He'll need to frame the next intro shot so no gymbal is needed to show 6 digits without twisting his torso though. The question is, which of his crew will provide the 6th digit for the walk of another London-centric lost railway episode? Are we about to see an all the lost railways franchise Geoff? Many out here in rural Britain aren't beside the M25, suburban railways or overflown !
I call this the "Les Stroud" camera shot. He did this all the time on Survivorman. He doesn't have a camera crew, so he has to walk back to pick up his camera each time he does it. :) I have done it when I was filming myself hiking a few times, and it does make me very self conscious that someone could wander by and pick up my camera and take off with it. It is one of the subtle things Geoff does that I really appreciate.
Dear Geoff, when a teenager in 1959 I discovered Yeoveney in a BR Western Region timetable where it was described as a request stop. Having never heard of a request stop on a railway line before, my brother and I decided to go there. Living in Acton it was easy for us to get to - Acton Main Line change at West Drayton & Yiewsley. We took the train all the way to Staines West then walked the mile up Moor Lane until we got parallel to the platform. To access it we had to walk across a field and climb over a style. It was beautifully peaceful there listening to the birds singing while waiting for the train to return. The station consisted of a wooden platform, a fence along the back, a bench seat and a signboard displaying the name "Yeoveney". No shelter and no lighting. My brother and I loved going there, we went many times. We regarded it as our own special place as we never saw anybody else there. If we had nothing to do on a particular day we would say "Let's go to Yeoveney." And we did. Thank you, Geoff, you have brought back wonderful memories.
Derek, that's ... beautiful, thank you, such a wonderful comment! I hope you have pictures on an early camera perhaps? We take it all so much for granted now to snap a picture on our phones. Glad to have brought back memories for you. Dare i suggest ... if you can, you should go there somepoint this year to walk the old line yourself !?
“...And yes, I did have this feeling of bleakness here, but there was also a beauty and tranquility amongst the bleak landscape, which I loved.” is the most Brontë Sisters thing I’ve ever heard. Also, it’s said in a Moor.
I live in the USA and have exactly nothing to do with railways in the UK, but I find all of this so fascinating. A bygone era for so many of us, after all. And I really appreciate your level of research and your videography on your own.
This is my 'local' lost line. There's been lots of talk over the years about using some of the old alignment for a southern Heathrow connection, so who knows - maybe one day we'll see trains again on part of this track! Also worth noting that GWR organise the occasional heritage weekend, running a passenger service down the freight line from West Drayton to Colnebrook and back on a class 150 or similar.
@@gerardburton1081 Nice idea but I doubt many people passing that length of the M25 would find a trainline from West Drayton to Staines much benefit. The benefit would be in a Western access to Heathrow.
@@PhilEadie65 I would disagree with you because many people can't drive or would like to start their journey from there to continue to a location that is far away.
Honestly, your videos are great. Out of context, this is a video of some bloke poking about some woods and the side of the road, pointing out some old stuff, but your passion and interest in this is palpable and makes this genuinely enjoyable to watch. Please keep up the excellent work.
A massive Thank You for this video! I live not far from this and have walked on Staines Moor before (walking the dogs) and tried to spot visible signs of the abandoned line but I'll be going back with fresh eyes and a better idea of what to look out for. 👍 Edited to say I walked the Southern part of it (along Staines Moor) this morning and met a couple who were there today after watching your video last night! Great walk! 😃👍🥾
Geoff: A fine mix of history, site-seeing, & nostalgia! N.B. : The several incremental _MAP_ _INSERTS_ are helpful for our orientation _&_ to tie the "when" to the "where". Please _DO_ continue to include these maps, as they show routes' connections, stations, extensions, etc. Yes, they DO add to the editing & post -- production load, but the also add a lot of _context_ _!_ Thanks! /Mike _ _ . _ ._. _
@@anthonylloyd6094 Me too! I used to cycle to Heathrow to plane spot occasionally and I remember only once the wooden crossing gates closing. I don’t think it was too long after that the old gates were removed and the crossing became open. And then eventually it was fenced off. Sad times.
When I was a teenager, I used to be able to get in to the derelict station house at Staines west and look round. I think you had to bunk over a wall. Then I would walk around the station, its platform and twin platform lines. Then I used to walk up the track on Stainesmoor. Although this was a live railway and walking was not legal there were always plenty of dog walkers on the track on a Sunday. One of the notable things were a number of flat wooden battens between the sleepers running in parallel to the rails which BR had used in connection with automatic train control experiments they ran in the 1960s. I really wouldn't recommend to do it now, but it was nice to see somewhere I used to go when I was a bit of a tearaway.
Thanks, Geoff for another very enjoyable video. My family has a long history with that area. My aunt and uncle had a house in Staines for decades, and I lived with them for a few weeks in 1971, during which I took the train to work near Paddington, so it took several changes: mainline from Staines to Richmond, District Line from Richmond to Hammersmith, then Hammersmith and City Line to Royal Oak. It would have been a but easier if I could have taken this line from Staines West to West Drayton, then the mainline into Paddington. Then one of my brothers was evacuated during World War II and was sent to Colnbrook, and finally another brother lived for about 40 years in Harlington, about a mile southeast of West Drayton.
These excursions are fast becoming classics. Many thanks for all the research and legwork involved - plus the unrelenting good humour which accompanies them.
Used this line a lot in my youth. Steam Push and Pull from Staines to West Drayton to watch Kings and Castles thunder through on the main line to and from the West Country!
I believe that I've read that the Staines West building was an existing house which the promoters of the line bought and converted into a station. This explains why an otherwise rather penny-pinching single track railway had such an impressive terminus.
When I was a child living in Egham back in the 1950s I was also a devoted train rider and remember riding the train from Staines West to West Drayton and back. Thanks for reawakening this pleasant childhood memory.
You can access the old tracks just a few 100m from Staines West Station, as the fence down Moor Lane has a big hole in it. You can walk along the tracks until it reaches a drop where a bridge would have been. It's pretty cool, and some trees have grown up straight through the gaps in the sleepers.
I found that section purely by chance today! The rail chairs have GWR cast in them, which was pretty cool. Big trees! Might revisit one day when I'm less conspicuous!
It's so great that you came to this area Geoff! If you ever want to film the freight trains, the best spots are: 1) where the line crosses the river Colne (there's a footpath); 2) from the Thorney Mill Road bridge; and 3) from the path next to Godwins Pool. Let me know if you need a guide 😅
Go speak to Daniel at Ashville construction/concrete. He has a rail head north Colnebrook Estate. He has ballast, gravel etc delivered to his yard by train via the freight only loop from West Drayton. He used to do train drone montages, however he has stopped that. Daniel likes trains.
It amazes me how parts of railway history are kept as easter eggs in such bizzare ways and still look so utterly natural to the modern surroundings. Love your content and research Geoff. Stay safe!
I used to live near there. All the places we used to play in and took for granted. But I do remember the noise from the motorway, which cut through and destroyed a farm at the end of our road. Great video; lots of memories.
As I recal it was an entirely wooden platform and steps, the supporting infrastructre included what used to be Berts snack bar, now gone, and several shops on the other side of the highstreet at the start of atation path
Have been going through the playlist so didn't see the title, so I was so surprised to see you in a place I recognised! My parents and grandparents always used to mention that Staines had not one but /three/ different stations and point out the history of the town while I was growing up, and we've all moved to different places since. This was an unexpected but welcome blast of warmth and nostalgia after a long and gruelling night shift, so thank you for that!
I travelled on this line a couple of times in the early 1960s. A diesel bubble car was in use at the time. On weekdays the service frequency was irregular at difficult-to-remember times, but for some reason on Sundays is was regular at hourly intervals. Yeoveney station was in the middle of a field with, as far as I remember, no road access.
Wow, I'm finding out about all the things I've missed on my walks. Last time you opened my eyes to what used to be next to Merton Abbey, now I've found out that there's a lot more to Staines Moor than I knew. I used to work in Staines, when we were allowed to work in our offices, and Staines Moor was a regular lunchtime walk for me, but everyone I worked with thought it was boring. Now I have lots of new things to tell them and explore there. Thanks. What would make these videos even better would be links to maps with your walks shown so we can easily follow in your footsteps.
Are you planning to trek the route of the former Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway? Just remember to bring boots as, although charming, the path through Sydenham Hill Woods can become a tad muddy.
I went to Royal Holloway late 90s. I remember walking to Staines for a night out! Lived in Halls off site at Runnymede iirc, (60s block now since demolished and a Tapas bar). Then a house in Englefield Green. Watching this makes me realise I wasted the opportunity to explore the area. Found these things too late.
It's surprising how bleak the area between Staines and Heathrow is. You notice it on the train from Staines through Feltham. One evening I had to take the train from Waterloo to Bracknell. It was a Sunday and the line had been dug up, so I had to get a train to Hounslow for a bus connwction to Virginia Water. The bus seemed to go through a waste land, in pitch darkness, passing a few forlorn rows of houses and the odd kebab joint. It felt like a remote part of the American mid west. Finally got to Bracknell 2 1/2 hours after leaving Waterloo.
The other thing about the old Staines West station is I believe the lights in the current car park are made from the old platform's roof supports. Quite a nice touch to keep those around!
I hope you check out the set of garages on Whitehall rd Uxbridge. That was the site of an old railway cutting next to the green way near Brunel university
Good to see that walk. Years ago, when I was working as a consultant for various things, we developed a plan for a line off the Staines - Windsor route, roughly along that way, parallel with part of the M25, then diving down into tunnelling under Heathrow, into terminal 5 (there’s a bit of spare space for an extra 2 platforms in there; there is an artificial ‘wall’ down there), with various options at Staines, Richmond, Waterloo etc. Didn’t go anywhere; probably on file somewhere. ISTR there would have been a traction changeover en route, with the new bit being 25 kV in line with the existing Heathrow arrangement.
I remember walking along the line (safely closed) on Staines/Stanwell moor, so it must have been before the motorway arrived. I remember when the M25 was a twinkle in somebody's eye, before it came along and started causing local flooding.
lovin' these videos. it is so fascinating to learn of and see remnants of the past. heck i am american and i maybe know more about british rail than i do about my local area. thanks
I was always fascinated by Crystal Palace high level. I remember looking over the wall at the abandoned station when I was little and going through the entrance to the Crystal Palace ( remains) to watch the racing when I got bigger.
I know it's a bit of a trek mate, but there's a lovely trail on The Wirral, from West Kirby to Hooton that used to be an old railway. It's now called The Wirral Way. I'd love a Geoff Marshall video of that walk
Just caught up with the new vids Geoff. I heard of this one but had no idea how rural the line was (and still is!) Great that you were able to find all those isolated fragments to form one story, and I rather like the fact that at least a part of it is still in use. 👍 And yeah' the old crossing controls sort of framed the production nicely I thought 😜 Thanks as ever 🍻
I can remember traversing the old level crossing at Colnbrook on the 81 bus or the Green Line coach that used to travel through there on the many trips I used to do in the 70's and 80's on the way to my aunt at Langley. I often wondered where the line went, never saw a train (!!!). And of course, being just a freight line by then, it never featured on any passenger service maps, so I was a little confused for many years...it all started making sense later on...!!
Congratulations Geoff for coming to my home town. I was walking on Staines Moor yesterday. ( Not as soggy as when you visited). There was a scheme back in the early 2000s called Airtrack which was to link Staines and the SWR to LHR Terminal 5. The platforms at Staines were going to be extended and originally a new station in a similar location to Staines High Street. That was soon deleted due to cost. The route would have gone along the old line and would have descended into tunnels to reach T5. I found the information brochure from the BAA ( British Airports Authority )last year while decorating and recycled it. I think it is now doubtful that this scheme will go ahead. Cheers.
Staines Urban District Council was offered the opportunity to become part of the new Greater London in 1974 but declined the opportunity. Modern day residents often complain about the town not being in TfL's travelcard zones (as nearby Feltham is)
Jim Obama I knew that was the case in 1964 when the GLC area was being planned, and Staines and Sunbury opted out, but did that happen again in 1974 when Spelthorne was created?
You seem to be really enjoying exploring these lost lines and your videos make great viewing. In my locality we have the old King's Lynn-Hunstanton railway, much of which can be walked and much which has been built over. Three stations are now private houses, one is a museum and the other a builder's merchants. Level crossing cottages still exist and most platforms remain but no rails. Hunstanton Station has been obliterated and is now a large car park. There are local plans afoot to re-instate the railway but not the original route.
I used to work near Heathrow starting in the late 1970s. There used to be a minor road that ran just below Wraysbury Reservoir, along what is now the alignment of the northbound carriageway of the M25, and as you approached Staines the long, low viaduct was very evident. The level crossing at Colnbrook Station was still operating at the time. There is another nearby lost branch line from West Drayton Station, and that ran up to Vine Street Uxbridge. You'll be hard pressed to find remains of that, although part is (appropriately) land belonging to Brunel University. Uxbridge also had a branch line from the Marleybone mainline at Denham to a completely different railway station, not far from Vine Street, and there were plans to join the two, but it never happened. That line has gone as well, but there's a lot more of the route that remains. Incidentally, in June 1972 a BEA Trident, flight 548 crashed on Staines Moor near the start of that walk on Staines Moor. Excluding Lockerbie, which was a terrorist incident, it has the highest death toll of any air accident in the UK (118 people). Amazing to think that is almost half a century ago.
The road which you mention was Moor Lane which used to run from the point where Geoff was standing up to Poyle. It was also severed by the M25. If you look at Google Maps you can follow the northern part of the route as it runs next to the reservoir up to the roundabout at the junction of Stanwell Road and Poyle Road. It was the route that my late grandfather would take to work when he worked in Colnbrook in the mid 70s.
@@steve.b.23 Thanks. I can't say I ever took note of the road name, but it was a useful back route into Staines (or Staines on Thames as it now prefers to be known - which I think sounds like a pollution experiment). I'm trying to remember what Staines is also known for, apart from being where linoleum was invented).
@@TheEulerID You're welcome, sir! Off the top of my head, Lagonda were founded here. The worst aircrash in the UK happened next to the A30 in the early 70s. Hard-Fi hail from the town. And how could you forget Ali G?! None of the locals call it Staines-upon-Thames. The renaming was a vanity project for a small number of councillors with delusions of grandeur. You can't polish a turd, but you can rename it Turd-upon-Thames. edit: I can't spell : (
A friend and I walked up the freight line when the was level crossing was still there, not in use but no railings, this was back in the eighties, where the freight line meets the mainline we found an old Pill box, don't know if it's still there, I'll have to see if it's on Google earth. Love your lost railway episodes, it must be quite exciting discovering relics from the railways past 👍
there's a bit on Google Maps (3D view) where you can see the bridge across the Wraysbury River, but you can't get to it because it's now fenced off - that must be right where the pill box is, i think ...
@@geofftech2 I think I found it, as the freight line comes into West Drayton coal yard, well it used to be the coal yard, right at the back there's a structure on Google Earth that's a bit odd, that coukd be it. I had a search online and a few commuters have posted seeing what looks like a pill box from the main line.
I use to live right next to the buffer where Staines West was and always loved looking at it. Now I know the route and I find out it goes to West Drayton where I also used to live. Small world.
If you look in the waiting room on platform 2 of Staines station there are several old photos of the railways in the local area. One of them is of the station building at Staines West with what I've always assumed to be all of the station staff lines up in front of the building.
Great video, Geoff. I remember the Staines West station building in the 1970s. No trains by then but you could still see the derelict platform to the rear. The undeveloped building had a Victorian postbox set in the wall, which was still in use, and the buses terminating in Staines used to turn around in front of the station in the days before Staines Bus Station was built.
Stumbled on these vids today, fab! Used to live in Wraysbury, near Staines. I'm now in East Devon, I have a photo on my phone of a disused level crossing with the red circle on the gates, near Ottery St Mary. Get down here and get sleuthing! Lovely vids, thanks🥰
Very interesting video Geoff, this is my local-ish stomping ground (I'm in Cowley), my interest was caught a couple of years ago by the old Stanes station house and have been researching/walking bits of the old line. Until very recent years the old line still ran right across Colnbrook High Street by the old station there, flush with the modern tarmac, and only in the last five-ish years or so have been surfaced over.... Which somehow made me feel sad, that little reminded of what was there being buried.
Enjoying this new series now that you can finally get out and about! - Once the world is back to normal you should come out to Australia for a working holiday and do some videos on our railway networks
When Heathrow was fully operational a couple aviation fuel trains from Immingham went down the branch to Colnbrook terminal. Also a lit of the aggregates for T5 and T2 arrived down the line. Talk of reopening as link from the South to LHR. Some quite detailed plans developed.
Great content! Live around these parts and didn’t know this. It’d be super handy if it still existed, without a car, it’s a pain getting between Staines and the north side of Heathrow Airport and vice versa.
Colnbrook is an oil terminal. It receives jet fuel from refineries and a pipeline takes it to Heathrow. It used to be a Colas contract, but think more recently it's been Freightliner
My favourite bit of the remaining freight line from Colnbrook to West Drayton has to be the bit that goes straight through the middle of the busy M25/M4 interchange. You drive alongside the line if you travel on the slip roads from southbound M25 to westbound M4 or northbound M25 to eastbound M4. I love to think of the problems it gave the junction designer having to incorporate a railway line going right through the middle of it!
I worked in Calder way, colnbrook for years and a rail bridge crossed the river next to the car park, I don’t think you can cross it from any direction.
I'm on the borough Council in Spelthorne so great to hear that the information is good! Great to learn more. By the reading of these comments there would be a good audience for the Geoff Marshall Tours of the old Staines West Line!
@@geofftech2 next time you're back in Spelthorne you'll have to shout! This is a land of Trains that were almost there, or once there or even could be there and you'd be the man to take those stories forward
I grew up in Slough, my sister lives in Colnbrook and I never knew that there was once a train line between Staines and West Drayton! Didn't Bill Bryson write about walking over Stanwell Moor in one of his books?
Hi Geoff, you may like to know that British Airways, pre Terminal 5 and Heathrow Express were researching the possibility of running BA branded trains from Paddington to Heathrow using the West Drayton link. I have a photo somewhere of the model loco painted in the BA livery at the time. Cheers, Rob.
4:45: I’ve often wondered as I’ve driven past those Pollution Control Valve signs, what one actually is, and why anyone would ever open one. Just leave it closed. Or open, whichever setting is the one that controls the pollution.
These episodes would really benefit from a map showing where the lost railway is in relation to the rest of London (and the other lost railways?). A lot of viewers, myself included, aren't from the UK, so don't recognise the localities. An overview map would be really helpful! Thanks for another interesting episode Geoff!
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Appreciation for the extra walking Geoff does to put his camera in position and then walk back to film himself walking past it! Excellent!
He'll need to frame the next intro shot so no gymbal is needed to show 6 digits without twisting his torso though.
The question is, which of his crew will provide the 6th digit for the walk of another London-centric lost railway episode?
Are we about to see an all the lost railways franchise Geoff? Many out here in rural Britain aren't beside the M25, suburban railways or overflown !
I call this the "Les Stroud" camera shot. He did this all the time on Survivorman. He doesn't have a camera crew, so he has to walk back to pick up his camera each time he does it. :)
I have done it when I was filming myself hiking a few times, and it does make me very self conscious that someone could wander by and pick up my camera and take off with it.
It is one of the subtle things Geoff does that I really appreciate.
I was thinking that too!
Dear Geoff, when a teenager in 1959 I discovered Yeoveney in a BR Western Region timetable where it was described as a request stop. Having never heard of a request stop on a railway line before, my brother and I decided to go there. Living in Acton it was easy for us to get to - Acton Main Line change at West Drayton & Yiewsley. We took the train all the way to Staines West then walked the mile up Moor Lane until we got parallel to the platform. To access it we had to walk across a field and climb over a style. It was beautifully peaceful there listening to the birds singing while waiting for the train to return. The station consisted of a wooden platform, a fence along the back, a bench seat and a signboard displaying the name "Yeoveney". No shelter and no lighting. My brother and I loved going there, we went many times. We regarded it as our own special place as we never saw anybody else there. If we had nothing to do on a particular day we would say "Let's go to Yeoveney." And we did.
Thank you, Geoff, you have brought back wonderful memories.
Derek, that's ... beautiful, thank you, such a wonderful comment! I hope you have pictures on an early camera perhaps? We take it all so much for granted now to snap a picture on our phones. Glad to have brought back memories for you. Dare i suggest ... if you can, you should go there somepoint this year to walk the old line yourself !?
Geoff is the only person I know who combines Train, History, Maps, Vlogging and Parkour so well 👏🏾
Don't forget TRAINS
Has anyone mentioned trains yet?
Dont forgot Laughter in some vids Lol
And themed snacks...
*PARKOUR!*
“...And yes, I did have this feeling of bleakness here, but there was also a beauty and tranquility amongst the bleak landscape, which I loved.” is the most Brontë Sisters thing I’ve ever heard. Also, it’s said in a Moor.
This series is combining Northern Heights with Wuthering Heights 😁
@@PlanetoftheDeaf Nice one 👏🏾
the moors there are a nice breath of fresh air, away from all the towns and industrial estates (an ex local)
@@skippyscage I’ve never been there, but I’ll take your word for it.
Though a very different type of moorland.
I live in the USA and have exactly nothing to do with railways in the UK, but I find all of this so fascinating. A bygone era for so many of us, after all. And I really appreciate your level of research and your videography on your own.
I also love the tranquility of bleak landscapes!
This is my 'local' lost line. There's been lots of talk over the years about using some of the old alignment for a southern Heathrow connection, so who knows - maybe one day we'll see trains again on part of this track! Also worth noting that GWR organise the occasional heritage weekend, running a passenger service down the freight line from West Drayton to Colnebrook and back on a class 150 or similar.
@Suðringa o there's an aggregates site there, some airport cargo logistics facilities for Heathrow, and an aviation fuel terminal for the airport
If this line was reopened a lot of traffic would be taken off the nearby motorway.
@@gerardburton1081 Nice idea but I doubt many people passing that length of the M25 would find a trainline from West Drayton to Staines much benefit. The benefit would be in a Western access to Heathrow.
@@PhilEadie65 I would disagree with you because many people can't drive or would like to start their journey from there to continue to a location that is far away.
@Suðringa o
BAA airport fuel, Lafarge tarmac and concrete and Ashville Concrete all have sidings on the remaining branch from West Drayton.
Honestly, your videos are great. Out of context, this is a video of some bloke poking about some woods and the side of the road, pointing out some old stuff, but your passion and interest in this is palpable and makes this genuinely enjoyable to watch. Please keep up the excellent work.
thank you ... a lovely comment! 👍
A massive Thank You for this video!
I live not far from this and have walked on Staines Moor before (walking the dogs) and tried to spot visible signs of the abandoned line but I'll be going back with fresh eyes and a better idea of what to look out for. 👍
Edited to say I walked the Southern part of it (along Staines Moor) this morning and met a couple who were there today after watching your video last night! Great walk! 😃👍🥾
Geoff: A fine mix of history, site-seeing, & nostalgia!
N.B. : The several incremental _MAP_ _INSERTS_ are helpful for our orientation _&_ to tie the "when" to the "where".
Please _DO_ continue to include these maps, as they show routes' connections, stations, extensions, etc. Yes, they DO add to the editing & post -- production load, but the also add a lot of _context_ _!_ Thanks!
/Mike _ _ . _ ._. _
I've travelled on that line, from Staines to Colnbrook, when I worked there back in the early Sixties.
I’m a local and I wasn’t aware that some of the old track bed was walkable. I know what I’ll be doing soon! 😊😊😊
You & me both.
I remember when the line to the South of Bath Road was still there.
@@anthonylloyd6094 Me too! I used to cycle to Heathrow to plane spot occasionally and I remember only once the wooden crossing gates closing. I don’t think it was too long after that the old gates were removed and the crossing became open. And then eventually it was fenced off. Sad times.
NEVER STOP MAKING THESE! So well made, presented and very interesting
thank you Chris, very kind. another one on Friday!
@@geofftech2 U should just in general make a lost railways in britain series like the least used stations series btw u forgot Shippea hill.
The c2c 720s
When I was a teenager, I used to be able to get in to the derelict station house at Staines west and look round. I think you had to bunk over a wall. Then I would walk around the station, its platform and twin platform lines. Then I used to walk up the track on Stainesmoor. Although this was a live railway and walking was not legal there were always plenty of dog walkers on the track on a Sunday. One of the notable things were a number of flat wooden battens between the sleepers running in parallel to the rails which BR had used in connection with automatic train control experiments they ran in the 1960s. I really wouldn't recommend to do it now, but it was nice to see somewhere I used to go when I was a bit of a tearaway.
I’m loving this series. I’d never heard of this line before
Thanks, Geoff for another very enjoyable video. My family has a long history with that area. My aunt and uncle had a house in Staines for decades, and I lived with them for a few weeks in 1971, during which I took the train to work near Paddington, so it took several changes: mainline from Staines to Richmond, District Line from Richmond to Hammersmith, then Hammersmith and City Line to Royal Oak. It would have been a but easier if I could have taken this line from Staines West to West Drayton, then the mainline into Paddington. Then one of my brothers was evacuated during World War II and was sent to Colnbrook, and finally another brother lived for about 40 years in Harlington, about a mile southeast of West Drayton.
These excursions are fast becoming classics. Many thanks for all the research and legwork involved - plus the unrelenting good humour which accompanies them.
Used this line a lot in my youth. Steam Push and Pull from Staines to West Drayton to watch Kings and Castles thunder through on the main line to and from the West Country!
Really impressive building at Staines West. So glad it survives.
I believe that I've read that the Staines West building was an existing house which the promoters of the line bought and converted into a station. This explains why an otherwise rather penny-pinching single track railway had such an impressive terminus.
I walk my dog over staines Moore every weekend and it's very informing to learn more about Staines West.
Also note that at the end of this walk, there's a handy bus stop where you can hop on the 81 and head to Slough or Hounslow
What a delightful choice of destinations - Slough or Hounslow!
Brilliant. It's great how you can be 'remote' next to an airport and a motorway...
When I was a child living in Egham back in the 1950s I was also a devoted train rider and remember riding the train from Staines West to West Drayton and back. Thanks for reawakening this pleasant childhood memory.
Wow, Geoff is really pumping these out at the moment!
Thanks for these they're quite relaxing to watch after a day at work.
You can access the old tracks just a few 100m from Staines West Station, as the fence down Moor Lane has a big hole in it. You can walk along the tracks until it reaches a drop where a bridge would have been. It's pretty cool, and some trees have grown up straight through the gaps in the sleepers.
I found that section purely by chance today! The rail chairs have GWR cast in them, which was pretty cool. Big trees! Might revisit one day when I'm less conspicuous!
It's so great that you came to this area Geoff! If you ever want to film the freight trains, the best spots are: 1) where the line crosses the river Colne (there's a footpath); 2) from the Thorney Mill Road bridge; and 3) from the path next to Godwins Pool. Let me know if you need a guide 😅
Go speak to Daniel at Ashville construction/concrete. He has a rail head north Colnebrook Estate. He has ballast, gravel etc delivered to his yard by train via the freight only loop from West Drayton. He used to do train drone montages, however he has stopped that. Daniel likes trains.
Excellent Geoff. Thank you for the video. I remember Staines West before it closed.
i walked the old disused glasgow railway lines. there is a comfort in seeing history as you walk!!! love your videos!!!
It amazes me how parts of railway history are kept as easter eggs in such bizzare ways and still look so utterly natural to the modern surroundings.
Love your content and research Geoff.
Stay safe!
Excellent episode once again Geoff
I used to live near there. All the places we used to play in and took for granted. But I do remember the noise from the motorway, which cut through and destroyed a farm at the end of our road. Great video; lots of memories.
Bonus fact: In Staines there were another station called Staines High St but it was closed during WW1
I never knew that. Well, we learn each day!
As I recal it was an entirely wooden platform and steps, the supporting infrastructre included what used to be Berts snack bar, now gone, and several shops on the other side of the highstreet at the start of atation path
Love this series! Seeing these old railway lines full of plants and lost railway stuff is really interesting! Well done Geoff!
Have been going through the playlist so didn't see the title, so I was so surprised to see you in a place I recognised! My parents and grandparents always used to mention that Staines had not one but /three/ different stations and point out the history of the town while I was growing up, and we've all moved to different places since. This was an unexpected but welcome blast of warmth and nostalgia after a long and gruelling night shift, so thank you for that!
you're welcome Alex! lovely comment - thanks. give the whole playlist a watch, they're all good!
I travelled on this line a couple of times in the early 1960s. A diesel bubble car was in use at the time. On weekdays the service frequency was irregular at difficult-to-remember times, but for some reason on Sundays is was regular at hourly intervals. Yeoveney station was in the middle of a field with, as far as I remember, no road access.
Wow, I'm finding out about all the things I've missed on my walks. Last time you opened my eyes to what used to be next to Merton Abbey, now I've found out that there's a lot more to Staines Moor than I knew. I used to work in Staines, when we were allowed to work in our offices, and Staines Moor was a regular lunchtime walk for me, but everyone I worked with thought it was boring. Now I have lots of new things to tell them and explore there. Thanks. What would make these videos even better would be links to maps with your walks shown so we can easily follow in your footsteps.
Good work Geoff! It’s well appreciated!
thanks Steve, i appreciate the kind comments too. thank you!
Are you planning to trek the route of the former Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway? Just remember to bring boots as, although charming, the path through Sydenham Hill Woods can become a tad muddy.
love all your videos, please keep them coming!!!
Hold a special place in my memory as this disused railway is near Royal Holloway University. Wished there was an Egham on the map tbh haha.
I went to Royal Holloway late 90s. I remember walking to Staines for a night out! Lived in Halls off site at Runnymede iirc, (60s block now since demolished and a Tapas bar). Then a house in Englefield Green. Watching this makes me realise I wasted the opportunity to explore the area. Found these things too late.
Yeoveney was once Runnemede Range does that count re Egham?!
@@ggkitchener1122 Don't think so. Yeoveney is towards the West Drayton direction so its away from Egham.
@@smoktephoto Runnemede was a misnomer though as shooting club emanated from there
It's surprising how bleak the area between Staines and Heathrow is. You notice it on the train from Staines through Feltham. One evening I had to take the train from Waterloo to Bracknell. It was a Sunday and the line had been dug up, so I had to get a train to Hounslow for a bus connwction to Virginia Water. The bus seemed to go through a waste land, in pitch darkness, passing a few forlorn rows of houses and the odd kebab joint. It felt like a remote part of the American mid west. Finally got to Bracknell 2 1/2 hours after leaving Waterloo.
The other thing about the old Staines West station is I believe the lights in the current car park are made from the old platform's roof supports. Quite a nice touch to keep those around!
I hope you check out the set of garages on Whitehall rd Uxbridge. That was the site of an old railway cutting next to the green way near Brunel university
Got to say, really loving this series Geoff! Hoping for lots more to come
Good to see that walk. Years ago, when I was working as a consultant for various things, we developed a plan for a line off the Staines - Windsor route, roughly along that way, parallel with part of the M25, then diving down into tunnelling under Heathrow, into terminal 5 (there’s a bit of spare space for an extra 2 platforms in there; there is an artificial ‘wall’ down there), with various options at Staines, Richmond, Waterloo etc. Didn’t go anywhere; probably on file somewhere. ISTR there would have been a traction changeover en route, with the new bit being 25 kV in line with the existing Heathrow arrangement.
Really enjoying these
Gotta love a lost railway 👍
If you look at the 1945 aerial image on Google Earth around Heathrow you can find this line!
Cool! I'm not far from Staines, I didn't know about this! I certainly will be doing this!
I remember walking along the line (safely closed) on Staines/Stanwell moor, so it must have been before the motorway arrived. I remember when the M25 was a twinkle in somebody's eye, before it came along and started causing local flooding.
lovin' these videos. it is so fascinating to learn of and see remnants of the past. heck i am american and i maybe know more about british rail than i do about my local area. thanks
This is such a good series Geoff! I'm super looking forward to the next one, as the GW & Uxbridge railway goes pretty much under my house! :)
I was always fascinated by Crystal Palace high level. I remember looking over the wall at the abandoned station when I was little and going through the entrance to the Crystal Palace ( remains) to watch the racing when I got bigger.
Loving the rebooted series! Great camerawork in this as well
Well done for saying 'Staines Moor' without a chuckle.
I know it's a bit of a trek mate, but there's a lovely trail on The Wirral, from West Kirby to Hooton that used to be an old railway. It's now called The Wirral Way. I'd love a Geoff Marshall video of that walk
Just caught up with the new vids Geoff. I heard of this one but had no idea how rural the line was (and still is!) Great that you were able to find all those isolated fragments to form one story, and I rather like the fact that at least a part of it is still in use. 👍
And yeah' the old crossing controls sort of framed the production nicely I thought 😜
Thanks as ever 🍻
Perfect timing for finishing work 👌
I can remember traversing the old level crossing at Colnbrook on the 81 bus or the Green Line coach that used to travel through there on the many trips I used to do in the 70's and 80's on the way to my aunt at Langley. I often wondered where the line went, never saw a train (!!!). And of course, being just a freight line by then, it never featured on any passenger service maps, so I was a little confused for many years...it all started making sense later on...!!
Thanks for another excellent video, Geoff!
Congratulations Geoff for coming to my home town. I was walking on Staines Moor yesterday. ( Not as soggy as when you visited). There was a scheme back in the early 2000s called Airtrack which was to link Staines and the SWR to LHR Terminal 5. The platforms at Staines were going to be extended and originally a new station in a similar location to Staines High Street. That was soon deleted due to cost. The route would have gone along the old line and would have descended into tunnels to reach T5. I found the information brochure from the BAA ( British Airports Authority )last year while decorating and recycled it. I think it is now doubtful that this scheme will go ahead. Cheers.
Staines Urban District Council was offered the opportunity to become part of the new Greater London in 1974 but declined the opportunity. Modern day residents often complain about the town not being in TfL's travelcard zones (as nearby Feltham is)
Jim Obama I knew that was the case in 1964 when the GLC area was being planned, and Staines and Sunbury opted out, but did that happen again in 1974 when Spelthorne was created?
This is so relaxing to watch. I like this.
You seem to be really enjoying exploring these lost lines and your videos make great viewing. In my locality we have the old King's Lynn-Hunstanton railway, much of which can be walked and much which has been built over. Three stations are now private houses, one is a museum and the other a builder's merchants. Level crossing cottages still exist and most platforms remain but no rails. Hunstanton Station has been obliterated and is now a large car park. There are local plans afoot to re-instate the railway but not the original route.
I used to work near Heathrow starting in the late 1970s. There used to be a minor road that ran just below Wraysbury Reservoir, along what is now the alignment of the northbound carriageway of the M25, and as you approached Staines the long, low viaduct was very evident. The level crossing at Colnbrook Station was still operating at the time.
There is another nearby lost branch line from West Drayton Station, and that ran up to Vine Street Uxbridge. You'll be hard pressed to find remains of that, although part is (appropriately) land belonging to Brunel University. Uxbridge also had a branch line from the Marleybone mainline at Denham to a completely different railway station, not far from Vine Street, and there were plans to join the two, but it never happened. That line has gone as well, but there's a lot more of the route that remains.
Incidentally, in June 1972 a BEA Trident, flight 548 crashed on Staines Moor near the start of that walk on Staines Moor. Excluding Lockerbie, which was a terrorist incident, it has the highest death toll of any air accident in the UK (118 people). Amazing to think that is almost half a century ago.
thanks Steve .. yes the Vine Street video is the next video in the series!
The road which you mention was Moor Lane which used to run from the point where Geoff was standing up to Poyle. It was also severed by the M25. If you look at Google Maps you can follow the northern part of the route as it runs next to the reservoir up to the roundabout at the junction of Stanwell Road and Poyle Road. It was the route that my late grandfather would take to work when he worked in Colnbrook in the mid 70s.
@@steve.b.23 Thanks. I can't say I ever took note of the road name, but it was a useful back route into Staines (or Staines on Thames as it now prefers to be known - which I think sounds like a pollution experiment).
I'm trying to remember what Staines is also known for, apart from being where linoleum was invented).
@@TheEulerID You're welcome, sir!
Off the top of my head, Lagonda were founded here. The worst aircrash in the UK happened next to the A30 in the early 70s. Hard-Fi hail from the town. And how could you forget Ali G?!
None of the locals call it Staines-upon-Thames. The renaming was a vanity project for a small number of councillors with delusions of grandeur. You can't polish a turd, but you can rename it Turd-upon-Thames.
edit: I can't spell : (
I caught up with all the videos and I think you’re doing a brilliant job, Geoff! 👏🏾
great lost london railway's episode!
A friend and I walked up the freight line when the was level crossing was still there, not in use but no railings, this was back in the eighties, where the freight line meets the mainline we found an old Pill box, don't know if it's still there, I'll have to see if it's on Google earth.
Love your lost railway episodes, it must be quite exciting discovering relics from the railways past 👍
there's a bit on Google Maps (3D view) where you can see the bridge across the Wraysbury River, but you can't get to it because it's now fenced off - that must be right where the pill box is, i think ...
@@geofftech2 I think I found it, as the freight line comes into West Drayton coal yard, well it used to be the coal yard, right at the back there's a structure on Google Earth that's a bit odd, that coukd be it. I had a search online and a few commuters have posted seeing what looks like a pill box from the main line.
I use to live right next to the buffer where Staines West was and always loved looking at it. Now I know the route and I find out it goes to West Drayton where I also used to live. Small world.
If you look in the waiting room on platform 2 of Staines station there are several old photos of the railways in the local area. One of them is of the station building at Staines West with what I've always assumed to be all of the station staff lines up in front of the building.
Great video, Geoff. I remember the Staines West station building in the 1970s. No trains by then but you could still see the derelict platform to the rear. The undeveloped building had a Victorian postbox set in the wall, which was still in use, and the buses terminating in Staines used to turn around in front of the station in the days before Staines Bus Station was built.
Great new series Geoff very interesting and detailed :).
A most attractive little line, I must say!! I won’t look at walking in southern London, but as many people say, very attractive.
My Dad and I were there on the last day of running and have a 9.5mm film of the day's events :)
I also rode the line on that last day.
David West I was on a DMU railtour (in 1980, I think) that took in this line, plus the Brentford branch, the Coley branch (Reading) and Abingdon.
Stumbled on these vids today, fab! Used to live in Wraysbury, near Staines. I'm now in East Devon, I have a photo on my phone of a disused level crossing with the red circle on the gates, near Ottery St Mary. Get down here and get sleuthing! Lovely vids, thanks🥰
Brilliant videos keep up the good work stay safe 👍👏
Very interesting video Geoff, this is my local-ish stomping ground (I'm in Cowley), my interest was caught a couple of years ago by the old Stanes station house and have been researching/walking bits of the old line. Until very recent years the old line still ran right across Colnbrook High Street by the old station there, flush with the modern tarmac, and only in the last five-ish years or so have been surfaced over.... Which somehow made me feel sad, that little reminded of what was there being buried.
Geoff this is great. Love the Dutch facades jacobean style station house.
Enjoying this new series now that you can finally get out and about! - Once the world is back to normal you should come out to Australia for a working holiday and do some videos on our railway networks
Hi geoff nice video please do more!
Hello Geoff, this is a great video, thank you for sharing this, this is much appreciated. Cheers Peter :)
When Heathrow was fully operational a couple aviation fuel trains from Immingham went down the branch to Colnbrook terminal. Also a lit of the aggregates for T5 and T2 arrived down the line. Talk of reopening as link from the South to LHR. Some quite detailed plans developed.
Great content! Live around these parts and didn’t know this. It’d be super handy if it still existed, without a car, it’s a pain getting between Staines and the north side of Heathrow Airport and vice versa.
Colnbrook is an oil terminal. It receives jet fuel from refineries and a pipeline takes it to Heathrow. It used to be a Colas contract, but think more recently it's been Freightliner
My favourite bit of the remaining freight line from Colnbrook to West Drayton has to be the bit that goes straight through the middle of the busy M25/M4 interchange. You drive alongside the line if you travel on the slip roads from southbound M25 to westbound M4 or northbound M25 to eastbound M4. I love to think of the problems it gave the junction designer having to incorporate a railway line going right through the middle of it!
Nicely done
Colnbrook Rail Depot where this video ended is an interesting read itself! Would be good video for a follow up on that track
I worked in Calder way, colnbrook for years and a rail bridge crossed the river next to the car park, I don’t think you can cross it from any direction.
Awesome series!
that station house. cottage is just darling!
I used to live in Stanwell Moor and before the M25/was built there in 1981 you could walk the length of the track to Staines West Station.
That was really fascinating. Thanks Geoff.
I'm on the borough Council in Spelthorne so great to hear that the information is good! Great to learn more. By the reading of these comments there would be a good audience for the Geoff Marshall Tours of the old Staines West Line!
the info boards are really good Thomas! very clear and plentiful, thank you. 👍
@@geofftech2 next time you're back in Spelthorne you'll have to shout! This is a land of Trains that were almost there, or once there or even could be there and you'd be the man to take those stories forward
I grew up in Slough, my sister lives in Colnbrook and I never knew that there was once a train line between Staines and West Drayton! Didn't Bill Bryson write about walking over Stanwell Moor in one of his books?
4:04 Those posts look suspiciously like platform supports. Methinks you found quite a bit of station remaining!
I agree, that is indeed what I believe them to be.
Hi Geoff, you may like to know that British Airways, pre Terminal 5 and Heathrow Express were researching the possibility of running BA branded trains from Paddington to Heathrow using the West Drayton link. I have a photo somewhere of the model loco painted in the BA livery at the time. Cheers, Rob.
I live in Moor Lane in Staines! Would’ve been nice for you to pop round for a cuppa, but I walk the old track regularly before breakfast haha
4:45: I’ve often wondered as I’ve driven past those Pollution Control Valve signs, what one actually is, and why anyone would ever open one. Just leave it closed. Or open, whichever setting is the one that controls the pollution.
They are designed to open catch tanks by the motorway 🛣 if anything hazardous ☢️ goes down the drains.
These episodes would really benefit from a map showing where the lost railway is in relation to the rest of London (and the other lost railways?). A lot of viewers, myself included, aren't from the UK, so don't recognise the localities. An overview map would be really helpful! Thanks for another interesting episode Geoff!
Hey David! Yes there’s a link in the description which lets you download a map I’ve drawn! 😁
@@geofftech2 Ah! Guess I should have read the description - RTFM right!?