All The Cumbrian Coast Request Stops
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- I took a trip down the stunning Cumbrian Coastline ticking off as many request stops as I could ... where I discovered a suprising number of manual crossing gates still in operation!
You can download my request stop map here: geofftech.co.u...
I think we can agree that Geoff should eventually move into a home with a back door that takes him right onto the platform of a request stop.
I know of a house that might be on the market soon that’s not quite that scenario, but within sight of Harrington station on the Cumbria coast line. The loft windows are roughly at the same level as the track bed on the viaduct, and just over a road width from it. Cumbrian rail enthusiasts keep an eye on Rightmove for this gem of a property coming on the market. 😉
Not my house by the way - I live yards from a former station, on a line closed by the Beeching cuts. More’s the pity…
I saw a house in Ireland (where I live) that their back garden had the passenger access ramp and old station building of the Carrickmines railway station, closed in 1958 and was later demolished to make way for a light rail line following the old railway.
I'm surprised he doesn't live in St Germans in Cornwall, there's a live in carriage by the station, which also happens to be a request stop
The name of the station will then be: Geoff’s Station
Complete with an allotment
Please, NEVER include an alarm in your video. My anxiety shoots through the roof when you do
How many gated level crossings are there on the network?
Some quick filtering of Network Rail data suggests there are 6,179 level crossings. 2,282 are gated, 108 of which are manned by railway personnel.
That's a lot more than I was expecting!
Classic Danny! What a stat.
Well, that's a lot fewer that I thought...
How many on mainlines
I reckon that's halved maybe more in the past year
I'm curious what are the most-used request stops, and whether their usage exceeds that of the least-used scheduled stops.
That’s a fun question
Conwy in Wales (I believe?) is one of the most used request stops out there.. 40,000 passengers a year or something like that
That's handy, caught this at just 7 mins old. Nice scenery and the freedom to go out and enjoy it at last, even if it is persistently raining.
Per manual crossings; Carl Giles, the cartoonist, lived near Ipswich, and had some extremely robust views on public transport and manual crossings. He was always having run ins with petty minded signal men who wouldn't open the gates because of some petty rule, like it was a Sunday or late at night and he was in bed, with gates closing the road but keeping the tracks clear, forcing Giles on a huge detour. They constantly got ridiculed. There were some pretty strange attitudes and rules about these things once. I think that the actual story is in a biography of Giles by Peter Tory.
Only the station signs / road signs call it 'Barrow-in-Furness'. Locals call it Barrow (pronounced Barr-a / Barr-uh). Furness means 'the far ness / promontory', but gets pronounced more like 'furnuss' rather than 'fur-NESS'. Yes, I reckon a lower case i for in.
I’d say a more accurate pronunciation would Barro’o
and Barrow is in lancashire
@@johnholmes912 it was until the reorganization in the 1970s, when it became part of Cumbria
I agree about the pronunciation - really grates to hear people say 'fur-NESS'!
I'm from Barrow and I've always written it as Barrow - in - Furness.
Barro' o is how it's said locally.
Geoff's back at it with the request stops it seems...
I'm sure the Epping to Ongar Railway would be willing to negotiate on that.
I misread 'Cambrian' and was hoping to see Dyfi Junction. Oh well.
Geoff - would you ask Network Rail to allow you to be an official visitor to a manual crossing gate and explain what happens?
"Chewier that Barrow-in-Furness Bus Station"! Can you remember that, Geoff? The greatest Chewits ad of all!
Great video Geoff. Next time you’re in Cumbria, you should think about doing an all-stations kind of video on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway 😉
Seeing you come out of your hotel room door (for the second time) just so you could film it reminds me of the Comic Strip Presents.. Bad News. When they are driving down the motorway to a gig with sweeping shots of the van on the motorway one of them asks, "Are we there yet?", and one of them replies, "We would get there a lot quicker if we didn't have to keep stopping to let the cameraman out!".
ahhh!! TOTAL FLASHBACK to Comic Strip! So so good. And so so funny, i remember this. Got to go and look up some of their clips now .....
@@geofftech2 They are almost impossible to find. Well at least Bad News related clips are. However, the whole boxset is available on DVD.
agh! just. found. amazon link to buy them! tempted ....
@@geofftech2 This will push you over the edge th-cam.com/video/njCsb6ra4Kw/w-d-xo.html
Way back in 1959 (pre Beeching) I was sent on a temporary detachment to the Proof and Experimental Establishment at Eskmeals. We stayed at the Bootle station hotel which was run by a Mrs Watson. Very good meals every evening and following an excellent roast on the Sunday evening there was sherry trifle which filled a bowl at least 12 inches in diameter. There wasn't much left after we three had finished. On the Saturday I had a rover ticket and went by steam train to Workington and then by diesel railbus up to Keswick where I took a coach excursion around the lakes. On the Sunday I took the train and visited Morecambe. There was so much one could do and so many places to go to before Beeching and Marples had their way
it is rather sad you can still see the scars on the landscape where lines were ripped out.
You can still walk the old siding from where it branches off the CCL to the (still intact) level crossing gate outside the gun range. I live very close by so I have walked it many times.
Geoff has gone artistic (in a good way)! Got diverted in the middle of a blizzard on a 125 from Leuchars to London through Cumbria (years and years ago). It literally was the most beautiful train ride of my life.
3:12 I'm from Barrow and I usually put 'Barrow-in-Furness'. Nice to see you visiting the Cumbrian coast!
I'd like to see that video as there's still a manual gate at Whittlesea. Also love the underrated Cumbrian coast and often try to get to Ravenglass for Eskdale. Also odd to see Geoff doing a sponsored video! Needs must and such professional and enjoyable content needs paying for somehow. Nice work :)
Has he watched Barrow to Carlisle in 15 mins? Whizzy stuff with those waves at full spate and scudding clouds!
Next time you are near St Bees, be sure to visit the West Cumberland Railway Museum. It’s a private collection located on St Bees Main Street. It’s open a few times through the year to the public, but the proprietor will open on request for any interested party. He’s a great guy, very knowledgeable and I’m sure you would enjoy the visit. You can find the museum on Facebook. 😀 Great videos by the way. 👍🏻
When I was a very little girl - some 60+ years ago now - our local station had gates, rather than barriers, but they were controlled from the signal box and not by a person. Frinton-on-sea, where we went for our holidays, had manual crossing-gates until quite recently, I gather. I suppose the automatic gates were more likely to fail than the barriers we see today. Incidentally, the local station only had a level crossing for many years - they had started to build a bridge in the late 1930s, but that was scuppered by the War, and it was not until the 1980s or 1990s that the bridge was finally built!
I would place Cumbria before Devon, Cornwall, Wales and Scotland.
You’ll be pleased to hear the Green Road sign is back in place 😁 great to meet you on that day.
Always enjoy a trip on the Cumbrian Coast. I love how some stations are closer to each other as the crow flies than they are be rail!
O to scuttle from the battle and to settle on an atoll far from brutal mortal neath a wattle portal!
To keep little mottled cattle and to whittle down one’s chattels and not hurtle after brittle yellow metal!
To listen, non-committal, to the anecdotal local tittle-tattle on a settle round the kettle,
Never startled by a rattle more than betel-nuts a-prattle or the myrtle-petals’ subtle throttled chortle!
But I’ll bet that what’ll happen if you footle round an atoll is you’ll get in rotten fettle living totally on turtle, nettles, cuttle-fish or beetles, victuals fatal to the natal élan-vital,
And hit the bottle.
I guess I’d settle
For somewhere ethical and practical like Bootle.
- Justin Richardson
Prattle!
Interesting that this should pop up today as we're doing the Cumbrian Coast line from Lancaster to Carlisle this weekend, along with Carlisle to Leeds via Settle and Leeds to Lancaster via Giggleswick.
The Cumbrian Coast line is an absolutely stunning gem of a route. The lovely coast on one side, and stunning scenery on the landward side.
Great video Geoff.
That was a very slick transition into the sponsorship, well done!
Did you like the tunnel at Whitehaven Geoff. With the single line and the token system held by the drivers to go through.
Though no longer request stops, Roose and Kent's Bank used to be request stops as well due to the short platforms.
Lovely stuff Geoff. It takes me back to visits with my Nan up to see my Aunt Kit in Maryport and the inevitable day out by train, usually to Barrow-in-Furness, and the wonderful countryside for all to see. It was a bit noisier then, and a great deal grubbier too, as they were still using first generation DMUs at that time! 😅
Cheers mate, really enjoyed this. Glad to see that not all of the idiosyncrasies of the area have gone, even if they are fewer and further between!
Thanks Geoff 👍🍻🍀
Did you have to start the video by engaging my fight or flight response 😭😭😭
Fascinating video there, especially with the scenery and simplicity of the railway in that area. My Brother and Sister-in-law live just outside Cockermouth, so I will have to make a point of seeing those stations whenever I get to visit there again.
So are we getting a "All the Manual Crossings" series next then? :-)
I may vote 'Aye' for that!
Oh, that would be fabulous!
Brilliant! That old phone was rubbish though and the signage at the station looks like it hadn’t been changed in 30 years! Great video Geoff!
The Cumbrian Coast line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues (as the Furness line) via Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands to Carnforth, where it connects with the West Coast Main Line.
It was Brundall Geoff with the crossing and I also love a good gate as well at a Railway Station. I see a all the Manual Level Crossing Gate coming soon to TH-cam! Brilliant video and remember riding the line once behind some Class 68 locomotives.
Coming to a screen near you in 2022 Geoff Marshall presents All the manual crossing gates 😁
Hold on, aren’t all stations beautiful in their own way? Even that one in the West Midlands which you visited… 😂
All different now since the Dec TT change. All are booked stops except Nethertown and Braystones.
i'm awaiting the "All the Level Crossings" series
I love the Cumbrian Coast line. My favourite is the walk from Nethertown to Braystones along the beach. Lovely.
In August 1992, my wife and I, our two children and my mother in law were offered the use of a caravan at Nethertown, so we drove through the night from Hertfordshire in our Nissan Sunny estate to arrive at the camp site in the early hours of the morning. We found the caravan by flashlight and made the beds then crashed out, only to be woken up about 4:00am by everyone on site going to work at Sellafield. We had a good view of the coast and the rail line from an adjacent field.
Why did you need torch light if your neighbours worked at Sellafield? Weren't they glowing brightly enough?
00:04 Did anyone else have a minor panic reaction to the alram sound
Manual crossings - I guess you missed the two at Kirksanton. I'm wondering if Bootle i manual too.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the original engine sheds present at both Bootle and Drigg which were visible on the video!
Can you please give both of their timestamps, sir? I would be glad to check them.
My friend and his dad own one of the railway buildings at drigg (arched windows 9:42) Use it as a garage/workshop.
Foxfield's a manual crossing too. (300m SE of the station)
In answer to your question about manual crossings, unlikely they'll go completely, especially round here on the Cumbrian Coast- be years till stuff changes on this line!
Not on the coast but what about Burneside on the Windermere Branch Line?
When you do Deganwy on the North Wales Coast line you should try the fish and chips in Conwy, delicious :)
4:50 there are still manual level crossings between York and Knaresbough at Poppleton, Hammerton and Cattal
Are they still there? I thought they were all being removed as part of the upgrade to allow a 30-minute service on the line, but I might have got that wrong...
@@stevieinselby they are still there but some like at Cattal and Moor Monkton for example, have been replaced with newer gates to the same design but with the added of barrier level crossing lights (with no sound). But still the same as it has been with it being manual.
I'd love to see more videos with manual gates in - but then I am a crossing keeper for Network Rail in Cumbria 🤓. I know of three manual crossing boxes locally on the Tyne Valley Line, two on the Blyth & Tyne line and one on the ECML near Tweedmouth. Each one will work differently. You'd be welcomed to my box if NWR give you permission!
i'd love to Cutler! working on it .. .!!
Hi Geoff. There was a manual gate at Dullingham in Cambridgeshire (only one stop out from Cambridge itself) wen I last cycled round there in October.
I live in Millom! It's a great part of the world and a lovely place to live
Sadly the only tractor in the video was not a class 37 with mark 2 carriages which have sadly been retired
1963 My weekday school Train from St Bees to Corkickle and yes it was a Steam Engine!! Those wooden rods in the blinds made great swords!!!!
Welcome to my county of Cumbria I live in Barrow-in-Furness My late mum was BR railway worker I do travel on Cumbria cost line a couple times a year did not say about Foxfield railway station has manual crossing gates My Lady Julia & I go to Workington to see a relative
I think manual crossings will be around for a while yet especially on quiet lines like the Cumbrian coast and freight-only lines, though passenger trains + Gates Crossings + Semehpores is a very rare sight indeed these days! and when you go back up there again, between Silecroft & Millom there are 2 gated crossings with semaphore Distant signals too! if you follow the A5093 south from Silecroft you'll reach both, they are real throwbacks to the golden age of railways!
This video brings back memories of doing the big loop one Saturday while a student at Lancaster, Lancaster -> Barrow -> Carlisle -> Settle -> Lancaster. Definitely an overdose of scenery for one day!
I see a new series coming “Geoff travels to all the stations and repairs their faults”. I’d watch that
I live just outside of Flimby, my house is right by the line. It’s quite nice living on the coast and when the steam specials go past we have an interrupted view.
The Impossible Arrive! Nice to see you Geoff
When you mention Sellafield, it reminded me of Ian Marchant's Parallel Lines, where he rides this line; and described it as beautiful and picturesque...until you get to Sellafield!
As in the power plant?
We live in an old Gatehouse. BR sold the house in the 80s and the crossing keeper spent the day in a lineside cabin (shed with a portable loo next door) instead until it was modernised in 2014. He retired the same day I believe.
alot do, I was speaking to a signalman who works a box in Lichfield & he said he'd hate to work in one of them big ROCs
No visit to Ravenglass and Eskdale Geoff?
Do like all the hotel cut aways, nicely done. Always a lovely part of the world to visit and for some reason I really like the sound of St Bees.
Nice to see you up in my neck of the woods, The Cumbria coast is a stunning line for scenery, Its a shame the new northern trains are not cleared to run the entire line, great video as always
Green Road was a tick off for me, so I could get a request stop, and more importantly a Class 37 haulage from there to Barrow.
Ahhh Green Road Station. My local train station for many years and it was my main mode of transport for the first 12 months I lived in Cumbria. A 30 minute walk from the farm to the station and then the short - but beautiful - estuary trip to Barrow where I would either meet my driving instructor or pick up some essentials that I couldn’t get in Million. It was so pleasant to sit there in the Cumbrian silence (sheep, cows and walkers) and wait for my train. Thank you for bringing back the happy memories.
Millom?
@@edenviews yes that’s what I meant :)
I love Cumbria railways. So beautiful!
What a picturesque region, I need to visit! Lovely video as always
God that sound at 0:00!!!!!
Yes I thought it was my phone
A member of my family asked if my phone was ringing.
My son asked why my alarm was going off
Where's the closest manual (not user worked) gates to London? Elsenham (just north of Stansted) perhaps?
Ridden on that train a few times up to the Prince of Wales at Foxfield :-)
I'm an avid follower of your videos, Geoff. Living in Lancaster (the home of the 'Selfie King' who I chat to quite regularly!), the Cumbrian Coast line is quite local to me, especially as I am now retired. I really don't want to criticise as I massive love all that you produce, but I thought that no mention of the nearby nuclear waste dump in the woods beside Drigg station was a significant omission, But keep up the good work!
You over emphasise the E in Barrow in Furness (FurnEss), we give both syllables equal stress.
Definitely lower case I but you can take or leave the hyphens
Geoff, there is two manual crossings by Burneside, on the Lakes Line.
My dad works for net work rail
I go on holiday every June travelling by train to Criccieth from Shrewsbury. It's a lovely 3 hrs train ride
Love these request stop videos! Please do more.
Lovely video, thank you. I can't really remember watching a sponsored video by you. As you mentioned the maps in the videos (which are nice) I wondered if you could add a map of the whole UK to the beginning of each video when you're out of London and a small map of London when you're in London with an indicator where in the country you are, so that we from everywhere around the world understand where the video takes place. Thanks!
Hi Geoff you should have stopped at Foxfield and walked in to the village called Broughton as its a lovely little village and as really good B&Bs i highly recommend you stay there as there are some great places to walk and see, if you walk through the park you will see a large mansion that looks like a castle on the left as you come out in to the open field, and this mansion use to be a boarding school where i attended in 1970 to 1973, it as a moat and if you follow that moat up to a double white gate then turn right follow the path through the field until you come to a gate/style you will see the woods/forest where you can walk around, and that woods/ forest was actually set on fire in 1971 or 72 can't remember which yr now so long ago, and the only way the fire engines could get to the fire from the village was through the boarding school grounds, you will also find a wishing well by the gate/style, you can either climb the hill to the woods or follow the path on the right after the gate and follow it to the forest area, i winter we use to have great fun sledging on the hill opposite the mansion and the hill leading to the woods, give it a go sometime
Just a quick comparison of Drigg's features, versus Adelaide Metro, first up, something that Drigg doesn't even have, the flowing bin bag, Adelaide Metro, while it DOES use bin bags, DOES NOT have exposed bin bags, they're all contained within a metal housing. As for classic level crossings, Adelaide metro has none, not for a while. Onto ticket machines at stations, I can only think of one station on the entire network with ticket machines, and that's Adelaide. Next up disabled humps: Adelaide metro HAVE implemented those to allow for the disabled ramps to work, although they are working on refurbishing stations to match train heights so that the humps won't be needed, on the outer-harbour line (my local line) there are humps at Glanville, Ethelton, and Woodville, there are probably humps at others, but I can't remember seeing them. Request stops: There are none on Adelaide Metro. Signal boxes: the last one standing (disused since the 80s though) is the Adelaide Wye signal box, Gawler used to have an amazingly restored one, but it was burned down by vandals in 2005. No station has a book store. That's all the comparisons I can think of.
STOP ERTMS e ETCS.. Manual crossing, signal box, request stop, diesel traction... This is Railway XD
Fun video, thanks! There are 2 manned crossings south of Silecroft, either side of Kirksanton - walkable from the station. It was a stop - but only on market days ...
There are a surprising number of closed stations on that stretch.
The line also shadows, of course, The England Coast Path. However it has been popular for years with real ale enthusiasts as so many of the villages have good pubs. You should try the beer at "the Vic" in the station house on the platform at Drigg. Sadly, Bootle has lost both of its pubs recently.
It was Brundall that had the manual crossing on the Wherry lines
I work on the manned railway crossing between Drigg and Froxfield.There are still four manned crossing,which aren't signalbox , their gate crossing worked by crossing keepers,Saltcoat, Limestone Hall, Kirksanton, Skelly Cragg. Saltcoat is due to go this year .
4:24 I went to drigg station, I remember there was a little bed and breakfast hotel just on the station which I slept there years ago
Good Video Geoff. Re Manual Gates (Drigg). I suggest you visit Lincoln Road crossing in Enfield. The road gates are permanently closed now, but still extant. The Pedestrian gates are manned 7am to 7pm. You can tick another box since between 7pm and 7am the crossing is another unmanned pedestrian crossing. Happy to show you round.. (Paul Godwin)
I enjoyed this - c. 1989/1990 Dad treated the family to a circular trip around Cumbria, anticlockwise, starting and ending at Oxenholme. By the way, it's St Bees, not some bees.
Gotta love semaphore signals and signal boxes.
The request stops on the line have gradually been made normal fixed stops. We only have 2 request stops left now since the December timetable change- Nethertown and Braystones.
The people that work the manual crossing gates then work the Manually Controlled Barriers (MCB) crossings. Because they have full width barriers, they need to be checked by a signaller.
You said 'Cumbria' twice when you meant to say 'Carlisle'. Us Northerners catch things like that...
Platform phone doesn’t work? Welcome to the Northwest of England! Ticket machines also have a habit of not working or only located on one platform making it impossible for disabled to buy a ticket if they can’t climb a bridge.
Seeing as the whole network is nationalised again, Great British Railways, why not just say British Rail?, the the BR double arrow should be the standard signage once again.
Great video ,thoroughly enjoyed it thanks. Just one thing it's not pronounced furNESS it's FURness as in furnace .🙂
Near My local station “Burneside” in Cumbria has a manual crossing! You probably know, but on the Windermere Branch Line
one of mhy favourite journeys is the "triangle" Start at Carlise, head down to Lancaster, pick up the Bentham Line to Giggleswick (I think) a walk to Settle and then back up to Carlisle.
The request stops you visited and if they have a British Rail sign at the stations.
Green Road - No
Drigg - No
Silecroft - Yes
Bootle - On the enterance sign.
You'll need to visit Holywood level crossing near Dumfries on the G&SW to the manual level crossing. Unfortunately the station is long gone so you'll need visit via car.
Was this recorded before the 19th?
Would be really cool if you ever did a serie about all the heratige railways, as the one in Ravenglass.
*sees this*
OH MY GOD
*realises its a day I wasn't on duty doing the gates*
....damn.
where do you work, Adam? ;-D Glasgow? Carlisle? Barrow?
@@geofftech2 haha. bootle signaller.
Absolutely amazing video again Geoff. I really enjoyed watching this fabulous video with the great content. Can not wait for the next video.