Polesworth - Least Used Station In Warwickshire
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- Опубликовано: 28 фев 2018
- Storm Emma has blown in from the east, the temperatures are below freezing, but that's no reason not to visit a 'Least Used' station! Welcome to Warwickshire, and Polesworth ....
So this based upon the ORR statistics for 2015/2016. ORR stats can be downloaded here: dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statist...
It’s February, it’s -5 degrees and the man noted for never being more than three feet from a cup of tea is drinking Coca Cola. And he’s drinking it outside😳
That's all you're getting out of a vending machine at 6.30am
Most hotels do breakfast from 7am - 9am
Unless you're near an airport, which isn't the case here
BRITS DINT DO THAT 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😧😧😧🤯🤯😳😳😳
Dear, Simon West,
It would be warm near an airport.
Very true.
🙃🙂
Yes, Geoff's full of surprises!! 😂
For a while, I believe from an article on Midlands Today, a retired man was travelling to Tamworth everyday from Polesworth and using his bus pass to get back home.
Here is what happened. In the 1980s there was a sparse local service between Nuneaton and Stafford. About 4 trains a day each way. They started from either Coventry or Rugby (this changed from time to time). There was also a local service between Stafford and Stoke. When the WCML was upgraded both these services stopped (replaced by road transport). This closed Atherstone, Polesworth, Norton Bridge, Wedgewood and Burslem stations. When the work was complete a Euston Crewe service was introduced. Atherstone and Stone stations reopened completely. Polesworth didn't have the new footbridge hence the current situation. Norton Bridge was demolished, Burslem and Wedgewood are still there but closed. The replacement bus still operates between Stoke and Stafford.Hope this helps.
Burslem Station was on the Potteries Loop line that closed in the 1960s, not the main line.
We badly need mainline routes in the UK to be upgraded, but if it comes at the expense of all the small communities having their stations sabotaged or totally closed, then someone running the project is up to no good.
There are four tracks here and a bridge close enough to the station, that it should have been economical to put new stairs down onto that other platform.
@@DavidShepheard If I were a local I'd be very annoyed since I'd get the annoying noise of a lot of passing trains but not the "compensation" of a useful train service...
@@DavidShepheard The problem is that local stopping services _massively_ reduce the capacity of the line and make the whole system very brittle in terms of delays. Every time you put a local train on that route, a whole bunch of freight trains and semi-fast services need to overtake it, blocking the fast line. Every time one of those trains is even slightly late, it misses its passing spot and the whole system backs up.
The WCML expresses are already overcrowded, but stations aren't long enough to run longer trains and the line's at capacity so they can't run more trains. Adding more local trains into the mix would make that situation even worse, for relatively small benefit.
@@DavidShepheard
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'You Can't Return From Polesworth' sounds like some sort of moody blues-folk record...
more like a Marillion b-side
I live in polesworth and honestly, you wouldn’t want to return
So glad you've revisited here!. I go past it so many times when I visit my partner in MK from Stoke. That whole section of the Mainline is full of interesting stations. Wedge wood, Barlaston and the remnants of Norton Bridge (a lot of the Slow Euston trains still stop there when waiting to join the mainline from Crewe!. Always interested me. and happy birthday Geoff!
I met Nayson today he came into my workplace he was lovely
I love that this video exists 😂 my mum lives in one of those houses which is shown a couple of times in this video and it’s the only house I ever knew growing up! Moved down to Essex in 2013.
I can safely say there are not 2.4 passengers per day on that 7:23 train 😂 it would have been a handy train for me, but I never got up that early 😂 we did catch some trains from there once upon a time though! And us kids used to go over the bridge when it was there, sit in the shelter on platform 2. We were all gutted when it was torn down! Would have been great for me to get to uni in Coventry on (changing at Atherstone or Nuneaton).
Notice that the platform's been cleared of snow though. Someone must have come along in a van and done that.
I think it might just not stick there because there's space under the platform, it's not solid ground, it's hollow underneath. Passing trains will spew hot air underneath it. Even though just one train stops per day it's still on a very busy line, loads pass through
Every time I watch a least used Station video, all I can hear is the “Aspley Guise” theme song in my head. Thanks for sharing Geoff!
I think you could make the history of British railways very interesting without being boring with statistics. You bring these videos alive with your enthusiasm. You are a rare character indeed!
Who else needs to re-watch all the stations...?
Me
I have watched some of the episodes
Missed these! Thanks for braving the cold. (and glad I was in 🏴 a fortnight ago and missed all this cold.)
Suffering for your art. Much appreciated, and belated happy birthday.
Hello from Hobart Tasmania and a balmy 26 degrees celcius!. You are making me shiver just looking at you! I am wishing we still had trains here but I get my fix watching your great vids. Keep them going. I can only imagine what it is like in Corrour - where I was in July.
Missed this series
Braving the cold and snow like that. That’s real dedication to duty. Sirs, I salute you!
Great video Geoff, as cold as it is, the Snow covered fields from the train window look beautiful as does Polesworth, very scenic. Great capture of the Class 70 and you were nearly right about the numbers of the London Northwestern Railways units, those are 350s, the 450s are on South West Trains 😊🌨❄☃️🚆
My hometown is Nuneaton and I used to pass Polesworth everyday to get to college. Happy to see this video :3
Watching this during an Australian summer is cooling me down !
if you are complaining about how cold it is, than why dont you do up your jacket?
Gutted to have missed you in Nuneaton Geoff living half way between Nuneaton and Polesworth but next time you visit maybe. Great video as always and yes it is so cold here right now! :-)
After this video series is over, would you do the most used stations of each county?
Isn't that what he's doing?
Steve Lovelace, MOST used, not least.
Jamie Warwick id imagine hed probably already been to them
There's two counties where the least and most used stations are the same
(Rutland and Clackmannanshire both have a solitary station)
I think that'll be a bit boring. Besides there are like hour-long documentaries you can watch about places like Waterloo and Birmingham New Street etc... there's not a lot left to say. Go and sit on all 24 platforms at Waterloo lol
Geoff, that's what I call true dedication to the cause.
Oh such fun, Thanks for linking to this on GrandT's TPF video..... Now I am going to have to go and find your video of the Request stop... on the Leamington line you said... Hilarious, but thanks.
"That week in February..." Ha! A very long week lasting more than fourteen days.
Hi, Nayson!
I was a pupil at Polesworth Nethersole Middle School in the 1980s, which had a playing field against the WCML. I was always on the lookout for the 86s/87s/90s flying by!
Good to see Least Used Stations back again
That train that went past at 10:22 I see them all the time when they go past Watford Junction
Yes finally the least used station in Warwickshire my county, been waiting ages. I live in Warwickshire.
Interesting Sam I live in Polesworth and it is very annoying lol
My grandparents used to live just up the road. I remember seeing the 'naked' spoil tip in the 70's that became the Pooley Hall Country Park. My grandad told me there used to be a colliery (Pooley Hall) right next door from 1895 until 1965 when it closed. There used to be a branch line that linked onto the WCML from the colliery, near where the canal wharf is now.
My Grandad started his railway career in at Nuneaton, started as a Lad Porter, worked his way through the grades and was a relieving Station Master when he and my Nanna emigrated out here to Australia
After a journey from hell getting back from Stafford to Rugeley, I thought I watch Geoff video to cheer me up, and it did :) Thanks for the great video Geoff, really great
I was relatively normal when I started watching this stuff. Now I find myself excited that I have been on trains that stopped at Bearley.
My own planned train journey into London today came to a chilly halt thanks to ice and loss of power. Ran back to the station we left, on the wrong side, and disembarked a nice warm train into a chilly cold station. This weather is no fun at all.
And I haven't been on a train in months. Better luck next time, I hope!
I love this channel.
-5 is really not that cold. Its' been around -20 where I live the last days, and a few hours drive from here it was -42. That's Norway for you ;-)
And, yes, I almost forgot. We have over a meter deep snow here......and a ninety minute drive to the nearest train station.
rockaround71 Agreed, -5 is manageable. It's currently -17 in Berlin, Germany + freezing wind chill. And -8 max around noontime. But if they are not used to it... and without gloves, it's cold for sure. Still liked the video though :-)
There are still people who didn't get the memo that what feels cold or hot completely depends on what you're used to? In urban parts of England, the temperature rarely drops more than a couple of degrees below freezing; Geoff lives in London which is a huge urban heat island that makes even 0C unusually cold -- in the very centre of London, the average daily low in January is nearly 4C. -5C is unusually cold for an urban area in England during daylight.
Just hearing the ‘Least used station’ song is enough to make me happy
"So you're from nuneaton"
Me from Coventry: bloody treacle towners
Love your vids Jeff keep up your good work
The train you went on... I've seen that exact train at my local station in London Midland days.
Interesting video! It would be good to see Polesworth get a propper train service again!
1:40 Hi Nayson!!
I lived in Polesworth when there were still two platforms in use, and the signal box was still in use. I also had the dubious honour of turning up to watch a few trains go by on the night the footbridge was removed. Still have some photograph's (somewhere) from inside the signal box as I befriended one of the signalmen there. Can't understand why the station is so neglected as the area is ever increasing in size....
@@madhatter61 I think you could be right...
Your alarm sounds like the sound effect movies use when text explaining where the scene is happening scrolls across the bottom. :)
I have an original 'Polesworth' target sign, which I purchased from Collectors Corner in Euston many years ago.
As someone from Bearley, there is actually quite a lot of history behind the station! It's of course a shadow of it's former self, and there's now neither a shop nor a pub within reach of it, but I imagine you can drag up a lot of interesting stuff about it. You can get to Birmingham direct from it though (Once a day I think), which has only been a thing for maybe the last 6 or 7 years!
Class 350s and 450s are identical externally, so good identification from Geoff - the 350s are AC electric and 450s DC (in fact the first few 350s were actually being built as 450s and were changed over)
If only that clip had survived. It would have been a sure winner for the outtakes compilation.
That alarm tone literally gives me anxiety
It's winter, Geoff. -5 is pretty warm for 52 degrees of northern latitude. Also, please send that snow over to Poland if you've got surplus.
Polesworth is on the West Coast mainline where Pendolinos tear past at full speed. It is in Warwickshire near the Staffordshire border between Tamworth and Atherstone, and close to the M42 Birmingham to Nottingham motorway.
It might have been cold when you filmed this but at least there wasn’t a lot of snow. Once went trainspotting in 3 ft of snow and a wind chill of -5. Waited for about 3 hours then decided to leave.
About the Yellow lines. I think they started in the 70s and the instruction was stay behind Yellow line High Speed Train passing. This was a boast that we had the experimental high speed train . At the time I used to change trains at Wigan NW.
Regarding the return journey for nuneaton to polesworth, the route you would need to take for the return journey is take the 0723 train from polesworth to tamworth then get the 0803 train from tamworth to nuneaton.
Interestingly enough it costs £5.80 for an anytime day return even though it is impossible to do without getting off at polesworth due to only having one train a day.
I remember catching the train to/from Polesworth when I lived in Atherstone
There is a potential purpose for returns to Polesworth - split ticketing with a season ticket from Polesworth. Probably still useless but who knows?
(I've seen a real suggestion of using a return from Pilning to Cardiff with an England-only Britrail pass.)
uncriticalsimon I guess your only option at the minute is get off the train at Polesworth, immediately get back on and change at Tamworth
There used to be a station building there that was a smaller version of the Atherstone building designed by Livock .
There are protest passengers that catch the train from polesworth just to push the passenger numbers up.
Bearley!!! I get the train calling there most mornings!
Might you try again with Park Street in Hertfordshire, hopefully this time getting the train instead of the replacement minibus?
I was at the station watching the bridge being removed by crane the night it came down. Also spent many an hour in the old signal box, back in the day when the signalman wouldn't get the sack for affording such a welcome...
I live in polesworth and I never even knew there was a train station😭😭
You can distinguish the old and new bits of Nuneaton Station quite easily, especially from the footbridge!!
Geoff: "It's -5"
Me (A Canadian): "Thats cute"
I grew up in Polesworth and back in the 70s and 80's the station could be quite busy in both directions. Mainly, the route between Polesworth and Birmingham, changing at Tamworth. I remember the bridge being taken down and had an idea it was due to some disagreement, but in their wisdom it finally killed off the service.
At what point in the journey of learning do you realize that a pair of gloves would be useful?
You would have thought for a couple of quid they could have made a footpath from the bridge to platform 2.
The official excuse at the time was that the road bridge was too narrow for that. But since then, the bridge has been singled for cars with a segregated footpath, so there's no real reason now.
@@RCassinello the bridge has a lane for people walking
That's exactly what I said.
But at the time they closed platform 2, there was no footpath on the road bridge, it was a 2-way road without traffic lights.
You should come to Burton on Trent .
At the height of brewing in the town with at least 5 brewers in the town it was boasting Britain's largest private owned railway network .
In fact Burton had more railway tracks than roads in the town centre
Maybe they could build an underpass at Polesworth. You said this in the ATS episode at Briech, Network Rail not affording a higher footbridge there. That makes me wonder what is more expensive, a bridge or an underpass?
Maybe they could do a special case with bidirectional running on the northbound tracks through the statuon, they'd just need to install some points either side the station.
Welcome to Nuneaton... but I had hoped the least used would have been Bermuda Station, Nuneaton - but at least it has 1 train every hour on the Nuneaton-Coventry line.
I see that you used a proper "London tissue" at the end there!
Polesworth is basically a suburb of Tamworth, which has a fairly busy Station and a direct line to Birmingham. (The area is a commuter belt of Birmingham)
Advice from a Canadian: invest in gloves.
And a toque. Google it.
Advice from a video producer (not me) - never risk trying to hold or operate a small camera probably worth over £1000 whilst wearing gloves. Schoolboy error
@@Camberwell86 Stronly disagree. I've used a £1000-1500 (depending on lens) DSLR many times with gloves on and never come close to dropping it. Wrap the neck strap around your wrist a few times and the camera's going nowhere even if you do drop it. Honestly, you're much more likely to drop the camera from your fingers being numb than from wearing gloves.
I had a proper early morning stomach turn when I heard that alarm sound.
Well done for going out in the cold
Bearley's my station!
Fancy seeing you here! :) That's quite close to Lapworth which was mine when I had a live-in hotel job down there a couple years ago.
Polesworth still only gets one train per day which has been changed to the 6:37 AM from Nuneaton arriving at polesworth at 6:48 AM.
Being a Brit living abroad the UK sucks at coping with this weather, just make winter tyres compulsory during these months like the nordics, USA and Canada
Hmm - winter tyres on a Pacer...
Winter tyres (tires) aren’t compulsory in Massachusetts. Maybe Minnesota...?!?! 😉
Amaaazing!!!!!!
Thanks for another great video in this series. Simple format, works really well. I just wish that people would talk to one another's face when having a conversation instead of talking to the camera, we watch the conversation, we can't get involved. Hey ho.
Geoff:It's like top gear!
Me:WOT
I guess you weren't wearing gloves because they make it difficult to operate the camera. The answer is "glittens" -- fingerless gloves with a mitten covering that you can fold back to operate the camera. They work really well.
that is such a real pain living opposite a train station and only having one train service a day that must be a real pain in the ass
random piece of info for you - the only train from polesworth leaves quite a bit earlier than 0723 now. it now departs 0648!
half an hour earlier! wonder when they changed that ??
Daft just one service not even a return option and when you consider nayton left nuneaton 20 mins before and only arrived 2 mins before geoff it makes sense to have a good service right along that A5 corridor as its way faster than by road.
Might you venture a bit further north and do Pontefract Baghill! I had a go myself along with Hoscar, but your style would be much better!
Nathan N Farnell they did Baghill with All the Stations but I guess they'll be going back for least used....at some point...
Is that The Chase Hotel at the beginning? If I’ve spotted that from the trees I’ll be so happy
Have you considered going on Interrail, and doing a least used station in every country in western Europe?
William Vangen Would need crowdfunding
if you bought a return, I think they'd of told you to go back via Tamworth the following day.
Did that ticket machine sign say 'tickets to any UK destination'? Northern Ireland?
This is not a first comment comment, thing... but it is awesome to get to watch a vid as soon as its up :)
If you think that’s cold, try going to Mommila, Finland. -20 degrees in a LITERAL FIELD. Nothing but the station and a road.
Warwickshire - exciting place for a video, everybody is dying to know and thus go there and learn more about it.
BUT least used station in Warwickshire! Wow, are we lucky. WHO woulda thought there would be a station not used for such a EXCITING PLACE! This man is truly a visionary - he KNOWS... what THE people WANT! I've heard him been referred to as the Steve Jobs in certain professional circles. He express the Joie de vive, the true renaissance man. Oui Oui
THEY SELL RETURNS WHEN IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO /*ACTUALLY*/ RETURN. HA! MADNESS!
I was on an a avanti (or virgin can’t remember it was around the time they changed) train heading to Stafford and fell in the toilet and they stopped the train at polesworth for train emergency staff to get on to assess how they would liaise with emergency crews at Stafford when we got there to get me off (I dislocated 4 joints and can’t stand so was properly stuck on the floor) possibly the only time an avanti train stopped there
I felt cold watching this
I’m up for doing Worcestershire, Shropshire or Herefordshire if you doing them Geoff 👌🏼
Yep, lots of houses just by the station. All of them have at least one car parked in the driveway.
Gloves are a wonderful invention.
Apparently a new Polesworth Parkway is in the pipelines, supposedly will close the one in Polesworth itself
There is no mention of Polesworth itself.
I find gloves help in the cold. So (I hear you almost asking) how do you operate a mobile - with your nose, of course!
-5 C is 23 F. Not especially cold for February for most people in the USA, but Britain has a relatively warm climate...
I suppose if you got the return you'd wait until the following morning, get the same train up to Tamworth and come back down from there!