Having left the mother country exactly 50 years ago in June 1974, watching videos like these help keep me in touch with railway journeys in the UK. As I love to reminisce of the old railway lines on trips I have traveled as a young lad on holidays in the past, it keeps my memories alive. I want to say how much I appreciated your wonderful whole five segments of this fantastic trip in areas I was once familiar with and want to say how diligent I thought the driver of this Hastings Diesel was with his horn warnings well before the sign appeared. Also the information provided on the screen was extremely informative of old by-gone days of over two centuries. You all have to be commended.

@hastingsdiesels

12 күн бұрын

Many thanks for this! Glad we've been able to keep you reminiscing!

Nice to ride that route again , I used it many times when I was at stationed at , Creden Hill . A friend told me that once upon a time , many moons ago , it had it's own station . Interesting , and well presented as always . Thank You .

Wow.. whoever came up with the idea of filming train rides from the cab.. I take my hat off to them because it's something wonderful for guys of my age & older to be able to see what we wanted to see all those yrs ago but could only look out the side windows of the train pulling us along ..

lovely ride man..I love these remote country rides, especially the " One Track " ones,,through the middle of nowhere..they're just great..!!!.

Thank you! An excellent piece of railway filming, made all the more valuable by the on-screen commentary and maps.

@hastingsdiesels

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you Martin, glad you appreciated my efforts.

Lovely Capture and a superb route, the GWR(/LNW) Signalling are very impressive, its stayed strong and is a testament to the Victorians who built it. Can't wait for the return trip!!

A fantastic series, informative in each episode and a pleasure to watch. Great job on this, Richard.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Starman

Nice run. I've enjoyed these sequences from Reading. Good to see the ex-GWR lower quadrant signals are still in place as of 2018, they certainly add to the lines character.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

It’s taken us a month to go from Reading to Hereford... but even on the day that was a long old slog wasn’t it? No wonder the driver says “Six miles to Hereford!” with a sense of relief... :)

Thank-you Richard Griffin and all associated with making this splendid Video series.

@hastingsdiesels

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! ^RG

On screen information and on screen map positioning; who could possibly Usk for more?

@RichardFelstead1949

5 жыл бұрын

I agree.

@frankROFF

4 жыл бұрын

@@RichardFelstead1949 Seconded

Great ride, guys, and congrats on making up the time. I'm off to watch another Hastings video. Cheers!

Thanks for sharing. Excellent as usual. Bob Mac.

I have been with you on all the cab rides very interesting and informative thank you

Another brilliant and beautifully made video! Thanks !

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Andrew.

Many thanks for another wonderful cab ride Richard. These videos make my week.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Mike, that’s kind of you.

Thanks, once again, Richard. Very enjoyable.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you phwbooth.

Many thanks, Richard for your cab rides in this wonderful train.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Ian, glad you enjoy them.

More great footage with really helpful maps and captions: thank you! Interesting the trip touched on an area so severely affected by the Beeching axe in the 1960s, but which the South Wales Metro proposals envisage revitalising.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Richard. These things are always evolving, aren’t they - we’ll see what comes of the proposals.

Love your videos. Beautiful Countryside! Big thanks from New York.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Ted.

Fantastic yet again, another saturday night's decent viewing on offer, roll on the,next one, awesome stuff

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you, Antony.

terrific video, onscreen info takes it to the next level

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you J Mac, glad you enjoyed.

Like a few others who have made the same comment, the on screen historical notes are excellent. Locations of closed stations - which seem in the main, to have sympathetically restored station houses; junctions of long closed branches, and other notes make these videos just a little better than others without “overdoing” it. And those lower quadrants - don’t tell the signal engineers they’re still there! Thanks again!

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you, Andrew. Yes, there is always the risk of overdoing it and I’m trying to walk that line with care. Thanks again. Richard.

I'll second that, the on screen map is a great addition to these videos, saves me flitting between tabs to OSM

Very good, travelled that way a few times, thank you....

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you, Leslie.

Another brilliant bit of driver's eye view footage!

Thank you for the video.

WHAT A BRILLIANT CAB RIDE VERY INTERESTING AND ENJOYABLE

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Hamish, glad you liked it.

Very interesting film. Thank you ! I was surprised that no trains at all came in the opposite direction.

@johnfirth7038

5 жыл бұрын

There was one I saw but it was at a station where there was an island platform

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Good point. It seems there’s only 3 trains per 2 hours over this section.

Another superb video presentation. Such a pity your proposed route home was compromised, that would have been a really interesting run. Thanks to all concerned.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Ho Bo, glad you enjoyed it. Yes, a pity but perhaps another time.

This is great work

Hi, since I have been watching your videos I have learnt such a lot about how the railways work, junctions, signals etc, and its been a real good history lesson too. The numbers of closed lines, and stations is staggering, I always knew the 1960's were a time of closures but it was more like a holocaust for the railways. Thank you

@hastingsdiesels

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you, glad you've found it interesting!

I've travelled on this line several times over the last few years,most recently between Cardiff and Chester when I went to North Wales and ultimately Liverpool.

A very good video once again with the maps. And the list of places and disused stations on the way

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you, Richard

Very nice.

Looking at a map you'd think the trip would be slow with all the curves but it's not. Great video as always HDL.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you, Richard.

Best of the series. Lots of curves and grades. I sure would have liked to see the scheduled return trip. Too bad that there was a track emergency.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks. Indeed!

Very good, I enjoyed that ( at X2 speed).

Another excellent film. Pity about the line closure at Ledbury. Perhaps another time?

Just a few notes about Hereford. This map shows the various lines in and out of the city in the early 1900s [1]. Moorfields and Barton Stations were closed (the latter being demolished in 1913) when the rail companies then serving the city all agreed to work out of Barr’s Court Station. Though passenger services from Barton Station ceased, the line south remained open as a goods line until the late 60s. A number of years later it was converted to walkway/cycle path though, more recently, there have been calls to recommission it as part of a light railway route. A potted history of the railways in the city can be found in this book [2], with greater detail being found in this book [3]. A couple of other (none railway) notes. Two or three hundred yards on, after passing under the A49 bridge, there’s a relatively new housing estate on the left. This was built on what was the old Bradbury (Sterling) Lines SAS camp. (They’re now based out of the old RAF base at Credenhill - a little to the west and north of the city.) A few hundred yards further on, one passes Rotherwas. This was the site of a large munitions factory built during WW1 (and subsequently reopened for WW2). [1] maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14&lat=52.0559&lon=-2.7159&layers=171&b=1 [2] www.amazon.co.uk/Shaping-Modern-Hereford-Graham-Roberts/dp/1873827679 [3] www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074SJ4JWM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Great to see in reverse..

Magnificent !! One teensy weensy question if I may............what's next and when? I'm on a need to know basis or it's back on the Cleethorpes vids again ;)

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you John. I try to publish a video each Saturday if I can. I'm expecting to publish part of the return leg of this outing, until daylight fades around Bath.

Great video. So, what about a 157 mile return trip to Readings via Hungerford? Would love to take the journey back to where we'd started from in the first place.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

I like the idea of that... but don’t forget it gets dark quite early in March, and it was actually just about dark by the time we got back to Bath: as you may see…!

As ever, a brilliant film record. The whole journey was spectacular, especially the bits on the Berks & Hants and onward to Bath. This last section seemed to be bereft of other trains. Did Dr. Beeching miss a trick perhaps?

Fantastic journey. Nice to know the history of the railway. Do you have one driver for a journey like tbat

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

It needs more than one driver because of driving hours regulations. One driver drove all of what we see in Parts 1 to 5.

Great video but strange that not a single train passed in the opposite direction. Any reason for this?

Thanks richard for another great video,What was the knocking noise was it a engine knock or a wheel noise,cheer's bob.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks. It's a wheel-flat on the leading wheelset of this motor coach unfortunately.

Nice run. Can someone remind the driver to sound the horn *on passing* whistle boards [not as soon as he sees them]?

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Very true.

A sure fire flat from Maindee?

Does this line extend up to Chester?

what happened in '58 to close all those stations?

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

As with so many other places, it was the improvement of local roads and the misplaced belief that buses and cars could replace the railways.

The line from Newport to Hereford seemed to be very well engineered and (apart from the occasional wet spot) very well maintained. I've travelled over this section in daylight in a Class 175 from Bangor to Cardiff and one definitely gets a different perspective on the curves and the gradients when you are effectively occupying the Secondman's seat in the driving cab. It's good that the journey was undertaken in the Spring, whilst the trees were devoid of leaves, otherwise it would have been like travelling along one extensive green tunnel, with little to see to the left and to the right. Network Rail, isn't it time that you took a chainsaw to all of this lineside vegetation?

You have a very gassy driver 😂. Great video watched all five.

Sounds like a flat tyre on one of those wheels !

another great production, just a rather dull line, The Welsh Marches.....shame about not going back via chosen route.

@hastingsdiesels

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you... I disagree, the Welsh Marches line seems to me full of interest, massive history, steep gradients, some pretty decent running all told. That said I was looking forward to the Worcester route too.

Newport looks a nice town...….the further you get away from it!!!

Ummm........I. ..er...geeze gotta go.

do u come to hfd evey day then i from hfd my self

Is there a flat spotted wheel on the motor coach?

@hastingsdiesels

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, afraid so.

@joncoe9046

3 жыл бұрын

@@hastingsdiesels doesnt that risk further damage especially running it at 75mph?

@hastingsdiesels

3 жыл бұрын

Modest wheel-flats such as that one are noisy but not dangerous. The presence of a modest wheel-flat does not increase the risk of wheel-lock under braking. As circumstances permit, we do get our tyres 'turned' but it is quite an involved and costly process (either lift the vehicle off its bogies, remove the wheelset and send it away for turning, or send the train away to a facility with an underfloor wheel-lathe).