The Part-Abandoned Tooting, Merton & Wimbledon Railway

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  • Опубликовано: 5 дек 2024

Комментарии • 606

  • @Rog5446
    @Rog5446 3 года назад +343

    So pleased to hear that the archeologists didn't get run over by a train. After all, archeologists have enough on their plate as their careers always end up in ruins.

    • @ThereIsOnlyTheOnePJC
      @ThereIsOnlyTheOnePJC 3 года назад +16

      Don't forget your coat.

    • @xmlthegreat
      @xmlthegreat 3 года назад +2

      @@ThereIsOnlyTheOnePJC that would have been my reaction as well.

    • @spaceskipster4412
      @spaceskipster4412 3 года назад +14

      When you're in a hole, stop digging...? 🤔 👌🏼 😂

    • @stevebluesbury6206
      @stevebluesbury6206 3 года назад +1

      🤦‍♂️

    • @bryan3550
      @bryan3550 3 года назад +3

      Definitely on the right track!

  • @nanplabwern
    @nanplabwern 3 года назад +302

    I've never been more entertained by a person talking about something I know nothing about.

    • @archstanton6102
      @archstanton6102 3 года назад +9

      And will probably never visit?

    • @TheMijman
      @TheMijman 3 года назад +1

      Don't you watch documentaries?

    • @stevebluesbury6206
      @stevebluesbury6206 3 года назад +26

      @@TheMijman there’s documentaries... but then there’s Jago. 😉

    • @annother3350
      @annother3350 3 года назад +5

      @@stevebluesbury6206 The Jago Seal of Quality

    • @obelic71
      @obelic71 3 года назад +9

      Never underestimate master Jago
      he knows the powers of the tube 😁

  • @rockwat
    @rockwat 3 года назад +6

    I used to live on Station Rd as a small child and can remember the goods trains running the other side of the old flint wall with the triang factory beyond.

  • @NetCafeCat
    @NetCafeCat 3 года назад +46

    As someone who lives within this area I literally recognise all the shots.. lol
    Crazy to think I've walked along these old lines.

    • @freddiemeyers
      @freddiemeyers 3 года назад +8

      I was just thinking this. I've lived in Morden all my life and cycled basically the whole of this abandoned line without realising what it was!

    • @andrewgwilliam4831
      @andrewgwilliam4831 3 года назад +1

      Maybe you're really Jago, but hadn't realised! 😱

    • @ladiorange
      @ladiorange 3 года назад +1

      Ditto

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад +3

      A few that I dont recall - maybe they are on the section to Tooting that was a little too far to walk. We used to walk across the wandle using the rail tracks in the 1960s, other folks have reported getting cab rides Merton Abbey to Merton Park in their young days, it never occurred to me to do that.

  • @MichaelDembinski
    @MichaelDembinski 3 года назад +6

    Merton Park was home to the Mod-revival band, the Merton Parkas, notable for a ideologically dubious song, 'You Need Wheels' (1979), which claimed that "A man ain't a man with a ticket in his hand" suggesting that use of public transport is somehow less than masculine. Also on a musical note, at 05:45 we see a signpost for Amen Corner, a reference to the 1960s pop group notable for hit singles 'Bend Me, Shape Me' (1968) and '(If Paradise Is) Twice As Nice' (1969). However, the group wasn't named for the area and road junction in Tooting between Mitcham Rd, Rectory Lane, and Southcroft Rd, but for a Cardiff nightclub.

    • @michaelgreen1515
      @michaelgreen1515 3 года назад +1

      At which point we should also cue Citizen Smith. With the fantastic scene over the until recently still present massive footbridge at Wimbledon just south of the station.

    • @MichaelDembinski
      @MichaelDembinski 3 года назад

      @@michaelgreen1515 [This sort of cultural referencing makes the comments section all the more worthwhile!]

    • @ladiorange
      @ladiorange 3 года назад

      The weird thing is American breed also did a cover of bend me shape me with ever so slightly different lyrics

    • @ironjade
      @ironjade 3 года назад

      Amen Corner also provided the title song for horror classic "Scream and Scream Again."

  • @ShedTV
    @ShedTV 3 года назад +11

    I find it fascinating to see cherished homes created from something once busy, mundane and unloved; like the station in this video. A dignified retirement for somewhere which has worked hard for ordinary people.

    • @angr3819
      @angr3819 2 года назад

      Ordinary? I was just looking up the property prices in Rutlish Road, where Merton Park station was, which is now a tram stop.

  • @connie1wilson
    @connie1wilson 3 года назад +3

    I love that the station was converted into a house, so many times, buildings are just demolished!

  • @freeman5867
    @freeman5867 3 года назад +46

    Love it: “In London you have to guard any empty space 27/7. Because if you don’t, someone will build a block of flats on top of it”😂

    • @JohnADoe-pg1qk
      @JohnADoe-pg1qk 3 года назад +11

      I would like to have your days. I could really use the additional 3 hours. 😉

    • @bobblue_west
      @bobblue_west 3 года назад +4

      27/7: It's just a sneaky way of filling out your time card to get an extra 3 hrs dosh. 06:00 to 33:00. The computer gags and pays 27 hrs.

    • @miguelbarreira5005
      @miguelbarreira5005 3 года назад

      I also laughed at that 🤣

    • @kingdomofportugal-brazil
      @kingdomofportugal-brazil 2 года назад +1

      😂😂😂😂

  • @paranoidandroid7718
    @paranoidandroid7718 3 года назад +45

    Thank you for clarifying; I was starting to be concerned for the archeologists. Now I can relax.

    • @mattscudder1975
      @mattscudder1975 3 года назад +4

      I’ve got a friend who’s an archeologist, I can say that I dig archeologist’s. 😂😂😂😂

    • @barneypaws4883
      @barneypaws4883 3 года назад

      Rest easy my friend

  • @kenlavey7771
    @kenlavey7771 3 года назад +5

    Great . I lived in the area as a school boy and remember the spur from Merton Abbey to Tooting Junction when it functioned as a pretty busy goods only line . A C2X goods engine worked itv. Merton Abbey was heavily industrialised in those days . “Tooting Junction “ was always Tooting Junction even though the junction points had been long gone .

  • @russbetts1467
    @russbetts1467 3 года назад +2

    Tooting Junction. Know it well, as I used it a lot in the late 1960's and early '70's. I lived in Ashbourne Road, Mitcham, which runs parallel to the Tooting to Streatham line and backs onto the track, on the South side of the track. For several years, I used the third morning train out of Tooting - for Streatham - as my Alarm Clock.

  • @oforid2227
    @oforid2227 3 года назад +11

    i love learning about railways that ended a long time back and only finding out it existed now especially if they end up like the one the trams are on currently

  • @kbbrown8154
    @kbbrown8154 3 года назад +12

    I love this sense of humour. And a perfect note to a day spent walking a semi-abandoned line.

    • @adamhenley8295
      @adamhenley8295 3 года назад +2

      It’s a little scary when he makes a comment that I was just thinking - I may have watched too many 😉

  • @chrisoffer3074
    @chrisoffer3074 3 года назад +6

    Love the comment about the flats it is so true great video for a Sunday morning

  • @shrikelet
    @shrikelet 3 года назад +14

    There's something singularly melancholy about an dismantled railway, even one with a name thought could be onomatopoeia the trains running on it.

  • @chrispayne523
    @chrispayne523 3 года назад +4

    I can remember steam trains running on that line from Tooting. A few years later when it was disused but still had tacks, we walked down there to Merton. Also on that footbridge I remember standing on it and saw Evening Star. It was doing final journeys around in it's last days.

  • @Quick_Fix
    @Quick_Fix 3 года назад +2

    As a kid I really loved searching for old train tracks, tunnels and bridges in the South Downs and I still am fascinated by old lines (train, tram and underground). Can't way 'till Covid is gone, so I can visit good ol' Britain again.

  • @membershipmovement
    @membershipmovement 3 года назад +8

    Haydon's Road used to be my local station. I lived on Clarence Rd. Those were good times, thanks for the interesting video!

  • @michaelbourke8967
    @michaelbourke8967 3 года назад +2

    I live round here and have my entire life love hearing things i never knew :). love the videos

  • @eggyboy123
    @eggyboy123 3 года назад +9

    Jago your knowledge & commentary is first rate. Thanks again

  • @mikeiles4483
    @mikeiles4483 3 года назад

    My grandparents lived in Marsh Court - the tall block at 4:58. Often wandered along the track from there to Merton Abbey station in the early 1970s. I went to school in Rutlish Road and often used Merton Park station to go one stop to Wimbledon.

  • @brettpalfrey4665
    @brettpalfrey4665 3 года назад +11

    When all this Covid stuff is finally over, i hope Jago gets rewarded in the Queen's honours for services to people's sanity! thanks Jago, you are keeping people entertained even as far away as South Africa!

  • @peterdavy6110
    @peterdavy6110 3 года назад +1

    I commuted from Sutton to London via Wimbledon and Stretham for about 8 years. This is the first time I have ever heard of this railway!

  • @nleak92
    @nleak92 3 года назад +3

    I'm a simple man, Jago Hazzard uploads a video and I watch it and enjoy it

  • @Peasmouldia
    @Peasmouldia 3 года назад +4

    Back in the 70's I found an abandoned railway. Cycling between Midsomer Norton and Chilcompton I saw a double track line climbing what looked like a ridiculous gradient. Turns out that a few other people had heard of my discovery. It was the S&DJR..
    Thanks JH.

  • @joeottsoulbikes415
    @joeottsoulbikes415 3 года назад +3

    Here in the US it has been very popular for the past decade to convert unused rail line into bicycle path. In Washington and Oregon states in particular it makes very fast convienent links from city to city to bike places. Back east they converted a rail line running north and south beside the Mississippi River that lets you ride from Memphis, Tennessee all the wat to St. Louis, Illinois. That is 291 mile/268km with about 60% of it on bike path and away from cars with camp grounds along the way.

  • @dukenukem5768
    @dukenukem5768 3 года назад +3

    There was quite a goods yard at Merton Abbey and I understand that Triang were the last company to use it for their freight. Also near Merton Abbey was the factory of William Morris, the Victorian Arts and Crafts guy.

  • @elijahjoel537
    @elijahjoel537 3 года назад +9

    There's nothing nicer than railway history and a sausage and egg sandwich on a Sunday morning.

    • @simcahazeman8863
      @simcahazeman8863 3 года назад

      Not for a vegetarian

    • @cargy930
      @cargy930 3 года назад

      @@simcahazeman8863 You can get vegetarian sausages, you know! :D

  • @oc2phish07
    @oc2phish07 3 года назад +44

    Ah, another Sunday morning waking to the excellent Jago and his videos. As usual I found it really interesting and I spent quite a bit of time chuckling at your snippets of fun and jokes. Thanks once again.

    • @JagoHazzard
      @JagoHazzard  3 года назад +7

      You’re very welcome!

    • @michaelgreen1515
      @michaelgreen1515 3 года назад

      Yes thanks very much. I must say that abandoned bit is also a route I have walked a lot. As well as taking both the Tooting line on occasions, and the Tramlink a fair few times. Though mostly the 57 bus!

  • @Jablicek
    @Jablicek 3 года назад +4

    While visiting the market at Merton Abbey Mills, we happened on the Abbey being actually open, it was maybe three times a year. Bizarre to be standing under the road above and looking at the ruins below.
    The rest of the substantial ruins are under the Sainsbury's carpark - because this is how we roll. Too expensive to keep, no interest in saving.

  • @kingcal53
    @kingcal53 3 года назад

    Ahh, my old stomping ground. Lived two minutes away from the section that is currently the nature reserve on the Colliers Wood side for 15 years.

  • @nickosborn2285
    @nickosborn2285 3 года назад +1

    I literally went for a walk down one of those footpaths today, and now I see this! Might not sound so amazing, but I'd never been that way before and was inspired to do it for no reason, and now I see this five hours later! Awesome!

  • @asciisynth
    @asciisynth 3 года назад

    I love that detail about naming the trains after the destinations. Anyone nowadays would find that just as confusing. Board the Mitcham for Tooting, the Tooting to Wimbledon, and in 5 mins, you can also climb on the Wimbledon to Wimbledon stopping at Mitcham.

  • @HHM706
    @HHM706 3 года назад +1

    I remember the Merton Abbey dig.
    My Dad worked at the Board Mills close by.

  • @pauldevey8628
    @pauldevey8628 3 года назад

    When I was going to high school (Ottawa, Ontario) in the early 80s I used to hang out in the library and read international magazines including British railway mags. THey had articles about the abandoned railways in London. In the 1990s I bought them at magazine stores and read about them being converted to Docklands and other uses. Now I love going to London and retracing these routes. On another note, I used to live in Los Angeles and used to go to parties in Brentwood and have chatted to the author of Crazy Train, Ozzy. Small world.

  • @neilthehermit4655
    @neilthehermit4655 3 года назад +1

    Thanks, I never knew about this line,even though I lived in Colliers Wood and Merton for a time. I moved out when the plans for Merton Mill complex were being put in place as I didn't want to loose that quite spot on the canal where I would sit and read and drink bottles of cheap wine in the summer sun ( my temporay piece of paradise). Ah nostalgia!

  • @ourresidentcockney8776
    @ourresidentcockney8776 3 года назад +5

    Never would have thought tonight could get even better. Then I saw a new Jago video!

  • @1258-Eckhart
    @1258-Eckhart 3 года назад +1

    Haydons Road was briefly my commuting station, then served by all-rail-blue 2-EPB units with slam doors and very loud brake compressors which were always trying to hammer a hole in the floor beneath your feet. You could get to it via a disused waterworks next to the Wandle, a haunted landscape of buddleia and brambles reminiscent of scenes on a Black Sabbath album cover.

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад

      The footpath and stupidly low bridge are still there, but access to the platforms is only from Haydons Road itself alas.

  • @JamesCleevely
    @JamesCleevely 3 года назад +3

    Excellent video, I never knew there was a junction at Tooting. The run to Tooting is one of my favourite when I visit London, not least because of the model shop within 1 minute's walk of the station!

    • @michaelgreen1515
      @michaelgreen1515 3 года назад

      For many a year it was Tooting Junction and the loop that you see shown at the beginning was known as the Tooting pear!

    • @sallyb21s7
      @sallyb21s7 3 года назад

      People still call the station Tooting Junction despite it being clearly not.

  • @BillyNoMates1974
    @BillyNoMates1974 3 года назад +4

    I couldn't care less about the train lines but Jago's sense of humour is brilliant.
    I love the dry sarcastic pun loaded humour.
    Trains running over archaeologists had me in stitches.

  • @lcb1067
    @lcb1067 3 года назад +9

    The Triang factory was at the other end of Merantun Way at what is now the "Nelson Trade Park"

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад +5

      No, Nelson Trade Park was Foster's Transformers. Tri-ang was on the Jubilee Trading Estate ( as tri-ang went the way of liquidation ish in 1974 and the new site built for homebase wicks and others in 1977 ish)

    • @WMD4929
      @WMD4929 3 года назад +3

      And Hamleys had a storage facility next door to Triang.

  • @ateshhughes5889
    @ateshhughes5889 3 года назад +1

    I love when you do videos around Wimbledon and Merton it's so nice to know more about the area I call home

  • @mickadams4471
    @mickadams4471 2 года назад

    Haydons Road to Holborn Viaduct was my first commute, when I worked in Farringdon Street in the mid-1980s.

  • @hectorthorverton4920
    @hectorthorverton4920 3 года назад +19

    There is actually an important remnant of Merton Abbey in the form of the Chapter House, whose foundations were discovered some time ago. More recently, because they lie under a low fly-over of the A24, the opportunity was taken (enlightened architects working pro bono) to enclose it as a community space. You'll find it close to Sainsbury's car park, though at the moment I don't expect anyone will give you access. Worth a look in the future though. Incidentally, Merton was one of the great seats of learning in Europe. One of its alumni (ordained there) was Thomas Becket, he of 'Murder in the Cathedral'. Too much information?

    • @andybaker2456
      @andybaker2456 3 года назад +1

      Do you mean those that are visible in the pedestrian tunnel under the road that links Sainsburys (which will always be the Savacentre to me!) and the newer development which enveloped Merton Abbey Mills?

    • @paultidd9332
      @paultidd9332 3 года назад +1

      Enjoying Church/buildings history, as I do, thank you for this very interesting information. With such a history it is such a shame that there isn’t even still a church there to mark the spot particularly given one of its illustrious predecessors. It perhaps also explains why there is a Merton College at Oxford. I have often wondered where such a strange name had come from, is this perhaps it?

    • @hectorthorverton4920
      @hectorthorverton4920 3 года назад

      @@paultidd9332 When Henry annexed the monasteries Merton was quite quickly razed to supply stone to build Nonsuch Palace at Ewell, also now destroyed, but you can have a little walk in Nonsuch Park and find a stone or two. The Oxford College founder was Walter de Merton, who may have originated from Merton, but as far as the college is concerned he's a bloke, not a place.

    • @hectorthorverton4920
      @hectorthorverton4920 3 года назад +1

      @@andybaker2456 You may be right - it's a couple of years since I was there. They have a website for you to check.

    • @AmAppleton
      @AmAppleton 3 года назад +2

      @@andybaker2456 Yeah - that's the remaining bits of the Chapter house. There's also a few bits of the old wall dotted around - near the traffic lights between Savacentre and the Mills, and down by where Currys and the rest are.

  • @ThomasTrue
    @ThomasTrue 3 года назад +1

    Cutting the link has shades of what happened to the Abbeyhill loop in Edinburgh.
    The North British Railway created a new line to Granton in 1868, coming off the ECML at Abbeyhill Junction, just east of Calton Tunnel. This Granton line also joined onto the ECML at Piershill junction, just north of Craigentinny Depot, and another line was put in place from Abbeyhill at London Road Junction to the Granton line at Lochend Junction, thereby creating a triangle, and of course, a very handy loop line.
    There were stations at Abbeyhill and Piershill, which were served by suburban trains, as well as services to Musselburgh and North Berwick. When the Musselburgh branch closed in 1964, passenger services on the Abbeyhill loop also ceased.
    However, freight traffic continued to ICI Westshore at Granton, although in the early 1980s these operations ceased, and the Granton branch was cut back to the former Powderhall station, where Edinburgh had a waste depot.
    In 1986 the Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, and a new station was built on the loop; Meadowbank Stadium. The triangular junction at this time was also very useful for turning HST power cars.
    In 1988 however, work began on electrifying the ECML, and the loop was skewed at Abbeyhill and Piershill Junctions. What was then Edinburgh District Council and local residents asked for the track to be retained, which it was for a while, in the hope of resurrecting the Abbeyhill Loop for reopened suburban services. This was given an apparent boost when the Granton branch was rejoined to the ECML at Piershill Junction, for trains of household waste going to landfill. These trains used old Freightliner containers, and were affectionately known as "bin liners".
    Sadly, in more recent years the track through Abbeyhill has been lifted, and in our environmentally friendly days, the now City of Edinburgh Council now burns household waste in an incinerator power station at Millerhill. Thus the former Powderhall waste depot has closed, and the Granton branch along with it. I hear that Sustrans have already shown an interest in it.
    I personally think abandoning the Abbeyhill Loop was extremely short sighted. It often made a useful diversionary route to free up room for express trains on the ECML. Indeed, when the Golf Open was being held at Muirfield in 1980, I was round the loop a few times on North Berwick trains.

  • @ukdave57
    @ukdave57 3 года назад +1

    Brings back a few memories as I use to live close to Tooting station and travel from there to London bridge for work. Was working for British Railways at Bricklayers Arms repair depot in Old Kent road until it closed completely.

  • @yoshiuchiyama5226
    @yoshiuchiyama5226 3 года назад +1

    I used to live near this area and I found the street called "Station road". Which runs parallel to A24 and near Abbey Mills. I looked around though there was no train station. So, I knew a bit of this history though, enjoyed your video showing the area today. Also next to the Abbey mills, where now Premier Inn and restaurants are, there was a large bus depo and training field, until early 2000s. L plate bus drivers were practicing.

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад +1

      That was the former sidings and coal yard of merton abbey, boot sales at the weekends. Station Road as exists now had been known over the years as Abbey Lane, and Church Path.

  • @peterbustin2683
    @peterbustin2683 3 года назад +2

    3:35 "..build a block of flats..." If only that were true ! More like to (hopefully) deter knife-wielding thugs ! Great video, btw. I used to work out of Merton Bus Garage, driving double-deckers, which sort of overlooks Colliers Wood. I always hated that station, the escalators are far too steep and long ! I used to drive the 44 and 159, and 157 154 93 from Sutton Garage. Many moons ago !

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад

      yeah, measure the lead in to the escalator down and compare to other inner london stations I am sure its one step less

  • @hyperdistortion2
    @hyperdistortion2 3 года назад +3

    Always really enjoyable to see such well-made (and amusing!) videos about the railways in my metaphorical backyard. Great stuff as always!

  • @michaelgreen1515
    @michaelgreen1515 3 года назад +1

    I also used to walk a lot of this old route home frome work to try and imagine I wasn't in a city.

  • @highpath4776
    @highpath4776 3 года назад +1

    The main photos of Merton Abbey with trains in are few , mostly a couple of RCTS tours, with some taken of, and by, Lens of Sutton. Others include some of the RAF and Aerofilms arial shots, and a rather murky pre 1920 Coal yard view in Merton Libraries collection with some LBSC lettered low height round ended trucks.

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад

      One photo of the Tri-ang siding in about 1957 has recently been added to Facebook by the photographer, which is nice (we its a derailment incident, involving an 08 shunter some mineral wagons and a brake van

  • @mickeydodds1
    @mickeydodds1 3 года назад

    The old Goods Yard of Tooting Station is now a Lidl supermarket - Lidl's flagship store and one of their first UK branches.
    The original Tooting station was only demolished in the late 1990s, it was used as housing until replaced by a block of flats.

  • @tazareal
    @tazareal 3 года назад +56

    "Tooting, Merton & Wimbledon" You really can't get a much more English railway line name than that. Maybe Titfield & Mallingford

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад +4

      And for once the order of listing is in a directional order.

    • @adonaiyah2196
      @adonaiyah2196 3 года назад

      If you've ever been to any of them would you say its English

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад +1

      @@adonaiyah2196 Totta's Ing(e) (residence of Totta I think is Anglo Saxon),, Wibbas Dun (The Hill Settlement of Wibba - likewise) Mere Tun - the Settlement on / by The Water might also be or might be from the Celtic). Jago might note the link of Tooting and Far Tottering.

  • @kevinblakeman8858
    @kevinblakeman8858 3 года назад

    I remember taking a train from Wimbledon to west Croydon in 1976 and where the line branched off at Merton park the old platforms where still there but the track only recently lifted

  • @patspadd8243
    @patspadd8243 3 года назад +2

    Hello Jago and everyone and great 7:35 video thanks as I’ve always lived in the southwest London area and I’m well aware of current and former railways but I admit that I learned something and I always enjoy your videos so thanks for reading take care stay safe and cheerio

  • @gregoutcalt6773
    @gregoutcalt6773 3 года назад

    Not sure why I find videos from half way around the Earth from where I live so interesting but keep up the good work. I truly enjoy watching.

  • @TheMicro4
    @TheMicro4 3 года назад +4

    As a Yank I find myself really interested in how rail developed in England. Jago talking with his normal wit and sense of humor also helps lol

  • @mickontherock1
    @mickontherock1 3 года назад

    Merton park used to be my local station many moons ago. Lovely it was, like going back in time to an old country station. Great video as always, thank you

  • @jacon454
    @jacon454 3 года назад +2

    Woohoo, I'm from Wimbledon as well, and recognised almost all the roads

  • @misterthegeoff9767
    @misterthegeoff9767 3 года назад +38

    Little known fact. The tooting railway fell out of favour after the age of the steam locomotive when it became a lot harder to manufacture tooting trains without access to a steam whistle. You can make an electric locomotive toot but it's really not the same.

    • @JagoHazzard
      @JagoHazzard  3 года назад +13

      Heyoooo!

    • @cargy930
      @cargy930 3 года назад +15

      They should probably put it out to tender.

    • @cameronyoungcg9270
      @cameronyoungcg9270 3 года назад

      Stealing that

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 3 года назад +4

      However, the railways through Honking have really taken off since the end of steam.

    • @neilbain8736
      @neilbain8736 3 года назад

      That really honks.

  • @jatsajatsa
    @jatsajatsa 3 года назад

    My old neck of the woods. Waves of nostalgia so intense, I could barely watch. Thank you.

    • @frglee
      @frglee 3 года назад

      I lived in Merton Park in the 70s when I was a (Geography) student. Parts of it were excellent. But it did leave a general impression of 'Meh'.

  • @blueskiesabove3950
    @blueskiesabove3950 3 года назад +3

    I have eagerly awaited a vid on the former TM&W railway and as always, it didn't disappoint.

    • @JagoHazzard
      @JagoHazzard  3 года назад +2

      Excellent! It’s one I’ve wanted to do for a while, and lockdown gave me the perfect motivation to actually knuckle down and make it.

    • @blueskiesabove3950
      @blueskiesabove3950 3 года назад +2

      @@JagoHazzard Silver linings eh... Your endeavour and efforts are much appreciated Jago.

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад

      @@JagoHazzard Did you actually mention that the Haydons Road sections gets a train or two supplied by Southern in peak hours to London Bridge? ( used to go to Holborn Viaduct via a different route to the more regular service). I think this is a hangover from the LBSCR and LSWR days of line sharing. I wonder if the changing the tooting end of the merton abbey section to a siding with a pair of buffer stops for the coal yard was to do with buisness rates in that sidings and single track less than running ones , no idea. ( though like your dublo hornby 2 rail stuff the idea of westbound trains on a loop get really headachy

  • @Andrewjg_89
    @Andrewjg_89 3 года назад +1

    Geoff Marshall done videos of abandoned stations. But this is so interesting and how London did have stations which is now abandoned and replaced by new apartments and development. Interesting stuff.

  • @spaceskipster4412
    @spaceskipster4412 3 года назад +2

    Lots of lovely Jagoisms for a Sunday morning breakfast. Thanks Jago...! 👍🏼

  • @webrarian
    @webrarian 3 года назад +1

    For a couple of years from 1979, I lived a few minutes' walk from Haydons Road station. In those days, trains towards Tooting ran on to Holborn Viaduct or London Bridge. But my journey was to Charing Cross via Wimbledon, Waterloo and Waterloo East. We'd stand on the platform at Haydons Road waiting patiently and, about eight minutes after the train was due, all give up and do the fifteen minute walk down to Wimbledon station. No real-time information in those days - it was only recently that the old wooden fingerpost destination signs had been taken out of use at Wimbledon. Those cancelled trains only happened on about ten occasions in two years, and the walk wasn't that far, but I had to be in work by 9am and this would make me late.

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад

      Would you not be quicker walking to Tooting Broadway ? ( the bus service on the 493 via plough lane has only been introduced in recent years and getting Plough Lane to tooting was really difficult)

    • @webrarian
      @webrarian 3 года назад

      Not an option in 1979. I had a British Rail season ticket between Haydons Road and London Terminals. No Oyster in those days!

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад

      @@webrarian was that a few pence cheaper than the Underground seasons ?

    • @webrarian
      @webrarian 3 года назад

      @@highpath4776 Far too long ago for me to remember :-) But it was useful for Victoria, ChX, Holborn Viaduct, London Bridge, etc. as well as Waterloo. I've got a feeling we could use it for intermediate stations as well - no gatelines then.

  • @geoffaustin1304
    @geoffaustin1304 3 года назад

    Being born and living in Merton Park I can well remember many of the things spoken about in this presentation . When I started work I travelled each day to Mitcham from Merton Park The fare was one shilling return -early sixties ] and I would ride the two coach EPB units . As a young lad interested in trains it was great to chat to the engine drivers when they stopped at Merton Park station .The engines were nearly always C2X 0-6-0 ,they worked freight along to and shunted on a siding adjacent to the toy factory .A good view of this could be seen between the trees that were then at the back of Nelson Gardens .
    Merton Park had a signal box next to the line in Kingston Road and its junction with Hartfield Road .Back in the old days a policeman would cycle down from Wimbledon ,park his bike by the signal box then set about controlling the traffic with his hand signals ,.When a train was due the signalman wold reach out of one of the windows and ring a brass bell to let the officer know to stop all traffic and let the crossing gates close
    I remember the goods yard at Merton Abbey ,you could get a really good view of it from the Christchurch Road bridge . Even in my day there were only about 2-3 freight trains a day there .
    Many times I rode the EPB units to Croydon, back then the line was almost like a rural backwater in places ,running over the River Wandle and across Mitcham Common . To the west of Mitcham station was another sizeable set of sidings ,again often shunted by a C2X . The sidings seemed to be the home of a large breakdown crane the sort big enough to lift carriages ,I only ever saw it move once ,thank goodness as it was in the main used in rail crashes .
    The whole area was /is very interesting and well worth further study of it's history .

  • @fiddley
    @fiddley 3 года назад +1

    I'm always on the lookout for new places to go meander, and I live round the corner from this and never even knew it existed! I'll be over there later if the weather holds. Thanks!

  • @janscattergood7294
    @janscattergood7294 3 года назад +1

    Great video! I did chuckle when you said;..."the line ran over, not ran over the archaeologists! " 😅 x

  • @jarrodhook
    @jarrodhook 3 года назад +1

    I wanna be the first to say congratulations on 100k. Can’t be far away now!
    As someone who went to London and Streatham in Jan 2020, JUST RIGHT BEFORE the world went to crud, I love these videos.
    Thank you Jago!

  • @terrybailey2769
    @terrybailey2769 3 года назад +1

    Another nice video, it always helps when you add maps to the video as those of us that are not familiar with the area sometimes have have difficulty visualising where you are.

  • @KennethBarr1957
    @KennethBarr1957 3 года назад +21

    I would think Haydons Road was busiest was on match days when Wimbledon FC played at Plough Lane.

    • @cr0nin
      @cr0nin 3 года назад +6

      It may do again as the new ground is due to open soon.

    • @michaelgreen1515
      @michaelgreen1515 3 года назад +1

      @@cr0nin I heard from a friend that they are back so lockdowns permitting.

    • @ladiorange
      @ladiorange 3 года назад +1

      When you say was busiest, are you referring to their old stadium closed around 1998 or new stadium that opened around Nov 2020?

    • @KennethBarr1957
      @KennethBarr1957 3 года назад +2

      @@ladiorange Old Plough Lane.

    • @illgetmecoat1066
      @illgetmecoat1066 3 года назад

      Yep, used to "bunk" over at Tooting (end of Bruce Rd.)& travel to the games . It was too busy at Haydons Rd. to check for tickets !

  • @thomasbinsted1873
    @thomasbinsted1873 3 года назад +5

    Did you spot the apiary next to Merton Park? I used to keep a hive there and enjoyed the bemused expressions on the faces of tram passengers when they spied a wisp of smoke, a gleaming white suit and hood and a vortex of angry Apis as they passed by.

    • @cargy930
      @cargy930 3 года назад

      I take it tha it was the bee's knees?!

  • @peteryoung4957
    @peteryoung4957 3 года назад +1

    Another interesting video, thank you Jago. I love disused railways and often walk/cycle my local one, Hemel Hempstead to Harpenden.

  • @mryeti1887
    @mryeti1887 3 года назад

    I was totally enthralled at the sites of the abandoned railway then I remembered I have one behind my house. Funny how things that are closest to you are taken for granted whereas the same, exact thing far away takes on an almost mystical aura.

  • @frglee
    @frglee 3 года назад +1

    I was told once by a railwayman that railways had to pay a kind of business rates tax for points and sidings, so there was an incentive to remove them if unused. Worn out unused junctions and signalling are cheaper to remove than replace. There was always an incentive to remove track quickly on closed lines in the UK as the steel rails were worth a fair bit of money as scrap and it would help stop pesky local demands for reopening.
    In Germany, I seem to recall, there were laws prohibiting the removal of rail infrastructure on closed lines for 30 years or something. This meant that lines could more easily reopened if needed.

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 3 года назад

      I find that tax claim very unlikely -- does anybody have a citation for it? The reason for removing unused junctions is that junctions require more maintenance than straight-through track and, if you get that maintenance wrong, trains crash and people die (Potters Bar and Grayrigg, for example). Also, in areas that use third-rail power, junctions force a gap in the third rail.

    • @iana6713
      @iana6713 3 года назад

      Oddly, there's a branch off the Inverness - Aberdeen line near me which was goods only for decades but hasn't seen a train in over 30 years. It's massively overgrown but the track's still there for about four miles. No idea why it's not been lifted.

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 3 года назад

      @@iana6713 I wonder if it's disconnected at the main line. I'm not sure what the procedure is for closing freight-only lines; it's possible that the line is technically still open but just doesn't have any trains. Or maybe they didn't lift the lines immediately, for whatever reason, but now the track's in such bad state they can't run a PW train on it and it's too expensive to access with road vehicles.

  • @jamesblair18
    @jamesblair18 3 года назад +1

    My brother lived in the area and I never knew walking those paths that it was a former railway!

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад

      If it was the footpath to Merton Abbey Station from Melborne road that was always a foot path, as are some around robinson road (not all).

  • @sheldonharris7899
    @sheldonharris7899 3 года назад +11

    "A man ain't a man with a ticket in his hand" --- the Merton Parkas

    • @ladiorange
      @ladiorange 3 года назад

      How do I get a copy of their music?

    • @jatsajatsa
      @jatsajatsa 3 года назад

      ladiorange Here’s a clue. Over 1 billion people in the world regularly source music from a certain popular video sharing
      site ...that doesn’t only feature train videos.😉

    • @sheldonharris7899
      @sheldonharris7899 3 года назад

      @@ladiorange "You need wheels if you wanna make deals"

  • @chrisryder3510
    @chrisryder3510 3 года назад +1

    thank you another very interesting history i never realized so many green places in greater London

  • @ethanlittle776
    @ethanlittle776 3 года назад +1

    I was researching this only the other week. By Merton abbey the read splits as it it was about to go up and over a fly over which was never built. Turns out the railways ran where the road is now so it’s taken that shape

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад

      When the road overbridge was taken away, that seemed rather silly as the relief road could have used and ran through that, it also changed the profile of Nelson Gardens.

  • @mkendallpk4321
    @mkendallpk4321 3 года назад +7

    Jago certifies that no archeologists were killed or injured in the making of this video. But he informs us that your funny bone will be tickled! 😊

  • @erejnion
    @erejnion 3 года назад +2

    The map was actually a really nice addition. Thanks!

    • @edwardsadler7515
      @edwardsadler7515 3 года назад +1

      Try www.Railmaponline.com to see the course of old railway lines in UK, Ireland and the Western part of USA. A nice touch is that you can select different types of maps as the background.

  • @highpath4776
    @highpath4776 3 года назад +2

    From your merantun way vantage point , if you were standing on the north side foot path you were loosley in the foundry of TI Crown Merton (pots and pans), next door or close by was a memorial stone placed by Col Bidder marking a location of the altar at Merton Priory, then British Rototherm (later used by Pye / PRT Records when Rototherm went fully to South Wales. A Lot of industry was banned by the Labour Govt for expanding in London being encouraged to move to the deprived areas of Wales and the North. Tri-ang Too was affected by this with a new facility being opened in the Welsh Valleys mainly for the blown plastic ranges, this made management difficult of the enterprise. Merantun Way itself covers about half of Station Road - the section from The Wandle (well slightly east thereof) to Christchurch Road was LSWR / SR owned property and not a public highway, with gates that could - and were - closed during out of traffic for the rail times. The Eastbound Platform about up to the midline of Merantun way east of the existing roundabout. Pizza Hut is about where the refectory of the Priory is thought to have been.

  • @MarkMcCluney
    @MarkMcCluney 3 года назад +4

    I'm beginning to discover that I'm rather fond of trams. I can't think why; I haven't been on one for about forty years but I'm glad you've awakened the old affection in me. It's like remembering an old girlfriend... Excuse me now, I seem to have a bit of grit in my eye.

  • @ESmith-ik8vu
    @ESmith-ik8vu 3 года назад +1

    This is the sort of English up with which I'm prepared to put. Anytime. Thank you yet again.

  • @biscuitty
    @biscuitty 3 года назад

    "Tooting" is an excellently descriptive name for a steam locomotive.

  • @bockerwright4132
    @bockerwright4132 3 года назад +1

    Just subbed after listening to a few of your videos whilst preparing dinner. I'm not a train spotter, fan, interested in stations or anything like that...yet I found your videos alright 👍

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад

      There should be one up covering merton abbey mills

    • @JagoHazzard
      @JagoHazzard  3 года назад +1

      Excellent!

  • @jackcharlie9322
    @jackcharlie9322 3 года назад +1

    your voice is amazing for this work

  • @mikedyble3648
    @mikedyble3648 3 года назад

    I worked on High Path, Merton in the late 70's just after the good line to Triang was closed and lifted. the track bed used to form a useful short cut to Merton Park, as long as it hadn't been raining hard. No nice surfaced path and linear park, just overgrown, and of course Merton Park station was still BR with the 2 coach shuttle to West Croyden. It felt more like a country branch line than a suburban railway in London. Just a shame I never took any pictures. To be honest the area is unrecognisable to me now, I moved away North in 1980 and have never been back to this part of London

  • @knives1705
    @knives1705 3 года назад

    This was so interesting! I walk the path from near the park to the shopping centre and didn’t realise it was an old railway line

  • @rogerfox2995
    @rogerfox2995 3 года назад

    Jago, I love your videos but none more so than this. I grew up in Colliers Wood and used to play on the line at Merton abbey around the coal yard sidings in 1958 when the line was virtually abandoned. later in '63 I used to use that footbridge past the original station to catch the train to Holborn Viaduct and in '75 to Streatham. Please keep 'em coming and thank you.

  • @pavlekodak2147
    @pavlekodak2147 3 года назад

    Again and again you gave us an excellent story... Thank you...

  • @MatthewJohnCrittenden
    @MatthewJohnCrittenden 3 года назад

    I've been on a binge watch of Jago recently, and mighty fine it's been. Greetings from Queensland (done some commuting to London from Chatham many moons ago, an experience never to be repeated).

  • @robertweissman4850
    @robertweissman4850 3 года назад +8

    Very interesting subject. When I was a youngster, my great interest was in walking disused railways (mainly Sussex, Kent & Hampshire). But it was extremely depressing, as much of what I saw was the result of the Beeching Plan (1963). So, smashed-up stations, plies of bricks and demolished bridges were regular sights. The 1960s were anti-railway; nowadays, most people are pro-railway, but it seems too unrealistic to expect many lines to be re-instated, because of redevelopment.

    • @tinplategeek1058
      @tinplategeek1058 3 года назад +3

      The Oxford to Cambridge rail line was cut many years ago and large parts of the old route built on. Also sections that were left were down graded over the years.
      Now they are recreating that link and having to find interesting division routes to avoid those areas. Massively increasing costs at the same time of course.

    • @robertweissman4850
      @robertweissman4850 3 года назад +3

      @@tinplategeek1058 Good comments. The “Varsity Line” wasn’t even included in the original Beeching Plan. I think the problem was that once the mass closures got under way, the momentum increased and extra lines were axed.

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 3 года назад +2

      On the other hand, a lot of what Beeching closed was lines where they were maintaining a whole railway just for five or six people a day. Even today, few would propose reopening those lines because they're just not viable: they're exactly the sorts of places where a bus is the right solution. (Of course, having replaced the railway with a bus service, they then took away the bus service, but that's a different issue.) Some may be viable today but that's generally because of changing population patterns that really couldn't be foreseen sixty years ago.
      Where Beeching definitely went too far was removing lines that were supposedly redundant: the "We don't need two lines between Sometown and Othertown, so we'll close one of them" argument that ignores the people who live between the two.

    • @robertweissman4850
      @robertweissman4850 3 года назад +2

      @@beeble2003 I ‘ll try not to say too much! Thanks for your comments, though I don’t agree with much. Let’s put it this way; before Beeching ( in power, 1961-65), Great Britain had the most comprehensive railway network of all the major states. After the closures, which went on into the early 1970s, we ended up with a skeletal system, apart from London and a few major cities. Also, 70% of trains now start or terminate in London. Beeching was known by the time of his 1961 appointment to be anti-rail. He and the worst Transport Minister of all time, Ernest Marples ( one of the chiefs of Marples-Ridgway, which supplied concrete for many of the motorways) worked together to massively reduce the railway industry. A colossal number of railwaymen lost their careers, and the country has ended up with very large areas of Scotland, Wales, the West Country and East Anglia devoid of railways. The most efficient railway route on British Railways (the ‘Great Central,’ Marylebone- Nottingham -Sheffield- Manchester + its additional connections) was mainly abandoned in 1966. There’s a different attitude to railways by politicians and environmentalists today, but it seems too late to be able to restore much.

    • @beeble2003
      @beeble2003 3 года назад +1

      @@robertweissman4850 Yes, the Great Central is a prime example of the folly of removing "redundant" routes, and it's a perpetual frustration of people outside London that the rail network these days is primarily set up to get people to and from London (with HS2 continuing the trend).
      On the other hand, the areas you list as being devoid of railways are exactly the most sparsely populated areas where railways are very expensive to maintain and serve few people.

  • @izzieb
    @izzieb 3 года назад +2

    3:36 Turn your back for one second in your garden, next thing you know you'll have a piling machine at work building "luxury flats".

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад +1

      takes view of impeding sunlight block out of kitchen window at the tower cranes nest building for profit not people.

  • @AllyCreative
    @AllyCreative 3 года назад

    Thank you for making this video, now I know so much more about my local area and why we have these unusual walking paths in Colliers Wood. The silk printing works is where William Morris had his workshop in Merton Abbey.

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад

      No it is not. William Morris' works were on Merton High Street. Littlers (later Liberty's) Print works are the silk printing works whose buildings etc remain generally extant)

  • @mrRsil1
    @mrRsil1 3 года назад

    I enjoy Sunday mornings a lot with your videos .

  • @1974UTuber
    @1974UTuber 3 года назад +2

    Favourite comment ever: You have to guard any empty space 24/7 or someone will build flats on them

  • @radagastwiz
    @radagastwiz 3 года назад

    Haydons Road is always worthy of mention - primarily as a result its proximity to Plough Lane, the new/old home of my beloved AFC Wimbledon. (The club mascot, Haydon the Womble, is named after it.)

  • @wadeguidry6675
    @wadeguidry6675 3 года назад +2

    I dont think I'll ever get to Europe, but if I did I'd like to see these kind of regular non-tourist kinds of places. I like to get a feeling of how the locals see their environment.

    • @andrewgwilliam4831
      @andrewgwilliam4831 3 года назад

      It's one of the more obscure joys of travelling. I even find it fascinating how different cities can look when approaching them by air, depending on the country.

    • @louisewalker9074
      @louisewalker9074 3 года назад

      Awww, that’s quite sweet Wade! Where are you? I live right by where the video talks about and travel on the trains and walk around the area all the time, but this info was new to me. I love travelling to other countries and I love it when people love my country.

    • @wadeguidry6675
      @wadeguidry6675 3 года назад

      @@louisewalker9074 I live about 45 minutes away from New Orleans.

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 3 года назад

      Somehow I ended up for a weekend in Gelsenkirken, its a bit like Sheffield. It has trams too.

    • @louisewalker9074
      @louisewalker9074 3 года назад

      @@wadeguidry6675 New Orleans is on my bucket list when the CV nonsense is over! I came to Florida in 2019, & California in 2017, but I’d love to see some of the Southern States! The places you see on the video are south west London and they’re all pretty close to where they play the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Not too much else famous around here, just an ordinary suburban residential area! We have a nice big Sainsbury’s supermarket though, right on top of the site where there used to be a medieval abbey where Thomas a’Becket (killed by king Henry’s men) was ordained (in the 1100’s, so very old).

  • @johnchapman23
    @johnchapman23 3 года назад

    Enjoyed the video very much.Reminded me of some brief but enjoyable years working at New Merton Board Mills at Colliers Wood.Believe it is long gone.