From Bewdley To Blaenau 1950s-1960s - UK British Railways Archive Series
Вставка
- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- A video of some of the forgotten lines in Wales and the Welsh Marches. Using cine film of the 1950s and 1960s you will be taken on a trip from Kidderminster Junction, up the Severn Valley branch and arrive at Bewdley. From here the journey will go through the countryside of Wales, showing trains on the Crumlin viaduct over the Ebbw River, the now closed Neath to Brecon and Brecon to Merthyr branches. Also visited are Talyllyn Junction, Three Cocks Junction and Builth Road.
Coverage of the mid-Wales line is then completed as we head south from Moat Lane Junction near Caersws back to Brecon. The final part of the programme follows the last passenger train on the ex-GWR branch from Bala Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Please note this video was recorded many years ago and suffers from quality issues. Some colour and image correction has been performed to improve overall viewing experience.
Directed by Wilf Watters 1995
Fascinating film showing some superb rural railway lines in a time when Britain was changing and not for the better with the Beeching cuts were yet to come.
The SLS special to Blaenau took place on a truly wet and overcast North Wales day. I am frankly astonished that the film quality is as good as it is. Brilliant. Thanks for sharing.
They probably went prepared as Blaenau is well known for it's rain.
Amazing historical footage showing steam in the dramatic landscape of Wales
Superb! Lots of fabulous scenery that I had no idea these lines navigated! Lovely shots of the railcars and GWR steam locos at work, and very interesting narration! Bravo!
Glad you enjoyed it
Wow, oh thank you, you have rekindled childhood memories of travelling to Brecon from Hereford, Brecon to Porthcawl and back, and Brecon to Builth Wells, happy days from what seems a long long time ago, but still in my memory banks.
I've had this series on DVD for almost two decades and this is one of my favourites by far! John Scott Morgan does a wonderful job with the commentary especially nailing each Welsh town pronunciation down to a tee haha. I love his voice and another one I love is Martin Jenkins' commentary on the other films in this series, including the British Narrow Gauge Miscellany, English Branchlines and Byways and Steam in the Midlands too! Love to see those ones on here eventually! I can't watch my DVDs at the moment because they'll be packed away for two years whilst we build our new home. So I thank you for uploading!
Keep well. Regards, Caleb
1:26 today there are no goods sidings here at Kidderminster
As of today there’s a diesel shed and a carriage shed that are now here when the Severn valley railway was preserved as a heritage railway and Kidderminster town station became the new terminus of the Severn valley railway when opened in 1984
1:30 there is no trace of foley park halt station as of today when the heritage line came here
1:46 just to right just before the Bewdley station that there is where the West Midlands safari park is now located just about to the right of the picture and it becomes the Severn valley railways neighbour
2:00 today Bewdley is now part of the Severn valley railway just like Kidderminster town arley highley hampton loade and Bridgnorth they are the stations now preserved as a heritage railway on todays Severn valley railway
2:41 today dowles bridge is no longer there but the bridge supports are still there
2:58 this section of the line is now used for pedestrians and cyclists to come and traverse the route as of today
3:18 today the station building of wyre forest station is still there and it’s now called station house and it’s not accessible to go there because it’s private residence
3:49 today there are no bridges to be found here on Kidderminster Road where the line from Bewdley and the line from ditton priors cross over the road
And look to your left the pub called the blount arms is still standing
As for the station of cleobury Mortimer the station is still here but unfortunately it’s now private residence which means you can’t access this place the fencing has covered up the evidence and the people’s gardens have covered up most of the line
4:17 neen sollars station building is also still standing but the platform is gone and you can’t access that place because it’s private residence
4:29 today the bridge is still standing and the trackbed is taken over by the road called station close that means three peoples houses now sit on the site of the track and the station of newnham bridge is still standing as of today and it’s now a peoples home when I drove past it after it became a garden centre after the line closed
4:46 today tenbury station has now been demolished and gone completely and it’s no longer here but the station yard can still be found and this section of the line is overgrown and covered and the people’s houses and gardens have taken over that section of the line and the white building called station house now sits on the site on what was Tenbury station
5:11 happily enough the station building along with the long platform of Easton court station is still here but it’s now a private residence after the line closed
5:16 this section has been taken over by fields which means no access for pedestrians to walk into this area
5:31 you can still see the remains of the station buildings here at wofferton junction station and there were three platforms one used for the Severn valley services and two are for the mainline services
And that bridge in the background is still here and it sits on the border between Shropshire and Herefordshire
5:58 And happily the signal box is still standing but the bridge behind the signal box is now disappeared altogether
7:48 the station used to be called cleobury Mortimer changed for ditton priors and that was the start of this section to ditton priors and that bridge over there is not here anymore only the bridge abutments on the road level continues to stand as of 2024
9:18 today the semaphore signals on the right side of the picture have been taken away and so is the points section located just after the station that’s all gone
Thanks for sharing this, absolutely brilliant to see trains going over Dowles bridge and beyond to Tenbury
Glad you enjoyed it
Great video, thanks very much for posting it.
Beautiful but so so heartbreaking
Yes, I shed a tear or two watching what was quite an enjoyable time for me 60 plus years ago
Very interesting video showing some beautiful lines. Many thanks.
Subscribed immediately, fantastic thank you.
Me too, great video:)
Why would any civilised country destroy all this infrastructure?
I imagine they thought it would be cheaper
@@TheSteamdriver I was in Barmouth last month travelling back to cheshire, can't believe the HGVs on those very narrow roads it's insane to think that they shut the railways and put everything on to the roads! it's total madness!
@@ronvalente65 I agree with you it is utter madness
Every country? Every country without exception which has railways has opened and closed them over time and reflective of needs and economic reality. It is a rather strong irony that for all our "ehhh should never have closed that it would be rate useful" protestations years of reopening them from enthusiasts has provided just about no practicale or useful service on these supposedly criminal to shut down routes, they in the main only run 1 or 2 days week with no useful timetable high prices and next to no local usage. Almost like they maybe... I dunno, weren't all needed?
It's also a bit of a silly case I've seen put forward that without nationalisation these closures wouldn't have happened, they would, probably even more so. The big 4 and the pregrouping companies were just as happy to sharpen the axe when finances got tough.
Money! The line to Tenbury was hardly used, and like most under Beeching, losing money hand over fist. I’m sure at that time it would have made perfect sense and there’s no guarantee they’d have been used today given the use of the car