Exploring Helmdon viaduct, Station and Bridges
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- Join me as I explore along the Great Central Railway in Helmdon. Home to a fantastic Viaduct it also has some great bridges and the remains of a station. A stunning walk and a real trip through history
All that lost and forgotten infrastructure! The viaduct now stands alone, as a monument to the great central. Fancy a small village like Helmdon having two stations, because of the two lines. The infilled bridge is just criminal. I think Daisy enjoys the railway walks as much as we do. It's great to see these places through your videos. Thanks Middy.
Thanks for watching. Beautiful little village I agree unbelievable it had 2 stations.. true it is a sad if not beautiful monument to a forgotten age. Daisy loves a good walk and the railways provide that and plenty of places for her to nose around! Thanks again 👍
I would love to climb that bridge! The architecture is so cool out there, I’d like to make my way out there one day
Nice walkabout... it's always interesting getting to explore old railway infrastructure. I know what you mean about graffiti, It's much better to see the plain walls and brickwork. Would have been great to see the goods shed in one piece, sadly someone put an end to that. Will never understand people lighting fires at locations like this. Bridges seem to be getting infilled more and more these days. Totally destroys the architecture. Seems to me it's a mix of making 100% sure the railway can never run in that location again and an area to dump rubble/waste. Great video.
Thanks for watching. I have a deep hatred of what I call lazy graffiti, some proper street art is excellent but I would sooner see the brick. Infilling is a real treat to many bridges and in my opinion a lazy way of maintenance
I lived in Helmdon only 15 or so years ago, I can't believe the changes since then. It's so much more overgrown and the buildings so much more dilapidated.
Thank you for watching. It always amazes me how buildings look alright for a while then suddenly seem to fall into disrepair. Some of the old station buildings are certainly in the last stages before they are sadly gone forever.
This is great this video, I'm seeing railway's & bridges I've never seen before! Thanks for filming these while we still got them. Happy New year. 😊🎉👍
Thanks for watching and happy new year. Sorry once you start looking you can't stop! More new videos coming very soon
Thanks for this very interesting. Have you got any pictures (Photos ) of GCR bridges under construction? GCR brick work being rather above average one imagines they would have taken great care.
Thank you and thanks for watching. The only evidence I have is the video at brackley viaduct where one arch is partially visible. 8 layers thick and all bonded perfectly.
28:10 Conflict of interest... A Highways Agency dealing with old railway infrastructure! They should stick to roads and not railways. That's what Ernest Marples did with bringing in Dr Beeching, Marples had a road construction business as a side line and was happy to see the railways cut back!
Thanks for watching. I absolutely agree and you are right history speaks for itself. Someone somewhere made a lot of money out of the railways being decimated and now we are paying the price when most of this infrastructure would be useful and busy! short term gain, long term pain.
Standard LNER platelayers hut. They were the "bait cabins" of the P Way gangs and a store for basic hand tools for everyday use and a place to make a brew at lunchtime with a coal stove for heating the kettle and getting dried out on wet shift. No road vans with gas rings then! We would have struggled to survive working on the tracks in all weathers without a cabin! These concrete ones weren't as snug as the old sleeper built ones though and the steel Crittal windows were very draughty.
When they built the GCR I reckon there would have been a world shortage of lue bricks. I wonder how many of them were used in the London Extension?
I have often wondered what it was like working on the railways and also what these huts were like when working. It was a world away from today's workers with break vans and safe spaces etc! Once again thanks for watching and I am glad you enjoyed the video 👍
Might help to pull out some of the smaller saplings growing near the structure, carefully of course. That red brick station property looks rebuildable.
Thank you for watching
Tbh I always think I would love to help but not sure if I would be doing right for doing wrong! Shame the railway companies don't look after them but that is unfortunately how it is
The station bridge is a completely different structure to the other traditional arch bridges in that it spans the supports with steel girders to support the road deck.
Several attempts were made to strengthen it during the 90s as it was basically rusting away.
Filling in the underside was the only option left in order to save it.
Demolition and rebuilding would have cost millions and would have basically cut the village off from its main link to the Welsh lane for many months/ poss years….Not criminal at all.
Thanks for watching and for the information. That certainly makes more sense than some of the other infills we have seen. Thank you for the information.
Another belting upload , anything GCR is awesome in my eyes ,second only to my fav' line the HnB
Thanks for watching. My favourite must be the GCR but I love the old Leiston to Aldeburgh line!
Had a look from bridge 518 today, station platform has been cleared and all around it 😮
Hi thanks for watching. Yes the area around the old station has been bought and cleared by the new owner. I believe the old infrastructure is safe but who knows what will happen. Sadly the line closed so long ago now and with no chance of reopening it's slowly disappearing forever.
Needs Trains again. Very Interesting on GCR.
Thank you for watching. I couldn't agree more! Sadly I think those days are gone forever.
So interesting
The viaduct and old station was my playground when I lived in Helmdon 1967- 1973. It looked very different in those days. I can remember watching the tracks being lifted in 1968.
Thank you for watching. I can only imagine what it looked like. Apparently now under new ownership and platforms all cleared but the remaining buildings are pro ably beyond repair sadly.
@@MiddyExplores There are many photos of Helmdon Station available. Have you seen them?
Beautiful...
That was amazing lots to see and the viaduct was amazing I bet you were both worn out a long walk and for daisy too she is so cute xxx
It is certainly a good walk, we did stop for a picnic half way round though! Daisy would walk all day if we could keep up! I will pass on the message to her! Thanks as always for watching
Another great adventure so good to see more of what's survived 👏😄
Thank you and thanks for watching. A real lovely area as well which was a double bonus!
fantastic video again middy in our back yard.
Glad you enjoyed it thanks for watching! 👍😀
Will it be used for HS2? I hope it's not going to be demolished
Thanks for watching. No this part is not for HS2 it goes south of this area 👍
all the resources to infill a bridge, but none to fill all the b y potholes!!!!
Exactly what I was thinking!
If I lived in the station masters house I would have cut back all the trees and keep the features exposed
Thanks for watching. I totally agree it would look like they had just lifted the tracks if I was there!
They've cleared the ground to the platforms now,just seen a Facebook posting on disused stations site
Very interesting and you make us want to see more.
Thank you for watching and your kind comments. The channel has been a little quiet lately but there is new adventures being lined up!
Fantastic video many thanks👍
Thank you for watching I am glad you enjoyed it 👍
Love the ending 😆
I don't know why buy I knew you would like that 😂😂👍
Thanks for another really interesting video. Your videos and descriptions of all of that amazing infrastructure really shows the far sighted standards that the GCR was built to and what it could and should have been achieving today. What an incredible short sighted and expensive waste was committed by Beeching and Marples.…. In these days of Global Warming etc., we are going to need much more infrastructure like that and it will cost fortunes to right their wrongs.
Thanks for watching. I totally agree but as usual short term gain for long term pain. They didn't think of the future at all. very sad and very wasteful.
@@MiddyExplores So true, and while thinking of Global Warming etc., just consider that it cost vast amounts of carbon to build the GCR and all the other abandoned railways in the first place, along with vast amounts more to rip it all up and will cost yet more vast amounts of carbon to reinstate it…. Then when you think that in these days of companies like Amazon and all the other parcel and freight distribution companies etc, just how much more carbon could be saved if we still had that infrastructure sending all that stuff by rail instead of it thundering down the motorways..…. A wasteful and short sighted policy indeed……
@@nickslater2680 absolutely agree. They knew this but money spoke louder than words... The theory was to sell more cars and build more roads, once that trend started it was irreversible. The whole lot should have mothballed and slowly bought back to service as needed., Especially the GCR. A real shame and as you say how much more to restore or rebuild?
@@MiddyExplores As you say, money spoke louder then words (and possibly self interest as well if it’s true what they say that Marples had links to the road building lobby….). I expect we could go on about this for hours but if anyone wants an example of the true financial cost of reinstatement of infrastructure like the GCR they only have to look at how much the Elizabeth Line cost to get opened yesterday (i.e. a shade under £19 Billion with a bit more to do over the next couple of years to get it completely connected up over the next couple of years). - Or how much HS2 is costing.…? - and that perhaps may not have been necessary or perhaps not so expensive had the GCR been operational. Or another example, the cost of the recent partial re-opening of the Waverley Line from Edinburgh…. Anyway, thanks for your interesting and informative videos. I knew little about the GCR and the far sighted, expandable and seemingly “future proof” (but sadly not in the event) standards it was built to until I saw some of your posts on it recently. I always knew that Beeching and the subsequent cuts were intrinsically wrong but just a couple of views of your posts show what an incredible waste the cuts were. So thanks again for your videos.….
Gcr this Gcr that 😂
You have got to love the GCR!
jokes mate! another goodun niceone
Thanks buddy👍 I knew you loved the GCR!!
🤣🤣🤣
What a fantastic explore!! I would be in my glory with so much to see and explore and those buildings...wow! Its so sad to watch history fading away but you did such a good job documenting it ~ Tracee
Thank you. It's such a beautiful area and we spent so long there looking at the old buildings. Thanks for your support 👍
Beautiful viaduct and bridge 515, but angered to see 518 infilled presumably by HE. Yet another act of cultural and historic vandalism. Is it still in that sorry state? Waiting to see Great Musgrave dug back out and restored this year. This appalling policy is exactly opposed to plans to reverse Beeching, re-open branches and extend heritage railways. Thanks for another cool explore.
Thank you for watching. That infill is such an eye sore as well at least the ones done years back used soil and planted trees etc to blend it in a bit! The viaduct is a beauty and one I have visited a few times. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Great video Middy!! The Helmdon section of the GCR is possibly has been left the most original since the closure, the line going underneath the viaduct is also known as the Statford & Midland Junction Railway
Thanks for watching. Yes I got two names for the other line so plumped for one! It really is a lovely area lots to see 👍
Another great video, with plenty to see, either beautiful (bridges, viaducts, a plate layers hut etc.), or not so beautiful (that absolute travesty of an infilled bridge). There’s always plenty to see if you know where to look. A definite thumbs-up from me.
Thank you David. This has been one of my favourite explores as there was so much to see, the infilled bridge was a definite low point though!
Thanks for another nice GCR video. Shame these bits of it have been left to rot a touch though great to see the viaduct is still there - feel much more could be done with some of these routes between towns - even just opening them as proper cycle ways as I am sure they would get some use. On a plus note at Rugby Central, I have heard that the messy graffiti has been removed from the old station and some better graffiti has replaced it with some of Rugby's history on it so I need to go and check that out for myself sometime soon!
Thanks for watching. I agree there could be loads done with what remains of the old line. Rugby central looks way different to when I filmed it!
Another wonderful GCR explore, many thanks!
Thank you for watching 👍
Crikey I may have found somewhere that I have been to before you have!!! I visited Helmdon in March and took in all the sights that you have shown in this video. The viaduct really is a breathtaking sight but equally as impressive was the last bridge on the video, it was massive, and when I stood underneath it I actually felt dizzy because of its size. I'd love someone to clear the station site and uncover all the riches that are evidently there, it would be great to see. That was a fantastic video, thanks.
Thanks as always for watching. I went a while back but I had camera issues so went back recently. Beautiful area and yes that bridge is something else! Absolutely enormous. I will have to start trying harder!! 👍
@@MiddyExplores No need to worry, I'm not in your league!!!!
Great explore! Always love the viaducts. Interesting to see what's left of the stations. Yet again more graffiti sadly. I had a look at the agricultural bridge near whetstone viaduct and a drone was hovering over the old farmhouse so I'm not sure what that was about as it did come over to me.
Thanks for watching. Graffiti is my pet hate as you know. A beauty of a viaduct though and easily accessible.
@@MiddyExplores lots of graffiti has popped up over whetstone over this week, most of it is very bad. There's a massive load near whetstone church in the alleyway next to that. It's a shame as where it all is is a very public place.
Lovely to see my village of circa 40 years in such a way. Am very pleased, and humbled, to be able to say that I am buying a part of the Helmdon for Sulgrave station land.
Thank you for watching really beautiful area and I am just a little jealous! Glad you enjoyed the video.
@@MiddyExplores 🚉