The Port Road - Volume 1 (Dumfries to Castle Douglas) Hi def
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 มี.ค. 2022
- The shortest sea crossing between the British mainland and Ireland was the passage across the North Channel between Stranraer (Dumfries and Galloway) and Larne (Co Antrim).
Mail, freight, troops and passengers were carried to Northern Ireland over the "Port Road", the wild, beautiful and heavily engineered railway line from Dumfries to Stranraer Harbour from the 1850s until the Beeching-inspired closure of the route in 1965.
This is the first of a three-volume look at the route, seeking its remains and exploring the wild, sparsely populated area it traversed.
Excellent as usual and very interesting. It always amazes me how nature takes back what's not used anymore. I love the before and after closure photos, thank you.
Although, as you say, nature does take over, it's amazing how old trackbeds remain very obvious from the air long after they have been abandoned. They're often taken over by trees, making them even more conspicuous.
Interesting to see, thanks Tim. I stumbled across your video when looking for the simulation of the route from Dovetail Games - Train Simulator Classic: Western Lines of Scotland, which is a beautiful recreation of the route in the 1960s (available for ~£15 in the regular sales)
Thank you - glad you found it and enjoyed it. Best wishes.
Most interesting, I am old enough to remember it well thank you
Sadly, it closed 15 years before I came to live in this part of the world but - we can't have everything in this life. Best wishes.
A superbly produced, and most interesting, video. Thank you for making this series.
You're very welcome - thank you for your kind comment.
You Certainly put some work into producing this video both on the ground in the air and on paper doing your research and then on the computer to produce a very professional type product. I remember the Dumfries end very well from my train spotting days but sadly only ever travelled the line once on a school trip to Belfast with the return trip in total darkness.
As a boy we spent our only summer holidays at Auchencairn where my parents family hailed from. This involved getting the Kippford bus from Dumfries to Dalbeattie and then the Kirkcudbright bus to Auchencairn. The bus station at that time was on the fore court of the station at Dalbeattie and where we changed buses so have lots of memories of trains at that location so that part of the line is the only part I remember.
Thanks again for your efforts Tim thoroughly enjoy every thing you do.John K.,
Thanks John. Having only moved to D&G in 1980, of course I never knew this line in its working days. Indeed, I only just caught Dumfries station in its last few years as anything other than a strictly "local" stopping place - I did once take the overnight sleeper to London at Christmas 1980 - trying to sleep in a Mark 1 coach, electrically hauled at 100 m.p.h. on poorly maintained track - never again! For my next trip south I used the overnight Belfast - London National Express coach; I didn't sleep any better but at least it was cheap!
Making these films gets me into some very obscure places and I've met a lot of fascinating people with long family connections to the railway. Let's just hope that I can remain active for long enough to complete the series.
Best wishes to you.
A wonderfully nostalgic video Tim, very interesting.
Thanks Grahame - a lot of work went into it - well, it keeps me out of mischief in my old age!
Very informative and much enjoyed
Thank you Peter - glad you enjoyed it.
Excellent footage Tim and commentary. Some good history and lovely scenery too.👍
Thanks David - well, after all, I live surrounded by history and beautiful scenery - why not record it?
@@schoolshorts that's true.👍
Looking forward to part 2
Hopefully you won't be kept waiting for TOO long - but think in terms of months, not days, I'm afraid. Best wishes.
A fascinating and professional video, thank you so much for bringing this slice of history to life. I look forward to part 2.
Thanks flookoco - glad you enjoyed it - I'm not sure when Part 2 will be ready but - provided the good Lord spares me! - it will appear eventually. Best wishes.
Thank you for making this documentary . I look forward to part two.
Many thanks SS - I hope you won't have to wait TOO long - the work is already underway. Best wishes.
Hi mate anther great video mate I really injoy it every interesting I really hope the railway can come back same time it would give Stranraer s new lease of life goodbye for how clive in N Ireland
Thanks Clive - but, alas, I fear the line has gone for good. Dumfries and Galloway is just too empty to support a railway line - even the bus services have been drastically reduced.
Thankyou for the effort in making this Amazing work.....
I'm just happy that you enjoyed it. Best wishes.
Very interesting Tim.
Thanks Alan. Volume Two is underway but will involve much trekking in wild remote places whilst carrying heavy equipment - and I'm not getting any younger!!!
An excellent historical video. Thanks for bringing back some long forgotten memories.
When I was working as a Technician in the Engineering Department at Leicester University we had a young lad start as a Junior whose father was a signalman at Newton Stewart which is further along with line. I have cycled much of the route from Water of Ken viaduct westwards to Gatehouse of Fleet, past Loch Skerrow and over the viaduct during holidays in the area. I often wondered what it would have been like to travel the line. It was the shortest route to Stranraer from the south and journeys now are considerably longer. My father went over the line during the early days of the war to join a troopship bound for Kenya.
I do hope there will be a second part to this video continuing along the route.
Thanks Rod. Much of Volume 2 is complete - and quite a bit of volume 3 - but the remaining work involves a lot of driving and, in my old age my eyes don't take well to driving in the dark on roads I don't know well so it will have to wait until the days are longer and the weather kinder. It would help also if the petrol didn't cost so much!
Fret not - if the good Lord spares me - the remaining volumes will materialise.
Best wishes.
The best thing I’ve seen on TH-cam this year for sure. Full of sadness and what ifs at every picture and explanation, it would be a marvellous tourist and Irish freight route today and still could be, instead of wasting a large slice of the UKs coffers on HS2 and Crossrail.
What a sad sight the old viaducts and earthworks are,thinking of those navigators that sweated in their construction.
Thanks for a beautifully presented programme, simple, concise background information along the way and pleasant music too. I hope BBC Scotland is watching, thanks again again Tim,
all the best and good health,
Darren 👏🏻👍👍👍🚂🚂🚂
Thanks Darren for your very flattering remarks.
If the line had not closed in 1965 it would undoubtedly provide some relief for the heavy Irish freight traffic carried on the hopelessly inadequate 100 miles of the A75 between Stranraer and the M6 - but, alas, the investment now required to reinstate the route would be out of all proportion to the returns - it simply isn't going to happen.
As far as the weather and other commitments permit, I'm working on Volumes 2 and 3 and hope to have the second ready for publication later this year - it's the one with the most glorious scenery but which involves a great deal of backpacking into very isolated places. In the meantime, there's always Carlisle to keep me busy.
Best wishes to you.
@@schoolshorts can’t wait 😀
Brilliant information thanks Tim.. The line at Loch Maben runs behind our caravan at Halleaths
Glad you enjoyed it Anthony. Best wishes.
Great video Tim. I would love to have travelled this line.
So would I but sadly it closed 15 years before I came to live in Scotland. We can but dream!
hi love this! i live in cd now and grew up in crossmichael wish i could of seen the paddy line when it was full of steam
Sorry - I've just spotted your comment. I didn't move to Scotland until 1980 so of course the Port Road was long gone - except for that short stump at the Dumfries end and I recall the Royal Train berthing there overnight on one occasion. Hopefully, as the days get longer and the weather gets better (or is that just wishful thinking?) I'll be able to finish off Part 2 - most of it is ready.
Best wishes to you.
Great. Well done that man.
Thanks GB - glad you enjoyed it.
I wondered how the signal tower at Dumfries came to be on the hill! A great review of the line.
Thanks Leslie - more to come, but it will be some time before the next volume is ready. If I live long enough there will hopefully be six volumes in all - one each for the Kirkcudbright, Wigtown and Portpatrick lines and two more to complete the Stranraer route. Well - I've got to occupy my old age somehow!
@@schoolshorts I look forward to volume 6
An excellent video, thanks - I love the old railway! Is part 2 coming soon? Will look forward to seeing that too.
Thanks Barry - I hope to have Part 2 online soon. Most of it is ready but I need a run of decent weather to finish off the stretch farther to the west.
Great videos - but would be much better without the incessant classical music.
Drone footage is, of necessity, silent - and I find that silent video rarely works well. You may feel differently.
The music I use is not classical. All music used in this trilogy is my own arrangements of the traditional Scottish song "Bonnie Galloway" - rather appropriate, I felt, for the subject matter. You are of course free to disagree.
It's your video and of course, you can do whatever you like with it. I do like your videos, but on this occasion I didn't enjoy them - (Port Road parts 1+2) - because I could not hear your very interesting commentary because the said music was so loud. I stand corrected for calling it classical music.