History of Hull: Railways - Episode 6 : The Hull and Barnsley Railway

[@peasoup2980]

I have no idea how I found this. I’m Canadian. You make EXCELLENT videos. I shall dominate my local pub with Hull trivia.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou, glad you're enjoying them!

[@peasoup2980]

I can’t stop watching this series. Tremendous presentation.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou, glad you're enjoying them :)

[@peasoup2980]

@@hullhistorynerd may I ask are you in the train or history profession? I’d have stayed awake with a history prof like yourself? If you’re just an enthusiast, say it with capital letters. That’s a lot of enthusiasm lol

[@hullhistorynerd]

@@peasoup2980 Neither, just an enthusiast. Abandoned railways have always fascinated me ever since I was a child, and apparently I'm still not over it!

[@peasoup2980]

@@hullhistorynerd I would say far from it. Very well done.

[@MrJohntheHarp]

Thank you for this. As a 50s Hull kid I've been to most of these places, but never understood them? Thanks to you I have a much better understanding now. That big tunnel and the air vents on the fields always baffled me esp'. So once again a big thank you, my headache has finally gone! John

[@sicow1020]

We rode on mountain bikes through the cuttings from Eppleworth Road to Little Weighton several times in 1988-90 as kids. One of the huge high level bridges still survived above the cutting. It seemed deeper than 90' at the time! After avoiding the station at Little Weighton we cut through a farmers field after Little Weighton and entered the Drewton tunnel. We rode right through the tunnel with bike lights. You could still see the impressions of the sleepers on the gravel of the track bed. The air shafts dripping with water seemed huge! After the tunnel we came into the Drewton cutting, it was not filled in with rubbish as now. At that time there was still telegraph poles complete with insulators along the line, missing only the wires. The bridge he stands in front of after the tunnel could be crossed as then it was free of bushes and used as access for the farmers to the cutting bed. It seemed a magical place, as though a train may come at any moment. Looking back as an adult and looking at this excellent series on Hull's railways it always amazes me how quickly the old railways were ripped up and built upon. I suspect that this was on purpose to make the closure permanent. Think now with our clogged roads and climate change how useful some of these old railways would be in reducing traffic and pollution.

[@hullhistorynerd]

What a lovely vivid description of one of my favourite places! I remember how much clearer it all was back then, though sadly I never got to see the Little Weighton cutting in all its glory, just the tunnels.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

That old high level 'bridge' was known as "Five Arches", an ordinary but beautiful structure.

[@alanrobertson9790]

Excellent series. Long after you are gone I reckon this will be still the best series on Hull railways. Generally the railways that were built last, towards the end of the 19th century, closed first, but they are the most interesting with great viaducts and tunnels. I showed my wife the clip where you explained that the section of the H&B through the Wolds was the most beautiful place on earth!

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou! That's high praise indeed, and I'm really glad you're enjoying the videos! Hope you'll carry on watching the next series on the docks and the occasional episodes on other lost railways of Yorkshire!

[@helenbrooks9404]

Really enjoyed this! I grew up in Little Weighton (70s/80s) - our garden ended in an 80' drop (the Little Weighton cutting) with one of the bridges leading across to 'the horses field'! We weren't allowed on the bridge - dad deemed it 'unsafe' and it was very overgrown with brambles, but from time to time boys from the village used to dare each other to walk across... on the parapet! I've learnt a lot about the history of the line from your video. I love the old maps - spotting street names of where my Hull ancestors lived - and seeing some of the beautiful Wolds countryside.

[@hullhistorynerd]

That must have been quite the thing to see! I'm afraid to say that I never did get to see the cutting with my own eyes, as I just couldn't find it in the days before readily available satellite maps! And when I did finally find it, the landfill had just been completed, leaving absolutely no trace other than a brown scar across the land. I envy your memories!

[@davidhughes3247]

I thoroughly enjoyed 9 hours of your videos today!... Regards the WelshMan in Liverpool. We messaged before regarding Welsh Castles!

[@hullhistorynerd]

Blimey, that's a marathon and a half! I'm very much looking forward to whenever I get to film my stuff about the Welsh castles and their creation and stories. Probably won't be for a year or two, but I look forward to it nonetheless!

[@davidhughes3247]

@@hullhistorynerd I look forward to it... i realised today that im older than you... 54.... tomorrow morning iwill do another load of episodes of yours!!... No worries about the Welsh Castles.x

[@AdamLee-u1z]

As always an excellent piece on local history and more. The beauty of these videos on U tube is that they just not inform about 'Ull and East Yorkshire, but always give clues to industrial archaeology of other sites in the country. That is, take note and one can learn to apply the same observations to other important areas. It's about "getting your eye in". Having been brought up in 'Ull and now in the Midlands, perhaps HHN would like to see the hidden Great Northern Railway branch that ran from Leicester, through Ingarsby and joined up to take the good people of Leicester to the seaside. The Victorian engineers hid the whole thing beneath the horizon 1882 to 1953. Actually the opposite idea of the dock railway in Hull built with embankments and bridges at height? Absolutely superb pieces from HHN. No Nerd here. Just working through your stuff, keep on going it is absolutely brilliant!

[@GarethHowell]

I’m not from Hull, though I visited many times when I worked for Smith & Nephew, but I am a railway nerd and I’ve really enjoyed this series - and the others. Thank you for finding the balance between enthusiasm and obsession in your videos.

[@hullhistorynerd]

I think if I can engage and interest people who aren't from Hull, I must be doing something right! Thanks for watching, and really glad you're enjoying the vids!

[@ryanelger07]

Like you, it was the H&B that got me interested in railway history and the multitude of disused lines around the country. I'd moved to North Cave in 2007 and it was the civil engineering surrounding the railway on the edge of the village that really got me hooked. Having suffered with the slow EYMS bus to and from Hull I found myself longing for the return of the H&B albeit routed into Paragon for better interchanges with other services. I was lucky enough to see one of the shorter tunnels on a warm summer afternoon walking the dog. If memory serves all I had to find it was a print out of an OS map and my Dad's sense of direction. From what I understand the owner of the land surrounding the western portal of Drewton isn't very keen on people trying to visit which is a shame as it's such an important part of Hull & the East Riding's history.

[@AMDronephotography]

Really enjoyed this series on the railways, well researched and delivered with a passion for local history that comes across well. The Victorians were really ahead in their way of thinking. They built a vast network of railways that we squandered in the 50’ and 60’s, without which the war effort would have been near impossible. We now know that rail and tram systems are more environmentally friendly, and we had it all.

[@hullhistorynerd]

That's the most heartbreaking thing to me. A network of steel linking everywhere with everywhere else in more or less straight lines, with priority over road traffic, billions of pounds of investment in modern terms, not to mention the countless lives of the navvies who died building them, all gone because of the road lobby and the drive to get people in cars when, in fact, the railways could have been the answer to the growing transport crisis.

[@AMDronephotography]

@@hullhistorynerd exactly! I have a large collection of old Redcar postcards and some of the more interesting ones are the correspondence that tell of train journeys from Redcar to Guisborough via Saltburn. A journey impossible now with the line closed and Guisborough no longer having a station, or the mention of Eston station ( closed in about 1929) I would love to go back in time and travel these branch lines.

[@chrisclarke7051]

Brilliant series , very much enjoyed and look forward to the history of Yorkshire Railways.

[@lancetronify]

A gem of a video, full of information and not overpowered by inane music. Love the Hull accent.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Cheers! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@richard1313]

Thanks for all the railway videos that I randomly discovered last night and watched this morning. I am also obsessed with the railways around here and have spent the last few years trying to find the bits that we can actually walk/cycle on. My family is always bemused when I suddenly stop the car down a back lane to look over a bridge to see if the old track-bed below is accessible. Sadly so much of the York>Beverley and Hull>Barnsley lines seem to be on private property and well fenced off. I'm guessing this is related to liability problems. However I've still found some sections that are openly accessible while not being official footpaths so hence why I'm always checking when I see them. My daughter and I walked all around the Drewton Estate a few weeks ago so got to see all the tunnel portals down there. We also walked to Wharram Percy last year and I didn't even know about the Burdale tunnel so I was pleasantly surprised to spot that on a day that was meant to be about a medieval village. We regularly go and ride our bikes on the Hudson Way out of Market Weighton although it was only a few weeks ago that I finally got past Kiplingcotes as I went for a solo ride. I made it all the way to Beverley but was a bit disappointed that the cycle track just stops abruptly when it reaches the still existing railway line! Another line to consider is the other branch out of Market Weighton towards Driffield. You can walk a little bit of it where it branches although the owner of a new build in Goodmanham has blocked it off. A decent chunk is also accessible around Middleton but I've not got any further yet. The Market Weighton>Selby line is rideable all the way until the Derwent where there is the remains of a lovely old bridge. I've also tried to find bits of York>Elvington>Selby line (which has a short operating section at Murton) but this seems to have been very effectively removed. Looking forward to watching your other videos for inspiration on non-railway things to go see around here. I'd lived in the area for about 15 years before I discovered Market Weighton has a canal! We walked that in a few different sections during lockdown.

[@hullhistorynerd]

There are still plenty of lost railways of Yorkshire left for me to investigate yet! The coming months will see an episode on the Whitby and Pickering Railway, now perhaps better known as the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, and the Scarborough to Whitby line. I'm also planning an episode on the canal near Pocklington, too, probably later this summer!

[@richard1313]

@@hullhistorynerd My brother had his wedding reception on the NYMR and I was in Whitby this last Monday and called in the station to see the steam engine leaving. Walked down Pocklington canal just his evening!

[@theflooringguy50]

found your videos and pleased I did . very imformative and straight talking ,which makes for easy listening and understanding . Thank you

[@bhgdetjbngfd]

I've always wanted to say "I can see my house from here".......but this time I really can. I've lived in South Cave Station for over 9 years now and always been fascinated by the history of the line. You've filled in a lot of the gaps I had in my knowledge, thanks.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Ahh, was that you when we came to film that piece? Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Is that "The Booking Hall", once owned by Leslie Cooper, a director of the Hull Brewery Co Ltd?

[@jimmyryan244]

Brilliant video and very well presented. Thank you!

[@richleeson2160]

Fantastic, a real memory jerker

[@NJPurling]

I took a photograph of that accommodation bridge abutments from the track-bed after riding along from 'five-arches'. Amazing that it is all filled in now. In the mid 1980s I rode a moped through Weedley, Sugar-Loaf and Drewton tunnels. A teeth jarring experience with the indents left by the sleeper very much present. One of the coal-merchants that used the yard at Calvert Lane still used a Galloway x-breed pony to haul his cart.

[@hullhistorynerd]

I've seen so many photos of that stretch, with the accommodation bridge in situ, and with just abutments; it was still showing as a cutting on Google maps when I planned my video. Imagine my disappointment when I lugged my camera gear across fields to get there and I realised it was all gone, just a strip of brown earth where once a mighty cutting ploughed through the land.

[@TheRealAko]

I now know the vents I see cycling were part of the same original track that crossed Chants Ave where I grew up and also crossed Victor Street across the city where a set of Grandparents lived and where I spent summers in the 80's. Excellent video, thank you.

[@SimonPJohnson]

Excellent research and photography, well presented and certainly deserves repeat viewing. Keep up the great work, HHN.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou! New episode incoming this weekend, keep an eye out!

[@James-gf9jl]

Thanks so much for posting this series - I've only just discovered it. In the seventies, I lived not far from that chalk cutting and used to ride my little Honda trail bike through it. It was impressively deep, as you say, and I can't imagine the volume of landfill it took. The bridge at the start of it was intact at that time and I recall it was removed sometime in the mid-eighties.

[@soundnicetome]

Excellent railway history...presented very well...I hope you can continue to put more railway history video`s in the future...a big pat on the back for your efforts sir...well done.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou for your kind words! Although I've finished with the railways of Hull, I will be doing some more further afield next year when the light and the weather improve. I have a series planned called Lost Railways of Yorkshire and I plan to visit places like the York to Beverley line, the Malton and Driffield, and the Scarborough to Whitby!

[@TrainSim_TV]

These videos are absolutely fabulous,well detailed and produced,extremely interesting. Thanks for taking the time to create,research and post.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou! Glad you're enjoying them :)

[@hullhistorynerd]

@ian x Hehe, I know, the accent is strong! I'm working on another series to run alongside History of Hull called the Lost Railways of Yorkshire, which gives me a rather nice leeway to go to all manner of lovely places and make videos about other picturesque disused railway lines! Watch this space!

[@chriswade7470]

Fascinating.ivealways had an interest in the H&B railway, I love underdog railway companies

[@llttf]

Very enjoyable series of videos. It would be a shame if these were not picked up for broadcast to a wider audience. I look forward to your future efforts.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Well, I'm not sure they're technically anywhere near that level, but I am glad that you're enjoying the videos! But if you and other people who enjoy them share them on social media and subscribe to the channel, I'll eventually reach plenty of people who might enjoy them!

[@Charlie-wood]

I grew up in full earshot of Sculcoates goods yard just at the other side of the cemetery. I remember well being laid in my bed listening to the clank of couplings and buffers and the sounds of the steam shutters. It was truly glorious! And would gladly come back to Hull just to hear those sounds.

[@Charlie-wood]

Shunters!!

[@hullhistorynerd]

Aye, I'll bet it was a hive of activity during its busy years!

[@Charlie-wood]

Aural memories are nice, but on the other hand there was the olfactory assault from so many industrial processes nearby. The gas works on bank side when the wind was easterly, fat refineries and tan yard, but the best smell of all was Needlers chocolate factory in our back yard! Strangely enough when I moved here to Holme those memories were repeated with Northern Dairies chocolate crumb factory at the end of the street.

[@hullhistorynerd]

@@Charlie-wood Ah yes, it was quite fragrant round there even when I was young. I remember the tannery smell and the cocoa mills often drifted over to Ryde Street where I was living as a small child. Quite pungent!

[@davidharris8987]

Another excellent video. They are put together so well, and very informative. Great presentation also. Looking forward to the docks history, and then the Lost Railways of Yorkshire. Thank you for taking the time in putting the great videos together.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thanks! I'm hoping to take everything I've learned this series about film making and make the docks series and the Lost Railways even better!

[@poshbird600]

Another superb video... Thank you.. Glen 👌👌👌🏆🏆🏆

[@angelsone-five7912]

Only just found this by chance. Looking forward to your continuation of the line up north.

[@hullhistorynerd]

It's certainly on the cards! Really looking forward to getting my teeth back into these videos once I've finished moving house!

[@iananderson6546]

Thank you for this insight into the story of the H & B. My grandfather actually worked for the company somewhere in Hull. The torn up Springhead yard was a superb playground in the early 1960's. All that was left were the wooden platforms of springhead halt and the remains of a signal box. (And the embankment of course, the main attraction). Please keep up these wonderful videos.

[@martingreen5192]

I worked for a period at the glass plant in Cudworth (pronounced locally without the w - Cud'orth). They still had a line coming into the site and in the early 2000's were looking at the feasibility to reopen it for glass container shipping. This was a branch from the Cudworth branch of the line, although the branch was built after the closure of Hull-Barnsley proper as the plant was not built until around 1946

[@hullhistorynerd]

The line was still operational even after the H&BR became part of the LNER up to the late 50s and early 60s I believe, so it may well have been active during those early days of the company!

[@susannejones3884]

At a Local History Group of the U3A in Hornsea, I showed them Episode 3 - Hull to Hornsea Railway and they thoroughly enjoyed it and thought the commentary was excellent. Good job.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Wow, that's awesome! Really glad they got something from it! It's lovely to hear about so many people enjoying my little videos!

[@LADventure]

I have to say. Just discovered your channel by accident. Watched one video and I was hooked. Just watched them all and they are very well put together, presented and I love how your on location not just talking or showing maps. I will be an avid viewer from now on. Darren

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thanks! There's going to be a break in the History of Hull until January when the History of Hull: Docks begins, but in the meantime I'm working on a bunch of other short videos about local historical sites, like Skipsea Castle. So stay tuned!

[@Charlie-wood]

Thank you so much for this and the whole series. I’m sorry my dad isn’t here to watch your work on these subjects.

[@hullhistorynerd]

No problem, and thank you for watching and enjoying! I wish my grandparents were still around, they both loved Hull's history, my gran's collection of books of pictures from old Hull certainly helped foster my own love of local history. I think they'd have approved of what I'm doing!

[@chrispearson5933]

We lived down Reldene Drive in the 60's, and that piece of land between Frank Dees (Calvert Lane) and Springhead, was always known to us kids as Barchards. Loads of buildings/the kilns to play in, and the old railway turntables that had filled with water. Pretty dangerous for little kids, thinking back! Great Video 👏

[@baderalbahrani9204]

Thank you very much (Hull History Nerd) for this video and your efforts 👌 in presenting the sites with dates, with the reasons for their establishment and how they work, especially the old railway line 👌.. From this ancient city of Hull and passing through the capital London to the county of Wales.

[@AndrewWright-wt9vs]

Excellent video,very informative.I live at the Barnsley end of the line and quite a bit of The Hull and Barnsley structures still survive.Look forward to seeing part two.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou! I'm looking forward to making it, the other end of the line is all new to me in terms of visiting the sites. I suspect there might be a couple of episodes in the rest of the line!

[@kevinhowell6458]

Absolutely brilliant

[@davidcowie2462]

Thank you so much for your detailed history of the H&B. So many wonderful views. Seeing that filled in cutting was amazing.

[@davidrice9880]

Very interesting set of videos, thank you for sharing your enthusiasm and look forward to the lost railways of Yorkshire.

[@hullhistorynerd]

I was literally about to start filming the first episode on the York and Beverley line when the Tier system happened, talk about bad timing. As soon as lockdown is over I'll be out and working on it.

[@slw0599]

Absolutely brilliant videos, found them by total accident....very interesting Well done & keep up the good work.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying them, and watch this space, as I'm working on more videos over the next few weeks!

[@slw0599]

@@hullhistorynerd fantastic videos, I'm hooked... only the other day I cycled hull to hornsea former railway line...done it before but a few years ago, fish & chips & ice cream when I got there of course!

[@garrymartin6474]

An excellent series very well made and presented. Makes you wonder what would have happened if the merger with the Midland Railway (a very big hitter) had come off, thus giving the North Eastern an extremely serious rival and creating consequences that would have rippled on for decades to come.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

I'm sure that would have been a great benefit, had it happened. History books attribute the failure to opposition from Hull City Council (perhaps Hull's citizens' worst enemy?).

[@sicow1020]

When I was a child and lived near Calvert Lane 1985-7, coal trains still crossed Calvert Lane and supplied the coal sidings of Calvert Lane. The trains would unload their coal through the bottom of the coal wagons onto the track through a open section. Underneath this section a conveyor belt transported the coal at 30 degrees upwards to coal hoppers. The coal hoppers were arranged in a semi-circle around the point of the open section of track. In this way different grades of coal were distributed to the various hoppers. Coal merchants would then use the hoppers to fill their sacks with the different grades of coal for sale. As a child I would watch this operation and be facinated with it! I never imagined that it all would come to an end. As an adult I think some of it was deliberate to make us as a nation less self sufficient on energy. After all we have to import gas and wood chips!

[@hullhistorynerd]

I must have missed the operations at Calvert Lane only by a few years, I used to pass that way on the 64 bus on my way to college in the early 90s and it was already ripped up, though there were a few bits of loading machinery still there.

[@jeremywilliamwhite]

Absolutely loving your videos. So knowledgeable, and entertaining. Well done!

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thank you, glad you're enjoying them! More to come when the weather lets up a bit!

[@Mr_b_yorkshire_farmer]

Brilliant. A really good insight to the railway. I will be watching out for part two.

[@davefrench3608]

Brilliant, loved this series being a lifelong lover of railways. So good to see the H&B bridge over Holderness Road. Hope you have done a film about the ferries over to New Holland.

[@hullhistorynerd]

I've had one on the boil for about a year and a half but they were working on the flood defences at Victoria pier for months, it was a building site! Rest assured, that episode will be coming soon as part of a "bonus" history of Hull: Railways episode on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway.

[@logotrikes]

Outstanding commentary that man. Another chapter in my continuing education of Hull's wonderful railway system. I was around when most of Hull's railways were functional. Sadly, as you are acutely aware, they're now mostly long gone, leaving only ghosts and just the occasional glimpse of what once was. As an apprentice, my daily run to work was down Neptune Street, where I could see the rows and rows of condemned stock. Draper saved one measly engine, a Black 5, allegedly the cleanest one in the pile and renamed for himself. No B1's, the staple of Hull workings, were saved, more's the pity, but Draper was running a business, and a scrap loco was much the same as any other scrap. Luckily Dai Woodham was of a different mindset, although time and place had much to do with engines being saved in that instance. Most enjoyable, but poignant never the less....

[@hullhistorynerd]

I wish I had been around for those days, I just missed them what with being born in the 70s. I still remember seeing coaches parked up at the cut off end of track that you could see through a chain link fence on Spring Bank near the Princes Ave junction, but that's all.

[@logotrikes]

@@hullhistorynerd No you don't. You'd be as old as me then, and I wish I could have my time again. But we can't go back sadly. Those of us who are interested, aside from our own often meagre research, can only rely on good folks like yourself momentarily bringing back those days, from the comfort of our modernity...

[@christinecrockford1654]

Gosh ur so nice and love the way u narrate your videos. I'm not intrested in trains, but there is somthing about disused railway line and guess its the hole busy industry and then back to beautiful nature. I find it fascinating. Ps love ur accent.

[@mervynsands3501]

Excellent presentation, the H&B like so many others is now only something to look back on. The H&B route was arguably the best even though it came about late in the day, but eventually duplicated systems end up abandoned in favour of economies in the longer term. The march of time catches up and change comes about like it or not. All is now history. A very informative video, many thanks.🙂👊👍

[@hullhistorynerd]

Indeed, a beautiful line that's tragically now just a decaying and disappearing relic that's hard to access at the best of times. But what an achievement! One of the only lines to remain independent of the NER right up until the grouping. They overreacted during construction, but the fact that they cleared their debts and made profit shows that they were right about Hull needing competition.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Hull exported a lot of coal (as did Immingham) in the days when Britain produced and sold it, in vast quantities. That trade fell away, so the H&B line wasn't needed and four tracks came in from Staddlethorpe Junction anyway, even in the 1960s, reduced to two a long time ago! Sad.

[@saltspringrailway3683]

I also loved the beautiful stretch of line with the tunnels and often cycled there in the 70's. Even walked deep into Drewton tunnel without lights. The builders of the line were asking for financial trouble heading north west into the hills instead of a more direct route on the level. Sad to see so much decay. I first discovered Cannon St station when looking at the new Abercrombie Plan for Hull (1945) at the library in Shultz. They had planned to move all east/west trains onto the H&B high level and make Cannon St the terminus, replacing Paragon station. That might make another final episode for your series. Have thoroughly enjoyed your work. Thanks.

[@hullhistorynerd]

I think the trouble with the decision to go through the Wolds was that it really was a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't; had they gone on the level, the same landowners may have asked for extortionate amounts of money like they did when the Hull and Selby line had to go through their lands, and that could have ended up costing them a crippling amount. Glad you've been enjoying the series though! Abercrombie's plan will certainly be getting a mention in the third series of History of Hull, as the theme of that series will be the urban growth of Hull.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@hullhistorynerd The NER line to Hull already came in on the level and was thus 'legally barred' to the new line, which arrived decades later.

[@Maelli535]

You do this so well! I did my degree in Hull in the 70s, still love the place, used to take long moody walks from Cranbrook Avenue through to Sculcoates and further, just for the atmosphere. Wish I'd known that Draper's were located there, though, could have caught up on a good few missed engines, I always thought they were down near Dairycoates!

[@hullhistorynerd]

They worked from a few sites around Hull, but yes, the two main railway breaker's yards were Sculcoates and Neptune Street, near Dairycoates, so you were right!

[@Maelli535]

@@hullhistorynerd I lived on the corner of Park Road and Park Grove after Cranbrook, we were right near the old Stepney station (via Cave Street/Beverley Road) but, I must admit, I didn't really appreciate the railway and historical significance in those days - being a railway enthusiast was a bit unfashionable in student days, and we had, of course ...... other priorities, with the "fair sex" playing an important role! Keep up the good work, look forward to more from you!

[@hullhistorynerd]

I'm not sure being a train enthusiast has ever been particularly fashionable, but some of us managed to hide it during our formative years! I'm looking forward to making more videos - can't wait for things to start getting back to normal!

[@SimonPJohnson]

I was a student in Hull during the late 1970s and explored various parts of the city, living in Grafton Street in 1978-79. My mates in Ferens and Grafton Street knew that I was a railway enthusiast. One of them confessed he was one too, resulting in us visiting Doncaster Works (1979) and the NRM in York. My girlfriend (later my wife) lived in Torrington House on Beverley Road and her bedroom had a great view of the H&B line. The St John's pub on Queens Road was our local in that it tolerated students. Happy days! I returned to Hull in 2017 and 2019 with uni friends and I still love the city. HHN's videos enable me to enjoy the history of the city and beyond, including the railways, from Bristol (my ex-wife lives in Bath and didn't like Hull that much).

[@jackgrimley5780]

Excellent. Thankyou for your research.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Glad you enjoyed it! Looking forward to working on the episode covering the rest of the line over summer!

[@markrobert6028]

I used to live on De Grey Street, opposite the Adelphi. Even in the post-sectorisation, pre-privitisation (ah-hem) early Nineties those rumbling freight trains on the high-level were few and far between.

[@markrobert6028]

You should do a series on the "Lost Nightclubs of Hull". I have seen "The Waterfront" crop-up on a couple of your videos.

[@shelleyhodgson7828]

Totally fascinating and informative I can’t wait for your new series

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou, I was just about to start the Lost Railways series when coronavirus came along! Stay tuned, as soon as it's safe to go back outside I'll be working on this and the rest of my History of Hull: Docks series!

[@alexdevoymusic3654]

Wow what an amazing video and series the amount of research you have done for this well done. I'm especially interested in this video as I'm part of the Hull and Barnsley railway stock fund and I was quizzing my own knowledge against this video. I'm only a teenager so I sadly never got to experience this line and I will never know the full extent of the importance and impact it had on Hull and Barnsley but I am just thankful someone has taken the time to make it Thanks Alex

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou! And that's awesome that you're part of the stock fund. I'm 45 and I still wish I'd been around to see these lines in action, they've been closed since before *I* was born!

[@alexdevoymusic3654]

Such a shame that the lines were closed and ripped up but we all try our best to revive the legacy and educate people on all of this history

[@paulbateman63]

First video I have watched have yours, having just discovered you and got to say i enjoyed every second. So entertaining and informative, thank you. Now to watch the rest !!! Paul ( Goole Area )

[@saltspringrailway3683]

I read recently that because there was so much traffic on the line a signal box was erected next to the small tunnels - your favourite part. A line manager would frequently call at the box, borrow a cup and fill it with water from the nearby stream!

[@steamgent4592]

Excellent homemade documentary. I believe the only thing I'd change or add would be some historical photographs of what some of the places you covered and if there was a present photo a before and after clip. Otherwise this was TV worthy material. Good job and I look forward to your future work.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou! This was early days for me, and sadly chasing up historic photos to get permission to use them was a difficult task until fairly recently. Luckily Lordline Images got in touch and offered to let me use images from their fantastic collection for my more recent Docks series of videos.

[@steamgent4592]

@@hullhistorynerd you are welcome and I will definitely be looking forward to seeing the other parts of the H&B down into the wolds. The scenery and terrain sound splendid.

[@martingreen5192]

Another excellent video. I Have always been fascinated by the Hull Barnsley line. I can remember my dad saying the reason they failed was not having a city centre station, looks like he was right

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thing is, they only failed as a passenger service - they actually were very successful once they got over the enormous overspend of the line's construction, enough so that they didn't cease operations until forced to do so by the grouping act! They didn't fail, they were forced to become part of the NER, and then the LNER.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@hullhistorynerd The line was bringing coal east for export and taking timber for pit props west until the late 1950s.

[@wtyssen]

Yer not a nerd lad. A positive expert. Great video series…

[@iansmithtravels]

Excellent video, brilliant research and presentation. Now going to watch the others in the series 👍🏼

[@hullhistorynerd]

Really glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you stick with the channel in January as I start on the history of the docks!

[@Shheistmcgregor]

great stuff . i enjoyed it !!!! well done

[@Utubestolemylife]

Thank you, HHN, I have loved this series.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou! You'll be pleased to know that there will be more; History of Hull continues in January with a new series about the city's long maritime history, and there will be another occasional series about Yorkshire's Lost Railways, where I venture further afield to look at other long-gone lines across the region! Add to that the occasional short videos of the Old Yorkshire series where I visit single sites like Skipsea Castle and Rudston Monolith, and there will be plenty of new Hull History Nerd videos to come!

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Very late 1960s to 1975, my fiancée/wife worked at Willerby station site, for Clugston's 'Tar Surface Roads' depot, where a landfill was in operation. Relics were still about there then.

[@pochadeboxpainting3843]

Interesting. I went to the Weedley Springs tunnels on a school trip when I was 10yrs old (the 80's). The long trail down from the main road parking area, down the little valley to the tunnels, stuck with me through life. For the life of me, all of my adult life I didn't know how to find it. As I was a child, I thought we'd travelled miles out of county, and my memory of the wolds, was more like dales, so never imagined it to be on my doorstep in Hull. Only in March this year did a relative start talking about the tunnels at Weedley. I was curious, so we drove down. As soon as I was on that chalk footpath from the main road, I knew I was there....Such a shame that Drewton Estate doesn't allow you up to the tunnels anymore, I only the small one at distance...I see you managed it. I agree it's a special place, for me because down in that valley, you'd never have thought you were only 8 miles out of Hul

[@hullhistorynerd]

It really is, I had a similar experience, though on a family day out rather than a school trip. I was sure we must have been near Manchester for some reason! As a teenager, I discovered Ordnance Survey maps and found the location again, like you, and thus began a lifelong obsession with old railway lines and local history!

[@markjaques5921]

Another great episode congratulations.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou!

[@2004sammysammy]

Excellent series, very informative thank you so much. I used to cycle up to Weedley and you could then cyc!e along the track through the tunnels, I went deep into Drewton tunnel with my SLR and tripod and got some excellent shots of the light from the ventilation shafts....geek!!! It's a shame it's inaccessible now. I also photographed the viaduct across Eppleworth Road before demolition. Weedley certainly is a beautiful spot!

[@hullhistorynerd]

It truly is one of my favourite spots in the world and it makes my heart ache to see Drewton being swallowed up by the quarry.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

In my youth I was impressed by that viaduct, "Five Arches". I once climbed the embankment to look at the top of it; somewhat forlorn it was, only a colour-light signal to see.

[@kevingrantham-jones2615]

Really interesting,I,m a bus driver in Doncaster and on many of routes I drive I pass over this old railway,the conisbrough viaduct is a wonder to see.

[@hullhistorynerd]

I'm looking forward to including that viaduct when I make my video about the rest of the line!

[@carlharris2808]

As a Hully gully i really enjoyed this series so thank you so much.Have you thought about a short video about the old Boothferry park halt i believe it was the only football club to have a station to supply it.

[@hullhistorynerd]

There was originally a section about it in this video, but the running length was getting silly so several things ended up getting cut in the end, this was sadly one of them.

[@PeterMaddison2483]

Would love to see more on the history of Hull. Stuff like when the plague hit Hull (I'm sure I read in a book from the library that one date was in the 1200's). There was also a big building that burnt down around 1972-4 at the botton of Hutt Street off Spring bank, not sure what it was used for as I was only 4-6 at the time. There's the old Wadington buiding which was on Cottingham Road, near Cranbrook Ave, I remember when it was open and then closed, I used to play in the derelict building. History of Hull Grammar School, when it used to be in the town centre, then moved to Bishop Alcock Road. I remember hearing a story about one of the glass domes on a light in the main hall being hit by a bullet from a german fighter and it melting into it, not shattering it- Not sure if this was true or not. The time when Hull refused entry to the kings forces when they wanted to gather up the arms for the civil war, so went to Beverley to get more troops and was still refused entry. Keep up with the channel as I love to hear about the history of Hull. I found your channel after doing a search on 'history'.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Glad you enjoy Hull's history, there's plenty of it and I'll be making videos about it as long as I can find interesting bits to share!

[@daystatesniper01]

Superb video ,i often wonder now with the them small hamlets now being small towns if it would now make a small profit if still open ,i really think to add to this brilliant video you should consider doing the rest of the line to Cudworth

[@hullhistorynerd]

At the end I do mention that I'll be doing the rest of the line next year, so watch this space! When the days start getting longer (and the line is less boggy) I'll be starting a new series called the Lost Railways of Yorkshire, and the rest of the H&B is up there on my list!

[@daystatesniper01]

@@hullhistorynerd My apologies i wrote before the end of the video DOH !! ,if you would like company next year when you go west of Drax just let me know as the HnB is my fav' line and walked it many times so i know where to go etc'

[@asc.445]

Think I saw the BOCM grain silo behind you when discussing Cannon St Station.

[@ianphilpott3121]

Really enjoyed this series, I worked on the Little Weighton cutting last year, I also have some pictures of the accommodation bridge abutments before landfill lost them forever and some of the other bridges along that section, Riplingham road bridge for instance.

[@hullhistorynerd]

That's awesome! Would you mind if I used some of those photos on my website? I want to try to expand a bit on each video with some further info and stuff like this is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for! If you visit my website at hullhistorynerd.wixsite.com/hullhistorynerd there's an email address on the contact page that you can send them to!

[@ianphilpott3121]

Not a problem, will be a pleasure.

[@PeteMaddra]

The Chanterlands Ave Bridge was not part of the original construction of the Hull & Barnsley Line for the simple reason that, in the 19th Century, Chanterlands Avenue did not extend that far north. Prior to 1909, Chants was a short stretch of road between Spring Bank West and Perth Street. Between 1909 and 1914 the avenue was extended up to around where the garage stands today, but the considerable barrier of the railway embankment prevented further expansion. After much debate a plan was approved to cut through the embankment and bridge it. It must have been quite a challenge to achieve that while keeping the trains running. The road under the bridge was finally opened on 17 April 1925.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Indeed, that's why it's the only major bridge with a big dip in the road level beneath it! The running time was far too long with this video to go into granular detail like that on the individual bridges, sadly, so facts like that just couldn't make it in to the final edit.

[@PeteMaddra]

@@hullhistorynerd Honestly Jamie, the video did not feel long, but I understand, you can't fit everything in. I suppose the comments section serves the purpose of adding in details such as this. Keep up the good work. Your videos are consistently informative and entertaining.

[@hullhistorynerd]

@@PeteMaddra Thankyou! I usually end up with lots on the cutting room floor on my longer videos - some of it eventually makes it into other videos, though, so nothing is ever wasted. Funnily enough, the Chants Ave story will be mentioned in the next video, which is about the Lost Village of Newland, so these stories usually surface somewhere else!

[@PeteMaddra]

@@hullhistorynerd A while ago I created a video about the area. It is mainly a self-indulgent trip down memory lane, focusing on my childhood on Huntley Drive and the Woolsheds, but I also took a look at the development of the area over the old polo fields. If you're interested, you can find it by searching KZbin on "Huntley Drive Woolsheds". It runs just over an hour, so make yourself a cuppa first. 🙂

[@cottinghamcyclinggardener6822]

Used to live in Montrose St during 70's and there were remnants of railway lines under the still active docks line. If I could obtain a map from the time when all the lines in Hull where at their peak, (whatever year that may be), it would be great. Often wondered where these lines came from and what their function was. Problem is I don't know what year that would be and vintage maps of Hull seem hard to come by at least at a reasonable price!

[@hullhistorynerd]

Check out the national library of Scotland, they have all of the Ordnance Survey maps from 1853 on their site for free!

[@cottinghamcyclinggardener6822]

@@hullhistorynerd No way! Reckon this would include most lines constructed in Hull? Thank you. I owe you a hot choc!

[@hullhistorynerd]

@@cottinghamcyclinggardener6822 Every single line ever built in the city! You'll spend hours on them, I did!

[@Trek001]

There is still a railway connection with Cannon Street - Network Rail have a works depot and yard there over the road where the Recreation Ground is indicated on the old map Also, the large brick building on Neptune Street on the corner with English Street is the depot offices

[@hullhistorynerd]

Indeed! British Rail inherited a LOT of land that they kept well after the closure of the lines and surrounding infrastructure. Those offices at Neptune Street are all that's left of that huge old goods station now.

[@Trek001]

@@hullhistorynerd Well, technically... I have pilfered a brick or two to use as a doorstop! Incidentally, I have a family connection to Springhead Works. My Great Grandfather worked there as a driver and my Grandmother as a little girl used to go down to the end of Reldene Drive and wave to the one of the engines who would stop and pick her up to take her father's lunch directly to him if he was on shed duties that day - getting returned on the next passing loco. I also have a mirror cut out of a sleeping coach that had been taken from a rake which had suffered an incident where they was a number of fatalities. Great Granddad apparently arrived at York sheds with a goods, saw the coaches being cut up and slipped the shed staff a "white pound" or two along with the promise of fresh fish from the docks to take the undamaged part of one of the mirrors and make it into a suitable pair for his daughter and wife. One of them survives to this day and is seven feet to my left as I type this. Its a magnificent piece with the railway logo etched (I think) into the glass in the middle.

[@The97dripdrop]

I have only recently discovered you, hence the later comment however I would like to introduce myself as a member (3rd removed) of the Draper family discussed in this video. I had no idea the site of the scrapping was so close to the existing line. However what I am suprised was not mentioned was the close relationship of Drappers scrappers to the docks themselves having a dock space even scrapping a submarine. More in relation to this video how also the family did also preserve a Black 5 steam engine (45305) still running to this day.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Yes, Drapers was quite a huge concern back in the day! Huge contracts with scrapping railway equipment and shipping, and several locations, like the old Sculcoates goods station, and near Neptune Street goods station too.

[@thesudricmerman3318]

Am hoping one day a new build hull and Barnsley locomotive trust will come together and build a new hull and Barnsley railway locomotive design

[@garymrgarydry6991]

superb

[@Great.Milenko]

loved this series, would you ever consider doing ,history of hull "museums" I think most of hulls museums are situated in very old buildings and I'd love to learn more about them. I'd love to learn more about what was on the site before the transport museum was built for example.

[@hullhistorynerd]

There is a long term plan, once I've finished the Docks series I'm going to start doing the History of Hull episodes more as standalone one shots that cover a specific part of Hull's story, such as an episode on public transport that covers the trams, trolleybuses and buses; another on the city's parks, etc. Doing an episode on Hull's museums is actually a really good idea because there's actually quite a lot of interesting stuff to say about them!

[@douglasfleetney5031]

That was the best one so far! Thank you so much for attempting this interesting line, I may be from the deepest, darkest South East (closer to France than London) but the H&B Rly holds a deep interest. Are you aware that the Chief Mechanical Engineer William Kirtley came to you from the London, Chatham and Dover Rly? As such he bought a few designs with him including the drawings for an 0-6-0. On the LCDR this was the Class B1. That very design was later enlarged to become, after the LCDR/SER amalgamation, the magnificent C Class (Kirtley did the same on the H&B with the design), of which one has survived into preservation on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. So in my, sadly romantic, mind both the LCDR and the H&B live on in this loco. As Kirtley was the last CME of the LCDR I guess I see the H&B as a Northern Twin, both lines spent may years impoverished. I cannot express how much you bought that line alive, thank you so much for your channel. Many regards.

[@hullhistorynerd]

I didn't know that about the chief mechanical engineer, cheers for that! Really glad you enjoyed the story of the line, and I'll be completing the tale, from the edge of the East Riding down to Stairfoot, in a future episode of my Lost Railways of Yorkshire!

[@asc.445]

21.18. I used to sledge there as a boy, seemingly used for doging now, oh how times change.

[@hullhistorynerd]

There was certainly none of that happening whilst I was there!

[@asc.445]

@@hullhistorynerd Mate, that was a long, long time ago. Society moves on I suppose.

[@sameyers2670]

There were a few small lines that escaped the grouping, possibly because the policy makers maybe didn't realise they were still operating.

[@robertbaglin3973]

Brilliant series can you pop over the bridge and do one about Grimsby please or better still the old Louth lines?

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou, it's certainly a possibility for the future, though it's a bit harder for me to get to, and I don't know it as well as I do Hull so I would have to do a lot of research!

[@robertbaglin3973]

Hull History Nerd Could help you with any research as a fascinating subject especially around Louth Lincs with loads of history although understand it would take up a lot of your time and expense.If you change your mind please get in touch and I’ll do all I can to help as find your work well thought out and planned.Keep up the good work.Rob.

[@roderickscott7429]

heard Boothferry halt mentioned , how far from Paragon was it ?

[@hullhistorynerd]

The halt at Boothferry Park? Couldn't tell you in miles, I'm afraid! But if you check the old Ordnance Survey maps at the National Library of Scotland's website, you will see where Boothferry Park is in relation to Paragon.

[@roderickscott7429]

@@hullhistorynerd expect it would nt be far .

[@roderickscott7429]

@@hullhistorynerd I checked on wiki and it gives distance from Paragon as 2.4 miles , opened in 1951 and closed in 1986

[@johnslater5679]

brilliant profesional an entertainin

[@nickytesla1596]

How did you not show the old station which is now a cafe down Foster street?

[@hullhistorynerd]

Because it isn't on the Hull and Barnsley railway, which this episode is about. You want the first episode, the Victoria Dock Branch Line, where I not only show Wilmington Station, but also get to go into the remains of the subway behind it!

[@markp6982]

The destruction of our 'green' railway transport network is disgusting.

[@WILD35]

fo next year me and my dad doing the walk on that line and we are going take a lot of pic's long the way can't wait to do it but we don't know were to start

[@hullhistorynerd]

The Hull and Barnsley is a tricky one, because a lot of it isn't accessible to walk, sadly. There's a stretch of the old embankment from Calvert Lane through to Maplewood Ave, and again from Gorton Road to Willerby car park, but from there the best you can do is at Weedley Springs, just between Riplingham and South Cave. Apparently there are better and more accessible stretches across the Ouse and on into South Yorkshire but I don't have any experience there yet so I can't advise you on the best spots. If you want to walk an old railway line though, consider the Hull and Hornsea line - it's intact the whole length from the back of James Reckitt Avenue all the way to Hornsea, complete with stations and platforms. That's a great route to follow!

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Your map doesn't show it, and you fail to mention it, but post1923 an inclined connection was put in so that H&B line passenger trains could work into Paragon station.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Believe me, there was a lot that I had to cut just to keep the running time of the video within reason! As mentioned at the end, however, there will be a part 2, mostly focussing on the line outside of the East Riding, but also discussing its later life under the LNER and then BR, such as the late addition of Springhead Halt, and the Boothferry Park halt!

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@hullhistorynerd Something which can anticipate with relish - thanks.

[@tanyano9]

Utter madness in hindsight closing these lines, what would we give to have them back now, surley a strong case for reopening and get goods off the roads.....It can be done, just the will is needed....

[@hullhistorynerd]

The will, and a few hundred million pounds per line! I suspect the cash part will be the sticking point.

[@annajeannettedixon2453]

if this railway was reopened it would then be a good ruote to birmingham and manchester the london witch would bring much prosperaty to hull

[@hullhistorynerd]

Sadly there's no chance of that happening. The 80ft deep cutting through the Wolds was completely filled with landfill, the tunnels are slowly being buried under quarries, and the line through Hull has been built over with housing developments in many places.

[@annajeannettedixon2453]

@@hullhistorynerd well there is more then one way of building a railway has there is the suspended monorail which dose not need the ground for its rail or tunnels or bridges and can be made high speed with maglev and sieman builds them in germany

[@hullhistorynerd]

@@annajeannettedixon2453 I think the problem isn't just about where the line will go, but the lack of the kind of serious investment of hundreds of millions of pounds in order to build such a line. Sadly, the age of great railway building in the UK ended over a hundred years ago, there just hasn't been the will from politicians or businesses to invest in railway infrastructure. Even HS2 is beset with huge criticism. Much though I wish new lines were being built, realistically this country just doesn't seem interested in making it happen.

[@annajeannettedixon2453]

well we have calculated the cost for a suspended monorail will cost around 17.5 million for the hole line to birmingham via barnsley cost are kept down as there is no rail bed involed only stanions in the ground with the box type rail will be mounted the train is suspended from this and can run to speeds of 300 mph and fast freight at 100 mph we have this technology now

[@hullhistorynerd]

@@annajeannettedixon2453 I suspect that figure is a serious underestimate, but even so, it just highlights what I said before; it's all well and good costing up the exercise, but nobody is willing to put the money forward.

[@DaveCherry]

Excellent film. Very well researched. Loved the references to the shareholders money problems. Looking forward to your new film about the Barnsley end of the line when it went to Cudworth platform 5, then Stairfoot and Wath. You will probably know I am a social historian, musician and film maker. All the best to you, Dave Cherry. See www.davecherry.co.uk/

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! Keep an eye out in the new year for an episode on the rest of the line as part of my new Lost Railways of Yorkshire series!

[@nigelkthomas9501]

This old railway should be cleared and converted into a footpath and cycle track. I’m surprised that that hasn’t already happened.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Sadly it's far too late for that now; quarrying has almost buried at least one of the tunnels, and the magnificent 80ft deep cutting at Little Weighton has been completely filled with landfill. I agree, it should have been turned into a cross country path, and it would have given some beautiful views across the Wolds. It could have been the East Riding's Monsal Trail, with tunnels, viaducts, and a huge steel swing bridge over the Humber. That it's been allowed to be destroyed in this way is an insult to all of the workers who worked and died in the construction of it

[@nigelkthomas9501]

@@hullhistorynerd Absolutely! Hundreds of miles of old railway that were closed under hideous Beeching could now be footpaths. Better still if they’d never closed in the first place!

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@nigelkthomas9501 Co.Durham has such lines, but nowhere as extensive as once was the living network. I live near one of them (lucky me!)

[@Tony-ju6yh]

Dr Beeching 😡

[@grahamlea2160]

NO THIS CAN NOT BE THE FINAL OR LAST EPISODE OF YUR HULL RAILWAY HISTORY !!!!, AS THERE HAVE BEEN NO OTHER EPISODES COME UP ON THRE INTERNET BEFORE THIS SO CALLED EPISODE 6 !!!, THE FIRST I HAVE RECEIVED, THAT FIRST CAME UP TODAY MON 26 OCT 2020. SO WHAT SIR ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT !!! ????. = PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT IS GOING ON ???.

[@hullhistorynerd]

I suspect you haven't checked my channel, where you'll find all of the previous episodes. KZbin only throws up random videos you might like, it doesn't necessarily give you them in the right order!

[@johnbates3233]

@@hullhistorynerd Love the series my father was a apprentice fitter on the line at Springhead serving 7 years apprenticeship until the depressioncame where he left to US in Illinois and found a job on the Illinois Central roundhouse Dad never forgot the railroad even to his passing he was a railroad man on the Hull and Barnsley.

[@miketaylor3559]

Hs2 is cheap then lol

[@hullhistorynerd]

Oh hell yes. People don't realise how expensive railway building is, I think. Lots of people got excited when the government promised £50,000 to start rebuilding the Beeching closures, but that's like giving someone 50p towards buying their first house!