Great memories rekindled by the shots of Wareham as I remember it! Worgret Junction cabin also exactly as I remember the token being taken up. I remembered when I saw the view from Corfe Castle of the unit going by, a lifetime ago watching an M7 tank loco and it's train doing exactly the same thing. Seeing the crowd on Swanage platform makes me wonder how it ever closed. It always seemed to be busy yet after closure the replacement bus was never full, so I can only assume that most of the regular clientèle must have begun to use their cars, or had to acquire one to get to work or whatever they were wanting to do. Great that the line is open as a heritage railway but sad it no longer does the job it was meant to! Thanks for the memories!
@mulatnochannel6 күн бұрын
Nice n I scrb you 👍♥️
@scopex274910 күн бұрын
thought it was a 'Warship' but no - SO SO SAD that none of these were saved.😭
@scopex274910 күн бұрын
Is that loco a Warship? 😮
@scopex274910 күн бұрын
We were there when the railway was open and saw it close. We holidayed in Swanage right from when I was a child up to when we lost mum and dad. I cant bear to go back there now its very upsetting I just see THEM everywhere. I do love the town though my brother and I walked the cliff path every year round to dancing ledge Chapmans Pool and Durdle Door! We also used to walk the abandoned track bed to Wareham throuhg ' The Wilderness' as its known - cant do that anymore though so pleased it reopened. Its now possible to get a train again FROM LONDON TO SWANAGE. Thanks for the memories.
@TheBaldmeisterАй бұрын
I went to Swanage in the summer of 1969 (aged 11) for a summer holiday with my parents. Maybe we were on that train! (Doesn't look like we were on the platform!)
@graydonfisher609Ай бұрын
I like to see more about the "Sprat & Winkle" Line please.
@grahamdeamer128Ай бұрын
Pity that the modern day reintroduction of the Wareham to Swanage service was so short lived. I used it a lot last year, so sad that one of the principal objectives of the restoration movement had to be abandoned.
@DocAlRead1Ай бұрын
I've been on it as well. Hopefully it's not completely abandoned. It needs to be economically viable.
@toddhunter3137Ай бұрын
Great video. Did that swing bridge ever operate? I never seen it working.
@brianswan3559Ай бұрын
This is now the Tarka Trail cycle route.
@BigBikeMad-ox8vo2 ай бұрын
You can get a cream for Itchen Abbas.
@juliak57042 ай бұрын
Thank you for sharing this. My father was a driver on the Hastings to Ashford line in the 60's 70's and 80's.
@pn112upfast2 ай бұрын
Excellent 👍👍👍👍
@iainnunn42513 ай бұрын
How unusual. It’s raining in Okehampton. Or, as we call it, liquid sunshine!
@MasterDownUnder3 ай бұрын
Do you have anything from Shawford to Sutton Scotney on the DNS...?
@DocAlRead13 ай бұрын
Alas no. I never knew that line unfortunately.
@petes68143 ай бұрын
One of my earliest memories of the railway was a Merchant Navy thundering through St Denys while I was sat on a Hampshire Unit from Fareham. 13 years later, I would be working on the Railway at Southampton on the St Denys Totton resignalling scheme as a PW junior technical officer.
@TimGrose3 ай бұрын
Fascinating to see some rails still in situ at Fullerton with some glimpses of the Mayfly. Did you actually walk on the line in this period to Stockbridge where the station site has of course completely gone. Presume the rails did not last too much longer after 1968?
@DocAlRead13 ай бұрын
Yes, we did get to Stockbridge. Unfortunately I must have run out of film by then!
@peterstudley18043 ай бұрын
Lovely film , just out of the stream era , into the new corporate blue era , gas lamps, signal boxes, a Austin Westminster gracing one of the station car parks, and a pre tops crompton comes thumping thru running light , 1970 feels a life time ago now . Thanks for the upload 😊.
@brianwilliams34833 ай бұрын
I thik i prefer 1967 !
@DocAlRead13 ай бұрын
Oh me too!
@michaelsandford10153 ай бұрын
I lot of people on the platform wanting to go home
@ChrisH-19523 ай бұрын
I remember camping with the Boys Brigade across the fields from Harmans Cross (no station then, I think) in the mid 60s and standing on one of the bridges to watch the already 'doomed' train go underneath. Lovely to see these old films. Mind you, the modern reincarnation is much tidier than these 'good old days' are shown to be.
@DocAlRead13 ай бұрын
Thanks for this, and yes there was not a station at Harmans Cross then.
@michaelmiller6413 ай бұрын
Fascinating! Thankyou!
@alantraish33684 ай бұрын
Thanks for sharing this important film. A railway thrown in the bin like an old coke can . Every asset then realised . Did you get to Andoversford Tunnel?
@DocAlRead14 ай бұрын
Thanks, but you may be confusing Andover with Andoversford. We walked from Andover to Stockbridge on the line towards Romsey and Southampton.
@michaelsandford10154 ай бұрын
Mmmmmmmm things were different
@matthew06054 ай бұрын
Thank you, Thank you, it was film pioneers then that captured the flicks flocks film that kept a record of railway life at that time . Excellent work. My hats off to you and thank you for the insight to record these railway workings at the time . Nuff respects .
@DocAlRead14 ай бұрын
Very kind of you for the comment. I was just a teenager with an interest in railways and cine filming!
@TheDaf95xf4 ай бұрын
Great video but sad seeing railways disused 😢
@richardburningham57894 ай бұрын
Amazing that so much was still in situ more than three years after closure. Andover Town station didn't seem to be vandalised either.
@DocAlRead14 ай бұрын
No it was rather more than vandalised later, along with the rest of the line.
@MiLLwallpaul2312584 ай бұрын
Some lovely railway collectibles in this film
@johnmurray84284 ай бұрын
Thank you. Steam must had ended soon after this! Great you have this.
@tonywise1984 ай бұрын
I can hear the Thumpers on the silent film. I must be old!
@DocAlRead14 ай бұрын
Don't remind me either...
@iandocwra11694 ай бұрын
Well done you for capturing this as a lad. My late father did a lot of colour filming of the same era, but I was just a bit too young to get into it then.
@martinduckworth98374 ай бұрын
Have cycled that stretch of line many times. Great to see how it used to look.
@robhavock94344 ай бұрын
Incredible footage of a golden time, I made it to Cornwall in 1980 so I have a idea of things lost and the period, the universe doesn't run backwards so it's probably lost forever.
@DocAlRead14 ай бұрын
Just a chance Bideford to Barnstaple might be restored?
@alzeNL5 ай бұрын
what beautiful video footage ! really many thanks for the upload. I used to get the train as a kid between St Leonards on Sea to Rye, with the exciting change in Hastings for the line to Ashford. Whilst I today enjoy the views across the southwest, the view of the marshes and the sounds of the diesel thumpers across the stunning Sussex and Kent scenery was very evoctive as youngster and have always loved trains since. Seeing footage of this era again is so lovely.
@DocAlRead14 ай бұрын
Well thanks for that. I'm a rail enthusiast of course, and love this part of the country as well.
@HYUKLDER15 ай бұрын
That film shows two (of the four) Wareham Station platforms that are not used now. The one the train pulls out of is part of the Station car park and the other one is overgrown. The two lines in the middle continue to be the 143 mile South West Main Line between London Waterloo and Weymouth which has both fast and stopping trains serving Wareham. Wareham Station still has many passengers using it, c300,000 a year and the station is well kept. It is possible to walk into Wareham town, there is a bus stop at the north side of the Station and taxis serve from the south side. The rail link to Swanage Station was re-established, and recent signalling improvements at Worgret Junction have enabled main line certification so that technically certified heritage line trains from Swanage can use the main line Wareham Station on a scheduled or occasional basis provided Swanage Railway funds allow.
@DocAlRead14 ай бұрын
Thanks for that summary. I've been from Wareham to Swanage on the new link - let's hope it's able to continue.
@n2kos5 ай бұрын
When we had ports in Folkestone, Ramsgate and Dover! why get rid of them?! now everything bottlenecks in Dover!
@toddhunter3137Ай бұрын
When the Euro tunnel opened it was inevitable unfortunately.
@maestromanification5 ай бұрын
Wow amazing footage, shame no sound. Would have been fantastic from a hymek
@DocAlRead15 ай бұрын
Thanks. It was standard 8mm film which was silent. I went onto Super 8 sound film, but that was later!
@simongurden98485 ай бұрын
I was 2 y..o. then. I remember it well! 🤣
@Philg0jba5 ай бұрын
Thanks for posting this Alan. I was a Signalman at Wateringbury in 1984. Wye and Wateringbury crossing gates are now gone. Phil
@johncourtneidge5 ай бұрын
Thank-you!
@BOFsensai5 ай бұрын
Fabulous save&share (upload) = thank you.
@hippysailor5 ай бұрын
Brilliant trip down memory lane - thank you.
@chrismccartney86685 ай бұрын
Went last year hauled by Manston Battle of Brotain one way pother was Lovely heritage diesel..
@TheSpitfiregoggles5 ай бұрын
Thanks for this, Alan. I have worked in the Ticket Office at Ham Street for the last 11 years and live in St. Mary's Close, opposite the car park. The corrugated iron lamp hut is still there, though the signal box and foot crossing are gone, the latter went out of use in 2014 and the lines are now crossed by a footbridge with brick towers and lifts! Perhaps the biggsst change is in the overall aspect of the place, there are many more trees and, inevitably, houses. The old name lingers on, as some internal paperwork still shows it as Ham Street and Orlestone. Fond memories of the rest of the line, too...I travelled on it a number of times before Appledore to Ore was singled. Kind regards, Simon.
@DocAlRead15 ай бұрын
Well thanks for this Simon. I'm pleased Ham Street has a ticket office, and trust that the line is well used these days. I'm also pleased it brought back those memories.
@alanmitchell28595 ай бұрын
Memories of the 1960's, travelling from Bromley to Appledore picking up a thumper unit at Ashford to fish on the nearby Royal Military canal......happy days.
@typhoon28275 ай бұрын
Beautiful beautiful England. Wasn't it worth fighting for?
@DocAlRead15 ай бұрын
Yes, well said.
@XxBec35095 ай бұрын
Great collection of videos
@XxBec35095 ай бұрын
Great old footage. Please feel free to like and subscribe
@hogyndrwg62535 ай бұрын
Delightful glance back to calmer times! It’s hard to imagine everything looked so bucolic so close to central London. Since everything has been built on, these scenes are distant dreams!
@DocAlRead15 ай бұрын
Yes, it was a little rural oasis within the housing estates. I spent many happy hours there as a kid.
@phillwainewright42215 ай бұрын
When I was a bus driver (1990s) one of the late shift rotas involved driving a 142 Poole to Swanage, then a 30 minute stop-over before returning. We would be given the key to the station staffroom so we could have somewhere to sit and take our break.