I live in accrington ,if this link was put back in it would save me using my car ,if I use the train now I have to go all the way upto Bradford Interchange then walk to Bradford Foster Sq then take a train back to Skipton the total journey is 3hrs if the link was reinstated my trip would be around 1 hr .
The cost of rebuilding the line would be billions in modern inflatable money and there's very little chance of that kind of money being found in today's train-wreck of an economy.
I had a girlfriend in Colne, once - I remember visiting her in 1968 when I was living in Middlesex. I travelled by train via Preston, and was impressed by the character of the line and stations - reminded me of t'mills, and Fred Dibnah...
Excellent work Allan The routes been of interest to me for years. So a Thank you for doing the leg work for everybody. It’s a no brainer to open this, and possibly the Woodhead line to ease the already congested transpennine routes. The benching act was shortsighted ,and the railways are the only transport links that can’t superseded and be banished to the past..
i agree BUT its very very doubtful the Woodhead line will ever reopen as the Woodhead tunnels now carry a LOT of National grid power cables so reopening the tunnels will never happen
As a young train spotter in the early to mid 60's, I often travelled from Accrington to Skipton on this former line, visiting the shed at Skipton and hoping for some rare Eastern region "cops" in the main line! Thanks for doing this for us all to enjoy.
I have quite an interest in this line. It used to be double track all the way to Colne and beyond, with through trains to Manchester & Blackpool North. The issue that (alas) led to the closure of the line was the fact that the route on either side of Colne belonged to different sections of BR London Midland Region (as it did in LMS days), which often resulted in different timetables on the two portions and poor connections at Colne (with Skipton trains leaving before the arrival of workings from further west and vice versa!) The Beeching Report actually recommended that the line be retained and developed, but it was one of those lines that fell victim to the Wilson administration's cost-cutting of the late 1960s, due to it not being regarded as a "socially necessary" route (other lines that also were chopped in that period included the Fleetwood branch, Castleton-Bury-Bolton, the Caernarfon branch in North Wales, Crediton to Okehampton and Rose Hill to Macclesfield). The parking area for the cricket ground at Thornton-in-Craven actually occupies the trackbed, whilst I can remember the days when the two bridges near Carleton (right at the start of the video) were still in situ (they were demolished in early 1982). It should never have been shut and would be a very useful link between Pendle & the Aire Valley today.
If SELRAP are serious about reopening this route they should get some volunteers to do some track clearing, i'm sure there would be some people who would like to help get this route restored
i dont trust selrap nor the MP's backing it....ive seen way too many projects of same kind fail...one particular was one in edinburth that wnt over budget so much so they just abandoned it and feft behind the usual mess of rubble and part excavated crap...also laving taxpayers with yet another hefty bill.
The Railway will reopen SELRAP is working very hard behind closed doors, things are looking up for the project, All will be made public at the right time.
Thanks ever so much for this video, and for your hard work Allan. I am in support of the reopening of this stretch of line, with it being a link, it should never have been truncated. However, your video has made me feel depressed, as I was always under the impression that it was practically mothballed, but with the missing viaducts, and the major roads in the way, I feel this line will be very unlikely to reopen.
I used to stay with an aunt at Barnoldswick when I was a boy. I remember travelling from Skipton to Barnoldswick by train a number of times in the 1950s.I used to be fascinated watching shunting in the goods yard at Barnoldswick.
a nice look at what is left of the railway, but i doubt it will never be one again, i have known that area since the 60's and passed through the level crossing at earby many times, the quarry you looked at is very different now to what it was even in the 70's when we used to use it as a open water dive site accessed through that tunnel then into another tunnel and down some steel steps to the waters edge, it was very deep water in those days, as for barlick station it is now the co-op and carpark, a lot of the bridges have been taken down and the land has been built on as you have seen with houses and industrial estates, comming out of skipton the railway used to go through the broughton hall estate and it's doubtfull that it will ever be allowed to go through there again, at the colne end the line finishes on the hill side way above the trading eastate on vivary way and you would have to build one hell of a viaduct to get across to colne station at the other side, a far too expencive project i think, but nice if it could happen.
Well researched. I travelled the line from Blackburn to Skipton a couple of times in the mid-fifties. It would be extremely useful nowadays if it were still in use.
Good morning Allen 😀 What a shame they pulled so much of our railways up in the 60s 😫 At £1.90 a litre for fuel and new cars getting out of reach for most people we could do with more being put back 👍🏻 Just look at the traffic on the A65 🤣
Agreed as long as they bring rail prices down it is so expensive costs me around £90 to £100 return (i dont drive) to visit my family back home in Manchester from Bristol! and thats having to change at Birmingham or if I go through wales Newport ..used to be able to get a straight-through no change service now they don't do one and Birmingham new street is a big station to run across with minutes to do that between connections not to mention you have to go through 2 lots of barriers depending what platform you pull in at!
A good journey and investigation,I remember earby level crossing the last time I travelled on the line it was the day when England won the World Cup. I was coming back from a week in Blackpool in the summer of 66.
Always thought reopening the East Bay Platform at Hellifield would provide a Blackburn- Skipton service now. Also reopening this track would open up the route from east lancs to Skipton
Great exploration Allan. I remember walking some of the route around 1980. Foulridge Station building was still intact and the viaduct over the canal was also still there. Hope Selrap are successful in their campaign. It would be good to link up Pendle with Skipton and Leeds/Bradford. By the way, Earby is pronounced as "Ear - by " and Foulridge is pronounced as "Fol - ridge". :D
That canopy in Skipton looks like the work of the Saracen Foundry in Glasgow. at least it looks like their style. They considered themselves primarily artists rather than industrialists (though they were both). If I'm right, it will have "Walter MacFarlane & Co., Saracen Foundry, Glasgow" cast into the structure, probably near the base of the pillars and probably in their distinctive diamond formation. Many of their glass and cast iron structures still survive, including some station canopies. This one seems to have been well looked after. The Saracen Foundry closed in 1967. Possilpark, which was originally developed to house the foundry's workers, thrived in its heyday but is now one of the most deprived parts of Glasgow.
That large building on the trackbed seems to have shot down the reports that the trackbed was safeguarded by local authorities to allow reopening when funds are available 🤔
Hello from a new subscriber! I've seen those little concrete posts on other former railways e.g. Whitby to Scarborough. My guess is that they supported the pulleys that signal cables ran over between the signal box and the actual signal post. Best wishes :)
My mum's cousin was a signal man on this railway at Thornton and Skipton back in 50s and sixtys, spent many summers in Thornton in Craven, best childhood holidays.
Thank you. Very interesting. Living in the area , I've tried to discover stretches of where you filmed for training runs. Found the exercise as frustrating as you seemed to experience. I believe as you suggested that there is no way that line will be reclaimed and operated from Skipton to Colne.
Very Interesting- I remember visiting Colne in 1974 when 3-4 platforms were extant but 2-3 had piles of rubble on them . The one remaining platform ( seen in the vlog) had a bus shelter type structure with windows broken and a sheet of corrugated iron next to it with the word " Colne" painted in drippy red paint .
Ive been on there many of time overt years walking my old dog but from the colne side furtherest i got to was barlic new road i was born in 68 so i dont remember this ive wached other intresting 1ns in cine film and the rough demolition of it its good is this ive shared it with my dad he will like it !👍🇬🇧👍
It's a good thirty years since I walked the route from Earby to Colne and whilst there is a lot of hot air spoken about it being viable to reopen, there is no sign of this happening any time soon. SELRAP need to get a heritage railway interested and it would be built and running by volunteers in no time! It was alwasy such a hassle getting from Burnley to Skipton. I don't know what Barbara Castle (a Blackburn MP) was thinking as this line wasn't even in the Beeching plan!
Very interesting! I thought that this was a highly possible reopening until recently, having seen the viaducts and building works required I suspect it might have dropped down the pecking order a bit now. Having now checked the latest website news (2021-22) it is still a possibility, so we wait and hope.
It still is a very viable rail project their is a lot of positive news which will be made public in due course. Everything is possible on this project SELRAP is working very hard to make sure this project gets off the ground
Just how many years has this been going on? To see if there is any demand for a Lancashire Skipton link a temp service to Skipton from Blackburn via Hellifield (driver to change cabs at Hellifield) could easily be tried.
I just had to look it up. The last time I rode this route (still behind steam) was 04/08/1968. Colne was the end-junction between the Midland and the L&YR.
These governments talk about leveling up and use catchy gimmicks like the Northern power house, it's about time they started proving that and pumping some serious investment into vital infrastructure like this line instead of pie in the sky dreams like fast rail from London to the North which in reality will benefit people of this region minutely, whereas reinstating this line would have immediate and long lasting benefits
Peter, the line was severely under used when in operation. There has been talk of re-opening it, when I lived on Barrowford Road in the 1970's. A cross country line exists, through Clitheroe, that is still there. That is the logical cross-Pennine point for any new rail scheme. IMO The M65 should have used the line, to link up to Silsden for a cross Pennine road route.
@@delboy7039 how does a route from Clitheroe benefit the people of Colne Burnley Nelson etc wanting to get to Skipton and beyond, I dare to give a figure on how many times per volume of traffic has increased since the 1970's, the government at the time didn't have the vision as to how dire the situation would become
Exstand m65 motorway which stops at boundary Mill all way into dewsbury, Keighley. West Yorkshire even better. Kind of like the m62 west to east. m65 preston to Leeds will be simler. Would make some good 5 star TH-cam videos under construction passing over the east pennies. Like the ones of m62 motorway under construction back in the late 60s.
@@paulholland5270 reinstating the railway line would save tearing far less precious Lancashire and Yorkshire countryside up, much of the land designated for the line is still in place, further still the railway would unlock faster links beyond Yorkshire to the North and North East
Chance of completing the m65 all the why into West Yorkshire is fare more likely to happen then reopening 12 miles of railway to Skipton that's the sad reality unfortunately . Colne to say dewsbury, Keighley is at a guess 20 miles away ,Leeds 10 miles from both towns, 30 miles from Colne to say out skirts of Leeds. My guess there's a higher chance of this project being complete then the reopening of the Colne, Skipton. Governments love roads unfortunately. I prefare Victoria railway any day then some grey concreat carpark eyesore. But unfortunately I can see the fully completion of the m65 motorway coming some time this decade. 💯😡😠😡😠
Sorry Alan, to Lancashire ? Some of the older natives may point to the sandstone cobles . And the Rose on the bridge may actually represent the old West Riding of Yorkshire. 🤫 Great content. What a major past infrastructure.
Sorry to both Lancashire and Yorkshire Gary but I think those cast roses were actualy Tudor roses. However time, misunderstanding. and many text books seem to have forgotten that and the double petal rose is now often described as a either Yorks or Lancs rose depending on the origins of who you ask. Both the Yorks and Lancs roses had a single ring of petals. After the wars of the roses, the Tudors in a show of reconciliation between both parties introduced the Tudor rose with a smaller ring of petals inside the outer ring. I will make no claim of which represent which though for fear of starting another war. :)
@@simonh-blestrange7611 It MAY be the planned space for a bigger station but that will not change the fact that a lot of the old route from Skipton to Colne is built on and the fact that s major road leading to the motorway needs to be crossed either by tunnel or bridge. It may make Colne a better contender for more services to Lancashire towns but that doesn’t help the line from North Yorkshire
@@davegb99 not sure why you think this rail link has been built on, apart from one small location, the rail line is protected transport corridor for a start, and multiple engineers have studied this rail project and said nothing stands in it's way. Vivary Way is an Easy solution which is backed up by the DFT which is to sink Vivary Way down to go under the railway. The other Road at the Skipton End would be a cut and cover Bridge
In railway terms there isn't a vast amount of infrastructure to replace when one considers the billions going into HS2, and most of the alignment is still available, but I'm afraid the truth is that this line is never going to generate the sort of traffic that would justify the investment required. Clitheroe-Hellifield already offers an alternative route, and there simply isn't the volume of movement between Burnley, Colne and Skipton to support a railway. I drive that route frequently, and even at the busiest times the road traffic isn't really horrendous. Colne's a bottleneck, but nothing better road design couldn't overcome.
Anything that ADDS capacity to the network will always be worth the investment, bear in mind they don`t just want to get joe public to leave their cars at home, but want to get trucks of the road. Even if passenger take up is`nt great, it will add routing for possible future freight operations.
East Lancashire has a very large population of over 1.2 million people, during All the studies some which are outgoing at the time of writing are showing very positive results more so than for the rail line your talking about which hasn't a very large population, Even Pendle has Just reached 91,000 + Skipton train station has a footfall of 1.2 million per year with a population of Just 18,000, so when you link the two sets of tracks together this will give a very positive footfall as a new rail line.
the cost of building it back up will be astronomical and frankly right now...a waste of financies. strangly enough when the 'new' line was announced for rebuild, a similar project in edinburgh failed (ended up way over budget) and ended up abandoned with the usual piles of rubble...a early warning sign of things to come ??. what i found disturbing was they had already talked about ticket prices BEFORE the lines even layed....you know the good old carrots infront of donkey stuff. bet ticket prices will raise to silly amounts. a discussion was braught up with our local MP where he thought cause i was a rail enthusiast i would be in support of the project.....needless to say the look on his face when i told him that to me its a waste of money was priceless lol. interesting thing is at colne theres that council play area (sports area)...really think the locals will like their place of play ripped up for a rail line with bits of crud falling on their heads while they kick a footy about...council spent a few thousand building that play area for a private contractor (probably involved in fraud) to swoop in with silly plans egged on by local MP's taking backhanders and bribes. ive totally had enough of private contractors who get people exited then somehow 'run out of budget' leaving the familiar piles of rubble like seen in bradford for years as well as still in keighley (that supposed new shopping center) where all the rubble is still there to this day. money is better spent on a police station in keighley town center instead of 15 mile off in bradford !!...strangley enough, when i went to talk with the MP...we was in the old keighley nick on north street lol.
At Thornton the Pennine Way passes the railway, the station building you refer to is at Ingrow West on the Worth Valley Railway, its a great line and would make another useful link to cross the Pennines, the worrying thing through is the demographic hasnt changed much, so the line is still largely rural. plus another link exists between Hellifield and Clitherow, which isnt that far away to the north.
Their are only solutions to these not barriers, and project costs are coming down, not up! Their is plenty of positive evidence backing up this project some of it only Just coming to Light in the last 2 wks
I’m always walking the track bed between Slipper Hill and Foulridge. It’s a disgrace this line was ripped up as the last train left. Although Beeching was a bastard I heard it was British Rail that closed this tiny section WHY ???
Elslack Station became a David Brown tractor dealership in 1966 and trains were still hauling goods through past them till 1970. The Dealership was called Craven Agricultural services( this later changed to Peter White Ltd in 1986) It closed in 1998, I can remember the station masters house being still in the yard with the tractors in the early 1980s when we used to buy tractors and parts from there. That's what the remnants of the buildings in front of the modern warehouse that's where the workshops were where the tractors were serviced and repaired
All those who want to reopen the line need to watch this video. Its been so long since it closed that the land is overgrown, or built on, bridges are missing, its impossible surely. A new route would have to be found.
Nothing is impossible their are only solutions, and many railway engineers have studied this rail link in detail, Vivary Way Colne will be sunk down to go under the railway, the road in Skipton that is on an embankment this could be a cut and cover Bridge, All the other Bridges would have had to be replaced anyway along the rail line, even the new extension on the trackbed on the Nth Yorkshire side of a warehouse can be moved out of the way, the railway is actually a protected transport corridor.
SELRAP is working very hard behind closed doors and getting some very positive results from outgoing studies some of which are Just coming to Light, it's a big shame that we have some very negative people on here but that's life! This project is about giving people some of which are the poorest people in the Country the tools to get to better paid jobs in particular in North, and West Yorkshire. With the Government planning on banning petrol and diesel cars from 2030 how do these people get to work? Most won't be able to buy an EV, and by the way EV's are Just as damaging to the environment as the others because of micro plastics being given off through the tyres. We also need this rail link because it will help to take a number of heavy trucks off the Road, has anyone seen the M62? During peak hours. I suspect some negative people on here are living a bubble and don't take much attention to what is happening around them until it's All to late. It's a bit like the guy who wrote in the Daily Telegraph some weeks ago saying that 50% of the UK rail network should be pulled up! And to focus on building new Roads for EV's, Lol, Lol, Lol. This guy was some jumped up rich Boy living on a private Island near the Virgin Islands.
Selrap still have this pipe dream of the line reopening. Too much infrastructure to rebuild and alter for it to reopen. Of course, if the proposal is to turn it into a link road then money will be found....... I've walked some of this route when I lived in Earby about 12 years ago. Not a lot has changed.
SELRAP is getting some very positive results from outgoing study work, pipedreams are for those that don't understand anything and we have a Top team of people working on this project that have worked on some of the most important rail projects in the Country including Kings Cross Upgrade. At least 5 of our team have worked on Nationally important rail projects. And we are backed up by a number of high profile international companies who have worked with us for quite a few years now.
But if it was reopened it's be a string of parkways as this kind of pseudo public transport seems to be all they are interested in building now.... stations for cars!
And so will Bi-mode trains between Colne and Leeds in the next few years, SELRAP is working very hard behind closed doors and two wks ago got some very positive results from outgoing studies, and this is without the freight part of the study, now that a New rail freight hub is going to be built at Huncoat it gives our project even more positive outcome.
@@simonh-blestrange7611 Strange how much pleasure people who know so little about it seem to take in disparaging plans like this. I would ask why but suspect they have no rational explanation beyond schadenfreude and could never admit to that. "O Brave New World., etc, etc." Good luck with you efforts.
I live in accrington ,if this link was put back in it would save me using my car ,if I use the train now I have to go all the way upto Bradford Interchange then walk to Bradford Foster Sq then take a train back to Skipton the total journey is 3hrs if the link was reinstated my trip would be around 1 hr .
Train from Accrington to Skipton could be done in 45 Minutes using New Bi-mode trains
The cost of rebuilding the line would be billions in modern inflatable money and there's very little chance of that kind of money being found in today's train-wreck of an economy.
In June 1969 I was on a railtour to the KWVR which went via this line. It was hauled by 4472 Flying Scotsman! Happy days :)
I had a girlfriend in Colne, once - I remember visiting her in 1968 when I was living in Middlesex. I travelled by train via Preston, and was impressed by the character of the line and stations - reminded me of t'mills, and Fred Dibnah...
Excellent work Allan
The routes been of interest to me for years. So a Thank you for doing the leg work for everybody.
It’s a no brainer to open this, and possibly the Woodhead line to ease the already congested transpennine routes.
The benching act was shortsighted ,and the railways are the only transport links that can’t superseded and be banished to the past..
i agree BUT its very very doubtful the Woodhead line will ever reopen as the Woodhead tunnels now carry a LOT of National grid power cables so reopening the tunnels will never happen
As a young train spotter in the early to mid 60's, I often travelled from Accrington to Skipton on this former line, visiting the shed at Skipton and hoping for some rare Eastern region "cops" in the main line!
Thanks for doing this for us all to enjoy.
I have quite an interest in this line. It used to be double track all the way to Colne and beyond, with through trains to Manchester & Blackpool North. The issue that (alas) led to the closure of the line was the fact that the route on either side of Colne belonged to different sections of BR London Midland Region (as it did in LMS days), which often resulted in different timetables on the two portions and poor connections at Colne (with Skipton trains leaving before the arrival of workings from further west and vice versa!) The Beeching Report actually recommended that the line be retained and developed, but it was one of those lines that fell victim to the Wilson administration's cost-cutting of the late 1960s, due to it not being regarded as a "socially necessary" route (other lines that also were chopped in that period included the Fleetwood branch, Castleton-Bury-Bolton, the Caernarfon branch in North Wales, Crediton to Okehampton and Rose Hill to Macclesfield). The parking area for the cricket ground at Thornton-in-Craven actually occupies the trackbed, whilst I can remember the days when the two bridges near Carleton (right at the start of the video) were still in situ (they were demolished in early 1982). It should never have been shut and would be a very useful link between Pendle & the Aire Valley today.
If SELRAP are serious about reopening this route they should get some volunteers to do some track clearing, i'm sure there would be some people who would like to help get this route restored
i dont trust selrap nor the MP's backing it....ive seen way too many projects of same kind fail...one particular was one in edinburth that wnt over budget so much so they just abandoned it and feft behind the usual mess of rubble and part excavated crap...also laving taxpayers with yet another hefty bill.
Very enlightening. Hoping the reopening comes to pass.
The Railway will reopen SELRAP is working very hard behind closed doors, things are looking up for the project, All will be made public at the right time.
This is verry intresting just what we are short of opening this back up from colne briliant video !👏👏👏👍WELL DONE!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Excellent work Allan, I walked it from the Colne end in the different walks including Barnoldswick, I would love to see it reopened.
Absolutely fantastic video many many thanks for your hard work through the brambles and sharing 👏 👍
Thanks ever so much for this video, and for your hard work Allan. I am in support of the reopening of this stretch of line, with it being a link, it should never have been truncated. However, your video has made me feel depressed, as I was always under the impression that it was practically mothballed, but with the missing viaducts, and the major roads in the way, I feel this line will be very unlikely to reopen.
I used to stay with an aunt at Barnoldswick when I was a boy. I remember travelling from Skipton to Barnoldswick by train a number of times in the 1950s.I used to be fascinated watching shunting in the goods yard at Barnoldswick.
a nice look at what is left of the railway, but i doubt it will never be one again, i have known that area since the 60's and passed through the level crossing at earby many times, the quarry you looked at is very different now to what it was even in the 70's when we used to use it as a open water dive site accessed through that tunnel then into another tunnel and down some steel steps to the waters edge, it was very deep water in those days, as for barlick station it is now the co-op and carpark, a lot of the bridges have been taken down and the land has been built on as you have seen with houses and industrial estates, comming out of skipton the railway used to go through the broughton hall estate and it's doubtfull that it will ever be allowed to go through there again, at the colne end the line finishes on the hill side way above the trading eastate on vivary way and you would have to build one hell of a viaduct to get across to colne station at the other side, a far too expencive project i think, but nice if it could happen.
Well researched. I travelled the line from Blackburn to Skipton a couple of times in the mid-fifties. It would be extremely useful nowadays if it were still in use.
Good morning Allen 😀 What a shame they pulled so much of our railways up in the 60s 😫 At £1.90 a litre for fuel and new cars getting out of reach for most people we could do with more being put back 👍🏻 Just look at the traffic on the A65 🤣
Agreed as long as they bring rail prices down it is so expensive costs me around £90 to £100 return (i dont drive) to visit my family back home in Manchester from Bristol! and thats having to change at Birmingham or if I go through wales Newport ..used to be able to get a straight-through no change service now they don't do one and Birmingham new street is a big station to run across with minutes to do that between connections not to mention you have to go through 2 lots of barriers depending what platform you pull in at!
@@dizzydevil547 same for me Chepstow to Manchester and back ,not cheap these days
And EV's aren't Environmental sound as they are heavy on the Roads so they give off micro plastics in to air
@@simonh-blestrange7611Micro-plastics have been around ages mate. 40 years or so. Anyone under 35 is pretty much made from them. It’s not an issue.
excellent video well done 👍if it is reopened there's a major task ahead hope it pays off nice to see parts of it still remains
A good journey and investigation,I remember earby level crossing the last time I travelled on the line it was the day when England won the World Cup. I was coming back from a week in Blackpool in the summer of 66.
Well done. I rode on the last passenger train over the line.
Always thought reopening the East Bay Platform at Hellifield would provide a Blackburn- Skipton service now.
Also reopening this track would open up the route from east lancs to Skipton
Great exploration Allan. I remember walking some of the route around 1980. Foulridge Station building was still intact and the viaduct over the canal was also still there. Hope Selrap are successful in their campaign. It would be good to link up Pendle with Skipton and Leeds/Bradford. By the way, Earby is pronounced as "Ear - by " and Foulridge is pronounced as "Fol - ridge". :D
That canopy in Skipton looks like the work of the Saracen Foundry in Glasgow. at least it looks like their style. They considered themselves primarily artists rather than industrialists (though they were both). If I'm right, it will have "Walter MacFarlane & Co., Saracen Foundry, Glasgow" cast into the structure, probably near the base of the pillars and probably in their distinctive diamond formation. Many of their glass and cast iron structures still survive, including some station canopies. This one seems to have been well looked after. The Saracen Foundry closed in 1967. Possilpark, which was originally developed to house the foundry's workers, thrived in its heyday but is now one of the most deprived parts of Glasgow.
That large building on the trackbed seems to have shot down the reports that the trackbed was safeguarded by local authorities to allow reopening when funds are available 🤔
Hello from a new subscriber! I've seen those little concrete posts on other former railways e.g. Whitby to Scarborough. My guess is that they supported the pulleys that signal cables ran over between the signal box and the actual signal post. Best wishes :)
Used to live in colne, do miss it. And oddly enough, think I recognised one of the ladies about to get on the train at the end from uni.
Interesting to know what the history was like behind the train system.
My mum's cousin was a signal man on this railway at Thornton and Skipton back in 50s and sixtys, spent many summers in Thornton in Craven, best childhood holidays.
What a trip down memory lane. I travelled the line every school day between Barlick and Skipton from 1959 to 1964.
I have visited Hebden Bridge station that is very original include a hut for storing oil lamps.
Thank you. Very interesting. Living in the area , I've tried to discover stretches of where you filmed for training runs. Found the exercise as frustrating as you seemed to experience. I believe as you suggested that there is no way that line will be reclaimed and operated from Skipton to Colne.
Very Interesting- I remember visiting Colne in 1974 when 3-4 platforms were extant but 2-3 had piles of rubble on them . The one remaining platform ( seen in the vlog) had a bus shelter type structure with windows broken and a sheet of corrugated iron next to it with the word " Colne" painted in drippy red paint .
If you want more information,i can suggest "Railways of Colne"by Stuart Taylor now out of print but still available second hand.
Excellent work. I know the route but didn't know land rover had flooded it. Thanks for the new information.
Brilliant thank you need a video for Bolton to bury line
Thank you for doing this & sharing too. I'm not at all familiar with the area but I have enjoyed watching. Thanks again.
Ive been on there many of time overt years walking my old dog but from the colne side furtherest i got to was barlic new road i was born in 68 so i dont remember this ive wached other intresting 1ns in cine film and the rough demolition of it its good is this ive shared it with my dad he will like it !👍🇬🇧👍
26:30 ish, I once tried to follow the line it was next to impossible to get throughm ended up having to cut over the fields to the road.
Canopy almost as magnificent as the one at Kettering!❤
It's a good thirty years since I walked the route from Earby to Colne and whilst there is a lot of hot air spoken about it being viable to reopen, there is no sign of this happening any time soon. SELRAP need to get a heritage railway interested and it would be built and running by volunteers in no time! It was alwasy such a hassle getting from Burnley to Skipton. I don't know what Barbara Castle (a Blackburn MP) was thinking as this line wasn't even in the Beeching plan!
Very interesting! I thought that this was a highly possible reopening until recently, having seen the viaducts and building works required I suspect it might have dropped down the pecking order a bit now. Having now checked the latest website news (2021-22) it is still a possibility, so we wait and hope.
It still is a very viable rail project their is a lot of positive news which will be made public in due course.
Everything is possible on this project SELRAP is working very hard to make sure this project gets off the ground
The morecambe to Leeds line that went through Green aire station Lancaster and along the river lune and into Yorkshire !
There is a lot of potential on the East lancs line , hopefully the colne end will one day open, as for Hapton maybe a freight terminal , we'll see.
I have a feeling this is a 31st April venture, but I’d love to be proved wrong! It so needs to be reopened and as double track right through.
Just how many years has this been going on?
To see if there is any demand for a Lancashire Skipton link a temp service to Skipton from Blackburn via Hellifield (driver to change cabs at Hellifield) could easily be tried.
I just had to look it up. The last time I rode this route (still behind steam) was 04/08/1968. Colne was the end-junction between the Midland and the L&YR.
These governments talk about leveling up and use catchy gimmicks like the Northern power house, it's about time they started proving that and pumping some serious investment into vital infrastructure like this line instead of pie in the sky dreams like fast rail from London to the North which in reality will benefit people of this region minutely, whereas reinstating this line would have immediate and long lasting benefits
Peter, the line was severely under used when in operation. There has been talk of re-opening it, when I lived on Barrowford Road in the 1970's. A cross country line exists, through Clitheroe, that is still there. That is the logical cross-Pennine point for any new rail scheme. IMO The M65 should have used the line, to link up to Silsden for a cross Pennine road route.
@@delboy7039 how does a route from Clitheroe benefit the people of Colne Burnley Nelson etc wanting to get to Skipton and beyond, I dare to give a figure on how many times per volume of traffic has increased since the 1970's, the government at the time didn't have the vision as to how dire the situation would become
Exstand m65 motorway which stops at boundary Mill all way into dewsbury, Keighley. West Yorkshire even better. Kind of like the m62 west to east. m65 preston to Leeds will be simler. Would make some good 5 star TH-cam videos under construction passing over the east pennies. Like the ones of m62 motorway under construction back in the late 60s.
@@paulholland5270 reinstating the railway line would save tearing far less precious Lancashire and Yorkshire countryside up, much of the land designated for the line is still in place, further still the railway would unlock faster links beyond Yorkshire to the North and North East
Chance of completing the m65 all the why into West Yorkshire is fare more likely to happen then reopening 12 miles of railway to Skipton that's the sad reality unfortunately . Colne to say dewsbury, Keighley is at a guess 20 miles away ,Leeds 10 miles from both towns, 30 miles from Colne to say out skirts of Leeds. My guess there's a higher chance of this project being complete then the reopening of the Colne, Skipton. Governments love roads unfortunately. I prefare Victoria railway any day then some grey concreat carpark eyesore. But unfortunately I can see the fully completion of the m65 motorway coming some time this decade. 💯😡😠😡😠
Great video
This would be a useful link for Leeds to Preston/Blackpool services.
Sorry Alan, to Lancashire ? Some of the older natives may point to the sandstone cobles . And the Rose on the bridge may actually represent the old West Riding of Yorkshire. 🤫
Great content. What a major past infrastructure.
Sorry to both Lancashire and Yorkshire Gary but I think those cast roses were actualy Tudor roses.
However time, misunderstanding. and many text books seem to have forgotten that and the double petal rose is now often described as a either Yorks or Lancs rose depending on the origins of who you ask.
Both the Yorks and Lancs roses had a single ring of petals. After the wars of the roses, the Tudors in a show of reconciliation between both parties introduced the Tudor rose with a smaller ring of petals inside the outer ring.
I will make no claim of which represent which though for fear of starting another war. :)
10:07 I think the video deserves a like just for traversing that part alone.
For info the ‘gas tower’ at Colne is a high ropes activity centre.
this video must be a couple of years old, the rope activity centre is no longer there, think it was a victim of Covid
@@wmattinson yes, we went past yesterday and I saw that it looks to be part of a carpark now and the rope course has gone.👍
This isn't there anymore and hasn't been for the best part of 3 years, this is where a new double track train station is going for Colne
@@simonh-blestrange7611 It MAY be the planned space for a bigger station but that will not change the fact that a lot of the old route from Skipton to Colne is built on and the fact that s major road leading to the motorway needs to be crossed either by tunnel or bridge. It may make Colne a better contender for more services to Lancashire towns but that doesn’t help the line from North Yorkshire
@@davegb99 not sure why you think this rail link has been built on, apart from one small location, the rail line is protected transport corridor for a start, and multiple engineers have studied this rail project and said nothing stands in it's way.
Vivary Way is an Easy solution which is backed up by the DFT which is to sink Vivary Way down to go under the railway.
The other Road at the Skipton End would be a cut and cover Bridge
In railway terms there isn't a vast amount of infrastructure to replace when one considers the billions going into HS2, and most of the alignment is still available, but I'm afraid the truth is that this line is never going to generate the sort of traffic that would justify the investment required. Clitheroe-Hellifield already offers an alternative route, and there simply isn't the volume of movement between Burnley, Colne and Skipton to support a railway. I drive that route frequently, and even at the busiest times the road traffic isn't really horrendous. Colne's a bottleneck, but nothing better road design couldn't overcome.
Anything that ADDS capacity to the network will always be worth the investment, bear in mind they don`t just want to get joe public to leave their cars at home, but want to get trucks of the road. Even if passenger take up is`nt great, it will add routing for possible future freight operations.
There is if it was used for freight between lands & York's .cement for instance!!!.
@@alanbutterworth8669 Cement is made in Clitheroe and is already shipped nationwide via the Blackburn Hellifield line.
East Lancashire has a very large population of over 1.2 million people, during All the studies some which are outgoing at the time of writing are showing very positive results more so than for the rail line your talking about which hasn't a very large population, Even Pendle has Just reached 91,000 +
Skipton train station has a footfall of 1.2 million per year with a population of Just 18,000, so when you link the two sets of tracks together this will give a very positive footfall as a new rail line.
A very interesting video, thank you. Just out of curiousity where did you get the maps that you occasionally show in the video?
wow nice one
Thanks for this. Is the campaign for re instatement still going?
the cost of building it back up will be astronomical and frankly right now...a waste of financies. strangly enough when the 'new' line was announced for rebuild, a similar project in edinburgh failed (ended up way over budget) and ended up abandoned with the usual piles of rubble...a early warning sign of things to come ??.
what i found disturbing was they had already talked about ticket prices BEFORE the lines even layed....you know the good old carrots infront of donkey stuff. bet ticket prices will raise to silly amounts.
a discussion was braught up with our local MP where he thought cause i was a rail enthusiast i would be in support of the project.....needless to say the look on his face when i told him that to me its a waste of money was priceless lol. interesting thing is at colne theres that council play area (sports area)...really think the locals will like their place of play ripped up for a rail line with bits of crud falling on their heads while they kick a footy about...council spent a few thousand building that play area for a private contractor (probably involved in fraud) to swoop in with silly plans egged on by local MP's taking backhanders and bribes. ive totally had enough of private contractors who get people exited then somehow 'run out of budget' leaving the familiar piles of rubble like seen in bradford for years as well as still in keighley (that supposed new shopping center) where all the rubble is still there to this day. money is better spent on a police station in keighley town center instead of 15 mile off in bradford !!...strangley enough, when i went to talk with the MP...we was in the old keighley nick on north street lol.
The midland railway were the best at building stations....
Fabulous
Would it not be easier to put a triangle at the top of the Copy Pit line, and then electrify the line down to Preston?
Any chance of doing the Bolton(Great Moor Street) to Kenyon junction line Allan?
At Thornton the Pennine Way passes the railway, the station building you refer to is at Ingrow West on the Worth Valley Railway, its a great line and would make another useful link to cross the Pennines, the worrying thing through is the demographic hasnt changed much, so the line is still largely rural. plus another link exists between Hellifield and Clitherow, which isnt that far away to the north.
The strange poles and platforms near Colne Station are what remains of Urban Altitude which was a rope adventure park.
This is where a new double track train station is going to be, All those poles have gone now
Think some of the small structures were possibly fogging huts and the pieces of rail sticking out of the ground could have been mile posts.
Watched the lines being removed in Earby train heading to Colne in 76.
Those concrete blocks are for the permanent way, to do with alignment
Not looking good for reinstatement really sadly - the viaduct and the canal bridge seem like major barriers - would need a lot of money
And buildings/roads that are built on the line...!!!
Their are only solutions to these not barriers, and project costs are coming down, not up!
Their is plenty of positive evidence backing up this project some of it only Just coming to Light in the last 2 wks
Didnt this line go over to bury and Accrington?
It did from colne the line went to Burnley Accrington then Bury or Blackburn
The common practice is to build a bridge over the running lines.
Easier to put Vivary Way on a bridge over the railway than to put the railway over Vivary Way.
The preference by engineers is to sink Vivary Way to go under the railway
I’m always walking the track bed between Slipper Hill and Foulridge. It’s a disgrace this line was ripped up as the last train left. Although Beeching was a bastard I heard it was British Rail that closed this tiny section WHY ???
Elslack Station became a David Brown tractor dealership in 1966 and trains were still hauling goods through past them till 1970. The Dealership was called Craven Agricultural services( this later changed to Peter White Ltd in 1986) It closed in 1998, I can remember the station masters house being still in the yard with the tractors in the early 1980s when we used to buy tractors and parts from there. That's what the remnants of the buildings in front of the modern warehouse that's where the workshops were where the tractors were serviced and repaired
Chances of re-opening this line??
Slim and none and Slim just left on the last train out of here.
All those who want to reopen the line need to watch this video. Its been so long since it closed that the land is overgrown, or built on, bridges are missing, its impossible surely. A new route would have to be found.
Nothing is impossible their are only solutions, and many railway engineers have studied this rail link in detail, Vivary Way Colne will be sunk down to go under the railway, the road in Skipton that is on an embankment this could be a cut and cover Bridge, All the other Bridges would have had to be replaced anyway along the rail line, even the new extension on the trackbed on the Nth Yorkshire side of a warehouse can be moved out of the way, the railway is actually a protected transport corridor.
Would Skipton have been highest point?
No, it peaked around Foulridge, even then the gradients were never severe
@@onemanc As does the canal of course. Not a lot of choices for routs in those hills.
SELRAP is working very hard behind closed doors and getting some very positive results from outgoing studies some of which are Just coming to Light, it's a big shame that we have some very negative people on here but that's life!
This project is about giving people some of which are the poorest people in the Country the tools to get to better paid jobs in particular in North, and West Yorkshire.
With the Government planning on banning petrol and diesel cars from 2030 how do these people get to work?
Most won't be able to buy an EV, and by the way EV's are Just as damaging to the environment as the others because of micro plastics being given off through the tyres.
We also need this rail link because it will help to take a number of heavy trucks off the Road, has anyone seen the M62? During peak hours.
I suspect some negative people on here are living a bubble and don't take much attention to what is happening around them until it's All to late.
It's a bit like the guy who wrote in the Daily Telegraph some weeks ago saying that 50% of the UK rail network should be pulled up! And to focus on building new Roads for EV's, Lol, Lol, Lol. This guy was some jumped up rich Boy living on a private Island near the Virgin Islands.
This line needs to be reopened. It could be reopened as a single track but engineered for dual track.
Selrap still have this pipe dream of the line reopening. Too much infrastructure to rebuild and alter for it to reopen. Of course, if the proposal is to turn it into a link road then money will be found....... I've walked some of this route when I lived in Earby about 12 years ago. Not a lot has changed.
SELRAP is getting some very positive results from outgoing study work, pipedreams are for those that don't understand anything and we have a Top team of people working on this project that have worked on some of the most important rail projects in the Country including Kings Cross Upgrade.
At least 5 of our team have worked on Nationally important rail projects.
And we are backed up by a number of high profile international companies who have worked with us for quite a few years now.
Should get you to do the surveys. Rather than those money grabbing surveyors probably do a better job
Yes. I used it as a boy.
But if it was reopened it's be a string of parkways as this kind of pseudo public transport seems to be all they are interested in building now.... stations for cars!
Sending billions to Ukraine is a much better idea isn't it?
Rainbow Pigs may fly🤣😜😄😀😅😂😋😂😅😅😆😗😁😆😄😝😅🤣😂
And so will Bi-mode trains between Colne and Leeds in the next few years, SELRAP is working very hard behind closed doors and two wks ago got some very positive results from outgoing studies, and this is without the freight part of the study, now that a New rail freight hub is going to be built at Huncoat it gives our project even more positive outcome.
@@simonh-blestrange7611 Who would be funding this project then if it's comes to fruition?
@@simonh-blestrange7611 Strange how much pleasure people who know so little about it seem to take in disparaging plans like this.
I would ask why but suspect they have no rational explanation beyond schadenfreude and could never admit to that.
"O Brave New World., etc, etc."
Good luck with you efforts.