This British Rail Curve solved a Massive Problem - Norfolk Disused Railway
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- Опубликовано: 4 сен 2024
- This British Rail Curve solved a Massive Problem - Norfolk Disused Railway
'Hyperion' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
Additional images by David Pearce
Up until 1960 all trains, freight and occasional passenger had to take a mammoth out of the way journey if they wanted to get to Norwich from locations such as Lenwade Concrete Works.
To solve this excessive journey, British Rail realised they could buy back part of the old trackbed between Reepham and Themelthorpe and build a new curve linking the active line to Melton Constable and the Closed line off towards Reepham.
They built the Themelthorpe Curve. One of the tightest and longest radius railway track curves on British Rail.
In this video we take a look at the Themelthorpe Curve, before following the railway off towards Reepham, Cawston and finally Aylsham.
#norfolk #railway #british #rail #abandoned #disused #station #train #track #walk
I did some research on this curve some years ago. Seems like most of the trains using this line were transporting pre cast reinforced concrete pieces for bridges and infrastructure needed for the new motorways being built in the 1960's. These were made by what is now RMC concrete at Lenwade. When the motorways were built the railway was closed. Sadly, the railway was complicit in its own replacement and demise in this way. And now we're told that people are driving too much, and we need to use public transport more. Shame they closed so many railways then. So senseless and short sighted. Great video by the way.
Those lines you are crying over were never well used. Firstly, the passengers took the local buses in the years after WW1, and in the 1950s and later, those who could afford them to to their cars and escaped the tyranny of the timetable. Let's take one of my local lines, closed before Beeching, 4 trains a day each way (Monday to Saturday) whilst the buses ran every half hour.
Now, 70 years later (a short period of time only on geological timescales) there are still calls to reopen the line but the population had hardly changed. The buses still run, but now only once per hour and hardly used.
The railways, as a common carrier, had to take every load they were offered, meaning they had to carry bridge beams.
They also built pre cast sections for tower blocks. However the 1968 Ronan Point collapse affected this industry.
My husband comes from Norfolk, He loves the history of train lines in Norfolk. You do this so well. Thank you.
There Were so many in Norfolk.
Brilliant thanks very much indeed. I shall keep popping back
@@baddrivers6807 I'll be back in a couple of months
Another great railway walk. Very informative as always. Great footage and old photos. Thank you Ant
Thanks - A bit of a treat for the Norfolk videos.
Thanks very much you are both very kind 😊
I loved this 4 part series lots of interesting things. I love looking at old abandoned railways they tell so much history about our past
12th Feb 1983 men at work down under
In the late 1960's I took a Brake Van ride from Norwich City to Norwich Thorpe. We crawled round Thelmelthorpe curve. We ran non-stop to Whitlingham Jc, but were 2 hours or so early, so we were held there quite a while. Got a photo of the train going round that curve, Cl 31 of course. BV ticket was 1st Class!
I was on a brake van trip from Thorpe to Lenwade (only) and back in 1971. Lenwade station and signalbox were more or less intact at that point.
@@tomburnham5119 Lucky you getting on a BV ride. When I travelled in the luxurious BR BV, Norwich City SB had long gone but Drayton. Lenwade and Aylsham SB's were still working. I went into Lenwade and Aylsham SB's.
I could be wrong but the bridge u stand on at 5 minutes is a old farmers bridge. The bridge that was the crossover with the 2 lines only the ruins remain in the fields as the bridge was taken out.
That's right the cross over bridge is gone
Interesting as always. Lovely scenery but not many people out walking.
A similar curve is now at Sedgebrook near Grantham that enables Skegness to Nottingham trains to enter Grantham without the need to transverse the ECML.
lovely footage. As a Welshman, what really hit me with those drone shots was...my God, that is some Flat Land!! Not a Hill in sight!! lol. Lovely video, thanks. cheers from Brunei.
Yep Norfolk is flat. The entire county will go under the North Sea with sea level rises, together with eastern Cambridgeshire including the City of Cambridge.
Fantastic video as always I made and fitted the engine shed doors and windows along with other fixtures and fittings at reepham station with the lads memories top man👍
I was born & bred in South Wales and now live in the Waveney Valley, which marks the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Something both regions have in common is the wholesale dismantling of their rail networks in the mid 20th century.
Thanks for these fine videos.
What a fine railway history Norfolk had, and here superbly narrated and documented.
Hi there. did a coach tour to Norfolk a few years ago including visits to Bure valley railway and boat trip at Wroxham. Great to see the missing bits. The locos you saw at whitwell belong to mid suffolk railway and whitwell and reetham. the rustons belong to lawrie of LMM and his group of supporters. Caroline
Very interesting. Mre and wifey went last year to Norfolk found the cycle path from the Wroxham station end and set off on a glorious blue sky day. We saw all the sights mentioned and very few people along the trackbed cycle way. But very fascinated when we reached the Themelthorpe Curve as i observed it and was very puzzled by the arrangement.....never thought to google it but now you have brilliantly explained it all. I dont know how you walked it all as we were knackered just cycling it but had a couple of pints in the late afternoon sunshine in the pretty town of Aylsham making it easier to go back to Wroxham via track and road. Great day and thanks for this video.
Excellent finish to this series, great dronage showing the curve, beautiful countryside, it's a bit like the land that time forgot!! Hope you got the train back, even my feet were aching!! Nice one Ant👍👍👍👍
Great video. What a lovely array of bridges. The views are lovely too. Very much loved this. Thanks,for taking me along. Please take care
some beautiful picturesque views well done for sharing the next part of this disused railway walk xx
Thank you Ant for another excellent video. I watch all of your videos but this one is of particular interest as I only live a couple of miles away from Themelthorpe and cycle through it on my way to (and back hopefully) the pub at Foulsham. I attended primary school in Buxton (between Aylsham and Coltishall) in the early 1970's and one of my lessons was in the old station. I remember a sound like thunder, the station would vibrate and us kids would all rush to the window to see one of the trains carrying multiple concrete beams from Attlebridge storm past the platform. Always got a wave from the brake man in the brake van at the very rear of the train. BTW the station at Cawston is still there but, as you found out, it's very well hidden.
Thank you very much for more, magnificent, mainline memories. It appears, that apart from the curve that this line had been built for a double track originally, although sometimes they would build over and under bridges so that they could have in the future doubled the track as and when the traffic increased. It is a pity that the line had not been preserved before the railway had been lifted in the early 1980s but there were quite a lot of closures of long freight lines during that time and Norfolk does not have a very large population so that may have made it difficult also. It is good to see what has remained. We are very grateful to you for this excellent video presentation.
Very enjoyable video. Cycling the Marriotts Way path from Norwich to Aylsham, riding the Bure Valley train to Wroxham and then Bittern Line train back to Norwich is a good day out. I did that but had to go back to Aylsham by car to collect my bike!
Top Job!
I live not a million miles from these lines and really enjoyed watching this - Thank You!
Ein schönes und interessantes Video.
Thank you ❣️👍🏻
Absolutely loved this video 👍🏻👍🏻. Not an area I know well; but visited half a dozen times over a number years in the early 2000s. Makes me want to return. I live in Ireland; but have a home in N. Yorkshire I use 3-5 times a year. Definitely got me thinking about a trip to that area and seeing the Themelthorpe Curve for myself. I can walk 17 flat miles - but getting back to my car would be the challenge!
My favourite subject ant. I hope this line of work continues for a very long time for you mate. Very nicely done
1983 - "Long Hot Summer" by The Style Council. A top tune and indeed a hot Summer. Another great edition to your series. Thank you.
Good choice. And thank you so much ☺️
7:32 fantastic. Absolutely love that bit of investigation work
Cheers Peter thanks very much
I live in Reepham and regularly walk or cycle this old line (Marriotts Way) , excellent video and taught me some things I did not know. The old goods shed at Reepham station used to house a pine workshop ('Kerri's Pine) which closed down last year. The bridge after the station used to carry the road to Cawston, but it was narrow, just wide enough for two cars and there was a sharp bend on the Cawston side, therefore during the 1990's the road was straightened out.
Great ending to a very scenically enjoyable series. Thank you.
We finally got there. Thanks very much for watching
Excellent video once again. Thank you for your efforts in making what could be just dry facts interesting and informative.
Look forward to the next one!
Never got as far as the curve, great to see it here, though it'd still be nice to visit in the flesh sometime too. Thank you!
23:43 and 26:04 - Yes, I understand when Broadland Council kick-started the modern BVR (now privately owned/run), the locals wanted them to just re-use the still extant Aylsham South station building, which the council suddenly claimed had 'subsidence issues' - which was news to anyone else, and is pretty rare indeed for an area with zero mining history - and they wasted no time ripping it to the ground before anyone else could double-check for themselves.
Similarly, rather than re-use the old Goods Shed as a Loco Shed or Workshop, like up at Ravenglass, Fred Dibnah himself was somehow drafted in to pull it down with his steam roller, albeit a couple of years after the BVR had already opened alongside. That Goods Shed put up quite a fight, and nearly defeated him - no structral issues there, just like there probably weren't in the main station building either! A sheltered housing complex for the eldrerly was built in its place.
15:11 - Strictly speaking, that was a Granary rather than a Goods Shed at Reepham. There was an identical one occupying much of the site of what's now the BVR's car park at Aylsham. In many of the period shots of Aylsham added around 25:45, you can see that Granary through the gap between the Goods Shed proper and the Station Building. Last I knew, another ex-GER Granary still clung-on to existence at North Walsham station as well.
That was along walk Ant well done. Shows how lovely my home county is. Lots of sky. Cheers
It's lovely around there. That Themelthorpe to Aylsham was longer than expected 😂
Ant, another enjoyable watch, wouldn't it be great to make a former rail station into a home on a heritage rail line. How about a short series of vid's on some of the best heritage railway yards, locomotives and rolling stock in the UK. Thanks to Ant for helping to keep history alive and kicking.
Great video as always, thank you Ant, Pete.👍
Very kind Pete thank you 😊
The extraordinary thing is of course why the brightest idea to insert a connecting link was undertaken and executed so late in the history of Norfolk’s railways.
Too little, too late?
You didn't need a connecting link before the M and GN was closed.
Glad you managed to spot the single sleeper still in situ. P.S. Just looked up the former Cawston station does live on as the sidings camp site .PPS, you can always come back and walk the Bure Valley line to Wroxham .
As a 3 wheel van owner that shot of the Reliant Regal saloon was verra nice :D A car that piqued the ire of what was Standard Triumph who were developing the UK's first reverse rear screen car in what would have been a large sized Herald/Vitesse up front but the curious design at the back but Ford using industrial espionage copied the idea, put into production of the Ford Anglia and litigated S-T into oblivion then cheekily Reliant produced the last Regal which if you looked at it was in fact a squared off Ford Anglia including the infamous rear reverse screen and Reliant were even considering an even cheekier body for its Rebel 4 wheel which would have been a mini Anglia in all but name design wise lol Ford very dependent on Reliant in its quid pro quo for fibreglass items in return for Ford off the shelf parts turned an almost opaque blind eye to Reliant's naughties and did so again when Reliant cheekily nicked the whole front end of the MK2 Ford Fiesta design for its MK2 Robin.
Movies from 1983: Octopussy, WarGames, Scarface, Sudden Impact, Return of the Jedi.
TV shows from 1983: The A-Team.
The Austin Maestro was launched, Nelson Piquet was the F1 world champion and Liverpool won the league and the European Cup.
Superb video, and excellent sound tracks too. Music of 1983, well I can remember Bands, ie Marilion, ABC, Blondie, Paul Young, Frankie goes to Hollywood, Pet shop boys just to name a few….look forward to your next video.
Excellent vid as always Ant , really enjoyed this little series . thank you 👍
Very kind thanks very much 😃
Yet another great video Ant. Thanks mate
Thanks very much 😊
Fascinating! Thanks for those 2 videos, Ant!
Gold spandau ballet , 1983 , another excellent video, my neck of the woods 😊
Ah yes good one. Thanks very much for watching 🙂
Hello Ant @ 5:24 - A Bridge now going over nothing!!! 😉Thanks for sharing 😊🚂🚂🚂
It's weird isn't it? Thanks for watching ☺️
The bridge in Reepham used to carry the B1145 over the railway. With the Junction with the Wood Dalling road just north of the bridge.
Excellent research highly interesting informative presentation thank you sir.
Thanks very much Trevor very kind ☺️
Another great video Ant, so informative....
Very kind Chris thank you
Such a shame the Bure Valley Railway had to obliterate a perfectly good GER station in order to build its terminus which resembles some sort of Scouts facility.
Many thanks for another brilliant video 👍🏻
Thanks very much for watching 😁
Another super video. Very informative and very interesting
Thanks very much 😊
Enjoy your videos, It would be helpful if you could let us know what direction you are viewing, North South etc. it would help when understanding the railways orientation in the surrounding area.
Another brilliant video Ant. I just love the way you walk through history and show us the overlay of then and now. I agree about the graffiti too. Madness.
Ant, another great video. I am intrigued as to where you manage to find all the great old photos of these lines whilst still in use. Is it one single site, or a vast amount of searching of the internet?
Interesting video, mate!
I loved all the bridges - but not the awful graffiti vandalism - what a beautiful county Norfolk is. I particularly liked the station with a cafe and barbers! I would love to go on the narrow gauge railway, too.( which reminds me ; have you been on the Kirklees light railway in West Yorkshire, now called Whistle Stop Valley? It's marvellous.)
Shared on my face book page mate great work once again
Very kind thank you
Thanks Ant.
Was told the tightest radius was the caxton curve on the central line
brilliant walk Ant,got married in 83,karma chameleon culture club very popular at the time
Oooh 41 years now?
Glad you enjoyed it 😄
What a great video thanks 😊
Very kind thank you
great video thanks
That's Beecham guy has a lot to answer for what he done to the railways .. the railways today are already struggling for customers..
Dr Beeching had nothing to do with this one- the M & GN was closed 3 - 4 years before his report came out.
And beeching was only marples yes boy anyway
@@steveparrish1112but every knows that Beeching closed ALL the railways, even the ones closed before he was born. But the thing about what everyone knows is that it is, more often than not, wrong.
What music came out in 1983? As far as I'm concerned they stopped making music around 1980, so no music came out in 1983! Lovely video though, as always.
Blue Monday by new order, and red red wine by UB40, , 2 classics from 1983.
Ahhhhh you threw me lol. It's a continuation from the previous video. Lol.
Ha yes drops you right back where we left off
Police - Every Breath You Take 😮
1983 = Gary Numan released the album Warriors
Ah yes very good 😊
For a single, irregular traffic, i cant believe the construction of the curve was ever commercially justified.
The land is as flat as a pancake - the curve wouldn't have cost much, and the cost could be recouped by selling the trackbed that was no longer needed.
Can someone explain to me why graffiti is a good thing? As you get older there is no excuse. Is it like kids like to use crayons? Who had the idea, I suppose nobody who does graffiti would be watching this? I believe it’s a sad statement on the world today. I am open to a positive explanation?
It's annoying isn't it? Those I mentioned were just pointless
It's a myth that graffiti is a modern concept. It isn't. The Romans did. The Victorians did it, and they carved their graffiti into the stones at Stone Henge and other ancient moments.
Going to have to say Genetic Engineering by OMD 😉
Great video! How do you get back to your car on these walks?
I work it out with buses so I started at Lenwade ( previous video) and got the bus back from Aylsham
That's is dangerous leaving that's stick up like that's
Have you ever been to sunny Wales ?
There are a handful of videos from Wales.. I've got more coming next week
@@TrekkingExploration I look forward to seeing them and I’ve also subscribed
MGNR Known as the Muddle and Go Nowhere Railway!
It is a cracking nick name
@@TrekkingExploration Thats what a friend who actually drove engiines on the line said about it.
14:13 L take. Never Trust The Tories.
Why are you walking along so many abandoned railways… I dunno maybe the Tories have been a significant factor throughout
???
Okay