The Story of Chard's Abandoned Railway Stations
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- Опубліковано 4 вер 2024
- Hey folks.
Thanks for watching as always, links as follows:
Rebecca's Channel: / @thewhitewickmixtape
Patreon: / everydisusedstation
Our Website: www.paulwhitewi...
Maps: www.railmaponli...
This week we take a stroll along the Chard Branch Lines exploring any railway infrastructure and architecture that remains. Our goal is to explore Every Disused Station in the UK.
Credit: bensound.com (Elevator music).
#EveryDisusedStation
Hey folks, hope you like the video. Here is Rebecca's new channel. Go click. ua-cam.com/channels/EJYFfiVvnOcTUwoJaoLQZw.html
The old canal you mentioned also had 3 tunnels, Crimson Hill, Ilminster and Herne Hill, remains servive, a good book for you would be Ronald Russell Lost canals and waterways of Britain, there are so many old canals next to old railways and some of the railways were built on the canal beds.
@@petergrant2366 keep an eye out on the channel in a few weeks time..... We filmed the canal too
@@pwhitewick excellent looking forward to that then.
I see others already corrected the pronounciation of Hatch Beauchamp.
The concrete platform that was at Ilton is still doing railway duty at the outer end of the East Somerset Railway. I helped to get it re- sited there. If it had not been raining I might well have been on the cycle track through Donyatt, it is only a few yards from where I live.
Whitewick's Abandoned Railways subscribed ages ago
Every abandoned station should have its own Rebecca. You are very lucky to have the original Paul.
She really is to die for, isn't she?
Anti-tank lumps of concrete are called "Dragon's Teeth" - they were originally shaped a bit like a pyramid. Great vid as always!
Another great video. Thanks for that. One thing you guys are proving with your videos is the amazing engineers of the 19th century. In the space of around forty or fifty years they covered the whole country with thousands of miles of railway track, huge viaducts, bridges and tunnels not to mention the thousands of stations you are covering in your programme. So what about today? Well it seems we are struggling to build one line HS2. It might be ready around 2035 if the money doesn't run out!! I'll be over 90 by then so not sure if I'll be up for a trip on it!! Come back Kingdom Brunel and all your fellow engineers and show us how to do it!!!
You had a right mix of weather and quite squelchy under foot! Donyatt Halt was lovely, nicely looked after.
I cycle that route quite a bit from south chard to Ilminster, great little route, great video
Nice video! My grandparents just pre-WW2 bought a Victorian house and small-holding scale piece of land north of where you started, that backed onto the former GWR Bristol-Taunton (ex-Bristol and Exeter Railway) mainline. I got my love of railways watching Western diesel-hydraulics haul express passenger trains through the cutting, and still visit the farm crossing bridge to the north of the road through Creech St Michael.
Five arch bridge was for sale by the British Rail (Residuary) Board a few years ago, but I don't think anyone actually bought it. It was listed on RightMove as "development land" because it comes with 1/4 acre on the mainline railway side. Would have been a bit too noisey/close to the railway for a house.
Sorry to pick you up on your pronunciation again Paul, but Hatch Beauchamp is not as posh as your wording. To locals its simply Hatch Beach-Ham. Its where Australian then cricketer - now coach - Justin Langer and his family lived whilst he was playing county cricket for Somerset. He flet it was so backward and lost it time, but loved it as it was wholly family safe. Good Luck!
Thanks Ian and thanks for sharing. Ahhhh we tried pretty much every variation of Hatch B...... Apart from that one!
Thanks for a good video. It's good to see that some station buildings have survived and been re-purposed.
Yup most have survived and are in use which hopefully means they will be for a while now.
I drove 159s through Chard Junction. I knew about Chard Town but never knew about Chard Joint. It would have been a handy diversionary route if they had kept it open. We use Yeovil Junction via Pen Mill, Castle Cary and Westbury a lot as a diversionary route to Salisbury.
Thank you for the tip off Paul for Rebecca's channel I have subscribed to her channel, don't worry Paul I'm not leaving you I'm happy to have you both vlogs
Nice exercise with interesting facts along the way
Thanks Neil.
I remember going to Ilminster station with my dad to pick up a box of day old chicks for the farm when I very small and dad having a very long chat with a shunter driver at Chard Junction.
Good video guys. The section from Illminster to chard, via Donyatt Halt, we walk on a regular basis as chard is only a short drive from our home at Axminster. It is a good walk and cycle route and well worth the trip. If you go into the factory shop which was the main station, you can see a lot of interesting architecture which still remains. Chard Junction is still there and is a passing loop on the line to Exeter. working on the railway, i have spend many a time sat in the loop waiting for a passing train.
I wish we had seen you when you were doing your video. It would of been good to off had a chat about the local area and other disused lines down here.
All the best, Martin
Thanks Martin. We are out and about a lot and will be sure to be in the area again.
I had a now long-dead aunt who lived on Catchgate Lane in Chard. I remember that the town centre was within walking distance, but cannot relate where any of the stations were in relation to it.
The LSWR main line didn’t do too well in that it avoided serving both Chard and Yeovil.
While you were in the area you could have popped across to Yeovil which also had three stations and remarkably still two are open!
Yup thats very true. We actually did spend some more time here... videos to follow!
Hello Paul and Rebecca,
Really enjoyed this video, my late Father used to tell me stories about his Father who worked this line as a GWR Train Guard based in Taunton. My Dad told me that during WW2, a train that my late Grandfather was travelling on was machined gunned by a German aircraft near Donyatt, fortunately there were no casualties or damage to the train. I am ashamed to say that I have been visiting my relatives in the Chard area for nearly 60 years, and apart from Central Station I did not realize how much of the infrastructure of this line was still in existence.
Looking forward to your next video.
Best wishes
David
Thanks David and thanks for sharing, yup quite a bit, at least of the southern section still survives today.
It was worth it just to see that lovely ellipse bridge you went under, so elegant ellipse arches!!
I have shopped at that Tesco's many times when visiting my Mum when she lived in Crewkerne and never realised it was on the site of an old railway station, you learn something new every time on this channel - it's great.
So 1 Vicki foot equals 0.8975 Rebecca boot. I'm sure that will pop up in a trivia quiz one day !
Thanks David, means a lot that we are educating as we go.
Jolly nice little ramble. And jolly nice little commentary. You're obviously a jolly nice little couple!
It gives me ideas for my holidays. You find nice countrysides, with pretty landscapes, and with interesting things about railways on it. I love it !
Always surprised just how much is left of closed railways.. but also the speed at which trackbed was sold off at strategic points too. , So they couldn't be reopened cheaply ... bit like bullesye. "this is what you could have had"
Bastards! They did that deliberately.
Facinating. you picked a yuk day. plenty mud and water to paddlle though.. Nice and interesting. Nice to have Rebecca joining in the conversation more. Roll on summer so we can get about a bit more. thanks guys.
Couldn't agree more Keith. Roll on the sun
Dewsbury had four railway stations of which only one survives. Savile Town (Midland) was goods-only, Market Place (Lancs&Yorks) closed in the 1930s and Central (Great Northern) closed at Beeching's whim in the mid-60s. I can vaguely remember the long viaduct on which Central was situated, before it was turned into a much-needed bypass road.
We need a Rebecca to Vicki feet conversion chart!
Wells, a bit further north west also had three stations at one time. Mania! "The Strawberry Line" to Cheddar survived until Beeching. Much of it was still there minus the track when I was younger, all gone now.
I was always a fan of where former roads go, now thanks to you I am exploring former railway lines too! You're very inspiring :)
Thank you, thats very kind.
Suggestion for complications in Somerset: Wells! A number of stations there over the years. None now of course. The Cheddar Valley Line should be on your bucket list.
We shall duly add it. Somerset complications? Sounds like potential for a story on the channel
Great video Paul and Rebecca, very interesting, love donyatt halt a lot of saved history their, beautiful old station buildings along the route, great to see them being used👌😀👍
I had a friend now deceased, who as a regular Sgt in Royal Engineers, applied for a commission at start of 1940. He was on his course when a staff officer entered the class and said anyone have expireance on concrete ? Several raised theirs hands and where taken away. When they returned some months later they had been employed building, pillboxes, dragon’s teeth and other defensive works in case of a German invasion.
John
good video as usual folks cheers
Fascinating little line thanks for sharing
Chard station was right behind my great grandfather's house on Victoria Avenue. We moved in in 1987 and used to play football on the green space that was the railway line. We used to cycle to chard junction to watch the trains passing and see what they did to small rocks. We got chased away one day by a guard at the level crossing signal box.
Haha... Brilliant.
Great vlog good to see so many buildings left and being used. Many thanks.
Yup, love to see places like this.
The line would still be used today as well if it hadn't closed. Coiuld it be rebuilt?
Hi , Really enjoyed this video which I've now watched twice . Just a very few points . Hatch Beauchamp station is quite well preserved and the tunnel was I believe was used for growing mushrooms and Beauchamp is locally pronounced as Beecham . I know that this point is irrelevant but Captain Chard the hero of Rorke's Drift is buried in the Churchyard . Chard Junction station could easily be put back into use but I'm not sure where the link route from Chard Town to Chard Junction went . Apparently there are some remains near Forton . The Taunton Chard railway ran very near to Knowle St.Giles (blink and you might miss it ! ) but still in place near that part of the line there are still defences and a pill box . The railway bridges near Chard are still in good use and I regularly use them . Please keep up the good work .
Brilliant video, there is also some nice former station buildings that are beautifully preserved, some of those buildings do remind me of Yatton Station buildings (mind you that was also built by the Bristol and Exeter Railway) And also wonder how many disused railway stations have supermarkets built on top of them! There is one which I did recently visit called Fallowfield, A Sainsbury Car Park is built on where the line once was but the station building on Road level is part of a Sainsbury Cafe.
Cheers Simon. Yup sadly too many are under carparks and such. But as you say, what remains is very well preserved.
GMPTE could have kept intact the disused trackbeds of most of the closed lines within its boundaries but it did the opposite. Some of the freight traffic that helps to clog up the line between Piccadilly and Deansgate could have reached the Old Trafford/Trafford Park area via Phillips Park and the Gorton/Fallowfield/Chorlton (a single two way track) route instead, but that's no longer possible.
My mum worked in chard during the war then went to a munitions factory in Chorley, the rest is history as the wise man once said, my son took her back on holiday before she died and she loved seeing it once again
There's an interesting closed line from Kenilworth Junctions to Berkswell in Warwickshire/West Midlands. No closed stations but well worth an investigation by your good selves....
Lancaster used to have Green Aire Railway Station, The original Railway Station is opposite Lancaster infirmary and there was another station besides Carlisle bridge on morecambe road the platforms were destroyed in 1983/4 and the concrete panels were used in the construction of bowling greens near warton
How very interesting. Super video. Lots of facts and history as usual
I really want to explore railways with these people
At Hatch near where you stopped there is the old station access point hi up on the bank which still has the old gate and a path down to the station you could park up there at get a good view of the station and the tunnel.
Chard had 3 stations and (checks map), there's a "Chesterfield" in Chard.. Chesterfield also had three stations... but has no "Chard"
Super interesting production about a little known railway area that was savaged without mercy by Beeching. Not to be confused with Beauchamp........ 😊
@Alexander Challis no. he was the chairman of BTC and carried out an investigation.
The decisions were made by the secretary of state for transport, we live in a democracy where governments are staffed by mps who have won elections. power to close was held by these people not the chairman of the BTC.
the majority of route miles closed, stations closed and services withdrawan were closed by Barbara Castle(labour)and Tom Fraser(labour) as part of Harold Wilson's (labour) government. this happened sfter the labour party promised at the election that the closures would cease(lie).
Thanks for the tours of chard found it all very interesting as I lived in chard for 51 years 🍻👍
I remember you Neil. I lived behind Ken Feltham's place in Fairway Rise. I was in the Army Cadets with you. Regards
Maldon in Essex has two station at least and two seperate lines linking to main lines one via Kelvedon and via South Woodham..
Hatch Beauchamp is pronounced Hatch Beecham. The GWR was always worried that the L&SWR would get running powers over their line and use them to run trains from Waterloo to Taunton. For this reason the Taunton to Chard Joint line was left broad gauge as long as possible, and in 1891 was the last purely broad gauge line east of Exeter. In 1917 during World War I the GWR and L&SWR came to an agreement whereby the GWR would run all passenger trains between Taunton and Chard Junction, giving the L&SWR the appropriate share in the revenues. At this point Chard Town station was closed to passengers, although it continued to be used as a goods station.
Fantastic John thank you. You'd assume there were plenty of other places where this could happen. LSWR and GWR crossing bows many times in numerous locations.
That made complete sense
Phew
Reckon you do very well to find all these interesting places!
Thanks Robin. A fair amount not research but will still miss a lot!
Hatch Beecham!! Next time you're in Chard remember to take a breath, I was knackered after that explanation!!!! 😥👍
Haha.... me too!
Another fascinating video from yourselves. Wells, near to where I live, had three stations at one time. All next to each other with their own separate staff, good for providing lots of employment to the locals in a town where the largest employer is probably now Tesco's. How typical of the GWR to build its' railway at some distance from the town it was supposed to serve! I didn't know how the locals pronounced 'beauchamp' as in Hatch Beauchamp but I didn't think it could possibly be 'Bow-shom'. Kibworth Beauchamp in Leicestershire is similarly pronounced 'beecham'. Keep 'em coming. I saw a lot of mud and very large puddles on your walks but where on earth did that sun come from?
I'm a longtime viewer who has always enjoyed your hard work. Your channel has been cross-referencing with narrowboat videos for so long, I'm embarrassed to say I wasn't subscribed yet! Glad to have sorted that out.
Much love from Niagara Region in Canada (home of the Welland Shipping Canal, bypassing Niagara Falls)
Ah well thanks for the subscription, it's very much appreciated.
Great Video as always it looked quite wet in places! Beauchamp is pronounced Beecham why I have no idea just to make it more difficult
Oh boy, so we didn't get any version correct lol
Great video, love how non locals pronounce names for this part of the country.
Nice one; enjoyed that although it did look a bit wet! I had a charred joint once. Never to be repeated! 😉😉
So many Tescos built. on ex railway property. I wonder how much they paid us for all that land??
Tescos actually campaigned to try and stop the Bluebell Line extension being built! (Because of their store next to the end of the line).
Lol nice one thanks for sharing this with us 👏❤️😁xx
Great video.
'Hatch Beauchamp' is pronounced Hatch Beecham, as in Connie Beauchamp from Casualty 😉
Also Shepton Beauchamp where my Mum lives, as did the late John Cornelius who would have been so pleased to see one of his many many photo's come up on here. 👍
The canal it joined up to was the Bridgwater and Taunton canal
Thanks Terry, I was a tad lost with my words there!
Never knew they had pulled museum pieces out for the defenses of the UK. The last 9-pounder gun was withdrawn from service in 1895. In 1940 in would have been a 2-pounder anti-tank gun.
Correction: they also used Hotchkiss 6-pounder guns as used on British tanks in WW1.
The history of Chard and its stations is a tad confusing, and convoluted, interesting to see what remains, however I do feel that a map showing the railway(s) and the stations in relation to each other would have provided the viewer will a little more clarity.
Couldn't agree more. We since learnt some funky graphics as you'll see from our more recent vids 👍
Another great video and only half an hours drive from my location. I will have to go there and look around.
The bottom section is definitely worth a walk.
Another great video! Chard isn't a tiny place so who knows, maybe one day they'll reopen the branch and Chard will get its 4th railway station!
Very true, chard junction would probably be a start.
I hope so. Should not have closed.
@@simontay4851 Start with Chard Junction as a Parkway Station for the wider area then rebuild the branch and run a Parry People Mover style train between the junction and the town, just like Stourbridge.
Chard station the factory shop is worth a look around inside loots of bits left to do with the old station although I did get a few funny looks taking pictures!
I found the location of the road bridge @3:00 on Google Earth and Streetview (including the boat), and somebody has done a major job of filling in the cutting there. The top of the road bridge arch is hardly above the ground level.
Yup the south side is completely gone too. A shame.
I will checkout your new channel Rebecca - interesting facts about Chard stations & 5 arches bridge!
Thank you 👍👍👍
Never mind metric.Lets measure everything in Rebecca feet!Loved Donyatt(?) halt.Kudos to the locals.
Chris.
Feet and inches for ever!!!
Pontefract 15 miles SW of me has 3 railway stations still in use. Not bad for a small town
It’s Hatch ‘Beecham’ to pronounce correctly.
hey paul and rebecca , great video as always , hmmm rebecca's feet will have to remember that lol , :)
And the academy award for best use of a car boot in a transition shot goes to ... 🏆😊
Haha.... The boot trick never fails 👍
In pre-H and S days it was quite acceptable to cross the line by way of the slope, often they had wooden planking between the rails so you didn't trip. Oh and in those days they knew to look for trains coming, just imagine if people were that sensible these days.
The reason I asked my question on your Q&A is the following. If my maths is correct and 302 is your current total and there are 6800, your current completion rate from the date of your challenge video means I'll be dead in 2048 when you finish (using the date of your first video you'll finish in 2065!). As I'm unlikely to be around for either date, but hopefully you are, please accept my congratulations now.
I want to pin this comment but I can't as I've already stolen the spot. You are of course correct. Blame the tunnels and viaducts that keep distracting us!
@@pwhitewick Don't abandon (:-)) the tunnels and viaducts just try and achieve mid 2030's 'cos I might still be here.
@@thehermit407 we agree. 😁
I love how vicki feet is now an established measurement for platforms
Beauchamp == "Beecham"
Ah yes. We missed that variation.b
Or Bee chum. Famous name in Somerset, they owned the Radstock coal mines before nationalization
@@chrisstephens6673 That's what I was trying to say, but your version is phonetically less ambiguous, so yeah - what Chris says :) I was thinking "Beecham" as in "Beechams powders"
@@hoagy_ytfc don't feel bad about it, you were almost there.
I have a connection with the powder people and the ones with the mines so am sensitive to the pronunciation. Had it not been for that I would have let you go unchallenged. 🤣🤣🤣
@@chrisstephens6673 like beau champ roding
Have you tried the Old Maps phone app? I knew there was a web site but only just realised there was an app too - very useful when out and about and no reference books around.
Oh wow. Nope!
haha! to paraphrase famous railway buff, Oscar Wilde, 'to lose one station may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose both/all three is careless..'
Haha
And also quoting Wilde: 3:54 7:15 Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
I think you underestimated the standard 'Vicky Steps'? Rebecca is only a little taller than Vicky Pipe (Marshall?) and she also wears VERY 'sensible' boots when the need etc. (I was a bit surprised you were wearing wellies, perhaps the most uncomfortable footwear ever invented for actually walking?)
I was unaware there were so many stations associated with Chard and I wonder which one was involved in a tragic event of the past? A GWR passenger train was involved in an unusual collision with a goods train, under a road bridge in 'Chard'. The goods train was (I think) reversing over points into a siding and the passenger train ran in to it. Many were killed in the inevitable fire in gas lit, wooden coaches.
Not much unusual there, but two of the victims were a boy and a girl - assumed to be brother and sister. What was so strange was that their bodies were never claimed and they were never identified. Apparently they are buried in the churchyard 'in Chard'. Sad, but a very interesting part of railway history. Also, what was the story of the seated figure on the abandoned platform? Great vlog, is usual.
Brilliant, as always. ;-)
Loved it. Mind you I love all your videos. Thanks for taking me along really enjoyed it was disappointed when you called an end to it
This s not a criticism, just an observation. Hatch Beauchamp is pronounced 'Hatch Beechump' by the local yokel's! And Hatch station is owned by Sterling Services, the make precast concrete structures and sculptures for construction. They're a friendly bunch, I've worked in there many-a-time! Great video, thanks!
Thank you. Yup we had no idea it wouldn be pronounced like that! We did think we were very much in the way at Hatch so made a Sharpe exit
@@pwhitewick - You should have asked if you could look around. You never know they might have been very accommodating!
Quite a lot of water in the river whatever it was.
There is an 8 arches bridge just outside Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. Funnily enough, it has 8 arches.
Don't know if it's an official name or just a local nickname, chosen for some strange reason.
Just a bit of useless info for you, while in Hatch Beauchamp if you had gone to the church (i cant remember its name) you would find the grave of John Rouse Merriott Chard (VC) Officer Commanding Rorkes Drift staion,Natal, on which the film Zulu was based. 11 VC's were won there, the largest number for one action in British History.
We love that!!
Well done!
..... this is where we get to "all the stations".... sounds familiar
Excellent info. - looks like the stations closed BEFORE the Beeching Report - can only assume they
served only very small populations.
But those populations have expanded a lot since then and would benefit from the line being still there.
@@simontay4851 But that's always too late: the old lines are gone for good. We have the most expensive railways in Europe and they're run for profit (like the remaining buses) and not as a service. Small lines and small stations just dont count.
Was about to ask where to get that hoodie, but then I found the merch link on the website :)
YES DAN...... go forth and purchase.... 🤪😁
There are three abandoned railway stations it next village on to me on outskirts of Sheffield called Killamarsh,
Nice music !.
Thanks for listening
In late BR days the trains ran from Taunton to Chard Junction.
So, from 3 stations to no stations. That's progress.
Yup!
Backwards progress.
Another good video keep them coming 😊
Have done the abandoned Three bridges to East Grinstead line ?
Thanks Colin, not as yet!
Fantastic country ❤️
Thanks for another great adventure!
Rebecca Feet --- LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!! bahahahahaha
The Chard snail as we children used to call it, the train not the station
Ah so not the quickest of lines!
Congratulations on hitting Abandoned Station #300 ! Glad to see they have repurposed some of those stations! Very picturesque as usual! Thanks!
Thanks Miles.
have you thought about Cornwall we have a few down here too
Yup quite a few plans for Cornwall though I fear it may not be possible non the next six months or so
Thank you so much for this!
A pleasure. Thank you
Realy enjoy your youtube channel thanks
Thanks Adrian. Lots more planned.
Very amused by the way you both made valiant efforts to pronounce Hatch Beauchamp. With the quirkiness of the English language, it's actually pronounced Hatch BEECHAM! (I lived near there in my late teens). One other 'Five Arch(es) Bridge' was at Radstock on the S&D, of course. Really enjoyable - keep going!