The Railway Company that never ran Trains! EDS 26 Swindon to Highworth
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- Опубликовано: 8 июн 2020
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In this weeks video which was filmed in Mid-late Feb 2020 we take a look at Swindons Branch line that went up to Highworth, in search of any old railway history and infrastructure. We did find a few bits of railway architecture which we hope you enjoy.
Credit:
Picture Highworth Station: Walter Dendy
Picture Highworth Station: Ben Brooksbank
Pictures: swindonweb.com (Marston Factory)
Music:
Epidemicsound.com fully paid license. 
Развлечения
Another fascinating glimpse into our railway history - cheers Paul & Rebecca !
Unless I missed it, you mentioned that the original company asked GWR to buy them out in 1881 but didn't say whether that actually happened or not, so I did a quick search online & found the following article on the Highworth Historical Society website - this might be of further interest to your viewers :
highworthhistoricalsociety.org.uk/highworth-light-railway/
Thanks for sharing Stephen. I'll pin the comment.
Well I had the very same question, thanks for doing the research for me.
Fantastic! Thanks a lot.
Stanton Fitzwarren you came right past my front door when you came up Ermin street the line crossed where you were nr the coop on ermin street i believe vicers was the other side of Highworth rd as Honda is on the old airfield also on lower ermin street there is a memorial to a Canadian pilot who crashed in a spitfire after taking off or trying to land stay safe Trev
My late mother and I were hatched in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. My mother had an English friend names Bill Coates who carved a miniature Spitfire from the windshield of a Spitfire. He did not survive the War, he was shot down, killed. I had the model Spitfire to play with as a small child after moving to Concord Massachusetts, USA in 1956.
I lived in Swindon as a child and remember Kingsdown Junction with a brick signal box and a couple of home signals and not long after when the track from there to Highworth had gone some friends and I walked the trackbed to Highworth, the derelict station still had some levers in the frame in the station. The branch round to Vickers remained for years until completely overgrown with brambles. Also used to play around Stratton station..all long gone now, as well as the hump back bridge. Your video brought back some great memories of this little line.
A very interesting clip indeed. You did a lot of historical research, and set out to film the reality today, of what once was. Well done
yet again. It wasn't easy going on foot, that was plain for all to see Paul. What impressed me the most was the determination of
your faithful and reliable companion, Rebecca. She pulled on her boots and trudged through slushy terrain. Battled her way through
fallen bracken that claimed the path. Always smiling, accommodating, adding input and supporting your effort. She's a GEM mate!
Beeching has a lot to answer for but not just him it still happens today thumbs up to you two keep up great work 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
It really is hard to imagine that there ever were railway lines in these places, seeing how uneven the land has become. It doesn't take long for nature to reclaim its own. It's interesting (to me, not to anyone else) that several of the stations closed on 2nd March 1953 - a month to the day before I was born!!! Best wishes and thanks again, Paul and Rebecca, for another fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable video. Peter A
There were a lot of Rail Way companies in America that never ran trains as well, they owned the land that they leased to the railroads. In some cases the RR barons owned both to enable them to "double dip" and hide their assets from the tax man. The old Penn Central Rail Road went bankrupt in 1970, but spun off two of it's subsidiaries into Penn Trucking, which still exists, and Penn real-estate which still owns property such as the old Penn Central station in New York and Madison Square gardens above it. Penn also owns a lot of the property Amtrak stations sit on, plus right-of-way rights which they have leased out to cable and gas pipeline companies. Isambard Brunel built Swindon into a major manufacturing center when he put his main locomotive works there.
Thanks, always good to learn about other countries history too.
Am I the only one who instinctively waves back at the screen when Rebecca waves her 'hello' at the start of these videos?? LOL!! Hello, Paul and Rebecca!! :)
Hellllooooo
@@pwhitewick 'Waves back frantically...' Hellooo to you two, too!!!
South Marston Works was built by the Ministry of Aircraft Production as a 'Shadow' factory to increase aircraft production for WW2 - firstly for the Miles Master (not Marston) trainer, and later for Short Stirling bombers. Later on it was taken on by Vickers-Armstrong (who owned Supermariine) to produce late (not early) mark Spitfires, and later on, Jet fighters.. Now the site of Honda - and scheduled to close.
The Hannington station part, is used in the summer by off road motorcycle stunt riders. I think a club meet up there, once a month.
It was funny watching this, as you passed our yard and onwards upto my mum's house near Kingsdown/Stanton. In February, we was probably near you when filming!
Most of the trackway joined the Blunsdon line and Blunsdon station, and alot of that route is still walkable
Excellent so the vickers Armstrong place which is now the Honda factory I also remember from my childhood as was brought up in Marlborough, that the runway went all the way to the a419. I didn’t realise they had a line off the highworth branch. I think this is still used to go the mini factory in Swindon. Lots of railway history around there, Marlborough Swindon etc ....
If you use a GPS and map it, it will tell you where you are..! good to see you both out and about.
Not much left well found and interesting as usual!!😎🚂🚃🚃🇬🇧
Glad you enjoyed it
Clue at Hannington - what looks like GWR broad gauge (Bridge) rails used as fence posts. These are found in a lot of places - there are some on the Forth Rail Bridge!
I really enjoyed that. Fascinating look back into the history of the line. Great film. More please
On it Michael.
Well that was lovely. The countryside there is so beautiful. Love the history you impart I just love it. Thank you so much for taking me along. P,ease stay save
Thanks Linda. Glad you enjoyed it.
Love light railways and the Great Western so this ticked a few boxes. Thank you both once more.
Glad you enjoyed it.
I very much enjoyed that video. Fascinating stuff, and as always, very well produced and presented.
I note it was filmed in February, just four months ago. There's the saying that the past is another country. It's amazing how foreign as recently as February 2020 feels.
Thanks Paul and Rebecca.
Yes, it was quite odd editing it thinking how little we knew about what was ahead of us.
There are plenty of railway companies today that don’t run trains.....they are so late they are the next train or even the one after the one that didn’t arrive!
Very true
Thank you for sharing this with us !
Our pleasure Olin
hey paul and rebecca , another cool and very interesting video , :)
I just spent 10 minutes watching a random clip because it hooked me really quick.It was excellent 👍Thanks.
Ah thank you. Very kind.
Great video guys. I live in Highworth.
Well done Paul and Rebecca another great video
I also liked the one you did with Geoff Marshall you both make a good double act
All the best
Paul in Orpington
Thanks Paul. That was a fun day for sure.
Brilliant as ever. Wasnt the nearby Midland and Southwest Jn like this too? Now how about railways that never saw a train? I have 2 good and 1 doubtful.
"Paddy Waddell's Railway" on the North York Moors. Was supposed to run from Kiltonthorpe Junction to Glaisdale
Merrivale was meant to go from Merrivale Quarry to the Plymouth and Dartmoor. Both were started and have incomplete engineering works
Then I heard of a viaduct in Birmingham that never saw a train.
Food for thought as if you don't have enough on your plates?
I like this food for thought!
Excellent effort again Rebecca and Paul! The old embankments are testimony to the back-breaking endeavours of the navvies who built them, surviving on a diet of beef and beer. Apparently navvies had to undergo 12 months of training before they could become fully-fledged. Keep up the excellent work!
Thanks Colin. That's one thing I really should look at more. The Life of a navvie
@@pwhitewick Time Team did an episode about the Navies building a tunnel, and excavated the temporary village that was built to house them. They found lots of old smoking pipes and broken beer mugs!
Interesting video Rebecca & Paul.
Thank you Richard
I wonder what Vickers were making in 1883 since it couldn't have been aeroplanes. That's a "new" sign on the factory in the photo too since it was just Vickers then, can't find a photo with the original sign.
I think many early companies like that changed with the times. We had a local company called taskers who adapted over generations
Great stuff.Keep 'em coming! 🇦🇺😉
Thanks, will do!
another cracking video guys!
Thanks Robin
Thanks guys great glimpse of nerd heaven! Best wishes and take care
Thanks Jimmy
You both put a lot of research into this video so a great effort.
Thanks Bob
I like your sideburns!
Standard
I've just found another disused railway, it's the Upton an north elmsell railway and there is a group of enfuiasts that are talking about reopening it ,as a heritage railway. Mybe you may be interested in finding out about them.
Thanks Martin. Always happy to speak to people about projects like that
Good work
Cracking good muddy walk.. full of interesting facts. shame you could not get the way you wanted and had to go back to the car. Looked lick Rebecca left it to your good self at the end.. I liked the inserts of the maps/drawings and photos.. I often look at Google earth for old railway trackbeds. I spot them from the carriage window when I'm on the train. Cheers
Thanks Keith. It was a tad muddy for sure!
Great video,nice to see you started at the footbridge I take my train photos from. You probably know that G.W.R. used to run a few trains a day from Swindon to Highworth to pick up the workers for the Railway works in Swindon. used to be nicknamed the Highworth Bunk.
Thanks Graham, I didn't know that. How long ago?
@@pwhitewick Not wanting to show my age Paul,but it was when my mother used to take me trainspotting when I was in short trousers,so guessing it was early 60`s. pannier tank and usually 2 carriages.
1) Stanton Fitzwarren. 2) The geology was against you. That area has Kimmeridge Clay, which is a form of glue that is impervious to water.
Ha... Yes we felt it for sure. I actually recall that from Geology lessons!!
Back on track
Great video Paul and Rebecca, fascinating railway walk, especially because of the vickors connection,look really muddy considering we had a record dry may👌👍😀
Filmed in February!... Veeeerry wet
@@pwhitewick the penny drops 😂
Interesting, as a child I lived in Highworth and used to often play/walk dogs along the old track. So at the Hannington end I remember seeing the platform and further down the tracks are/were some lovely bridges to go under. Happy days
Thanks Lucie. I wonder if it was more visible when you played there as a kid?
@@pwhitewick oh yeah for sure, I remember it well.
Hi Paul I enjoyed this one short but for some reason I seemed to be able to follow your words better .. good job both of you.
You might just be getting used to us!
I'd never heard of the Miles Master, the plane you were talking about. As powerful as the very early Spitfires and Hurricanes, with flaps, retracting undercarriage and good manoverability, it was used to train fighter pilots in combat tactics. They were twin seat but some had a single seat conversion and 6 machine guns fitted but didn't see action. There's a nice bit of trivia for you!
Splendid
Another great video, thank you. What a shame there is not much to see anymore, but a very interesting trip anyway,
Local to you I presume?
@@pwhitewick Well I live in Chippenham so fairly local, yes. But I do visit Swindon very often (unless a lockdown is in place).
The very last train on the line to Highworth before its closure was hauled by class 3 shunter number D2182, which is now preserved as the station shunter at Winchcombe on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire railway.
Ah wonderful. Love stories like this.
Oh no! The railway workers have been Tangoed!
Another fascinatingly informative video :-)
There were indeed.
Thanks guys another fascinating insite into a forgotten line. Makes you wonder how many other small lines were taken over by bigger comapnies.
From what we have seen in our travels this was an extremely common occurrence
They *all* were really. In the 1923 "grouping", all but a small minority(about 50) were absorbed into the "Big Four"; the GWR, LMS, LNER and SR. They, in turn, were amalgamated into British Railways in 1948. There were some exceptions, including many of the Welsh narrow gauge railways.
Love the vids❤️❤️❤️❤️
Fascinating
Fascinating stuff as ever. I recommend a Satmap Active 20 GPS which will pinpoint your position on an OS 1:25K ('filmable' too) and will save you having to guess station locations. Keep them coming please.
Thanks Jerry. Normally ok until we lose service on the phone.
I don't think that the Swindon and Highworth was the only railway company not to run its own trains or sell out as soon as it could to a bigger company. That photo at the end was an RCTS railtour on 25 April 1954.
Thanks Leslie. You are right indeed but I needed a decent hook title for this and had nothing.... 😬😬
Apart from the wet and sticky bit - perfect cycle route away from motorised traffic.
On Kingsdown Road bridge is still in place. Their was talk of cycle track between Highworth and Swindon, which I think included using some off railway line.
That would be good. Plenty of pathway up there to utilise.
Another great video! Looking at Highworth's 8,000 population a railway could be useful but I think it might just be a little to small. That said maybe history should repeat itself and a light railway with Parry People Mover style trains could work and it could serve the outskirts of Swindon to!
8000 is a huge amount.
@@pwhitewick What would you say the minimum amount of people for a town/village to have a railway station? I'm guessing it could be a smaller number of people to reopen a railway station on a line which is still in operation?
Well Devizes is 30k peeps and looks to be close to getting a "parkway".
great vid, I particularly liked it when you tried to be kind to the hay bales by lowering your voice -- very considerate of you -- and just like a good hubby, you didn't comment on your wife's inappropriate choice of footwear :)
To be fair we both had widely inappropriate footwear on the day.
Paul and Rebecca, do you plan to walk the abandoned Varsity line past Calvert Junction towards Bletchley, before it gets unabandoned and rebuilt for East West Rail phase 2? Some lovely old village halts will soon have trains passing again!
We would certainly love to but I don't think we are going to get the time.
Many thanks, learnt a great deal. Forgive me if you already have, but have you taken a look at the Golden Valley Light Railway, Pontrilas to Hay? I found some cuttings and bridges in Clifford, above the Wye recently.
Not as yet Rob, cheers for the tip.
Amazing.
Thanks!
Excellent
Thanks Jeff
Feb 2020. Guess that was just before Covid 19 arrived. Was this your last video before it all went pear shaped? Would be nice to see a cycle path along the old track bed The route looked good with attractive embankments and long straight stretches. So much work obviously went into the line. It would be great to see that all that effort didn't go to waste. Must check maps and see if it would link up with other cycle paths. Sustrans might be interested.
Yup this was when things were rapidly going down hill. In fact it may have been early March!
Fascinating review of a branch I've never heard of which is shameful as I did live in Gloucester for a couple of years. Interesting intro, loved the orange men wisecracks. There is just something so wrong with wires on the Western. Should be gas-turbine powered high speed trains, loco and stock OBVIOUSLY...
Nice one Team. I hope you all are fine.
All good thanks, and you!
Marston were Engine makers aircraft and marine I think..
excellent historical entertainment. love the way you both bring it to life for us.,amazing just what is left under the tree roots.
Their not the railtrack army their escaped convicts from gitmo so your safe lol, great video as always.
Vickers Armstrong Halt closed June 1957 although non passenger trains use the line to this day
Ah thanks.
They only use the first few hundred metres of the track though, the rest is gone
Very interesting, Thank you. It always surprises me that when you think these old stations have been obliterated, there is some bit of stone or paving left. The duck six loco in the last picture had the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society initials on the front. Wonder what that was about.
Interesting stuff. Get digging Carl.
According to Rail-Online
"Rail Tour at Highworth with a GW Dock Tank
View southward, towards Swindon, on the occasion in April 1954 when the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society ran a Tour from London (Victoria) to Swindon Works, with an ancillary trip up the Highworth Branch, which had been closed to passengers on 2/3/53 - to goods on 6/8/62. The 0-6-0 Dock Tank, No. 1366 (built 1934, withdrawn 1/61), was normally employed at Swindon Wagon Works."
@@tinplategeek1058 Good info, saved me looking it up.😁
I see a couple of references to this being a "dock" tank. From what I know, this term usually means the loco will have a particularly short wheelbase. Is there anything *else* about this loco which makes it easily identifiable as a "dock" tank?
Never got over this line. I remember the shunts too and from the scrap sidings. and steel works. An interesting walk but disappointing of how little there was to see at Highworth.
Yup it's pretty much Hannington and not a lot else. Still all ticked off
Not a lot left that's recognisable, which would explain why I've never spotted it despite having travelled the A361 through Highworth more times than you can shake a stick!
Railway didn't reach as far as the A361, second turning on the left after the lights is Station Rd.
Standing joke being the station was so far out of town that Hannington station was closer to Highworth.
Miles Master, hardly a Spitfire!!! A good little lost railway, did it ever get GWR backing? Surprised you actually found some remnants. Nice B & W ending!!!
GWR ran it and pretty much brought out the Swindon and Highworth Light Railway Company.
Disused Swindon station never thought I'd hear that said
One of many!
We have lost so much this country could have had a fantastic transport infastucture
Between Stanton and Hannington station the line crosses the Highworth to Blunsdon Rd.
There used to be a level crossing gate in the hedge, not sure if it can be seen now.
I travelled that road every day for work and I think the crossing gate disappeared about 5 or 6 years ago,think it was coming from Blunsdon just before you went up hill to the Freke Arms.
I remember seeing that gate so glad you mentioned it. I was driving about that area for work about 2000 ish.
trains, trains, I love TRAINS! More! Yes, I'm jonesin'! More ...
Ok then....
Brilliant Video you 2. When you say Light Railway what gauge would it have been?
Standard guage but with significant restrictions such as 25mph speed limit.
At 8 minutes ish. Are those fence posts on the old platform edge made from old rails? Saw something similar while walking the old Glyn Valley Tramway route in the last few weeks.
Yes its quite common on this line. There is still a distance marker near where the Stratton station was that is attached to a piece of old rail and a fair bit of fencing made from it in the woods at Stanton
So you could say that the line was done on a Botch-job? or trying to cut corners to save on Money which made the line unsafe but apart from the theories that was left with me after watching this video, this was a great video! shame about the footage that was lost, I can admit it has happened to me as well which when I went to Swanage Railway, go to edit the video and missed quite a bit of footage which frustrated me and ended up changing the ending!
Cheers Simon. Yes like many in their early days there was a distinct lack of funds even for a light railway
as they say it was yet another that had to be "bailed out". Rather complex. Botch apparently derives from Thomas Bouch of Tay Bridge fame as if you didn't know that
Have you been to the Isle of Wight to video disused rail lines?
Not as yet. Bit when the hotels open. We are going!
@@pwhitewick We've walked from Shanklin towards Ventnor, Ventnor West towards St Lawrence, and the best one Freshwater to Yarmouth alongside the River Yar. It's worth getting a Southern Vectis "Key" ticket which is valid on all the buses for a period of time, which is useful for getting back from the end of a walk to where you've parked - or even to get around for the whole day. If you do the bus from Shanklin to Freshwater, look for two delightfully-named bus stops "Back of Beyond" and "Middle of Nowhere" on different parts of the Military Road along the south coast.
Nice video (again). Question, what program do you use to show the old map and the current map of an area? Paul mentioned it when he was in the video with Geoff Marshall but I can't find it (or just not looking for the right program). Thanks in advance!
It's basically a website by National Library of Scotland. Go to Google and type "side by side maps". That's the one.
@@pwhitewick Thank you!
Nah.... you didn't get close enough "on foot" to the Vickers platform to be allowed to count that... :-) however you probably drove very very close to it on the A361 just before you tooktThe Stanton Fitzwarren turn as the railway went under the road to get into the factory. I think you missed one of the most interesting bits at the start. There is a footpath all the way along side the Mini factory from the footbridge you started on right to the Meadowcroft Road. Some interesting sidings into Mini and... no trace of it, but I think it used to service a (Gun) Powder Factory on teh other side of teh tracks during WW1. The line from that first junction into Mini was in use long after the service to Highworth ceased. In the Late 90's I sat in an office near by and watched car bodies set off for Longbridge.
The other important thing you didn't mention.... don't know how you missed it..... late 60's/ early 70's, the Cross Country Running route from Kingsdown School used to take us along the track for about half a mile...... track there came up early 70's.
I lived in Highworth for the first 11 years of my life, then moved into actual swindon. I used to play up on the old train track in Highworth, we called it, black bridge coz there is a old black bridge down there. Anyone know if that bridge is still there.
When it comes up on the screen, how many stations visited etc etc
It doesn't stay up long enough to read it
Maybe I'm getting old !!!
Paul Harding Harding Ditto.
Yup agreed folks, the issue is I'm trying to keep the viewers engaged as that's definitely how RUclips works. Short clips etc. I'll try and extend a little.
Pause it?
Are you the Paul Harding of the cycling branch of TRBL?
I know, but slowing down the video would decrease the amount of content, so I use the "K" key to pause the video so I can read signs and maps.
Two things. First a railway company that never run trains can only be in GB, and second....we bought our first coffee for 12 weeks!!
Haha.... Congratulations on the coffee. We are still doing takeaway coffee from home!!
@@pwhitewick We had a flask of coffee from home with us....but when we saw our fav cafe open.......well!
1:39 that who I work for 😁
👍👍
Wasn't run by Chris Grayling was it?
Watch wise up channel and be amazed about what tartarian ancient tech
had to offer and we still see the tartarian arcitchture everywhere today
🤦
are the fence posts at Hannington made of old rail?
It was a couple of months ago so I don't completely recall.
Yes. There is a lot of rail and bent rail acting as fence posts along and around the route where they found the embankment
Seems that the railway gauge was different in the 9:15 picture and the 9:23 picture.
It does look like that but my thought is it's just the perspective. I think it's standard gauge all the way.... I think.
@@pwhitewick Yup, all standard gauge.
8:45 I'm trying to work out what those 4 parallel dark features are, below where you're pointing? At first, I thought they were sleepers, but on pausing the video, they appear to be something else. any ideas?
I think that's actually closer than it looks and it's part of the downslope of the platform edge. I think.
@@pwhitewick I thought on closer inspection, there were some of those textured anti slip tiles down there too.
@@MM0IMC yes most definitely
Kingsdown Rd Juntion?
Have you ever thought of doing this in other countries? :D
We wouldn't mind, but we would need to be a tad more financially secure.
The Whitewicks Well, just in case, I’ve made a map of all current and disused railways in Denmark (Well, most of them at least), including stations. It is available here: www.google.com/maps/d/drive?state=%7B%22ids%22%3A%5B%221urwRJskrbQFLDG0ESIqlmKFR0N8WlcEL%22%5D%2C%22action%22%3A%22open%22%2C%22userId%22%3A%22111117688084475080210%22%7D&usp=sharing
Ay up lad, you're a booger for your embankments. It must have been a very scrappy job if it wasn't even up to light railway standards.
Oh yes. You can read up on the million faults it had. Quite bizarre