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Did people think the climate was changing when this happened?

Since when was’Biggin Hill’ a West Country pacific,ha haaaaa

I noticed your footage was used in the recent channel 5 documentary. It was a shame that it didn’t acknowledge that it was actually Bristol

I remember it well we lived in stockwood at the time the fields affectionately known as the (canyon) were flooded up to the railway lines in the morning all the flood water had gone it left a tide mark over 10 metres high

My grandparents were renting a place next to the river in snuff mills and lost everything they left the place and had to start again

Lovely video. I live in Keynsham and often walk the stretch between Saltford and Bath. Regarding a possible extension to Bath, here are my thoughts. Even an extension to Saltford would be very welcome. Avon Riverside is inaccessible from the south side of the Avon and is pretty much pointless as a station. I can't see Saltford residents being enthusiastic about the prospect of a station in their village - the approach roads (High Street and The Shallows) are narrow and lined with parked vehicles. The only place to park would be the Bird in Hand car park, which is a non-starter. And what would happen at the Bath end? A connection to the GWR line could be built at great expense, running across the fields (owned by the Duchy of Cornwall) just north of the A4 between The Globe roundabout and Twerton Fork. A turnback siding with a runround loop would be needed on the London side of Bath Spa station, but there's no available space. The useable extent of the former Midland route would be just short of the former Weston station (station building still in use). Beyond lies Speedy Tool Hire, a VW dealership and a bridge across the Avon, just west of Windsor Bridge. Further beyond, the alignment is completely obstructed by new housing and commercial buildings, all the way through to Green Park. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

Great footage and very enjoyable to watch, thanks for sharing! All the best... Steve

I now live on the newer housing estate on the Elizabeth shaw site a stones throw from Mangotsfield station. It’s incredible to see how the station used to look.

Excellent video mate. Did you know what happed to Ashton gate during the floods?

Very enjoyable, thanks for sharing.

Well presented.

Wonderful. And to think that the live railway ran through Lyncombe Vale just below my school!

Standard 4 tanks used to slip quite easily even starting quite light loads. Great to hear again!

Looks like schoolchildren were riding in the cabs ,of various engines on the last few days Those were the 😊days

Quite a few station buildings are still here but others have since disappeared and being replaced by residential houses and industrial areas and of course they disappear without a trace

Can you believe it’s been 58 years since the Somerset and Dorset railway closed

Where were all these people before? Same thing happened all over the country. A Crying shame

So many memories. My dad was a hairdresser and used to cut bettys hair. Remember my mum n dad taking us there when we were small. And I believe I took one of children there before it closed. Thanks for uploading ❤

I used to go in the 90s with Grandma. I remember the railway very fondly

Wonderful video.

Omg I went there twice as a kid. First time it was all open and working, then went back few years later and then it had all closed down. For the last 10 or more years I been trying to remember what this place was called I can now finally lay to rest that thought

Great film and sound - thanks for sharing.

13 Frederick Place Clifton Went there once in the 60's with my best friend and his father (both sadly no longer with us). The memory of watching the S & D at work and some subsequent trips to Bath and two journeys over the line with my school railway society will never fade.

The only decent man out of ICI? Sir John Harvey Jones. Beeching misused the Pareto 80/20 rule, makes one wonder who were his puppet masters - I seem to recall links with the RHA et al. The other useless type was Bob Horton (ex BP). As with the old M&SWJR, and some Southern routes the S&D would have been very useful in 2024. Thanks for sharing wonderful footage 💜✌️👍 My tribute in O Gauge? A 4F and three SR MK1s🤞🤞💜👍

Thanks for sharing this video of long gone halcyon days

Never forgave the Western Region for shutting down the S&D. What a superb tourist line it would make today.

0:10 Every now and then You Tube mamages to actually give some modicum of delight instead of its usual annoyances. Here is one such example: The sub - par subtitles translate Biggin Hill as Begin and then to my schoolboy's sense of humour's joy, the steam locomotive Bude passes through the mangle and is spewed back out aa Spewed. If only!

I never saw the line in operation, but this film brings it to life. The sound adds so much! Well worth all the painstaking effort you put in.

The last steam locomotives to run on the line were late on the Sunday evening when 1 engine in steam towed 2 dead engines to Bornemouth for disposal ! I rode on the footplate of one of the dead engines from Sillingstone to Blandford Forum. The movement is recorded in Tim Deacons book S&D - aftermath of the beechings axe. Thank you for this record of those last days.

Class 14 and class 47 why

Class 14 at bath green park

A lovely record of the sad end of this branch and the joy of it reopening.

25:13 'Buses better hearing told' and that's how they destroy something precious, with a simple lie.

RIP Philip, good to hear your voice again

Happy memories of visiting here as a child in the 70s/80s , didnt know it had closed. Such a shame.

Tão lindo!

8:10 - Good to know they couldn't shut the sun down

5:28 “You must be bloody mad, why do you want two?” 😃

Thank you for sharing. It was nice to see the station as I was born there but in 1971 so only saw ruins. I expected more people to be out watching the last train at Mangotsfield and hoped to spot relatives.

Fascinating. Respect to you Phil for posting up this piece. I wasn't aware of this line - it was just that I recently stopped in the Ibis Temple Meads hotel and learnt that it sat on the Bristol Bath Railway path. Working back to TM station from the Kingsland Road (railway?) bridge I am have trouble in tracing the path of the tracks back to the main railway bridge over the Avon. Can you provide any info? is there any trace of the tracks immediately to the east of TM?

Wonderful footage - thank you!

Thank you for posting this, very interesting.

Many thanks Philip - you may recall that we met many years ago when I was involved at Washford and it is to my eternal regret I never travelled over the line. Hence my lifetime's efforts ever since to get the Midsomer Norton project off the ground so others can enjoy a little of what this wonderful line was like. And when we come to that day when 92207 steams again and goes up the gradient towards Chilcompton that will really bring what it was like to travel behind a 9F up the line albeit not with 9 or 10 coaches!

How sad 😔 to see it all go great video thank you for show it 🙏 😊

I wonder if anyone has the log book and pen still? hope it was saved. shame the box wasn't intact with those artefacts for posterity.

Great video, it’s always amazing to see old footage of long closed lines! One tiny criticism though, try fine tuning your sound editing a bit more, as you can clearly be heard clicking your mouse many times through the video!

Very interesting video with lots of research, 1966 original photography, and clear narration throughout. A joy to watch and listen to. Thank you!

Wills Tobacco Factory Bedminster was also flooded, Thousands of cigarettes thrown on the tip,, Many people salvaging what they could ,scavenging through to find any dry packets, My Father was one of them,, loose cigarettes all around the house

Thanks for sharing your films Philip, they show how we are often led by people who don’t appreciate what we have till it’s gone, your final winter records how dismal conditions could be for footplate crews and provides a good historical record for future generations.

Sup,er. Thanks for sharing