Visiting Every Station - Wickford to Southminster
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- It's time to head out onto the network again and TICK! off some stations, but this time ... you have to get actually get off or on a train at that station for it to count towards the final tally.
Oh, and yeah, i have NO IDEA what happened to the mic. I have binned it, and replaced it with a new one. Thanks for putting up with the distortion ...
I live in Wickford! Thanks for visiting our beautiful county of Essex
Nice one Geoff. I lived on the Dengie Peninsular for over 20 years, mostly in Burrnham which is quite a nice town, with 2 separate shopping areas (AND the Mangapps Railway within walking distance). I would have jumped straight back on the train at Althorne (pronounced OLthorne). It has a good pub, but it is along walk from the station. Battlesbridge had an antiques centre, again a long walk. North Fambridge's only redeeming feature is the station. South Woodham Ferrers has a shopping centre. Southminster, the terminus, had a few shops in the high street, pubs and an ugly church and an excellent chippie. When the line was electrified in the 70s (by British Rail), the service doubled to hourly Monday to Saturday, except on Thursdays with one path taken by the nuclear flask train from Southminster. It was very good for going to London theatre shows. It seems that the privatised services are not so good now if the through trains are so few.
The church is still ugly and the chippie is still excellent!
Loved seeing these places through which I drove buses when I first joined the transport industry.
I was a driver for Dengie Village Link, 19 years old and in charge of a blue Mercedes Sprinter bus.
And I linked up with the (then) First Great Eastern trains at South Woodham Ferrers, Fambridge, Burnham and Southminster. Made many friends doing that. Thanks for the vid, Geoff!
An absolute treat when RUclips throws a "new" Geoff Marshall video at you. This is great.
Battlesbridge. Just down the road is a big antique centre and three really good pubs.
And the "real" village of North Fambridge has a pub, too... it's just a bit of a walk from the station and its attached dormitory/commuter hamlet.
Ooh a new pub in Battlesbridge nice. I of course knew of the Barge and the Hawk.
Hi Geoff. I am a huge fan of you work and I learned so much about the London Underground Network and I am hoping to visit London one-day to experience riding the tube. I look forward to seeing more of your videos!
I'm from California, this is amazing. I'm binge watching your videos
Hi.. My son is a great fan of u .He is 5 years old and he is so fascinated towards London buses and trains.. Particularly ur channel... he pretends himself as you and tries to explain about the stations as you do..He wishes to meet you and know how you do it...hope so his wish comes true...Thank you
My nine-year-old son is the same. Surely there's a career for Geoff in CBeebies if he wants it? He's Brian Cant with the London Underground - what's there not to like?
Martin Spier ... Good call .. and perhaps Geoff could come up with some ‘I Spy’-type challenge videos for the youngsters in the summer breaks?
@@CTCTraining1 Absolutely, or a set of cards to go with either Trivial Pursuit or The Logo Game (with pictures).
we have another Geoffrey Marshall.
Sam Sitar there’s only one. 🙄
Honestly, the sound wasn't that bad for a broken mic. Just a little bit "clippy".
This brought back great memories.. as a schoolboy in BR days, I was ecstatic to ride once in the cab with the driver from Southminster to Wickford. It was one of my haunts... very different in those days.. DMUs of course.
Hi Geoff
loved the quick change you were trying to make at North Fambridge, it reminds me of the changes we do when competing in the all stations challenge on the Sydney Trains network here in Australia.
Cheers
Greg
I sometimes used to spend a day at Wickford signal box in the 1970s while my mum went to London for the day. I still have the Beano album that the signalman got me for Christmas in 1972.
With your qualification ahead of time, we understand and still love the time / work you put in. Best of luck in Ireland when you get there!
Great video Geoff - definitely looking forward to checking out this line when I get a free day!
Great video Geoff and don't worry about the sound being distorted your videos are always awesome.
Battlesbridge station has possibly the greatest Twitter account for a railway station in the whole UK. A must follow!
What a small world, I was just speaking to @heldvomerdbeerfeld, and left a comment on his latest vlog. As you know, he lives in Gloggnitz Austria and went to Neunkirchen HS, the same village where I once lived and worked. You covered my line in this video and at Southminster a friend of mine "John Jolly", owns a Railway Museum namely "Mangapps Railway". Most in the Railway World know John but obviously you don't or you would have mentioned it in this vlog. If you go to Southminster again, be sure to call in for a chat, I'm sure you will find it a very interesting experience. Great vid! Incidently, you missed all of the points of interest, admittedly they are all a fair walk from the stations.
I rode on this branch line from Wickford to Burnham on crouch. Althorne had a long platform for a quite remote one
Such a great video again! Awesome getting such a great understanding of English rail! 👍
To be honest I found the distortion making the sound a little cripser and there was some parts in the video when you don't hear it. But adding those black screens with the white writing is hilarious, I did been to Wickford which surprisingly was nearly 2 years ago (6th March 2017) but never cleared the Southminster branch, great video Geoff cannot wait to see where your ticking off next
Thank you for the motivational cards...
Blanked out power sockets! Is that for wireless charging? 😊
Its pronounced Awlthorne. At Southminster on the left as you arrive is a crane in a siding where the British Nuclear Fuels Nuclear Flask train used to arrive every Thursday late morning ( midday) and the crane used to transfer the 50 ton Nuclear Flask from the train to the waiting Heavily Articulated Lorry which then headed to Bradwell power station.
I grew up in South Woodham Ferrers and lived in a village 15 minutes drive from Southminster. Deep dark countryside. Home tough, was nice to see you do this route. There’s some interesting history and novelty to that line. Including ( you probably have covered this) what used to be regular freight trains to supply nuclear fuel to Bradwell Power Station. There also used to be a branch line from South Woodham Ferrers to Maldon
Fun Fact, South Woodham Station has more passengers annually than Sunderland Station.
Also, the trains used to be hourly until about 5 years ago.
Glad to see my Hometown gets to shine for about 30 seconds.
Woodham never has anyone there 😭😭
You visited my local station SWF ! I love this branch line and my house almost faces it . There are a couple of trains a day which don’t stop at Battlesbridge . The South in Woodham Ferrers was added much later in life .
I used to work on that line in the 90's . Station crew, cutting grass in the car parks and every Thursday we had help out with the nuclear waste from the power station nearby. A beautiful line. Can't wait to see the All The Stations Ireland especially Waterford
Weird - just ticked them all off myself today, came home and saw this video!!!
I traveled the line in the 1970's, pre-electrification. We traveled in a Craven's two car DMU. South Woodham Ferrers was about five houses and the rest of the line virtually desolate. Not quite the end of the Earth, but you could see it from there. We did that for no other reason than to see where we sailed (and I liked trains).
Where you were sat at Burnham-on-Crouch is just across the river from Wallasea Island, where a load of the earth from excavating the Purple Line ended up!
cross purp eliza rail GET IT RIGHT
I tried the Ormskirk to Preston route in May 2018 but there was a two hour delay then I was told to catch a bus, which took forever and he wouldnt drop me off at Burscough Bridge to catch the Wigan Wallgate train. Nice part of the country on the single track, might be better going from Preston to Ormskirk as the trains out to Liverpool are more frequent
10:58 The locals are pleasantly friendly but also strangely aware of overcoming the bad audio.
7:30 the flane was plooded?
Audio was fine, no probs, enjoyed the video.
Wonderful videos of the UK railways, I want to go there!
R. I. P. Mic. Forever in our hearts.
Yeah. Great video Geoff the distortion was not too bad. Great info thanks.
As much as this line's a beautiful scenic line there's only so much you can take. I constantly have to use South Woodham and Southminster for "strategical reasons" so. Interesting fact tho North Fambridge gets the anomaly of a regular train service (40 mins M-Sat and hourly Sunday) and an "almost parliamentary" shopper bus service once every 2 weeks on a Friday. However considering Battlesbridge, North Fambridge and Althorne (considering how in the middle of nowhere the station is) don't exactly have direct, frequent bus connections to a major town shows how significant the trains really are in that part of Essex.
Following the demise of the Dengie Village Link minibus sevice that used to cover the Dengie Peninsula on an hourly basis connecting the villages with the main buses and the trains at Southminster, Burnham on Crouch, South Woodham and additionally during the rush hour to North Fambridge.
_"Oh golly, oh gosh_
_Come and lie on the couch_
_With a nice bit of posh_
_From Burnham-on-Crouch"_ - Ian Dury
Even such a branch line is electrified. Cambridgeshire-Ipswich lines, also run by greateranglia, has much higher flow but still not electrified. Pretty sad about that.
East Pavilion-er Yes the Southminster branch was electrified around the outset of Network South East in the mid-80s. Unfortunately, the other lines you mentioned were just outside the NSE area, and therefore weren't considered for the extra investment. Indeed when the Southminster branch was electrified, not even Bishops Stortford or Royston to Cambridge had been done at the time.
Higher flow ?
The main reason it was electrified was that it was a little diesel island in an otherwise all-electric area, and electrifying the line meant the Great Eastern section of NSE wouldn't need to maintain a tiny diesel fleet just to run that one line. (Actiually two, as they also electrified the Braintree branch at the same time)
@@norbitonflyer5625 Your reason is spot on. It might also be worth mentioning that the line probably would have been closed, but for the nuclear flask traffic. The line was also used for the trials of the new piling system for the catenary masts which proved both economical and fast (something that Network Rail seem to have forgotten). Passenger flows naturally increased after electrification, even with the old slam-door stock used at first, because the service was much improved.
We could have had the entire network electrified in the 60's but at the time diesel was cheaper than the coal used in power stations to produce electricity. Now wind farms, solar farms and nuclear power stations are used to produce electricity and oil has gone up in price faster than electricity.
Damn, bouncing back between the stations is actually such a smart idea yet so simple I feel stupid for not thinking about it myself 😂
The tradesman in me, needs to point out the shelters are made from timber not wood. When the tree has just been cut down you have wood but after it has been cut to size you have timber. Maybe in Britain you do not make that distinction.
Battlesbridge is one of my favourite places near me! The village is a haven for antique shopping!
Kind of a traditional Britsh rail look coming back again.
No many lines or stations are using the BR logo next to the name on the platform signs or on the station building itself.
Like you see there with Burnham on Crouch.
Don't think Wickford has any platforms signs with both the BR logo and the name next to each other.
Could we have "When the flane gets plooded" on a T-shirt please ?
You should have gone to Mangapps Railway museum up the road from Burnham!
Also, Battlesbridge has a lovely antiques centre and pub / cafes just down the road from the station.
North Fambridge has a beautiful nature reserve, run by Essex Wildlife Trust. And from Southminster take the D3 bus to the very end of the line to visit the atmospheric St Peter-on-the-Wall, possibly the oldest chapel in the country.
Geoff Marshall is the serious Jay Foreman and who travels further than him. It's a way of travelling around the country by train during lockdown or when you can't afford train travel.
Geoff, you could log all the stations that have an adjacent field of sheep. Tick.
you've just passed my home town Billericay!!!
Lake Meadows!!!
@@Inglesdivertidocomshai Great Park!!! Love it
Awright Smithy what's occurrin?
Oh golly, oh gosh
Come and lie on the couch
With a nice bit of posh
From Burnham-on-Crouch
My given name is Dickie
I come from Billericay
And I ain't a slouch
Interesting - what I noticed about the sign at 11:10 wasn't the train station thing, but that the station sign says Burnham-on-Crouch, while the car park sign has Burnham on Crouch. Hyphens optional, apparently.
Geoff just a heads up.Custom house crosslizzy station were testing the led screens.Today trains to Abby Wood while I was there.Would send a pic but no idea where.
Don’t worry. It gives you that authentic station announcement vibe!
This series is going to be about 20 years long XD
And that's why you bring snacks and a beverage Geoff 😉 always!
If you had made this trip in March you could have visited the Mangapps Railway just up the road from Burnham-on-Crouch (not open in the winter), that said winter is good to take a boat trip up the river to see the seals.
Like it. Did a course in Althorne. Didn't drive took the train and glad I did. Nice line. Although driver had to do hard brake application as some twit went across farm crossing as he approached!
The class 321s look like an HST that has had it's nose totally flattened 🙂
I am an expert on this line and I can hear train horns at my house. Also, the directions change every 2 hours because there is only 1 track. 4:47 I've also sailed on that river at 6:27 At southminster the line splits into 2.
You were on a refurbished Ex London Midland Renatus Class 321!!!
The Isle of Man is littered with “Halts” on both it’s steam and electric railways. I trust you’ll be going there in Summer 2020?
Shame you didn’t get to Southminster. There are sidings there that were used to load spent fuel rods from Bradwell power station for taking away by rail freight.
your mic sounded like the old Greater Anglia onboard announcements
Next up... visiting all stations on the Heart of Wales line!! :P
You should have distorted the background music too.
Fambridge
There is a huge marina with coffee shop if u know where it is...
my line 👌 South Woodham Ferrers is my stop... lovely stuff... typical fayre commuter train wise, but a rare path for DRS class 68 haulage running a ghost nuclear materials train late on a Thursday night...
@@mistywolf312 Bradwell is this side of the estuary, Southminster had & will again have the railhead for flasks & with the new Bradwell about to begin construction we're expecting construction rail flows and it seems DRS are running ghost trains with top & tail class 68's late on Thursdays with only a flat wagon for a load... Driver knowledge or for pathing reasons we get our weekly outing 👍
I used have to work on the Nuclear Flasks from Bradwell station. Every Thursday in the 90's. These went thru Statford and onwards to the main nuclear recycling plant. A few times we had hot hands even when using 2 pairs of gloves
I spent all my teenage years living and working in Burnham on Crouch. Allthorne, was how we all pronounced it. The Nuclear Flask went up or down the line for Bradwell power station every Tuesday afternoon (from memory).
It would pass through South Woodham Ferrers station around 14:47pm if I recall. It caught me out on many an occasion when I expected a regular passenger train
Myself and 2 other railway men had to go to southminster to load and unload the nuclear flasks from a lorry on to a flatbed railway wagon. Using the big crane there if it's still there
It's like the secrets of the Wickford to Southminster line. Without the secrets. But still enjoyable..
Good luck doing this on the Ormy to Preston line; it's one train an hour (and a bit) so you'd be there for ages!
Should do a meet up for 100k! Shame about your mic but loved the random captions
Thanks again for a great video.
The audio wasn’t so bad but enjoyed the video nonetheless, you should do the c2c line and get out at some of them stations. Trains are more regular on that line so you wouldn’t be waiting around a long time for each train
I thought it was you, with your coffee in hand haha 👍
There isn't a lot at Althorne. It's at least a mile walk from the village. But it's lovely part of country. I'll go back.
1:06 You Focussed In On My Local Station, Rayleigh and the station I go to every morning for School (Hockley) Geoff!
Also a Renatus on Southminster? That's rare!
Oh golly, oh gosh
Come and lie on the couch
With a nice bit of posh
From Burnham-on-Crouch
Brentwood, my hometown! Where tfl decide to shut the trains every Sunday and I have to go to Upminster!
At Burnham On Crouch there was a railway preserved railway called Mangapps
Not only is the railway and museum still going strong, their steam locomotive is named Fambridge.
I think the plated-over phone/laptop sockets haven't been decommissioned, those units have only recently been refurbished, they never had those before, and haven't been fully connected up yet.
Love the purple trains!
Is there a list of when you would be at places as I'd like to see you on your journey!
... and a great video that was, you must of had a series of borderline insane waits for trains on your schedule 😳 there's very little at the majority of Crouch Valley Line stations, as you've found out... There are however a LOT of commuters!!! Enough to full several London thru bound 12 coach trains a day and several Southminster thru bound 12 coach trains back... Down the farm track next to Althorne Station is a shanty town of sorts, Battlesbridge had a quirk of 50p a day for parking, the lowest of GA's parking fees that I know of... Fambridge has always been the passing point on the line, as with the route on train sims you can never be sure which train will get there first 🤔 South Woodham is a larger town but the station is where it is, Burnham is again a larger end of the earth type town, Southminster is what it is, at the time nuclear flask gateway to Bradwell Power Station, the line has an interesting history with ambitious plans of old to bridge to Mersea and Colchester and Southend, each station on the line was sprawling back in the day with goods yards and good patronage, Woodham Ferrers as it was then was a busy junction station for the branch to nearby Maldon, long since gone... A very interesting but at the same time deathly boring railway line 😂 but it's home for me & I love it's rural, esturial charm...
... oh and final bit of Crouch Valley trivia that takes you back to the start of your trip, whilst you're at the waterfront at Burnham the estuary bank opposite on the side behind you is one of the sites for Crossrail soil spoil forming a new wildlife habitat / reclaimed land type thing... And there endetg the waffle 😂
Should have had a clip of Ian Dury where he mentions Burnham-on-Crouch in a song.
Ever thought about doing all the stations closed after beeching? Obviously need an alternative form of transport. If you need a lift for the Isle of Wight stations hit me up! I’m sort of obsessed with them.
Paul Whitewick is doing just this ruclips.net/video/JMz2dPotDP0/видео.html
@@lorenzohermoso1085 thank you 😁😁😁. Yup we are working through #EveryDisusedStation, pre and post Mr Beeching. 👍
@@pwhitewick let me know when you're doing Roffey Road Halt or Baynards and I'll bring you a cup of tea and some cake.
Oh wicked. Well if you come to the Isle of Wight let me know. There’s very poor bus service to the various sites of the old stations, and they are properly out of the way in pokey little villages. The remaining island line is nothing compared to what was once there, but a lot of the tracks are now cycle paths and stuff so are accessible.
I’ve not, and I’m pretty certain not legally, but I do know a local urban explorer who has been in in the last 12 months. If I remember right it’s not even a mushroom farm any more which it was famously for quite a while after the closed it.
You can still definitely get a good look at the entrance from the trading estate.
'This is the train to Shenfield...' Like they've only got one. And seats almost as uncomfortable as on the bendy busses. They zoom along quite nicely though.
What's wrong with "train station" as opposed to "railway station"? They both sound okay to me.
i was wondering this too. As he said that it should say railway station.
I can see the difference, but at the end of the day it’s not a big deal. People abuse language all the time as it’s easier than being strict, and anyone who cares is just being overly pedantic.
@@fetchstixRHD You can have a railway station but it is only a train station when a train is there. NR call them Calling Points ?
I always say "train station" - just like getting a bus at the "bus station". The original signs had "to the trains", not "to the railway".
Do you say "Constable Station" or "Police Station" ?
Also...it's 'ALL-thorn'
If there's one thing I've learned from watching All the Stations, it's that even English people can't pronounce English place names correctly.
I doubt Althorne has been mentioned this much online EVER before haha!
Re: "Also...it's 'ALL-thorn' "
AllTheThorn AllOfThem
Althorpe in Lincolnshire is pronounced All - Thorpe. But Althorp in Northants, (where Diana Princess of Wales is buried) is All Throp.
"Oh golly, oh gosh, come and lie on the couch
With a nice bit of posh from Burnham-on-Crouch"
The late, great Ian Dury - 'Billericay Dickie'
thanks geoff happy new year
from oz
Great video. Things happen. Not much at South Minster but Burnham was nice
Burnham on crouch is near Large Marina on River Crouch
Althorne is near to much more secluded Marina on Crouch very out the way
Burnham is a Premier Sailing Centre.. and plenty of shops..
North Fambridge another big marina and you missed the shop..
I like the captions.
What would people have been plugging in to those electrical sockets for them to have first made a sign, then second cover the plate? Hairdryers? Toasters and kettles?
2:59 the reason for that is the new Greater Anglia stock for some reason doesn't actually have the sockets working when the plates wasn't there, I guess they just decided to plate it up instead of fixing it, which is a shame because my first time on the stock from London to Clacton, my phone had died, and I scoured each carriage and socket, but none was working, once tweeting next morning, I found out they don't know how to get them working it seems! haha
Ah the delights of Greater Anglia and the refurbed 321s where they couldn't get the sockets to charge devices to work! Anyway, yes quirky stations on the Crouch Valley Line.
Despite the audio, it is really good quality video - new camera / lens??
All the bin bags. All of them.
Those wooden shelters are rather nice. When I walked this part of the coast of England I used a number of station on this line. Battlesbridge I remember being especially bleak. I don't think there was even a shelter at all, let alone that nice wooden one, so it was a cold wait there. The town is quite interesting, full of antique shops. It's quite a pretty part of Essex in nice light, with all those peaceful creeks and estuaries. This what the station looked like back in 2007 www.flickr.com/photos/joncombe/23909609998/in/photolist-zF3CY-YsimiG-CqP149, as I say, bleak!
Also interesting to see the timetable still displays the Crouch Valley Line logo. I think that dates from the "One Railway" days when they used that colour scheme, and came up with logos in the same colours for many of the rural lines. That was a short lived brand, thankfully "Is it the 12:30 One train, or the 12:31 train". I think you see the problem with such a daft name!
Don't worry about the distortion Geoff, it' like a normal train announcement LOL