production is as good as this chap's.
Looking forward to the next one in the series! Cheers from Virginia, USA.
I could imagine this kinda content would've gone down well on the old Men & Motors UK channel. That's where Top Gear's Richard Hammond cut his TV teeth...
Two very famous cooling towers used to stand next to Tinsley viaduct. Always remember looking out for them on trips as a kid, such a shame they were ripped down 😢
Yes such a landmark on the way to York for me. The route's got safer and more convenient but I miss the craziness of that route after Sheffield
The four chimneys that remained of the Watnall Brickworks stood until 2009 when they were demolished. They could be clearly seen from the M1. A bunch of us from Nottingham spent some considerable time working away up north back in the 90s and when we travelled south back home, when we saw the four chimneys we would cheer because we knew we were nearly home. Happy days. 😊
I live near the junction 14/15 underpass which is located in Salcey Forest. Locally it’s known as the cattle creep as I believe at one time it was an opening for animals to cross. It’s only just been redone with the ramps you see now, only 2 years ago the ramps were seriously potholed concrete and no one used it for vehicles. There is a right of way through it and we often used it to get from Salcey forest in to a set of mountain bike jumps in the bit of wood the other side, or to get from Hartwell in to the forest.
London gateway will forever be known as Scratchwood, it’s original name until some bright spark decided that a motorway service area was the starting point for your journey into the bright lights of that London. Also the “junction” between 14 & 15 is what breakdown services use to take you to the nearest junction, as I discovered when my car died and the RAC towed me under the motorway and back to Northampton. Very entertaining 👍😬
7:15 £6m in 1968 was equivalent to £53m in 2006, so the maintenance was still more expensive than building it, but not quite 14 times as much!
(The Bank of England website has an inflation calculator)
As of right now 6m in 1968 is worth over 100m in spending power today! Somewhere around 115 I think..
I had no idea there were people who got as excited about motorways as other people do about train lines.
and why not?
It's interesting.
The M1 also terminated as a DEAD END FLYOVER at Leeds, the reasoning being the idea that the road could be extended to meet the A1. Decades later this did happen although not by the originally envisaged route. Infact if you are travelling further South than Sheffield from the A1, ignore the A1/M1 link (as its known), and continue down tha A1, then take the M18 to the M1. Its a shorter distance and a great deal quicker.
It's about 10 miles shorter - I've used that route on many occasions.
Never thought that I (an Aussie) would take an interest in British motorways, but after watching such a fine presentation, I reckon I'll be tuning in again. Your voice is quite pleasant to the ear also, so feel free to drag these out to half an hour or so.
Great video...as a trucker i go the length of the M1 on a regular basis, i have always noticed the ghost slip roads just before Tibshelf services.
Thanks for watching mate!
Those old, abandoned bridges are quite helpful for the local fauna to safely cross the motorway.
A friend of mine has lived in Nottingham for 15 years and visits family in London every month. In those 15 years, there has never been a time where there hasn’t been major roadworks somewhere on the M1.
Once upon a time, I had to do the daily commute from Milton Keynes to Staples Corner during the widening of the M1, it was a right shit show.
I always thought the sliproads at what would have been Long Whatton Services had something to do with the original M64 proposal, which would have joined the M1 just south of East Midlands Airport (whereas the A50, which does basically the same job as the M64 proposal, joins North of the airport instead). Maybe a "Cancelled roads" series would work well alongside the abandoned ones to look at never built road projects like the M64...?
I have photos of my dad standing on a just completed motorway bridge near the yet uncompleted J21 as he did a lot of electrical engineering for the motorway including the design of the "Fog Warning Lights" that could be seen at many junctions. The ones at J21 were automatic as they could detect fog by using optical sensors that triggered the lights on foggy days. My mother worked at Leicester Forest East Services that was a destination venue for people from Leicester. She worked in the then Terrance Conran designed restaurant that was the height of chic in those days. Also there was the huge uproar over the M1 as it's intended route was to pass through the local Bradgate Park or skirt it. Even now if you look at Google maps you will see that the motorway veers around north Leicester in a odd way. The original remit was for the M1 to go to right of Markfield and not to the left as does now.
As a child my earliest memories are of the M1 sitting in Mk1 Consul Cortina as we lived between London and Leicester as my mum was in the rag trade. I can remember the old M10 at St Alban's and the original duel carriageway between the then M10 (A414) and the Watford junction (where they often filmed "Carry On....." films and On the Buses). That part of the M1 was also used by the Ministry of Transport for testing road surfaces, white lines and gantry frames. I also remember the original J1 slip road! There are also other secret junctions and underpasses near the Watford bit. Plus there was the part of the M1 that was able to handle small planes landing on it up near Leicester.
5:45 The old brickworks at Hucknall used to have five or six tall chimnies which could be seen for miles around.They have only been demolished in the last ten years or so.
It was derelict land for years and was a very spooky place to go !
The abandoned slip road in London is on the path of the disused railway from Mill Hill East to Edgware that was never converted to Underground after WW2. They had only electrified up to Mill Hill East and the rest was closed.
Here living in the US, Learning about the M1🤣. have to love you too for recommend this video. Great video by the way 👍.
I’m pleased you mentioned mess that is the London end of the M1. The fact that once you get on at Junction 1, you’re stuck on it until Watford! Being able to exit northbound at Mill Hill or Edgware would surely reduce local traffic on the A5 and A41…
Buncefield was about a mile away where I am in Hemel. Was relocated to a hotel for 6+ months on insurance while house was checked for structural damage when in Primary school.
Government finance always leaves me dumbfounded.
After Grenfel Tower the Government set aside over £250million to rehouse the resedents effected and then it was said it wasn't really enough.
Sorry but there were 88 residences in the block that's about £2.8 million per residence what's the problem after what they went through just give them the £2.8million to buy a house.
No the problem was how to rehouse them as tennants so that they continue to pay rent.
My Dad & a couple of his friends. Came over from the Netherlands on Holiday, a couple of weeks after the M1 opened. The Police moved them on at 3am. As they had just pulled over, put the tent up & gone to sleep
Eight and a half minutes of interesting video delivered in - and with - great style. Thanks for your efforts
Here in the US, the Ohio Turnpike used to have a similar numbering system for exits/junctions. Trouble became when they would add exits/junctions, the new exit would be numbered 12A, 12B, 15A, etc depending on what exits/junctions the new exit was in between. They eventually abandoned that numbering system and went to how other freeways/toll roads exits/junctions are numbered and that's by the mile marker
Northern Ireland has numerous unfinished motorways .. the M22 for instance which stops and starts along it planned route and areas with slips ways and bridge built but no roads.
And incidentally the Craigavon Bridge in Londonderry is a two tier bridge that was finished in 1933 with upper deck for vehicle traffic and lower deck for trains. This lower deck was converted for vehicle traffic in 1968. This would be the first twin tier bridge of its kind in the British Isles.
I'm so glad that in most UK cities, the motorway goes to the side rather than through the center. In Leicester, we have it on the west of the city (rural when the M1 was built). Meanwhile in the US highways are literally cutting cities in half and quarters...
Just one word in reply to that
Birmingham
Glasgow
I've just found your channel John and I'm hooked already. Trying to binge watch my way through. Great humour and information throughout. Keep up the good work.
The series that keeps on giving
The junction between 14 and 15 is Cattles Creep - an old farmers route under the M1. It's now used for HETO and Emergency services due to the length of the junction. It has cameras / ANPR coverage so anyone unauthorised using it will get a fine
£6 million in 1968 (when the Tinsley Viaduct opened) is the equivalent of £92 million today, just taking inflation into account. Inflation in the 1970s was brutal, and it looks like we're going that way again.
Plus, the "few modifications" have to be done whilst keeping the road open, something that the original builders didn't have to worry about. And, they have to be done under a stricter H&S regime.
Very true, a little poetic licence may be used when writing our episodes ;)
Let's hope the viaduct was made of British, preferably local Sheffield and Rotherham steel. Anyone know?
@@kenstevens5065 I don’t know for sure, but it was built within a mile one side of Steel, Peech and Tozer , the other side within a mile of Hadfields.
@@dala5568 Thanks for that.
The Tinsley viaduct was the first of its kind in the UK and the only one of its kind anywhere in the world still standing. Other countries that had Steel box girder designs, have either seen them collapse or replaced them before they collapse. and the only reason the Tinsley viaduct hasn't collapsed was they removed a lane of traffic to help reduce fatigue.
And all the strengthening works of which in my life time has happened twice to it. Am surprised they haven't added supports to the outside so they could reopen the lanes now nothing is blocking it like it used to when it was built as all the steel works and power plant have long gone
@@damiendye6623 I've often thought that. Adding supports to the outsides, would seem the most logical answer.
Well, this popped up in my recommended - wonderfully filmed, full of excellent geeky info that I can annoy my family with! Subbed!
Why do people( including me) find disused constructions like this fascinating?
We had such dreams...
Glossed over Bolsover Castle, Hardwick Hall, Sutton Scarsdale and of course the mighty meadowhall shopping centre. Could have mentioned the cooling towers, salt and pepper, next to the TINSLEY viaduct (you said Tilsey) which were removed in 2008 I think it was.
Don't get me wrong, the video is a good start, but might as well have done it in bits.
Good old bolsover castle. My home town can just see my house off the M1 too.
@@matthewtemprell5422 same, good sir. 👍
I guess it's more to do with the actual structure of the m1 and abandoned bits and bobs rather than the surrounding area, although he has included a few surrounding things he wanted to.
What a brilliant video!! This gentleman is a kindred spirit and, plainly, fascinated by the same things as me!! I remember the Staples corner 'road to thin air' section and drove on the forgotten M1 - A1 link many, many times in the 1970's..... Thank you!!!
That’s not the only example of a “road to nowhere” either. There’s quite a few dotted about for motorways that never got built. The motorway nearest to me, the M67, has two, one at each end, and it’s only 4 miles of the original run which was planned to go from Manchester to Sheffield, but now just bypasses Hyde
I found the first junction whilst living in the area. Fascinating.
7:14 you say how it cost more to modify than build the bridge. Well there’s inflation over the years since the bridge was built but the main thing is they modified the bridge whilst keeping the M1 open that massively adds to the cost and complications. It’s like you house it’s expensive and difficult to totally renovate while you are living there but when it was a new build and empty site it was quite easy
6m back then is around 74m today, makes sense
Exactamundo
im from malaysia and drove here from manchester to edin early summer this year. what great scenary
3:54 - You will often find these types of access roads close to county borders. As you suggested they are for the emergency services but more specifically for the police to turn around at the end of their force area. This one is situated close to the Northamptonshire - Buckinghamshire border.
It is and that makes perfect sense.
It's also because of the sheer distance between junc 14 and 15!
You’d have to have your wits about you slowing down from 70mph in that amount of space the first time you used it 😮
@@AutoShenanigans On this kind of vein, in Rugby just off of J18 we all know the M45 to be a non patrolled section of motorway, as emergency services have nowhere to turn around a considerable distance on either side of the Northants/Warks border. If a police car from Rugby passes J1 for the A45 and receives a call, they have to drive all the way to J16 for northampton before turning around and coming all the way back on themselves for a total journey time of 45 minutes just to get back to their start point on the other side of the carriageway - hence they don't do it.
@@danburfot334 Yes absolutely, that's even more reason for the police to have this to use.
There's one of these on the M62 on the Cheshire - Greater Manchester border but it's literally only 1 mile from Junction 11. It isn't used nowadays since the introduction of the ALR carriageway.
A good Saturday nights viewing.
Thanks
If someone tried doing this with the Interstates over here in the US each episode would be like an hour long
So true... It'd take a week just to cover one highway!
Last thing I thought I'd want to watch, not sure which rabbit hole I went down but it was fascinating!! And i was heavily involved in the Kegworth air crash, thank you for remembering it. Whenever I pass there my thoughts go back to it.
I'm not even in the UK, this is entertaining.
A huge compliment. Many thanks!
Very interesting video, nice one.
New favourite channel
Hi John, 7:00
£6,000,000 back in 1968 is worth
£74,000,000 now in 2021.
_Source: Bank of England inflation calculator_
That abandoned railway bridge should be kept for safe wildlife crossings; cuts down on animal strikes/collisions
And you would wish to pay for the annual maintenance?
@@JimWhitaker It might be cheaper to maintain it than the damage and disruption caused by animals being hit.
@@cheekychappy1234 I have used that section of the M1 since the early 1960s. I have not been aware of a problem.
I'm from Lutterworth originally. It's a really nice area to go for a walk. A lot of the best walking areas have been replaced by massive housing estates and new businesses.
I lived there for about 15 years and the size of the town literally doubled in that time.
It'd be horrible if they got rid of that bridge. The great central must be protected at all costs!
When I moved to Leicester it was nice that the council actually maintain the Great Central and it's a gem for the area.
@@BadgerUKvideo I remember The Fox at Lutterworth during the time the Yanks were at Bruntingthoupe. They also drank in The Fox. They were a good laugh but. They did tend to poor a little bourbon into our pints when you popped to the loo. A bit of let’s get the local lads drunk. They could also supply the occasional bottle of Wilshire Gin at a very reasonable price.
Looks like we’ve all been recommended at the same time 👍🏻
Absolutely love all those extra interesting bits. Keep doing them.
Very interesting! Thanks for showing us all the secrets!
There is a few hidden off ramps near service stations. There is one near Rotherham for a service station, I used to use it to get to work. Never got caught, luckily.
For the viaduct when the repairs were done, there is an inflation calculator on the bank of England website. For some comparison the initial build cost of £6,000,000 in 1968 would have been £53,097,093.23 in 2006, but that is still quite a long way short of the £82million for improvements
factor in people putting their hands in the pot and youre about there
I remember as a young kid when there were just some railway tracks at the end of the road. Then they built the motorway about 150 yards from our house in Colindale.
Incredible trove of historical information, I love it!!
Appreciate that, thanks for watching.
Further North, the M6 becomes the M74 - There is great historical footage uploaded recently of its construction:
"Construction of the M74 around Bothwell &Uddingston area 1964 - 66"
Link: ruclips.net/video/MV3Z5HxZ_Lk/видео.html
Thanks John, loved the motorway services series. Will defo enjoy this series too.
Wow again so enjoyable to watch! Super job.
Cracking video.
smashed the algo out the park! bravo!
I love stuff like this, fascinating
Having grown up and lived in the South West all my life the M1 is a motorway I just never use. Interesting video thanks.
This is a great review of the M1, lots of stuff I didn't know. Cheers Bob
A petrolhead version of disused railway exploring? Count me in - subscribed!
me too.
The viaduct over Sheffield used high alumina cement combined with box girder construction. This is not a safe combination, but by the time the problem was known, traffic patterns had established themself. Replacing Tynsley Viaduct, would have been cheaper, but was considered impractical. Thus, years of patching, and of coned-off lanes was the result. Nothing is wrong with high-alumina, nothing is wrong with box girder, but the two together would have resulted in a catastrophic failure in the event of an accident causing three lanes of tailback on one side only!
Excellent info and background - comments just as interesting! Thanks
Hey John! That was awesome, cheers for that.
7:00 You cannot compare prices directly from 1968 to 2006.
£6.000.000 in 1968 would be a little more than £65.000.000 in 2006.
(you DO understand how inflation works, right?)
But it would not be possible to "just build a new bridge instead" in 2006, because on top of that price would come the price of tearing the old one down (hence why the old railway bridge mentioned earlier has not been torn down yet).
On top of that, if the bridge have been neglected for a period it would cost more than otherwise to renovate it.
It was a joke.
Plus they had to factor in doing many of those repairs with live running. That adds a lot to the costs. I'm curious what happened to the lower level tho, and why it appears it's not being used, even for local traffic.
Even accounting for inflation, £82M is still quite a lot more than £65M. However, the reason for the extensive repairs was that this is a "box girder" bridge which were relatively cheap to build and supposed to be stronger than other designs. It was only when bridges of this type started collapsing that design flaws were revealed. Bringing this up to the required standard cost a lot more than building a new bridge which would not have been feasible anyway.
The lower level is most certainly in use.
£6m in 1968 was worth £53.1m by 2006 (because inflation during the '70s was insane), so it's more like 50% more to do the modifications... Still crazy, just much less so.
Started to watch out of curiosity, then found it quite interesting, who would have thought there were so many facts about the M1. Thanks for sharing
Interesting, thanks! My father was a Chartered Civil Engineer and was the Liaison Engineer for the section of the M1 from Crick to the M18. He never said anything about abandoned plans for service stations, though.
You missed junction 16! We used to go to raves under there in the late 90's. There was a group of new age travellers that lived down there and every Saturday night hundreds of ravers got together for an all night party. There's a gate that leads to a track that runs round and under the motorway there. Good times :)
7:07 the puzzled look of a man who's not old enough to remember rampant inflation!
Shakey Wakey, ty you Sir!
I was told by a friend who was a civil engineer, that BR engineers worked on bridge design on the original bit of the M1. At that time BR had decided to use high voltage ac on their West Coast main line electrification, this would involve altering a lot of overbridges. In order to get the necessary clearance for the overhead lines and yet maintain bridge strength they devised a flattened arch design that would be easy to install. They then used the same design for the M1 overbridges.
That's interesting.. I know the bridge designs you mean as theres quite a few on the OG M1.
The junction between J14 and J15 is called Cattle Creep and is there to shorten the turn around time between these junctions for the emergency services and highway maintenance as it’s approx 14miles when I worked on there we used it quite a lot
I saw the massive depot fire from the sky as i was on a flight that afternoon.
Goodness knows how I ended up watching this. In the 60s one Friday evening my dad took me to see the newly opened M1 south of Sheffield. We had to wait an age to see a car on it but were rewarded with a cheery wave. Interesting video, John is made for narrating, VERY good drone footage. Thanks.
Love to see the algo reward a niche channel which deserves it!
Removing the great central railway was a crime and people should still be punished today for that
I agree!
The M1 used to end in Leeds and that section is now the M621. Where the M1 now splits from its old route and goes round Leeds it was not quite completed in mid 1998 and part of it was used as a car park for V98.
I thought something might have been said about this stretch. I think the link road was privately owned initially ... not sure if it still is. There's also J.46 that wasn't commissioned for years. Something to do with it exiting on to a minor road and Leeds Council not wanting to paying for the upgrade
Nice little film, thanks 👍🏻
I'm invested in this series now!
Think you are right about the emergency services turning point. There's one much less elaborate on the M62 near Rawcliffe. I don't know if its significant, but on one side of it it's North Yorkshire Police, on the other it's Humberside Police
It was built because it is the longest distance between junctions compared to anywhere else on the M1 motorway. Junction 14 - 15.
the ghost slips at Tibshelf are used as abnormal load bays for (very) large trucks.
There's also a capped off mine shaft under the roundabout of jct. 28.
If you look at the bridges coming along the motorway, there's only a few original bridge designs, they used standard designs developed by Sir Owen Williams and Partners.
Also on the bridges, the ones between junctions 27 and 30 are all supported on column bearings to allow for the anticipated settlement due to mining related subsidence in the area (except for the bridge carrying the A619, which was modified in the late 1970's.)
Interesting stuff👍
Re: Buncefield -- my parents heard it...and we are just south of Reading.
Honestly, the M1 has a lot of memories for me; I went to school in Bedford and did work experience in London, commuting mostly by bus one cool summer. My husband and I took the last major journey in his old car to a convention in Sheffield in 2017. We went straight up the M1, but came down it in a different way -- we left at Towcester because of heavy traffic, but then found ourselves flying by the seat of our pants around Bletchley and even passing the Milton Keynes turn-off, familiar from my days in Bedford, before finding our way down to Basingstoke where we live(d).
Sadly this was our last major expedition together -- he died two years later of kidney cancer. It was a fun drive in all sorts of ways, and since I don't drive due to my autism and my parents are getting too old to go on road trips for the sheer heck of it, I don't think I'll ever get the pleasure of just taking off to explore the motorway. I would do if I could, though.