Class 304 Cab Ride, Wolverhampton to Walsall

Wolverhampton to Walsall on a Class 304 EMU, filmed in the late 1980's. Part of the rare cab ride series; "Cab Views 10". I cannot find anywhere to purchase these video's or DVD's apart from the odd one that pops up on Ebay, if you hold the copyright please let me know and I shall remove.
Jules Pope, December 2015.

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

That AWS sound is so loud

[@nigelbrazier8585]

Ah memories of my teens travelling from Stafford to Birmingham on the good old 304s and listening to the air pump underneath the floor as it recharged the system after each stop, Dugga Dugga Dugga... Dugga....... Dugga! They were rough old things but did the job, bouncing everyone along the Grand Junction day in.

[@BibtheBoulder]

Cracking video, all respect to the old hand who was a passed fireman.

[@HatsuneMiku3D]

These were the good old days, sadly only remembered in these old videos and our memories

[@adamslimm5766]

Thanks for uploading this video, been looking for it for ages! Now all I am waiting for is Birmingham N Street - Rugeley Trent Valley.

[@markgr1nyer]

As a current day SC based at Wolves I go over this route every day. Amazing to see how much the route has changed in some ways and not much in others

[@mikelong689]

Thank you so much for the upload. It's so interesting to listen to the driver and co with their trivia about various spots on the line, Also how loud is that AWS! 😀

[@fetchstixRHD]

Having read this comment, I've turned my volume down, so as to not find out the hard way 😂 Interesting contrast to modern AWS units too, where the warning horns are relatively quiet (to the extent that they've been missed!)

[@TheBarnem13]

Blimey that AWS horn is LOUD!!

[@sw01ller]

Barnem13 especially if you’ve had a drink the night before!! Haha. First thing that made me laugh too.

[@WebbysWalks]

Great footage, so many memories, we used to catch the train from Wolverhampton to Coseley regular in the 80's as a child, and sometimes Coseley to Brum. Great to see some old memories there from a different angle, The Cannon, a brand new Black Country Route Bridge, The Bean. The old Level Crossing at Tipton that used to cause traffic chaos, and an old Coseley Railway Station. Thank you,

[@pappakilo3965]

Great video! That line from Wolverhampton to New Street was always a favourite with me in the 1970s. There used to be a scrap metal yard between Smethwick and New Street that had tantalising items that had been removed from local factories.

[@HyperBlueWolf]

The class 304's were always my favourite multiple units. Used to ride them on the Wolves-Coventry all stations to work every day. I don't remember ever travelling this route though, as i would have only been a kid at the time. All trains from Wolverhampton-Walsall these days take the immediate left turn out of Wolverhampton and go via the Bescot loop... Although there is no official service, it gets added and cancelled as required.

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

How old were you when you rode on that 304 units

[@SMILEVIDEOTRAINS]

smashing thank you

[@brianjesic4716]

this great. I have the Redditch to Lichfield line filmed in 1990 before it was electrified. so here you are another great gem here. love it

[@annescholey6546]

With the 118s

[@brianjesic4716]

@@annescholey6546 116s but 118s are on it but all really 117s. as 116/118s had refits in 1970s refurbished and became the 117s

[@keithrogers6904]

Great video.. If only it had been filmed just a few short years earlier and we would have seen Bilston Steelworks and other industrial sites before they disappeared from the landscape forever.

[@RobertJones-xq1si]

Very strange to see how it looked before Tame Bridge station between Hamstead and Bescot... good share.

[@EM-yk1dw]

Lovely AM4s with big guards van and rectifier cooling fan in the roof.

[@trainmania100]

great video :-)

[@johnsheldon7862]

Commuted on these from Stoke to Stockport till withdrawal

[@keithhaynes9462]

Beautiful ay it

[@carolinegray5297]

Good video

[@m18tankdestroyer43]

Love it. Quick question tho, after the Stechford accident in 1967, was EMU 304026 rebuild or was it cut up? Can anyone help answer this.

[@iantrack]

Great video, really interesting motorman/driver ex nine elms fireman ( did you find out which shed he started his footplate career at? ).

[@rebeccam7326]

Smethwick Galton Bridge @ 17:28 (the future site of)

[@rebeccam7326]

I'm guessing this is 1989, as I think that was the year the Black Country Route opened (the bridge is there before the train reaches Coseley)? I used to live in that part of the world.

[@mikelong689]

I'm gonna guess that this video is from 1989 because you can see the Hyatt hotel nearing completion as you head into new street tunnel

[@annescholey6546]

Our time on the Bush spring 1995.

[@adamslimm5766]

Do you have the Walsall - Rugeley Trent Valley line at all?

[@class87srule]

I take it that the distracting background conversation is the driver and his buddy? A bit more info about the various junctions etc would have been nice on a paid-for video.

[@mikelong689]

Here's the Class 304 on Wikipedia en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_304

[@jonathanhall7815]

Walsall, what a dark depressing railway station !

[@stephenduncan3605]

my god you're right as well!

[@None-zc5vg]

A bit like the rest of the town.

[@annescholey6546]

Tip top Tipton

[@KevTheBusDriver]

Walsall Stations were okay 1849-1978, honest!

[@paulconner9354]

A bit like up north in general

[@dav1mic]

is it me or do people get quite emotional due to the fact all our trains then were built in the UK

[@trainmaniacstudios8216]

27:06 What the bloody hell is a NSE 455 EMU doing all the way up in Birmingham??!

[@TheRailwayChannel]

Train Maniac Studios it’s a 317

[@trainmaniacstudios8216]

Its still in NSE colours and its still all the way up in Birmingham mate. In fact, the 455's are based on the 317's so that's also sort of redundant.

[@limeyfox]

Train Maniac Studios For a couple of years the 317s worked Euston-Northampton-Birmingham services after being displaced off the Bed-Pan route when Thameslink opened, but before the 321s arrived. After about 1990 they were transferred to the Kings Cross lines.

[@trainmaniacstudios8216]

Ahhhhh i see!

[@nigelpoole7163]

@@trainmaniacstudios8216 I used to travel from New St to Coventry on NSE 317's a lot