Walking Over The Cynghordy Viaduct

[@Jobbo73]

It’s a wood pigeon.

[@damianknight8064]

no its a real pigeon lol

[@annashilonosova2604]

Looked into the comments section to see if anyone had already written about the wood pidgeon :))

[@Jobbo73]

Tina Onions - was a Marshall once. The same is true for us on the edge of the Cotswolds. Oddly my fiancée asked me the other morning what sort of bird it was; I’ve always been used to the sound 😃

[@DENPTrains]

FINALLY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS I FINALLY KNOW

[@Plaxton220]

I wake up to that every morning

[@jezzaqc]

4:06 - Vicki! Your pronunciation and accent is amazingly good! I’m really impressed and I’m a Welshman from Wales living in Wales and everything 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@thesmity31]

There's a viaduct and aquaduct next to each other up in Chirk which crosses the England/Wales border. The aquaduct is a canal, which goes through a tunnel on the welsh side which is also cool. But when you walk through the tunnel and walk out the other end, you get hit with a wall of chocolatey goodness as the smell from the nearby chocolate factory hits you. A great little trip if you are in the area.

[@SirDominic]

id forgotten how much i love the intro music

[@pmb9172]

There is a really good pub next to the Red Lion the Goose and Cuckoo Serves really good food when its not busy. Little house at the bottom of the Cyn viaduct with a very old post box . A view from the bottom of the viaduct really makes you appreciate the maths and effort of the men that went into building it .

[@GManPT]

All the stations theme music 🎶😍😍😍🎶 I missed this so much!

[@bruce_adams]

What a fantastic outing! Spectacular structure, and how special to get to walk across it.

[@johnledingham852]

Great video Geoff, cherry on the cake being Vicki's contribution. She really is a little sweetheart. Thanks for getting down to the nitty gritty on the Cynghordy Viaduct. It was great to see the enthusiasm of the others from the two or three organizations that shared the outing with you. So wonderful to see that old viaduct standing the test of time, maintaining its' integrity since construction. And the unique views of that part of Wales was impressive to this 77 year old Queenslander too. Love your work, please keep it up. Give Vickie a hug from me, no two hugs!

[@davidboda3667]

Love these videos. It's like hanging out with good friends

[@julieaylward7033]

How I have misssed that tune....

[@cholten99]

Hearing it just makes me irrationally happy

[@paulyh4531]

Agreed its a top tune , I like the piano slow version best out of all the variations 😀

[@mikefuller2019]

That’s why I bought all three on I tunes, and play them to remind of that mad few months,!

[@MaxAmSax]

It totally triggers my addiction again

[@andrewwebb3431]

3:11 it's either a wood pigeon or a collared dove. They both have similar calls. When you've spent 25 years living with them waking you up by coo-cooing outside your bedroom window at 5 in the morning like I have it becomes a very grating noise!

[@tyneside1946]

Andrew Webb ‘My toe hurts, Betty’. Or so it sounds to me.

[@w0033944]

From Geoff's description, I suspect it's a collared dove.

[@kimifur]

It's a collared dove. An ornithologist once explained the difference like so: A collared dove's call goes, "My toe hurts, my toe hurts" and a wood pigeon's goes, "My toe hurts so it does, my toe hurts so it does".

[@beeble2003]

Better than blackbirds. Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! SHUT UP!!!!

[@j.j.foster7002]

Thanks for the very interesting video! I am pleased that Network Rail is (are) taking such good care of that old engineering marvel.

[@UTubeThePatient]

Inspired by Geoff and Vicki we did Heart of Wales last year complete with a stop at Sugar Loaf. Came back back via Hereford but on a brilliant loco-hauled service designed for AMs (welsh MPs) to get to North Wales.

[@driverdoozer]

Has Vicki got a PTS certificate? She's managed to get a white helmet as opposed to a blue one like everyone else, which denotes inexperienced/non-PTS trained person.

[@frederific]

driverdoozer I was wondering if anyone else had noticed that!

[@krozjr5009]

What even is PTS?

[@mauricesylvester2221]

@@krozjr5009 Personal Track Safety, its a safety course to allow you to work trackside

[@JonathanLight1]

They could have ran out of hard hats. Besides, they were escorted

[@michaelocyoung]

She's related to a signalman, so it's probably passed down in the genes.

[@trainmman]

It was a nice walk it hadn't long rained when we went up on the first group which made it more tricky for us the sleepers were quite slippery after the rain but did give a nice photo effects, especially with the orange jackets reflecting off the rails. Took loads of photos of the viaduct, It would have been better if it was concrete sleepers. Though further up from the viaduct it go from wood to concrete. The construction must have been amazing but sadly was told there was some loss of life while building the viaduct, Llandovery Station is quite nice to explore though did you see the old weigh bridge outside the station. Also Pantyffynnon is worth having a closer look seeing its still got the GWR signalling system in place. Above all that glad you enjoyed your day. If your ever in the area let me know,

[@DJRyanJamesUK]

Its on my list to do Cynghordy Viaduct looks beautiful exactly how I imagine Mid-Wales to look! BEAUTIFUL!

[@andrewholloway231]

Now there's a series worth seeing 'Walk the Heart of Wales Line with Geoff and Vicki'. :-)

[@starlinguk]

I just realised I signed in at Preston station yesterday but didn't sign out. Now I'll be haunting the place forever. WoooooOOOoooo.

[@andydrew2003]

I was listening to Pages from Ceefax...and then this came on. The contrast in volume is quite considerable!

[@flyingbananatree5661]

You two are simply adorable :)

[@Speedy4527]

Used this line frequently for travelling between West Wales and North West England during the mid eighties, as it was a cheaper route compared to going via Hereford and Cardiff on the line that followed the border. Viaducts are my favourite railway feature, given the engineering that went into building them. Good video. In fact, your videos overall are highly informative.

[@AlexL1805]

Quarter miles are consistently marked (although the colour and style of the mile posts does vary), but not everywhere has nice neat chain markers fixed to the sleeper. Some have every half a chain sprayed on the web of the rail, and some places have no chainage marked at all (so it becomes a case of guessing or using a rather finicky app).

[@TwainP]

You'd like the Cwm Prysor viaduct between Llyn Celyn and Trawsfynydd, a viaduct on a closed rail line (rails gone) up the side of a valley. Took a walk along it in a winters frost and it was wonderful

[@Marcsharp82]

Made for fascinating viewing. Pleasure to watch 😊

[@geraintinward9890]

Nice to see you again in lovely Wales..

[@arwelp]

My gosh, that brings back memories: “22 yards, 1 chain,; 10 chains, 1 furlong; 8 furlongs to the mile” I can still remember chanting that in primary school more than 50 years ago, and obviously it stuck! Now if I could just remember what a rod, pole, or perch was.... Vickys Welsh pronunciation is pretty good, too!

[@MrLargePig]

I seem to recall that a rod is 15 1/2 feet.

[@arwelp]

MrLargePig Just looked it up on Wikipedia! Apparently it’s 5 1/2 yards or 16 1/2 feet, or more usefully here, a quarter of a chain....

[@MrLargePig]

Thank you!

[@MrBiggordy]

Aren't they fish??

[@thebigchip]

In response to the “We might be on this line again this year” Is it possible to travel to Holyhead via the Mid Wales line to do #AlltheStationsIreland?

[@thetrainandboatchannel7371]

Great Video Vicki and Geoff. They are the best

[@JISJ1964]

There was just one thing missing in the film, a "Geoff explores" would have been super! Fantastic never the less, one channel here in Sweden had a series about famous bridges and viaducts and it was there too.

[@geek9642]

Wood pigeon.. gets annoying after a while Fun fact it's actually two birds singing to each other

[@chris075uk]

Can also be a Collared Dove, not sure if they've spread to Wales yet though

[@kimifur]

It's a collared dove. An ornithologist once explained the difference like so: A collared dove's call goes, "My toe hurts, my toe hurts" and a wood pigeon's goes, "My toe hurts so it does, my toe hurts so it does".

[@hemantfm3716]

All the stations Music is really Amazing !!!

[@cosmic-fortytwo]

You guys are great, I love your videos. I want to go to all these places now.

[@tncorgi92]

Everything about Wales I've seen makes me want to visit there!

[@RatelHBadger]

Geoff... if you ever run out of trains, come to Wellington New Zealand... we have 3 train restoration projects within an hour of each other. Steam Incorporated, the Silverstream Historic Railway and the Fell Museum and Incline Restoration project... all within an hour of the Central City station (by car or train). That's just us... the rest of the country is full of historic restoration projects or vintage lines.

[@fayezch5]

Yay, you two are back. These are great!

[@Leonard_Smith]

Geoff, the bird that makes that noise is a pigeon. Vicki (ASA), were you (ASA) before you knew Geoff, or is one a consequence of the other?

[@nothisispatrick5725]

I subbed to both of you

[@kimifur]

It's a particular type of pigeon called a collared dove.

[@stephenreardon2698]

Saw you on the week on the network - Network Rail video

[@Mpr91]

Great video as per usual Vicki and Jeff!

[@angusstewart6655]

I saw you on network rail week

[@robhorne3048]

A great video. Thank you for sharing.

[@paulyh4531]

Great video , nice to see the team back together √

[@TravelJackJourneys158]

I enjoy watching your video I did the Heart of Wales Line Last Year I did Circular from Shrewsbury to Shrewsbury via The Heart of Wales Line, Cardiff then Hereford on that day I used a Heart of Wales Circular Day Ranger it was a fantastic day

[@charliedunham6598]

Great video

[@annwags]

What a wonderful excuse for a short holiday in some really beautiful country! Pity we never have the time!

[@garybutler3256]

An indication of distance: one chain is 22 yards, the length of a cricket pitch from stumps to stumps

[@cheamchap]

Hi Wish I had known that you guys were staying in my local at Llangadog the Red Lion en route to Cynghordy!!!

[@neilbain8736]

When I was newly living in Bath, I cycled to Bristol one night and went for the train back. I had a one week railrover ticket for the UK that expired that night so I thought I'd have a wee cycle just to use it up. At Temple Meads I got in just as the tannoy said the Bath train had just arrived and was at the platform so I ran and jumped straight on, having a valid ticket. Next thing I knew I was under the Severn going to Swansea. It was the train FROM Bath and I had missed that part of the announcement! I had to hang about in Swansea till 5 in the morning as I had got the last train. My ticket also expired at midnight and it was too far to cycle to be at work by 9 a.m. The night station staff mostly spoke Welsh but used English numbers.

[@bathhead]

Gutted I missed you guys in Swansea again

[@natehill8069]

Nice bridge. I was trying to figure out how many sheep there were, but I kept drifting off so I gave up...

[@llessibm]

Loving ‘All the Stations - Excursions’

[@DanLoudShirts]

USELESS LENGTH FACTS 1 chain = 22 yards (20.1168m) - the length of the wicket in cricket 10 chains = 1 furlong (220 yards) (201.168m) 8 furlongs = 1 mile (1760 yards) (1609.344m)

[@roundel52]

Great video and really tall viaduct. I bet its equivalent to a 15 storey building.

[@beeble2003]

Don't be silly. It doesn't have any steps.

[@christopherbentley5216]

Very good video,thoroughly enjoyable. Are you doing",ALL THE VIADUCTS/BRIDGES",This year.??(Where allowed to).Last year all the stations was compulsive viewing.p.s.Just got back from KENILWORTH STATION

[@mittfh]

Which has (finally!) opened - albeit with a single 153 unit shuttling up and down the line. Still, on a nice sunny weekend like this, they could arrive at the station, walk into town to view the facade of the first station (now Pomeroy's), then stroll through Abbey Fields to the castle. Then perhaps the following day, head 6 miles South to Warwick (which also has a castle), so Vicki can make progress on her #AllTheCastles project :)

[@bobtheshorkie1987]

Reminds me a little of Smardale Gill in Cumbria . . . Or Yorkshire - I forget which.

[@grahamlive]

12:36 . I thought Vicki said "I've pooped!" TMI Vicki. Luckily, I misheard.

[@blackmanjohn9]

Question.. orange jackets?? Who will need to see you in an emergency situation? Helmets?? What was likely to fall on your head?

[@whodewawhybot]

@2:09 A+ for the focus pull.

[@drcaffeine1974]

The gentleman never explained why distances are measure in chains... Would somebody perhaps be so kind as to explain this? Thank you kindly :-)

[@Leonard_Smith]

Alexander Beck ~ Probably because when the railways were being built the chain was the recognised measure of distance used by surveyors. It seems to have stuck ever since, although Network Rail do appear to have plans to replace it with the boring metric system. Hope that helps

[@KristerL]

The amazing metric system*

[@murraynairn5139]

Chainage is the distance along the centreline of a road/railway (i.e. between the running rails or where the lines are separating a carriadgeay on a raod). Back in the day, they set out construction by chainage and offset (chainage being the distance up the railway, and offset being the distance of objects to the left and right of this chainage) because technology was low and chain was cheap. The length of a 'Chain' was determined by 100 links back in the 1600s which in todays money equates to just over 20 metres. The beauty of chainage is that it has a start and end pount, therefore it has a direction so offsets to the left can never be confused with offsets to the right and vice versa. It is still used in route construction to this day for roads, railways etc.

[@ianjoyce5120]

Surveyors' chains, as mentioned low tech but pretty good for measuring distance. A chain is 22 yards or the length of a cricket pitch. There are 10 chains to the furlong and 8 furlongs to the mile so 80 chains to the mile or 1760 yards. Times the 36 inches in a yard gives 63360 inches to the mile, the scale of the old OS one inch maps. 1:50,000 doesn't have same ring but that's progress for you.

[@drcaffeine1974]

Thank you all. Your explanations and further information is much appreciated. Thank you very much indeed!

[@clairepoole7029]

Love these videos

[@golly2k]

Please tell me the "All the stations - Ireland" is in the works? Go on..it'll only take about 3 days!!

[@OlanKenny]

Swansea is a very nice station!

[@ernestparker3648]

Worth the wait. Brilliant

[@HenrysAdventures]

This years project should be "All the Viaducts"!

[@thebigchip]

Group Two! Why didn’t you play the “Don’t You Know Who We Are? Card? So good to hear the Steven Francis theme tune again. I do miss it (even though I downloaded the track.)

[@RichardLartey]

Tell me I'm not the only person who repeated 'pronunciation guide' in a Moss from The IT Crowd voice?

[@AllTheStations]

you're not the only one, Geoff recited this constantly whilst editing that part of the video .. ! (do you also know the new Emergency Number jingle...?)

[@RichardLartey]

All The Stations oh yes I've got it on speed dial. 0118 999 881 999 119 725

[@RichardLartey]

All The Stations THREE

[@johnstilljohn3181]

Nice one team, as usual...

[@mattdeany1]

Wood pigeons' cooing is great!

[@grahamlive]

Nice, Not a patch on Glenfinnan though?

[@peter_smyth]

A marker every five chains is about every 20 metres, for those interested, and a quarter mile marker is every 400 m.

[@beeble2003]

No, _one_ chain is about 20 metres (specifically, 22 yards), so five chains is about 100m.

[@BPRTbone]

Amazing!

[@mikeq7096]

collar half in half out, the new fusion trend setter of the year.

[@briocheoleary5043]

Do you know If they still might do Ireland, lol.. I think Geoff and Vicki were considering it 😂

[@LisaMarli]

Very lovely viaduct. I love the old brickwork. In California they frequently use wood! Because wood bends in the event of earthquake. Even modern steel trellis and reinforced concrete are safer. We had to take down part of our brick chimney after a big earthquake. It shifted badly. :(

[@lifeonrails]

It's a wood pigeon Geoff. There is the answer. A wood pigeon

[@kimifur]

It's actually a collared dove. Very similar to the call of a wood pigeon, but not quite.

[@dianapatterson1559]

One chain = 22 yards, the length of a cricket pitch. How can one forget that?

[@mikoajem675]

Yo Geoff, which viaduct do you find more impressive? The Cynghordy or the Ribblehead?

[@stevieinselby]

What's the deal with it only being a request stop in one direction? Is it uphill that way so they don't want to stop if they don't have to? Or is the visibility approaching from the other way too poor and they can't see people on the platform until the last minute? Or is there so much slack in the timetable before the next passing loop that there's no reason not to stop?

[@hannahtuck3052]

Did you play spot the dead sheep on the way 😂 there were 3!

[@thenerd6192]

Not a wood pigeon but a collared dove; wood pigeons call in groups of 5 while collared doves call in groups of three.

[@dlittlester]

I really liked this. Thanks for doing it. I think I'd like to be able to speak Welsh too.

[@andrewjameson5918]

I thought it was you Vikki in the Network Rail video.

[@connorgeorge6294]

I’m going to Bruton & Chetnole this weekend, anyone else been to either of them two before? Or anyone done them in the same day?

[@EE12CSVT]

The correct pronunciation of Cynghordy is as follows: Cyng as in the first part of cunning (fox). Not King. The resg is broadly as you pronounce it.

[@peterjohncooper]

I thought I spotted Vicky in heavy disguise in the Network Rail version of this event.

[@DewiJones]

time to have All The Stations branded PPE?

[@Artermysss]

Darn! If I knew you were both in Swansea, I would have come said hello. :(

[@MrLargePig]

Maybe it was a trick of perspective, but it looked like one side of the parapet was higher than the other.

[@johnmehaffey9953]

Geoff looks like he's been on the local brew last night and I don't mean tea

[@autitrain]

I'm learning Welch with you !

[@jhgrees]

Welsh

[@TheCeredigionMotorcyclist]

Can you do the Cambrian line

[@annother3350]

It's not quite the stand by me bridge scene i was expecting

[@markstramtrainbuscapades1729]

The cooing bird was a wood pigeon.

[@conorjm11]

Can we have All The Stations Europe edition? These videos give me withdrawal symptoms

[@theowinters6314]

Always read the plaque :)

[@theoasisvlogs5954]

How do you get to go on this tour

[@57629589]

Do they still call these dmu's pay trains?

[@daveharrison9107]

So how do you get to do this then?!?

[@stuartmcconnachie]

Two owls do that! But yes, that was a pigeon... ;)

[@kimifur]

Specifically a collared dove. :)

[@benzeman118]

How did you find out about this? Looks like it was great fun - is there a mailing list I can sign up to to hear when Network Rail run other events like this?

[@VickiPipe]

Benjamin Howe we follow The Heart of Wales Lines on Instagram and FB and we saw this opportunity there!

[@benzeman118]

V Pipe will follow them on FB!

[@InstaSim6]

If we ever happen to meet one day, I promise I will help you pronounce Welsh place names :P Another great video in Wales. Croeso i Gymru :D