These graffiti sprayers have destroyed many buildings and foundations from a view into the past. Thank you Ron for the tour and the video today. Always enjoyable. See you on the next. Cheers Ron!
This video brings back many memories of the most interesting place to play for kids who grew up in Hook Norton. We used the Station Yard, both Viaducts and the Tunnel for all sorts of games. Hide and Seek, balancing your bike riding on the rails, getting your pennies squashed and clambering under the steelwork of the viaducts. The train crews would give us rides in the cab when they were shunting. On of my earliest memories was my father lifting me up at the Swerford Road bridge, to see a train go by. Beside the railway near Park Farm was a Cricket Ground where the Infants and Junior School held their Sports. You could see trains going by. I remember Ernie Moulder as the Signalman and Mr Brain as the Line Maintenance. There was a motorised cart, kept in a shed for the Line Men. From my memory, the landslip that closed the line was on the south side of the tunnel. Thank you for this video Ron. I must pay another visit.
Nice Video. I grew up in Milcombe and use to play along the old railway cutting in Milcombe in the late 1970s. I think over the years I have walked most of the Railway from King Sutton to Kingham. I have been through all of the tunnels at Hook Norton , Chipping Norton and Andoversford . Now sadly inaccessible. Most of the line is not accessible now due to development. It was this Railway that lead me to working on the railway for the last 36 years. It’s a shame it closed as it would have made a great cross country route. Keep up the great videos. 👍👍👍
Hi, Mark. Thanks for sharing your memories. Sustrans are surveying the line from Cheltenham to Bourton on the Water with a view to opening it as a Greenway. This may also include Bourton to Kingham. I have walked quite a lot of the line between Bourton and Andoversford and it’s a lot more accessible. More videos in the pipeline. Take care. Ron.
Hi Ron, That was certainly deep and crisp maybe not even though!! It seems a shame to see so many fallen trees and to read about the ash die back. I had a quick look and understand a bit more about it so I can see why the path or trackbed is closed although it seems too late now. You made a couple of great finds I particularly liked the base of the gate post and its accompanying photo. Shame you couldnt get that rail chair into your rucksack I'm sure Fred wouldnt have taken long to knock those pyramids down, I'm glad he didnt, great photos in the winter sun. Have a great week!!
Fascinating explore. The mind boggles at the sheer amount of work excavating such a deep cutting, constructing a magnificent viaduct and a tunnel - all within a such comparatively short distance. What a pity that much of it will probably become inaccessible.
Hi, Malcolm. The stats say 400 men took 4 years to construct that lot. All the spoil from the cuttings would have gone onto the 90 ft high embankment to get the levels for the main viaduct piers. Estimated 120,000 tons of soil and stone. A monumental amount of work. Ron.
Thanks for this. Quite astonishing what an army of railway Navvies could accomplish, leaving behind virtually nothing in the way of personal effects or individual biographies. We can only admire their handiwork and try and imagine what it must have been like to live that way of life@@abandonedrailwaya2470
Wow! That cutting is degarding fast Ron. So many landslips in there now. I can see why it was closed. Great adventure. It is certainly dissapearing fast now, with nature reclaiming it. Hope you are OK. Take care, Paul
Wow Ron what an adventure, I loved the opening sequence and music, it really set the scene. The cutting is looking dangerous, you can see why they don't want people to go down there and you wouldn't want to go there if there was a strong wind blowing. Do you suppose there was enough material from the cutting and tunnel to build that embankment, or would they have had to import some from elsewhere? You certainly have a good eye for finds, I'm not sure many of us would have spotted that chair. And to round it all off a magnificent look along the tops of the pillars. Keep them coming. Ron
Hi, Ron. Yes, it’s very dodgy in that cutting. Where they found enough materials for the embankments I can’t imagine. There is another high embankment between the two viaducts, then they had to raise all the ground up to bring the viaducts and the station site up to the same level. If you walk back from the Cow Lane bridge towards Rollright Halt there is another 60+ foot embankment along there too. It’s an absolute marvel of engineering and construction. I guess some of the material must have been imported, but how, and from where is a mystery. Cheers. Ron.
These graffiti sprayers have destroyed many buildings and foundations from a view into the past. Thank you Ron for the tour and the video today. Always enjoyable. See you on the next. Cheers Ron!
Yes, Martin. I don’t like to see graffiti on these old structures. Some people have no thought for the past. See you on the next adventure. Ron.
This video brings back many memories of the most interesting place to play for kids who grew up in Hook Norton. We used the Station Yard, both Viaducts and the Tunnel for all sorts of games. Hide and Seek, balancing your bike riding on the rails, getting your pennies squashed and clambering under the steelwork of the viaducts. The train crews would give us rides in the cab when they were shunting.
On of my earliest memories was my father lifting me up at the Swerford Road bridge, to see a train go by.
Beside the railway near Park Farm was a Cricket Ground where the Infants and Junior School held their Sports. You could see trains going by.
I remember Ernie Moulder as the Signalman and Mr Brain as the Line Maintenance. There was a motorised cart, kept in a shed for the Line Men.
From my memory, the landslip that closed the line was on the south side of the tunnel.
Thank you for this video Ron.
I must pay another visit.
Another great video Ron please keep them coming thanks Glynn
Cheers, Glynn. Plenty more in the pipeline👍
Nice Video. I grew up in Milcombe and use to play along the old railway cutting in Milcombe in the late 1970s. I think over the years I have walked most of the Railway from King Sutton to Kingham. I have been through all of the tunnels at Hook Norton , Chipping Norton and Andoversford . Now sadly inaccessible. Most of the line is not accessible now due to development. It was this Railway that lead me to working on the railway for the last 36 years. It’s a shame it closed as it would have made a great cross country route. Keep up the great videos. 👍👍👍
Hi, Mark. Thanks for sharing your memories. Sustrans are surveying the line from Cheltenham to Bourton on the Water with a view to opening it as a Greenway. This may also include Bourton to Kingham. I have walked quite a lot of the line between Bourton and Andoversford and it’s a lot more accessible. More videos in the pipeline. Take care. Ron.
That’s great to know . Thanks Ron
Hi Ron, That was certainly deep and crisp maybe not even though!!
It seems a shame to see so many fallen trees and to read about the ash die back. I had a quick look and understand a bit more about it so I can see why the path or trackbed is closed although it seems too late now.
You made a couple of great finds I particularly liked the base of the gate post and its accompanying photo. Shame you couldnt get that rail chair into your rucksack
I'm sure Fred wouldnt have taken long to knock those pyramids down, I'm glad he didnt, great photos in the winter sun.
Have a great week!!
Cheers, David. I always seem to find something of interest on the Hook Norton railway. Take care. Ron.
Fascinating explore. The mind boggles at the sheer amount of work excavating such a deep cutting, constructing a magnificent viaduct and a tunnel - all within a such comparatively short distance. What a pity that much of it will probably become inaccessible.
Hi, Malcolm. The stats say 400 men took 4 years to construct that lot. All the spoil from the cuttings would have gone onto the 90 ft high embankment to get the levels for the main viaduct piers. Estimated 120,000 tons of soil and stone. A monumental amount of work. Ron.
Thanks for this. Quite astonishing what an army of railway Navvies could accomplish, leaving behind virtually nothing in the way of personal effects or individual biographies. We can only admire their handiwork and try and imagine what it must have been like to live that way of life@@abandonedrailwaya2470
Wow!
That cutting is degarding fast Ron. So many landslips in there now. I can see why it was closed.
Great adventure.
It is certainly dissapearing fast now, with nature reclaiming it.
Hope you are OK.
Take care,
Paul
Cheers, Paul. Take care, Mate. Ron🙂
Wow Ron what an adventure, I loved the opening sequence and music, it really set the scene. The cutting is looking dangerous, you can see why they don't want people to go down there and you wouldn't want to go there if there was a strong wind blowing.
Do you suppose there was enough material from the cutting and tunnel to build that embankment, or would they have had to import some from elsewhere?
You certainly have a good eye for finds, I'm not sure many of us would have spotted that chair. And to round it all off a magnificent look along the tops of the pillars. Keep them coming. Ron
Hi, Ron. Yes, it’s very dodgy in that cutting. Where they found enough materials for the embankments I can’t imagine. There is another high embankment between the two viaducts, then they had to raise all the ground up to bring the viaducts and the station site up to the same level. If you walk back from the Cow Lane bridge towards Rollright Halt there is another 60+ foot embankment along there too. It’s an absolute marvel of engineering and construction. I guess some of the material must have been imported, but how, and from where is a mystery. Cheers. Ron.