Really looking forward to your travels. I'm neither a railway enthusiast, nor British, nor have I ever been to the UK. I just like the way you're doing you videos, portraying people, landscape and all the little things, that make your journey(s) whole. Greetings from Germany
Cannot believe I completely missed out on this until it was too late. As an Australian I am constantly fascinated by railways abroad, and now thanks to your amazing journeys I have a list of about 400 places I need to visit by train when we eventually make the pilgrimage back to the UK.
I went to cleethorpes in 1983 when I was a young trainee chartered accountant. Three of us sat on the prom in 3 piece suits and ate the best fish and chips ever
Cleethorpes - end of the line and what feels like end of the world! I spent 6 months doing rail replacement into Cleethorpes when a colliery spoil heap at Hatfield near Doncaster slipped and closed the line. It became soul destroying in the end as often I would be laid up in Cleethorpes several hours. I bought a folding bike in the end so I could wander about a bit and went on the light railway a couple of times. Nice little railway.
i would love to see a regular service on the Brigg Line, for me it would be great because i live in Grimsby, and i could connect to the ECML at Retford instead of going all the way down to Newark or all the way across to Doncaster
sarah ingham Despite only running on a Saturday since 1993, the Brigg Line has seen a 35% increase in passenger numbers year on year since 2013 thanks to the hard work of 2 rail groups
"I want to say it's very quaint. But I don't want to keep using that word. ... I need to come up with a better word." Glad it took nearly 2 years for Vicky to start using a different word!
Usually called a "nodding donkey" in the UK. This is another example of how the same thing can have different names in different countries despite a common language.
The nodding donkey pumps around Gainsborough do actually pump oil. BBC Radio 4 ran a programme about them almost exactly a year ago: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075t6kj There's even a Nodding Donkey pub!
Your memories of visiting the 'sea side' when you were a child were so relateable as you were in Cleethorpes, my personal 'local' sea-side town. (Local being 1 hour away).
At 9:24 Vicki is holding two styrofoam boxes while waiting for the train at New Clee Station. I'm guessing it was lunch, which leaves me with what I consider the most important question raised by the pilot episodes so far: What did you have for lunch?
These pilots have me very excited for the full thing. Once you're done I think I'll spend a day binge-watching the entire series (I'll watch along as you go too of course!).
I have stayed in cleethorpes many times at the haven holiday camp tried to get on the light railway once but as it was a good day decided to walk instead ,the beach just goes on for miles lovely place and I travel from Northern Ireland
I absolutely love the format. And I cannot wait to see the full series of films. We need to get you guys over to the Isle of Man to see the nationalised Manx Steam Railway, Manx Electric Railway and Snaefell Mountain Railway (the latter two are some of the oldest electric tramways still operating in the world). I am originally from the island, now living in Bristol. I could organise free accommodation, get you in touch with Manx National Heritage: who could be very supportive and I can generally be helpful in organising a visit for you. The free offer is there if you guys are interested, would love to support this project.
Brilliant video. The Brigg line deserves a daily service! Incidentally, the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch used to take genuine school commuters. It may still do.
Great test videos, I'd like to see time lapses out the window between stops so the narrative flows a bit better, looking forward to the series immensely
Simon Dewhurst oh what a great idea 💡 and then you can see if you're naturally consistent with the teas per station ratio in different counties based on stn volume - sounds a bit geeky of me with stats but we all love your stats Geoff.
Me and my parents went to the railway and chatted with John as he prepared his locomotive for its next journey. Such a great person and a credit to the company. A great experience
hello from Kurunjang, Victoria, Australia, I just stumbled on your channel and am hooked. What a great way to see England I say. Hope to see more for the nice videos I have seen so far.
The staff at Hull station are great. Always friendly and helpful when I’ve gone in there with a coach. EYMS drivers were happy for me to use their rest room and get a brew! Good lads.
Looking forward to the series! This was a bit more actionpacked than your other videos, and I do understand that as you cover more stations in one video. But I do like the slow pace of your least used stations series.
There aren't many trains to Gains Central; the main station is Gains Lea Road, which is on the Lincoln to Leeds via Sheffield and Lincoln to Doncaster routes.
This two parts pilot was so good, that I can't wait for the start of the whole big thing :) I like the idea of showing a map where you have been, because of watching from Germany it's a little bit difficult to guess in which part of the country you are. Thank you for your great work and of course to the whole team behind you. Jo
At Hull Paragon, the film shows the statue of Philip Larkin at 10:23 and a pre-WW2 plane (to represent the flyer Amy Johnson?) at 10:27. Hull Paragon has been done up well in recent years and is well-used. The film could have shown that the bus from Barton-on-Humber connects straight to trains by using a part of the station which once had platforms and is now the bus terminal.
The more I watch these videos, the more jealous I am of the two of you. I think this will be the adventure of a lifetime. Hope you enjoy everyday, the good ones and the bad. Keep up the good work and thanks for the videos.
My hometown! Definitely recommend booking a week there, but it's so Good you'll want to stay more, as Phillip larkin once said : "A place cannot produce poems, it can only not provent them. And Hull is good at that, for Hull has its own sudden elegsnces. People are slow to leave it, quick to return, and there are others who come for a year or two and stay a life time, sensing that they've found a city, that is in the world yet sufficiently on the edge of it to have a different resonance"
Great video and format. The variety and mixture works really well. The only item was the great British weather that drowned you both out at times with the wind. I'm not too knowledgeable on the tech side but if it's possible to reduce the amount of wind noise that would be great. I wish you both all the best and look forward to seeing how the adventure goes.
Such a shame you missed out on the massive Model Railway in Gainsborough and Gainsborough Central technically the least used station in the county for a while. Fantastic video!
Gainsborough Central in it heyday was a very impressive station. The station building frontage had impressive columns and access to the platforms was by a subway. When the building was demolished the access was altered to the foot crossing and the footbridge.
Great video and really looking forward to the series but you didn't mention one thing which I think you should of done! Gainsborough is the home of "Marshall" the traction engine builders!
Ah, I hope you make it to Plymouth! It has a fair amount of mainline rail history, some disused rails around the barbican, viaducts and bridges and two steam lines in use for attractions, one miniature and one full gauge! There are also talks for a metro to be built in 202X reopening old lines and stations. Looking forward to the rest of the series :)
Cleethorpes - birthplace of Rod Temperton, who wrote the songs Boogie Nights, Always and Forever, and Thriller, and many others. Sadly Rod passed away last year.
I hope you have a look at La'al Ratty, the small gauge railway that goes from the Cumbrian Coast Line at Ravenglass up into the fells while you're up that way. Nothing against Lincolnshire, but I promise the scenery is better up there ;)
I'm a request stop fan as well - I shouldn't get so happy having the 'power' to stop a train like that , but I do! I think Gowerton was my first request stop - I think it is a normal stop these days.
Love it! If all of the videos are as good as the pilots, then I'm going to be loving this series. Love the look at the towns and cities and villages. Only thing (and hopefully this is only an issue because it was a test episode) is that a couple times the people you were talking to on the miniature train line were hard to understand because of background noise (especially the driver next to the steam boiler). But seriously, I love these. Can't wait for the full run.
1:39 that's where the oil is pumped, a bunch of these can be seen all around Houston, texas. I saw one that is still operating while I was on my way to Louisiana one weekend.
Rhys loves the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, usually park at Humberston and travel up into town on it and the Road Train but will do it in the other direction when we travel up on the Brigg Line for the Cleethorpes Armed Services Day on 1st July.
Liking the test videos. Looking forward to the premiere of the full series. Geoff can handle the train geek stuff and Vicki can do the local history commentary. Looks like a winning combination. Did I spy a reference to the old Avengers TV series when Geoff went on a train and Mrs Peel (oh, I mean Vicki) went across the bridge?
That's crazy... you've literally been on the 350 (FastCat) across the Humber Bridge, you've been to The Blade, the Paragon Interchange... I'VE DONE ALL OF THAT MANY TIMES. So gutted I didn't bump into you guys while you were here! Maybe when you're in Scunthorpe (my home town, where I live now!) ;)
I checked 227 comments and no one said what I was wondering: why did Vicki walk and Geoff take a bus over the Humber? Plus if it was the other way round, Geoff could have added in a geocache... (don't know if you're doing any caching, but wow you could set a record for sidetrack caches... they even have an automatic counter you can use!) Looks great and I'm behind on previews, but yesterday's first day video was terrific! Excited for all of it.
Why does every one forget the Isle of Man railway it's the ONLY narrow gauge (3ft) which is part government owned which means it's got steam engines on a service more fit for modern day transport
Not so fun fact: That Fantasy World arcade was shut for 20 years after a kid died on a slide that was wayyy too steep. They closed off the soft-play area but you could still sneak in to the building despite the fact it was closed. They ripped out everything apart from the walls, carpet and bathroom. The Soft Play area is boarded upstairs. Much better arcades further down. Source: Cleethorpes kid, born and raised.
i feel I am a tourist ...... i have no free time actually.....but watching your lovely videos i was there.........thank you so much..........ALICE in Taiwan
Hull is an awesome place IMO. My grandparents were from there, so I have great memories of the place. It's gone from one of Britain's crappiest towns (OK, cities) to City of Culture.... although I think that Hull Paragon has far too many platforms; (wait for it...) It's got ideas above its station (ba-boom !)
I think the couple of test videos are pretty good and are a good amuse bouche for the rest of the series to come :P I know that lines not part of the National Rail system are not part of the deal with this but i was wondering Geoff if there was any interest from your part is visiting Volk's Railway when you visit Brighton as the oldest working electric railway in the world?
That miniature railway looks like so much fun. There seems to be a lot of them in the UK... Next summer the plan is to get there for vacation. Any idea which miniature line is the longest or has the most stops?
Interesting to hear about the number of request stops (at the time of the test run here, 152 such stops). How many are still request stops, and Geoff-are you still doing the series on all the request stops?
Really looking forward to your travels. I'm neither a railway enthusiast, nor British, nor have I ever been to the UK. I just like the way you're doing you videos, portraying people, landscape and all the little things, that make your journey(s) whole.
Greetings from Germany
Geoff "I don't like trains" Marshall grinning ear to ear as he drives a steam train through the station.
Cannot believe I completely missed out on this until it was too late. As an Australian I am constantly fascinated by railways abroad, and now thanks to your amazing journeys I have a list of about 400 places I need to visit by train when we eventually make the pilgrimage back to the UK.
it would be nice if there is a graphic at the bottom of the screen showing the stations you pass
I went to cleethorpes in 1983 when I was a young trainee chartered accountant. Three of us sat on the prom in 3 piece suits and ate the best fish and chips ever
Cleethorpes - end of the line and what feels like end of the world! I spent 6 months doing rail replacement into Cleethorpes when a colliery spoil heap at Hatfield near Doncaster slipped and closed the line. It became soul destroying in the end as often I would be laid up in Cleethorpes several hours. I bought a folding bike in the end so I could wander about a bit and went on the light railway a couple of times. Nice little railway.
Thank you again for traveling on our iconic Brigg Line
Geoff Marshall did you get across the river first because of the bus?
i would love to see a regular service on the Brigg Line, for me it would be great because i live in Grimsby, and i could connect to the ECML at Retford instead of going all the way down to Newark or all the way across to Doncaster
I live in Brigg and I would live to see more trains routes brought to the town. Apparently it used to be very popular! 😊
sarah ingham Despite only running on a Saturday since 1993, the Brigg Line has seen a 35% increase in passenger numbers year on year since 2013 thanks to the hard work of 2 rail groups
Friends of the Brigg Line doing a fantastic job great to see people so passionate about getting the line back to having regular services well done
It would be great if for the real thing you have a map with each episode showing your route for the particular episode.
TheQwerty45566 like Great British/Continental railway journeys with Michael Portillo?
"I want to say it's very quaint. But I don't want to keep using that word. ... I need to come up with a better word." Glad it took nearly 2 years for Vicky to start using a different word!
10:27 I'm not sure how I'd feel about boarding a plane whose call sign was G-AAAH
That oil thing is called a pump jack, Vicki! Yes I'm in TEXAS! LOL
Odd as it seems, Michigan had lots of those back in the 1950's. I'm sure Pennsylvania did, too.
Usually called a "nodding donkey" in the UK. This is another example of how the same thing can have different names in different countries despite a common language.
The nodding donkey pumps around Gainsborough do actually pump oil. BBC Radio 4 ran a programme about them almost exactly a year ago: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075t6kj There's even a Nodding Donkey pub!
Your memories of visiting the 'sea side' when you were a child were so relateable as you were in Cleethorpes, my personal 'local' sea-side town. (Local being 1 hour away).
At 9:24 Vicki is holding two styrofoam boxes while waiting for the train at New Clee Station. I'm guessing it was lunch, which leaves me with what I consider the most important question raised by the pilot episodes so far: What did you have for lunch?
Geoff Marshall was.hoping it was good old Grimsby fish n chips
I was wondering that, thought it was an traditional breakfast you both bought from a cafe or something.
That IS a 'nodding donkey' drilling for oil. Used to live 100 foot from the station. 😆
Excellent film! Cleethorpes was once popular enough to require a direct train from London. Like so many British seaside resorts it needs a re-think.
3:17 "Surely you've somethin' better to do on a Saturday"?
"You support Lincoln City mate".
Exactly, like watching 22 men kick a ball around is useful much...
Geoff, wear a Portillo-like outfit for one of the vlogs!
A pastel coloured suit, pink shirt and a Bradshaw's Guide?
These pilots have me very excited for the full thing. Once you're done I think I'll spend a day binge-watching the entire series (I'll watch along as you go too of course!).
Richard Jenkins That is a terrific idea!!!!
'Surely you have better things to do on Saturday!'''Nope!''
I have stayed in cleethorpes many times at the haven holiday camp tried to get on the light railway once but as it was a good day decided to walk instead ,the beach just goes on for miles lovely place and I travel from Northern Ireland
I absolutely love the format. And I cannot wait to see the full series of films. We need to get you guys over to the Isle of Man to see the nationalised Manx Steam Railway, Manx Electric Railway and Snaefell Mountain Railway (the latter two are some of the oldest electric tramways still operating in the world). I am originally from the island, now living in Bristol. I could organise free accommodation, get you in touch with Manx National Heritage: who could be very supportive and I can generally be helpful in organising a visit for you. The free offer is there if you guys are interested, would love to support this project.
Never been so proud to see my city Hull on a video!!!!!
Liking the 'Marshall's Yard' sign at 0:35
Ade Dodds Local council gave us a grant for that sign, only been up 2 years
Brilliant video. The Brigg line deserves a daily service!
Incidentally, the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch used to take genuine school commuters. It may still do.
Great test videos, I'd like to see time lapses out the window between stops so the narrative flows a bit better, looking forward to the series immensely
Please say you'll be doing a 'tea totaliser' during All the Stations - will be fascinating to see how many cups you get through during the challenge!
Simon Dewhurst oh what a great idea 💡 and then you can see if you're naturally consistent with the teas per station ratio in different counties based on stn volume - sounds a bit geeky of me with stats but we all love your stats Geoff.
We need a tea score, and perhaps Geoff can rate the tea that is available at each station.
How about a directional mic when interviewing people on a train, particularly steam train?
Nice pilot episodes!
I think checking in with Matt and Tom on a directional mic would be money well spent.
"borrow" (steal) their microphone
I've always wondered how people got onto train at request stops without people getting off first. Thanks for show that!
Me and my parents went to the railway and chatted with John as he prepared his locomotive for its next journey. Such a great person and a credit to the company. A great experience
id really like an animation (or a simple map) on where you have been to on the vid, in comparison of the whole uk map and a regional map
hello from Kurunjang, Victoria, Australia, I just stumbled on your channel and am hooked. What a great way to see England I say. Hope to see more for the nice videos I have seen so far.
Really great, genuinely can't wait for All The Stations to launch properly.
Cheers,
Matt
Gainsborough, more like Trainsborough.
The staff at Hull station are great. Always friendly and helpful when I’ve gone in there with a coach. EYMS drivers were happy for me to use their rest room and get a brew! Good lads.
Looking forward to the series! This was a bit more actionpacked than your other videos, and I do understand that as you cover more stations in one video. But I do like the slow pace of your least used stations series.
There aren't many trains to Gains Central; the main station is Gains Lea Road, which is on the Lincoln to Leeds via Sheffield and Lincoln to Doncaster routes.
This two parts pilot was so good, that I can't wait for the start of the whole big thing :) I like the idea of showing a map where you have been, because of watching from Germany it's a little bit difficult to guess in which part of the country you are. Thank you for your great work and of course to the whole team behind you. Jo
At Hull Paragon, the film shows the statue of Philip Larkin at 10:23 and a pre-WW2 plane (to represent the flyer Amy Johnson?) at 10:27. Hull Paragon has been done up well in recent years and is well-used. The film could have shown that the bus from Barton-on-Humber connects straight to trains by using a part of the station which once had platforms and is now the bus terminal.
The more I watch these videos, the more jealous I am of the two of you. I think this will be the adventure of a lifetime. Hope you enjoy everyday, the good ones and the bad. Keep up the good work and thanks for the videos.
This brings back memories of summer holidays in Cleethorpes when I was younger. I hope you and Vicky are both well.
My hometown! Definitely recommend booking a week there, but it's so Good you'll want to stay more, as Phillip larkin once said : "A place cannot produce poems, it can only not provent them. And Hull is good at that, for Hull has its own sudden elegsnces. People are slow to leave it, quick to return, and there are others who come for a year or two and stay a life time, sensing that they've found a city, that is in the world yet sufficiently on the edge of it to have a different resonance"
Can't wait for the series proper to begin!!!
Great video and format. The variety and mixture works really well. The only item was the great British weather that drowned you both out at times with the wind. I'm not too knowledgeable on the tech side but if it's possible to reduce the amount of wind noise that would be great.
I wish you both all the best and look forward to seeing how the adventure goes.
District line moquette scarf! Still regret missing finding a nice purse at LT shop
Such a shame you missed out on the massive Model Railway in Gainsborough and Gainsborough Central technically the least used station in the county for a while. Fantastic video!
Love you two and your style of videoing - looking forward to the rest of the videos evolving! Well done Vicky & Geoff :-)
Gainsborough Central in it heyday was a very impressive station. The station building frontage had impressive columns and access to the platforms was by a subway. When the building was demolished the access was altered to the foot crossing and the footbridge.
Great video and really looking forward to the series but you didn't mention one thing which I think you should of done! Gainsborough is the home of "Marshall" the traction engine builders!
Ah, I hope you make it to Plymouth! It has a fair amount of mainline rail history, some disused rails around the barbican, viaducts and bridges and two steam lines in use for attractions, one miniature and one full gauge!
There are also talks for a metro to be built in 202X reopening old lines and stations.
Looking forward to the rest of the series :)
Cleethorpes - birthplace of Rod Temperton, who wrote the songs Boogie Nights, Always and Forever, and Thriller, and many others. Sadly Rod passed away last year.
I hope you have a look at La'al Ratty, the small gauge railway that goes from the Cumbrian Coast Line at Ravenglass up into the fells while you're up that way.
Nothing against Lincolnshire, but I promise the scenery is better up there ;)
One of my favourite vids of this series!
Both videos are great. Only thing I would comment on is that the audio from the person behind the camera isn't ideal.
"I don't want to use the word quant"
I'm a request stop fan as well - I shouldn't get so happy having the 'power' to stop a train like that , but I do! I think Gowerton was my first request stop - I think it is a normal stop these days.
this project is going to be so epic
Oh man, my sister used to live in Lincoln while at the university, great memories, and a great video Geoff :)
Love it! If all of the videos are as good as the pilots, then I'm going to be loving this series. Love the look at the towns and cities and villages. Only thing (and hopefully this is only an issue because it was a test episode) is that a couple times the people you were talking to on the miniature train line were hard to understand because of background noise (especially the driver next to the steam boiler). But seriously, I love these. Can't wait for the full run.
1:39 that's where the oil is pumped, a bunch of these can be seen all around Houston, texas. I saw one that is still operating while I was on my way to Louisiana one weekend.
Brilliant both of you! The whole thing is going to be great. TO THE TRAINS!
I'm loving this series already :) Very well done!
I KNEW IT! It's the same John from Geoff's latest All the Stations Extra video!
Rhys loves the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, usually park at Humberston and travel up into town on it and the Road Train but will do it in the other direction when we travel up on the Brigg Line for the Cleethorpes Armed Services Day on 1st July.
And now there's an hourly service 6 days a week.
Liking the test videos. Looking forward to the premiere of the full series.
Geoff can handle the train geek stuff and Vicki can do the local history commentary.
Looks like a winning combination.
Did I spy a reference to the old Avengers TV series when Geoff went on a train and Mrs Peel (oh, I mean Vicki) went across the bridge?
I like the LNER. I've been once in New Romney. There is the RH&DR. It also runs on steam and has a very nice museum.
That's crazy... you've literally been on the 350 (FastCat) across the Humber Bridge, you've been to The Blade, the Paragon Interchange... I'VE DONE ALL OF THAT MANY TIMES. So gutted I didn't bump into you guys while you were here! Maybe when you're in Scunthorpe (my home town, where I live now!) ;)
Just stopped to say I love the Humber Fastcat. But also, I live in Scunthorpe too!
I am so looking forward to the series proper.
Completely enjoyed this; I cannot wait until the full series. :-)
Also - love the theme tune. Did you add in the "All the stations (all of them)" to put people off asking "are you doing XYZ station?" :P
Hope you enjoyed all that Hull has to offer!
Where have I heard of Cleethorpes before?? It's making me crazy that I can't recall it... :D
Can't wait until you start all the stations !!!
I checked 227 comments and no one said what I was wondering: why did Vicki walk and Geoff take a bus over the Humber? Plus if it was the other way round, Geoff could have added in a geocache... (don't know if you're doing any caching, but wow you could set a record for sidetrack caches... they even have an automatic counter you can use!) Looks great and I'm behind on previews, but yesterday's first day video was terrific! Excited for all of it.
Why does every one forget the Isle of Man railway it's the ONLY narrow gauge (3ft) which is part government owned which means it's got steam engines on a service more fit for modern day transport
SLOTH GAMING do local residents use it to commute .?.
That was simply magical.
Superb. A really good video. And, like you say, To The TRAINS!!
Not so fun fact: That Fantasy World arcade was shut for 20 years after a kid died on a slide that was wayyy too steep. They closed off the soft-play area but you could still sneak in to the building despite the fact it was closed. They ripped out everything apart from the walls, carpet and bathroom. The Soft Play area is boarded upstairs. Much better arcades further down. Source: Cleethorpes kid, born and raised.
You should highlight the map to show where you've been
Brigg line Paul!
he was great! lovely and friendly, was a pleasure to meet him
You should've rode the road train to the light railway in Cleethorpes. :-p
It's a pacer, R.I.P Geoff
you missed saxilby
that is in between Gainsborough and Lincoln
I spent so much time on the light railway that even dragged my parents out onto it on New’s Year day apparently
i feel I am a tourist ...... i have no free time actually.....but watching your lovely videos i was there.........thank you so much..........ALICE in Taiwan
Hull is an awesome place IMO. My grandparents were from there, so I have great memories of the place. It's gone from one of Britain's crappiest towns (OK, cities) to City of Culture.... although I think that Hull Paragon has far too many platforms; (wait for it...)
It's got ideas above its station (ba-boom !)
Nice to see the new loco for the west coast mainline for three months hence
Excellent journey.
'What's better-a pacer or a minature steam train?'
'A minature steam train'
PARDON??
I love the intro
difficult to hear a lot of the conversations but great video, look forward to the next one guys
I think the couple of test videos are pretty good and are a good amuse bouche for the rest of the series to come :P
I know that lines not part of the National Rail system are not part of the deal with this but i was wondering Geoff if there was any interest from your part is visiting Volk's Railway when you visit Brighton as the oldest working electric railway in the world?
That miniature railway looks like so much fun. There seems to be a lot of them in the UK... Next summer the plan is to get there for vacation. Any idea which miniature line is the longest or has the most stops?
YAY!! Barrow (in Furness) my hometown is on the titlecard!!!
The intro promo is great!!
Flagging a train down. Done that a few times at Church & Oswaldtwistle
I think the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch railway used to advertise itself as the only commuter used light railway in Britain!
Great vid Geoff & Vicky
Interesting to hear about the number of request stops (at the time of the test run here, 152 such stops). How many are still request stops, and Geoff-are you still doing the series on all the request stops?