Dilton Marsh - Least Used Station In Wiltshire

[@GeoffSaint]

When I worked for Trainload Freight in Westbury in the early nineties I was told a brilliant story about Dilton Marsh. The railway decided to replace the old sleeper built platforms with steel structures and scheduled the closure of the line over a series of weekends to get the work done. All went well and the new platforms were finished ahead of schedule but the line remained closed as planned, perhaps other work was still in progress on another part of the line. A week after the work was finished another team turned up and started dismantling the platforms and everyone assumed that something had been done wrong and they were going to have to build them again. In fact the gang had nothing to do with the railway and they were stealing the station.

[@cbturner]

I remember that story reported in the Warminster Journal when I was a lad.

[@mrtomandryan]

I discovered this series when I was drunk... now I can’t stop watching these are great

[@windward563]

How did you find this if you were drunk?

[@MrMake615]

What a lovely guard

[@guganesan.ilavarasan]

Why mate ?

[@Trockenshampooleopard]

@@guganesan.ilavarasan Because otherwise the species will go extinct.

[@kallumwilliams8235]

What a lovely guy that guard was hats of to him, for such a great service and has really steady hands when comes to video filming

[@stephensmith1553]

Well done boys Dilton Marsh was my home station from a child it was nice to see they have updated it Also from Salisbury you ran fast through Upton Lovell level crossing where I was born back in 1958 Since having a stroke last year I really enjoy your videos please keep up the good work

[@yarragongoats]

I love the support you get from staff of the railways, even to the level of offering you a lift back to the main station

[@MegaBeastage]

"Sometimes... I just drink coffee instead of tea" BLASPHEMY

[@stanpatterson5033]

It is. But the upside of it is that the less tea Geoff drinks, the more there is available for the rest of us.

[@nikf3188]

That guard needs recognition by the TOC :) top bloke!

[@Stokken96]

Simon the guard is amazing!

[@guganesan.ilavarasan]

Why mate ?

[@DavidShepheard]

@@guganesan.ilavarasan because he finished his shift and then drove to the station where Geoff was to ask him if he wanted a lift.

[@victorharderson8782]

I loved this one.. I particularly enjoyed the poem. I'm from Southern California but coming over and visiting these stations is at the top of my bucket list

[@londonbusexplorer]

10:30 Now that's what you call a legend train guard

[@Thoomas2001]

Dutch station Leeuwarden Achter De Hoven has platforms 271 meters (889 feet) apart. To compare, Dilton Marsh has its platforms 90 meters (295 feet) apart.

[@Trockenshampooleopard]

This is quite reasonable (and not uncommon at all), because there's a level crossing at the station and the trains stop behind the crossing so that the road traffic won't have to wait. But here at Dilton Marsh, there's a bridge, hence no necessity to have this layout.

[@beeble2003]

@@Trockenshampooleopard There's clearly _some_ necessity or they wouldn't have done it. The line at that point is on an embankment, so maybe there was some reason (land ownership, drainage or something) that they couldn't put the platforms opposite one another. The original platforms were somewhat longer. My guess would be that they originally extended all the way to the bridge on each side, so the layout wouldn't have seemed so strange. The ramps would have gone to the far end of the platforms to avoid them being even steeper. Then, when the new short platforms were built, they ended up being far apart because that's where the access was. Also, I think it's worth noting that there are a huge number of stations in the UK that are not staggered but do have a level crossing at one end of the platforms. While it makes a lot of sense to stagger the platforms so the trains always stop beyond the crossing, that arrangement is very uncommon in the UK.

[@icefahrer]

Sadly, Leeuwarden Achter De Hoven is closed...

[@YinYangles]

Ye that seems like something the Netherlands would do

[@JoeStoughton-ff1ie]

Leeuwarden Achter De Hoven Is A Tounguetwister.

[@richardbullett9080]

Hi Works just concluded at Dilton Marsh to sort out the entire structure (including stepping distances) and extend (by about 80%) both platforms(oh and stop them falling down the embankment!) I do a lot of station work but this is the first time one has featured on your channel, love it!

[@AureliusR]

WE NEED A REVISIT/UPDATE VIDEO GEOFF!!!!!!!!!!

[@lazis002]

Nice to see a nod to Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish with that poem intro and music ! :)

[@jayzo]

Glad I'm not the only one who was reminded of that TV show.

[@Supermarine-iv1tb]

“This Train is Late” - doesn’t sound like GWR to me

[@memediatek]

2 years later and as a regular gwr user I can confirm nothing has changed

[@gregwatts7359]

Just met Simon the guard, what a good man

[@JohnStokes-c1o]

What a top bloke Simon is. :)

[@VulcanTrekkie45]

Next time you do a least used station in the Southwest, you definitely need to bring Simon along as your official companion.

[@punmaster2271]

I love Chris. Please have him along on more videos.

[@Sharron-Idol]

I've lived in Salisbury since 1986. The first time I used Dilton Marsh station was in 1991. I was working as a sales consultant at the time. My usual road transport had broken down, and I needed to visit a client just round the corner from DM station; so I took the train from Salisbury. In those days the platforms were spaced out as they are now; but they were made of slippery algae-covered planks, tied together with thick galvanised metal wire secured by large nailed-on staples. I remember looking down at the platform and seeing the dots of orange fungus growing from the wood amidst the sporadic green carpet of liken-like growth. A few bracket fungi adorned the platform-edge where the wood was starting to disintegrate into that same large gap between the platform and the train. There was a wooden bench which was always wet - even in dry sunny weather in Summer - a little way along from a wooden hut with a leaky roof that always leaked - even when it wasn't raining. In those days you didn't walk to the end of the platform and walk down a ramp to either side of the bridge: The Warminster-bound platform had a hole in the fence to the left of the hut, and the only way down was to navigate a staircase of crumbling sleepers that dropped at an angle greater than 45 degrees down the bank on the West side of the station, which stepped straight out onto the road that was there at the time. On the grey Autumn day that I first was there; the place reminded me of something out of the 1930's. The Westbury-bound platform was accessed by a similar route to how it is now; it wasn't a slope back then, but a stairway at an angle that was more forgiving than its counterpart on the other side of the tracks, constructed of sleepers and bare earth with patchy tufts of grass here and there. If I remember rightly the Warminster-bound platform was in a better state of repair than the Westbury-bound platform; but both were fairly ramshackle and should have been EOL'ed (EOL=End Of Life.) a long time before the 1990's in my opinion.

[@ChristopherWoods]

YES! I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU'D DO DILTON! When I was a kid, sometimes I'd take the train to and from Trowbridge with friends - we'd always be the only people getting off here. They renovated the station a few years before I moved further north. Something quite enjoyable about commanding a train to stop where you wanted it to. Memories!

[@yeahthelozgaming]

Poem was brilliant mate, love your work all the way from Australia 🇦🇺

[@petekernow1]

A series on staggered platforms? YES PLEASE!

[@JenOnTheMove]

I love the ode to Dave Gorman in there! You should totally do a found poem from your KZbin comments!

[@steampunklemur]

When the poem bit came I didn't expect a Dave Gorman's Modern Life Is Goodish reference :-)

[@callyc1633]

I've spent the best part of the last few Saturdays watching these videos and drinking tea. 😊 Great video!

[@CheckeeAintAmused]

I love how many hacky looks you get from people in the background of these videos

[@barrybennett2544]

Quite late in the day (I only really discovered your work over Christmas 2019 and now watch little else :) But another staggered station of some distance is Frizinghall in West Yorkshire

[@galaxycoder]

As an ex-train driver, looking at the video, the reason the platforms are so staggered is the same reason that the gap is so large between the platform and the train on the side you alighted. It's because the station is located on quite a banked curve which you can see on the video as the train pulls away. In fairness, even on seriously banked stations, staggering the platforms is only likely if the station is more like a Holt (a tiny rural and quiet station), point in case Rayleigh station on the London Liverpool Street line to Southend on Sea. Rayleigh is a very busy commuter station with platforms that can take a 12 car 321 "Dusty Bin" unitm but its located on a very banked curve. If you board the train on the London bound side, the gap between platform and train is huge and you have to step-up into the train as it tilts on the curve away from the platform.

[@williamthebutcherssonprodu227]

I like that the least used stations music was there at the end

[@m20newell]

Love the Least Used Stations series. So good.....ish!

[@RoadCone411]

Geoff - I live in the USA and to my amazement, my local grocery store (Stop & Shop), sells Toffee Crisps, as well as Aeros and the occasional Crunchie and Yorkie bar. Between me and a friend I know, who is Irish, we usually clean them out of Fruit Pastilles, so it’s like hitting pay dirt when the shelf is fully stocked! Granted it is in the ‘foreign food’ section, along with mushy peas and custard, but they exist here! I completely agree with you about American chocolates being pretty awful - although they did give us Snickers (remember when they were Marathon in the UK?) and a 100 Grand isn’t bad at all, in my opinion. Thanks for the videos. Didn’t know you lived in SC for a time... I’ve actually been to the North Charleston station and, like you, not boarded a train! The South is quite a place and it sounds like you have had some amazing experiences, good, bad and everything in between. Cheers!

[@geofftech2]

lovely comment, thanks! yes i always had fun going to shops in the USA trying to track down UK chocolate/candy bars. also was trying to find Ribena, and Crumpets! always a challlenge, and always in the "unusual foods" aisle, yes!! hee.

[@Rubycon99]

@@geofftech2 On the topic of Ribena, blackcurrants were illegal to grow in the U.S. for almost a century, so most of us have never tasted them.

[@FatherSpodoKomodo]

Channeling your inner Gorman!

[@DigitalDiabloUK]

I didn’t understand this, until I found the poem.

[@ChrisBillig]

Joseph Skermer Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed!

[@HenrysAdventures]

Interesting video! I went to Dilton Marsh Station once and there wasn't a train due for a while so I walked to Westbury Station.

[@halcyondaystunes]

I love your little ramblings about things, this tea/coffee one was hilarious.

[@keemcookie640]

I have finally found a community that shares my love of trains

[@unknownregions5014]

I was at Westbury today and we stopped at Dillon Marsh, such a cool little stop

[@zoesemple3418]

When you meet the same guard twice, You have been on too many trains.

[@markredding-weller7314]

I was doing my shift at Portsmouth harbour, the male was found intoxicated when the train arrived, he was taken off train and then just after train departed we found out that he had left needle on board so we had to phone ahead to other stations and guard to find it to get rid of it

[@EscapeMCP]

Yeah, sorry about that. :)

[@radioman1170]

If you're ever ill Geoff, I'm sure Chris would make a good 'stand-in' for you as he's just as good at presenting these videos as you!

[@Rega128]

Simon is a legend ! he should come on more trips with you as GWR rep hehe

[@TheNgandrew]

Great video and great poem, and what a nice bloke the conductor is.

[@btuckervideos4705]

Nice to see you get on 150925 at Salisbury, which was my train later in the day to Newport from Fratton, after it had reached Cardiff and returned to Portsmouth

[@emjackson2289]

Imagine being on that all the way to Brighton?! For the cost of a ticket in the UK too!

[@jopalmer4193]

Chris is a lovely bloke - lives in Portsmouth which is one of my favourite places in the world and like me doesn’t drink tea!

[@davekirwin]

Nice to see Chris again! The poem was a nice touch and wasn’t Simon helpful!

[@designerchaoz]

I’ve been watching a lot of these recently. Love them. I’m wondering if you’ve done the line to Severn Beach which always intrigued me. If you need someone to bring tea and talk supposed educated banter, then I’m at the back of the line!

[@Dog1eg]

Great nod to Dave Gorman there... :o)

[@grahammckay-smith4187]

Warminster shorts bloke is quite well known locally

[@arthurnibble4763]

I'd like that Simon as my neighbour. The other two lads would be good too, but Simon seems the sort who'd help you out in any crisis.

[@dreisday]

GWR guards are always the best. Can’t say I’ve ever met a grumpy one. And hello Chris from a fellow Pompey resident, who also regularly travels on the Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff train. I have also often passed Dilton Marsh and wondered who (if anyone) ever uses it.

[@k.r.baylor8825]

Truly the coolest intro music on KZbin...

[@iainwatson2310]

Dilton Marsh train station is EPIC - I loves it!

[@anokata-kd8oc]

I really like your friend this time, you know instantly that he's a good guy. :)

[@markdavis3111]

A brilliant vid. Esp. the poem By John Betjeman at the end.

[@Alwintor]

At Warminster we glimpse the least used bus stop.. service 23A to Imber runs one day a year.

[@harryscorah2091]

Bleasby has quite a long stagger. Dorking west is an interesting example of a staggered platform without a level crossing as it is well above the road. I can think of plenty of staggered platformed stations. Heighington, south wigston, Rye, Thurgarton, Bow Brickhill, Stewartby, Brandon and Wylam for starters. However, how long the distance is between platforms at each of these I don't know. Enjoyed the video. :-)

[@jamesdavison1786]

He reminds me of Keith from the office (uk). They look similar and they are both accountants!

[@theblubbered]

Ah. A fellow Gorman-iac I see you are Geoff. Subtle reference haha

[@jordanlg520]

The Great Malvern and Brighton trains were exactly what I used to use to get between university in Cheltenham and home in Warminster

[@90STETURBO]

Geoff this series is brilliant! Would like to meet up sometime when im over there

[@djrich]

Loving the Dave Gorman, Modern Life is Goodish reference there Geoff!

[@leesutton711]

East Farleigh Station in Kent has a staggered platform and although they are not too far apart there is a road that separates them.

[@joshholmes8167]

Lee Sutton same with Habrough in N.E Lincs. Not far apart though

[@wclifton968gameplaystutorials]

Mitcham Eastfields I think has a longer staggered platform than this one & it has a bridge to get from platform A to B as far as im aware.....

[@stevecooksley]

Ah yes, lovely pub at the top of the hill - quite a hill though!

[@Nooticus]

Great video again! I appreciate the hogh quality content you put out for railway fans like me!

[@nnmmnmmnmnnm]

Do the train companies take notice of comments like increasing the number of carriages on the service? You have said in the past that some of them watch your videos. Is it better for them to have more capacity - more passengers equalling more ticket sales - or better for them to ensure the existing capacity is oversold - guarantee of full/fully utilised trains. The poem was enjoyable, even with all that wind. More poems.

[@bradgraham9207]

the poem was great. thanks for sharing.

[@PetertheRock.]

Superb! The poetry did it for me!

[@rowanquigley626]

Awesome episode! Very much enjoyed yourself and Chris!

[@timamor915]

.

[@memediatek]

The lack of tea makes me scared

[@SGMiner21]

you've preformed a found poem! Love Mordern Life Is Goodish!

[@gordoncuckoo2150]

This makes me smile seeing Geoff in my home town "crime spot of Wiltshire" if he only knows :D

[@njhtrains]

very great capture of the SWR 159

[@lucaswhite9727]

I get off the train every day at Dilton Marsh and a lot of people get on and off my train the gap between train and platform though is just magnificent

[@tomcash2427]

Bit late to the party with this series sorry Geoff! In fact new to the channel and cant stop watching so keep up the good work and random videos! One question having grown up in Wiltshire I was very surprised to not see Avoncliff top this list of least used station!

[@pjandthecraxfords1559]

This series is so ridiculous love it. If you're doing the least used station in cumbria pm me.

[@cantbants]

I always start my day with coffee and then sometimes I have another coffee, mid-morning. Then I switch to tea in the PM. Stay tuned for more great chat from me, I'm here all week.

[@TigerTailsTV]

Dilton Marsh was my #HaveAnAdventure station, and we stopped at Warminster to visit the Wetherspoons just a short walk away, which was the best 'spoons I've been to.

[@socklesslad]

"Best Wetherspoons" is a bit like saying "nicest flesh-eating bacteria".

[@riverhuntingdon6659]

Amazing the privateering pirates haven't shut this halt. We had stations on the Hastings / Ashford line like that, Three Oaks and Doleham, and Appledore. Once the old Mk1 DEMUs went, so did these stops, really. No-one used them anyway. Crowhurst on the electric route from us to Tonbridge was another that should've been closed. No-one used that stop either. It used to be a pig to stop at in poor conditions, and a pig to pull away from without wheelspin going up to London on a bad day too. All that was left of the original buildings was the Lamp shed, used as a booking office. There were once two bay platforms and through roads too. BR pulled the rest down during the "HASMOD" scheme which saw our faithful old "Hastings" though sadly asbestos riddled DEMUs replaced with refurbed CEPs. Units 1517-1536,1597-1602 being painted in Jaffa Cake livery and badged as "The 1066 Electrics". Happy days looking back, when the railway retained characterful things. In more recent times, several signal boxes have been quietly demolished on the Coastway East line too, including the one at Seaford. Glad I'm retired now. The railway I knew has gone forever.

[@martinhonor3483]

My local station. Since this video was made the platforms have been extended to accept a whole carriage, and new waiting shelters replaced the old wooden ones. Not an improvement as the seats are now more like perches (not rods or poles). There used to be copy of the poem on the south-bound platform, but some vandal stole the stainless steel etching.The guard's brief mention of the Penzance train reminds me that my daughter used to catch that daily to come home from school in Salisbury. Unfortunately it didn't stop at Dilton so we had to collect her from Westbury by car.

[@tobysummers471]

High Wycombe has quite a staggered platform. One station can't remember on the Hastings line does too.

[@ianmcclavin]

tsummersrtrainpics Yes Battle and Wadhurst do, but not as far apart as Dilton Marsh!!

[@tobysummers471]

Ian Mcclavin Only knew that from an old drivers eye video made in 1986/1987 still has jaffa cake livery. It's 1066 dc from video125 I think.

[@librarian16]

Many years ago, I was on a rail replacement coach from Salisbury to Bristol and the driver couldn't find how to get the coach to the halt.

[@Thomas_Ekstrom]

Great with that poem, please let them coming in future videos 👌

[@jackdaniels1208]

How have I not seen this video in your collection before? This is less than a mile from my house. It was done up a year or so back as I run past it occasionally but if up to big smoke, I always take train from the mainline station at Westbury even though further away.

[@peterharris7466]

When Sean, my colleague Cllr, was District Cllr for Dilton Marsh, Dilton Marsh Halt, as it was named then in the ealy 1980's, was semi staffed. You had to buy a ticket from a woman up the road who sold the traion tickets from her house [it may have been a Post Office at one time]. The new platforms, rebuilt in 1994, are very smart compared to the old sleeper built affair.. I always remembver the Halt as being very draughty, then as now.

[@DarthJedi2005remixes]

When Chris mentioned about the needle my mind went straight to "why would a knitting needle stop a train?" That just goes to show how completely disconnected I am from drug culture. And long may it stay that way!

[@WoShiYongGe]

DarthJedi2005remixes me too lol

[@rasgulla3412]

I thought of a sewing needle

[@poltronafrau]

i thought it was a pine needle

[@MrGeocidal]

If it was an aeroplane a knitting needle probably would be cause for evacuation

[@RichAllen3242]

What a lovely man Simon is 👍🏻

[@James_smith940]

When are you going to do the least used station in Rutland? Also the only station in Rutland.

[@bermal209]

Oakham

[@dansmith4601]

He's done it last week

[@nilsdendekker1300]

I read Rusland instead rutland

[@nilsdendekker1300]

Wich is Dutch for Russia

[@320ifq]

The uk's biggest staggered station is on the Glasgow Subway, it would be good if you could pop up there to cover it. Thanks

[@unknown-im2bh]

320ifq lucas what station is that ive been to them all and none are staggered

[@AwksWallflower]

Frizinghall has mental staggered platform layout also

[@peterd788]

When I grew up on the Hampshire Wiltshire border the bus came on Wednesday.

[@robhorne3048]

Simon is a legend.

[@iankemp1131]

Comparatively well used really, with 45 a day, well placed for its local community. I remember when it had the GWR "pagoda style" huts, along with Appleford; sadly neither were retained. For staggered platforms, try Buckenham which might also be least used station in Norfolk; the platform near the level crossing was demolished and the short remaining section is at the far end from the road and accessed by a path. Always wondered why. Maybe to prevent possible overrun - or to discourage passengers, at which it seems to have been successful ...

[@biscuit715]

Much better positioned than Westbury, if it weren't for the 50/50 chance of a train stopping would be used a lot more

[@Snail_Nailz]

Your friends are so awesome- love these videos!! *but don't knock those baby Ruths! ;P

[@clairepoole7029]

Love these docs

[@dez3540]

I think the platforms at Raynes Park are quite far apart from each other going in the opposite direction...

[@LadyJennivieve]

The poem reminds me of “The Man From Snowy River”.

[@kevinfitzpatrick444]

Re-watching years later. I'd wonder if there'd be more of a challenge in finding the station with the furthest distance from one platform to another, staggered or not. Because I'd wager Dilton Marsh does have the furthest staggered platforms but some of the biggest stations have more distance one end to the other (ie Manc Pic 1 to 13/14, or Lime Street underground to mainline etc)

[@robinhayhurst5943]

Can you hold the COSTA coffee cup up more please! I wasn't sure of the brand that you were drinking!

[@pirukiddingme1908]

Excellent Gorman reference

[@millennialchicken]

Kirkstall Forge and Steeton & Silsden (Airedale Line) both have staggered platforms as well.