The Lost Railways of Yorkshire: The Little Railway that Couldn't - The Malton and Driffield Railway

The story of the Malton & Driffield Junction Railway, and it's difficult birth against the backdrop of the bursting of the Railway Bubble!
Don't forget to check out the Yorkshire Wolds Railway if you're in the area, open every Sunday and Bank Holiday!
www.yorkshirewoldsrailway.org...
Here's the link for the ever intrepid Martin Zero's video on Burdale Tunnel and the Wharram quarry
• The Tunnel that Collap...
If you're anything like me, viewing historical Ordnance Survey maps side by side with modern satellite views will certainly eat up far too much of your time!
maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/index...
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If you enjoy the music, please consider checking out the artist's channel at
• Hornsea

[@sameyers2670]

I volunteer at the Yorkshire Wolds Railway, thank you for making this and featuring us

[@hullhistorynerd]

I couldn't possibly do an episode on this line and NOT feature the YWR! It's an important part of the story, and I'm immensely grateful for speaking to me and letting me film there!

[@sameyers2670]

@@hullhistorynerd You're welcome.

[@AMDronephotography]

Another enjoyable video. I read up on this railway after coming across a photo of a level crossing in Driffield whilst stationed at RAF Driffield in the early 90’s. Easier to trace the line via Google Earth these days. Notable users of the line were Queen Victoria and George VI alighting at Sledmere and Fimber when visiting the Sykes Estate. Apparently they shunted the Royal trains into a siding and removed a section of line to prevent other trains from crashing into it. Things had moved on when the late Queen visited the Sykes estate, choosing to fly into RAF Driffield. Incidentally whilst reading’Strong Foundations’ a history of RAF Driffield , it mentions a narrow gauge railway constructed from Driffield to move materials to the aerodrome whilst under construction.

[@nick1of2]

Another great video. If people can read a copy of Warwick Burton's book they can probably see how optimistic the plan was. But what a fabulous ride it would have been from Malton to Driffield in that rolling countryside!

[@hullhistorynerd]

It would have been quite spectacular, I think!

[@1973ts]

Thank you for this excellent video. My late friend, Warwick, wrote the book on the Malton and Driffield Railway. We enjoyed many cycle rides visiting places on the line. His book is very good, and I'm glad it was published before he passed away. I'm sure he would enjoy your video.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Funnily enough his book was one of my sources for this video! And a marvellous book it is, too! Glad you enjoyed it, and that it brought back some good memories.

[@martinhall60]

Hello and greetings from Kingston upon Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Just watched your excellent video showing the Fimber railway line, and I must say is a delight to visit and travel on. It will be great to see the line connect with Wet Wang again. I am 68 now and left school in 1970, age 15. I got a job with British Rail as a Junior railman ( lad porter) in the railway goods yard next to Kingston street in Hull. My job was to put on / take off wagon labels. I was already a railway enthusiast and when the shunters found out I liked trains the engine driver said to me, would I like to drive the yard pilot which was a class 08 shunter. I said yes please and the driver showed me what to do and I drove the locomotive up to Albert Drapers scrap yard and we parked the locomotive near by and went to look in the yard as Albert Draper had a Black five locomotive in there, 5305.( BR 453O5) Anyway we had a look at the locomotive and then we went back to the yard. Happy days indeed. Love your videos I shall be watching again, 👍

[@tjordulf]

New subscriber. Lovely nostalgic bit of mind food. I'm a bit homesick for my East Yorkshire, and given all the doom and gloom going on in the world, this was a wonderfully 'British', romantic tonic. I've walked several sections of that line. I've been to Wharram Percy many times. I once went as a young teen with my folks and we found Burdale, I've been back since with my Mrs, and we started at the Single line entrance and trudged through the woods, stopping to peer into the foreboding black abyss of the Smoke vents dotted along the top. Till we came out at the other end. What a thrill that was. I've been interested in the Old disused railways around Driffield and East Yorkshire all my life. I find it strangely haunting and forlorn. It's quite a tangible feeling, in the True definition of the Word 'Nostalgia', it fills me with equal parts a warm, romanticised glow, and a melancholic sense of loss. Despite how those that try and destroy our beautiful little isle, they can never take away my memories, and videos like yours, which I couldn't have discovered at a better time, serve to add to the richness of my memories. So as a proud East Yorkshireman, with a profound love of our history. Incidentally, my Grandad was a Steam Traction engine driver, who once told me of him nearly losing it on the hill into Sledmere. 😬. My Stepdad was a Hull man, and also into the history of the railways. So your channel is a great find, I can't thank you enough for your time, energy and passion. I'm in the process of moving back to Hull in the next couple of Months. I'd love to hit you up, and have a really good chin wag with you, about some fascinating tidbits, over a couple of beers. 🙏🏻👍🏻😊

[@SonOfAnders73]

Jim these films are the best things to come out of Hull since the Housemartins split up . Real quality productions, such a pleasure to watch thank you .

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thank you for your kind words, glad you're enjoying them!

[@CullenRick]

Just the gift of Wetwang station is a fantastic reason for this line to be remembered! Superb and genuinely interesting video.

[@poshbird600]

Very interesting. Why were we never told this at school... I. E. Malet lambert school... Great video. Thanks again. Glen.... 👍👍👍👍🏆🏆🏆

[@orange77_]

Whenever I happen across a channel with 'history nerd' in the title I know I'm amongst friends! Great film thank you.

[@thesudricmerman3318]

Now this is the one I been waiting for knowing a few member off the group they making fast progest at the wright there going they be at driffield running train to the station in notime 😅

[@peterfreeman6677]

That was one of your best videos so far. The Wolds are indeed a special place, with a beauty all their own, but it has to be admitted that putting a line through such a sparsely populated area was never likely to be a money-spinner. As for Burdale Tunnel I don't think that can ever be re-opened, but it would be good to see the Yorkshire Wolds Railway push on eastwards and get to Wetwang. Good luck to them.

[@sameyers2670]

If the line had been built as originally intended ie a double track main line it might have stood a chance, but getting caught up in the Hudson crisis and ending up being a single track meandering branch meant it didn't

[@thesudricmerman3318]

​@@sameyers2670 maybe but personally I think the line woild off closed in 70s considering the world isn't very poplated so the line probably would not do well with passengers.

[@sameyers2670]

I agree the line probably wouldn't be open now even if it had been built as originally intended, the coal mines round Newcastle are long gone and a lot of the stations on the route served small villages

[@grahamshepherd9305]

Thanks indeed for an 'accidental' trip down memory lane. As a kid I used to live in Malton (Norton). I loved watching the steam trains on that particular line (also placing pennies on the line to flatten them). The line was at the back of our house on Parliament Ave. We then moved to a cottage on Scarborough Rd, next to the railway bridge. Thanks for the memories.

[@tonystack7375]

Great presentation and history,thank you.

[@misskittysmith]

Fantastic video again HHN. I love seeing the revival. Those volunteers at the Yorkshire Wolds Railway are amazing people. One day that project will be as big as the north Yorkshire Moors railway!

[@hullhistorynerd]

Wouldn't that be amazing? Lovely to watch it growing over the last few years!

[@davidelrick3131]

Hi reading a book called lost railways of North & east Yorkshire good book written Gordon suggit cool pictures of line even sledmere timber station

[@slw0599]

Every day's a school day with the great videos this man presents.

[@MartinZero]

Thank you Sir 🤛

[@hullhistorynerd]

No worries, you should come across the pennines more often!

[@timhutchinson2530]

Superb eyebrow work at the end there, as well.

[@hullhistorynerd]

I learned everything I know about acting from Christmas reruns of Roger Moore James Bond films as a child.

[@AnnAllentoday]

Great stuff. A really interesting story. As part of a book I'm writing on a notorious 19th century agitator, John De Morgan, I have written a chapter about his early childhood on the Burdale Tunnel navvy encampment in the 1850s. So it was good to see the area and the tunnel brought to life so vividly. De Morgan's father, James Morgan, was an on-site engineer and the family lived next door to the 'missionary' Ishmael Fish. It was a lot less violent than the bigger 'colonies' and there were more children than single navvies, with almost all the accommodation family-based with lodgers. [Rob Allen]

[@hullhistorynerd]

Fantastic, I daresay the navies here were certainly not as bad as the larger encampments, but I thought that the details I found made it a good place to talk about navvies in general.

[@mikewhitby631]

Brilliant video, as usual. I think that the achievement the YWR have made, and whatever achievement they do make, is remarkable. Most preserved railways at least start off with a railway. The YWR had almost nothing.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Absolutely! To lay all the track again is a LOT of work, and getting permissions from the landowners is tough going, especially as one of the major estates in the area (across which much of the old trackbed lays) is apparently very anti-railway.

[@benters3509]

Just found your channel and watched a couple of videos. Very good. I subscribe to Martin Zero's channel, so I'm going there to watch the tunnel video now. I love the village name "Wetwang". So close to "Wet Wank". I would love to live there to have that on my letterhead! I guess you don't need people like me subscribing to your channel, but I gave you a like anyway.

[@hullhistorynerd]

I mean, it's not like the name Wetwang hasn't provided a few chuckles here either, I think you'll be fine! Also, it was watching Martin's videos that inspired me to make this channel in the first place!

[@logotrikes]

The last part was heartwarming HN, to see the revival of an unloved and undernourished railway. Well done....

[@showmanpete2805]

what a fantastic and educational vid thnaks for sharing

[@mickeyjupp7749]

Excellent video !!

[@MrGarydry]

superb loved it

[@AndrewHHems1969]

I don't expect you to make a video about it, but the North Lindsay Light Railway is most interesting. I visited a few places, on the line - Whitton, Winteringham Haven etc. having lived in Scunthorpe for a bit.

[@donkinnersley2377]

Many thanks again. Great work

[@davidpinder120]

Excellent presentation. The walking around Burdale is exceptional, and I think you caught some of the beauty of the local area. As a local lad growing up around Driffield it's great to get some good local history.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thanks! I always try to get some sort of a feel for the place in the photography, and I'm glad that comes across!

[@daystatesniper01]

Totally superb video !!!!!

[@Wedgedoow]

Another excellent history lesson, keep em coming Jim.

[@chriscolcomb9454]

Another cracking film. Thanks Jim.

[@kevincollis2632]

Excellent again HHN . Keep it up 👍

[@paulfisher3181]

Excellent. Keep up the good work

[@Iveavan]

Another informative and excellently put together video 😉👌👍👍👍...

[@grahamdavidcowley]

Excellent! A very enjoyable video about an area I love.

[@jonphillips8069]

Drove past these tracks to work for a while ,such a lovely area. Great vid as always 👍

[@lisaodd3196]

Brilliant video, one of my favourite branch lines. We've just come across your channel and love it.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Welcome to the channel, hope you enjoy the rest of the videos!

[@paulleadley8403]

Brilliant. Very enjoyable , well presented, well researched. Thank you very much for posting...

[@stinkeye1672]

Really pleased to find this channel and this video about my neck of the woods.

[@grayman999]

I enjoyed this video so much I watched it twice this area of the world is a particular favourite of mine features a lot on my KZbin channel including my love of this fascinating story of the little railway that did also watch Martin Zero episode about the tunnel a very scary story 😮❤

[@hullhistorynerd]

Cheers! Martin's video certainly convinced me that *I* didn't want to go inside that tunnel!

[@jCrItCh5]

Great Work Mate.. All The Best...

[@mc-tq5li]

Excellent video as always. One very interesting fact to outline the absolute idiocy behind the construction of this line is the fact that it was promoted as a through route for coal traffic between Newcastle and Hull. The phrase coals to Newcastle comes to mind. It just outlines the self serving interest that Hudson had in his own profits that he would effectively promote a railway which would take away trade from his own Newcastle and Berwick Railway....Newcastle also being a major port to benefit Hull! Money talks!

[@mtem2253]

Brilliant, The history of this line perfectly explained. Wolds Railway is fab, great to see the line been recreated in a small way

[@asc.445]

You've made my miserable day in Thailand bearable. Thank you!

[@simongleaden2864]

You're really selling me the Yorkshire Wolds - it's now on my wish list to go and have a really good look at the Wolds.

[@jasonleary1073]

thank you so much this hull lad in lancashire loves these videos so much

[@Cloudsurfer69]

this is brilliant - currently doing a tiny little series on driff and this is awesome for it :)

[@hullhistorynerd]

Driffield also gets a look in on my video on the Hull and Selby Railway Part 2 which covers the Bridlington branch!

[@garymrgarydry6991]

addicted

[@mammothmotouk]

This really was very good. I got choked up contemplating the lines eventual demise. You really have managed to have my entire family hooked. Your channel is growing and the work you are doing is fantastic. Thank you so much. I would be happy wearing a t-shirt donned with HULL HISTORY NERD. You are a gentlemen and a hero.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou! I always try to find the story of these lines; I'm a storyteller at heart, and I need some sort of narrative to hang the episode on rather than making it just an infodump of dates and names. The forlorn nature of this little line jumped straight up at me as I was researching the history of it and was the obvious story to tell.

[@chrismccartney8668]

Great Video

[@Wotan2900]

This is an excellent documentary - really engaging presenter, well-researched and interesting content and some great camera work and editing. Many congratulations, @HullHistoryNerd. Happy to subscribe and discover your other videos.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou, hope you enjoy the others!

[@Domina7ion]

Great drone shots

[@RichDavey]

Very informative video of a railway close to where I live. I have been into the tunnel as a kid as far as the collapse. I would not venture in now as it’s so unstable. Be good to see the wolds railway thrive and get longer. 👍

[@michaelcampin1464]

Lovely area of scenic beauty. Played rugby against Driffield. Great blokes pity it wasn't lambing season. We might have stood a chance then

[@michaelcampin1464]

Was there ever a line out to Richmond in North Yorkshire I think I've seen evidence but I'm not too sure

[@AviatingWithMel]

Great Episode as always, another destination on the list when I am in the Wetwang area, I can fly a plane, I am sure I can drive a train 😆...an excuse to go for some fish and chips too.

[@bazza5699]

great video, i'm also a big fan of martin zero and pat dickinson..

[@markrobert6028]

I came across that silo and associated buildings about thirty years ago whilst out that way on my bike. It wasn't as badly overgrown then. There was a lot still in situ-a lot of metal machinery, for example.

[@hullhistorynerd]

As far as I know its all still there; all of the overgrowth is from the last three or four years. I remember visiting with Kate about 5 years ago and you could still get to most of the buildings.

[@andyrob3259]

Your voice and style were made for presenting history! Love watching your programmes all the way in Melbourne, Australia (although born in the U.K.).

[@hullhistorynerd]

Thankyou, though personally I hate the sound of my own voice and editing these videos is like someone scratching fingernails down a blackboard for several hours at a time... But it's nice that at least some other people don't share my opinion!

[@stephensaines7100]

@@hullhistorynerd Your commentary is exquisite. Don't count yourself short.

[@NJPurling]

The tunnel at Burdale was apparently bored in sections as there is at least one partially subsided construction shaft in the wood above the tunnel. There are also two major roof falls between the air-shafts on the Grimston side. The tunnel is also a bat hibernicula. So it is never going to be re-opened. The tunnel has some dodgy geology to cause those major roof falls or they are failed construction shafts.

[@RHR-221b]

As always: Thank you for a very informative upload, focusing on an area previously unknown to me. Appetite-whetter! The stillness of the summer atmosphere is palpable. Insects buzzing around rosebay willowherb. Quite melancholic, in a good, remembrance/memories in the making way. All the best to you and yours, HHN, from mine and me. Rab 🍻😎💚

[@hullhistorynerd]

It was SO HOT when I was filming this video. But yes, as you say, it really gets across that nostalgic feel of summers gone, the birds, the crickets, the flies.

[@RHR-221b]

@@hullhistorynerd Thank you! To future summers and many more HHN uploads. 2021 will certainly be a ‘vintage’, in ways that most of us, I am sure, were taken by surprise. Sans patronising, you and your work keep me grounded. Another wee donation whenever my pension allows. No tears, please … Rab 👍 🥸. 😎

[@carlharris2808]

Hi jamie while you were at fimber did you see the old pictures of king george Vl + queen mother on the royal train stopping there to stay at sledmere house in 1948.

[@hullhistorynerd]

I didn't! I knew about the visit, I didn't realise there were pictures of it at Fimber!

[@carlharris2808]

@@hullhistorynerd yes the cafe there use to have some up.here are some pictures of fimber in its height.www.yorkshirewoldsrailway.org.uk/history/stations/sledmere-and-fimber-station/

[@michaeldavison3208]

Apologies, but for years I thought the best thing out of Hull was the John Sullivan Way, I have to say the the Hull History Nerb is fantastic, pity most of the MSM is of no comparison to the presentation and background information. Love the series, getting to love the area (York based so Hudson & Leeman are important).

[@hullhistorynerd]

Hull's sadly an easy target for a lazy media, hopefully the rest of my channel will shine a much more interesting spotlight on a city that was, for hundreds of years, a vital piece of the English, and later, British, economy!

[@WILD35]

Wow what great video I'm still learning alot I have been fimber Holt I'm still trying to find that tunnel

[@leebryant1973]

The north portal is on the track near Warren Percy park at warrens car park walk down the hill u get to the track follow it left and u will reachable north side the south side is in a corner of a chalk quarry u can not see it on google maps or from the road but it is there both are on google maps (south side vent opens up if u have a big torch for the photo ) it is very degraded now I don’t recommend going in there it’s probably flooded n e way m8

[@hullhistorynerd]

If you go to Wharram Percy, just before you actually get to Wharram Percy the walk crosses the old railway line. If you head under the bridge and follow the path, you'll soon find the northern portal!

[@WILD35]

Thanks guys I give it a go

[@jimmyviaductophilelawley5587]

Hi there...great little series this. I live at Dunford Bridge, at the eastern mouth of the Woodhead tunnels, I'd really like to see a good history of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway (what became the Woodhead Line, now sadly defunct but very walkable, part of the trans pennine trail.

[@hullhistorynerd]

Hopefully next year I'll be looking to do a few further afield episodes of the Lost Railways of Yorkshire * Yorkshire is, after all, a big place), and the MS&LR looks like a great candidate!

[@TheMightyKinkle]

5:25 That picture reminds me of the Shed 17 video where Thomas The Tank Engine was genetically modified from a boy to a train! 🤪

[@hullhistorynerd]

I have no idea what that is, but it sounds weird.

[@KKTR3]

❤❤❤❤

[@hughjarse4627]

Navvies certainly know how to knock’em back

[@hullhistorynerd]

They certainly did!

[@jasinere35]

there is one that you may be interested in its the york to tadcaster the line that never was

[@hullhistorynerd]

Sadly there's nothing really to look at other than the viaduct. I did consider adding it into the Hudson Way video which focusses more on Hudson, but in the end I felt it was too far to travel just for a handful of shots of the viaduct, especially when I already had Stamford Bridge in the video.

[@jasinere35]

@@hullhistorynerd even thou there is only the viaduct & a short section of embankment in existant if you looked on satelite view they had the route mapped out & you could easily follow it

[@Domina7ion]

I'm having to use closed captions and I thought youd like to know that google inteprets the way you say stone work as "stern work". Proper hull accent!

[@hullhistorynerd]

Yeah, they're not calibrated for the Hull accent, that's for sure! If I had more time I'd correct the CC on all my videos; maybe another rainy day project to add to the list!

[@Domina7ion]

@@hullhistorynerd it was almost all correct, or close enough that I could figure it out with what little I can hear at the moment.

[@hullhistorynerd]

That's good, when I get time though I'll check out the transcripts of the cc and make sure they're right.

[@zenoelea8239]

Excellent story of this ill conceived railway. Below is a link to a wonderful film of the Wharram Percy quarry in operation, Titled "the Chalk Getters". kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqq7pZmgoaacnbs

[@hullhistorynerd]

Oo, good link, cheers!

[@comedyhunter]

Another well researched video, thanks. Im going to watch Martins video now, I love his work but dont think I watched that video. Ive just done a video about a railway bridge near me, no where near as good as yours but I used the mapping website to get my route details : kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGe0eXmul5amqqc

[@hullhistorynerd]

Cheers, I'll go and check it out!

[@richardjellis9186]

Liverpool to Manchester was the FIRST passenger railway in the WORLD.! NOT JUST ENGLAND OR BRITAIN.!

[@hullhistorynerd]

Indeed it was, and quite the achievement!

[@hullhistorynerd]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 I think what we mean is that the Manchester and Liverpool railway was the first inter city steam hauled passenger railway, it was the one that proved the case to hundreds of investors across the nation that there was a market for passenger railway travel and that it wasn't just all about freight. Of course the Stockton & Darlington was earlier, and the first true steam pulled passenger railway; the others you mention were not pulled by steam locomotives until after tbe Stockton & Darlington began doing so. In fact, the Kilmarnock & Troon got their first steam locomotive from Stephenson himself in 1817, but was quickly taken out of commission as it kept breaking the fragile cast iron plateway. It's doubtful that it ever pulled passengers in those very early days.

[@Trek001]

I think, HHN, that those navies were clearly drunk on The Holy Spirit Edit: Three cheers for Bob T Drone

[@hullhistorynerd]

😁

[@jasinere35]

you got a large section of you info completely wrong george stephenson did invent the railway & it wasnt manchester the first passenger service it was actually made between darlington & stockton i came from darlington & the only thing that coulnt be agreed on was where the locomotion number one journey started from was it darlington or stockton if you loook into it more the rocket was featured on the old £5 notes with its 15 coaches passing over skerne bridge that is still there to this day

[@hullhistorynerd]

The Manchester and Liverpool was the first inter city railway, which is what I said, not the first passenger railway. The Darlington and Stockton carried passengers as an afterthought, but it was primarily built to move coal. However, the fact that people seemed excited to be riding in the simple carriages was likely the inspiration for instituting passenger services on the next project. I also didn't claim that Stephenson invented the railway, I said "in 1835 George Stephenson made his first railway line." I'm happy to be corrected on mistakes, but these were not mistakes that I made in this video!

[@eddo167]

It goes to show a little knowledge is a dangerous thing in the wrong hands

[@ericmoorhouse9822]

This is spoilt by the lousy music

[@hullhistorynerd]

Well, that's certainly an opinion.

[@stephensaines7100]

@@hullhistorynerd Indeed. This is an outstanding presentation.

[@chrismccartney8668]

Nothing has changed think Crossrail HS2 Dot.com and now the Covid Office Space Disaster followed by HGV Driver disaster etc etc We still have difficulty with Cause and Effect…..