British Rail-Vic Berry's scrap yard, coaches, DMUs & EMUs 1986

[@farric1]

I travelled to school everyday between crewe and stoke-on-trent on those swindon cross country dmus in the 1970"s. It's a shame only one trailer was preserved.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I always found the original DMU's to be really interesting with all the different classes, a lot of which could couple to one another (i know a few types were within class only). With the sheer amount of different types they were never all going to be saved especially if they had asbestos in them!

[@tomtalk24]

I remember going to Berrys as a kid in the 90s. Too late for anything, just saw lines in the ground. Was very depressing and stuck with me forever.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Sadly for me there wasn't a stack of locos there but units and coaching stock will do....

[@darylcheshire1618]

They look more modern than ours. In the mid ‘80s VR were still running wooden cars on the Geelong line. We reckoned BPL stood for bouncing passenger lounge. Asbestos brakes was just a pretext for auctioning off the remaining Tait cars.

[@pipandkitty2004]

I loved travelling by train in those old carriages it was an adventure when we were young ,you didn’t feel like you were imprisoned like you do now completely sealed in no fresh air and squeezed into your seat like a rat in a cage

[@chris-io1ki]

Great video for the wrong reasons! Sad seeing those DMU's and all those 501s waiting for the cutters torch!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It'll be lines of 315's & 317's soon. And perhaps the 455's not far behind, not forgetting the 314's are also coming off. In 2020 Merseyrail will start 507 & 508 replacement so the scrapmen will be busy for a bit!

[@wurlyone4685]

Anyone know anything about what the "Fulmar Express" was? (sticker on the side of one of the units featured). Had a quick Google and nothing turned up.

[@gileragfr125]

loved them 501 emus miss them well built and long lasting

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

They were gold solid BR EMU stock, the same build basically as the 302s, EPBs & SR DEMUs. I only ever got video of them in service once and you can see them here kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKSqhWOqlphjiMU-enjoy!

[@simonroyle2806]

I helped someone push their broken down Mini into this yard when i was at Leicester Poly. I seemed to recall they had a big sign with "Every Scrap matters".

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, metal is metal......lol I hope he got a few quid for it!

[@alanbartlett9523]

I remember chasing those Mk1 sleepers up and down the WCML in the day, got most of them then they were all withdrawn. Hey Ho!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I rememeber riding in them on both the East Coast & West Coast back in 1979/81.....quite an experience but quite comfy!

[@callumderry910]

3:59 sounds like someone just mined a stone block in Minecraft

[@prof.hectorholbrook4692]

VERY sad to see all those hitherto WONDERFUL BR Mk1 SLSTP, SLEP & SLF Sleeping Cars awaiting disposal. They were quieter & MUCH more comfortable than the new ridiculously noisy & rough-riding CAF Mk5 Sleeping Cars, hauled by slow freight locomotives, and now employed on the Caledonian Sleeper "services" on the WCML.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I haven't had the pleasure yet....although i've had 92s for haulage on railtours....thay are not that slow and good for around 80mph.....

[@prof.hectorholbrook4692]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus But not when the Sleeper is trying to make up lost time though mate: in 2011 with a 90 on the Up with the Anglo-Scottish beds we were 43 down at Lichfield TV and only 27 late into Euston. Thanks to some 107mph running (GPS) with a 90!

[@prof.hectorholbrook4692]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus .....hey Soi, have a look at the last 5 mins of this vid' to see what I mean about how CRAP the 92s are for the Sleepers... kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHSWZneAaK91oJI

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@prof.hectorholbrook4692 Yes, the 90s are much better suited to high speed running...and are cleared for 110mph as well! Although in theory a 92 should be fast enough if all is well, but nothing in reserved if it's all gone to pot! The best sleeper run i had was on a Mk I with Deltic 021 at the head......back in August 1981....happy days!

[@prof.hectorholbrook4692]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Oh yes! Thanks for your interesting reply Soi! My best memory on travel in an Anglo Scottish Sleeper was in 1979 from Euston to Inverness in a Mk1 Sleeper: My long train departed Euston behind "Roarer" 82008 and - it being a Mk1 Sleeper - I could hang out the window in my berth as we tackled Camden Bank, ROARING all the way to Queens Park!! Engine change at Coatbridge Yard in those days for 2 x Class 37s north. Happy days indeed!!

[@Goodchappy]

@1.55 that Class 501!, like a headless chicken. To think I probably went on that from Watford junction to college in the mid 80s.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I remember them out of Broad Street as well. A sleepy country station in the heart of London! Then a nice sedate ride, trundling around inner North London to Willesden to see a few more trains. happy days!

[@Goodchappy]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Yes. Most of them said Broadstreet on the front. Some said Croxley Green...or Poxley Green as the West Indian guard used to call it.

[@AaronOxfordExmouth1989]

Wow! Just wow.

[@JackTheOfficeWorker]

I miss those trains from Vic Berry's Scrapyard

[@moskva_channel]

In Russia, these units of motor-Car Rolling Stock could travel for another 30 years.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

In the UK a few did! A couple of single car DMU's ran with Chiltern Railways until 2017, that is 30 years after this vid was made. But i know what you mean, in Rusia a whole fleet would have been kept running rather than in thsi case just a couple of odd units.

[@moskva_channel]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Russia. No Rusia.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@moskva_channel Slip of the finger i'm afraid.....

[@brianfearn4246]

Those bars across some of the windows were to prevent passengers from sticking ther heads out of the windows in the narrow tunnels 😊

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, the old North London line class 501's.... Hampstead Tunnel was the reason why.....

[@brianfearn4246]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus 👍

[@danielferstendig]

sir topham should have saved these trains.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

The grim reaper comes for them all sooner or later.....

[@Godsgryl]

There’s passenger cars stacked like domino’s

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

All waiting for the chop sadly.....

[@Kirbybellars]

Was the fire there the reason it berry scrap yard closed? I remember as kid going to my grans when it was on fire

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It was due to be closed and redeveloped but strangly had a fire first! It never regained it's glory after but still kept in business just long enough to get any payout due!

[@fatwalletboy2]

Marking the end of BR Mk1 inter city sleepers...... Did all this old stock contain asbestos?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Some did and was disposed of carefully by specialist contrators.

[@glenjarnold]

fatwalletboy2 I did wonder that too!

[@v11cu96]

Just in the heaters wasn't it?

[@leeosborne3793]

@@v11cu96 No, they were absolutely riddled with the stuff.

[@brianfearn4246]

Asbestos was used in many things including buildings as it was a good fire retardant until it was discovered to be dangerous if inhaled 😊

[@annescholey6546]

Asbestos was a big problem then.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I seem to recall Vic Berry had a special unit for dealing with contaminated stock, as well as MC Metals in Glasgow.

[@brianfearn4246]

Asbestos was used as a fire retardent until it was found to be dangerous to health.

[@villevirtanen00]

All is indirectly Thatcher 's fault..

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Trains have always been scrapped since the start of them. But yes, in the 1980s BR was loosing freight traffic big time which resulted in more locos having no work than would otherwise have been the case. The 80s sadly was when the road lobby really got a hold of government policy.....

[@doveronefoxtrot4417]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus And now virtually nothing travels by rail freight, mostly only aggregate, meanwhile we are all slowly dying of road traffic pollution.

[@Godsgryl]

The thumbnail is so funny

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

For some reason all the thumbnails run at 3 x spped by the look of it....

[@bullyinspace]

Sad sight.

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

Cutting torch destruction frenzy !

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Wait until i upload a Routemaster scarp vid i took way back in 1985, i caught the whole process on film!

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

​@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Wow brilliant, I'll check it out thanks!

[@Jeagles]

Dad: Why you crying so damn loud

[@ronyardley3833]

Well done.up your won

[@sgthree]

I'd rather travel in the newer stock, as they are much safer in a crash where these Mk1 type carriages peeled open like a banana as was seen in far too many incidents including Clapham.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Newer stock is safer but no train is 100% safe, railways are heavy engineering and when things go wrong the forces involved will rip anything apart!

[@sgthree]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus but you saw when the Pendolino came off the track due to a faulty point, compared to even the Mk 3 coaches on the HSTs that folded in half at Southall and Ladbroke Grove, and how the newer stock stayed together in one piece, whereas the older stock (and I am thinking in particular Clapham Junction) just peeled apart like a banana. I know which train I'd rather be in.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@sgthree The Pendo only came off the track and some of it dowen an embankment, in the other two cases (both of which were in the area i worked as a driver) they hit other trains. At Southall the MkIII's caught themselves on the poking out edges (once they had derailed) of JHA wagons (which are very unforgiving being used for heavy aggregates) and that stoped them dead and the forces of the moving HST still had energy to disipate so bent the coaches round. And at Ladbroke Grove it was a head on collision, the newer Turbo came off worse there, the front coach all but disintegrated while some of the HST coaches caught fire which distorted them. There were very few deaths on the HST happily, so the MkIIIs did the job they were designed for there! I agree that much older slam door stock would have indeed come off very badly in either of these accidents.....

[@ronyardley3833]

Destoyed from the inside in

[@tappy72]

wouldn't it be safer to stack them Jenga style?! looks well dodgy.. and heartbreaking :-(

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

They never fell down, there was a fair bit of weight in each of them that kept them in place.....

[@ronyardley3833]

Britan today x

[@isakjohansson7134]

Thats sad...

[@frostycola42]

put one in a museum instead to scrap

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Some coaches and units survive, most being on heritage railways. But Br had so much stock there was no choice other than razor blades......

[@lenholloway4390]

I know, lets zoom in, no wait, zoom out and then zoom in again and out again and back in again. Its really so bad that its unwatchable.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Perhaps you could make a film or two for KZbin....and i can see your style?.......

[@wurlyone4685]

It's useful zooming in to be able to see the details, that relate to for example, depot allocation to depots that no longer exist. The panning is nice and slow, compared to what a lot of people pan way too fast. Good work, IMO!