I was born in a railway cottage in 1956 next door to wath yard. My father was the signalman at elsecar junction, and grandad drove the Bo-Bo 76s over woodhead. I visited loads of other boxes as dad was a relief signalman. I remember both Wath North and Wath Central stations. Wath North had a DMU to Leeds until closure, and I recall as a ten year old we actually boarded a schools special to Newcastle at Wath Central. Happy days! Your video is excellent, and the blue bridge is only a few yards from the site of Moor Road bridge. As a child, all we heard at night was the shunting of coal wagons, and the wheel slip of steam locomotives trying to get the huge haul moving. And even the Flying Scotsman was stabled there once, under Alan Pegler. Thanks for the memories. Andrew Taylor. Father Reg, Grand Father Alf.
That area was my playground as a youth , early to mid 80s , was an absolutely fantastic place to see and grow up in , tbe road entrance to the lake on the bolton side had an arch bridge right where the entrance is , going back to wath roughly where the roundabout is there was 2 humpback bridges that crossed the lines youre speaking about , i remember it all like it was yesterday
Yes your on the platform if you go a bit further you can see the edge wall of the platform and a manhole on the platform, back behind you on the side of the cricket ground there is remnants of the old single box and track bed. Great job 👍
Great to watch it’s funny you standing on that bridge and saying the loco yard was just to the right. I remember going and standing on the original bridge and looking at 76,s great times sadly gone and a crying shame the Woodhead no longer there
The blue bridge as you said was roughly in the spot of the bridge to Wath main which i visited in the 80s, it was removed in the mid 90s when the bypass went through, i remember the level crossing for the branch to Cortonwood, the coking plant went as i was leaving school and then the pits.
What a brilliant video. Brings back loads of memories.When I was about 12 We used to walk on Sundays from Cudworth on the main midland line, pass through Darfield station, then walk down a lane to Elsecar jct signal box. There was a little footpath that went all the way to Wath sheds alongside the track. Boy was there a load of Locos. I have loads of photos. We would walk from the bridge and down a little lane to the right, as there were always loads of 25s and 31s parked on a single line that lead to the sidings and the other shed. When I got older I used to take my kids to the sheds {In the car) and show them all around. We also used to park up in front of the signal box where the Swinton & Knottingly line joined the Midland, as you could see all the move ment from Wath below you. What lovely memories. I am now 74 and never will I forget my spotting days. Thanks a lot.
Thats how i remember it! Its totally unrecognisable now & its not been that long since the last trains ran on the line. You always know where there was railway lines by the number of silver birch trees that grow there! Great explore Paul & John especially the area around the old Wath station & the huge infilled cutting towards Mexborough. ❤😊👍
The photo at 9.51 is later than 1960, it shows a brush type 2 A1A-A1A , later know as a class 31 , it's wearing BR green it's pre tops = 1973 , with full frontal yellow ends , and in grubby condition, I would date this shot at being snapped between 1970 and 1971. Some locos were still seen in green occasionally up until 1975 . Great videos a big thank you to both of you .
You are right about the swinton curve, it went past morphy richards as was which had its own station, i worked there with a guy who started during the war when it made bomb casings and had its own internal sidings.
What a great series that is Paul; probably the best I’ve seen. I don’t think there is a place in the whole of the UK that has changed so much, in such a short space of time, as the Wath/Manvers complex. Thank you to you both.
My dad worked there for many a year his name was big Les Simmons, can remember going to meet him in Wath yard with mum after his shift, and just before it shut, my dad too me and my brother through one of the locos, he was Ben sat us in the drivers seat and dad stood behind us with us in the drivers seat took it up the yard to a set of points then back again , will always remember that. Plus also seeing the Flying Scotsman when it was down there with the great bell on front. Great memories of a kid.
great video of all the closed railways in the uk the woodhead route is the most interesting looking at it now its hard to believe there was a railway there in the first place
Very much enjoy this one Paul. Great that you included (well good mention of) the third station at Wath and also the old sleepers lying decoratively by the roadside. I've trekked the Wath North (Midland) track bed section before during the gap between lockdowns back in Autumn 2020, from Cudworth via Darfield. A bit dodgy on the bike in parts, but do pass under or over at least two or three other lines and also take in the curve round to Grimethorpe along the way.
A very good video of the huge rail facilities at Wath.. It's criminal that the double track between Doncaster and Barnsley via Wath, wasn't retained for through services to Penistone and on to Manchester.
between the age of 5 to 12 i was lucky enough to live on cambridge street. the track was no longer there but the cutting and bridge over queens street was and my god was it deep. me and a friend would be able to slip between the iron bridge and the stone supports ans we could sit on big wodden bords 2 planks wide that spanded the stone rampart at the top it must have been a good 50ft to the bottom. we would venture to the old sidings in manvers. the 2 flooded brides were fully walkable bk then. we had the whole thing to ourselfs as youths it was the best of times.
Great video the tunnels on wath road we used to ride motorbikes through there late 80s was known as raga the bridge on queen street was filled in 1993 that bridge was really high
@stevenstopford9847 👍 and you. I've still not been out on it yet this year. I seem to be failing at finding the time to go out. The videos are almost a full time job 😄
@WobblyRunner you need to put everything on hold for a day get your bike gear on and blow some cobwebs away! I for one am extremely thankful to you for brilliant vids 👍🏻
Hi I have watched some of your videos for places I no and find them interesting. But I here you say slides, my dad was the same let's get the slides out and have a show when guests come round. I have a device I bought from curry's for copying documents and photos as well as slides. I'm glad I bought it back then because it came in handy to add them to the computer. It takes abit of time as the done in eight at a time plus it does negatives as well.
Interesting. I'll have to look into that. I've still got boxes and boxes of colour photo albums to get through first. Maybe when I retire I will move on to going through the slides. 🙂
@@WobblyRunner it was slow eight at a time in a slide holder and then it copys slow like a very old copyer But once there on you can print send. I found it therapeutic. .
Overlaying the 6 inch to the mile OS maps and making comparisons will pin point all features past and present with greater accuracy. A then and now, can be envisaged, with the aid of photographs. The drone footage also helps from an aerial viewpoint too.
Unbelievable Paul. I did my driver training in 88 and we had an instructor that lived locally. We walked into what had been the yard and as I recall most of the site was still visible I signed the route from the north just after and manvers coking plant was still open but closed soon after
@WobblyRunner I seem to recall there were odd bits but certainly not usable. We walked from Mexborough along the trackbed and the sleepers were still in. That was before they reinstated Swinton curve. Seems weird when you see where the line used to go under the midland and it's now a pond
Memory is a funny thing but i seem to think the coking plant went a few years before 88. I remember them using the cutting for landfill by the roman ridge.
Spent some happy hour's spotting at wath as a kid and got to operate the barriers at elsecar junction thanks to two signalmen Ernest and Gordon who took pitty on me when it was raining as i was spotting there , i can remember the pneumatic signals and the row of little slide levers that operated them , now i cycle there a lot on the TPT .
I remember having a look around some S Yorks Depots in about 1981 and i reckon we got a 2p Bus from Mexborough to Wath to that bridge to scoop up some 76s that were always on that siding. Always seemed to me that they stabled the older non multiple working vacuum brake only examples on this siding (no doubt somebody will proove me wrong) maybe as the Multi fitted were more busier and mainly semi permanently paired up becasue of the heavier Fitted MGR duties. Not to mention another 2 being needed on banking duties.
excellent video 👍sad to see it change so much sad to see it go do we know why it closed and where did the soil come from to fill it there must be 1000's of tonnes must bring back lots of memories who remember it as it was
It would be great to get your dad's slides done at some point. The ones you've shown are top quality. Having scanned a large batch of slides myself, I would recommend the Kodak Pakon which can handle serious quantities. An F235 Plus will do 800 frames an hour at 3000×2000 resolution, so 33 35mm rolls a time. Then there's the question of identifying and sorting them, that's another matter.
Is Manvers lake completely artificial? I'd always assumed that it was sunken from the mining in the area. Incredible to see this area and how it used to look!
@@WobblyRunner I wondered if it was a 'Flash' - caused as a result of mining subsidence? Then again, if a marshalling yard was over the area. surely any subsidence would have appeared before the yard was removed.
Yes it was made to take water from the river Dearne to ease the danger of flooding.When the danger is past water is pumped back into the river. so besides being scenic and good for the area, it also serves a purpose.
I was born in a railway cottage in 1956 next door to wath yard. My father was the signalman at elsecar junction, and grandad drove the Bo-Bo 76s over woodhead. I visited loads of other boxes as dad was a relief signalman. I remember both Wath North and Wath Central stations. Wath North had a DMU to Leeds until closure, and I recall as a ten year old we actually boarded a schools special to Newcastle at Wath Central. Happy days! Your video is excellent, and the blue bridge is only a few yards from the site of Moor Road bridge. As a child, all we heard at night was the shunting of coal wagons, and the wheel slip of steam locomotives trying to get the huge haul moving. And even the Flying Scotsman was stabled there once, under Alan Pegler. Thanks for the memories. Andrew Taylor. Father Reg, Grand Father Alf.
Thanks Andrew. Nice to hear the memories and the accountsof the family involvement in the railway. What a difference today :(
Cheers.....grandad's BR retirement watch rests in the railway museum at the Mid Norfolk Railway where I volunteer. The connection continues..
That area was my playground as a youth , early to mid 80s , was an absolutely fantastic place to see and grow up in , tbe road entrance to the lake on the bolton side had an arch bridge right where the entrance is , going back to wath roughly where the roundabout is there was 2 humpback bridges that crossed the lines youre speaking about , i remember it all like it was yesterday
Yes your on the platform if you go a bit further you can see the edge wall of the platform and a manhole on the platform, back behind you on the side of the cricket ground there is remnants of the old single box and track bed. Great job 👍
Cheers Shaun. Fascinating stuff.
Great to watch it’s funny you standing on that bridge and saying the loco yard was just to the right. I remember going and standing on the original bridge and looking at 76,s great times sadly gone and a crying shame the Woodhead no longer there
Cheers Alistair. I enjoyed putting this one together. Like you say, a massive shame and a far cry from how it is now.
The blue bridge as you said was roughly in the spot of the bridge to Wath main which i visited in the 80s, it was removed in the mid 90s when the bypass went through, i remember the level crossing for the branch to Cortonwood, the coking plant went as i was leaving school and then the pits.
What a brilliant video. Brings back loads of memories.When I was about 12 We used to walk on Sundays from Cudworth on the main midland line, pass through Darfield station, then walk down a lane to Elsecar jct signal box. There was a little footpath that went all the way to Wath sheds alongside the track. Boy was there a load of Locos. I have loads of photos. We would walk from the bridge and down a little lane to the right, as there were always loads of 25s and 31s parked on a single line that lead to the sidings and the other shed.
When I got older I used to take my kids to the sheds {In the car) and show them all around.
We also used to park up in front of the signal box where the Swinton & Knottingly line joined the Midland, as you could see all the move ment from Wath below you. What lovely memories. I am now 74 and never will I forget my spotting days.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks Ernest. Great to hear. Fantastic memories. What a shame it's all being flattened.
Thats how i remember it! Its totally unrecognisable now & its not been that long since the last trains ran on the line. You always know where there was railway lines by the number of silver birch trees that grow there! Great explore Paul & John especially the area around the old Wath station & the huge infilled cutting towards Mexborough. ❤😊👍
Thanks Carol.i had so much fun putting this together. So much lost history. I'm glad it brought back lots of memories.
The photo at 9.51 is later than 1960, it shows a brush type 2 A1A-A1A , later know as a class 31 , it's wearing BR green it's pre tops = 1973 , with full frontal yellow ends , and in grubby condition, I would date this shot at being snapped between 1970 and 1971. Some locos were still seen in green occasionally up until 1975 . Great videos a big thank you to both of you .
I love the video, as I had some books on the Hull and Barnsley Railway. Mexborough area was blighted by early HS2 plans an compulsary purchace plans
Glad you enjoyed it.
It was shocking what happened in Mexborough for something that was never going to happen.
Brilliant video Paul bring back the class 76s i remember them great documentry nice to see all these old photos and filming to.
Cheers Chris. The old photos really bring it to life don't they :)
You are right about the swinton curve, it went past morphy richards as was which had its own station, i worked there with a guy who started during the war when it made bomb casings and had its own internal sidings.
Ah yes Morphy Richards. I remember that as we had a Morphy Richards toaster at the time.
What a great series that is Paul; probably the best I’ve seen. I don’t think there is a place in the whole of the UK that has changed so much, in such a short space of time, as the Wath/Manvers complex. Thank you to you both.
Thanks David. Glad you enjoyed it.
My dad worked there for many a year his name was big Les Simmons, can remember going to meet him in Wath yard with mum after his shift, and just before it shut, my dad too me and my brother through one of the locos, he was Ben sat us in the drivers seat and dad stood behind us with us in the drivers seat took it up the yard to a set of points then back again , will always remember that. Plus also seeing the Flying Scotsman when it was down there with the great bell on front.
Great memories of a kid.
Great memories Andrew. Thanks for sharing.
Moor road bridge was a brilliant place to observe the depot .
I used to train spot at The Wath yard late 70's/Early 80's. Loved the 76ers
great video of all the closed railways in the uk the woodhead route is the most interesting looking at it now its hard to believe there was a railway there in the first place
Thanks Roy. You're right. That extra capacity over the Pennines would have come in handy these days.
Very much enjoy this one Paul. Great that you included (well good mention of) the third station at Wath and also the old sleepers lying decoratively by the roadside.
I've trekked the Wath North (Midland) track bed section before during the gap between lockdowns back in Autumn 2020, from Cudworth via Darfield. A bit dodgy on the bike in parts, but do pass under or over at least two or three other lines and also take in the curve round to Grimethorpe along the way.
👍 cheers Dave.
I wonder what the story is stuff those random sleepers. Very strange location to be left in.
A very good video of the huge rail facilities at Wath.. It's criminal that the double track between Doncaster and Barnsley via Wath, wasn't retained for through services to Penistone and on to Manchester.
Cheers Clive. That link from Mexborough over the Pennines would have come in handy these days.
Remember the midland line at Wath as a kid great video I am 77 severn
Cheers Kevin. Must have been a great very busy around there with the multiple lines compared to now.
between the age of 5 to 12 i was lucky enough to live on cambridge street. the track was no longer there but the cutting and bridge over queens street was and my god was it deep. me and a friend would be able to slip between the iron bridge and the stone supports ans we could sit on big wodden bords 2 planks wide that spanded the stone rampart at the top it must have been a good 50ft to the bottom. we would venture to the old sidings in manvers. the 2 flooded brides were fully walkable bk then. we had the whole thing to ourselfs as youths it was the best of times.
Great memories👍
Great video the tunnels on wath road we used to ride motorbikes through there late 80s was known as raga the bridge on queen street was filled in 1993 that bridge was really high
Cheers James.
Absolutely brilliant video unbelievable change since closing many thanks 👍🏻
Cheers Ste.
Hardly recognisable isn't it.
@WobblyRunner many thanks again and stay safe on your bike! Still got my 85 CB750F 👍🏻
@stevenstopford9847 👍 and you. I've still not been out on it yet this year. I seem to be failing at finding the time to go out. The videos are almost a full time job 😄
@WobblyRunner you need to put everything on hold for a day get your bike gear on and blow some cobwebs away! I for one am extremely thankful to you for brilliant vids 👍🏻
You're right 😄👍
Thanks
Thank you Carol
Hi I have watched some of your videos for places I no and find them interesting. But I here you say slides, my dad was the same let's get the slides out and have a show when guests come round.
I have a device I bought from curry's for copying documents and photos as well as slides.
I'm glad I bought it back then because it came in handy to add them to the computer.
It takes abit of time as the done in eight at a time plus it does negatives as well.
Interesting. I'll have to look into that. I've still got boxes and boxes of colour photo albums to get through first. Maybe when I retire I will move on to going through the slides. 🙂
@@WobblyRunner it was slow eight at a time in a slide holder and then it copys slow like a very old copyer
But once there on you can print send.
I found it therapeutic. .
Overlaying the 6 inch to the mile OS maps and making comparisons will pin point all features past and present with greater accuracy.
A then and now, can be envisaged, with the aid of photographs.
The drone footage also helps from an aerial viewpoint too.
Unbelievable Paul. I did my driver training in 88 and we had an instructor that lived locally. We walked into what had been the yard and as I recall most of the site was still visible
I signed the route from the north just after and manvers coking plant was still open but closed soon after
Had they already lifted the tracks by that point Russ?
@WobblyRunner
I seem to recall there were odd bits but certainly not usable. We walked from Mexborough along the trackbed and the sleepers were still in. That was before they reinstated Swinton curve.
Seems weird when you see where the line used to go under the midland and it's now a pond
Canoe only service to Mexborough now 😉
@@WobblyRunner 😄😄😄
Memory is a funny thing but i seem to think the coking plant went a few years before 88. I remember them using the cutting for landfill by the roman ridge.
Spent some happy hour's spotting at wath as a kid and got to operate the barriers at elsecar junction thanks to two signalmen Ernest and Gordon who took pitty on me when it was raining as i was spotting there , i can remember the pneumatic signals and the row of little slide levers that operated them , now i cycle there a lot on the TPT .
Great memories there Mick. 👍
I remember having a look around some S Yorks Depots in about 1981 and i reckon we got a 2p Bus from Mexborough to Wath to that bridge to scoop up some 76s that were always on that siding. Always seemed to me that they stabled the older non multiple working vacuum brake only examples on this siding (no doubt somebody will proove me wrong) maybe as the Multi fitted were more busier and mainly semi permanently paired up becasue of the heavier Fitted MGR duties. Not to mention another 2 being needed on banking duties.
You ever do Rotherwood/Orgreave Phil?
@@WobblyRunner Used to see 76s stabled at Rotherwood if i went to Worksop or old road to Chesterfield but never actually visited there.
excellent video 👍sad to see it change so much sad to see it go do we know why it closed and where did the soil come from to fill it there must be 1000's of tonnes must bring back lots of memories who remember it as it was
Really good question. Someone did tell me where all the land fill came from now, but I can't remember. Unrecognisable isnt it.
Might be 25 years ago that Wath central was smashed to bits
It would be great to get your dad's slides done at some point. The ones you've shown are top quality. Having scanned a large batch of slides myself, I would recommend the Kodak Pakon which can handle serious quantities. An F235 Plus will do 800 frames an hour at 3000×2000 resolution, so 33 35mm rolls a time. Then there's the question of identifying and sorting them, that's another matter.
👍 cheers. I'll look into that. Maybe something for the winter. I've still got about 25 or so colour photo prints to get through too
👍👍
Is Manvers lake completely artificial? I'd always assumed that it was sunken from the mining in the area. Incredible to see this area and how it used to look!
I think (someone may correct me) that it's artificial. At least it doesn't show on any maps. Was it open cast like Rother Valley?
@@WobblyRunner I wondered if it was a 'Flash' - caused as a result of mining subsidence? Then again, if a marshalling yard was over the area. surely any subsidence would have appeared before the yard was removed.
Yes it was made to take water from the river Dearne to ease the danger of flooding.When the danger is past water is pumped back into the river. so besides being scenic and good for the area, it also serves a purpose.
Shame its all gone.... what a waste
It's astonishing that's it's pretty much all been erased.