Passenger service (what was left of it) finished in 1931 - largely as a result of competition from trams. Furthermore, the Luftwaffe dropped a bomb on the southern part (near Trent Lane) a decade later. Like many lines, it was built at huge expense with over optimistic Victorian entrepreneurs and, I suspect, never financially in its life even covered the costs of the huge amount of investment to build it.
@@sarahwinfield3989 I think the exact same thing myself. Nevermind the cost but imagine the surveying, material and huge man hours that went into this mere 3.6 mile long line? Incredible that it didn't even last 70 years just abandoned and thoughtlessly torn down, much the same as the GCR and Victoria station.
@@peterskegness3204 I agree with everything you say peter but my point is? How they just completely disregard the efforts that go into engineering such a line. Regardless, of how useful it was in its day its just a shame they destroy such things so quickly.
@@1DumbTrumpfanboy Can't really keep every bit of redundant infrastructure. Unfortunately, in the era the NSR closed, there was no real imagination or finance to repurpose much of it. It's surprising that the Sneinton Tunnel has survived. Another surprising survivor is the tall bridge at Trent Lane. I don't subscribe to the notion that all lines should have been mothballed as, all infrastructure would still have to be maintained at great expense, on the off chance it might be needed again. Can't see the NSR being much use as a railway now.
Oh this one was brilliant Ant, thx 👍🏻I'm Nottm born and bred and don't know any of this really. It's good to be able to see it and then superb drone footage, old photo's, etc. Great walk. It does however wind me up how much they built, only to rip it down and fill it in within such a short time.
This was *EXCELLENT* . I lived in Bedale Road as a child so I was very close to Daybrook station. Makes me want to go back and see it all again now. The tunnels I used to sing in are all gone though !
Enjoyed the 'greenway' bit in Sneinton, I walk down there a lot. There was a lot more to see in the 1980s when we used to hang out there. You could walk over the bridges, which were VERY dangerous, one wrong step would mean a 30 foot drop. One of the removed bridges is right where my house is today!
Really enjoyed that thanks Ant. You know how to make a woman happy, you stop and there comes the train. It’s a shame those tunnels are filled in. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care of
Many of the tunnels, countrywide, are, stood alone, like the viaduct, works of architectural impressiveness, methinks. Never mind the design thought and effort that went into constructing them...
Picked up some screws that hold the chairs to the sleepers on Sherwood station site in 1954. Still have some of them. Walked through the tunnel Sherwood station to St Ann's Station on same day, aged 4. Later in life I worked for Post Office Telephones aka BT from 1967. Was in the cutting that was Thorny Wood station, it was called Marmion Road Telecom Engineering Centre, it held garage, tool store and other phone stores Have been in Sneinton tunnel and did some shooting as part of PO shooting club.
Excelent video. This was my playground back in the 1960's, walking through the tunnels to st anns well road as well as mapperley tunnel of course. The trackbed was built on at St Anns well road with some grim flats, now long gone also. The site of Thornywood station is also well known to me, being a GPO Section Stock stores where i visited quite a bit in the 70s a telephone engineer, well done
Hi Ant, Excellent video and it took me back to my early years living in Thorneywood. I was born in Thorneywood House, just across Porchester Rd from the surviving Thorneywood stationmaster's house and close to the portal of the brickyard tunnel no5. In 1951, my folks bought a building plot on Radstock Rd which is bisected by the Thorneywood tunnel. The goods yard at Thorneywood was very large, with a huge blue brick retaining wall on the Porchester Rd side, the goods area was taken over by British Telecom in the 60s or 70s and used to store vehicles and plant. I'm surprised you didn't mention the reasons for closure of the NSR but these were a) loss of passenger traffic to trams and b) in 1941 the bombing of an embankment and bridge near to the junction of the Grantham-Nottingham Midland line. I can just recall seeing the track lifting at Thorneywood station around 1954. The photo of the derelict building with the trolleybus crossing the Carlton Rd bridge also jogs my memory and I see from one of you photos the spur that ran from just south of Carlton Road bridge to another small brickworks before the Sneinton tunnel. That brickyard became the site of the Manvers |School, now demolished I think? A chap called David Birch has written a superb 3 book set on the NSR, well worth a look. Drop me a P/M if you want a few more photos or any info on the line. Thanks again. G9BF
Many thanks for those details. I was floating in nostalgia wondering what triggered the demise of such good infrastructure. This was well before Beeching, and you've answered the questions. Even though my background is in Southall, Middlesex, left to emigrate as a lad in the late Fifties, all of this is incredibly evocative to my memories.
Derby born, but this was very interesting. I was a fan of the old 0 Gauge Sherwood Section layout built by the late Norman Eagles and colleagues. I love the mix of suburban passenger workings and various industrial branches. Well done on making the effort to show how completely these treasured memories can be obliterated. The electric tram spelled the death of many a suburban passenger line.
I found this to personally one of the most interesting and yet saddest episode that you have ever done because it really pulled at the heartstrings and memories as a teen through to my early 20's. Just to give a starting point, I am 55 now. I was 10 when I moved into a house less that 100 yards up Carlton Road from the overbridge and Thorneywood station site. At that time I often used the small steel girder/box foot bridge that ran over the station site to get to Thorneywood rise and up to the top of what was locally known as Donkey Hill (St Bartholemews Road). My school was Manvers Pierrepont which is by the entrance of Sneinton Tunnel. I spent many hours cycling around and rode the trackbed from Colwick Road all the way along the abuttments and viaduct crossing to the back of the Midland station yard where I used to spend some time watching. When I was young the trackbed towards theThorneywood tunnel was at the bottom of a deep brickwalled cutting and was the home to a BT Depot but as you could see that has now been totally filled in and developed into housing. The Coopers Arms Pub building you can see in the pic of the small bridge under Porchester Road is still there but has been turned into flats I believe but the footbridge is long gone. I have very many somewhat happy memories of living around there and I remember them filling in the overbridge at Carlton road. There used to be an old organ makers building there too I have just remembered. It's sad how much changes in the name of Progress. Yes, thats a biased feeling but to me is very strong. Thanks again Ant
I belive I found the tunnel portal that you couldnt find for mapperley rise its outside the entrance of what now is a school, as it has railway brick work as part of the wall on querneby road, as I used to live in the area and was trying to find the old tunnels myself.
Great video locating what remains of a suburban railway now largely buried under suburbia. Surprised that it was closed in the 1950's and wonder; might it have provided a useful suburban transport link today, had it remained open.
@prestoncrewnarrowboa I think they saw more 'value' in the track etc to be lifted and soldisposed of as soon as. Wasn't there a chap called Marple with the acting Govt of the time who swiftly elected to skip UK and move abroad ¿?
hi ant, to me it is the most shortsighted thing the government has ever done closing the railways, as a child from the 1950s most were still open then came the mass destruction, not just sad but criminal, great vid as usual.
@@ulazygitEventually the more traffic the better, eventually they will have to cave in and reopen them due to high traffic. Plus I get claustrophic sometimes sitting on the bus. I do like the buses, we should be able to have bus and underground and suburban rail.
Felt like I was there with you, there is something lovely about gently mooching around the old lines where no-one goes in urban areas. The sound of cars People rushing around you but they don’t know you’re there. The low winter sun in some shots gave real atmosphere. Loved this one 🐜
Marvellous! What an interesting old line - but I get so mad at the infilling and burying of these marvellous tunnels. Loved the little red engine, though! I must confess also, that I could do without the horrid and pointless graffiti. Thanks again, Ant.
Great one, went looking for some of this infrastructure on my bike in lockdown you figured it out better than I did, particularly around Woodthorpe park and Arnold. It always strikes me as a fantastic piece of surveying and engineering, the topology is so complex and steep in places as to figure this route out. It was a brickworks railway really, the suburbs only built up gradually and I speculate were better served by trams, trolly busses and motor busses as they developed, Much of the railway was under the ground, in deep cuttings or ran through at the time sparsely populated areas In the area, a visit to St Ann's Allotments is worthwhile, very beautiful and have surprising depth of history associated with that whole area and the city.
Really enjoy your videos✔️ I live near Jacksdale and often take the dog for a walk down the Cromford canal and also along a disused track bed running parallel to it. There is evidence of bridges and what was I presume some sort of branch line. Just thought it might be worth a Trekking Exploration. Gladly meet up to show you.
Thanks for the video, brought back some happy memories🙂 Used to play in and around Ashwell Tunnel in Woodthorpe Park, the embankments were really steep and going up onto the top of the portals was extra scary😃 Shame it's all gone now.
Awesome video Ant. Know Nottingham well from my Uni days at Notts Trent. Despite being little left you've documented this route superbly. I never knew Nottingham had so many old railway tunnels! Such a shame the majority are buried.
Hi Ant, really enjoyed the video. Interesting to see the trolleybus and also the Bedford van (same shape as the Viva HA) parked in one of the tunnels. Look forward to the next one. Very best wishes. Peter
Interesting video , of a route before it’s time…. There’s so many more houses now that might have made it viable! You seem to have walked past the St Ann’s Well station house…. It’s at the junction of The Wells Road and Doolan Drive. Also, Kildare Road that you passed by was the access road to the station, and just next to that you can see the remains of one of the abutments for the viaduct.
Thank you for the video. As you were in Nottingham, how about something on the Great Central route and the station, now a shopping centre. Part of which running south is well on the way to being restored.
Great video. I grew up on the site of the brickworks and spent most of my youth in Woodthorpe Park so seeing this was really enjoyable now I don’t live locally. Thank you.
Always nice to watch your videos, as I love the old photos of what the places used to look like, and I really like the beautiful music that you find and use, to accompany each video,
Ant, at 37:07 if you look at the photo of the line curving off to the right, look at the point where the r.h rail joins the straight line. How would that work? The flanges of the wheels would be on the outside of the line & would derail any train coming from the curve, & any train going towards the curve would suffer the same. Or was the curve no longer used at the time of this photo? Am I missing something here, or what?
Fascinating. I was intrigued by the line when studying in Nottingham in 1968, when the bulldozers had almost finished at Victoria. I'm surprised the NSR was so heavily engineered. The council also did a lot more to obliterate it.
Really enjoyed this video. The music is well chosen. Such a shame that good quality infrastructure, built to last, serving one of the country's biggest cities was just thrown away. Would it be so far fetched to imagine the tram making good use of the line and providing much better connectivity than areas like Thorneywood currently enjoy? I would be interested in other similar videos in the area. Is there already one on the GCML?
Excellent video as always. Loved the Little Red Engine with the tunnel at the beginning. All the before and after photos. That amazing tunnel that people can use today and the lighting inside it showing up all the brickwork etc. amazing. Well done Ant. What a lovely day you had too for your explore. Thank you.
Another great video as it reminded me as a kid walking these lines as I’m from Arnold and going through the tunnels of mapperley and Sherwood great days of exploring when I was a kid. Great video can’t wait till your next one 👏👏👏👍
Brilliant ❤ been waiting for you to do a video on this line. I’ve walked this line my self were Thorneywood station once was there is a car place that sells cars does look like you can get down there and maybe see some of the wall on the side it’s the trespassing issue lol really enjoyed the video and the drone works so well
@@TrekkingExploration Very few people would or could go to so much trouble and am touched as you covered areas I now well and sometime go to without realising the background. Thank you!
That was very enjoyable. Loved all the archive pictures, which must take a hell of a lotof research to find them and put them in the video.All the best.
This was my stamping ground as a youngster, a pal of mine lived at the station house, his father was station master, I have memories of the York stone platforms, no buildings or track,it all seemed to disappear overnight, my pals surname was Byron, his parents and his three sisters stayed in the station house till around 1968, this was the start of the troubles in Northern Ireland, they all went back there about that time. A photograph of the station house exists in I believe a copy of the Thoroton (might be spelt differently) local history book? periodical Of Nottingham whilst the house was still inhabited, a picture shows the car they left to go to Ireland, an Austin of England parked next to the property this was loaded to the gunwales when they departed,and was my last view of the family forever. All the tunnels were open and the one from the station towards Wells Road under the Mapperly hill was only ventured through once, the reception from the Wells Rd school tough nuts wasn’t to be repeated, getting a good hiding and falling into filthy puddle trying to get back through tunnel to ‘our’ patch was not to be forgotten ! As a child one thought that everything that was,would stay the same forever, returning some years later to see nearly everything gone as you remembered it, the two blocks of flats appeared almost overnight, the original station house demolished and a modern home built in its place, no remnants of the station platforms or associated buildings remaining, the tunnels all having been filled in , trees established as the areas were allowed to return to their origins . I visit occasionally and mentally remind myself of what was, happy days happy memories.
Hello Ant @ 06:16 - That is amazing to see - I never knew that was there!!! - When you were doing the 'Voice Over' - your voice sounds a bit different - Do you have a cold or something??? Shame to think that those old B / W photos showing how the Railway was once - does no longer exists 😐🚂🚂🚂
It always makes me so sad we have lost these railways and the peoples jobs that went with them. Local small scale railways would make so much sense for the future, if only the government would support them?
I was bought up very close to Thorneywood Station / Brickworks. The station was in the cutting below Porchester Road. / Carlton Road Junction. It was hemmed in on one side by an Organmakers on the Thorneywood side ( Marmion Road ) and The Coopers Arms on Porchester Road. ( The pub building is still there, but repurposed ) The cutting is still there behind AJD Motors . There was a pedestrian bridge over the cutting, just above the coopers arms, where you could see it clearly, through the lattices. The cutting was used as a GPO depot for a long while. Small green vans used for telephones I remember. The brickworks were huge on the Branchline, and the edges of the quarry can still be seen all round if you drive up Burgees Road and its the housing estate at the top. ( Behind Carlton Hill & Standhill Road ) The infill under Carlton Road was done when they built the estate around a diverted Marmion Road. 1970's I seem to remember. You will find another section of the line below Greenwood School, where it crosses Sneinton Boulevard. The cutting was pretty clear there . There was also Railway infrastructure where the Police station and the Oliver Hind Youth Club stands (Was called Dayko locally ) , that was demolished to build them. I seem to remember bridge abutments , but no bridge when I walked to school.
@@suzyqualcast6269 It was a real rumour. I don't know how true. A lot of people said the suburban lines should be reinstated. Look what Nottingham has now. Trams again and they use the line of the old GCR flyover over the Midland railway but the viaduct had been demolished and is now rebuilt.
How about looking at the Bedford to Northampton railway route and the Northampton to Peterborough railway route? Also, the Bedford to Hitchin route formally to Midland Main line. Also, look at the Bedford to Cambridge section of the old Varsity line.
Ashwells Tunnel and Sherwood Tunnel were both accessible in the mid to late 70s for the enterprising young lad bunking off school. I know because I was that lad!
It’s almost heartbreaking to see such infrastructure and building just gone that was originally imagined with optimism then either through short sightedness or incompitance to be so absolutely destroyed,the GC as a point it almost seems vindictive to those great men who sweated to build it.I like the videos that you make very much but please don’t sometimes spin so quick it’s to interesting.
I get angry and upset at the decimation of rail .Post war was the emergence of the baby boomers, surely someone should have thought of the need for housing and sustainable transport? " Price of everything, value of nothing" comes to mind.
100% agree. You have to look at the decisions made by governments of the day. They stood to make short term profit closing rail and promoting road building instead. Pretty embarrassing these days that we couldn't even imagine building new rails to the scale of the victorians
@@pixe1refr35h...Absolutely. Politicians had shares in bus companies and were arrogant in their assumptions that everyone would be able to afford cars.Now, as we obsess with climate change, roads are choked with pollution and as the cost of living bites, communities are stranded without rail links and the rural poor face high bus fares and scant services. None of the waste of spacers jostling for power have even mentioned rail regeneration, even though the restoration of Welsh Valley lines has brought improvements to the lives of inhabitants.
@@railwaychristina3192It was actually competition from more direct trams that caused the passenger service to cease even back in 1931. Ten years later the Luftwaffe dropped a bomb destroying part of it near Trent Lane.
Wasn't it a Mr Marple who, ostensibly for the Govt, post WW2 indeed saw the valu£, just lying there as scrap value track, and once the permittance of Dr Beeching was presented... moved on it, with but disregard to a l l the effort and industry that had gone into the building of all said infrastructure, from stations, to viaducts/bridges and tunnels, which stand alone as constructions in their own right.
Imagine all the choice of travel from small villages and towns throughout the UK that we would have now if the the destruction of our rail network had not happened, what a shambles we have become, from the envy of the world to this shit show we now are.
Wow another brilliant video Ant👍🏻without a doubt your channel is so very much underrated ,for me one of the best on UA-cam 👍🏻informative and educational,thanks again for making these for us all to enjoy
They call it progress but this country seems not to appreciate the time and effort needed to create our industrial heritage. Thanks for your effort.
Passenger service (what was left of it) finished in 1931 - largely as a result of competition from trams. Furthermore, the Luftwaffe dropped a bomb on the southern part (near Trent Lane) a decade later. Like many lines, it was built at huge expense with over optimistic Victorian entrepreneurs and, I suspect, never financially in its life even covered the costs of the huge amount of investment to build it.
@@sarahwinfield3989 I think the exact same thing myself. Nevermind the cost but imagine the surveying, material and huge man hours that went into this mere 3.6 mile long line? Incredible that it didn't even last 70 years just abandoned and thoughtlessly torn down, much the same as the GCR and Victoria station.
@@peterskegness3204 I agree with everything you say peter but my point is? How they just completely disregard the efforts that go into engineering such a line. Regardless, of how useful it was in its day its just a shame they destroy such things so quickly.
@@1DumbTrumpfanboy Can't really keep every bit of redundant infrastructure. Unfortunately, in the era the NSR closed, there was no real imagination or finance to repurpose much of it. It's surprising that the Sneinton Tunnel has survived. Another surprising survivor is the tall bridge at Trent Lane. I don't subscribe to the notion that all lines should have been mothballed as, all infrastructure would still have to be maintained at great expense, on the off chance it might be needed again. Can't see the NSR being much use as a railway now.
@@peterskegness3204 I can't argue with that Peter. As a big railway fan though i still would of loved to have seen it.
Oh this one was brilliant Ant, thx 👍🏻I'm Nottm born and bred and don't know any of this really. It's good to be able to see it and then superb drone footage, old photo's, etc. Great walk. It does however wind me up how much they built, only to rip it down and fill it in within such a short time.
Yes i agree I'm loving these vids about nottjngham I had no idea! Brilliant footage and love the old photos.
Your chosen music matches the mood - slightly wistful. They could have run trams on this network. A very professionally constructed piece. Thank you.
This was *EXCELLENT* . I lived in Bedale Road as a child so I was very close to Daybrook station. Makes me want to go back and see it all again now. The tunnels I used to sing in are all gone though !
Enjoyed the 'greenway' bit in Sneinton, I walk down there a lot. There was a lot more to see in the 1980s when we used to hang out there. You could walk over the bridges, which were VERY dangerous, one wrong step would mean a 30 foot drop. One of the removed bridges is right where my house is today!
Really enjoyed that thanks Ant. You know how to make a woman happy, you stop and there comes the train. It’s a shame those tunnels are filled in. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care of
Many of the tunnels, countrywide, are, stood alone, like the viaduct, works of architectural impressiveness, methinks. Never mind the design thought and effort that went into constructing them...
Ant, you had perfect weather that day. So much nature on display, green everywhere.
Thanks for all the walking you do for us.......
Picked up some screws that hold the chairs to the sleepers on Sherwood station site in 1954. Still have some of them.
Walked through the tunnel Sherwood station to St Ann's Station on same day, aged 4.
Later in life I worked for Post Office Telephones aka BT from 1967. Was in the cutting that was Thorny Wood station, it was called Marmion Road Telecom Engineering Centre, it held garage, tool store and other phone stores
Have been in Sneinton tunnel and did some shooting as part of PO shooting club.
Excelent video. This was my playground back in the 1960's, walking through the tunnels to st anns well road as well as mapperley tunnel of course. The trackbed was built on at St Anns well road with some grim flats, now long gone also. The site of Thornywood station is also well known to me, being a GPO Section Stock stores where i visited quite a bit in the 70s a telephone engineer, well done
Hi Ant,
Excellent video and it took me back to my early years living in Thorneywood. I was born in Thorneywood House, just across Porchester Rd from the surviving Thorneywood stationmaster's house and close to the portal of the brickyard tunnel no5.
In 1951, my folks bought a building plot on Radstock Rd which is bisected by the Thorneywood tunnel. The goods yard at Thorneywood was very large, with a huge blue brick retaining wall on the Porchester Rd side, the goods area was taken over by British Telecom in the 60s or 70s and used to store vehicles and plant.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the reasons for closure of the NSR but these were a) loss of passenger traffic to trams and b) in 1941 the bombing of an embankment and bridge near to the junction of the Grantham-Nottingham Midland line. I can just recall seeing the track lifting at Thorneywood station around 1954. The photo of the derelict building with the trolleybus crossing the Carlton Rd bridge also jogs my memory and I see from one of you photos the spur that ran from just south of Carlton Road bridge to another small brickworks before the Sneinton tunnel. That brickyard became the site of the Manvers |School, now demolished I think?
A chap called David Birch has written a superb 3 book set on the NSR, well worth a look. Drop me a P/M if you want a few more photos or any info on the line.
Thanks again.
G9BF
Many thanks for those details. I was floating in nostalgia wondering what triggered the demise of such good infrastructure. This was well before Beeching, and you've answered the questions. Even though my background is in Southall, Middlesex, left to emigrate as a lad in the late Fifties, all of this is incredibly evocative to my memories.
I really enjoy your videos, narration , and the old pictures of how it was and how it is today.
Derby born, but this was very interesting. I was a fan of the old 0 Gauge Sherwood Section layout built by the late Norman Eagles and colleagues. I love the mix of suburban passenger workings and various industrial branches. Well done on making the effort to show how completely these treasured memories can be obliterated. The electric tram spelled the death of many a suburban passenger line.
I found this to personally one of the most interesting and yet saddest episode that you have ever done because it really pulled at the heartstrings and memories as a teen through to my early 20's. Just to give a starting point, I am 55 now. I was 10 when I moved into a house less that 100 yards up Carlton Road from the overbridge and Thorneywood station site. At that time I often used the small steel girder/box foot bridge that ran over the station site to get to Thorneywood rise and up to the top of what was locally known as Donkey Hill (St Bartholemews Road). My school was Manvers Pierrepont which is by the entrance of Sneinton Tunnel. I spent many hours cycling around and rode the trackbed from Colwick Road all the way along the abuttments and viaduct crossing to the back of the Midland station yard where I used to spend some time watching. When I was young the trackbed towards theThorneywood tunnel was at the bottom of a deep brickwalled cutting and was the home to a BT Depot but as you could see that has now been totally filled in and developed into housing. The Coopers Arms Pub building you can see in the pic of the small bridge under Porchester Road is still there but has been turned into flats I believe but the footbridge is long gone. I have very many somewhat happy memories of living around there and I remember them filling in the overbridge at Carlton road. There used to be an old organ makers building there too I have just remembered. It's sad how much changes in the name of Progress. Yes, thats a biased feeling but to me is very strong. Thanks again Ant
THIS is what is so valuable, in the absence of what was - > the memories of witnesses who indeed remember !
I belive I found the tunnel portal that you couldnt find for mapperley rise its outside the entrance of what now is a school, as it has railway brick work as part of the wall on querneby road, as I used to live in the area and was trying to find the old tunnels myself.
Fascinating walk that was. I never about any of this. Just shows how much Nottingham has been built up since those days. 👍💯🇬🇧
Great video locating what remains of a suburban railway now largely buried under suburbia. Surprised that it was closed in the 1950's and wonder; might it have provided a useful suburban transport link today, had it remained open.
The foolish people who destroyed it, had no idea of the need for better transport links today. But then that was never considered as a potential issue
@prestoncrewnarrowboa
I think they saw more 'value' in the track etc to be lifted and soldisposed of as soon as. Wasn't there a chap called Marple with the acting Govt of the time who swiftly elected to skip UK and move abroad ¿?
Thank you for another masterpiece Ant, love it, Pete.👍
hi ant, to me it is the most shortsighted thing the government has ever done closing the railways, as a child from the 1950s most were still open then came the mass destruction, not just sad but criminal, great vid as usual.
👍😢
It’s almost as though the governments closed the rail out of spite rather than them losing money and traffic moving to the roads … 🤷♂️
@@ulazygitEventually the more traffic the better, eventually they will have to cave in and reopen them due to high traffic.
Plus I get claustrophic sometimes sitting on the bus.
I do like the buses, we should be able to have bus and underground and suburban rail.
@@ulazygitBit like how Labour advanced opencasts, literally, up to the front door of some grand mansions (Wentworth Woodhouse for eg).
Felt like I was there with you, there is something lovely about gently mooching around the old lines where no-one goes in urban areas. The sound of cars People rushing around you but they don’t know you’re there. The low winter sun in some shots gave real atmosphere. Loved this one 🐜
such a complex plan with next to no trace left Ant
Marvellous! What an interesting old line - but I get so mad at the infilling and burying of these marvellous tunnels. Loved the little red engine, though! I must confess also, that I could do without the horrid and pointless graffiti. Thanks again, Ant.
Indeed, they stand alone as thoughtfully built architecture, as do the viaduct, all of it, in fact.
Great one, went looking for some of this infrastructure on my bike in lockdown you figured it out better than I did, particularly around Woodthorpe park and Arnold.
It always strikes me as a fantastic piece of surveying and engineering, the topology is so complex and steep in places as to figure this route out.
It was a brickworks railway really, the suburbs only built up gradually and I speculate were better served by trams, trolly busses and motor busses as they developed, Much of the railway was under the ground, in deep cuttings or ran through at the time sparsely populated areas
In the area, a visit to St Ann's Allotments is worthwhile, very beautiful and have surprising depth of history associated with that whole area and the city.
Really enjoy your videos✔️ I live near Jacksdale and often take the dog for a walk down the Cromford canal and also along a disused track bed running parallel to it. There is evidence of bridges and what was I presume some sort of branch line. Just thought it might be worth a Trekking Exploration. Gladly meet up to show you.
Really enjoyed this one Ant.
Amazing how much engineering was needed for such a short line, and how much has been lost.
👍🙂
Great video very interesting so much history. The line should have stayed open.
Brilliant thanks very much as always
Shouldn't they ALL?!?
Thanks for the video, brought back some happy memories🙂 Used to play in and around Ashwell Tunnel in Woodthorpe Park, the embankments were really steep and going up onto the top of the portals was extra scary😃 Shame it's all gone now.
Awesome video Ant. Know Nottingham well from my Uni days at Notts Trent. Despite being little left you've documented this route superbly. I never knew Nottingham had so many old railway tunnels! Such a shame the majority are buried.
I'm pleased you enjoyed it thank you. It was a tricky one to do
Great work as always Ant, thankyou. I bet they had to pin a few of thos wagons when coming out of Mapperley Brickworks!! That is one steep gradient.
Hi Ant, really enjoyed the video. Interesting to see the trolleybus and also the Bedford van (same shape as the Viva HA) parked in one of the tunnels. Look forward to the next one. Very best wishes. Peter
Interesting video , of a route before it’s time…. There’s so many more houses now that might have made it viable!
You seem to have walked past the St Ann’s Well station house…. It’s at the junction of The Wells Road and Doolan Drive.
Also, Kildare Road that you passed by was the access road to the station, and just next to that you can see the remains of one of the abutments for the viaduct.
Thank you for the video. As you were in Nottingham, how about something on the Great Central route and the station, now a shopping centre. Part of which running south is well on the way to being restored.
Very good Ant, love your energy and narration, keep them coming....
Thanks Chris very kind
Its great to see all these abandoned lines around Nottinghamshire. More please 👍
Thanks very much Steve
Really enjoyed this one, right near where I live
Cheers Darren thank you
Great video. I grew up on the site of the brickworks and spent most of my youth in Woodthorpe Park so seeing this was really enjoyable now I don’t live locally. Thank you.
Always nice to watch your videos, as I love the old photos of what the places used to look like, and I really like the beautiful music that you find and use, to accompany each video,
Y E S !
Really good video. I love this kind of history,keep the good work up.
Thanks very much Peter very kind
Another fantastic video Ant. you get better and better . Thank you so much as we all know how much work must go into all of this.
Thanks very much John this particular one was quite tricky
Ant, at 37:07 if you look at the photo of the line curving off to the right, look at the point where the r.h rail joins the straight line. How would that work? The flanges of the wheels would be on the outside of the line & would derail any train coming from the curve, & any train going towards the curve would suffer the same. Or was the curve no longer used at the time of this photo? Am I missing something here, or what?
Thoroughly enjoyed, top class content as always.
Very kind Dave thank you
Fascinating. I was intrigued by the line when studying in Nottingham in 1968, when the bulldozers had almost finished at Victoria. I'm surprised the NSR was so heavily engineered. The council also did a lot more to obliterate it.
Wasn't Vic Stn a beautiful brick built terminus ?
Really enjoyed this video. The music is well chosen. Such a shame that good quality infrastructure, built to last, serving one of the country's biggest cities was just thrown away. Would it be so far fetched to imagine the tram making good use of the line and providing much better connectivity than areas like Thorneywood currently enjoy?
I would be interested in other similar videos in the area. Is there already one on the GCML?
That's kind of ironic in that it was originally the tram that actually caused its decline in passenger numbers 😂
Indeed, as you say, good quality infrastructure, built to last, until the post War greedy eyes setem upon same...
Excellent video as always. Loved the Little Red Engine with the tunnel at the beginning. All the before and after photos. That amazing tunnel that people can use today and the lighting inside it showing up all the brickwork etc. amazing. Well done Ant. What a lovely day you had too for your explore. Thank you.
These videos of my local area are so good
Thank you
I shall keep finding places to go 😉
Magnificent! Hard to find fault with content and presentation 🫡
Very kind thank you ☺️
It looks like this route would suit a NET extension...
I didn't know about this line until your previous videos. Great research and photos as ever!
Thanks very much Pete
Another great video as it reminded me as a kid walking these lines as I’m from Arnold and going through the tunnels of mapperley and Sherwood great days of exploring when I was a kid. Great video can’t wait till your next one 👏👏👏👍
Thanks very much Keith I'm pleased you enjoyed it. This one took a while to eventually put together
you walked past my road in this video. great presentation of the information!!
Ahhh that's funny. Thanks very much indeed
Brilliant explore Ant!!
Very kind John thank you 😊
Even though I’m not familiar with a lot of the areas you cover I find the videos really interesting .. keep up the good work !!
Very kind Alan thank you
Brilliant ❤ been waiting for you to do a video on this line. I’ve walked this line my self were Thorneywood station once was there is a car place that sells cars does look like you can get down there and maybe see some of the wall on the side it’s the trespassing issue lol really enjoyed the video and the drone works so well
Thanks very much Chris l hope it was worth the wait. I've been putting it off for so long
@@TrekkingExploration yes u have been putting it off way to long lol
Goodness me you've put a heck of a lot of work into this. I know some (most) of these areas and found this amazing to watch. You are awesome!
Very kind Craig thank you. It was a tricky one to put together
@@TrekkingExploration Very few people would or could go to so much trouble and am touched as you covered areas I now well and sometime go to without realising the background. Thank you!
Thanks for that Ant, one of your most fascinating videos so far!
Thanks Michael. It was an interesting one to put together
Great vid as always Ant 👍
Very kind thanks very much indeed
thanks for sharing that mate as usual really awesome video love your railway walks
Excellent video ! So well researched ! They just get better ! Thank you for providing us with so much pleasure ! Keep them coming !
That was very enjoyable. Loved all the archive pictures, which must take a hell of a lotof research to find them and put them in the video.All the best.
This was my stamping ground as a youngster, a pal of mine lived at the station house, his father was station master, I have memories of the York stone platforms, no buildings or track,it all seemed to disappear overnight, my pals surname was Byron, his parents and his three sisters stayed in the station house till around 1968, this was the start of the troubles in Northern Ireland, they all went back there about that time. A photograph of the station house exists in I believe a copy of the Thoroton (might be spelt differently) local history book? periodical Of Nottingham whilst the house was still inhabited, a picture shows the car they left to go to Ireland, an Austin of England parked next to the property this was loaded to the gunwales when they departed,and was my last view of the family forever.
All the tunnels were open and the one from the station towards Wells Road under the Mapperly hill was only ventured through once, the reception from the Wells Rd school tough nuts wasn’t to be repeated, getting a good hiding and falling into filthy puddle trying to get back through tunnel to ‘our’ patch was not to be forgotten !
As a child one thought that everything that was,would stay the same forever, returning some years later to see nearly everything gone as you remembered it, the two blocks of flats appeared almost overnight, the original station house demolished and a modern home built in its place, no remnants of the station platforms or associated buildings remaining, the tunnels all having been filled in , trees established as the areas were allowed to return to their origins .
I visit occasionally and mentally remind myself of what was, happy days happy memories.
The picture of the station house with the car parked is as I described in my writings above
Nice one! Thank you :)
Thanks very much Angela
The irony of the Tamworth bricks is that they'd have been brought there on the Midland!
Hello Ant @ 06:16 - That is amazing to see - I never knew that was there!!! - When you were doing the 'Voice Over' - your voice sounds a bit different - Do you have a cold or something??? Shame to think that those old B / W photos showing how the Railway was once - does no longer exists 😐🚂🚂🚂
It always makes me so sad we have lost these railways and the peoples jobs that went with them. Local small scale railways would make so much sense for the future, if only the government would support them?
Indeed that's how many began - as small routes made real by subscription, and an Act of Parliament for each, I believe....
I was bought up very close to Thorneywood Station / Brickworks. The station was in the cutting below Porchester Road. / Carlton Road Junction. It was hemmed in on one side by an Organmakers on the Thorneywood side ( Marmion Road ) and The Coopers Arms on Porchester Road. ( The pub building is still there, but repurposed ) The cutting is still there behind AJD Motors . There was a pedestrian bridge over the cutting, just above the coopers arms, where you could see it clearly, through the lattices. The cutting was used as a GPO depot for a long while. Small green vans used for telephones I remember. The brickworks were huge on the Branchline, and the edges of the quarry can still be seen all round if you drive up Burgees Road and its the housing estate at the top. ( Behind Carlton Hill & Standhill Road ) The infill under Carlton Road was done when they built the estate around a diverted Marmion Road. 1970's I seem to remember.
You will find another section of the line below Greenwood School, where it crosses Sneinton Boulevard. The cutting was pretty clear there . There was also Railway infrastructure where the Police station and the Oliver Hind Youth Club stands (Was called Dayko locally ) , that was demolished to build them. I seem to remember bridge abutments , but no bridge when I walked to school.
Ernest Wragg, the organ builder
Cracking explore Ant! Really interesting.
Very enlightening as being a South Notts boy I'd never heard about this.
Thanks very much for watching ☺️
Had they kept the trackbed, it would have made a superb metro. Not keeping the land was so short sighted 😢
Rumour had it those tower blocks were built there specifically to scupper any plan to reopen the line.
Really ¿?
@@suzyqualcast6269 It was a real rumour. I don't know how true. A lot of people said the suburban lines should be reinstated. Look what Nottingham has now. Trams again and they use the line of the old GCR flyover over the Midland railway but the viaduct had been demolished and is now rebuilt.
Have you done one on Friargate station yet.
How about looking at the Bedford to Northampton railway route and the Northampton to Peterborough railway route? Also, the Bedford to Hitchin route formally to Midland Main line. Also, look at the Bedford to Cambridge section of the old Varsity line.
Ashwells Tunnel and Sherwood Tunnel were both accessible in the mid to late 70s for the enterprising young lad bunking off school. I know because I was that lad!
Great feature this as i’ve been researching myself
Thanks for watching
How'd that single yellow Welsh Poppy get there, below your hand, at 18. 50 ?
We have lost some much infrastructure and architecture.they don't make them like they use to.utter shame
Thanks Ant.
Thank you 😊
You missed St Anns stations masters house, you would have walked past it
I did see it sadly too much happening around it
@@TrekkingExploration great vid
W H Y did 'they' cover all those tunnels, those magnificent constructions ¿?
Doncha Just hAtE that modern stylee keep out sec fencing....?
Is it me or is the sound balance off to the right?
It seemed ok on playback when I checked it
@@TrekkingExploration not here unfortunately
A superb video as alway, you always use such poignant music with your videos.
Very kind nick I'm pleased you are enjoying them
my daughter got a photo with the boys with that bridge
Aaww lovely ❤️
It’s almost heartbreaking to see such infrastructure and building just gone that was originally imagined with optimism then either through short sightedness or incompitance to be so absolutely destroyed,the GC as a point it almost seems vindictive to those great men who sweated to build it.I like the videos that you make very much but please don’t sometimes spin so quick it’s to interesting.
Great video. It's a pity a lot of the remains are covered in graffiti.
I hate Graffiti!!
OK I see you have already covered the GC in Nottingham….
❤👍
☺️☺️
These tunnel need reopening for.cyclune.walkers joggers and dog walkers etc .. breaks my heart to see them co er up
Yes it would have been a fantastic little route
Tis indeed a shame today's tag hands respect little the effort and production the Victorian put into constructing these now half buried manificencies.
Lots of deja vu and costume changes😂😂😂😂😂 Makes you quite sad that those tunnels are down there but will never be seen again😒
I get angry and upset at the decimation of rail .Post war was the emergence of the baby boomers, surely someone should have thought of the need for housing and sustainable transport? " Price of everything, value of nothing" comes to mind.
This route would have been a cracker for today's over worked roads and congestion. Thank you for watching
100% agree. You have to look at the decisions made by governments of the day. They stood to make short term profit closing rail and promoting road building instead. Pretty embarrassing these days that we couldn't even imagine building new rails to the scale of the victorians
@@pixe1refr35h...Absolutely. Politicians had shares in bus companies and were arrogant in their assumptions that everyone would be able to afford cars.Now, as we obsess with climate change, roads are choked with pollution and as the cost of living bites, communities are stranded without rail links and the rural poor face high bus fares and scant services. None of the waste of spacers jostling for power have even mentioned rail regeneration, even though the restoration of Welsh Valley lines has brought improvements to the lives of inhabitants.
@@railwaychristina3192It was actually competition from more direct trams that caused the passenger service to cease even back in 1931. Ten years later the Luftwaffe dropped a bomb destroying part of it near Trent Lane.
Wasn't it a Mr Marple who, ostensibly for the Govt, post WW2 indeed saw the valu£, just lying there as scrap value track, and once the permittance of Dr Beeching was presented... moved on it, with but disregard to a l l the effort and industry that had gone into the building of all said infrastructure, from stations, to viaducts/bridges and tunnels, which stand alone as constructions in their own right.
Imagine all the choice of travel from small villages and towns throughout the UK that we would have now if the the destruction of our rail network had not happened, what a shambles we have become, from the envy of the world to this shit show we now are.
Why the infernal background music. It is totally unnecessary and spoils what is an interesting video.
Wow another brilliant video Ant👍🏻without a doubt your channel is so very much underrated ,for me one of the best on UA-cam 👍🏻informative and educational,thanks again for making these for us all to enjoy