Another fun fact about the M6 Toll: It's known in some older National Highways systems at the M600, because (ignoring the M) the systems were not designed for roads to be called anything that isn't a number.
Well, HATMS could cope with A1M, so any address with an M at the end was OK but not T (or any other letter), hence going with M600. The new system still uses it.
Your drone footage captures the M6 Toll perfectly. 6 empty motorway lanes running alongside bedlam and gridlock. The toll road is also a favourite spot for traffic popo as people tank it down there, perhaps believing that there's no speed limit.
I once got overtaken by a copper in a jam sandwich on the M6 toll. I was allegedly going somewhat over 70 mph, and they were going considerably faster, but without the flashing lights. After a bit they decided they had to pull me over, so I dutifully complied and they put me in the back of their car and gave me the third degree. But I knew that they weren't allowed to speed without good cause and without their lights flashing. It turns out they had been to some policeman's ball down south and wanted to get back up north in time for tea. They let me off with a slap on the wrist, and drove off at high speed *with* their lights on. Needless to say I made sure I kept at 70 until they were well out of sight.
When it first opened, there *wasn't* a speed limit on it. As a private road it wasn't subject to the national speed limit for public roads and there was no signed speed limit. After a year or so of people doing 120mph along it, they eventually posted "70" signs (note, not "national speed limit" signs).
This motorway has been such a godsend to avoid the M6 in Birmingham. Also a good place to check your car's 0-60mph times when you speed off from the toll booth :)
@@jakeandfriends3554 I have seen an increase in HGVs using the Toll, but it seems that relying on business users is flawed. Every vehicle not needing one of the M6 Birmingham junctions should be encouraged to use it and the cost is just too steep.
I know some coach operators use the M6 toll as its more reliable traffic wise than the M6. There is though places just off the M6 that you still have to use it for.
I've used the M6 Toll many times, the ability to just cruise through it without having to be held up in traffic is well worth the £7. Bypassing Birmingham is just a bonus. Norton Canes services is also a nice place and normally less crowded than other services due to the lower traffic along the toll road.
I work 3 hours on Sunday on a hardware store and I use the time to watch all my favorite British youtubers: AutoShenanigans, ExplainingComputers, JagoHazzard...
As a Wolverhampton resident I took my partner and I onto the road for novelty purposes on the 15th Dec. 2003 - either the day it opened or the day after, I cannot quite remember. It was awesome having the entire thing to ourselves, blasting Orbitals Brown Album as we went (the parallels to the M25 completion were well in our Raving memory). To be honest, I have only used it once since one afternoon returning from Crete via East Mids. Int. Airport and I no longer drive due to medical issues but I still pass the road on regular occasions and it still looks pristine.
I really like the M6Toll. The few quid it costs far outweighs the slog through the normal M6 in busy times and the services aren't bad either. Also, top marks for the Rosie and Jim theme.
Very good episode, cram-packed with lots of facts, almost no time to think about them before the next one is served. Guaranteed to keep the audience focused. Lots of fun facts too. Good job.
Thank You Soooooo Much Every time I drive past that Litchfield Canal bridge, I alway wonder "what the heck is that" I now can sleep at night thanks to you. (these things trouble me 😂😂😂)
As did I for quite a while, I assumed it was something to do with failed road planning or HS2 but no... it's got a legit reason to be there, I assume the canals trust are saving up to finish the job. Thanks for the donation mate, really kind of you.
On the face of it, these should be some of the most tedious videos on TH-cam. And yet, I find myself wanting more and hoping you do a motorway near me. The trivia is fun and interesting, and I enjoy the dry humour and non-sequiturs. It's great fun.
I' m glad you got on to the M6 Toll. It is ludicrous that they are imposing speed limited on the M6 "due to pollution control", then you add on the endless repairs and roadworks to costly raised roads. So if the M6 Toll was a "free" (ok much cheaper) it would remove pollution from the M6 area through "Birmingham" and wear to the M6.
Not necessarily. One problem that exists with road infrastructure is that more capacity leads to more traffic. There's a reason the Katy Highway in Houston, TX has 26 lanes. (OK, correction: there's two reasons for that. First is what I said, and the second is that the Americans keep doubling down on the 'more capacity' fallacy...)
Thanks. Loved the "Tomorrow's World" outro theme. Brings back happy memories. Now, if you could use "Think Again" (BBC 1983) as an outro, that would be cream, cherry and sprinkles on the cake!
Excellent video as usual. The only sight you didn't cover was the M6 toll deer herd which can often be found grazing the embankments. Apparently they were always in the area and when the motorway came through they just stayed around. They can usually be found somewhere near the services on the toll road. The first time I saw them was after a long day up at Oulton Park circuit. I genuinely thought I might have been hallucinating through tiredness so I pulled straight off into the services. I then found out the deer story relieved I hadn't been seeing things. Nice 80s tv theme again, we've moved away from Australian shows and now onto the theme to BBC show "Tomorrow's World". Looking forward to next week.
I was hoping someone was going to post the source for the bit of music at the end, I miss tomorrows world, always looked forward to seeing it as a kid.
I love the M6 toll. I drive between Manchester and Northampton several times a year, and the guarantee of an expedient and congestion free road is worth the fee every time.
Once they run out of Motorways, it’d be a good one. A good little titbit might be the little services NE of West Knoyle. There’s a couple of hundred metres where the single-carriageway becomes a dual-carriageway with one lane in each direction to make turning easier. As there’s a proper kerb in between the lanes, it’s a proper dual carriageway; one wonders if you can legally do 70mph along it?
@@krozjr5009 Probably. I think it's somewhere in Wales, but there's a lane up to some military site that was then dualled, and with that increasing the speed limit to 70. Edit: It's the Llywel Mountain Road
@@qooqle Yeah, I’m aware of it. The one thing that makes me more hesitant about the A303 case is that the Welsh example is very clearly a dual carriageway - it’s over a mile long and has clear signage saying “dual carriageway”. The A303 case is much less obvious - it behaves essentially like those hatching widening areas for turning (just unusually with a kerb in the middle), is only a few hundred metres long, and has no dual carriageway signage at all.
Fun fact: when they were pitching it to the public (and school kids, they came to my primary school) back in the early 00's, they called it the BNRR, or Birmingham Northern Relief Road. I'm pretty sure that got dropped in favour of calling it the "M6 Toll" before it officially opened though. Does anyone remember the initial ad campaign for the M6 Toll Tag (their PAYG system with a special lanes)?
I've not been on it in about ten years, but every time I did I was impressed with how beautiful a surface it is to drive on. With my foot in the '70-ish mph' position on the accelerator, I'd often find myself pushing 85 without realising, it's so smooth.
It's probably been a similar time since I last drove it. My foot was in the "don't spare the horses" position (it was early hours of the morning) and it was as smooth as an Autostrade.
I do sometimes use the M6 Toll, generally when heading to Birmingham airport. I do wish the Gov would purchase the M6 Toll to help relieve congestion on the normal M6
Much as I hate the idea of tolled motorways, could you imagine it being in public ownership? It'd be open 3 days a year, and on those three days, you'd only have one lane open anyway cause people in Zafiras keep trying to drive up to Manchester airport with a fivers worth of derv sloshing around bottom of the tank
Great video as always. I shed a tear at Rosie and Jim's theme being backdropped against a train. I think you and I must be the same age, with you crackalackin' all about the gaff.
Auto Shenanigans is starting to become a staple of Sundays. Like roast dinners, Songs of Praise and not being able to find anywhere to park in the supermarket carpark (when did Sunday become THE day to shop?!)
Yes, Rosie and Jim in the place where we might have expected Thomas the Tank Engine and having not gone for it earlier in the video in the canal bit! Amusing!
Nice to Hednesford at the end! My grandparents live there and I spent a lot of time with them as a child. Been up the hills, the chase and down the raceway quite a few times!
Great video as always. I was a regular use of the M6 Toll at one time and was always struck by how little traffic there was on there, yet the Norton Canes Services always seemed really busy... I agree that the toll is value for money - I always thought I'd probably burn that in fuel shuffling my way through the ever present M6 traffic jams. Compared to the hassle of getting through Birmingham, it was actually quite relaxing. One other fun fact: When it was first opened, there was a rumour / misunderstanding that as the road was privately built and a toll paid to use it, it was like the German Autobahns and was unlimited. This meant you had to keep an eye out when overtaking a truck for example as in between your final mirror check and starting to change lane, you were passed by a Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren or other similar exotic sports car doing around 150mph. Thankfully the message did get through that the M6Toll was subject to the national speed limit like any other piece of road.
I'm convinced that the operators of the M6 Toll have a deal with the navigation SW operators as whenever I need to go to somewhere North of Birmingham they give me the M6 Toll route even though, in many instances, it is a longer journey, and I am not travelling in congested periods. I've also noted that the signage, from the M42, seems designed to encourage use of the Toll road.
I think Google maps is on the payroll too! Lost count of the amount of times I've travelled from Tamworth to Wolverhampton,Telford or Cannock and it's tried to get me on the toll instead of the A5
2 things, firstly in navigation settings you can select "no toll roads" and secondly most of these type of apps take consideration of time (based on an average speed) as well as distance when calculating a route --- hope this helps
I love the M6 Toll. I semi-infrequently drive up to Scotland: M74 borders and M6 Lakes are great and free, but the rest of it is pretty grim. That stretch of smooth empty motorway is awesome - especially when heading south and you've been through the worst. Gunning it out of the tollbooth in an overpowered German car never gets old either.
Ha! Yes! Did the same last year in my overpowered American car. Worth £7.60 just for that. Although I probably burned 20 quid in fuel at the same time...
Another brilliant episode, John. I’ve driven along the M6 Toll road a few times, very nice. I shall look out for some of these landmarks with more care next time. I love that bit of fleximotorway; from around the M42/M6 junctions through to where the M6 Toll turns away from the M42 heading north. Some great road building.
I remember them building the toll when I was a kid. I lived in Kingsbury village down the road from the m6/m6 toll junction and my dad would regularly take me to go watch them. Now there's loads of hs2 works there
Those empty lanes and those adjacent congested lanes are why sometimes (depending on cost) paying a toll to avoid everything can be the better way to go.
I must admit, on long haul trips, the M6 toll is great to use, it makes some of those long journeys a lot more tolerable. As the passenger, it's actually a really good chance to get a bit of sleep, since it's so smooth that the droning of tyre noise is consistent enough to generate a good clean bit of white noise. I didn't know about that heritage railway, but now that I do, I shall have to make an effort to visit it next time I'm out that direction as a destination, rather than just passing through, it looks like a pleasant afternoon out with a nice chance for some photography. Thanks for this series, John, I'm learning far more about the UK than I would have thought could come from a series about the motorways, and I really enjoy your style of presentation. Very relaxing and educational, a great way to spend my sunday afternoons.
I spent 30 minutes or so on it on Friday coming back South from the Lake District. Nice to be able to switch on cruise control after 2 hours of heavy traffic on the M6. Worth the money. Great video as always.
Very interesting. I have never travelled on this just because I don't believe in toll roads in principle (except for nice bridges that save about 50 miles travelling along one side of the river and back along the other!) Your video has made me want to try it out one day. And you got a train in there as well! Great stuff 😊
Toll roads are an odd one in the UK... what will be really interesting is in 40 years or so when the motorway is handed over to the public domain... will we still get charged...
@@AutoShenanigans they dropped the charges on the Severn bridges as you know so it's quite possible.. but a lot can happen in that time. I certainly won't be around to see it
I thought that way until I had to travel regularly to the Northwest of England. Calm, uncrowded driving on a smooth, quiet road surface without tailgaters or overtaking HGVs taking up two lanes for miles on end, plus the lack of wear and tear on my nerves, soon converted me. I did the same in France until I got fed-up with following convoys of caravans for hundreds of miles on the minor roads. Improved fuel consumption also helped.
Another wicked sweet awesome episode! It's a shame the old M41 motorway doesn't exist as such anymore now that would have been a challenge... or would it?
@Auto Shenanigans we were in the process of getting planning permission to build access for the towpath to go over it. However, there were additional reports that were needed, so we're coming back to it again another time. We've got a lot of work going on at another site at the moment, so we're concentrating there for the time being. We'll be back here again as soon as we can.
Going to Manchester and Scotland a few times a year the tensest part of the journey is when we get to Birmingham. M6 toll,m6, m6 toll, m6...it's 5pm....M6 toll..get the credit card ready. Best motorway video yet. I'm surprised you dinnt mention that the peculiar building look like a giant p**is from certain angles.
The locomotive working the train at exactly 8 minutes in Jon, is a class 08 shunter. I have one on my layout as well! Now you know! They have a nickname, Gronks! Now you really know!
Keep thinking to myself it’d be cool to build a house and live on one of these abandoned bridges. You know, let the moss build up and maybe have some kind of lawn or something. Then reality hits me like a strike from a crane truck hitting a bridge at 80mph.
I live close to a major motorway and the traffic noise is constant. Even late at night, you can hear it, But the motorway was there before we moved to that house and we knew it was there. Even though the motorway is busier in the summer months the leaves on the trees help to mitigate the noise. Then winter, no leaves and cold air just seem to make it noisier.
@@misamsung6191 With good triple glazing, it wouldn't be so bad inside, but outdoors, it would be very loud. I used to live in the glide path for an airport, and alongside freight rail, in the US, with single glazing, and that's enough to put me off living close to major transport links and networks now. I actually don't live that far from the A14 now, and it's definitely much louder in the winter, while I can barely hear it in the summer. I think the cool air does a lot for sound transmission, since there's less heat turbulence interfering with transmission of sound. The lack of leaves on the trees definitely has an effect, as trees are shockingly good at muffling or blocking sound.
@@misamsung6191 I feel you. The M4 is my noisy neighbour. It was being widened when I bought the house. Now if I chuck an apple core over the garden fence it will likely land on the verge.
@@misamsung6191 to be honest, we used to live right by the M6 and never really noticed the noise except in the dead of the night or winter when there's no leaves on the trees as you say. you get so used to it, but rthen they put those 20ft walls up alongside it and never had an issue.. now i'm 3000 miles away and can't hear it at all LOL
In the early 90’s I bought a little house in Leeds, right next to the M1. And it’s true that, after a while, you genuinely don’t year the drone of traffic. The exception was in summer when I slept with the windows open for cool air. Interesting anecdote… one time I was woken suddenly and couldn’t work out what was different. There had been a serious RTA a few miles away and the road was closed in both directions. What I was “hearing” was a LACK of traffic!
Shout out to nearby Chasetown FC, a familiar name from the FA Cup. Also seem to remember being able to use cards without PIN before contactless was a thing, obviously to speed traffic through.
Interesting stuff. It ought to be nationalised - frankly there are busier B roads in the area and it's a real pain to be stuck at roundabout traffic lights waiting for non existent traffic to enter or leave the M6 Toll.
in my neck of the woods, friends work at Chasewater railway and i knew Fred and his projects back then. it's a great surface to drive. a friend got pulled over by police doing 97mph on m6 toll - they let him off as everyone else was going faster!
Thanks for coming to our bit of leafy South Staffordshire! Next time you visit, come and have a look at the old Roman fort at the crossing of Watling Street (A5) and Iknield Street (A38)
Friendly warning: Speed traps especially on the Services bridge is now very common on the M6 toll. They put a copper with a speed gun and radio at the top of the services bridge who radios chase cars that wait on the motorway entry lane from the services to pull you over
Wow good job son. Thats why real people dont pAy 7 quid to be on The road with ‘family killing’ arses like you. You carry on son. You are special- obviously!
I regularly drive from London to the North West of England and the M6 Toll has been a blessing for me. I think the toll is worth the 30+ minutes of saved travel time.
The absurdity of the M6 Toll is that you pay the same one off fee regardless of how far you travel on it. On any European toll, payment is according to distance.
@@Nick-kz6dg Yes, cause this is a new change that only happened after Brexit... You people need to get over Brexit. You can't blame everything and anything on it. Bad economy? Brexit. Silly tolls? Brexit. Stepped on a LEGO brick? Brexit. Squirrels ruining your flower bed? Brexit.
@@CristiNeagu i mean to be fair alot of issues stem from it, we was fed a lie about it being a good thing and then just like most AAA game titles nowadays, it wasnt what we was sold on
I used to live not far from the M6 Toll and remember getting the information leaflet through the door around the time of construction in 2003. Only £2 to get through the toll plaza then! Thanks for the heads up about the link road work. There has been talk about it for years in these parts, but it will make for an interesting time of things on my frequent trips around Junction 11 of the M6 all the same...
there's a number of toll motorways in Ireland, most of them are much more reasonably priced (€2-3 for cars as opposed to nearly £8), and they're much more well-used - there's a lesson to be learnt there for sure the course of the M6 Toll is in fact an alternative route for the M6 through Staffordshire that was proposed back in 1950ish - it was called the Outer Route, and was preferred by Staffordshire County Council, but it was rejected in favour of the Inner Route, which was preferred by Birmingham and Wolverhampton City Councils, and is the present-day route of the M6
I use the M6 for my commute from Scotland to London, drove there a week ago and thought id use the "peasant M6" as you call it, and thought never again, the damage that stretch causes is not worth not taking the Toll. Was driving and thinking of when you will be making a video about this and boom, so thanks!
I accidentally went through the M6 toll one time and thought I’d take advantage of the emptiness and see what my car could do. For legal reasons I can’t disclose what I got it up to but it was fun finding out.
@@davidoff59 Oh of course, yes, Mexico. Thanks for clarifying that detail. Wouldn't dream of getting on the M6 Toll Expressway in the UK and then flooring the accelerator to see if an old Volvo estate can do 130mph and for how long.
I had a spin up the M6 toll road back in May. I was hitting the Birmingham area at about half six in the evening when Aston Villa were playing at home and decided to give it a try. Well worth paying the toll as every time I`ve had to go down the M6 traffic is terrible and the elevated section is seriously bumpy, and on the bike I come away with serious pain in my back.
Gold artifacts, an unbuild aqueduct, man made reservoirs, mortar shells, racetracks and answering cows.... this episode has everything!
8:48 its even got a picture of this...
That building...really is a cock and balls isnt it :D
A real masterpiece!
I don’t know how I found this strange road man, but i like what he produces.
Thanks for coming along!
Another fun fact about the M6 Toll: It's known in some older National Highways systems at the M600, because (ignoring the M) the systems were not designed for roads to be called anything that isn't a number.
Well, HATMS could cope with A1M, so any address with an M at the end was OK but not T (or any other letter), hence going with M600. The new system still uses it.
@@Crashedfiesta The obvious solution would have been M6M (the M stands for "money")
@@Vanders456 then it would probably expect a number after the second M...
@@schtormm More money
@@Crashedfiesta AxM motorways are their own category and it allows for those
3:50 Shout-out to the person who installed those signs just in case you thought the poorly maintained dirt track was still part of the motorway.
I travelled the M6 toll last week, saw the bridge and figured I'd check out your channel for info... Perfect timing
That Tomorrow's World theme, a blast from the past! And a great tune too!
Thanks. I knew it sounded familiar!
Your drone footage captures the M6 Toll perfectly. 6 empty motorway lanes running alongside bedlam and gridlock. The toll road is also a favourite spot for traffic popo as people tank it down there, perhaps believing that there's no speed limit.
The traffic police are also why I avoid it when passing by.
Wtf, going fast is the only reason to pay anything, never mind £7+
I once got overtaken by a copper in a jam sandwich on the M6 toll. I was allegedly going somewhat over 70 mph, and they were going considerably faster, but without the flashing lights. After a bit they decided they had to pull me over, so I dutifully complied and they put me in the back of their car and gave me the third degree. But I knew that they weren't allowed to speed without good cause and without their lights flashing. It turns out they had been to some policeman's ball down south and wanted to get back up north in time for tea. They let me off with a slap on the wrist, and drove off at high speed *with* their lights on. Needless to say I made sure I kept at 70 until they were well out of sight.
Allegedly an engine swapped rover metro went down there at nearly 150mph when it wasnt long opened they never did catch me lmao.
When it first opened, there *wasn't* a speed limit on it. As a private road it wasn't subject to the national speed limit for public roads and there was no signed speed limit. After a year or so of people doing 120mph along it, they eventually posted "70" signs (note, not "national speed limit" signs).
This motorway has been such a godsend to avoid the M6 in Birmingham. Also a good place to check your car's 0-60mph times when you speed off from the toll booth :)
As a regular M6 toll user... I wouldnt know anything about that :D
Why can’t I stop watching these??!! They’re so addictive!!
M6 is clogged solid, M6Toll is empty.....people won't pay tolls unless they have to.
The price of the Toll keeps rising, so it is less attractive to use, even with the almost constant roadworks on the M6 and variable speed limit.
Or if there company pays for them 😂
People pay for loads of things they dont need to
@@jakeandfriends3554 I have seen an increase in HGVs using the Toll, but it seems that relying on business users is flawed. Every vehicle not needing one of the M6 Birmingham junctions should be encouraged to use it and the cost is just too steep.
I know some coach operators use the M6 toll as its more reliable traffic wise than the M6. There is though places just off the M6 that you still have to use it for.
You can’t book a room at the Holiday Inn, it’s full of people staying at HM Government expense.
I've used the M6 Toll many times, the ability to just cruise through it without having to be held up in traffic is well worth the £7. Bypassing Birmingham is just a bonus.
Norton Canes services is also a nice place and normally less crowded than other services due to the lower traffic along the toll road.
Agree it worth the charge to bypass spaghetti junction
@@stuartross282 And not be stressed out or frustrated from being stuck in traffic for an hour ^_^
Yep and the M6/M5 junction
@@anthonycrompton6922 Oh, please don't remind me 😅
Probably explains why Norton Canes is where Roadchefs HQ is.
I love your "Secrets Of The Motorway" series. It's the highlight of my Sunday.
It's part of my Sunday ritual, along with Robot Cantina.
I work 3 hours on Sunday on a hardware store and I use the time to watch all my favorite British youtubers: AutoShenanigans, ExplainingComputers, JagoHazzard...
love the use of the rosie and jim song for the train bit random considering they lived on a canal boat
As a Wolverhampton resident I took my partner and I onto the road for novelty purposes on the 15th Dec. 2003 - either the day it opened or the day after, I cannot quite remember. It was awesome having the entire thing to ourselves, blasting Orbitals Brown Album as we went (the parallels to the M25 completion were well in our Raving memory). To be honest, I have only used it once since one afternoon returning from Crete via East Mids. Int. Airport and I no longer drive due to medical issues but I still pass the road on regular occasions and it still looks pristine.
I really like the M6Toll. The few quid it costs far outweighs the slog through the normal M6 in busy times and the services aren't bad either. Also, top marks for the Rosie and Jim theme.
I do so love the classic themes you use in your videos, finishing off with Tomorrows World, loved it
Ah, thank you! I thought it was familiar, but just couldn't place it, so I was very relieved to see your comment :)
Also the Fast Show reference at the beginning - Jesse's Diets.
Throwing Rosie and Jim into a railway segment though….🤔
We demand The Great Egg Race theme tune.
I was thinking it was TV-AM
This is such a quintessentially British video about infrastructure, local council decisions, history and geography, i love it!
Very good episode, cram-packed with lots of facts, almost no time to think about them before the next one is served. Guaranteed to keep the audience focused. Lots of fun facts too. Good job.
Thank You Soooooo Much
Every time I drive past that Litchfield Canal bridge, I alway wonder "what the heck is that"
I now can sleep at night thanks to you. (these things trouble me 😂😂😂)
As did I for quite a while, I assumed it was something to do with failed road planning or HS2 but no... it's got a legit reason to be there, I assume the canals trust are saving up to finish the job. Thanks for the donation mate, really kind of you.
On the face of it, these should be some of the most tedious videos on TH-cam. And yet, I find myself wanting more and hoping you do a motorway near me.
The trivia is fun and interesting, and I enjoy the dry humour and non-sequiturs. It's great fun.
as a non car driver, but live near a motorway (the M60), I actually can't get enough of this channel 👍
David Suchet was involved with the canal aqueduct fund raising if I remember correctly.
I' m glad you got on to the M6 Toll. It is ludicrous that they are imposing speed limited on the M6 "due to pollution control", then you add on the endless repairs and roadworks to costly raised roads. So if the M6 Toll was a "free" (ok much cheaper) it would remove pollution from the M6 area through "Birmingham" and wear to the M6.
Not necessarily. One problem that exists with road infrastructure is that more capacity leads to more traffic. There's a reason the Katy Highway in Houston, TX has 26 lanes. (OK, correction: there's two reasons for that. First is what I said, and the second is that the Americans keep doubling down on the 'more capacity' fallacy...)
As if you can ever get to 60 anyway before the fucking cone polishers come out or a PCP crossover bins it across three lanes
Thanks. Loved the "Tomorrow's World" outro theme. Brings back happy memories.
Now, if you could use "Think Again" (BBC 1983) as an outro, that would be cream, cherry and sprinkles on the cake!
I had to look it up, it's a little before my time that one... what a great show!
Thanks for producing really entertaining and interesting videos. Often wondered when I’ve driven on the M6 Toll what that aqueduct was all about.
Cheers mate that's really kind of you, appreciate it.
9:44 Congratulations on mentioning the holy trinity - a quarry, an AONB *and* a racetrack - in the space of about 17 seconds 👏👏👏
I drove through it once, honestly one of the best drives I've ever had. Smooth roads, well lit, no traffic, just vibes
4:53 After all these years up and down the Toll, you've cleared something up I've been wondering for yonks! 👍🏻 Ta! 😂
There was a second duct installed for a canal under restoration during construction of the M6 Toll, though it's harder to spot as it's in a tunnel...
Excellent video as usual. The only sight you didn't cover was the M6 toll deer herd which can often be found grazing the embankments. Apparently they were always in the area and when the motorway came through they just stayed around. They can usually be found somewhere near the services on the toll road. The first time I saw them was after a long day up at Oulton Park circuit. I genuinely thought I might have been hallucinating through tiredness so I pulled straight off into the services. I then found out the deer story relieved I hadn't been seeing things. Nice 80s tv theme again, we've moved away from Australian shows and now onto the theme to BBC show "Tomorrow's World". Looking forward to next week.
I was hoping someone was going to post the source for the bit of music at the end, I miss tomorrows world, always looked forward to seeing it as a kid.
th-cam.com/video/lQ-J9aEw6YA/w-d-xo.html 🙂
I often drive down the A5 parallel to the toll at night and the dear are frequently to be seen at the side of the road or wandering about on the road.
I did stop in and do "a bit" at Norton canes but cut it from the final edit. I've spotted the Deer at the services before!
Excellent video Jon! Thanks Marc for posting the name of the TV theme tune, excellent theme but was struggling to remember it was Tomorrow's World.
I love the M6 toll. I drive between Manchester and Northampton several times a year, and the guarantee of an expedient and congestion free road is worth the fee every time.
I know its not a motorway but id love to see you do the a303, such an interesting road
Highway to the sun on bbc covers it well 👌
Once they run out of Motorways, it’d be a good one. A good little titbit might be the little services NE of West Knoyle. There’s a couple of hundred metres where the single-carriageway becomes a dual-carriageway with one lane in each direction to make turning easier. As there’s a proper kerb in between the lanes, it’s a proper dual carriageway; one wonders if you can legally do 70mph along it?
@@krozjr5009 Probably. I think it's somewhere in Wales, but there's a lane up to some military site that was then dualled, and with that increasing the speed limit to 70.
Edit: It's the Llywel Mountain Road
@@ronniehotdogs5686 beat me to it.
@@qooqle Yeah, I’m aware of it. The one thing that makes me more hesitant about the A303 case is that the Welsh example is very clearly a dual carriageway - it’s over a mile long and has clear signage saying “dual carriageway”. The A303 case is much less obvious - it behaves essentially like those hatching widening areas for turning (just unusually with a kerb in the middle), is only a few hundred metres long, and has no dual carriageway signage at all.
Fun fact: when they were pitching it to the public (and school kids, they came to my primary school) back in the early 00's, they called it the BNRR, or Birmingham Northern Relief Road.
I'm pretty sure that got dropped in favour of calling it the "M6 Toll" before it officially opened though.
Does anyone remember the initial ad campaign for the M6 Toll Tag (their PAYG system with a special lanes)?
I've not been on it in about ten years, but every time I did I was impressed with how beautiful a surface it is to drive on.
With my foot in the '70-ish mph' position on the accelerator, I'd often find myself pushing 85 without realising, it's so smooth.
Then an Audi blows by you like you're standing still.
It's probably been a similar time since I last drove it. My foot was in the "don't spare the horses" position (it was early hours of the morning) and it was as smooth as an Autostrade.
Presumably because of so little use…
I've not been on it at all. You know why? Cause I've never been to England!
@@CreedBrattonTheOffice useful!
What an excellent presence you have on camera Jon. You are a natural presenter. Mind you, I'm also good at what I do!
Always avoided the toll when in the area, now I feel I should give it a try👍😃
Brilliant that they’re finally linking it to the M54
I always thought that was a missed opportunity
I do sometimes use the M6 Toll, generally when heading to Birmingham airport. I do wish the Gov would purchase the M6 Toll to help relieve congestion on the normal M6
Such an obvious option to relieve congestion
Then it would be congested like the normal M6.
The road will automatically be handed over to the government in 2053.
No doubt needing millions spent in maintenance by then.
Much as I hate the idea of tolled motorways, could you imagine it being in public ownership? It'd be open 3 days a year, and on those three days, you'd only have one lane open anyway cause people in Zafiras keep trying to drive up to Manchester airport with a fivers worth of derv sloshing around bottom of the tank
Great video as always. I shed a tear at Rosie and Jim's theme being backdropped against a train.
I think you and I must be the same age, with you crackalackin' all about the gaff.
Auto Shenanigans is starting to become a staple of Sundays. Like roast dinners, Songs of Praise and not being able to find anywhere to park in the supermarket carpark (when did Sunday become THE day to shop?!)
I always liked that Tomorrow’s World theme. Another great video, Jon!
Theme Tune spots:
7:57 Rosie & Jim
10:21 Tomorrow's World (1987 - 1993 theme)
Yes, Rosie and Jim in the place where we might have expected Thomas the Tank Engine and having not gone for it earlier in the video in the canal bit! Amusing!
@@cachebangwallop3482maybe the 08 shunter is nicknamed 'ragdoll'.. i was thinking 'but that show was about a canal boat hearing it'
Nice to Hednesford at the end! My grandparents live there and I spent a lot of time with them as a child. Been up the hills, the chase and down the raceway quite a few times!
Great video as always. I was a regular use of the M6 Toll at one time and was always struck by how little traffic there was on there, yet the Norton Canes Services always seemed really busy... I agree that the toll is value for money - I always thought I'd probably burn that in fuel shuffling my way through the ever present M6 traffic jams. Compared to the hassle of getting through Birmingham, it was actually quite relaxing.
One other fun fact: When it was first opened, there was a rumour / misunderstanding that as the road was privately built and a toll paid to use it, it was like the German Autobahns and was unlimited. This meant you had to keep an eye out when overtaking a truck for example as in between your final mirror check and starting to change lane, you were passed by a Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren or other similar exotic sports car doing around 150mph. Thankfully the message did get through that the M6Toll was subject to the national speed limit like any other piece of road.
People were doing 150 in their Volvos, let alone Ferraris!
You wouldn’t think speed limits apply when you’re on there
Love the fast show reference at the start 😂
Think there used to be a kart track at Chasewater somewhere
I'm convinced that the operators of the M6 Toll have a deal with the navigation SW operators as whenever I need to go to somewhere North of Birmingham they give me the M6 Toll route even though, in many instances, it is a longer journey, and I am not travelling in congested periods. I've also noted that the signage, from the M42, seems designed to encourage use of the Toll road.
I think Google maps is on the payroll too! Lost count of the amount of times I've travelled from Tamworth to Wolverhampton,Telford or Cannock and it's tried to get me on the toll instead of the A5
2 things, firstly in navigation settings you can select "no toll roads" and secondly most of these type of apps take consideration of time (based on an average speed) as well as distance when calculating a route --- hope this helps
As a Cannock native now living in Lichfield I found this very interesting, lots of stuff I didn't know about the local area!
I love the M6 Toll. I semi-infrequently drive up to Scotland: M74 borders and M6 Lakes are great and free, but the rest of it is pretty grim. That stretch of smooth empty motorway is awesome - especially when heading south and you've been through the worst. Gunning it out of the tollbooth in an overpowered German car never gets old either.
Ha! Yes! Did the same last year in my overpowered American car. Worth £7.60 just for that. Although I probably burned 20 quid in fuel at the same time...
Multiplexes in the Uk:
M6 toll / M42 Birmingham
M60/M62 North Manchester
M9/ M898 near Kincardine Bridge
Another brilliant episode, John. I’ve driven along the M6 Toll road a few times, very nice. I shall look out for some of these landmarks with more care next time.
I love that bit of fleximotorway; from around the M42/M6 junctions through to where the M6 Toll turns away from the M42 heading north. Some great road building.
I lived near to that stretch as a kid, remember when it was all fields and now there are up to 14 lanes!
Impressive.
I remember them building the toll when I was a kid. I lived in Kingsbury village down the road from the m6/m6 toll junction and my dad would regularly take me to go watch them. Now there's loads of hs2 works there
That "indoor" stand at the raceway is fascinating, never seen anything like that before. Keeps the cold out!
Belle Vue stadium in Manchester had the same, but that closed a couple years ago too
I just spent 11 minutes 29 sec watching a great video about a roadway i will never drive because i live in another country. God bless youtube!
Those empty lanes and those adjacent congested lanes are why sometimes (depending on cost) paying a toll to avoid everything can be the better way to go.
Love your fast show reference at the start 'This week........'
I must admit, on long haul trips, the M6 toll is great to use, it makes some of those long journeys a lot more tolerable. As the passenger, it's actually a really good chance to get a bit of sleep, since it's so smooth that the droning of tyre noise is consistent enough to generate a good clean bit of white noise.
I didn't know about that heritage railway, but now that I do, I shall have to make an effort to visit it next time I'm out that direction as a destination, rather than just passing through, it looks like a pleasant afternoon out with a nice chance for some photography.
Thanks for this series, John, I'm learning far more about the UK than I would have thought could come from a series about the motorways, and I really enjoy your style of presentation. Very relaxing and educational, a great way to spend my sunday afternoons.
One could even say... "toll-erable"
I spent 30 minutes or so on it on Friday coming back South from the Lake District. Nice to be able to switch on cruise control after 2 hours of heavy traffic on the M6. Worth the money. Great video as always.
Very interesting. I have never travelled on this just because I don't believe in toll roads in principle (except for nice bridges that save about 50 miles travelling along one side of the river and back along the other!)
Your video has made me want to try it out one day.
And you got a train in there as well! Great stuff 😊
Nice to know there are others out there who dislike toll roads in principle!
Toll roads are an odd one in the UK... what will be really interesting is in 40 years or so when the motorway is handed over to the public domain... will we still get charged...
@@AutoShenanigans they dropped the charges on the Severn bridges as you know so it's quite possible.. but a lot can happen in that time. I certainly won't be around to see it
I thought that way until I had to travel regularly to the Northwest of England. Calm, uncrowded driving on a smooth, quiet road surface without tailgaters or overtaking HGVs taking up two lanes for miles on end, plus the lack of wear and tear on my nerves, soon converted me. I did the same in France until I got fed-up with following convoys of caravans for hundreds of miles on the minor roads. Improved fuel consumption also helped.
Don't get me started on the Dartford Crossing.
Thank you sir.... For years I've passed that bridge and seen it says aqueduct, but nothing connected either side, it all makes sense now!
Another wicked sweet awesome episode! It's a shame the old M41 motorway doesn't exist as such anymore now that would have been a challenge... or would it?
So many familiar places. Great video! Love that you make the effort to go to the sites in person. Many thanks.
I love this channel! Who knew roads could be so fascinating? ❤️
Thanks for the shout out! 👍
Nice one.. how's it looking for getting that Aqueduct up and running, I assume it's lots of expensive work?
@Auto Shenanigans we were in the process of getting planning permission to build access for the towpath to go over it. However, there were additional reports that were needed, so we're coming back to it again another time. We've got a lot of work going on at another site at the moment, so we're concentrating there for the time being. We'll be back here again as soon as we can.
Fast paced, informative and funny, great job as always. PS - love all the retro music!
Not sure why I watched all 11 minutes of this but I found this very enjoyable
Great video… I personally like the M6 Toll very little traffic and best of all no smart motorway in sight.
Apart from how it's duplexed from a smart motorway section of the M42?
When I started watching these I was surprised they only had 1k subs. Nicely done
Going to Manchester and Scotland a few times a year the tensest part of the journey is when we get to Birmingham. M6 toll,m6, m6 toll, m6...it's 5pm....M6 toll..get the credit card ready.
Best motorway video yet. I'm surprised you dinnt mention that the peculiar building look like a giant p**is from certain angles.
I noticed that too 😂
John thank you for taking me on a trip up the slip roads that I used to fly past day and night through Englands second city
3:18 So what you’re saying is that Birmingham has more CANAL, but Venice has more CANALS? 😜🤣
The locomotive working the train at exactly 8 minutes in Jon, is a class 08 shunter. I have one on my layout as well! Now you know! They have a nickname, Gronks! Now you really know!
Yeah the M6 toll is good value. The tarmac is so beautiful and smooth.
Near the raceway was Sandhills (toll cut through it) was a Motocross track that I raced on in the late 70’s , happy days .
Keep thinking to myself it’d be cool to build a house and live on one of these abandoned bridges. You know, let the moss build up and maybe have some kind of lawn or something.
Then reality hits me like a strike from a crane truck hitting a bridge at 80mph.
I live close to a major motorway and the traffic noise is constant. Even late at night, you can hear it, But the motorway was there before we moved to that house and we knew it was there. Even though the motorway is busier in the summer months the leaves on the trees help to mitigate the noise. Then winter, no leaves and cold air just seem to make it noisier.
@@misamsung6191 With good triple glazing, it wouldn't be so bad inside, but outdoors, it would be very loud. I used to live in the glide path for an airport, and alongside freight rail, in the US, with single glazing, and that's enough to put me off living close to major transport links and networks now. I actually don't live that far from the A14 now, and it's definitely much louder in the winter, while I can barely hear it in the summer. I think the cool air does a lot for sound transmission, since there's less heat turbulence interfering with transmission of sound. The lack of leaves on the trees definitely has an effect, as trees are shockingly good at muffling or blocking sound.
@@misamsung6191 I feel you. The M4 is my noisy neighbour. It was being widened when I bought the house. Now if I chuck an apple core over the garden fence it will likely land on the verge.
@@misamsung6191 to be honest, we used to live right by the M6 and never really noticed the noise except in the dead of the night or winter when there's no leaves on the trees as you say. you get so used to it, but rthen they put those 20ft walls up alongside it and never had an issue.. now i'm 3000 miles away and can't hear it at all LOL
In the early 90’s I bought a little house in Leeds, right next to the M1. And it’s true that, after a while, you genuinely don’t year the drone of traffic. The exception was in summer when I slept with the windows open for cool air. Interesting anecdote… one time I was woken suddenly and couldn’t work out what was different. There had been a serious RTA a few miles away and the road was closed in both directions. What I was “hearing” was a LACK of traffic!
Shout out to nearby Chasetown FC, a familiar name from the FA Cup. Also seem to remember being able to use cards without PIN before contactless was a thing, obviously to speed traffic through.
Interesting stuff. It ought to be nationalised - frankly there are busier B roads in the area and it's a real pain to be stuck at roundabout traffic lights waiting for non existent traffic to enter or leave the M6 Toll.
Watched one of these thinking it's going to be dull .... I was so wrong !
I absolutely love them ! 👍😊
in my neck of the woods, friends work at Chasewater railway and i knew Fred and his projects back then. it's a great surface to drive.
a friend got pulled over by police doing 97mph on m6 toll - they let him off as everyone else was going faster!
Another great episode, and adding the mid-80s theme to Tomorrow’s World is the icing on the cake.
2.5 million Mills and Boon novels were pulped and used in the top layer of tarmac on the M6 Toll.
Best place for them, in my opinion.
Wicked-sweet-awesome factoid
Thanks for coming to our bit of leafy South Staffordshire! Next time you visit, come and have a look at the old Roman fort at the crossing of Watling Street (A5) and Iknield Street (A38)
Friendly warning: Speed traps especially on the Services bridge is now very common on the M6 toll. They put a copper with a speed gun and radio at the top of the services bridge who radios chase cars that wait on the motorway entry lane from the services to pull you over
Wow good job son. Thats why real people dont pAy 7 quid to be on The road with ‘family killing’ arses like you. You carry on son. You are special- obviously!
@@Mike-tv9rk Those are penny pinchers😂
@@jaylam only if you decide to speed...
Good stop speeding
I can attest to this.
I got banned. Few years ago. But banned nonetheless for 35 days
Used to love driving the coach up on this toll road. Stop at Norton Canes and the journey was free
I regularly drive from London to the North West of England and the M6 Toll has been a blessing for me. I think the toll is worth the 30+ minutes of saved travel time.
What I love is how the Railway has the old pacers
Loving the content 👍
What a pleasure to see Hednesford Hill Raceway on your channel - grew up a stone's throw from there.
The absurdity of the M6 Toll is that you pay the same one off fee regardless of how far you travel on it. On any European toll, payment is according to distance.
bRiTiSh iNdEpEnDeNcE FrOm tHE eU
@@Nick-kz6dg Yes, cause this is a new change that only happened after Brexit... You people need to get over Brexit. You can't blame everything and anything on it. Bad economy? Brexit. Silly tolls? Brexit. Stepped on a LEGO brick? Brexit. Squirrels ruining your flower bed? Brexit.
You only pay the full price if you exit from the 2 main toll plazas
if you exit any where else it's cheaper
@@Nick-kz6dg the toll was there long before Brexit you absolute wet wipe
@@CristiNeagu i mean to be fair alot of issues stem from it, we was fed a lie about it being a good thing and then just like most AAA game titles nowadays, it wasnt what we was sold on
I used to live not far from the M6 Toll and remember getting the information leaflet through the door around the time of construction in 2003. Only £2 to get through the toll plaza then!
Thanks for the heads up about the link road work. There has been talk about it for years in these parts, but it will make for an interesting time of things on my frequent trips around Junction 11 of the M6 all the same...
there's a number of toll motorways in Ireland, most of them are much more reasonably priced (€2-3 for cars as opposed to nearly £8), and they're much more well-used - there's a lesson to be learnt there for sure
the course of the M6 Toll is in fact an alternative route for the M6 through Staffordshire that was proposed back in 1950ish - it was called the Outer Route, and was preferred by Staffordshire County Council, but it was rejected in favour of the Inner Route, which was preferred by Birmingham and Wolverhampton City Councils, and is the present-day route of the M6
More cheeky train info drops. Love it! Also the the toll is the best £7 you can spend
I use the M6 for my commute from Scotland to London, drove there a week ago and thought id use the "peasant M6" as you call it, and thought never again, the damage that stretch causes is not worth not taking the Toll. Was driving and thinking of when you will be making a video about this and boom, so thanks!
Yey Sunday Motorway Fun 🙂
Awesome video
I accidentally went through the M6 toll one time and thought I’d take advantage of the emptiness and see what my car could do. For legal reasons I can’t disclose what I got it up to but it was fun finding out.
I also regularly have this accident for exactly the same reasons 😉😉
The M6 in Mexico you mean, which would negate said legal reasons so 😜
@@davidoff59 Oh of course, yes, Mexico. Thanks for clarifying that detail. Wouldn't dream of getting on the M6 Toll Expressway in the UK and then flooring the accelerator to see if an old Volvo estate can do 130mph and for how long.
never clicked on a video this quickly before lmao
I had a spin up the M6 toll road back in May. I was hitting the Birmingham area at about half six in the evening when Aston Villa were playing at home and decided to give it a try. Well worth paying the toll as every time I`ve had to go down the M6 traffic is terrible and the elevated section is seriously bumpy, and on the bike I come away with serious pain in my back.
I would like to point out that Gary wasn't me 😀
Thank you, I was wondering which Gary it was🤣
Wonderful watching, Thank you.
I hope the M96 is coming soon :)
tune in next week...
I live 2 mins from chasewater & this video was very educational for me. Thank you