Ah yes, Merseyrail...my favorite cultivar of banana 😂This metro-commuter rail mix reminds me of PATH and the PATCO Speedline! I'm glad Bear decided to just walk to Wales instead of giving up, since they were so close! I don't blame the Welsh for being so proud of their wicked cool dragon! So Wirral means "myrtle corner", and this refers to how the Wirral Peninsula was once overgrown with bog myrtle or Myrica gale! Chester on the other hand comes from the Latin word castrum, meaning fort. Chester was founded in 79 AD as a castrum by the Romans under Emperor Vespasian. During this time, it was called Deva Victrix. Victrix comes from the Legio XX Valeria Victrix that was based there. Chester's Roman amphitheater fell into disuse in 350 but was rediscovered in 1929 during gardening works at Dee House. The original Eastgate was guarded by a timber tower which was replaced by a stone tower in the 2nd century, and this in turn was replaced probably in the 14th century. The present gateway dates from 1768. The clock tower wasn't added to Eastgate until 1899 to celebrate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee which happened two years earlier in 1897 (hence why it says 1897 at the bottom).
The Wirral line is named after the Wirral Peninsular which sticks up between the Mersey Estuary and the Dee Estuary. Wirral is a two syllable word -- Wi-rul, rather than whirl, because most English dialects are non-rhotic. If an "r" modifies the sound of the vowel before it, it isn't pronounced. If the "r" is pronounced, like in Wirral, it doesn't modify the sound of the vowel before it. This is a general non-rhotic rule, which does have some exceptions -- it's English after all!
Merseyrail is my local network, great to see people cover it internationally! Very nice video! :) Also: at 2:20 The Wirral is the peninsula where most of the Wirral Line is, the Wirral is part of Merseyside but also has it's own council group.
@@Thom-TRA pretty much pal it's wig-ann. Just for future information if you ever cover HS2 golborne is pronounced goal -bun as everyone says it wrong .....
Liverpool to Shotton (first station in Wales) via Bidston or Chester is £9 return. Mersey rail and then switch to Transport for Wales. Both could have been caught from central.
How funny, i always love your channel for trains I've either never seen or maybe only visited on vacation. But this is my neck of the woods, I'm from Chester, my Dad lives on the Wirral line (Port Sunlight to be exact, a very pretty village, worth a visit) and now I live on the West Coast mainline into Euston where Bear is going next. It's interesting to see it through fresh eyes (though personally I always thought the Eastgate clock was pretty cool).
I've not visited Liverpool very often- once for the Isle of Man ferry in my motorbiking days and once with my wife for the Liverpool Garden Festival when (if I remember correctly) the station for the festival was St. Michaels. This was prior to the formation of Merseyrail, but even in those days the system was fascinating. I am glad that the line to Chester (a lovely city from whence came my paternal, Welsh speaking grandfather) was electrified, but these days if you suggest 3rd rail extension, the DfT has panic attack. It would be great if electric trains could be extended to Wrexham- less hassle than batteries.
Ahhh yes, St Michael's, remember it well from the International Garden Festival - went there on an overnight coach from London - unfortunately, the coach terminal in central Liverpool was on strike but the upside was I got to see more of Merseyrail than I otherwise might have, plus a ride on the ferry from Birkenhead - downside was the Merseyside cheap fares didn't yet reach all the way to Chester, where I needed to be to catch the coach back \m/
Interesting train video, over the border and Daffodils, the national flower of Wales, I think Bear might be the first visitor from America underwhelmed by Chester. Wonder if Jack will reappear as a train companion?
“Headbolt Lane” just left me laughing out loud for awhile. Damned, our British forebears really knew how to name a place. So how did you and your brother become train people?
Is there a video on the channel where you touch the subject of you and Bear (and perhaps other siblings) being fluent in English while being born in (coming from an) non-English-speaking country? Thanks!
The fare is rather steep. Is there a subsidized monthly pass ? With a monthly pass I can make 15 round trips from San Jose to downtown SF on BART or Caltrain, which is about 50 miles. This seems to be only half that distance.
@@Thom-TRA I don’t understand why they jack up the fares during rush hour. That actively deters ridership. Here it’s a flat fare at all times. I can’t imagine how bad the 101 traffic would be if Caltrain or BART jacked up rush hour fares.
I live on the Wirral, you can get rail passes yes, you can also get tickets that last all day and a metro card that works on trains, busses and Ferries within Merseyside
TfW certainly doesn't seem like a good value for a short trip. Just a short trip a few towns over would've run like 8 pounds with a railcard and 11 pounds without, just as well to take a longer trip over to Conwy or Holyhead for not much more money at that point. Still way cheaper than Avanti. UK rail is just ridiculously expensive for the level of service, you can book a fist class ticket on a Spanish high speed train for what a standard class ticket on Avanti costs.
Merseyrail isn't a metro system because it is part of the national rail network. Freight trains do use the Merseyrail network to access to Liverpool Docks. Merseyrail and Northern shares the same line between Hunts Cross and Liverpool South Parkway. Third Rail wasn't a possible for the Headbolt Lane extension because of the saftey issues from Third rail and the inefficiencies which come from Third rail. The regulations in the UK ban new third rail with the people enforcing this ban if the Office of Rail and Road and the Rail Standards and Saftey Board. The class 508s used to work in the Southern part of the United Kingdom on the third rail electrified network in the South. The 508s were originally four coach units, then when moved to Merseyrail they lost one of there TSO (Trailier Standard Open) coaches to the replacement units of the class 455s, the class 455/7s are the units with the class 508 TSO coach. The Class 507s and 508s come from the same family of train known as PEPs (Protype Electric Pneumatic) with other members of the family being the class 313s, 314s, 315s, 445s, 446s and 455/7s. The Merseyrail Rail network has a top speed of 85mph between Hunts Cross and Liverpool South Parkway.
Metropolitan line trains share tracks with Chiltern trains and District line trains share tracks with the Overground. Tyne & Wear Metro shares tracks with national rail as well. So what’s your point? Are none of those metros either?
Technically there's no defined criteria of what a metro service is. Yes Merseyrail is part of the National rail Network however its also a devolved system whos partent company is Merseytravel and not the DfT, therefore the entire TOC is ran locally. Merseytravel are also in advanced talks with the DfT and the government to take over the infrastructure and tracks from Network rail and bring the entire network under the control of Merseytravel.
@@Thom-TRA The difference is operationally, because Merseyrail (Merseyrail Electric 2002) is officially classed as an interurban system by the government. Whereas London Underground (London Underground Limited) is officially an Urban and suburban passenger railway transportation by underground, metro and similar systems. According to the UK government's companies house. The examples you gave with London underground are where it interlines with passenger trains and not freight trains. Tyne & Wear Metro sometimes is classed as a metro and sometimes a suburban rail system because of the interlining with freight trains on the South Sheilds and South Hylton Branches. Tyne & Wear Metro operates more like a metro than Merseyrail does. Also Merseyrail follows the Network Rail rulebook where as the Tyne & Wear Metro and London Underground follow there own rulebook. Meseryrail also gets more freight trains per day than Tyne & Wear Metro, Tyne & Wear Metro at most gets 16 trains per day whereas Meseryrail gets over 50 freight trains per day. The ORR has a list of requirements for Metro systems which Tyne & Wear Metro meets most of the time whereas Merseyrail does not meet. Tyne & Wear Metro is owned by NEXUS who owns the full Tyne & Wear Metro apart from Pelaw to South Hylton and Bede. By Merseryrail being part of the National Rail network this means under the ORR rules it can not be a metro system whereas Tyne & Wear Metro isn't part of the national rail network and so can be a Metro system then same with London Underground is part of National Rail whereas Elizabeth Line and London Overground are.
@@g4viscon The ORR and RSSB have defined criteria to be a Metro system and one of them is not being part of National Rail. The Merserytravel buying the tracks of Network Rail has been cancelled because of complexity reasons with gaining the other licence which would be required to run the mainline trains over the Meresyrail network. Also it is down to Electric and Signalling reasons for example even if the network was transffered it would require an expensive resignalling scheme to move control from Chester, Ellmers Port, Hunts Cross, Liverpool Lime Street, Southport and Manchester box with the DC current being feed from the Electric Control Room at Manchester. The license Merseyrail or Merseytravel would need to get is a hard one to get hence NEXUS chainaged plans instead of buying the Jarrow Signle line from Network Rail they sold there single line to Network Rail as they already had the other license to run on Network Rail from when they extened to South Hylton on Network Rails owned track and also Merseytravel is not trading according to compaines house. Also, the DfT isn't wanting to allow it take place after the problems with the 777s which have come to light, such as the doors not being the most reliable, only getting between 200 and 300 miles between failures vs the old PEPs which are at around 18,000 miles between failures.
Your brother does a very good job documenting. I like how it gives you the opportunity to make more videos through him.
I’m very grateful for him!
Ah yes, Merseyrail...my favorite cultivar of banana 😂This metro-commuter rail mix reminds me of PATH and the PATCO Speedline! I'm glad Bear decided to just walk to Wales instead of giving up, since they were so close! I don't blame the Welsh for being so proud of their wicked cool dragon! So Wirral means "myrtle corner", and this refers to how the Wirral Peninsula was once overgrown with bog myrtle or Myrica gale! Chester on the other hand comes from the Latin word castrum, meaning fort. Chester was founded in 79 AD as a castrum by the Romans under Emperor Vespasian. During this time, it was called Deva Victrix. Victrix comes from the Legio XX Valeria Victrix that was based there. Chester's Roman amphitheater fell into disuse in 350 but was rediscovered in 1929 during gardening works at Dee House.
The original Eastgate was guarded by a timber tower which was replaced by a stone tower in the 2nd century, and this in turn was replaced probably in the 14th century. The present gateway dates from 1768. The clock tower wasn't added to Eastgate until 1899 to celebrate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee which happened two years earlier in 1897 (hence why it says 1897 at the bottom).
The Wirral line is named after the Wirral Peninsular which sticks up between the Mersey Estuary and the Dee Estuary. Wirral is a two syllable word -- Wi-rul, rather than whirl, because most English dialects are non-rhotic. If an "r" modifies the sound of the vowel before it, it isn't pronounced. If the "r" is pronounced, like in Wirral, it doesn't modify the sound of the vowel before it. This is a general non-rhotic rule, which does have some exceptions -- it's English after all!
What would English be without its exceptions…
Merseyrail is my local network, great to see people cover it internationally! Very nice video! :)
Also: at 2:20
The Wirral is the peninsula where most of the Wirral Line is, the Wirral is part of Merseyside but also has it's own council group.
Great video fellas, thanks for
You’re very welcome!
Love it. As a local of Liverpool this is appreciated
Glad you enjoyed it!
Brilliant video, thanks very much to bear for documenting his trip. And for your added info for a area close to me as a Wigan native
Did I pronounce Wigan correctly? I tried
@@Thom-TRA pretty much pal it's wig-ann. Just for future information if you ever cover HS2 golborne is pronounced goal -bun as everyone says it wrong .....
I Iove all the daffodils at the gateway into Wales!
Great job as usual! I especially enjoyed the castle at St. Michael's station!
It’s a quaint little station!
Liverpool to Shotton (first station in Wales) via Bidston or Chester is £9 return. Mersey rail and then switch to Transport for Wales. Both could have been caught from central.
Brilliant video!
Thank you!
Nice video boys. Live comment together with the voiceover is actually very pleasant.
Chester is a great day trip from Liverpool, I did it last year. Much cheaper alternative to taking Transport for Wales.
It seemed very charming
Welcome to our network! I'm glad you had a great time :)
Thank you!!
How funny, i always love your channel for trains I've either never seen or maybe only visited on vacation. But this is my neck of the woods, I'm from Chester, my Dad lives on the Wirral line (Port Sunlight to be exact, a very pretty village, worth a visit) and now I live on the West Coast mainline into Euston where Bear is going next. It's interesting to see it through fresh eyes (though personally I always thought the Eastgate clock was pretty cool).
I think the clock is cool too, don’t know what my brother is talking about!
I've not visited Liverpool very often- once for the Isle of Man ferry in my motorbiking days and once with my wife for the Liverpool Garden Festival when (if I remember correctly) the station for the festival was St. Michaels. This was prior to the formation of Merseyrail, but even in those days the system was fascinating.
I am glad that the line to Chester (a lovely city from whence came my paternal, Welsh speaking grandfather) was electrified, but these days if you suggest 3rd rail extension, the DfT has panic attack. It would be great if electric trains could be extended to Wrexham- less hassle than batteries.
Thanks!
You’re welcome!
Ahhh yes, St Michael's, remember it well from the International Garden Festival - went there on an overnight coach from London - unfortunately, the coach terminal in central Liverpool was on strike but the upside was I got to see more of Merseyrail than I otherwise might have, plus a ride on the ferry from Birkenhead - downside was the Merseyside cheap fares didn't yet reach all the way to Chester, where I needed to be to catch the coach back \m/
Sounds like there was a silver lining after all
I enjoyed that video👍👍
Sheldon would love this channel 😂
Interesting train video, over the border and Daffodils, the national flower of Wales, I think Bear might be the first visitor from America underwhelmed by Chester. Wonder if Jack will reappear as a train companion?
Alas, Jack was a one-time appearance only
Mmm could have got a bus from near Chester rail station to nearby Saltney (split by the england/wales border)..
I love the awesome train car at 4:07!!!! It’s so awesome that you were able to make a video from brother Bear’s travels!!!
Yay my home turf!!
Hope I did it justice
yes! you did great!@@Thom-TRA
“Headbolt Lane” just left me laughing out loud for awhile. Damned, our British forebears really knew how to name a place.
So how did you and your brother become train people?
There’s an endless supply of entertaining names
Very enjoyable and informative. Is Bear older or younger than Thom?
Younger
Is there a video on the channel where you touch the subject of you and Bear (and perhaps other siblings) being fluent in English while being born in (coming from an) non-English-speaking country? Thanks!
Could be a subject to touch upon in a livestream
The fare is rather steep. Is there a subsidized monthly pass ? With a monthly pass I can make 15 round trips from San Jose to downtown SF on BART or Caltrain, which is about 50 miles. This seems to be only half that distance.
British rail travel is very expensive in general
@@Thom-TRA I don’t understand why they jack up the fares during rush hour. That actively deters ridership. Here it’s a flat fare at all times. I can’t imagine how bad the 101 traffic would be if Caltrain or BART jacked up rush hour fares.
I live on the Wirral, you can get rail passes yes, you can also get tickets that last all day and a metro card that works on trains, busses and Ferries within Merseyside
Wirral means myrtle corner
Now I need to look up what Myrtle Corner means lol
It is a Myrtle tree that used to grow in the area. The trees are gone.@@Thom-TRA
@@stevesteffen7001 that is sad
Hmm but Merseyrail Electric only go as far as Chester the Wrecsam to Bidston line is firmly run by Trafidieth Cymru Cymru y Gorau
It may be worth your while to watch the video. There you will see how the boys get to Wales.
Hi sam
TfW certainly doesn't seem like a good value for a short trip. Just a short trip a few towns over would've run like 8 pounds with a railcard and 11 pounds without, just as well to take a longer trip over to Conwy or Holyhead for not much more money at that point. Still way cheaper than Avanti. UK rail is just ridiculously expensive for the level of service, you can book a fist class ticket on a Spanish high speed train for what a standard class ticket on Avanti costs.
Definitely not for the faint of heart
Merseyrail isn't a metro system because it is part of the national rail network. Freight trains do use the Merseyrail network to access to Liverpool Docks. Merseyrail and Northern shares the same line between Hunts Cross and Liverpool South Parkway. Third Rail wasn't a possible for the Headbolt Lane extension because of the saftey issues from Third rail and the inefficiencies which come from Third rail. The regulations in the UK ban new third rail with the people enforcing this ban if the Office of Rail and Road and the Rail Standards and Saftey Board. The class 508s used to work in the Southern part of the United Kingdom on the third rail electrified network in the South. The 508s were originally four coach units, then when moved to Merseyrail they lost one of there TSO (Trailier Standard Open) coaches to the replacement units of the class 455s, the class 455/7s are the units with the class 508 TSO coach. The Class 507s and 508s come from the same family of train known as PEPs (Protype Electric Pneumatic) with other members of the family being the class 313s, 314s, 315s, 445s, 446s and 455/7s. The Merseyrail Rail network has a top speed of 85mph between Hunts Cross and Liverpool South Parkway.
Metropolitan line trains share tracks with Chiltern trains and District line trains share tracks with the Overground. Tyne & Wear Metro shares tracks with national rail as well. So what’s your point? Are none of those metros either?
Technically there's no defined criteria of what a metro service is. Yes Merseyrail is part of the National rail Network however its also a devolved system whos partent company is Merseytravel and not the DfT, therefore the entire TOC is ran locally. Merseytravel are also in advanced talks with the DfT and the government to take over the infrastructure and tracks from Network rail and bring the entire network under the control of Merseytravel.
@@Thom-TRA The difference is operationally, because Merseyrail (Merseyrail Electric 2002) is officially classed as an interurban system by the government. Whereas London Underground (London Underground Limited) is officially an Urban and suburban passenger railway transportation by underground, metro and similar systems. According to the UK government's companies house. The examples you gave with London underground are where it interlines with passenger trains and not freight trains. Tyne & Wear Metro sometimes is classed as a metro and sometimes a suburban rail system because of the interlining with freight trains on the South Sheilds and South Hylton Branches. Tyne & Wear Metro operates more like a metro than Merseyrail does. Also Merseyrail follows the Network Rail rulebook where as the Tyne & Wear Metro and London Underground follow there own rulebook. Meseryrail also gets more freight trains per day than Tyne & Wear Metro, Tyne & Wear Metro at most gets 16 trains per day whereas Meseryrail gets over 50 freight trains per day. The ORR has a list of requirements for Metro systems which Tyne & Wear Metro meets most of the time whereas Merseyrail does not meet. Tyne & Wear Metro is owned by NEXUS who owns the full Tyne & Wear Metro apart from Pelaw to South Hylton and Bede. By Merseryrail being part of the National Rail network this means under the ORR rules it can not be a metro system whereas Tyne & Wear Metro isn't part of the national rail network and so can be a Metro system then same with London Underground is part of National Rail whereas Elizabeth Line and London Overground are.
@@A-Trainspotter-From-Berkshire none of that means it’s not a metro. It serves a metro-like function.
@@g4viscon The ORR and RSSB have defined criteria to be a Metro system and one of them is not being part of National Rail. The Merserytravel buying the tracks of Network Rail has been cancelled because of complexity reasons with gaining the other licence which would be required to run the mainline trains over the Meresyrail network. Also it is down to Electric and Signalling reasons for example even if the network was transffered it would require an expensive resignalling scheme to move control from Chester, Ellmers Port, Hunts Cross, Liverpool Lime Street, Southport and Manchester box with the DC current being feed from the Electric Control Room at Manchester. The license Merseyrail or Merseytravel would need to get is a hard one to get hence NEXUS chainaged plans instead of buying the Jarrow Signle line from Network Rail they sold there single line to Network Rail as they already had the other license to run on Network Rail from when they extened to South Hylton on Network Rails owned track and also Merseytravel is not trading according to compaines house. Also, the DfT isn't wanting to allow it take place after the problems with the 777s which have come to light, such as the doors not being the most reliable, only getting between 200 and 300 miles between failures vs the old PEPs which are at around 18,000 miles between failures.
"A combination of a metro and a regional rail." In other words an s-bahn, or a BART or WaMATA Metrorail
PEP
Pretty nippy \m/
Great video!
Thanks!