Secrets of The Motorway - M6 Part 4 - Lancaster - Gretna
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- Опубликовано: 28 июн 2024
- #infrastructure #road #m6 #cars #driving
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It's the final part of the massive M6, the longest motorway in the UK and we've got plenty to be getting on with.. some old bridges, the A601M, military sites, odd junctions. The usual thing you've come to expect in an episode of Secrets of the Motorway.
In this series I aim to explore what our motorway network is hiding. As we drive along at 70mph..ish...we simply just wouldn't be aware of what we're missing. This series will uncover some of the hidden secrets our motorways have to offer. 
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I like the way he says "the original junction design was 💩, it just couldn't handle the amount of traffic. No bother though, it's all been completely changed" with drone shots showing traffic tailing back as far as the eye can see 😁
Joining at J34 N was a short, uphill sliproad, with hardly any length before you got to the Lune Bridge which had no hard shoulder. I did it once in my old diesel Landy, getting to about 30mph before avoiding a 50ft drop and becoming fish food by merging into lane 1.
Classic uk infrastructure
Was fun coming off here too when heading north. That left hand turn as decelerating could be particularly interesting in the rain.
@@kennedy250980I preferred coming off the M6 going south. Lovely tight road that you could ping it round...... And then slam on hard for the traffic lights!
I believe the original design was never intended to be a public access at all, rather an emergency route on to and off the motorway. Someone changed their mind but not the design hence its vastly suboptimal geometry.
There can't be many stretches of road that have gone from an M to B status!
Or B to M to B. Road planners/Dept. Of Transport/whomever decides road classification appear to be completely bonkers - and thats just going by Jon's videos.
There's one that went from unclassified to M, which is how it remains...
The M5 Cullompton bypass was originally back roads gradually joined up and upgraded.
3:33 - The secret junction at Cinderbarrow Lane was originally put in place as a turning point for the police, as it's on the Lancashire - Cumbria border.
I always assumed it was for access for construction but that makes much more sense
Mole catcher!! My dad always said the mole catcher bloke would hang his catches on the fence to scare other moles!!! However, I’m sure the real reason was so he could prove to the landowner who’d hired him how successful he’d been!
Sometimes called a gamekeepers larder or gibitt where they would hang stoats or other predator species.
Yes, this... used to see it in (equally strange) parts of Wales when I lived there.
To scare off the other moles that have shit eyesight and are mostly underground 😂
But I’ve heard that same reason.
My brother in law was a mole catcher and I asked my sister what does he do with the dead ones? She said "sticks them back down the hole" I asked why , and she replied "as a warning to the rest of moles"
Dried mole meat is a delicacy in some northern parts, lord knows why.
8:25: J42 is the Golden Fleece interchange because there used to be a pub of that name there. The buildings are on the A6 opposite the car park of the petrol station.
Best sticky toffee pudding I have ever had was there:)
I always thought the Golden Fleece was a farm ... but the same buildings!
i think the buildings have recently been demolished?
@@MiniPerformance I did notice a SOLD sign when I went past yesterday.
Loved this version of the Postman Pat theme.
Me too! Where could I get a copy to scare the neighbours with? 🤣
I knew I knew the tune, just couldn't put my finger on it!
*Thank you!* I knew I knew it, and it was driving me nuts trying to place it.
In the words of the presenter of Jazz Club from The Fast Show "Niiiice!"
Some of the best content to be found on RUclips by a real gentleman, John is an example of how content should be created and presented. And I really like the fact that John never asks for money or support directly. I really enjoy the videos because they are short and to the point and contain real humour. I wish John every success and hope he continues for many years to come.
For all the times I've driven the M6 somehow I've never noticed that parallel road over the Esk.
That's one of the great things about these videos; all the little details you miss while cruising along at -89mph- 70mph with -Taylor Swift- Slayer blasting out the stereo.
Don't worry, my friend did 110 with me hanging on for grim death, with Barry Manilow, sorry, that should be Wagner's ring cycle blasting out! (Actually, it was both, he likes both Manilow and Wagner!)
That paraell Road is the old A74
That's the thing see, if people noticed these things they wouldn't be secrets & Jon wouldn't have a series to present.
;)
You might as well play it loud. You are never going to hear the sirens of a -police- -vehicle- ice cream van behind you at those speeds. 👍
Yes, even knowing its there you forget to notice it really, and only remember it when driving along it. It's a fun little "motorway or the scenic route back?" Decision when driving between Carlisle and Gretna. Both go to effectively the same place, with that parallel road coming into the top of the Kingstown industrial estate in Carlisle, and joining adjacent to the motorway at J45
Disgraceful what they have done to the Lancaster Canal. But kind of fits into how Lancaster has been treated by infrastucture planners over the decades.
The waterways association is trying (not very successfully unfortunately) to reopen the points cut off by various roads and get it back up to Kendal as an active waterway. They have however succeeded in linking the Lancaster canal to the wider canal network by using Savick brook and linking it to the river ribble via a series of locks. That allows people to go to Preston Docks and also to the leeds / liverpool canal via the river Douglas which flows into the ribble.
@@warailawildrunner5300 I hadn't realised up until recently that the section of canal on the Leeds Liverpool Canal from The Bridgewater Canal upto the Walton Summit branch started life as the Lancaster canal. But due to costs was acquired by the Leeds Liverpool instead and redirected through Wheelton. The Walton Summit dead end is still there going nowhere
The isolated section was effectively abandoned in the 1940s, so not much was lost by blocking its way building the M6. It's called the 'Northern Reaches' The wiki will tell you more.
@@spikeus3039 I live close to there and part of our primary school local history classes involved following the canal’s old route as far as Walton Summit.
Depressing that the idea of using the canals for pleasure cruising came along long after planners determined they were obsolete eyesores fit only for redevelopment.
A similar thing happened down my way - when the M5 near Stroud was being built, it severed the Stroudwater Navigation which ran from Stroud to the river Severn. Efforts have been underway for a while to get the canal redug and reopened, maybe the same could happen in Lancaster!
I can't get enough of your dry humour. 😂 The best kind of humour!
Nice one, Thanks for watching!
If you leave the M6 at Jn 45, have a tootle down the B721 to Eastriggs, a village created for the cordite factory. Here, you'll find "The Devil's Porridge Museum" that tells you all about the cordite factory that occupied a huge area south of Eastriggs right up to the sea to the south and Gretna Green to the east. It is a fascinating museum, well worth seeing. The site Jon identifies to the east of the M6 is, DSDA Longtown, , an ammunition depot and doesn't make anything.
Ah, my bit of motorway at last.
Apparently, junction 34 was originally intended as a service access to the M6 and utilised as a junction at the last minute when someone realised that the other end of the Lancaster bypass, ie junction 35, was too far north of the city (for that's what Lancaster is, and not a town). The old junction, especially the northbound on slip road was rather short and spat you out onto the bridge over the Lune.
The single carriageway old A601(M) was constructed for quarry traffic to have access to the M6 and A6 without having to negotiate a tight turn in Carnforth. Similarly, now the road has lost its motorway status, big agricultural vehicles can access the A6 more easily too. The road also now serves as access to a new large Porsche dealers, and the dualled section has a reduced speed limit and pending work to remove the hard shoulders. The name choice is interesting as the A601 is the Derby ring road...
As for the moles, it's actually a country-wide tradition for mole catchers to display their prowess on fences, although nowadays they just hand them to the farmer in a bucket instead.
The only missing secret of the motorway on this section is that in the 60s or 70s, during Rag Week (traditional University "high jinks for charity" event) some students at Lancaster University painted a zebra crossing on the M6. I would love to see some confirmation of this though. I heard of it from a student in the mid 1980s.
I heard that tale too. I was a student in Lancaster in early 2000's
It's nice that John doesn't just stick to mispronouncing Scottish and Welsh names but includes us English with Heysham too :)
I pronounce it “Heesham”
I live near Preston.
@@Dan23_7 I do too, from near Barrow
@@Dan23_7 I do as well, and I work in Heysham... and live in Lancaster.
@@Dan23_7I grew up in Heysham and that's how it's meant to be pronounced. Some locals say "E-shum".
@@eight-twothat's a throwback to before the dotcom-bust of early 2000s. Back then everything was e-something.
Another odd thing about the A601(M) was strange choice of number - the regular non-motorway A601 is the Derby Inner Ring Road, about 100 miles away!
Tebay Southbound has very interesting service area...which is more like a combination of supermarket and farm shop. Lots of local foodstuffs and beverages to be had. Its a great place. (usually my first stop heading back to England as theres a whole array of Superchargers there).
I guess that ordnance factory could become a customs post after a putative Scottish independence 🙂.
Tebay is nice, but flippin' expensive.
Superchargers 🙄😬
Tebay services may be nice but the company are not great to work for
it's a southerners wet dream@@toxictony4230
Tebay Northbound is the same , with a nice pond to sit by with your expensive coffee
4:14 the moles on the fence are a way for the mole catcher to get paid they'll be paid per mole they carch so they string them up on the fence so the farmer can see
How much do moles bring nowadays?
Used to attract crows then you shoot the crows
The sealed off sliproads up from junction 44 were entrances on and off the A74 when it was a dual carriageway. Often used it as a backroad to Rockcliffe or the Asda near in the industrial estate north of Carlisle.
yep, remember using them.
I would think the strange entrances @9:34 are connected to the nearby Harker National Grid substation - there's some chunky transformers there that would need special consideration in their movements.
Indeed it was, I mentioned these hidden junctions in a posting on the A74(M) video a few weeks ago. I used them regularly when working there in the 1990’s and commuting from Yorkshire, from looking at street view the northbound exit now appears to have disappeared behind some noise barriers.
Yes, I think it was used just the other week when an abnormal load was moved from Heysham up the M6 into Scotland in order to get on to the Southbound carriageway so it could exit at a non standard junction. I nearly rode up to try and film it but I walked to the pub instead!
I didn't know that substations had movements. Curious! Perhaps that is why you said that some of the roads were 💩
They've just done a significant amount of work at Harker but didn't reopen the old junction to do it - everything fit on HGV's.
I wonder if its more to do with RAF Carlisle (14MU) that used to have multiple sites around that junction, with the main site, and the Heathlands and Harker sub-sites all less than a mile away?
We used to use this slip (and the one on the other side next to Aero Nurseries) quite regularly when I was growing up.
@@EditedBaseline I’ve seen from google earth they’ve expanded the substation across the eastern perimeter road and to the northwest as well. The original outdoor 275kV site dates from the 1950’s with a connection across to Stella West upstream of the Tyne from Newcastle, and a circuit to Penwortham near Preston. Back in around 1993 when they built the indoor 400kV substation (the light green building on the eastern edge of the site) the road junctions were still open, maybe some large structural steelwork for gantries came in straight off the A74 but the main transport route for heavy things like transformers was iirc always via the A7 as the main bridges over the M6 could take the load). The switchgear used was very lightweight and compact compared to the 275kV kit, it was gas insulated and manufactured by NEI /Rolls-Royce Reyrolle at Hebburn on Tyneside, the controls were from Siemens in Nuremberg, the protection from GEC and Reyrolle. The new substation at Harker in 1993 didn’t require any new transformers there and was tied in with a 400kV upgrade from Hutton (near Kendal) to Harker and then to Strathaven & Elvanfoot in Scotland (some new pylons, all new insulators and fully restrung conductors along the entire A74 corridor, Balfour Beatty were maybe the contractors I can’t remember for sure) I’m probably one of the few left who worked on the construction and commissioning of that new substation 30 years ago, Andrew Wilmot & Roger Harrison the National Grid site engineers died some time ago, John Warburton the Project Manager from National Grid Harrogate died last year.
The link road in-between carriageways of the M6 that is unmarked is often used for when the M6 is closed. I have used it multiple times from snow to burning vehicle closing the motorway. Often the send you back down the hill then follow diversions of miles and miles long. It was also used during surface works where a contraflow was implemented.
Considering how many times I have used that section of the M6, I am embarrassed to say that I have never noticed the link road between the two carriageways nor the road that runs parallel to and between the carriageways just north of Tebay. Mind you, I can't think why I would ever need to use either (unless the M6 was closed of course).
Aye in bad weather it does sometimes close at that point in winter.
I thought it was for maybe if they needed a contraflow. But why have they built it the wrong way round? To use it you’d need to change direction then change again when you meet the other carriageway. Seems a strange way to do it and would slow traffic down massively more than is necessary.
Should have mentioned Killington Lake services because I worked there, that's a very important reason to include it.
Killington Lake, I remember stopping there and looking for a snack, there were portions of Apple pie plated up with cartons of coffee whitener instead of cream! Strangely enough I have never stopped there again.
@@TheFilwud Yes, I stayed one night in the Days Inn 'hotel' there a couple of years ago - proper low quality *hit hole and it wasn't cheap and no food anywhere except Muckies
I once stopped at Killington Lake thinking it was a nice summer day and I could sit overlooking the lake while having lunch. After two minutes of shivering in the cold wind I retreated to my car.
@@divgradcurl9439 Yeah, I never got asked to help in the Days Inn and I feel lucky.
The Golden Fleece was a Public House that sat on the Junction of the old Roman Road that is the A6 and what is now the B6263. The building is still there (south west of the Petrol Station) - no idea of when it ceased to be a PH. It's just referred to as "Golden Fleece" post 1901, but the 1899 OS Map does say Golden Fleece (PH)
Hope you’ve had a good week everyone
You too 👍🏼
The M6 is a proper motorway. A man's motorway, damn it.
With regards to the double slip roads at J39. My understanding is that they are there for snowploughs.
That area is moorland and it is not uncommon for them to clear the local roads with tractors fitted with snowploughs. These vehicles are not allowed on the motorway but they did use them to clear the slip roads so traffic could get on and off the M6 if the 10 mile long stretch between J39 and J40 was closed due to blizzards and snow in winter.
On the Northbound side a plough would go down the access road to the bottom of the slip road and then drive up the slip road to the B6261 clearing it and then it would drive down the southbound slip road to the bottom where it would return to the B6261 via the parallel access road meaning that at no point does the snowplough drive head on into traffic.
You will note that there are lots of "secret junctions" between the Howgills and Penrith because the distance between junctions is so long and maintenance and emergency vehicles may not want to travel these distances in order to turn around in bad weather
The area "Metal bridge" named after a bridge made of wood made me chuckle. Great episode.
Nice one, Thanks for watching!
Postman pat is a fitting outro for this video for the m6>a74 corridor considering how many of our artics you see 😂 it’s always fun dragging a DD trailer over the Beef Tub to Edinburgh when the 702 is closed.
PS. In your last episode you mentioned about the state of A roads in Scotland you should take a look at the A75 from Gretna to Stranraer and see how fir for purpose that is considering it carry’s most of the freight from NI to England.
The junction north of Carlisle (9:50 ish) is likely used when National Grid need to move really large loads, hundreds of tonnes, into their nearby substation at Harker.
J34 was originally going to be something akin to a works unit and emergency services access and was never intended to be a busy junction. When the motorway was up and running it became apparent that this was the main lancaster junction and retained its design presumably because at some point it was going to be upgraded along with the link road. It was the only sub standard junction on the entire motorway network with the northbound on slip road being dangerously short because of the bridge
Lune Valley the most significant British engineering road building event of 1970 and you never mentioned it, split carriage ways, the works! You’re a bad man
Did i miss you mentioning that the M6 through the Lune Gorge won an award?
There's a commemorative plaque in a large layby overlooking the motorway on the A685
Was the award for being a gorgeous section of motorway?
The M6 and railway through the Lune Gorge mark the boundaries of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks. And in fact for about a mile between J39 and J40 the M6 actually enters the Lake District as the park boundary runs alongside the A6 a few yards to tbe east. Just before and after this section there are traces of ghost slip roads at Shap Beck and Hackthorpe dating from when this section was cut off ftom the rest of the M6 as the Penrith Bypass
4:05That's British humour for you there at its finest
What you seen hanging on the fence were moles known in Cumbria as mowdies. Some people display their catch on nearby fences to show their success to other mole catchers and the land owner employing them to trap the pests.
I would like to add that the 'lake' at Killington Lake services is the header tank for the Lancaster canal. Great video as always, cheers 👍
When it was the A74 section, Todhills had a Little Chef on both sides. I think the reason the rest area facilities are so small, is a few miles north, is Gretna services, a few miles south, Carlisle Southwaite services, which both offer better facilities. Also, when you mentioning the Shap limekilns, you failed to mention the Shap motorway summit, which is signposted, and the nearby, and more famous, Shap railway summit on the West Coast Main Line. But, a great video!
I have stayed in that Travelodge at Todhills. Very quiet considering it’s next to the M6. Just a pain of going up and down the motorway to get in and out.
The squirrels on the fence are there to a) warn their friends that here isn't a good place for squirrels, and b) to show the landowner how busy their "permission" shooter has been.
I used to do the same with crows, back when I was a shooter.
Squirrels don't have noses like that, though. They're mowdies.
@@auldfouter8661 Had to Google "mowdies." They're feckin' enormous moles! The only ones I have ever seen are about 3 inches long, black, and with no tails. (See Wind in the willows.)
They obviously breed 'em big and tough oop north. 😉
Mate this vid bought back so many memories...driving up to the end of the then m6 you knew you were nearly in Scottish territory which was heaven sent especially when we had driven all the way from Wiltshire..M4..M5...M6....A74....I think this took us 3 day's driving in an old post office van....wonderful day's......cheers John.🙂🙃🙂🚙
This has got me thinking, is it possible to drive from the M1 to the M2 to the M3 to the M4 to the M5 to the M6. In that order.
Hmmm.
Answers on a postcard please...
@@garethaethwy the trouble with this motorway logic is that you would have to go ass about tit to do this where as with my drive i just point north and drive.
@@date08 the trouble with that is I’m rather partial to going ass about tit to do something like this, just to be able to do something like this…
@@garethaethwy Not Possible. M1 to M2 requires driving along the M25. M2 to M3 also requires driving along the M20, M26 & M25. BUT it is possible to drive M4 to M5 to M6.
Now this is the bit of the M6 I use the most. And yes, Junction 34 was shit. With the real tight bends and extremely short runoff, traffic used to suddenly appear from behind the bushes hiding the junction before been spat out on the the carriageway doing about 20mph. North was worse than the south entry due to the Lune crossing. The motorway also crosses the River Lune three times. Once at Lancaster, which is a city, not a town. and twice more at Junction 38.
The Motorway also splits at three points in Cumbria. One in the Lune Valley where it's on two levels. I think this is the most beautiful vista to found on any motorway in England, Of the other two, one you mentioned and the other is just north of Junction 39, which incidentally is the high point on the point on the M6 at 1036ft, aka Shap Summit. The Coast to Coast walk crosses the motorway via footbridge in the same area.
And lastly, look out for the scarecrow in high vis waving at the traffic on the North Bound carriageway a few miles before Junction 39 at Shap.
Love the “junction was shit”. Your relaxed approach is brilliant , I really enjoy all your videos John
Nice one, Thanks for watching!
You are correct with the sealed off junctions north of current junction 44. They were in use when it was the A74. Also, part of the Thomas Telford bridge over the Esk does still exist. Look to the left southbound and there is still a section of the bridge standing.
Must be warm...John nearly has shorts on!
😆
I always wondered about parts of the motorway while I'm driving about certain parts of old roads/cut off canals and so on. I'm glad this channel is here to give me the much needed information I need as I potter about in my truck 😅
The Golden Fleece Interchange is so called as it’s built on top pub that used to be there since, as far as I can tell 1861. It’s on an old map from then
In 1993 I cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats and we crossed the River Esk on - what was then - the A74. I always assumed it had A-road status because at that time it was the only way for miles around for any type of traffic to get across the river. We joined the A74 at MetalBridge and got off 2 miles later at Gretna. It was, to all intents and purposes, like cycling on a motorway with no hard shoulder. It was a terrifying 10 minutes.
‘The north sound bi… North sound bide??’ 😂 I’m so glad you keep these little hiccups in.
Junction 35 looks like a mighty fine "Drifting" venue...
Much rubber shreds in evidence?
🥳
Before the M6 was extended beyond Carnforth (J35), it was single carriageway A6 from there to the border, apart from the M6 Penrith bypass which opened before the rest of the extension. On bad days, you would leave at Carnforth to hit the queue for the traffic lights at Milnethorpe, then the queue to get through Kendal, then the queue to climb Shap, then the queue to get through Penrith, then the queue to get through Carlisle. Once you passed the Astra Cafe and went over/through Metal Bridge, you knew you had just about reached the sanity of the dualled A74 (sanity being a relative term, given the casualty rate of the A74 at that time).
You were correct about the fenced off slip roads after J44 - that was access to Harker, and Cargo and Rockcliffe from the other side.
‘kin hell mate, how old are you?…😮
I’m 63 and remember all that , just a kid at the time 😂
Genuinely, these videos are the highlight of my You Tube viewing week. Thank you John.
Nice one, Thanks for watching!
Thank you for the latest episode. The effort getting in and out of the car is astounding.
Todhills Rest Area northbound was the site of the last Little Chef I think I ever went to. The building is still there, the Little Chef long since gone. By the way, call me a pedant but in the direction you were travelling, the bit where the carriageways split and an unclassified road lies between them is after Junction 39 and not before it. Nice one for mentioning the missing services at Clifton, I always assumed those non-slip roads were for a service station that was never built and this has confirmed it.
Before it was a Little Chef I think it had been a Happy Eater. Most Happy Eaters were converted to Little Chef after the Forte Group took over Imperial Tobacco's catering division
@@pedanticradiator1491 ah yes, this seems to ring a bell now you mention it.
The river you refer to at junction 35 is the Lancaster Canal. I've taken a boat under it.
Jct 34 wasn't originally an official junction, just an access point for the nearby motorway police station.
As it was some distance between the now Jct 33 and 35, it was unofficially used by the public and soon became an official junction, albeit not built to motorway standard, hence the tight, short slip roads.
3:11 - One thing about the A601(M) number. Normally that would mean it is a motorway section or bypass of the A601. Except the A601 is the Derby ring road so nowhere even close to this! Why it was given that number is a mystery.
I have been waiting for this specific episode for a long, long time. We've had all of Scotland in between starting and finishing one motorway!
Great video with your usual humour, you always get things levelled to the basic facts and the mess up made by the planners. well done. Bob
I have fond memories of stopping at that rest area on trips down south with my late father. The smell of wild mint first thing in the morning is a core memory. The fry up in the truck stop was great as well. Proper greasy spoon.
Will u remember me when u become rly famous John? Your channel is infinitely better that all of the other youtubers i follow!
I'll try. Thanks for watching!
@@AutoShenanigans :). What will you do when you have completed all the motorways?
Get in! Welcome to Cumbria all 🎉
The weird link road between the Northbound and Southbound carriageways of the M6 after Jct 38 that also passes over the strange like farm lane would no doubt prove quite useful at some point for the likes of Emergency Service vehicles requiring to make a quick turnaround.
For example there's a nasty RTA on the Northbound side and some people need urgently taken to hospital - the likelihood is that an ambulance would be sent from Lancaster or Lancashire.
By simply making use of the link road they could probably save a lot of time in getting the patient to hospital.
Although HS2 is not going to get as far as Scotland in at least the near future, it has always been the case that the HS2 rolling stock would continue north of Birmingham onto the West Coast Mainline, so giving all those cities that are along that route the benefit of the shorter journey time between London and Birmingham. One of the main drivers for building HS2 was to relieve the WCML of some of the long distance traffic, so any trains that would originally have travelled non-stop between Euston and Crewe (for instance), will soon be able to do the same via HS2, allowing more slots for trains to stop between Euston and Birmingham, Crewe or Stafford. Some of that HS2 rolling stock will inevitably end up at the northern end of the country overnight, due to timetabling, so of course they're going to want to build a facility to service them. They will be standard gauge, 15kV OHL rolling stock fitted with standard Network Rail signalling equipment, in addition to the specialist signalling equipment that the existing Eurostar trains are fitted with.
Another great video...
I love your way of presenting what should be a boring subject. Your a great presenter
First time in ages I have watched a new episode of Auto Shenanigans on the day of actual release.
Another great and informative video on secrets of the Motorway, its what Sundays are made for.
The moles on the fence let's the farmer know how much he needs to pay the pest Controller they do it this way everywhere 👌👍. Great video as always though 👍
I like the sarcasm in the intro and outro messages. There's an implied "why am I stood here talking to myself like a loonie, why do they watch, they're all mad" 😂
Can't believe it. JT 42. It's called the golden fleece due to the pub on the west side offl the junction...
Is the pub called the black bull ?
@@timothyivatts it's now called the border gate.
@@chargingaboutThe Border Gate was not The Golden Fleece. The Border Gate used to be the Carrow House Hotel (or I think for a while Motel). The Golden Fleece was on the other side of the roundabout near the petrol station.
Southwaite services (last major services on the M6) is where you would exchange your Scottish money for English going South and vice a versa going North. Defo did that a lot in the 1990s
I can remember the signs changing at J35 to say A601(M) even though I was a young kid I was already a nerd for this sort of thing. If we turned off there it usually meant a day out in Morecambe not an excting place in the 1980s
I’ve seen that cross-link road near J38 used by gritters and snow ploughs to turn round. 😊
Excellent video. I've been waiting for this as it's the section I'm familiar with the most. Junction 34 used to be a nightmare and was the scene of lots of accidents before remodelling.
The engines at Hardendale were indeed used for shunting wagons around the site. The yellow one right up at the buffers is disused but the one next to the shed is still used regularly. The sidings are still in use too and Hardendale has a healthy rail traffic from Tunstead in the Peak District.
The broken slip road just up from Junction 44 looks like the remnance of an old bridge passing over a railway line. If you look Scotland Old Maps of 1840 - 1880 you can see an old Railway Station there called Harker Station. You can see the Platform on the old maps, and you can see the earthworks of it on the modern Google Maps. I can send you a screenshot of it because it won't let me add it to here.
No, it isn't. The M6 crosses the former Waverley Route railway on the level just South of here, and the line was already closed when the dual carriageway was built. What you see there is the former South side entry/exit road, which was blocked off when the M6 upgrade took place and all of the junctions with minor roads between Carlisle and Gretna were closed and removed. The Northbound one was blocked with an embankment and wooden boundary fence, although the stump of it can be seen behind this on Google Earth.
@@christopherrosindale3175 That wooden boundary fence is part of the Garden Centre which got a lot bigger when the "Cumberland Gap" became a motorway, and they extended!
😂 absolutely brilliant John. Your sense of humour is unique. Class 👌
Stopping at the NB Todd hills Costa coffee was my usual stop on a run up to Scotland. It was never overly busy, quiet and it felt less like sitting in a shopping maul. Probably why it's gone now.
Jazzy boogie woogie version of the Postman Pat theme tune (original obviously) as an outro soundtrack. Genius.
Ah, my weekly dose of WTF were the planners thinking.
I believe that was the second choice for the series name.
I’m so glad you featured the Lancaster cAnal sign just before the services 😂
Tebay services is mine and the wife’s traditional piss and coffee stop roughly half way before we get to Moffat, which brings me to the outro, the beeftub is just outside Moffat, so did you visit the town ? 🏴🥰
We’re off there in 3 weeks to get married (well it’s a commitment ceremony, marriage with no legal or religious bumf)
Cheers John again 👍🏼
When I was little, in Leeds, my Dad would dutifully listen to the radio and decide which coast we would go to for a day out. For a very long time (embarrassingly long time) I thought there was a place near Blackpool called “Morecambeandheesham” 😂
Mmm, no mention of the plod maintenance depot near J44-J45. Once home to a fleet of well abused Focus estates and the odd Volvo. I wonder what happened to those?
*whistles innocently
The Lancaster Canal is fed by water upstream from the severance points. The water flows via the 3 culverts marked. It was reported that to upgrade these culverts when being built would have cost around £3000 for the 3.
By the way junction 2 of the M55 is now open with the services about to open called the Saddle Services after the Saddle pub that was on the site pre motorway
Those blocked off slip roads near Todhill, to the north of Carlisle, were exactly as you say. They gave access to Harker (and the A6) in the days when it was the A74. When the road was upgraded to motorway a new general purpose road was built alongside it, and that's what now gives access to Harker. It also gives cross-border access to traffic which is prohibited on motorways.
A7 not A6
Mole catching.
Hanging moles up apparently wards off more moles
The two extra what you thought were slip roads at junction 39 were actually for snow ploughs to turn round and get off the motorway other wise there would be a short stretch were the motorway wasn't covered due to two separate motorway maintenance crews used Cross over there
Enjoyable to watch as always mate, the Mossband Site (Longtown) had until last year been used to store railway vehicles (both surplus wagons and locomotives) though I think they have all gone now.
Thanks for the Jazzy Postman Pat!
I feel like when ever they find some unused land they spin the wheel of “what to use it for”
That wheel consists of 2 halves, one says new build estate, the other says “HS2 related misc”
It's amazing how far road planners will go to avoid building another bridge. Nice Tailback shots. Plenty of time to "keep an eye out"😢
Apologies if I've missed this being said already. I was told J34 was originally not meant for public access, just emergency services. This explains the dreadful original design. Joining the M6 northbound had a lethally short slip road and an uphill approach. I avoided it if I possibly could. Glad it has gone.
My old Dacia Duster really hated that slip road!
“Skipping around Carlisle which is probably the best thing to do” really made me laugh. Just on a side note though it really makes me laugh after j32 with the M55 how the M6 changes from being such a busy motorway to being busy but with a element of Calmness and also no gantries every 200 yards telling you to do 40mph for no reason other than to try and make money from speeding tickets…
Do you really drive and ride on the motorway with maximum 40 mph (64,374 kmph)? In Germany is 60 kmph (37,28 mph) the minimum speed on a autobahn, so that slower vehicles can't use it. The UK folks are really curious. The first maximum trap in the hills are 120 kmph (74,57 mph) often for take photos 😂 then the most vehicle can drive and ride 150/250/299/349 kmph at maximum. 😉
@@OldLordSpeedy on so called smart motorways in the UK the highways agency have the authority to impose a 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or 70 mph speed limit whenever they like. There is normally a reason for this but legally there don’t have to be. Honestly if you search 20mph on motorway on RUclips there is a video of someone getting a speeding ticket for doing over 20mph on a motorways yes there is roadworks but it’s night and no work is happening and also the road is clear other than cones. It’s crazy. Driving in the UK you are always on tenterhooks. I so wish we had the German approach when it comes to motorways. Edit I’ve managed to find the link: m.ruclips.net/video/FBBllqt_BkY/видео.html
@@Dean256 This video from you shows a closed motorway where the 3-spur traffic goes into 1-spur traffic. Yeah, the 20mph between the 40 mph zones are crazy, specially in night (all empty) where do you not can drive so fast as on day (mostly full of traffic). But I thinking this "20" at this place was wrong setting then if the traffic stucked as traffic jam on day do you drive and ride slower if you love your own vehicle.
Okay, if we have here roadworks the speed go down but normally at 60 kmph maximum with 2-spur every direction. Less as that I never see or know. At junctions it can be possible for short off and in ways. We love here the clover junctions and t-junctions for the crossing road. 😭 Direct ending autobahn into nothing I never have had seen here in Schleswig-Holstein.
@@OldLordSpeedy; your observation again raises the importance of recognising the vast difference between different national road systems and their operational rules. The UK has invented a sophisticated method of killing motorists, particularly in the slow lane on left hand bends. “Smart” motorways don’t have a spare lane for defective or damaged vehicles use while awaiting rescue. Instead there are overhead variable speed limit signs which are used to slow all traffic. The authorities hope that vehicles using the slow lane can spot the carriageway obstruction and either stop in time or dodge out into lane 2 without knocking into any vehicle already using lane 2.
4:22 - Castle howe wasn't the name of the castle. "Howe" means hill or mound, so we do see the castle howe, but there's no castle on it.
Thank you for the explanation on the M6 spur. I used to visit Carnforth a lot in the 1970's / 1980's and never knew the history of this bit of road.
Shame he didn't mention Brief Encounter.
04:16: That, John, is what is known laughingly as a 'Gamekeeper's Larder'. These were meant to serve as a deterrent to other vermin. 😮
Country ways, John, country ways... 😆😆😆
Mum, mum, auto shenanigans is on, can we watch it?
Mmm pot place!!! It’s ok I’m awake now, bit of dreaming there, great post again Jon
The odd junction north of J44 you mentioned used to give access to the village of Harker and across the bridge to kingmore industrial estate
Between that closed junction and J44 there also used to be a weight bridge for HGVs
It was closed because when the weight bridge was open
HGVs would come off at J44 and go down the side road running parallel to the M6 and rejoin at that junction
The closed it to stop this happening
Then moved the weight bridge when the M6 was extended
"The Pot Place" - Classic Jon humour, absolutely brilliant video, packed full of information and dry wit 🙂
Nice one, thanks for watching!
One interesting part at Tebay services is that you can leave the motorway from either side, and in fact need to drive between the North and South services on a weird access road if you have an EV and are going the other way. There is Tesla only on the Southbound, and Gridserve on the Northbound.
A handy website for finding old satellite images, particularly early 2000’s and the 90’s is called ‘get mapping’
As someone who's most travelled motorway is the M6 ive enjoyed watching these 4 parts and going "oh yes i know that bit" at parts i recognise and learning about stuff i didnt know. And particularly like this part as it involves the local stretch.
"Skipping around Carlisle which is probably the best thing to do" .... I mean Carlisle does have some stuff to offer. But tbf i dont think anything other than the additon of 10,000 houses and them finally extending the Bypass is relevant to this video so. Feel like it often gets overlooked being where it is though. Will be interesting to see what the southern bypass or link road as it calls itself is like, already been watching diggers and trucks playing about in the dirt by the A595.
Bye, bye, Jon. Fun to see the layers of roadways that survive. Have a great week, whatever you are up to ;-)