Berney Arms - Least Used Station in Britain 2019
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- Опубліковано 6 гру 2020
- The new 2019/20 statistics have just been released and it shows that Berney Arms in Norfolk only had 42 passengers making it the new least used station in the whole of Britain.
Berney Arms was actually closed for 15 months due to Network Rail works replacing manual crossing gates in the area with automated ones. It reopened on Monday 24th February 2020, meaning that the accouting period for this years figures only lasted 52 days until it ended on the 31st March 2020.
Arguably therefore (42 divided by 52) it means that it averaged 0..8 passengers per day. Berney Arms normally gets around 1,000 passengers a year.
Have a look at the Facebook for page for Sheila and her books, and the good news that a pub/Bistro is returning next year!
My 'Least Used Stations Map' for the whole country is here: geofftech.co.uk/downloads.html
The new (2019/20) Office of Rail and Road Statistics can be downloaded here: dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statist...
So basically every year a station gets called out least used station and then all the train enthusiasts go there so it becomes slightly more used than the second least used station.
well, at least it keeps them busy and out of trouble ;)
Indeed. After Shippea Hill became Britain's Least Used Station, it became relatively a teeming metropolis compared to Berney Arms.
Welcome to Britain
Same happened to London Waterloo
Correct!
Sometimes I'm convinced help points are only installed for Geoff Marshall to come along and press them
Just wondering, do they still use catch points ?
At a guess, Geoff is responsible for at least half of all non-drunk presses of Help Points.
I've used the Help Point on my local station (Stepps) a few times - the last was to say that the ticket validating device on the platform wouldn't validate my ticket.
Ha ha, Yes I believe that is the idea behind some stations.
@@stevieinselby Yep. Sounds about right.
Back in the 1970s, on a boating holiday, I'd dropped two friends in Yarmouth (to see the races) and said I'd meet them at Berney Arms station - they'd be on the last train. So , about 11pm (with a torch, luckily) I struggled along that path in the dark and reached the station, expecting one of the little dmus which I'd seen slowing down (but not stopping) at the station during the afternoon. Imagine my horror when I saw the giant headlight of a class 37 approaching with a ten-coach train in the distance! I waved my torch frantically... the train slowed, and finally stopped with the front coach alongside the platform. The driver put his head out of the window and said 'we've got a couple of your friends here', and I saw them clamber down to the low platform.
You don't get personal service like that these days!!
A great example of where the phrase 'the good old days' comes from - splendid stuff.
I love this story
@@howardbills1450 To be young and drunk again XD
"You don't want an hour and half footage of me walking along a riverbank"
Everyone "Yes we do"
All the Rivers
My thought exactly!
Goooooner!
It's so weird to see such a modern train calling at a station such as Berney Arms. A nice contrast, I think.
Yeah its weird stepping of that train and just being in the middle of a field
Nicely sums up Britain's whole railway network really, a jumbled mix up of Victorian engineering, post-war decay, and cutting edge 21st century technology.
Like juxtaposition
@@chriswarburtonbrown1566 þ3w
“Berney Arms”
And the previous least-used station, Redcar British Steel, is now closed.
I was wondering what happened to that station...
RIP Redcar British Steel I guess
Gone the way of British Steel, I guess...
Was expecting Geoff to mention Redcar British Steel in the top 10 list but sadly not as it appears it's finally been closed forever which makes sense considering your only legally allowed on the platform and that's it as everything around the station is private property
@@MrThedwp - It also didn’t appear in the top ten because 1060 people went there before Northern suspended all services to the station.
This therefore means that Berney Arms has a windmill height to passenger number ratio of 0.5m per person. Considering most stations probably don't have a windmill, Berney Arms is probably in the top 1% at least. Who's going to tell us which station has the largest windmill to passenger ratio?!
Heckington probably has too many passengers to challenge Berney Arms. For a time c2c announced Upminster Windmill as one of the reasons you might choose to leave their train there. Rye also has a good windmill.
I honestly thought this was going to end with a "that's equivalent to 15 storeys" punchline.
I'm beginning to think that Geoff's Least Used Stations videos are going to become a classic example of the "observer effect" in physics. By Geoff going to observe least used stations and make video records, he'll encourage lots of the rest of us to also visit them, so they won't be least used any more. :-)
And then there will be a new least used station for him to visit.
Jpn Knight. You mean......he killed the cat?
Subconsciously, he's fiddling the numbers :)
A friend of mine and her son went to Angel Road before it was closed a few years ago.
A dessert station, tucked out of the way, and get this, they got there via public transport, the station was scheduled to close the day after they visited, so no trains were stopping.
The thing's people do.... just for laughs
Its already happened Shippea Hill is a massive example
If a train stops at Berney Arms and no one is around to see it, does the station actually exist?
Good question. There still is the driver, but if the trains drove themselves, the station probably wouldn’t exist.
What station?
They should name the station Schroedinger's Arms
@@milosit Ah, but did Schrödinger really exist?
What if a tree falls on rail tracks in Berney Arms?
That's a station in the arse end of nowhere. Imagine missing your train and having to wait there on a cold, brisk night in December.
I'd hate to wait there on any cold, brisk night - whatever the month!
Could be worse, it could be a wet night in Stoke
@@emjackson2289 or one in birmingham. After all we're the more dangerous city
You don't. Actual use (as opposed to people visiting the least used station) is to take the train to the RSPB reserve that's right next to the station, and then walk the 5 miles back to yarmouth along the estuary footpath. It's one of the best winter birdwatching sites in England - Short-eared Owls, Peregrines, Hen and Marsh Harriers all there for the thousands of waterfowl over-wintering on the Halvergate Marshes. The sight of skeins of geese carving long V's across a red sky as the sun sets, It's absolutely magical.
@@emjackson2289 Could be worse, it could just be Stoke!
The number of passengers at Berney Arms went up from 42 to 348 from 2019/20 to 2020/21, making it one of the few stations in the country to increase passenger numbers during the covid pandemic. The increase can be attributed solely to rail enthusiasts who were intrigued by Berney Arms' status as Britain's least used station
You are so lucky Geoff - most people who go there are never seen again, but there is a green mist over the nearby land which can be heard at night, sobbing.
All hail the Glow Cloud
@@davidcollins9512 Nightvale?
@@imperialspy3457 Indeed yes - being introduced to 'Welcome to Nightvale' was my daughter's revenge for introducing her to Hitchhikers Guide many moons ago. (She did a double whammy because she also introduced me to 'Cabin Pressure').
@@davidcollins9512 I must admit that I only got that reference as my older sibling was a Nightvale fan. One birthday present for them was a light up Glow Cloud.
What an odd, yet original, way to threaten someone’s life.
I love it! :D
That cutoff noise gave me the chills. Sitting at a help point, music playing, wanting to speak to someone, but they don’t pick up and you’re left alone on a desolate platform.
Berney Arms 42. The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.
I think we almost got
THE QUESTION
here!
I just love your country, trains, tv-teams-on-least-used-stations, nature, people!
🤓🇸🇪
I’ve also got Berney Arms but that’s from lifting too much.
I know the way out, I’ll just leave.
Here’s your coat . . . .
Is the station at Berney Arms on its last legs?
@@frankupton5821 only if it skips leg day
I love Shelia’s Norfolk accent! Cracking video as ever, Geoff.
“Greater Anglia, what track do you use?”
*points behind him* THAT ONE!
I did berney arms in October so hopefully that boosts up the numbers & I saw another passenger on the platform
My local surgery has the same hold music. The amount of times I've sat listening to it repeat over and over is ridiculous😂
It's generic on hold music - I think this one is Nortel but don't quote me on that!
@@dopiaza2006 Do they answer the phone unlike Greater Anglia
Big flock of geese
Seconds later:
*ALL THE GEESE*
Look at all those chickens
Pink feet. There's over 150,000 I Norfolk alone this winter. Pop down to Cantley, Blakeney or Holt to see them flight at dawn and dusk.
Those water meadows by the station look like a good place for birds.
Ornithologists and Bird Watchers are now ‘Birdie People’. That’s the new technical term.
I think she meant birdwatchers, not ornithologists.
@@ptrknvk I see your point.
Birds or trains, we're all just spotters.
Stations like this just perplex me, there is literally nothing here except fields but the station exists nonetheless and trains actually seem to stop there for some crazy reason. Near my town we also have several small stations with very little around them and yet they never seem to receive any trains and they always remind me of stuff like this. Railways are so unusual.
Well, if you recall, not so long ago, I said you should visit Berney Arms, and you’ve been and gone and done it! Yay! Go you! I was so pleased to see this vid! It really cheered me up! Thank you very much!
I knew this was coming, when bbc posted it on fb I said you'll see a Geoff Marshall video soon and BANG!
Excellent. I remember sailing past the Berney Arms pub and windmill on a Hoseasons boat with my family in 1975.
"A group of geese on land is called a gaggle; in flight, it becomes a skein, team, or wedge of geese."
but never a flange
What should we call a group of railway enthusiasts?
Hahaha, for me, a non-native English speaker, your jokes fly above my head like an invisible tennis ball in a match with a lot of enthusiastic spectators!
- I know it's there but I can't see it🙃
(and you don't need to explain, I just find it funny)
Took a train from London to Holly Head to catch the ferry to Dublin a couple of years ago. Since getting back to Louisiana I can’t stop watching all of Jeff’s adventures. Want so badly to tour England on the trains. Dreams! Thanks Jeff!
Wonderful UA-cam channel Geoff! I’m a bit of a railroad nut here in the US. Great to see and hear about rail network in Britain. I loved the video on Berney Arms such a remote location. I reached out to the Berney Arms bistro and mentioned I heard about the bistro on your UA-cam channel. They said a beer is on them when you return.
Geoff I LOVE that you geocache, yours is one of my fave YT channels, and I geek out enormously about geocaching - you're now doubly my hero
Hi Geoff
Thanks for a great vid of Berney Arms. I've not gone on the train but I was sailing with a mate from college in I think 1961 on one of the iconic yachts from Hunters of Ludham, going eventually to Norwich. Through Yarmouth without an engine! We crossed Breydon Water at dusk and ended up shining a torch to see the marker posts warning of the mud banks. We made it to Berney Arms and zeroed into the pub pretty smartly. I can't quite remember what we drank but it was quite a big tot. Anyway we lived to tell the tale
It might be easier now to take the train,especially with my senior railcard!
Thanks again Geoff
Lovely stuff Geoff, beautiful part of the world and this video does justice to a lovely spot. Saw the ITV report first so knew you’d been here and have been looking forward to seeing this!
Whatever played after Geoff pressed the Help Point button was music to his ears 😂
Probably library music so Shazam wouldn't get it.
If you've ever had the privilege to "watch" Nightscreen, you'd recognise it from there
@@decb Granada Nightscreen?
My GP surgery in Colchester has had that same music on its “Caller on Hold” system for the last 15 years or more. Must be an East Anglia thing! 😂
Sheila making sure her books get good coverage both here and on ITV. Respect the hustle!!!
I went to Berney Arms in 1979 on a railway club treasure hunt. There was a 5 point bonus for getting off there and finding a local clue. There were two trains in opposite directions that called at about 1135 and 1155 so I used those! At the time the nameboard also sported an oil lamp, which now appears to have disappeared, and the pub was open as well as the mill - mainly for boat traffic.
I remember filming at Berney Arms in 1998 and having to travel there by train. It was a lovely day and with the sparsity of service, we had to hang around in lovely summer weather exploring the area and visiting the water-accessed pub for lunch. More like a mini holiday than work...
Another fantastic video from Geoff.
For me this has to be a summer visit due to daylight hours.
Congrats for 200k Geoff!👏👏
These videos are so relaxing. I don’t even live in the UK. I just think they are chill.
Great video, walked past Berney Arms in October when we walked from Great Yarmouth to Acle along the weavers way.
It’s interesting that you’ve posted this today. As I have visited Lackenheath today.
Your report was so much better than the TV
Great to see back in my old neck of the woods. I'm glad to see my region finally got some decent trains, at last! PS: I've walked the length of the Weavers Way from Norwich to Great Yarmouth. I'm glad you made it before dark 'cause I didn't!
I just hope that when I’m in England, I can visit all these fascinating stations!
Great video, As I have mentioned before, this is a for sure day out next time I am to London. A nice long hike, birding a geocache ( surprise) and a train ride. Sounds like a perfect day made happier with the prospect of an eatery, too!
Berney Arms is such a lovely "in the middle of nowhere" station. I love it! (PS, hope the Isle of Wight video is coming soon ;D, saw you on railcam!)
he;'s never been to the isle of Wright,
@@isaactimmins8959 How could I forget!
great ! how isolated , and yet, you managed to find every living soul ! Berney Arms bistro - brave proprietor, i wish them the best
Mate you were on the damn news, most people don't get that chance. Well done.
Geoff, great video. I lived in Yarmouth back in the mid-70s, and remember being on a train and stopping at a location like this. I think it was Berney Arms but don't recall for sure.
My very first visit to your site. A briiliant video - very interesting. Thanks Geoff for the vlog. I've "subscribed" and clicked the bell
I bet that place is beautiful on a bright, sunny day. Great visit. x
I was thinking Berni Inn as Geoff said Berni Inn. Love it!
My great grandparents used to live there around the 1920's. My great grandad worked for the railways doing track maintenance.
This is why I follow this channel, it provides up to date information that helps me in my daily life.
Seriously though, Mr. Wonka had it right when he said, "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest of men."
Ahhh. Brought back so many memories of our trip a couple of years ago.
I think you saw the video ;)
Great geocache too!
ha ha *hello Ian* .. yes i watched your vid ;)
Thanks Geoff. I would put a link here but I've got told off for using copyright music. ;)
I'll let you know when I've changed it.
Thanks for finding my cache.
@@paulkitchen2749 Yes Geoff didn't reveal where it was - just pointed the camera at it lol!
@@geofftech2 I've uploaded a new version without your music, Hope you approve?
ua-cam.com/video/o7J_Rk0zDVY/v-deo.html
You’ve algorithm working wonders!
I’ve never watched a train related UA-cam video, but this station happens to be 5 miles from me?!
Good work UA-cam, good work.
Very much enjoyed that. Well done for persevering
Love it. one of the best least-used videos yet!
Great video. Well, Berney Arms on my bucketlist now. Looking forward to Tim the traveller next, covering the highest point in Berney Arms :)
Fantastic first went there many years ago with my Scouts on a hike!!! Had to include the station on the route! Good to here the Bistro pub in reopening use to be packed there in the summer , lots of great walks around there love that walk back to Great Yarmouth. lots of disused railways to walk around there!
I love it when you “bump into” and meet you with the media.
5:57 Greater Anglia uses 4' 8½" track, like any other railway company.
Great pun, had to click the timemark.
Though:
»The distance between the inside edges of the rails is defined to be 1435 mm except in the United States and on some heritage British lines, where it is still defined in U.S. customary units or Imperial units as exactly "four feet eight and one half inches" which is equivalent to 1435.1mm.« --- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard-gauge_railway
Fab
thanks for sharing an area of the world I’ll never see! Really enjoyed the video, love from Australia
Well Done, Geoff! An excellent short film on this fascinating line and station. And I'm delighted to hear that the pub is due to reopen. Good luck to it, the station, the train service, and all supporters.
thank you for sharing. I've never heard on the place and can't wait to visit. Will be interesting to see a place that I share the same name with
Looks like a nice walk to Great Yarmouth! Something on my list for next year!
I don’t care about trains but Geoff is such a good UA-cam, I really enjoy watching his videos
This may be my favorite. I want to replicate your trip. Thank you
I’ve been several times on the line from Carlisle to Stranraer that does a huge loop north to Kilmarnock then south to Stranraer. Takes about 3 hours and goes through some of the loneliest countryside. I believe it has the most isolated signal box in the UK. Worth a trip.
Yes, it truly is a magical spot. The walk along the North shore of Breydon Water to Yarmouth is lovely, but don't risk it in the other direction. I predict a busy bistro (when we are unlocked), and a rail tour, "the Berney Basher", with top-n-tail 37s and a long lunch break. Thanks, Geoff.
Bernie Inn’s I remember the steak, chips and peas washed down with a pint of Double Diamond 🍺. Also remember the Oxford Bags trousers and platform shoes. The 70’s have a lot to answer for.
Good as a student. Fellow student worked in one and always saw we got double portions!
genuine question, how do those pubs in the middle of nowhere get money and a community?? is it walkers, or do local farmers for miles around trek to the pub??
Back in the mid-80s, I worked in Burgh Castle but lived on a boat moored up at the Berney Arms pub, which was still open and which sold the best Abbot Ale I've ever drunk. I occasionally took the train to go shopping in Gt Yarmouth. It meant a walk across fields with inquisitive cows. At the time, the Broads hire-boat industry was in full flow, so there was lots of traffic for the pub. Now, there are fewer boats and it's difficult to see how the pub could make a living. Very sad.
I love the least used station videos you do!! Would love to visit some myself!! The Park Street one in Hertfordshire was interesting as I do not life too far from there!!
I think this is now my favourite video of yours...brilliant. so good, and I know the area too.
Great video Geoff. A very nice little station this is. Shame the pub is gone though.
Hello , what a strange and interresting video viewed after others on the same topic. Fist research was finding informations about chanel islands trains , where i discovered Origny amazing old tube and then i'm here. Thanks a lot for touring around countries and sharing your train passion. --- best regard from Marco (near Paris from Vincennes city - yellow métro line 1 )
Live in Gorleston nearby and have actually got off at this station a fair few times. Some beautiful walks nearby. The pub unfortunately has shut and it was lovely on a sunny day.
Edit: Great to hear that the old pub is going to be a bistro!
You were around with the camera crew from Anglia Television!!! Lucky!!!
I was literally typing a "Berney Inn" gag when you said it yourself. Fortunately I hadn't hit "send"……
Thanks Geoff that was fascinating and pretty Cool in my opinion.
I'm surprised that you aren't able to either flag down, or ask the Great Yarmouth train to stop at Bernie Arms as it goes by. Thanks for the interesting video, as always!
Thank you! Superb as usual.
there is a timetable poster at the Berney Arms, it’s just to the south of the station!
Great that you can be the one to break the news to the world that the Berney Arms Bistro is coming next year 🍽
You were especially lucky on this trip!
I met an angry cow when I got there. It wouldnt let me through. I walked there from Yarmouth then walked to Reedham
One of my local stations! Definitely need to visit it and boost up those numbers
Berney Arms is my neck of the woods! Such a brilliant stop for walking, especially when the pub was open. Looking forward to the bistro! Hopefully it fares better than the Pontiac.
Interesting to see you out this way
Thanks for showing whats there.
as someone who has lived in london my whole life, the fact that stations like this exist literally in the middle of nowhere just astounds me
The existence of rich landowners is often confusing.
Monday 24th February was the day the Berney branch re-opened after the new signalling system was commissioned. There had been a couple of test runs to check the line. After a false start with the first service the second one stopped and about 25 people got off to historically mark the occasion. Roger French was also there, right nice chap!!
It feels good to hear that least used music again
I see stations like this in the literal middle of nowhere and I can't help but wonder why it was ever built. I mean it looks like not only is there nothing there, but it looks like there was *never* anything there.
I think 'the lord of the manor' insisted on a station there, or no permission to build a line over his land.
In the case of Berney Arms it was because the landowner who sold the railway company the land made having a station serving the hamlet (about half a mile from the station) a condition of the sale. More broadly, in the time when the railways were the only convenient form of long-distance public transport, it still made sense to build small stations or platforms in remote areas because people from villages in the surrounding area would still prefer to walk a mile or two and get a train into town (or further afield) than walk all the way or go by horse-power. In Berney Arms' case there were (and possibly still are?) no proper roads to reach it and the alternative was either walking 6 miles to Great Yarmouth or 4 miles to Reedham, or taking a boat. And even if there were no houses or notable settlements in the vicinity, a lot of these remote stations earnt their keep loading agricultural produce during the harvest season, in the days when railways had a virtually monopoly on freight shipment and labour costs were low, why not put a station in the middle of some fields?
Most stations relied on goods traffic in former times. Perhaps they grew a lot of turnips round there.
Brilliant video, some lovely entertainment and information in this video 👍🏻
How many steps did you think you did walking to that Station Geoff? 😩😩🤣🤣
Lovely video as always my friend 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Strange to see this after Redcar British Steel.
Same here, but the fact that Northern decided to stop running trains there (but i dont think its fully closed) this IS the least used station
You can't to leave Redcar British Steel.
Welcome to the Hotel Redcar British Steel, it's a lovely place, it's a lovely place.
I remember popping into the Berney Arms many years ago while I was boating in the area. A very nice place, but tricky to get to.
Brilliant video. Such a random channel lol. Love it.
I have been to Berney Arms by hire cruiser almost every year for over 40 years and I had no idea there was a station. I look forward to checking it out in April assuming lockdown doesn't scupper my holiday plans like it did in April 2020.
Fond memories of mooring at Berney Arms with a boat with a torn sail. Caught the first train to Yarmouth (about 7am) to pick up new sail. Back to Berney Arms about 9am. There were more trians then.
Well marketed an improved rail service could dramatically increase use of the station.