Railways in East Anglia

[@adamsfamily4060]

My father served his apprenticeship at Melton Constable (riveter). He was wounded during the war but returned to the railway on the permanent way. Much of the M and GN was relayed during the 1950s,the track was in excellent condition when they closed the line. New signalling was installed,a bigger turntable at Melton for the brand new Ivatt 4mt locomotives. A new engine shed was under construction at South Lynn when the line closed. It must be hard for young people to believe you take an express train from Melton all the way to Birmingham New Street. On summer Saturdays about 80+ train's passed along the line, mostly from and to the Midlands and the North. The northern part of Norfolk seems very isolated today compared to the 1950s, and the roads are still not fit to ride on.

[@Vincent-ow9lj]

What a wonderful record of a bygone era.

[@martyn6792]

Couldn't have put it better myself

[@Mr223P]

Growing up in Ilford and living my adult life all over east anglia this was an absolute joy! Particularly the little bit of footage of Birdbrook, having lived in Clare and Haverhill and often waking along all the surrounding track beds in the area, thanks for the upload…

[@bruceperkins4601]

You mention Melton Constable. I can still dimly remember a train coming in from the east to take us to East Rudham Station, where we were picked up by horse and trap. Must have been around 1944. A long, long time ago! Traces of ER station still visible.

[@leoroverman4541]

My great Grandad was from Docking and the Family from East Rudham

[@bruceperkins4601]

@@leoroverman4541 Congrats! Only we were heading for West Rudham. Never the twain shall meet?

[@leoroverman4541]

@@bruceperkins4601 Interesting area. Went up there to find any reference to the family-paradoxically did at Weasenham St Peter. The tomb of note there is to my GG uncle

[@michaelking8642]

One day the true loss of our cultural heritage will be realised, and then regretted. Quite rightly so.

[@simontaylor2319]

What a different country we were then - more self-sufficient?. Has the canal alongside the railway been reclaimed?

[@johnpalk3152]

Quite a shock seeing one self from the 1960s. The film of the Britannia's at Chelmsford is from the film Britannia at Chelmsford by Michael Ham. I assisted being a close friend of Mike and my parents knowing the Station Master, a Mr Rowlands and bg a close friend. The Brit talking water caught us out, as this was most unusual. This was not the only railway film we made. See also Chalford Turnround

[@chrismccartney8668]

So many towns that are now commuter hubs no longer have trains and are clogged with cars..

[@philiprufus4427]

Callander in The Central Highlands of Scotland is a Classic Example. Very Popular with tourists from all over Britain the town has been wall to wall cars and coaches since the railway closed in 1965 ! The trains were packed in the summer months, even the Killin Branch coud have. been made to pay with The Aberfeldy Branch at the other end of Loch Tay. A modern day steam service would rake money in. Callanders fine and large station is long demolished and guess what a car park. You still cannot find a parking space in the. town on busy days. I wonder how many now simply keep going to their destination.

[@KILKennyLaDa9898-js2nr]

@ 48-46....were they all hoping to get on that special train? And how ridiculous it was a dirty old diesel DMU....should have laid on a steam loco.

[@ernestbailey9194]

An Excellent video. So sad to see what has happened to our railway system.

[@andrewlong6438]

Large parts were closed down because the railways until 1968 had to make a profit and they were in competition with cars, lorries and buses. BR inherited a load of Victorian infrastructure which was great when you had a near monopoly but as time went on lines started to lose money. The analogy today is with declining high streets, closing banks and online shopping/banking apps.

[@roboftherock]

@@andrewlong6438 That's not an analogy I would have thought of, but it is apposite.

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

The Beeching Report was an important step of cutting out the deadwood in our railway system. Now we can embrace important new lines such as Crossrail, HS2, and the revamping of the Varsity line, the East West rail link, as well as the Northern Powerhouse projects. The Varsity line was recommended for development by Beeching. His advice was ignored, and now we have to spend to upgrade the infrastructure.

[@paulcopeland5287]

A marvellous insight in to East England railway history

[@shakeyhandsshedmodelrailwa2494]

wicked business , and only today are we discovering exactly how wicked now lines have gone that we desperately need and now iit has been put into greedy private hands with many rail fares being more expensive than flying

[@devally2432]

That was a huge marshaling yard at Whitemoor. The workers were rightly proud of it. Little did they know it would become a category A prison just a couple of decades later.

[@adrianrosenlund-hudson8789]

I lived in Wisbech in my youth, and spent a lot of time in and around Upwell, Outwell and Emneth. The remnants of the tramway lines were still there if you knew where to look and the steam tram which is referred to was the basis for Toby the Tram in the Reverend Awdry's books (he lived in the area).

[@dereham1]

Enjoyed watching, thank you.

[@aljonflavin6760]

Terrific film .

[@vickielawless]

Interesting film pf a lost world. Love the 306 electrics in their original form, even e shot of the ex NER electric loco @ 4.36, peeking out of Ilford depot..

[@cdylancarter9968]

And yet towns like Wisbech don't have a railway but they are growing bigger and busier. Their is only a few miles of track missing and they don't need to build on the original location.

[@halesworth01]

Thank you for this post

[@tornadojones7429]

The Ilford based units were introduced in the late 30s and carried on until 1981, having been known as Class AM6 and then Class 306

[@12crepello]

I think the 306 was introduced after WW2, around 1949. Originally working as far as Shenfield on 1500V DC.

[@NKPman]

Did whoever edited the original BT films think that people would not notice that some clips and sections of film were used more than once?! 😂

[@davidford2169]

I thought there may have been something about the kings lynn to hunstanton railway? Wolferton,Dersingham,ingoldisthorpe,snettisham, heacham.....just an idea that was all.

[@adamsfamily4060]

Memory of the Hunstanton line. In July 1966 some young friends and I stayed at a house near Snettisham. We planned to go to Hunstanton, spotting the village Bobby (with his bike) talking to a tall smartly dressed gentleman, we asked how to get to the station. The policeman advised us not to use the train, saying, "we want to get that closed down". The other gentleman also against us using the railway. There were many people working to get lines closed, many Conservative County Councillors were supportive of line closures, perhaps they thought Norfolk would get better roads. One Conservative councillor campaigned for more than 20 years to close the Norwich Sheringham line, thankfully he failed. Today the Norwich to Sheringham line is a modern railway, new track and signalling and high quality new trains.

[@garybland9327]

A facinating and sad film. Most wonderful. Thank you.

[@adamsfamily4060]

Melton Constable wasn't the headquarters of the M and GN. Melton was the location of the main workshops for obvious reasons, it was a junction and central to the M and GN system. Headquarters were at Austin Street Kings Lynn.

[@Marc_von_Hoffrichter]

Cracking vid mate. Thank you!

[@barcooter8248]

lol, unlock the switch, open the switch, lock the switch in the open position, then walk off leaving the key in the lock!

[@daviddobson6108]

Greetings from USA. Great video. Informative, historical, enjoyable. Thank you.

[@ChangesOneTim]

Brilliant collection of films - especially the GE electrification, as you say, very rare.

[@pauljohnson4590]

I love the random editing on the train from Lowestoft with water troughs and locations many miles away from East Anglia, and tunnels!

[@ianmcclavin]

Yes, I only know of one tunnel on the route all the way from London to Norwich, including all East Anglian branches to Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth, etc., and that's the one just south of Ipswich!!

[@davidrobert2007]

@@ianmcclavinThere is also a tunnel at Newmarket.