Hello, Im from Lincolnshire (about an hour south of boston). The reason the area of Lincolnshire you started in is so flat is because it is all an area of reclaimed marshland called the Fens. Several hundred years ago the higher portion of what was the wash, was drained and reclaimed, this is why the most southern area of Lincolnshire is call South Holland.
@ Yeah, literally all of the Indian food in the UK. Sure, one could pedantically claim “but that’s not British food”, but it’s a cuisine that’s common and popular in Britain that has its own traits compared to Indian food in India. I was thinking of mentioning it in the initial comment, but thought it would be too verbose.
@@thefareplayer2254i mean im grateful the people who helped build britain after our nation stripped theirs for raw materials and valuables stayed and gave us some really good food types.
So awesome you managed to get Nick Badley to appear on the channel! Margo is adorable! That was so nice of the conductor to give that to you! It's good to know that Newark-on-Trent has the same pronunciation as the one in New Jersey, and similarly, has two national railway stations like how Newark has two Amtrak stations. Or should I say, as of 2024...when Amtrak expands to Scranton, Amtrak will serve Newark Broad Street as well so Newark will have THREE Amtrak stations just like Boston and Los Angeles (Union Station, Chatsworth, Van Nuys). While we don't know for sure why Newark, NJ is called such, what we do know is Newark-on-Trent derives from Old English 'niwe' and 'weorc' meaning 'new fortification or building'. In 1080, the town was listed as 'Niweweorce', and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Neuuerche'. Although Newark, NJ of course doesn't have a castle, it does have a nice performing arts center, it's the origin of candy apples, Whitney Houston and Queen Latifah were both born there, it's known for its jazz culture and home to the Institute of Jazz Studies, the world's foremost jazz archives and research libraries, a cool light-rail system, the Prudential Center for hockey, Branch Brook Park having the US's largest cherry blossom collection and being the country's oldest county park, the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart which is the size of Westminster Abbey and its Great Rose Window is the largest of any Catholic church in the Western Hemisphere, and the Newark Museum of Art which has a preserved and restored Victorian house called the Ballantine House that originally had twenty-seven rooms and three floors. The house was owned by the son of Peter Ballantine, the founder of the former Patterson & Ballantine Brewing Company in the Ironbound, once the 3rd largest brewer in the US.
As an observer from afar (by which I mean Melbourne), I often look, with nostalgia, at UK railway videos and in the discussions below the line I frequently see your name, Averythe CA. Thank you for your contributions, I appreciate them.
Newark on Trent is the Newark in Nottinghamshire 😂 BTW the English one is a town not a city as Nick said in his tour. In the UK a place can only call its self a city with royal approval
@krashd no in the UK a place only get city status when declared a city by royal warrant. Hence Southwell in which has a has the cathedral for the diocese of Nottinghamshire is still a officially a town despite petitioning when the diocese was created in 1884 Also many cities were granted city status without having a cathedral at the time such as Birmingham Stoke on Trent Leeds Plymouth Wolverhampton. Although in some of these cities churches were turned into cathedrals after they became cities
I grew up in Washington Your suburbs of Newcastle were in fact Gateshead. Gateshead and Newcastle or different places separately mainly by the River Tyne. Washington is a town not a village but has the village of Washington at its heart. Created in the 60s and 70s as a new town clearing the old housing of Newcastle Gateshead and later Sunderland. In 86 it was incorporated into the now City of Sunderland. You missed out the cherry tree planted by Jimmy Carter in 1976 which is on the village green. And call it Whesshintun. I also miss the older state run British Rail BR. Single operations of the railways of England and Wales. Life was a lot easier then Less choice but less reason to choose. Just turn up and go.
@jackbates7467 in Toronto, Canada.... Durham County is next to York County. Also on a side note, while there's a Durham County in Toronto, Canada, there's a tiny village called Toronto in County Durham UK!
Great to see the surprise cameo from Nick Badley! This was a thoroughly entertaining video, so I'll keep an eye out for more from you in the future. It was interesting to see a foreigner's perspective on the things we've all become so used to!
If people want to check out a LNER locomotive in the same class as the Mallard and they're outside the UK, they should visit the National Railroad Museum outside Green Bay, Wisconsin. It is home to the Class A4 4496 Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was originally built in 1937 as the Golden Shuttle, but was renamed after Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1946, retired in 1963, and made its way to Wisconsin in 1964. It returned to England in 2012 for display at the National Railway Museum in York, when all surviving A4s were reunited. It returned to Green Bay in 2014. As you mentioned about 4468 Mallard, it broke the world speed record for steam locomotives. It broke that record during a trial run of a new, quick-acting brake, known as the Westinghouse QSA brake. The speed was achieved during the downward grade of Stoke Bank, south of Grantham between Little Bytham and Essendine stations. Mallard hauled a seven-coach train, including a dynamometer car which housed apparatus to record the speed. The speed it recorded exceeded the previous record speed of 124.5 mph (or 200.4 km/h) set in Germany in 1936 by DRG Class 05 No. 002. Mallard was just four months old at the time of the record, and was operated by driver Joseph Duddington, a man renowned within the LNER for taking calculated risks, and fireman Thomas Bray. Upon arrival at London King's Cross, driver Duddington and inspector Sid Jenkins were quoted as saying that they thought a speed of 130 mph (209 km/h) would have been possible if the train did not need to slow for a set of junctions at Essendine. There was also a permanent speed restriction of 15 mph (24 km/h) just north of Grantham station, which slowed the train as they sought to build up maximum speed for the descent of Stoke Bank. The Class A4 was designed by Nigel Gresley, who introduced the Class A4 locomotives in 1935 to haul streamlined Silver Jubilee trains between London King's Cross and Newcastle. The service was named in celebration of the 25th year of King George V's reign. Thirty-five of the class were built to haul express passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line route from London Kings Cross via York to Newcastle, and later via Newcastle to Edinburgh, Scotland. They remained in service on the East Coast Main Line until the early 1960s when they were replaced by Deltic diesel locomotives. Several A4s saw out their remaining days until 1966 in Scotland, on the Aberdeen-Glasgow express trains, for which they were used to improve the timing from 3.5 to 3 hours. The class's iconic streamlined design not only improved its aerodynamics, increasing its speed capabilities, but also created an updraught to lift smoke away from the driver's line of vision, a problem inherent in many steam locomotives particularly those operated with short cut off valve events, fitting smoke deflectors was an alternative solution. The application of internal streamlining to the steam circuit, higher boiler pressure and the extension of the firebox to form a combustion chamber all contributed to a more efficient locomotive than the A3, consumption of coal and water were reduced. A further design improvement was fitting a Kylchap double-chimney, first on 4468 Mallard in March 1938.
I live 10 minutes north of Washington, UK. In May 1977 President Carter visited Washington alongside Prime Minister Callaghan and planted a tree in a small field outside the Cross Keys pub and the streets around it have some familiar names such as Valley Forge, Boston Avenue and Richmond Avenue.
4:31 I was about to comment "That specific song, Rufford Park Poachers, is used as Movement III of Percy Grainger's magnum opus, Lincolnshire Posy", but upon further research, there are actually TWO poaching-themed folk songs from the Midlands, the other being "The Lincolnshire Poacher" which is probably the song in question, not the song Grainger used in Lincolnshire Posy Also, in a similar vein to "The Avenue", there's a road in Lunenburg, Massachusetts right off Route 2A called "The Lane"
Just to be pedantic - once you crossed the River Tyne outside Newcastle Central Station you were no longer in Newcastle. Those 'Newcastle suburbs' were actually Gateshead and by the time you got to Washington you were actually in Sunderland :) Interesting video though :))
I'm old so I still like to think of Washington as part of County Durham and not a part of Sunderland. The A19 conveniently separates us from Sunderland 😁
@@A-Trainspotter-From-Berkshire Could you explain ? I read somewhere that all these heritage railways with the old coach-door types were going to have to desist in some way
@@daffyduk77 The ORR and RSSB (Rail Standards & Safety Board), have said they must fit CDL if they want to run on the mainline and future is looking like CDL will be required even on heritage railways. Mark1s in operation have to comply whith rules which say they must be withdrawn, by 2005 however the ORR has allowed an exemption to that section of the rule but they still require them to follow all of the other rules.
@@A-Trainspotter-From-Berkshire West Coast Railways still seem to have the attitude of "We must confound the blighters at every turn!" with regards to the ORR etc. despite the departure of their last boss. Also, During the last few years of the HSTs down south I would occasionally get stuck behind someone trying to figure the doors out...
Thank you for sharing this fascinating journey starting out in my home county. I can see Boston Stump six miles away from my kitchen window. Alongside St Botolph's Church, where my great grandparents were married by the way, are individual memorials to the pilgrims who, in 1630 travelled to the new world and founded the Massachusetts Bay Company and ultimately your city of Boston. Also, Newark castle is where King John of England died in 1215.
Grew up 40 miles from Boston UK, only live 80 miles away now. I have never been, yet I've visited Boston USA about 6 times lol Great video, and new sub!
A couple of things: the train operators are going to be gradually remationalised, as the contracts to run rail services expire they will be taken into government control. Ramps are available for disabled passengers to board, though this is definitely a suboptimal approach to accessibility it does at least mean that the trains can be accessed by wheelchair users. A few newer trains do have level boarding.
Most of the southern part of Lincolnshire used to be marshland until it was drained and cultivated in the 17th century. The northern part of Lincolnshire is mostly rolling hills (wolds) and some flat river valleys.
If you really want to compare Amtrak's Northeast Corridor UK's East Coast Mainline, consider average speeds. London to Darlington is the same distance as Boston to New York; 232 mi/374 km. The fastest Acela takes 3:35, an average of 64.7 mph. The fastest Azuma takes 2:19, an average of 100.3. This is on a "classic" line, not a dedicated high speed line.
ehhh 125 mph/200km/h is semi-high speed. Especially since you need cab signaling for these speeds, as classic signaling systems are unreliable (drives pass by too fast and will miss a signal). Also, the line was upgraded to 200 it is not the classic speed. Usually 160 km/h is the threshold, as it is the fastest speed that you can go with classic signaling.
@@daanwolters3751 negative - you don’t need in-cab signalling for 125mph, at least not in the UK. The ECML is signalled using four aspect conventional signalling, although ETCS is under test.
@@daanwolters3751 UK does not use cab signaling on either the ECML or WCML, AWS/TPWS is certified for use up to 140mph and is used in service currently up to 125mph. There is some ETCS in place on parts of the UK rail network, and HS1 uses French TVM signaling (same signaling that the TGV uses). UK signaling is also much simpler than US signaling with 4 aspects (and a 5th aspect that is not currently in use), green = clear at whatever the speed board says, double yellow = reduce speed to 100mph (or less depending on the line), single yellow = reduce speed to 50mph and expect a red signal, red = stop.
Thanks for the video. I enjoyed the ride along. I lived in Washington UK for 21 years, before moving a little further South to a village just outside of Durham.
Great video. I live in Grantham, so it's always nice to see my home town in something like this. I've been fortunate(?) to go to Newark just down the road, Newark, New Jersey and Newark, Delaware (which is pronounced New-Ark as you specified in the video). Great from a train fan view as well. I have traveled on both the ECML and the NEC - but that was on SEPTA, and not Amtrak. Now going to check out the more of your videos. As a side line (sorry!) there is indeed a New York in Lincolnshire. A very small village on the way to Boston, next to a big, noisy Royal Air Force base. Cheers!
Unfortunately he loses 20 marks for mispronouncing Pennines. Pen-nines not P'ninnes. Any placename beginning with Pen ie Pennines, Pen-y-Ghent, Penrith, Penistone refers to a hill (Pen)
The LNER is much older than you think. My Grandad worked for the railways out of Leicester and LNER was his favourite line. As a kid in the 60s I travelled with my grandparents many times on LNER. York, London etc. The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At that time, it was divided into the new British Railways' Eastern Region, North Eastern Region, and partially the Scottish Region.
As mentioned, besides the 0 series Shinkansen, the National Railway Museum also has a Chinese Class KF7 4-8-4 locomotive donated in 1981. That's because while the 4-8-4 was first used by the Northern Pacific Railway in the US, the Chinese ones were built in the UK. In 1933, the Beijing-Hankou Railway in China needed new locomotives for their Guangzhou to Shaoguan line, where gradients of around two percent, curves with less than 250 meters (or 820 feet) radius and low-capacity bridges existed. The requirement was therefore for a locomotive with high tractive effort and a low axle load. In 1935 and 1936, 24 600-series 4-8-4 locomotives were designed and built in the UK by Vulcan Foundry and were delivered to the railway. When the Changsha-Guangzhou Railway was completed in October 1936, the locomotives were transferred to operate over the northern section between Hankou and Changsha on this new mainline, which connected Guangzhou with Tianjin and Beijing. Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the locomotives were designated the China Railways KF class. Some of the locomotives survived in service until the early 1970s, with two preserved today, one at that museum in the UK, and another at the Beijing Railway Museum. The Tokaido Shinkansen opened on October 1st, 1964, just days before the 1964 Summer Olympics. The games were scheduled for mid-October to avoid the city's midsummer heat and humidity and the September typhoon season. Unlike most other Japanese trains, the Shinkansen is standard gauge, chosen to allow for better compatibility with other rail networks and to achieve the high speeds needed for a bullet train. Most Japanese trains use narrow Cape gauge. Cape gauge is called such because it was adopted as the standard gauge for the Cape Government Railways in 1873. The Cape Government Railways was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony of what's now southwestern South Africa from 1873 until the creation of the South African Railways in 1910 after the Union of South Africa was created. However, one of the first railways to use 3 ft 6 in gauge was the Little Eaton Gangway which served the Derby Canal in England, constructed as a horse-drawn wagonway in 1795. The first intercity passenger railway to use 3 ft 6 in was constructed in Norway as the Røros Line (between Hamar and Støren; it was converted to standard gauge between 1931 and 1941) in 1862 by Carl Abraham Pihl, and before the Cape Colony, 3 ft 6 in gauge was already established in Australia as well. The reason the Cape Colony opted for Cape gauge is because standard gauge's width, designed for England's landscape, made it impossible at the time to penetrate the mountains of the rugged southern African escarpment (the Cape Fold Belt). In 1871, Cape PM John Molteno wrote to the British Governor of the Cape Henry Barkly about the gauge which was used to penetrate the mountainous terrain near Trieste in modern Italy, believing it would work in crossing the steep mountains of the Cape Fold Belt. A narrower gauge enabled tighter turns and traversing steeper terrain. When the first elected Cape government took power the next year, its select committee set the gauge for all new railways at 3 ft 6 in, and although this was meant to make it easier to tackle the terrain of South Africa, it went on to become the standard for railways across central and southern Africa. The first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Japan opened in 1872, a year before the Cape Colony adopted it. It had been proposed by the British civil engineer Edmund Morel based on his experience building railways in New Zealand, and it was a cost-effective option at the time than building standard gauge.
Too late now I know, but Tyne & Wear metro rarely enforces its photography policy. Ive been at metro stations will a full tripod and camera gear and no one said anything. A tripod would probably be pushing it a bit at the busier city centre stations, but they arnt going to care if its just a phone.
I've been waiting for this release, and it's really thrilling to see it. I'd love to do a similar tour myself. Next year I will be doing another long-awaited trip, to Japan. Hopefully I'll be enjoying the Shinkansen, and I'd love to see your reaction to it.
It's a fairly familiar stretch of line for me. I was born and brought up in Newcastle - probably the most underrated city in the UK for great architecture and friendly people. When I went to University in York my parents moved to Nottingham, so at the start and end of every term I'd be hoiing 2 big suitcases and a backpack down to Newark Northgate then a 25 minute walk across town sweating away to get to the Castle station on the line to Nottingham. My mum was always selling her wares on the craft fare circuit, so there's plenty of Christmases I've spent freezing away behind a stall somewhere in Boston town centre. In York itself I've done loads of events at the Minster and NRM, the sound in the Minster itself is amazing, how they nailed the acoustics so perfectly with no scientific knowledge of the subject astounds me. I bet you got that filled Yorky Pud from the York Roast Co on the corner of Goodramgate and Low Petergate, the owner of the York Roast Co, Wayne, also owns one of the city radio stations, and I spent many hours fitting out the little studio he's got around the corner and an OB Van for county events! Basically a little tour of recent history for me!
You passed through Darlington between York and Newcastle where in 1825 the first public railway to use steam locomotives opened, the Stockton and Darlington Railway. This railway is credited as being the beginning of modern railways which then spread across the world. This year marks the S&D's 200 year anniversary. Darlington is still an important stop on the East Coast Main Line.
Ah yes, Five Guys...we bless Roman emperor Jordan King for giving us this burger chain ;). Miles in Transit should be forever grateful! Yorkshire pudding lore: When wheat flour began to come into common use for making cakes and puddings, cooks in northern England devised a means of making use of the fat that dropped into the dripping pan to cook a batter pudding while the meat roasted. In a 1737 recipe, it was called "dripping pudding" but in 1747, it was given the name Yorkshire pudding by Hannah Glasse. These puddings were much flatter than the puffy versions made in modern times. The pudding got the name 'Yorkshire' due to the region's association with coal and the higher temperatures this produced which helped to make the batter crisper Originally, the Yorkshire Pudding was eaten on its own as a first course with thick gravy. This was to fill your stomach with the cheap Yorkshire Pudding so that you would not eat so much of the more expensive meat in the next course. Because the rich gravy from the roast meat drippings was used with the first course, the main meat and vegetable course was often served with a parsley or white sauce. In poorer households, the pudding was often served as the only course. Now Yorkshire Puddings tend to be lighter and crispier, and they are served and eaten with the meat course, with lashings of beef gravy with them!
Something I'm surprised Nick didn't mention is that the flat crossing between the tracks at Newark (where the East Coast Mainline and the Nottingham to Lincoln line intersect) is the last remaining flat crossing in the UK.
I live in County Durham, which is very close to Washington, UK so found this video very interesting. There is actually a village called New York near Newcastle upon Tyne.
I don't know why Alan Go Rhythm blessed me with this video but your enthusiasm is infectious and well done for bothering to learn how to pronounce all the English places properly. Subscribed. The Ghan or Indian Pacific next?
There were many Philadelphias in the ancient Hellenic world including one mentioned in the Bible that William Penn, a Quaker, might have been thinking of
Dont tell any Newcastle United soccer fan But Philadelphia is actually in Sunderland,,, and had Classy gone a little further on his final bus to Houghton-le-Spring he would have gone right through it...
I've lived in Washington since we got married in 1984 and my kids went to school very near to the old hall. To be strictly correct Washington village is actually part of Washington the town and it is in fact a 'new town' created in 1964 and took its name from the village. Washington the town is made up of a number of former villages or small towns which all grew with the locals coal mines or pits In the Hall is a visitors book with comments made by American service personnel when they visited in world war 2, mainly airman from the nearby RAF Usworth airfield which became Sunderland Airport then the land became the site for a Nissan car factory - I often wonder what those US service personnel would think about that? Great video - thank you. If you're up in the area again please let me know.
UK foamer terminology is very specific: • Trainspotting: ticking off the numbers of trains you've seen. • Bashing: riding on trains & ticking stuff off. • Haulage bashing: ticking off the trains you've ridden on. • Trackage bashing: ticking off lines & stretches of track you've ridden over. • Gricing: all of the above collectively.
Don't forget Shed Bashing- used to be much easier in the good old days when they were called Sheds and not Motive Power Depots. Just had to ask the shed foreman and most said Ok but let him know when we were leaving.
@@eb_ic225 : The best thrashes I have found to date are from Škoda locomotives, namely class 163, as well as class 380 but unfortunately those mostly get dropped onto coffins.
Although not by train, you can travel from Moscow to New York without leaving England. It used to be without leaving Northumberland until New York (not far from Tynemouth) became part of Tyne & Wear, formed 1974. Moscow is a tiny hamlet near Alston in the north Pennines, but nameless on Google Maps. There is another tiny Moscow just over the border in Cumbria near RAF Spadeadam.
Did you see Duchess of Hamilton at York? It's usually next to Mallard. That attended the 1939 New York World's Fair so it's not just Flying Scotsman which has been to the NEC.
Wait took you 8 hours from Boston to Washington in the UK? That is...almost exactly equivalent to Boston to DC on Amtrak taking the Northeast Regional specifically. That's an eerie coincidence haha.
If you'd had the foresight to make your journey in about 1850 before some parts of the present ECML were open, a train from London to York would have taken you via Boston and your onward train to Newcastle would have passed through Washington station. You could still travel to Washington by passenger train until 1963.
Man I'm getting old. I used to use the east coast main line fairly often. You mention LNER replacing Virgin, I don't even remember Virgin on that line. I think it was still GNER when I last used it.
Ah yes the Intercity 225s! I'm pretty sure those are the ones I always used to get. Only 30ish years old? They must not have been as old as they seemed at the time, then. I always thought the fact they had door handles and not electronic buttons was rather... archaic. Damn they're not even as old as I am...
Virgin briefly held both the East and West Coast franchises till the East Coast was nationalised and became LNER. National Express took over from GNER for a short while but they like Virgin also had the franchise taken off them
Yeah there was a lot of time spent walking around towns and waiting on connecting trains though. A straight run from London to Edinburgh takes about 5 hours, and a run from London to Glasgow up the even busier WCML which is 397mi takes about 6 hours.
I'm from Lincolnshire, Grantham specifically, and both my parents work for EMR My dad even drives on the line Boston sits on So this was really cool to see, glad you enjoyed!
Well the West Coast line is only neat the coast at 2 places - Hest Bank near Lancaster and just south of Gretna. It's only in parts of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders that the ECML is close to the coast
Really enjoyed watching this and didn't even knew that EMR had Margo as well! lol Also very interesting on comparing trains in the UK and the USA and didn't know in America the Level Crossing is called a Grade Crossing, learnt something new and enjoyed the Nick Badley Appearance
Fun fact, there's a place called New York...in Eastern Europe! Specifically in Donetsk in Donbas! The origin of the name of the town remains a mystery. It could have come from an entrepreneur or local dignitary, who would have settled from the US or who would have had as a partner an American citizen from NYC. Another explanation refers to the city of Jork, in northern Germany, where Mennonite settlers may have come from. Local historian Viktor Kovalov thus believes that the name of the locality may have corresponded to "Neu Jork" (new Jork) and evolved over time. It may also be the result of a transliteration error from the Latin alphabet to the Cyrillic alphabet. The establishment of the Mennonites officially dates back to 1889, however, whereas the name Niu-York predates it. New York first appeared on maps in 1846. The first official mention of the name of New York (Нью-Йорк) dates back to 1859 In 1916, New York was chosen to host a new naphthalene production plant, and the plant was completed in July 1917. During rising tensions between the Soviets and Nazi Germany, the Mennonite German population was expelled to the Far East, where they founded the settlement Lugovoye. In 1951, in the context of the Cold War, an ukase (decree) of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ordered the change of name to Novhorodske (literally translated as "of new city" and may also be seen as an adjective from "Novgorod"). However, in the wave of name changes required by the nationwide decommunization laws of 2015, the City Council validated the return to New York. It was finally approved by Donetsk Oblast government in February 2021, and renamed in July that year.
The HSTs were plagiarized by the Aussies where they are called XPTs and are operated by NSW TrainLink on state services conncting Sydney Central to Brisbane, Melbourne, Casino, and other far afield cities. One reason why UK trains can cross level crossings so fast is level crossings in Australia and Europe typically have boom gates in front of all directions of traffic while North America only puts them in front of the facing traffic direction (theoretically allowing one to drive around the gates). Add that UK police strictly enforce road rules, if you go around, Network Rail will be after you. Many gates may even have automated enforcement.
P.S. There's a great British rail advert of an HST being pulled over by the police! And yes, the State Rail Authority of NSW had very similar ads of their own. Remember the British colonies can basically be classified as follows: USA: the Rebellious Son who runs away from home Canada: the good girl who goes off "to keep an eye" on her older and rebellious brother Australia: the good boy who does as dad does
I don't know why our loading gauge is smaller than everyone else's. I guess it was just that there were so many companies building lines early on and nothing was standardised! Though there was a bit of a difference within the country. The Great Western Railway was initially built to a track gauge of 7ft 1/4in, which is a) wider than I think all broad gauge railways around the world are today and b) a heck of a lot wider than standard gauge! Because everyone else used standard gauge exchanging goods between the GWR and other lines was very inefficient. By 1892 the entire GWR network had been converted to standard gauge, but their loading gauge was still slightly wider than everywhere else, which limited where their largest locomotives, the 30-strong King Class, could go (they really only ran trains on the line from London to Plymouth via Bristol and from London to Birmingham and Wolverhampton via Bicester), as they'd been designed to the GWR's maximum loading gauge width! As a result, two of the three preserved Kings (no. 6023 'King Edward II' and no. 6024 'King Edward I') have actually had their heights reduced by a few inches so they could fit in within the loading gauge everywhere and do mainline running all around the country! The doyen of the class, no. 6000 'King George V', was kept in its original condition though and is currently on static display at STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway in Swindon, based in the old locomotive works. Really worth a visit if you can get down there, and it's only a hop on the train from there to Didcot and the Didcot Railway Centre as well! Meanwhile, just outside Swindon in the village of Blunsdon is the Swindon and Cricklade Railway.
They also have required new thinner cylinders for the Kings. The loading gauge issue is so bad that we can't run a King from the West Sommerset Railway to Didcot Railway Centre without hitting something. There is multiple different modern British Loading gauges, like W6, W6A, W7, W8, W9, W10, W12, W13. Loading Gauge shouldn't be mixed up with structural gauge and Route Availability.
"I don't know why our loading gauge is smaller than everyone else's. I guess it was just that there were so many companies building lines early on and nothing was standardised!" This, or rather it is because in the early days the volume of people and goods travelling were far lower, and construction costs far higher (everything had to be done by hand). And a very good part of the uk network was build before those two things really changed. (smaller loading gauge means cheaper construction, but less capacity/space in the trains) Now of course it has changed, but reatrofitting the loading gauge is very very expensive.(you have to move platforms, raise bridges, widen tunnels)
@@daanwolters3751 The board of trade did make standards however these were often not followed. Construction costs were much lower as the labour and materials were much cheaper. Most of the platforms need rebuilding anyway as they are non standard.
Ok Boston is in the same constituency as Skegness Boston is more open minded alot more imamangrantion and has alot eastern European especially then there is Skegness where I work an deprived coastal town with alot off ukip supports butlins a holiday camp the best way to think about is new Jersey sure
Well... Why do I have a feeling that... The 'Trent' in 'Newark on Trent' (which apparently is the name of a river?) has something to do with the name 'Trenton', the capital of the great garden state of NJ, and also, on the NEC haha!!!
Caleb, i’ve actually taken that same train from Boston to Grantham! Short backstory, I’m a descendent of the pilgrim who came to America on the Mayflower. They were actually imprisoned for a short time in Boston UK in 1608. So I went up there to sit in the same jail sale they did. I rode on that same style train, the self-propelled ones. Our train actually broke down and we were stopped for a good hour while the conductors were outside trying to fix the problem. I don’t remember the exact story because it’s been about five years. But I do remember, they used zip ties because one of the air hoses came off the train English trains are sure interesting! I’m heading back to Europe in April. I’m going to visit a friend in Germany 🇩🇪. Definitely gonna take advantage and experience more European rail travel. Great video as always
It's news to me that people apparently hate on British food. Also, great vid! Lots of train travel and it looked like fun. Boo on that one line's photography policy though.
Ah yes the Rither- uh, Wiver- no, River Witham. I've driven by the village of Witham a few times, which is near its source. I assume the river was named after the village? Honestly not a common thing for a river to be named after the village it starts in. It's much more common for places to be named after the river that flows through them, especially at the mouth! Yarmouth, Exmouth, etc.
What's even more confusing about the British railway system is that most operators don't own their own trains - they lease them from other companies called Rolling Stock Owning Companies (ROSCOs) - these are primarily owned by banks and investment companies as trains are so expensive to purchase new so they're used as investments to make capital from.
And the ROSCOs make all the profits. Everyone else in the system makes very little money and takes all the blame. The ROSCOs avoid the blame because no-one's ever heard of them and they have enormous profit margins.
Thanks for having me! Maybe I should get a side-hustle as a tour guide..
I think you should! You're a wonderful wholesome ambassador for your country's railways!
No actually you should!
Point to Point suggestion is Charing X (London) to Charing Cross (Glasgow). Although it only really requires three changes at most 🥲
I always enjoy the occasional tour-ish content that gets inserted into your own channel.
Nick you should you are able to tell people where they are and the history about it (railway wise) You should indeed if not maybe become a guard
Hello, Im from Lincolnshire (about an hour south of boston). The reason the area of Lincolnshire you started in is so flat is because it is all an area of reclaimed marshland called the Fens. Several hundred years ago the higher portion of what was the wash, was drained and reclaimed, this is why the most southern area of Lincolnshire is call South Holland.
17:01 Having gone to the UK for the first time this year, I agree. British food is way, way better than people give it credit for.
If you can find something else than Fish’n’Chips or Pizza or Döner…😂
@ Yeah, literally all of the Indian food in the UK. Sure, one could pedantically claim “but that’s not British food”, but it’s a cuisine that’s common and popular in Britain that has its own traits compared to Indian food in India. I was thinking of mentioning it in the initial comment, but thought it would be too verbose.
it's the weather...we just want something to warm us up and if you ain't got time for food then tea and biscuits
@
Or coffee and cake…😉
@@thefareplayer2254i mean im grateful the people who helped build britain after our nation stripped theirs for raw materials and valuables stayed and gave us some really good food types.
What a lovely video! Beautifully produced and an inspired choice to to the Boston - Washington corridor! Well done!
So awesome you managed to get Nick Badley to appear on the channel! Margo is adorable! That was so nice of the conductor to give that to you! It's good to know that Newark-on-Trent has the same pronunciation as the one in New Jersey, and similarly, has two national railway stations like how Newark has two Amtrak stations. Or should I say, as of 2024...when Amtrak expands to Scranton, Amtrak will serve Newark Broad Street as well so Newark will have THREE Amtrak stations just like Boston and Los Angeles (Union Station, Chatsworth, Van Nuys). While we don't know for sure why Newark, NJ is called such, what we do know is Newark-on-Trent derives from Old English 'niwe' and 'weorc' meaning 'new fortification or building'. In 1080, the town was listed as 'Niweweorce', and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Neuuerche'. Although Newark, NJ of course doesn't have a castle, it does have a nice performing arts center, it's the origin of candy apples, Whitney Houston and Queen Latifah were both born there, it's known for its jazz culture and home to the Institute of Jazz Studies, the world's foremost jazz archives and research libraries, a cool light-rail system, the Prudential Center for hockey, Branch Brook Park having the US's largest cherry blossom collection and being the country's oldest county park, the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart which is the size of Westminster Abbey and its Great Rose Window is the largest of any Catholic church in the Western Hemisphere, and the Newark Museum of Art which has a preserved and restored Victorian house called the Ballantine House that originally had twenty-seven rooms and three floors. The house was owned by the son of Peter Ballantine, the founder of the former Patterson & Ballantine Brewing Company in the Ironbound, once the 3rd largest brewer in the US.
As an observer from afar (by which I mean Melbourne), I often look, with nostalgia, at UK railway videos and in the discussions below the line I frequently see your name, Averythe CA. Thank you for your contributions, I appreciate them.
Newark on Trent is the Newark in Nottinghamshire 😂 BTW the English one is a town not a city as Nick said in his tour. In the UK a place can only call its self a city with royal approval
I thought a city was any settlement with a cathedral? That being the reason why there are some towns that are much bigger than cities.
@krashd no in the UK a place only get city status when declared a city by royal warrant. Hence Southwell in which has a has the cathedral for the diocese of Nottinghamshire is still a officially a town despite petitioning when the diocese was created in 1884
Also many cities were granted city status without having a cathedral at the time such as Birmingham Stoke on Trent Leeds Plymouth Wolverhampton. Although in some of these cities churches were turned into cathedrals after they became cities
I grew up in Washington
Your suburbs of Newcastle were in fact Gateshead. Gateshead and Newcastle or different places separately mainly by the River Tyne.
Washington is a town not a village but has the village of Washington at its heart. Created in the 60s and 70s as a new town clearing the old housing of Newcastle Gateshead and later Sunderland. In 86 it was incorporated into the now City of Sunderland. You missed out the cherry tree planted by Jimmy Carter in 1976 which is on the village green. And call it Whesshintun.
I also miss the older state run British Rail BR. Single operations of the railways of England and Wales. Life was a lot easier then
Less choice but less reason to choose. Just turn up and go.
Newcastle is only north of the River Tyne, to the south of the river is Gateshead.
MY favorite US-UK equivalency is Lancaster County, PA being next to York County, PA just as Yorkshire is next to Lancashire.
@jackbates7467 in Toronto, Canada.... Durham County is next to York County.
Also on a side note, while there's a Durham County in Toronto, Canada, there's a tiny village called Toronto in County Durham UK!
Can't believe you did this trip and slept through Durham! One of the best views from a train anywhere is the approach into Durham from the South!
Great to see the surprise cameo from Nick Badley! This was a thoroughly entertaining video, so I'll keep an eye out for more from you in the future. It was interesting to see a foreigner's perspective on the things we've all become so used to!
If people want to check out a LNER locomotive in the same class as the Mallard and they're outside the UK, they should visit the National Railroad Museum outside Green Bay, Wisconsin. It is home to the Class A4 4496 Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was originally built in 1937 as the Golden Shuttle, but was renamed after Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1946, retired in 1963, and made its way to Wisconsin in 1964. It returned to England in 2012 for display at the National Railway Museum in York, when all surviving A4s were reunited. It returned to Green Bay in 2014. As you mentioned about 4468 Mallard, it broke the world speed record for steam locomotives. It broke that record during a trial run of a new, quick-acting brake, known as the Westinghouse QSA brake. The speed was achieved during the downward grade of Stoke Bank, south of Grantham between Little Bytham and Essendine stations. Mallard hauled a seven-coach train, including a dynamometer car which housed apparatus to record the speed. The speed it recorded exceeded the previous record speed of 124.5 mph (or 200.4 km/h) set in Germany in 1936 by DRG Class 05 No. 002. Mallard was just four months old at the time of the record, and was operated by driver Joseph Duddington, a man renowned within the LNER for taking calculated risks, and fireman Thomas Bray. Upon arrival at London King's Cross, driver Duddington and inspector Sid Jenkins were quoted as saying that they thought a speed of 130 mph (209 km/h) would have been possible if the train did not need to slow for a set of junctions at Essendine. There was also a permanent speed restriction of 15 mph (24 km/h) just north of Grantham station, which slowed the train as they sought to build up maximum speed for the descent of Stoke Bank.
The Class A4 was designed by Nigel Gresley, who introduced the Class A4 locomotives in 1935 to haul streamlined Silver Jubilee trains between London King's Cross and Newcastle. The service was named in celebration of the 25th year of King George V's reign. Thirty-five of the class were built to haul express passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line route from London Kings Cross via York to Newcastle, and later via Newcastle to Edinburgh, Scotland. They remained in service on the East Coast Main Line until the early 1960s when they were replaced by Deltic diesel locomotives. Several A4s saw out their remaining days until 1966 in Scotland, on the Aberdeen-Glasgow express trains, for which they were used to improve the timing from 3.5 to 3 hours. The class's iconic streamlined design not only improved its aerodynamics, increasing its speed capabilities, but also created an updraught to lift smoke away from the driver's line of vision, a problem inherent in many steam locomotives particularly those operated with short cut off valve events, fitting smoke deflectors was an alternative solution. The application of internal streamlining to the steam circuit, higher boiler pressure and the extension of the firebox to form a combustion chamber all contributed to a more efficient locomotive than the A3, consumption of coal and water were reduced. A further design improvement was fitting a Kylchap double-chimney, first on 4468 Mallard in March 1938.
From Washington, you could go a few miles south to Philadelphia, or to New York 8 miles north east of Washington.
I live 10 minutes north of Washington, UK. In May 1977 President Carter visited Washington alongside Prime Minister Callaghan and planted a tree in a small field outside the Cross Keys pub and the streets around it have some familiar names such as Valley Forge, Boston Avenue and Richmond Avenue.
Funny that the only time I’ve ever heard of St. Botolph was a street, in Boston, Massachusetts. Surely this cannot be a coincidence.
There is a station in Colchester, Essex called St. Botolphs
4:31 I was about to comment "That specific song, Rufford Park Poachers, is used as Movement III of Percy Grainger's magnum opus, Lincolnshire Posy", but upon further research, there are actually TWO poaching-themed folk songs from the Midlands, the other being "The Lincolnshire Poacher" which is probably the song in question, not the song Grainger used in Lincolnshire Posy
Also, in a similar vein to "The Avenue", there's a road in Lunenburg, Massachusetts right off Route 2A called "The Lane"
Just to be pedantic - once you crossed the River Tyne outside Newcastle Central Station you were no longer in Newcastle. Those 'Newcastle suburbs' were actually Gateshead and by the time you got to Washington you were actually in Sunderland :) Interesting video though :))
I'm old so I still like to think of Washington as part of County Durham and not a part of Sunderland. The A19 conveniently separates us from Sunderland 😁
@@rh2577 As a Geordie, I don't blame you 😂
The ORR (our equivalent of the FRA) does indeed have an aneurysm every time Flying Scotsman takes to the mainline, but we still do it anyway.
I'm told the HSE or suchlike don't approve of the old slam-door rolling stock ,,,,
@@daffyduk77 That is only do to do with mark1s because of Clapham Junction.
@@A-Trainspotter-From-Berkshire Could you explain ? I read somewhere that all these heritage railways with the old coach-door types were going to have to desist in some way
@@daffyduk77 The ORR and RSSB (Rail Standards & Safety Board), have said they must fit CDL if they want to run on the mainline and future is looking like CDL will be required even on heritage railways. Mark1s in operation have to comply whith rules which say they must be withdrawn, by 2005 however the ORR has allowed an exemption to that section of the rule but they still require them to follow all of the other rules.
@@A-Trainspotter-From-Berkshire West Coast Railways still seem to have the attitude of "We must confound the blighters at every turn!" with regards to the ORR etc. despite the departure of their last boss.
Also, During the last few years of the HSTs down south I would occasionally get stuck behind someone trying to figure the doors out...
Thank you for sharing this fascinating journey starting out in my home county. I can see Boston Stump six miles away from my kitchen window. Alongside St Botolph's Church, where my great grandparents were married by the way, are individual memorials to the pilgrims who, in 1630 travelled to the new world and founded the Massachusetts Bay Company and ultimately your city of Boston. Also, Newark castle is where King John of England died in 1215.
Grew up 40 miles from Boston UK, only live 80 miles away now.
I have never been, yet I've visited Boston USA about 6 times lol
Great video, and new sub!
A couple of things: the train operators are going to be gradually remationalised, as the contracts to run rail services expire they will be taken into government control.
Ramps are available for disabled passengers to board, though this is definitely a suboptimal approach to accessibility it does at least mean that the trains can be accessed by wheelchair users. A few newer trains do have level boarding.
Most of the southern part of Lincolnshire used to be marshland until it was drained and cultivated in the 17th century. The northern part of Lincolnshire is mostly rolling hills (wolds) and some flat river valleys.
If you really want to compare Amtrak's Northeast Corridor UK's East Coast Mainline, consider average speeds. London to Darlington is the same distance as Boston to New York; 232 mi/374 km. The fastest Acela takes 3:35, an average of 64.7 mph. The fastest Azuma takes 2:19, an average of 100.3. This is on a "classic" line, not a dedicated high speed line.
And most Amtraks take more than 4 hours between those two and don't get me started about frequency or price
ehhh 125 mph/200km/h is semi-high speed.
Especially since you need cab signaling for these speeds, as classic signaling systems are unreliable (drives pass by too fast and will miss a signal). Also, the line was upgraded to 200 it is not the classic speed.
Usually 160 km/h is the threshold, as it is the fastest speed that you can go with classic signaling.
@@daanwolters3751 fr and acela has a true 150mph high speed
@@daanwolters3751 negative - you don’t need in-cab signalling for 125mph, at least not in the UK. The ECML is signalled using four aspect conventional signalling, although ETCS is under test.
@@daanwolters3751 UK does not use cab signaling on either the ECML or WCML, AWS/TPWS is certified for use up to 140mph and is used in service currently up to 125mph. There is some ETCS in place on parts of the UK rail network, and HS1 uses French TVM signaling (same signaling that the TGV uses). UK signaling is also much simpler than US signaling with 4 aspects (and a 5th aspect that is not currently in use), green = clear at whatever the speed board says, double yellow = reduce speed to 100mph (or less depending on the line), single yellow = reduce speed to 50mph and expect a red signal, red = stop.
Thanks for the video. I enjoyed the ride along. I lived in Washington UK for 21 years, before moving a little further South to a village just outside of Durham.
5:06 Network Rail have had that logo in different but very similar itterations since 1947. Amtrak got their current logo in 2000.
Great video. I live in Grantham, so it's always nice to see my home town in something like this. I've been fortunate(?) to go to Newark just down the road, Newark, New Jersey and Newark, Delaware (which is pronounced New-Ark as you specified in the video). Great from a train fan view as well. I have traveled on both the ECML and the NEC - but that was on SEPTA, and not Amtrak. Now going to check out the more of your videos. As a side line (sorry!) there is indeed a New York in Lincolnshire. A very small village on the way to Boston, next to a big, noisy Royal Air Force base. Cheers!
great video dude, you have a knack for storytelling I wish I had. 😅 Also you gotta show Miles Margo at some point!
Being able to walk straight through York station is quite strange for a station of its size because it has no ticket barriers.
6:46 this livery is awesome wow :D
Finally an American who pronounces "-shire" correctly.
@@carltonleboss I had two British friends read my script and send me pronunciation guides. Gonna be a blast when I get to my Wales video! 😂 🏴
Unfortunately he loses 20 marks for mispronouncing Pennines. Pen-nines not P'ninnes. Any placename beginning with Pen ie Pennines, Pen-y-Ghent, Penrith, Penistone refers to a hill (Pen)
it's funny really - they say New Hampshire correctly but not Hampshire. They're trying too hard!
@@davidz2690 Yeah, never figured that one out!
The LNER is much older than you think.
My Grandad worked for the railways out of Leicester and LNER was his favourite line.
As a kid in the 60s I travelled with my grandparents many times on LNER. York, London etc.
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At that time, it was divided into the new British Railways' Eastern Region, North Eastern Region, and partially the Scottish Region.
Newark-on-Trent and Newark, Nottinghamshire are the same place.
Good stuff , very interesting and informative , good to see a mixture of trains/railways and history .
GWR still retain four 'Castle' class HSTs (at least until the timetable change) and there is the set in 'Midland Pullman' livery for railtours.
Scotrail also have a few sets.
As mentioned, besides the 0 series Shinkansen, the National Railway Museum also has a Chinese Class KF7 4-8-4 locomotive donated in 1981. That's because while the 4-8-4 was first used by the Northern Pacific Railway in the US, the Chinese ones were built in the UK. In 1933, the Beijing-Hankou Railway in China needed new locomotives for their Guangzhou to Shaoguan line, where gradients of around two percent, curves with less than 250 meters (or 820 feet) radius and low-capacity bridges existed. The requirement was therefore for a locomotive with high tractive effort and a low axle load. In 1935 and 1936, 24 600-series 4-8-4 locomotives were designed and built in the UK by Vulcan Foundry and were delivered to the railway. When the Changsha-Guangzhou Railway was completed in October 1936, the locomotives were transferred to operate over the northern section between Hankou and Changsha on this new mainline, which connected Guangzhou with Tianjin and Beijing. Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the locomotives were designated the China Railways KF class. Some of the locomotives survived in service until the early 1970s, with two preserved today, one at that museum in the UK, and another at the Beijing Railway Museum.
The Tokaido Shinkansen opened on October 1st, 1964, just days before the 1964 Summer Olympics. The games were scheduled for mid-October to avoid the city's midsummer heat and humidity and the September typhoon season. Unlike most other Japanese trains, the Shinkansen is standard gauge, chosen to allow for better compatibility with other rail networks and to achieve the high speeds needed for a bullet train. Most Japanese trains use narrow Cape gauge. Cape gauge is called such because it was adopted as the standard gauge for the Cape Government Railways in 1873. The Cape Government Railways was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony of what's now southwestern South Africa from 1873 until the creation of the South African Railways in 1910 after the Union of South Africa was created. However, one of the first railways to use 3 ft 6 in gauge was the Little Eaton Gangway which served the Derby Canal in England, constructed as a horse-drawn wagonway in 1795. The first intercity passenger railway to use 3 ft 6 in was constructed in Norway as the Røros Line (between Hamar and Støren; it was converted to standard gauge between 1931 and 1941) in 1862 by Carl Abraham Pihl, and before the Cape Colony, 3 ft 6 in gauge was already established in Australia as well. The reason the Cape Colony opted for Cape gauge is because standard gauge's width, designed for England's landscape, made it impossible at the time to penetrate the mountains of the rugged southern African escarpment (the Cape Fold Belt). In 1871, Cape PM John Molteno wrote to the British Governor of the Cape Henry Barkly about the gauge which was used to penetrate the mountainous terrain near Trieste in modern Italy, believing it would work in crossing the steep mountains of the Cape Fold Belt. A narrower gauge enabled tighter turns and traversing steeper terrain. When the first elected Cape government took power the next year, its select committee set the gauge for all new railways at 3 ft 6 in, and although this was meant to make it easier to tackle the terrain of South Africa, it went on to become the standard for railways across central and southern Africa. The first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Japan opened in 1872, a year before the Cape Colony adopted it. It had been proposed by the British civil engineer Edmund Morel based on his experience building railways in New Zealand, and it was a cost-effective option at the time than building standard gauge.
I immediately geeked out when I saw the railway museum, because it reminded me of my childhood show: Thomas & Friends.
Stay tuned for more of the little blue engine...
Too late now I know, but Tyne & Wear metro rarely enforces its photography policy. Ive been at metro stations will a full tripod and camera gear and no one said anything. A tripod would probably be pushing it a bit at the busier city centre stations, but they arnt going to care if its just a phone.
Yes, Geoff (and others) have done videos on it.
I've been waiting for this release, and it's really thrilling to see it. I'd love to do a similar tour myself. Next year I will be doing another long-awaited trip, to Japan. Hopefully I'll be enjoying the Shinkansen, and I'd love to see your reaction to it.
How could you miss seeing the Angel of the North as you approached Newcastle? It’s such a famous landmark!
@jerry2357 if he missed Durham Cathedral, he had no chance of seeing the Angel!!!
Enjoyable video though
I agree. As you could guess.
5:22 Which as the logo hints it basically just the Dutch Railways in a trenchcoat
I see you used Go North East, the bus you got on to washington, it's usually a longer bus than that.
It's a fairly familiar stretch of line for me. I was born and brought up in Newcastle - probably the most underrated city in the UK for great architecture and friendly people. When I went to University in York my parents moved to Nottingham, so at the start and end of every term I'd be hoiing 2 big suitcases and a backpack down to Newark Northgate then a 25 minute walk across town sweating away to get to the Castle station on the line to Nottingham. My mum was always selling her wares on the craft fare circuit, so there's plenty of Christmases I've spent freezing away behind a stall somewhere in Boston town centre. In York itself I've done loads of events at the Minster and NRM, the sound in the Minster itself is amazing, how they nailed the acoustics so perfectly with no scientific knowledge of the subject astounds me. I bet you got that filled Yorky Pud from the York Roast Co on the corner of Goodramgate and Low Petergate, the owner of the York Roast Co, Wayne, also owns one of the city radio stations, and I spent many hours fitting out the little studio he's got around the corner and an OB Van for county events! Basically a little tour of recent history for me!
You passed through Darlington between York and Newcastle where in 1825 the first public railway to use steam locomotives opened, the Stockton and Darlington Railway. This railway is credited as being the beginning of modern railways which then spread across the world. This year marks the S&D's 200 year anniversary. Darlington is still an important stop on the East Coast Main Line.
On a clear day, you can see the tower, Boston Stump, from Old John, a hill top folly in Bradgate Park, Leicestershire. A 66 mile drive away.
Fun fact here the EMR used to be called East Midlands Trains (EMT) then they changed it to EMR
Such a well made video. Subscribed in appreciation of the attention to detail.
@@SideQ-rr6my thanks! Hope you enjoy the next adventure tonight :)
Really excellent video. You know your stuff about my great country!!
Ah yes, Five Guys...we bless Roman emperor Jordan King for giving us this burger chain ;). Miles in Transit should be forever grateful! Yorkshire pudding lore: When wheat flour began to come into common use for making cakes and puddings, cooks in northern England devised a means of making use of the fat that dropped into the dripping pan to cook a batter pudding while the meat roasted. In a 1737 recipe, it was called "dripping pudding" but in 1747, it was given the name Yorkshire pudding by Hannah Glasse. These puddings were much flatter than the puffy versions made in modern times. The pudding got the name 'Yorkshire' due to the region's association with coal and the higher temperatures this produced which helped to make the batter crisper
Originally, the Yorkshire Pudding was eaten on its own as a first course with thick gravy. This was to fill your stomach with the cheap Yorkshire Pudding so that you would not eat so much of the more expensive meat in the next course. Because the rich gravy from the roast meat drippings was used with the first course, the main meat and vegetable course was often served with a parsley or white sauce. In poorer households, the pudding was often served as the only course. Now Yorkshire Puddings tend to be lighter and crispier, and they are served and eaten with the meat course, with lashings of beef gravy with them!
Something I'm surprised Nick didn't mention is that the flat crossing between the tracks at Newark (where the East Coast Mainline and the Nottingham to Lincoln line intersect) is the last remaining flat crossing in the UK.
Hey man, I work for Network Rail, and your explainer on how the system works (or should work) was spot on. Nice job!
Hey, thanks!
I live in County Durham, which is very close to Washington, UK so found this video very interesting. There is actually a village called New York near Newcastle upon Tyne.
I don't know why Alan Go Rhythm blessed me with this video but your enthusiasm is infectious and well done for bothering to learn how to pronounce all the English places properly. Subscribed. The Ghan or Indian Pacific next?
Their is the village of Philadelphia in Newcastle somewhere
There were many Philadelphias in the ancient Hellenic world including one mentioned in the Bible that William Penn, a Quaker, might have been thinking of
Dont tell any Newcastle United soccer fan But Philadelphia is actually in Sunderland,,, and had Classy gone a little further on his final bus to Houghton-le-Spring he would have gone right through it...
It is actually just south and next to Washington.
I've lived in Washington since we got married in 1984 and my kids went to school very near to the old hall. To be strictly correct Washington village is actually part of Washington the town and it is in fact a 'new town' created in 1964 and took its name from the village. Washington the town is made up of a number of former villages or small towns which all grew with the locals coal mines or pits
In the Hall is a visitors book with comments made by American service personnel when they visited in world war 2, mainly airman from the nearby RAF Usworth airfield which became Sunderland Airport then the land became the site for a Nissan car factory - I often wonder what those US service personnel would think about that? Great video - thank you. If you're up in the area again please let me know.
God I've taken this route so many times from Boston (my hometown) to Edinburgh for Uni.
I have never heard someone call it “old york” and not just “york”
Good vid. Big fan of travel by train and just subscribed.
Nice to see you comparing the Northeast US corridor with the East Coast Main Line in the UK.
Great video as always. I've always thought the UK Equivalent of the Amtrak Acela would be the Class 390 Pendolino since they have the ability to tilt.
UK foamer terminology is very specific:
• Trainspotting: ticking off the numbers of trains you've seen.
• Bashing: riding on trains & ticking stuff off.
• Haulage bashing: ticking off the trains you've ridden on.
• Trackage bashing: ticking off lines & stretches of track you've ridden over.
• Gricing: all of the above collectively.
Don't forget Shed Bashing- used to be much easier in the good old days when they were called Sheds and not Motive Power Depots. Just had to ask the shed foreman and most said Ok but let him know when we were leaving.
Also "thrash": an engine or traction motor making lots of noise at full power
@@MervynPartin : I thought that was called bunking. I was not around in its 70s heyday, but I have done it once in eastern Europe.
@@eb_ic225 : The best thrashes I have found to date are from Škoda locomotives, namely class 163, as well as class 380 but unfortunately those mostly get dropped onto coffins.
@@ccityplanner1217 The term used probably depends on where and when you were brought up, but the enjoyment was the same.🚂🚂🚂
Newark-on-Trent IS Newark, Nottinghamshire!
10:33 Newark, Nottinghamshire is Newark-on-Trent :)
Although not by train, you can travel from Moscow to New York without leaving England. It used to be without leaving Northumberland until New York (not far from Tynemouth) became part of Tyne & Wear, formed 1974. Moscow is a tiny hamlet near Alston in the north Pennines, but nameless on Google Maps. There is another tiny Moscow just over the border in Cumbria near RAF Spadeadam.
Did you miss the stephenson railway museum in wallsend when you were in newcastle ?
4:20 what a legend
Did you see Duchess of Hamilton at York? It's usually next to Mallard. That attended the 1939 New York World's Fair so it's not just Flying Scotsman which has been to the NEC.
Wait took you 8 hours from Boston to Washington in the UK? That is...almost exactly equivalent to Boston to DC on Amtrak taking the Northeast Regional specifically. That's an eerie coincidence haha.
If you'd had the foresight to make your journey in about 1850 before some parts of the present ECML were open, a train from London to York would have taken you via Boston and your onward train to Newcastle would have passed through Washington station. You could still travel to Washington by passenger train until 1963.
Man I'm getting old. I used to use the east coast main line fairly often. You mention LNER replacing Virgin, I don't even remember Virgin on that line. I think it was still GNER when I last used it.
Ah yes the Intercity 225s! I'm pretty sure those are the ones I always used to get. Only 30ish years old? They must not have been as old as they seemed at the time, then. I always thought the fact they had door handles and not electronic buttons was rather... archaic. Damn they're not even as old as I am...
Virgin briefly held both the East and West Coast franchises till the East Coast was nationalised and became LNER. National Express took over from GNER for a short while but they like Virgin also had the franchise taken off them
Woah, it took about as long as a Northeast Regional ride from Boston to Washington!
Yeah there was a lot of time spent walking around towns and waiting on connecting trains though. A straight run from London to Edinburgh takes about 5 hours, and a run from London to Glasgow up the even busier WCML which is 397mi takes about 6 hours.
theres also a new york in lincolnshire its a tiny village blink and you miss it that small lol
I'm from Lincolnshire, Grantham specifically, and both my parents work for EMR
My dad even drives on the line Boston sits on
So this was really cool to see, glad you enjoyed!
The Nick Badley cameo was amazing lol, this was a great video 👌
Great video, I'm often on one of those hull trains heading to and from london
The class 800/801's actually have a top speed of 140mph, though untill the ECML signal modernisation scheme is complete, they're limited to 125mph
A Trans Pennine Express 802 has reached 148mph in regular passenger service.
Confusingly, the East Coast Mainline below Grantham isn't the mainline that's closest to the East Coast.
The closest main line to the east coast is the great eastern main line (London to Norwich)
Well the West Coast line is only neat the coast at 2 places - Hest Bank near Lancaster and just south of Gretna. It's only in parts of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders that the ECML is close to the coast
Very impressive video. Sounds like you were competing with the East Coast of USA and the UK’s East Coast.
Should have visited Sulgrave penthouses, it's a beautiful area of Washington, especially after dark
4:42 WE HAVE A PLACE CALLED HECKINGTON IN THIS COUNTRY???? That's Heckin' cool.
Really enjoyed watching this and didn't even knew that EMR had Margo as well! lol Also very interesting on comparing trains in the UK and the USA and didn't know in America the Level Crossing is called a Grade Crossing, learnt something new and enjoyed the Nick Badley Appearance
I'm sorry you had to experience Boston, Lincs 😢
Very cool video dude!
Fun fact, there's a place called New York...in Eastern Europe! Specifically in Donetsk in Donbas! The origin of the name of the town remains a mystery. It could have come from an entrepreneur or local dignitary, who would have settled from the US or who would have had as a partner an American citizen from NYC. Another explanation refers to the city of Jork, in northern Germany, where Mennonite settlers may have come from. Local historian Viktor Kovalov thus believes that the name of the locality may have corresponded to "Neu Jork" (new Jork) and evolved over time. It may also be the result of a transliteration error from the Latin alphabet to the Cyrillic alphabet. The establishment of the Mennonites officially dates back to 1889, however, whereas the name Niu-York predates it. New York first appeared on maps in 1846. The first official mention of the name of New York (Нью-Йорк) dates back to 1859
In 1916, New York was chosen to host a new naphthalene production plant, and the plant was completed in July 1917. During rising tensions between the Soviets and Nazi Germany, the Mennonite German population was expelled to the Far East, where they founded the settlement Lugovoye. In 1951, in the context of the Cold War, an ukase (decree) of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ordered the change of name to Novhorodske (literally translated as "of new city" and may also be seen as an adjective from "Novgorod"). However, in the wave of name changes required by the nationwide decommunization laws of 2015, the City Council validated the return to New York. It was finally approved by Donetsk Oblast government in February 2021, and renamed in July that year.
New York is currently within the territory controlled by Russia, having been invaded by them in July 2024 and fully taken over by September.
There is also a New York in Lincolnshire, not far from Boston... It's a tiny village!
There's also a village called New York not that far from Boston, Lincolnshire.
@@bookhousegirl Close to Coningsby, I was at RAF Coningsby 40+ years ago.
New York near RAF Coningsby is so small the population would fit into a small apartment block in New York City.
The HSTs were plagiarized by the Aussies where they are called XPTs and are operated by NSW TrainLink on state services conncting Sydney Central to Brisbane, Melbourne, Casino, and other far afield cities.
One reason why UK trains can cross level crossings so fast is level crossings in Australia and Europe typically have boom gates in front of all directions of traffic while North America only puts them in front of the facing traffic direction (theoretically allowing one to drive around the gates). Add that UK police strictly enforce road rules, if you go around, Network Rail will be after you. Many gates may even have automated enforcement.
P.S. There's a great British rail advert of an HST being pulled over by the police! And yes, the State Rail Authority of NSW had very similar ads of their own.
Remember the British colonies can basically be classified as follows:
USA: the Rebellious Son who runs away from home
Canada: the good girl who goes off "to keep an eye" on her older and rebellious brother
Australia: the good boy who does as dad does
5:05 the Network Rail logo has been used since 1947, the Amtrak one is from the year 2000
its been used since 2002 with some changes
The British Rail/Network Rail logo was first used in the 1960s. The old British Railways used several versions of a roundel type logo
@@inspectorsands6960some changes to the bottom part, the bottom part remained the same shape since 1947, just the shades changed
@@pedanticradiator1491yes it did, still Network Rail’s current logo “shape” was used before amtrak’s
13:57 It also inspired the onion pacific heritage unit on union pacific
I am going to adopt "Transper 9" as my new pronunciation of Trans Pennine.
I don't know why our loading gauge is smaller than everyone else's. I guess it was just that there were so many companies building lines early on and nothing was standardised!
Though there was a bit of a difference within the country. The Great Western Railway was initially built to a track gauge of 7ft 1/4in, which is a) wider than I think all broad gauge railways around the world are today and b) a heck of a lot wider than standard gauge! Because everyone else used standard gauge exchanging goods between the GWR and other lines was very inefficient. By 1892 the entire GWR network had been converted to standard gauge, but their loading gauge was still slightly wider than everywhere else, which limited where their largest locomotives, the 30-strong King Class, could go (they really only ran trains on the line from London to Plymouth via Bristol and from London to Birmingham and Wolverhampton via Bicester), as they'd been designed to the GWR's maximum loading gauge width!
As a result, two of the three preserved Kings (no. 6023 'King Edward II' and no. 6024 'King Edward I') have actually had their heights reduced by a few inches so they could fit in within the loading gauge everywhere and do mainline running all around the country! The doyen of the class, no. 6000 'King George V', was kept in its original condition though and is currently on static display at STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway in Swindon, based in the old locomotive works. Really worth a visit if you can get down there, and it's only a hop on the train from there to Didcot and the Didcot Railway Centre as well! Meanwhile, just outside Swindon in the village of Blunsdon is the Swindon and Cricklade Railway.
They also have required new thinner cylinders for the Kings. The loading gauge issue is so bad that we can't run a King from the West Sommerset Railway to Didcot Railway Centre without hitting something. There is multiple different modern British Loading gauges, like W6, W6A, W7, W8, W9, W10, W12, W13. Loading Gauge shouldn't be mixed up with structural gauge and Route Availability.
"I don't know why our loading gauge is smaller than everyone else's. I guess it was just that there were so many companies building lines early on and nothing was standardised!"
This, or rather it is because in the early days the volume of people and goods travelling were far lower, and construction costs far higher (everything had to be done by hand).
And a very good part of the uk network was build before those two things really changed. (smaller loading gauge means cheaper construction, but less capacity/space in the trains)
Now of course it has changed, but reatrofitting the loading gauge is very very expensive.(you have to move platforms, raise bridges, widen tunnels)
@@daanwolters3751 The board of trade did make standards however these were often not followed. Construction costs were much lower as the labour and materials were much cheaper. Most of the platforms need rebuilding anyway as they are non standard.
Ok Boston is in the same constituency as Skegness
Boston is more open minded alot more imamangrantion and has alot eastern European especially then there is Skegness where I work an deprived coastal town with alot off ukip supports butlins a holiday camp the best way to think about is new Jersey sure
Newark-on-Trent is not a city the best way to describe the town is effectively a standard British town
Don’t know if this was mention but the one in Delaware is pronounced like the 2 words new ark. Unlike the one in NJ
10:54 - as far as I am aware, that crossing is unique in the UK.
Well... Why do I have a feeling that... The 'Trent' in 'Newark on Trent' (which apparently is the name of a river?) has something to do with the name 'Trenton', the capital of the great garden state of NJ, and also, on the NEC haha!!!
Yes the Trent is a river one of England's longest
Well I didn't know there were class 43s in Nigeria... Please let's know more . Also how the Yucatan are getting on with theirs .
great video mate, an especially heroic effort with the pronunciations which were mostly there!
Caleb, i’ve actually taken that same train from Boston to Grantham!
Short backstory, I’m a descendent of the pilgrim who came to America on the Mayflower. They were actually imprisoned for a short time in Boston UK in 1608. So I went up there to sit in the same jail sale they did.
I rode on that same style train, the self-propelled ones. Our train actually broke down and we were stopped for a good hour while the conductors were outside trying to fix the problem. I don’t remember the exact story because it’s been about five years. But I do remember, they used zip ties because one of the air hoses came off the train
English trains are sure interesting!
I’m heading back to Europe in April. I’m going to visit a friend in Germany 🇩🇪. Definitely gonna take advantage and experience more European rail travel.
Great video as always
Don't feel bad about having to run for your train. I had to run across the massive Agra train station to catch a train as well. It happens sometimes.
It's news to me that people apparently hate on British food.
Also, great vid! Lots of train travel and it looked like fun. Boo on that one line's photography policy though.
Ah yes the Rither- uh, Wiver- no, River Witham. I've driven by the village of Witham a few times, which is near its source. I assume the river was named after the village? Honestly not a common thing for a river to be named after the village it starts in. It's much more common for places to be named after the river that flows through them, especially at the mouth! Yarmouth, Exmouth, etc.
What's even more confusing about the British railway system is that most operators don't own their own trains - they lease them from other companies called Rolling Stock Owning Companies (ROSCOs) - these are primarily owned by banks and investment companies as trains are so expensive to purchase new so they're used as investments to make capital from.
And the ROSCOs make all the profits. Everyone else in the system makes very little money and takes all the blame. The ROSCOs avoid the blame because no-one's ever heard of them and they have enormous profit margins.
Should have popped into Toronto while you were up that way!