Riccarton Junction - Now and then...

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  • Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
  • A visit to Riccarton Junction in Nov 2020 , very overgrown and not much left to really see anymore .
    Old photos used with google fair use policy.
    Checkout "slow train to Riccarton" - • Slow Train to Riccarto...
    Also please visit this video of Saughtree Station - • Saughtree Station
    *****Please consider subscribing to my channel*****
    / @xpl0r

КОМЕНТАРІ • 263

  • @Xpl0r
    @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +6

    *Reading all the comments there is still a divided opinion on why the line closed*

    • @tipsy1973
      @tipsy1973 3 роки тому +6

      It's lines like this that should still be open not for historical reasons but for its beauty.

    • @davidsheriff8989
      @davidsheriff8989 3 роки тому +5

      @@tipsy1973 Agree. people would use these old lines rather than sit in cars in traffic methinks

  • @johnw4016
    @johnw4016 3 роки тому +36

    One of my earliest memories is waiting for a train with my mother at Riccarton junction. I must have been three or four years old and my memory is only fragmentary. It was night time and we were enveloped in deep darkness as there was no electricity, only a few dim oil lamps and a roaring coal fire in the waiting room. I remember the smell of soot, voices out of the darkness, slamming carriage doors, and the broad leather straps that were used to raise carriage windows. We lived near Tarset in the North Tyne valley and we must have been visiting my uncle and aunt; my uncle was stationmaster at Harker on the Waverly line.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +4

      Great story , the signalbox is still at harker by the stationmasters house a private residence now .

    • @michaelhawthorne8696
      @michaelhawthorne8696 3 роки тому +1

      Wow, that paragraph could be a start to a novel.....write it up, sounds like something I would read...errie gloom or ghostly abandonment.....could be another Hound of the Baskervilles ESK tale or a Brief encounter where your the young child who is witnessing an engaging encounter between two people while your mum sips tea from a saucer (This was common in them days. My mum used to do this when I was a toddler (born 1963)).....or even a remake of The Ghost train (Starring Arthur Askey).......

    • @johnw4016
      @johnw4016 2 роки тому

      @@Xpl0r Even then, there was no passenger service at Harker. It mainly handled freight for a nearby RAF station.

  • @albertsmith1048
    @albertsmith1048 29 днів тому +1

    As a 74 year old who can remember the steam train, these kinds of video are sad in a good way. Sad that a way of life is lost forever, good to see some still care about what we lost. Long may they continue.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  28 днів тому

      Yes it’s my way of keeping the line alive , looking back at old photos and videos 👍

  • @railfreightdrivergallagherGBRf
    @railfreightdrivergallagherGBRf 3 роки тому +23

    There's no doubt at all that the line will reopen to Carlisle. Whether a station will exist again here for walkers and the few scattered homes remains to be seen,but there will probably be an array of sorting sidings for log trains,and the line also relaid to Kielder. How strange it will be to see a Colas class 70 on a Kielder Forest to Chirk log train!! Just hope when the entire through route is open again,it's double track. It's only now that the shortcomings of the 1st stage between Edinburgh & Tweedbank with its single track is being realised. Will also be good to see road give way to Rail in Melrose,as the bypass will have to be realigned to accommodate the new line. That's how it should be!! Bring it on!!!

    • @MATT-xv4bh
      @MATT-xv4bh 3 роки тому +2

      My dear Dad William Todhunter, left from Carlisle in the 1920's to travel to Fremantle, Western Australia seeking his fortune. Sadly, he wasn't ever to get back there. He possibly used that train too.

  • @jackking5567
    @jackking5567 3 роки тому +28

    A few things:
    Most randomly I bought an old train photo (buried within a bundle of random oldies) years ago and it has Riccarton showing on a sign in the image. After much research I discovered that the image shows the arrival of the very first train into Riccarton Junction (officially)!
    A few years back my Dad (85) told me of the day he went on a trip with some work mates. They were travelling from New Hartley in SE Northumberland and had bought what he called a 'trip ticket' to Edinburgh. It meant they remained on the same train throughout.
    Their train travelled north from New Hartley and branched off The Blyth and Tyne at Bedlington Station. From there it went to Morpeth with my Dad & Co expecting to join the East Coast Mainline. Oh no!!
    Dad tells me their train was diverted onto the Wansbeck Line (Wannie Line) and travelled west up to Kielder. From there it went past Deadwater, took a turn and joined through Riccarton Junction. From that point they went up to Edinburgh.
    Dad describes it as probably the most unusual and scenic journey (adventure) he's ever had. He also told me that despite the huge and twisty diversion, they reached Edinburgh in good time and with very little hassle.
    An interesting video. Thanks for sharing.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +2

      Great story sounded like a interesting journey indeed . Atb 👍

  • @sjp6839
    @sjp6839 3 роки тому +10

    Fascinating to see things like this but also sad at the same time. All the people and their lives long gone

    • @GaryNumeroUno
      @GaryNumeroUno 3 роки тому +2

      Yes, very sad. So many lives and effort just abandoned and forgotten. I suppose most of us will end up the same in the future. We'll end up just a distant memory, slowly forgotten and disappearing into the ether till no trace of us remains except as a photo on a computer screen.

  • @anthonyclayden7717
    @anthonyclayden7717 3 роки тому +18

    Greetings from Riccarton in New Zealand (suburb of Christchurch, East Coast/South Island main line, marshalling yards for the Port of Lyttelton)

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +3

      Hello , I hope yours looks in better condition than the uk version

  • @kricklin
    @kricklin Рік тому +2

    I live in the States and just learned of Riccarton Junction today. This video is lovely and wanted to thank you for posting it. Well done.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  Рік тому +1

      Glad you enjoyed it!

  • @Tom-Lahaye
    @Tom-Lahaye 3 роки тому +9

    Visited this place 4 years ago and it's actually one of the quietest places you can find in Scotland, off the beaten tourist paths.
    A little further north along the line is this small society aiming to reopen part of the line as a tourist railway, lets have hope that they can bring back trains into Riccarton Junction.

  • @MrDorbel
    @MrDorbel 3 роки тому +8

    Thank you very much, not just a video, but a valuable historical document in its own right.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +2

      Thanks much appreciated 👍

  • @melanierhianna
    @melanierhianna 3 роки тому +12

    Ernest Marples the transport secretary who commissioned Beeching had directorships in road construction companies. Killing off the railways made him money. Labour could have prevented it when they got in but didn’t. Marples eventually fled to Monaco to evade arrest for tax fraud.

    • @richardjelley3074
      @richardjelley3074 3 роки тому +1

      It didn't kill off the railways, it actually saved them. You can't run anything on sentimentality alone, it won't last long without vast amounts of investment. This is how preserved railways run but you can't operate a national network the same way. Let's be grateful for what has been preserved.

    • @TonySmith-cd7jo
      @TonySmith-cd7jo 3 роки тому +6

      @@richardjelley3074 The point is Marples, was an outright crook, it was only in his interest to trash the railways. Many of the lines closed, were very much still viable. It is not for sentimentle reasons that they are now having to bring some of those lines back into use.

    • @tominnis8353
      @tominnis8353 3 роки тому +4

      Marples was corrupt to the core

    • @peterstudley1804
      @peterstudley1804 2 роки тому +4

      It was Richard Marsh who signed the death knell on this railway. Absolute travesty.

    • @sandletters39
      @sandletters39 Рік тому +2

      Beeching submitted the closure plan in late 64

  • @anth5122
    @anth5122 3 роки тому +15

    When Britain was great, all in the name of progress to quote the late great Fred Dibnah

    • @1940limited
      @1940limited 3 роки тому

      We have a lot of this in the USA, too, from when we were great.

  • @nicholasking8414
    @nicholasking8414 3 роки тому +2

    I never made it to the Waverley in steam days but from photographs in "Trains Illustrated" I could wonder at the loneliness of the landscape and the seeming oddity of a small stud of A3s finding a home in Carlisle. They say that "the pictures are much better on radio" and while the sounds of freight trains slogging their way to Steele Road were never heard on the BBC Home Service, they were thankfully recorded for posterity by Peter Handford on his reel to reel Ferrograph. His "Power of Steam" produced on vinyl by Argo Transacord in 1965 has some unforgettable sequences, or soundscapes as I prefer to think of them, and raise more goose pimples than ever could a photograph Brilliant video - thanks for posting!

    • @johnfellows2867
      @johnfellows2867 7 місяців тому

      The recording of V2 60873 Coldstreamer climbing up through Steele Road has been burnt into my mind for many years !!

  • @amethyst7084
    @amethyst7084 3 роки тому +20

    Landscapes like this always amaze me. If a good case could be made for bringing the railway back to Riccarton, why not?.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +5

      It was an interesting place , I will be back to checkout the kielder branch when life returns to normal .👍

    • @retiredsignalman5865
      @retiredsignalman5865 Рік тому

      If I hit that Powerball Lottery here in Ohio U.S.A. Scotland here I come!

  • @meerkovo1
    @meerkovo1 3 роки тому +11

    My grand father was a signalman here and my father attended the school

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      Great stuff , I bet he had some tales to tell . I used to be a signaller on the S&C .

    • @meerkovo1
      @meerkovo1 3 роки тому +3

      @@Xpl0r Definitely, weather was always a concern too, a very close knit community as you would expect and something you would not see today

  • @barrythedieselelectricstea5217
    @barrythedieselelectricstea5217 3 роки тому +14

    very interesting video👍 yes I agree it should be put back as it was if beeching wasn't born none of this would have happened it's madness what has happened to our railway some lost forever it makes me hopping mad 😡

    • @12crepello
      @12crepello 3 роки тому +9

      If Beeching hadn't done it someone else would have. He was working on the instructions of the government at the time.

    • @stephensheehan1666
      @stephensheehan1666 3 роки тому +4

      @@12crepello Yes you're right, Transport Minister Mr. (Motorway) Marple, of Marples Ridgeway, motorway construction company.

    • @winco68
      @winco68 3 роки тому +3

      @@stephensheehan1666 Yes that’s correct Ernest Marples merely hired Beeching as the hatchet man. It has to be argued though that some of the lines that closed should have closed as they were losing money hand over fist and many that were closed should never have closed the ‘Waverley’ being one of them another being the ‘Port Road’ from Carlisle to Stranraer.

  • @Zentron
    @Zentron 3 роки тому +10

    In this day and age of road traffic congestion, thanks Mr MacMillan, Mr Beeching, these old rail routes would have been very useful alternatives, alas!

    • @ministryofanti-feminism1493
      @ministryofanti-feminism1493 3 роки тому +2

      Profit is the new God.

    • @owenevans83
      @owenevans83 3 роки тому +2

      Don’t forget Wilson, the Waverley and many other lines closed when Labour were in charge.

    • @Zentron
      @Zentron 3 роки тому +1

      @@owenevans83 Yes, Labour should have kept their promise to reverse the Beeching cuts, as it has had a knock on effect for other lines down the years!

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      Yes, you are right

  • @Mapplewell_Park
    @Mapplewell_Park Рік тому +2

    Really interesting video. I’m fascinated by abandoned places especially involving railways 👍

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  Рік тому +1

      Thanks , such a pity a once thriving community was gone once the railway closed . TFW

  • @paulrounding5260
    @paulrounding5260 3 роки тому +6

    Looks like a fantastic cycle track with some wonderful views.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +2

      I will be back when allowed to checkout the kershope branch by bike 👍

  • @AndrewCazalet
    @AndrewCazalet 3 роки тому +4

    great video very interesting. I love the quiet indignation / anger of Ian Nairn.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Thanks , yep he was his own man was Mr Nairn 👍

  • @hoffwell
    @hoffwell 3 роки тому +5

    The 'chimney' you mention at 7.09 is i think the drain I saw when i was there years ago. The chap I was with at the time told me he remembered going up there in a wagon as a boy with his grandfatha to pull out dumped coal ash which was taken away and used in the production of breeze blocks. Of course then the ash was level with the drain top.

  • @marcel-jt3dy
    @marcel-jt3dy 3 роки тому +5

    Eevry thing has a spring summer autumn and winter some don't always get another spring.

  • @exb.r.buckeyeman845
    @exb.r.buckeyeman845 3 роки тому +26

    Now that's progress for you, if the Railway was still there, timber could be taken out instead of by road.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +6

      Yep all the way to Carlisle and connect with the train from Kingmoor to Chirk

    • @SuperNevile
      @SuperNevile 3 роки тому +3

      In a alternative history, this would have already been electrified ready for "zero carbon".....

    • @railfreightdrivergallagherGBRf
      @railfreightdrivergallagherGBRf 3 роки тому +1

      It will be going by rail again one day,as the plan is to also relay the line to Kielder from Riccarton Jct,so that log trains can run.direct to Chirk from Kielder. Will be a great sight to see.

  • @davidjackson8829
    @davidjackson8829 6 місяців тому +1

    Dave Border Rambler. Recognised your voice instantly. Passed there today on the way back from Kielder. Wandering whether it was a wild camp possibility. I am intrigued by it

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  6 місяців тому +1

      Possibly but lots of wood traffic comings and goings . There always Wills bothy by the stream .

  • @craigymac5386
    @craigymac5386 3 роки тому +36

    The 60s were definitely bad years for British Railways. All this was just organised vandalism.

    • @stephensheehan1666
      @stephensheehan1666 3 роки тому +1

      No thanks to the twat from ICI!!!

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +3

      Thanks for watching

    • @TheBenchPressMan
      @TheBenchPressMan 3 роки тому +2

      it started in the 1920s, when we decided to send capital to the Empire in search of higher ROIs than at home. Keynes highlights this in his 1930s/40s works. By the 1930s most of our lines where over 100 years old, and needed complete redevelopment for faster more modern trains.

    • @hoffwell
      @hoffwell 3 роки тому +1

      @@TheBenchPressMan or to put it another way, there were too many lines built in the first place, too much duplication of lines, railways were built to shift aggregates and minerals, a lot of which had been worked out by the 50s/60s, plus car ownership was rising rapidly.

    • @terrypbug
      @terrypbug 3 роки тому

      They we're bad in America to then we'll really didn't come back till 90s now most if them are booming now

  • @exb.r.buckeyeman845
    @exb.r.buckeyeman845 3 роки тому +14

    Mail, newspapers, parcels, milk empties, coal, animal feed, etc would all come in by rail.

  • @Retroscoop
    @Retroscoop 3 роки тому +2

    If there're a 206 on both sides, it isn't a mileage, but the number of the structure on the map of technicians way back when... Well done, very nostalgic without being too mellow :)

    • @ChangesOneTim
      @ChangesOneTim 9 місяців тому

      The '206' plate is indeed not original, but it is the structure number, counting from the start of the line at Portobello Jn. The newly-added post showing '66' is the mileage from the same datum.

  • @davidsheriff8989
    @davidsheriff8989 3 роки тому +2

    Much history about the railways of the past to be still uncovered.

  • @charlieinsingapore
    @charlieinsingapore 3 роки тому +8

    Jumped into this video thinking it was just outside Christchurch in New Zealand, I couldn't remember there being a junction at Riccarton... oops, it's the original UK town

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +2

      Sorry this is on the otherside lol , Scotland UK lol

  • @levelcrossing150
    @levelcrossing150 3 роки тому +6

    Interesting video, many thanks.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Thanks for watching

  • @simonjacobs7521
    @simonjacobs7521 3 роки тому +1

    Thanks for the adventure and film, great bit of history and thanks for the link to the old film.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Thanks for watching

  • @andypandywalters
    @andypandywalters 3 роки тому +1

    Fascinating little video. Thanks for posting.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Glad you enjoyed it

  • @RJH1971
    @RJH1971 3 роки тому +4

    Fascinating video thanks for sharing!

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Thanks

  • @RUOKH
    @RUOKH 3 роки тому +2

    So sad but enigmatic. Thank you.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Thanks for looking in atb 👍

  • @alisonlee3314
    @alisonlee3314 3 роки тому +3

    Lovely Ian Nairn at the beginning x

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      He does come across rather well , tfw atb 👍

    • @jimnolan830
      @jimnolan830 3 роки тому

      Thanks for the name check. I had forgotten Ian's name. From back in the day when articulate, interesting and even quirky presenters. Produced programmes that still respected the Reithian dictate to inform , educate and entertain.

  • @1chish
    @1chish 3 роки тому +3

    The crime wasn't Beeching stopping services that were losing money but the political decision to lift tracks and permanently remove thousands of miles of railway routes that we now need and are costing £ Bns to replace. This Waverley route is a prime example. We were lucky old Portillo saved the Settle & Carlisle route.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      And the government are still making mistakes , yeah good old portillo TFW

    • @1chish
      @1chish 3 роки тому

      @@Xpl0r At least this Government isn't closing down services and ripping up tracks. In fact they are re-opening lines and routes ripped up by an earlier Government.

  • @infinitysearcher8858
    @infinitysearcher8858 3 роки тому +1

    Thanks for documenting this history.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Glad you enjoyed it

  • @JohnSmith-bx8zb
    @JohnSmith-bx8zb 3 роки тому +14

    Completion of the Borders Railway will see it in use again

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +8

      I would love to think so 👍

    • @12crepello
      @12crepello 3 роки тому +2

      Even if the railway is reinstated it is very unlikely that there will be a station at Riccarton.

    • @JohnSmith-bx8zb
      @JohnSmith-bx8zb 3 роки тому +3

      @@12crepello we can hope

  • @TheBroomwagon
    @TheBroomwagon 3 роки тому +1

    Thanks for making and uploading this.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Thanks for watching 👍

  • @harrymcandrew1447
    @harrymcandrew1447 3 роки тому +9

    i bet the people who made that line will be turning in there own graves about there effort being sent down the drain ! anyways liked and subed

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +2

      I suppose at the time it was all about saving money that they were losing , and not about saving little communities like this .

    • @harrymcandrew1447
      @harrymcandrew1447 3 роки тому

      @@Xpl0r true though i still remember some one on facebook telling me the goverment regrets doing silly moves like that but i find it quiet intresting as it formed heritage lines preservation and even exsploring a simple dissued branch is fairly fun

  • @flippop101
    @flippop101 3 роки тому +1

    Great Video and thank you for sharing it with us! Much appreciated.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Thanks for watching atb 👍

  • @chrismccartney8668
    @chrismccartney8668 3 роки тому +6

    A haunting video I enjoy watching such desolate places and wondering are we in the same planet/country/century as me in London today !!. What was the traffic that caused it to be built and what happened to that need and I presume it’s closure was a disaster for remote areas locally....

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      It really is such a remote place , it was used by both passenger and freight but beechings cut closed this line . It has reopened from Edinburgh to tweedbank a 30 miles section only tho at a cost of millions no doubt .

    • @johnjephcote7636
      @johnjephcote7636 3 роки тому +1

      There was much opposition and the last train was constantly delayed by 'hold-ups'.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      @@johnjephcote7636 I believe a vicar was one who done some holding up lol , newcastleton I think

    • @johnjephcote7636
      @johnjephcote7636 3 роки тому +1

      @@Xpl0r At Newcastleton led by the local vicar a group of people had chained and wired the crossing gates. The Rev. Brydon Maben resisted attempts to move him off the tracks by the crew of the pilot engine (a pilot because trouble was anticipated for the last train). David Steel (yes, he) brokered the peace.

  • @darylcheshire1618
    @darylcheshire1618 3 роки тому +6

    I don’t know particulars but Beeching cuts were probably necessary. Perhaps not as severe and I suspect the responsible minister had an anti rail agenda. If it wasn’t Beeching, cuts would have been done by someone else, BR couldn’t go on as they were. I understand some closures were reinstated later.
    In Victoria where I live we had the Lonie Report in around 1980 which recommended the cessation of all passenger services. The conservative government realized that would be political suicide and closed a few lines and a few more were closed over ten years but the regional railways were mostly retained. The report might have shocked any apathy from railway staff. New tangerine carriages were built to replace the old wooden rolling stock.
    The public was skeptical of the oil industry roots and vested interests of the people doing the reports.

    • @jpmcintosh9106
      @jpmcintosh9106 3 роки тому +2

      The minister was Ernest Marples, who owned a company which specialised in road building, which he sold off, retaining shares. He left government (and the country) in a hurry, to avoid prosecution for tax fraud. He was rumoured to have been involved with other government ministers (including John Profumo) in using prostitutes. Diaries later released indicated that he had a liking for dressing as a woman and being whipped. Nice juicy stuff, eh? 😂

    • @roderickjoyce6716
      @roderickjoyce6716 3 роки тому +2

      " the responsible minister " was Ernest Marples who owned a road-building company.

    • @chrismccartney8668
      @chrismccartney8668 3 роки тому +1

      One problem was many station were not near village or town they served and were routed to appease Landowners wishes plus in busier areas when Motor buses and trams in towns were quicker as you didn’t need to walk a mile to the station it was rural populations in remote area Scotland Wales Norfolk where there no heavy goods traffic to keep line open which fared badly many very useful cross country and cross county routes were lost which adversely affect rail travel as no diversion is available the line in Dawlish is a fine example it had alternative routes but all closed and ripped up (why not mothballed) so had no rail service beyond it
      In London thankfully as lines closed around the docks they listed so they could not be built over thus allowing DLR to use routes same for parts of overground and Crossrail all could not have happened if routes they were to use later little used had been built on it could not have happened

    • @darylcheshire1618
      @darylcheshire1618 3 роки тому +1

      @@roderickjoyce6716 I suspet the PM would have been reluctant to do anything even if aware of the conflict of interest. In the 1990s (in Vic Australia) it seems that politicians didn’t understand the meaning of the term ‘conflict of interest’ when contracts were awarded to mates.

    • @TheBenchPressMan
      @TheBenchPressMan 3 роки тому +1

      I’ve done a masters at the LSE in Economics and I specialised in British Economic History primarily from the turn of the century.
      The issue was that Britain had no industrial policy until 1960, and by that time it was to late.
      We needed to modernise our industry, our working practice, our coal mines, and our railways in the 1920s. However by that time those involved in these industries where already hugely rich, investors thought higher returns could be sought in the empire, and the British Government (having no industrial policy, the conservatives did not have one until 1960. And Labour believed centralisation and nationalisation was the answer, plus full employment).
      Basically the U.K. government is inept, both labour and the conservatives. Germany was flattened and ripped apart, yet bounced back faster and harder than the U.K. and retains a huge industrial capacity. The same with Japan!
      Germany specifically focused of low inflation policies, where we aimed to employ as many people as possible. But as I said by the 1960s it was over.
      I could and have wrote many thousands of words on this topic, it’s sad, but the same is happening again today. Watch how the U.K. goverment allows Land Rover defender production to end in the U.K., to be outsourced to Poland, with no credible replacement for the U.K. military personal vehicle being produced domestically.

  • @TheDAT9
    @TheDAT9 3 роки тому +17

    Stop the World at 1960, I'll get off there please.

    • @robertlutz5757
      @robertlutz5757 3 роки тому

      Same for me, please.

    • @Ar-Rahman61
      @Ar-Rahman61 3 роки тому

      1960. When railways were about service, and community, not balance sheets.

    • @JohnSmith-xi3sq
      @JohnSmith-xi3sq 3 роки тому

      No, you don’t, while some of life was good, like spotting steam engines from the school windows, other parts were dire, soot, fog & £15 per week for continental shifts at ICI?

    • @George-ws5us
      @George-ws5us 3 роки тому

      Good year me and the missus were born.

    • @dulls8475
      @dulls8475 Рік тому

      @@JohnSmith-xi3sq Yet people were more satisfied.

  • @xr6lad
    @xr6lad 3 роки тому +3

    The numbers may be ‘trace’ numbers. If a looking truck broke down they can radio in and give the number and it identifies location

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      The numbers are structure numbers given to identify all structures, still to this day

  • @RouXRenard
    @RouXRenard Рік тому +1

    Heartbreaking images

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  Рік тому

      Such a thriving community, axed by one man !

  • @jonathanhall7815
    @jonathanhall7815 5 місяців тому +1

    They have rebuilt part of the old Waverley line from Edinburgh. I would love to see them extend it down to Hawick and eventually all the way down to Carlisle. However, Riccarton Junction seems to be dead and gone.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  5 місяців тому

      yes it would be great to see it further extended south, but yeah Riccarton is a shadow of its hay days.

  • @djburland
    @djburland 3 роки тому +7

    So sad, the stroke of a pen by one man and it destroyed all this !

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +3

      Yep and many other lines around the country 😞

    • @READYTEDDYBEAR
      @READYTEDDYBEAR 3 роки тому +2

      Some of this line has been opened up again and there are many wanting it reopened further south to Hawick.

    • @TheGreenjacketbilly
      @TheGreenjacketbilly 3 роки тому

      By pure coincidence 😂 Beeching was heavily involved in road haulage......go figure!

  • @stevenpryce7808
    @stevenpryce7808 3 роки тому +2

    1969 European fairs cup,Newcastle did indeed play Glasgow Rangers,quarter final I think,I pray to God that before I get too old that myself & a few of my friends can get on at Carlisle & go all the way to Edinburgh along this line 🤞🤞🤞

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      Maybe one day but it’s a big expensive operation 👍

    • @stevenpryce7808
      @stevenpryce7808 3 роки тому

      @@Xpl0r certainly is,I'd like to see the Wensleydale railway all the way back to Garsdale but that won't happen in my lifetime

  • @menshevik1012
    @menshevik1012 3 роки тому +1

    A joy to hear the wonderful Ian Nairn.
    Thank-you for uploading and the images as it is now.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      Glad you liked it . TFW atb 👍

  • @lindabingham394
    @lindabingham394 3 роки тому +1

    i like how you just casually sit on the wall and tell the story not jumpin up and down and trying to awe us with silly things

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Thanks Linda

  • @mikego18753
    @mikego18753 3 роки тому

    Hay mate,just came across your vid.Really enjoyed it.
    cheers.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Glad you enjoyed it TFW atb 👍

  • @erikpeterson25
    @erikpeterson25 3 роки тому +1

    Beautiful country...hiking ...biking country.....rail lines have disapeared all over....they do make good bike trails

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      You got that right!

  • @timkerr729
    @timkerr729 Рік тому +2

    That's me driving the orange digger

    • @BorderRambler
      @BorderRambler Рік тому +1

      Great stuff Can’t believe how much it has grown back , since the restoration work was done .
      Just a pity it sort of fell away and stopped .
      Atb Dave

    • @timkerr729
      @timkerr729 Рік тому +2

      I remember clearing lots of brick rubble off the platform, i believe there was a small amount of track laying done.
      The job was for a group of railway enthusiasts, who also had a small building full of old Riccarton photos.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  Рік тому

      Just a shame it never carried on and finished the project.

  • @markmackay1553
    @markmackay1553 3 роки тому +1

    Interesting video thanks for sharing.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      Thanks for watching

  • @tomgallagher4949
    @tomgallagher4949 3 роки тому +1

    Marvellous. thanks.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Thanks for watching 👍

  • @mervynsands3501
    @mervynsands3501 3 роки тому +11

    Back in a time when britain was great, now all gone to pot, and this is one remnant left behind.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +4

      Not so great britain eh

  • @julianbassett5172
    @julianbassett5172 3 роки тому +1

    I do hope they can complete the partial reopening of the Waverley Route and go all the way to Carlisle again. In better times, maybe.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Would like to think so 👍

  • @joelmorvan8298
    @joelmorvan8298 3 роки тому +3

    I suppose, there are the "Waverley Route" ? Was the LMS Railway Company ? It's very sad, but you British have much many "railway treasure" : number of steam locomotive and touristtic lines.....Friendly from France.

    • @alandunlop7890
      @alandunlop7890 3 роки тому

      Yes, part of the Waverley Route. Not LMS, though, LNER, and before grouping the North British Railway Company.

  • @FPs_transport_vids
    @FPs_transport_vids 3 роки тому +6

    At first I thought it was riccarton in Edinburgh

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      No scottish borders north of Newcastleton

    • @MrRossi78
      @MrRossi78 3 роки тому

      Me to

  • @daviemac9925
    @daviemac9925 3 місяці тому +1

    All rather sad, we used to change trains there going to Scarborough for holidays and change again at Newcastle.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 місяці тому

      Yes , it must have been great travelling and changing at this station back in the day . All sadly gone now !

  • @prof.hectorholbrook4692
    @prof.hectorholbrook4692 3 роки тому +1

    So sad. But well presented.

  • @davidelliott5843
    @davidelliott5843 3 роки тому

    It’s good to see health & safety hard at work with scaffolding hand rail on the bridge. Can’t be too careful.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      It was the original handrails ?

  • @stephensheehan1666
    @stephensheehan1666 3 роки тому +1

    Great video retracing an old railway route, there was talk of re-opening the Waverley route but don't know how its gone. At 04:25, I am assuming it's a bridge structure number, not mileage and at 05:11 the letters could stand for Engineers Line Reference No. 66, could be wrong but educated guess. Still a great video matey.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +4

      Thanks , yes they are always talking about it but the pandemic has probably knocked it back years now . The trains around this part of the country are running around empty until this all goes away .

    • @ChangesOneTim
      @ChangesOneTim 9 місяців тому

      '66' is a mileage. The Engineers Line Reference is ETC, which I believe Network Rail duly readopted when rebuilding Portobello-Tweedbank 😄

  • @bobmcross1
    @bobmcross1 3 роки тому +3

    Interestiing stuff.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      Cheers 👍

  • @williamwallacedebruce9221
    @williamwallacedebruce9221 3 роки тому +5

    What happened to the community? With a school and no road access it must of been another St Kilda.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +3

      That I dont know , I assume they moved to the nearest towns and villages . Some maybe offered jobs on the railway in other parts of the country ?

  • @benitobueno3373
    @benitobueno3373 3 роки тому

    Very interesting..many thanks

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Glad you enjoyed it

  • @GB-vn1tf
    @GB-vn1tf 3 роки тому +5

    Hindsight is a great thing but it seems obvious that far too many lines were closed. I'll save you the political rant just to say that's government for you.

  • @xr6lad
    @xr6lad 3 роки тому +6

    Shame they destroyed so much of the housing. Criminal in fact given the housing situation. Even using it as holiday accommodation or a children’s school camp

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      Someone does live in the old school house these days

  • @colintraveller
    @colintraveller 3 роки тому

    looks like the Cycle track where i stay which was once a train line years ago

  • @JH-fv1gq
    @JH-fv1gq 3 роки тому

    Waverly line was reopened from Edinburgh to Galashiels,may extend to Hawick but no chance of it going to Carlisle. No demand in reality. The A7 from Borders to Carlise is never busy.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Yeah I would find it a non starter to join it up.

  • @hoffwell
    @hoffwell 3 роки тому +4

    There was a group in the late 90s - Friends Of Riccarton Junction. They had it all tidied up and even a little track laid if I remember correctly, but they all fell out and that was the end of it.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +2

      Yes that is correct , a shame really

    • @winco68
      @winco68 3 роки тому +1

      Yes I’d read about that too. I believe some members of that group formed the ‘Waverley Route Heritage Association’ and have laid some track a few miles further up the line at Whitrope Summit. Not sure if it’s still there but they had a class 26 stabled in the siding a few years back.

    • @hoffwell
      @hoffwell 3 роки тому

      @@winco68 yes WRHA still there. They have a prototype railbus operational, goes up and down the line. Ive been up a couple of times, well worth a visit.

    • @ChangesOneTim
      @ChangesOneTim 9 місяців тому

      WRHA already existed by the time of the big falling out and some WRHA men had joined the FRJ. At FRJ's 2003 AGM personalities clashed leading to a full and frank exchange of views. A WRHA man was said to have addressed the AGM like a militant trade union leader, and the FRJ chairman (who had been a member of WRHA but expelled for verbal abuse to a colleague) started effing and blinding, and accusing WRHA of staging a takeover and voting his committee out of office. All this was too much for FRJ secretary (a man of the cloth) who left the AGM in disgust. By all accounts, FRJ had not been a very professionally-run heritage society!

  • @tamesidefilming4650
    @tamesidefilming4650 3 роки тому +1

    Cool

  • @rosewhite---
    @rosewhite--- 3 роки тому

    the depth of vegetation and soil that has built up on the platform and areas shows that The Flood of 4,350 years ago was a real event as worms make topsoil at the rate of one inch per five years.

    • @DavidOfWhitehills
      @DavidOfWhitehills 3 роки тому

      That would mean the topsoil is 72 feet deep.

    • @dulls8475
      @dulls8475 Рік тому

      I agree with you but dont know the theory behind the topsoil?

    • @rosewhite---
      @rosewhite--- Рік тому

      @@DavidOfWhitehills You forget rain.
      There was no rain before The Flood.
      And worm muck is very fine stuff that easily dissolves and washes away. Local fields here have dirty run of every rain.
      Roman mosaic floor all over UK are found under 1-4 feet of topsoil even in flat places.
      Romans abandoned -maybe burnt? - their villas by 410AD so 48 inches in 1600 years clearly shows the equation has merit.

    • @rosewhite---
      @rosewhite--- Рік тому

      @@dulls8475 Hi, about 8 years ago I went walk over local moors to take photo of a big stone sink in a ruined sheep shearing building. Moor is too poor to support anything but sheep due to havy rain and winter cold. I#d noticed the sink a few years previously.
      The sink seemed to have disappeared until I pulled a mat of grass and soil off it. On th eway home I passed a footpath that workers used to use to get to mills in valley until mills all shit in 1980s. The path had also accumulated a thick coat of soil and grass.
      I put two an dtwo together and reslised worms and grass work together to make topsoil.
      Worms bring soil up and grass grows in the soil and as the grass dies teh worms eat it.
      Then I found Darwin had also done lots of reearch on worms and come to the conclusion that in some places worms buld topsoil at te rate of one inch in five years.
      The fineness of worm muck makes it easily washed away but as it flows downhill it makes the disctinctive ridges across that most people claim are sheep trod but the ridges are seen in sheepless fields.
      Read Darwin's Worms book pdf online for full story.
      But I'm glad you accept the flood was a genuine event.

  • @MartinFarrell1972
    @MartinFarrell1972 Місяць тому +1

    Why was this place abandoned? In the old pics there were houses

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  Місяць тому

      It seems that once the railways left so did the community, there is a few houses still lived in today but not the numbers like before.

  • @ZalMoxis
    @ZalMoxis 3 роки тому +1

    So where did all the people go??

  • @garyt6747
    @garyt6747 3 роки тому +1

    Just re instate it.Money invested in current transport schemes WILL make money.In this case,like many others, there's a likelihood of encouraging growth similar to what preceeded this lines closure. REINSTATE..It makes economic sense.

  • @macjim
    @macjim 3 роки тому +2

    I thought there was a station building lived in and the owner had a bit of track, wagons and a diesel loco there but obviously, I was wrong, so which station am I thinking of?

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      Further down the line at whitrope is where it could be .

    • @macjim
      @macjim 3 роки тому +2

      @@Xpl0r no, that's the WRHA, this was someone's own private railway... On a very short track

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      @@macjim ah is it this one ? ua-cam.com/video/s1BnXgVpXBw/v-deo.html

    • @macjim
      @macjim 3 роки тому +2

      @@Xpl0r that's the one! 👍

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      @@macjim lol get there in the end

  • @channelsixtysix066
    @channelsixtysix066 3 роки тому +1

    It's like a different world. Looking at it now, you'd hardly know it was ever there. Railways only ever exist for making money, tourism probably couldn't have sustained it, unfortunately.

  • @michaelcampin1464
    @michaelcampin1464 3 роки тому +2

    The numbers are probably plot numbers for the Forestry Commission. Does the line go through Moffat.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Probs right , no this one used to go via hawick up to Edinburgh. Now reopened from Edinburgh back down as far as tweedbank

    • @blackcathiking7831
      @blackcathiking7831 3 роки тому

      Moffat was only a short branch off the West Coast Main Line from Beattock. The station there is now a Coop.

    • @johnjephcote7636
      @johnjephcote7636 3 роки тому

      Moffat was the end of a branch line from Beattock. 'Beattock for Moffat'...Moffat Station site is now a children's playground.

  • @philsharp758
    @philsharp758 3 роки тому +2

    Thanks for posting. What a waste of time and effort to destroy functional infrastructure.

  • @Altepeter
    @Altepeter 3 роки тому +1

    Sad loss.

  • @albertsmith1048
    @albertsmith1048 3 роки тому +1

    206, bridge number?.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Yep that’s correct

  • @Andrewjg_89
    @Andrewjg_89 3 роки тому +1

    Is that near to the border with Northern England but its in Southern Scotland and not far from Kelso, Jedburgh, Hawick and Melrose.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +1

      Nearer to Hawick about 20 miles away

    • @Andrewjg_89
      @Andrewjg_89 3 роки тому +1

      @@Xpl0r Ok.

  • @WhiskeyGulf71
    @WhiskeyGulf71 3 роки тому

    00:15 looks like a model railway !

  • @aaronwilkinson8963
    @aaronwilkinson8963 3 роки тому

    Yeah that's a mile post to the next major city. And then you have quarter mile posts in between

  • @abuubaydullah1
    @abuubaydullah1 3 роки тому +1

    What a shame lost histroy of the once great railways

  • @ECMLTrains
    @ECMLTrains 3 роки тому +2

    Hornby layout

  • @iancrawford1140
    @iancrawford1140 3 роки тому +2

    that is probally the bridge number.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Yep 👍

  • @alicejackson771
    @alicejackson771 3 роки тому

    So sad that buildings cannot die with dignity!

  • @paulduncan3214
    @paulduncan3214 3 роки тому +1

    Sniff sniff .

  • @MATT-xv4bh
    @MATT-xv4bh 3 роки тому

    Unfortunately, it is somewhat sad to see this (@nd others like it)!

  • @saltspringrailway3683
    @saltspringrailway3683 3 роки тому +1

    Do I detect a Hull/E Yorks accent, certainly north east?

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      Nope

    • @indlovubill7100
      @indlovubill7100 3 роки тому +1

      @@Xpl0r Not quite Geordie so I'd say Cumbria

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому

      @@indlovubill7100 thats correct :-)

    • @EuroScot2023
      @EuroScot2023 3 роки тому

      @@Xpl0r Just down the road then.

  • @jonjon9047
    @jonjon9047 3 роки тому +1

    It’s a culvert not a bridge.

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  3 роки тому +2

      And ?

  • @michaelrutherford8908
    @michaelrutherford8908 3 роки тому +1

    Very sad to see things end up like this because of one man

  • @redshift1976
    @redshift1976 3 роки тому

    Don't in w a thing about English geography, but I must say, I get a Jane Eyre in that scenery.

  • @Jimyjames73
    @Jimyjames73 3 роки тому

    🙂🚂🚂🚂

  • @des_smith7658
    @des_smith7658 Місяць тому +1

    Yet another grassy knoll station

    • @Xpl0r
      @Xpl0r  Місяць тому

      Sadly yes

  • @Dunstire
    @Dunstire 3 роки тому +1

    Such a shame

  •  7 місяців тому +1

    More Beeching/Marles vandalism.

    •  7 місяців тому +1

      Marples