What’s happened to our railways. I remember Bescot like this also Bristol Bath Road, Severn tunnel junction to name but a few all I can say is I’m so glad to have witnessed all these wonderful sights and sounds. Thanks for posting this great video!!!
If you've ever travelled along a motorway you can see where it's all gone! We have lost the yards as the work has all transfered to roads, very sad.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Colas are trying to run Log trains over the Cambrian. Well it's a few lorries off the roads. Good work for the 97s. Love the sound of those Choppers. 👍😎
Bescott how I remember it when I was a kid, I was actually watching very closely to see if I could see my Dad and a 7 year old version of me. Thankyou for posting, it brings back many memories.
Great video 👍🏻 Loved Bescot in the late 70s as it was always a great trainspotters heaven. The line between Bescot and Wednesbury was open so you could see the fright trains coming round the corner from the station 👍🏻 Happy days 😊
Good video I was at bescot in February this year and it's still a busy place but it's not how I remember it in 1985 I was only a kid but the sounds of the choppers class 25s/47s/56s/58s and other loco's was music to my ears!!! I had an hour there as I went for a walk round walsall to pick up something I had bought online!!! I came up from Manchester it was a very cold rainy day but was worth it! I seen a class 70 for the 1st time and there was 3 class 66s 2 class 68s and a class 08 shunter there that was it! I was hoping a pair of class 20s would thrash through but that would have been dreaming lol 😅
Thanks for the info, i may well go back and do some filming. A friday may be a good day, lots of engineers trains getting ready to run for the weekend hopefully......
Hi my name is Phil Holt.I started on the footplate at edgeley shed on the 4th of April 1961as a fireman I did 50yrs I finished my time out at longsight as a driver.And some times we. went that way with passenger trains. Regards.Phil
You had some good years on the footplate there Phil, by the time i got on BR it was at the end and we had the chaos of privitisation but it was still the best job i ever had!
I wished my garden backed onto Bescot. Great working yard and one of the best known. Never worked on railways and I truly regret it. What great fun with all those fantastic diesels to choose from
Love this video, thanks for uploading! So much movement and variety. I remember going past on the M6 on the way to south coast holidays and getting tantalising glimpses of rows of wagons and locos from the back seat of my dad's Vauxhall Belmont!
Classic footage of a great rail yard 😄 It’s totally changed now with the run down of our railway system. Just look at the amount of lorries on the M6 that runs along side Bescot yard. I pass it a lot in my medical lorry and cringe when I see it stood idle like the rest of our rail yards ☹️ Great video thanks Stevie 😎
I worked there as a Guard 1979-1981. I remember flitting about all around the yard looking for coal or anything that would burn in order to light the stove in the Guards van. Damn cold on a February morning. Still working unfitted freights and local pick ups, around the Bescot Curve at the time.
@@vincitveritas3872 No hotplate, just a circular top that fitted your brew up tin. They did get red hot at times actually glowing. But they were also very draughty.
Used to pass through Bescot travelling between Walsall and Brum such a lot throughout the 80's. Glorious place. Great video full of so much detail to enjoy. About five minutes in, the 08 seems to be moving a wagon loaded with large diameter driving wheels for a six-coupled steam locomotive. Intriguing to wonder which engine they belonged to. Cheers !
Thank you. I still have a lot more old films to upload as well as some more modern ones. As soon as i have finished working at the St Alban's beer festival I will get back home and start uploading again.
I used to visit often as a kid, was born not too far away. Remember an open day, probably in the 80s I think, which was great fun. Just behind the train at the very start there was a bridge that my dad and his friends used to climb under and watch the steamers going over them.
My Dad worked there as an Inspector but died January1980.My brother got to step onto a steam engine with my Dad but i didnt as I was a girl.Miss my Dad if anybody worked with him I would really like to here about his career.His name was Jack Turner. 10:07
I'm guessing that you haven't been there in a while.... The sheds have gone and in the place of the sheds are a couple of 2 man tents that looked like they were erected in an hour.... Hardly any freight and what there is are usually the same 66s, the occasional 70 and once in a blue moon you may see a couple of 37s..
I have a few 85's on film here & there. I remember when the North London Line was wired up they used the renumbered 85/1's on Ford's trains from Dagenham so i have a few taken in East London.
Those tanks behind the 85 contained a very toxic substance the name I can't recall but when I was based there I was told that if it leaked a drop there would be no point running away as several square miles would be dead. Hence the barrier wagons fore and aft.
@@phillynch3819 I think you are referring to hydro-cyanic acid known as HNC. It was one of the three dangerous goods which you would use the 'rail dangerous goods' emergency rules (nuclear flasks and toxic gases wee the other two).
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Quiet?? There's more life in a nun's pair of knickers bud... I usually go past Bescot when I'm in my truck to do deliveries up north with pad and pen in hand, but it's really very quiet... There's a stone terminal there at the bottom end of the yard with usually a couple of 66s there... The high level siding near to where the houses are is the same class 66, which is used as the Lickey banker...
What’s happened to our railways. I remember Bescot like this also Bristol Bath Road, Severn tunnel junction to name but a few all I can say is I’m so glad to have witnessed all these wonderful sights and sounds. Thanks for posting this great video!!!
If you've ever travelled along a motorway you can see where it's all gone! We have lost the yards as the work has all transfered to roads, very sad.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Colas are trying to run Log trains over the Cambrian. Well it's a few lorries off the roads. Good work for the 97s.
Love the sound of those Choppers. 👍😎
Great vid especially the view of 85021, how I miss them on the WCML,thanks for bringing back some great memories .
First time I saw bescot was from the motorway in 1978. Full of choppers! Amazing sight I'll never forget
First time i videod here there were loads of 20s, by my next visit they had all gone and 31s were the majority loco class to be seen.....
Bescott how I remember it when I was a kid, I was actually watching very closely to see if I could see my Dad and a 7 year old version of me. Thankyou for posting, it brings back many memories.
Great video 👍🏻 Loved Bescot in the late 70s as it was always a great trainspotters heaven. The line between Bescot and Wednesbury was open so you could see the fright trains coming round the corner from the station 👍🏻 Happy days 😊
Very quiet there now i'm told.....
Great memories of a very busy yard. It was
the highlight of a boring journey on the M6.
I have more footage from the 90s and it was still good then.
Superb. I remember Bescot in the 80s from walking the rows of locos on the holding sidings to watching the hump shunting from the station footbridge.
It was a great busy place then, unlike so many places today that are as quiet as a graveyard.
Good video I was at bescot in February this year and it's still a busy place but it's not how I remember it in 1985 I was only a kid but the sounds of the choppers class 25s/47s/56s/58s and other loco's was music to my ears!!! I had an hour there as I went for a walk round walsall to pick up something I had bought online!!! I came up from Manchester it was a very cold rainy day but was worth it! I seen a class 70 for the 1st time and there was 3 class 66s 2 class 68s and a class 08 shunter there that was it! I was hoping a pair of class 20s would thrash through but that would have been dreaming lol 😅
Thanks for the info, i may well go back and do some filming. A friday may be a good day, lots of engineers trains getting ready to run for the weekend hopefully......
Hi my name is Phil Holt.I started on the footplate at edgeley shed on the 4th of April 1961as a fireman I did 50yrs I finished my time out at longsight as a driver.And some times we. went that way with passenger trains. Regards.Phil
You had some good years on the footplate there Phil, by the time i got on BR it was at the end and we had the chaos of privitisation but it was still the best job i ever had!
Great footage. I spent quite a few hours on those platforms.
I wished my garden backed onto Bescot. Great working yard and one of the best known. Never worked on railways and I truly regret it. What great fun with all those fantastic diesels to choose from
Thanks. Out of all my three main jobs the footplate job was bar far the best one to have, especially as i was a loco driver and avoided unit trains!
Great video...really busy in those days . Those 20s make a great sound
I always liked 20's, Warrington Bank Quay was a good spot for seeing them as well.
Love this video, thanks for uploading! So much movement and variety. I remember going past on the M6 on the way to south coast holidays and getting tantalising glimpses of rows of wagons and locos from the back seat of my dad's Vauxhall Belmont!
I love the old mighty 1960s and 70s Diesel engines!
Classic footage of a great rail yard 😄 It’s totally changed now with the run down of our railway system. Just look at the amount of lorries on the M6 that runs along side Bescot yard. I pass it a lot in my medical lorry and cringe when I see it stood idle like the rest of our rail yards ☹️ Great video thanks Stevie 😎
I worked there as a Guard 1979-1981. I remember flitting about all around the yard looking for coal or anything that would burn in order to light the stove in the Guards van. Damn cold on a February morning. Still working unfitted freights and local pick ups, around the Bescot Curve at the time.
Once going were the stoves warm? Did it have hot plate too?
@@vincitveritas3872 No hotplate, just a circular top that fitted your brew up tin. They did get red hot at times actually glowing. But they were also very draughty.
Used to pass through Bescot travelling between Walsall and Brum such a lot throughout the 80's. Glorious place. Great video full of so much detail to enjoy. About five minutes in, the 08 seems to be moving a wagon loaded with large diameter driving wheels for a six-coupled steam locomotive. Intriguing to wonder which engine they belonged to. Cheers !
5:05 looked like a load of steam loco driving wheels in the wagon behind that 08.
Who knows what was still lurking around?
You have one of the best Archive of BR traction on the internet 😄
Thank you.....i was very desperate and got about a bit back in the day. Still loads more to come......
Keep it up Sir,
Youre films are some of the best out there
Thank you. I still have a lot more old films to upload as well as some more modern ones. As soon as i have finished working at the St Alban's beer festival I will get back home and start uploading again.
I used to visit often as a kid, was born not too far away. Remember an open day, probably in the 80s I think, which was great fun.
Just behind the train at the very start there was a bridge that my dad and his friends used to climb under and watch the steamers going over them.
I think the area has always been busy railway wise. There was an open day i went to in 1992 at Bescot yard, perhaps that was the one?.....
My Dad worked there as an Inspector but died January1980.My brother got to step onto a steam engine with my Dad but i didnt as I was a girl.Miss my Dad if anybody worked with him I would really like to here about his career.His name was Jack Turner. 10:07
keep it up mate because bescot has defiantly changed over the years
I have more from Bescot, taken at different time periods, lots more to come, keep watching!
Sadly the opening scene summarises many of the problems that faced BR. 3 men shunting two wagons - crazy!
Great video though :-)
Went to Bescot and Saltley at least once a week
It was a great place, always something of interest going on......i doubt much happens these days!
Oh Lord, I remember Saltley, always a hive of activity there... And now it's all gone....
An 85 and a very smart 08,,
Great days back then.
Cheers Soi 👍😎
My pleasure......
funny how the 20s and 40s had that high pitched whistle sound. was it the turbos or the intake system that gave them this very distinctive noise?
I think it was the turbos that made the noise. The 40s were louder in my experience from seeing these locos at work in years past.....
The turbo worked at very low pressure which is why you can always hear them
Hi,good to hear that I liked my time to on the footplate fellow footplate man Regards.Phil.🚂.
Always liked Bescot always something going on
Rather quiet there now i'm told.....
I'm guessing that you haven't been there in a while.... The sheds have gone and in the place of the sheds are a couple of 2 man tents that looked like they were erected in an hour.... Hardly any freight and what there is are usually the same 66s, the occasional 70 and once in a blue moon you may see a couple of 37s..
4.14 very unusual toilet window on the mk2 BSK coach. looks like the type found on the Mk2f.
That is really cool!
Nice rare footage of a roarer there
I have a few 85's on film here & there. I remember when the North London Line was wired up they used the renumbered 85/1's on Ford's trains from Dagenham so i have a few taken in East London.
Looked like it was hauling a bromine tank followed by hydrogen cyanide tanks flanked by VJX barriers
NOT something to go banging about really......lol
That 85 stopped quick !
Probably had the shunter show a red so the driver slung the lot in!
Like for class 85 hauling mixed goods with a brakevan!
Those tanks behind the 85 contained a very toxic substance the name I can't recall but when I was based there I was told that if it leaked a drop there would be no point running away as several square miles would be dead.
Hence the barrier wagons fore and aft.
@@phillynch3819 I think you are referring to hydro-cyanic acid known as HNC. It was one of the three dangerous goods which you would use the 'rail dangerous goods' emergency rules (nuclear flasks and toxic gases wee the other two).
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus that's the stuff! IIRC it went to either Manchester or Mossend.
Now we're lucky to even see a 66
I take it Bescot is very quiet these days?.....
@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Quiet?? There's more life in a nun's pair of knickers bud... I usually go past Bescot when I'm in my truck to do deliveries up north with pad and pen in hand, but it's really very quiet... There's a stone terminal there at the bottom end of the yard with usually a couple of 66s there... The high level siding near to where the houses are is the same class 66, which is used as the Lickey banker...
Ten years later it was a boneyard of diesels
I was there in the mid 90s and there was still plenty of activity then, the film of which is a future upload!
And now in 2022.... It's just a boneyard.... Sign of the times unfortunately Anne... I remember Bescot being very busy in the 1970s and 80s...
Today you will see there Brexit Rail :-)
Remember it well, it's dead now
I had a feeling it wouldn't be worth a trip these days.....