Settle Carlisle:- End of the Line? Yorkshire TV 1985
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ต.ค. 2024
- An influential half-hour documentary, made in 1985 by Yorkshire Television, concerning the proposed closure of the Settle-Carlisle railway line . In particular, civil engineer Christopher Wallace suggests that the Ribblehead viaduct can be repaired at a cost of about £500,000, while BR's Ron Cotton maintains that the viaduct would need replacing at a cost of £5 million to £6 million.
The programme consists of film of the line, some of the stations and includes a clip of campaigner Graham Nuttall with his border collie Ruswarp, pronounced 'Russup', boarding a train. There are interviews with Ron Cotton, the British Rail project manager, campaigner Peter Horton, civil engineer Christopher Wallace, and John Watson the Tory MP for Skipton. A short section is narrated by the author and playwright Alan Bennett.
The line had a stay of execution and was eventually reprieved in 1989, to the credit of Michael Portillo, the Minister of State for Transport in the Thatcher Government. The dog Ruswarp famously stayed with his owner's body for 11 winter weeks when Graham died by a remote Welsh mountain stream in 1990. In 2009, a lifesize bronze sculpture of Ruswarp was unveiled at Garsdale station.
The video clip has been adjusted for dimensions, frame rate, pixel format and appearance. The PC applications used were Avisynth (AvsPMod), ffmpeg (FFQueue), VirtualDub, Wavosaur and Audacity.
John Ryan Bembess
Thank you for posting this. It just shows that you can beat the system!
Thanks for posting. I remember the attempted closure but I never saw this documentary. Thank goodness people power means we have this fabulous line today. Ribblehead viaduct intact. Respect to all the navvies that gave so much to connect communities and deliver goods.
You're very welcome. The various documentaries played a significant role in informing people about BR's nefarious approach to creating evidence that the line should be closed for financial reasons.
I remember watching this in 1985, the programme received an airing right across the ITV network via their First Tuesday documentary strand. IIRC Jonathan Dimbleby ended the broadcast by highlighting that 'End of the Line' was still a question. I don't think that I've ever come across a better use of the magnificent Nimrod to accompany the footage of the line.
David Joy, interviewed next to Ribblehead, came to our school to give a talk on the S&C. As a schoolboy I did my bit to fight closure.😊
Most enjoyable documentary. Haven't seen it before. Glib Ron Cotton of BR personifies so much of what was wrong with the railways then, and to some extent now. I find it ironic that the railway route was saved, but Yorkshire Television, one of Britain's finest television companies has since lost its identity and been absorbed into the generic ITV brand. Progress?
Thank you for sharing this ! I have never seen it before and thoroughly enjoyed watching it ! Thank god the line was saved thanks mainly to people power - I first started visiting this line in the early 80's so seeing some of the stations as they were then in such a run down state brought back lots of memories for me ..... Excellent short documentary ....
BR had a not dissimilar proposal, around the same time, to close the Hull to Doncaster direct route citing the Ouse Swing Bridge and shipping hitting it causing damage that was too expensive to repair. Closure was proposed between Staddlethorpe Jctn and Goole, with Goole station moved west of Boothferry Road and the line from Doncaster becoming a spur to Goole. Hull to Doncaster services were to be routed via Selby.
Thankfully that didn't happen. I'm too young to know the reasons why but in their attempts at closure BR I recall listening to an idious BR placeman forwarding the ahem benefits of closure.
Now London services run via Selby but there are 2tph, usually Sheffield to Scarborough semi fast and Doncaster to Hull stopper.
instead of focusing on balance sheets, the main focus should be on whats good for the people who live and work in the area,by keeping the line open it brings others from outside the local area, to see the glorious sites of the beautiful landscape and spend their cash.which can be put back into the local community and go towards maintaining the line and the lovely structures that support the line. its seems like in those days BR was run by acountants and not railwaymen and women.
Michael Portillo had nothing to do with it. The Friends of the Settle-Carlisle demonstrated that BR had been neglecting maintenance and inflating the repair costs, the publicity increased passenger traffic and made the line profitable on passenger traffic alone, the Commons Transport Committee recommended that BR's request to close the line be rejected and Portillo's deputy signed that off.
The Railway That Refused To Die'
I second that. A very beautiful line.
Me and my dad and his work mate did work on Ribblehead viaduct in 1988.
This has all the characteristics of being an episode [secondary title, mention of 'next week' at end titles, etc]. Does anyone know if this is part of a series, and where the rest might be hiding?
Captain!...What Exactly the p People finally got the point!.