ABANDONED Dock Railway
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- čas přidán 20. 08. 2024
- Between Swanscombe and Greenhithe in Kent, there used to be a railway branch that went to the largest cement works in the UK. Swanscombe Cement Works operated from 1825 to 1990. It had its own railway network which was linked to the North Kent Line. Manor Way passed through what was the middle of the works with a level crossing and went right down to the riverside wharves on the River Thames. I take a look and see what is left of this railway and follow it right down to the wharf.
Down by the wharf are the UKs tallest 400kV electricity pylon at 190 metres high!
#Abandoned #UKRailway #Abandonedplaces
You went all the way back at night for those 52 seconds; dedication, devotion, thoroughness = Morthren.
You'll have Geoff Marshall following you down there! Great video by the way
Love how the transitions past the fences are so smooth, yet the thought of imagining someone climbing over them just cracks me up for some reason.
Now that's dedication!
Having been there it’s not as straightforward as I’d hoped 😂
45 years ago my dad worked on the boat “claycarrier” sailing back and forth the river for Blue Circle cement. When tides or space was a problem they would moor up on that wharf and walk home through the works and up Galley hill to swanscombe. My brother and I would often walk down there to meet him at the end of his shift. Yes workers kids often wandered around there, dodging the steam trains and lorries. No health and safety then. Thousands of local people worked there from swanscombe, Northfleet and Greenhithe and some how they all knew each other and they families too. Different times..
Great video and find! Makes sense for the beacons to still have power, don't want any boats to run into those docks!
Thanks!
Great work bro. It's interesting to trace the reminents of once used, but now abandoned, rail lines. Use to do this as a child near my grandparents house. Walked for kilometers. Amused for hours. Greetings from Woomera, South Australia 👍👍
Thank you for this video, it took me back more than 40 years to a different world and I honestly thought it had all been ripped up, like Gravesend West, Sheerness, Rochester carriage yard with its megalong footbridge all gone and such a shame as these things worked but sadly we live in a country where industry seems to be a dirty word these days. I never thought I would see any of this again in this lifetime and Blue Circle was a massive employer for the region but I suppose once the M25, the Channel Tunnel etc had been built, demand just petered out.
Another great video. I love exploring stuff like this and your videos allow me to do it on my couch. Knowing what you had to do to get there makes the night shot extra impressive.
Excellent work - so brave and athletic to overcome the barriers. I do historical guided tours of this area and was really grateful for your excellent work in recording this - made my life much easier.
Thank you!
I remember exploring the old Longfield West branch line before it became the CTRL. You could walk from the turning at Fawkham Junction all the way down through Hook Green towards Southfleet where it was blocked off. The embankments were fun to climb up. This kind of railway geography around North West Kent has excellent heritage.
I noticed you walked the old Swale Halt sidings in a previous video. Have you thought about exploring the old Sheppey Light Railway route from Queenborough to Leysdown? The terminus at Queenborough is still there, and there's still some track in part around Rushenden and the old route to Sheerness Docks.
I've been looking at covering the railways on Grain for a while. As you say, North West Kent has a lot of heritage
3:12 Security Crow is on to you Morthren!!!
Pretty cool video, thanks for documenting this for those of us who may never get the chance to walk the path. Pretty cool from above as well, you can clearly see the tracks you pointed out in the concrete - for those wondering, the best way to view it is with Google Earth as you can zoom in better - location of the wharf is 51°27'40.74" N 0°18'10.19" E
Another Phenomenal Well Put Together Video All The Best.
When I were a kid, and Swanscombe houses were all covered in cement dust, 1950/60s, from the train to gravesend you could see many wonderfully mysterious sidings, branches, tracks and tunnels leading to and through the chalk. Serving the Bluewater quarries and similar as well as the Cement works.
Love your work. Very professional, thorough and well documented.
Great video. You do a fantastic job in your videos. Love the explanations. And, I like the information about the video, in the notes. Can't wait for your next one.
Wow, train tracks in the middle of nowhere are cool!
Reminds me of my old playground as a kid further up that line, Erith Deep Wharf siding. Hours of fun playing on all the old rolling stock. The wharf itself is now a Morrisons store.
Very interesting and equally spooky. 🧐
While watching this video, again, I wanted to comment again.
After watching many CZcams videos, I've come to a conclusion. Any railroad tracks, that aren't being used, no matter the reason, are left in place, to fade away. If the tracks aren't going to be used, but the area they are in is, then the rails and ties(sleepers to you) are taken out completely. Many miles of abandoned track, still exist all over the world. They could be used as scrap or recycled.
I don't think I'd fancy going back to a decrepit and deserted pier like that at night! It didn't seem as if there was much (only an upturned rail end) to prevent rolling stock (or a loco) from running over the end of the pier and into the river!
I really like this kind of video. It felt as if I was upon the walk with you which I know I would have enjoyed! Does anyone out there also remember the (not-quite-so-tall-but tall-nonetheless) pylon at the end of Crayford Creek? This greeted one at the end of the walk along the banks of the Creek from The Jolly Farmers P.H. in Thames Road, Crayford out to the River Thames.
Great stuff...very atmospheric night shots. I used to love poking around the jetties and wharves by the old Belvedere power station a few miles upstream. Watching the Russian sailors relaxing on the little freighters than brought timber in from the Baltic to Burt, Bolton&Hayward...all gone
Love your videos!
The Buckinghamshire railway Quinton has the steam loco that used to run in the cement works assuming it's still there
I have not visited for ten years
Beautiful, but slightly sinister desolation! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks. It was very eerie, particularly at night
There’s loads more industrial wilderness like this along the whole of the North KentCoast from The Darenth right down to Whitstable.
I take it this was the old Blue Circle track that went down to their formidable little operation, didn't Imperial Paper Mills use this to transport the paper rolls to the newspapers before it got closed down? You could look down from Northfleet station and admire the busy shunting going on in and out the tunnels of the cement tankers and I seem to remember my old man moaning that kids kept smashing up the BR stuff meaning staff had to go down from Dartford power box to hand flag traffic. Same as a kid I would be at Gravesend bus station and look down through the railings watching the little fireless steam engines furiously shunting wagons, like little demons them engines were and such precise work wending in and out to get the wagons sorted for moving on. I think Imperial found itself locked in as the newspaper rolls for the newer presses were too large for the tunnels and rail gauge and Gravesend council were after the land too.
Love seeing abandoned lines like this
another Quality curiosity from Morthern, i do wonder if ever you get caught going to these abandoned places or if your given permission to explore at ones own risk
Thanks! Sometimes you can talk to security on abandoned sites and ask if you can take a look around. Often they say no but if you tell them a bit about the site and start chatting to them, they sometimes change their mind. When the place is deserted and there's nobody around, you have to play it by ear
Buddleia always a good indicator of railways or industry having been present
Finally a new video! :)
Great video 😁 always glad when you post as they tend to be relaxed interesting videos 👍🏻 stay safe
Very nice. Thanks for sharing.
Yet another excellent video
When I found this video I erroneously thought it was of the line which went from the cement works close to Stone Crossing (I don't know it's name) to the Thames wharf to the west of Greenhithe. They were electric trains (I think) and went over a level crossing on King Edward Road or Charles Street where there was a crossing keeper's hut. Right by the line there was a pub called The Lamb. I stayed at Cliffe House on Charles Street at the end of the 1950s and I remember these electic trains clanking along between the works and the wharf. In those days everything in Greenhithe was thick with cement dust.
I did this in 2007, it was a lot easier then. Serious security all over the railway's site now (2022) as it's been bought by a firm who, most controversially, want to turn it into a theme park. They intend that the two jetties will be brought back into use for a ferry from Tilbury or Grays. I'm going back shortly as it might be the last chance! Incidentally, the fire-tube boiler shown at 0.44 is not from a steam loco.
I love these videos, it's fascinating to see what remains of the industrial past and how nature reclaims it. Really like that you went back to get the night shots, looks stunning.
I wonder would it be possible to use photos of how the places used to look and matched with the video location etc? I went to Flickr to look it up and it's quite something, you'd have to get permission of the photos owners but it might be possible?
Me and my partner got caught by security when we were on that Jetty. He was dead serious and said he’d have us arrested if we returned 🤷♂️😂
Oh dear! Was this recently? I'm not sure who owns all this land
this would make a good model railway layout
Very nice video and fun to watch. Have a nice day.
High quality and professional exploring video, also so much appreciate not to add music in it.
Great video, I think theres similar abandoned tracks down the river at the back of angerstein wharf and near pontoon dock on the other side of the river.
Thanks. It might be worth a look
great video so this rail line will never be rebuilt ?
Thanks. It's very unlikely to be rebuilt, it's just another relic of the past.
One more interesting video, top marks from me !
Fascinating!
Finally! a new video!!! Are you going to do any more lift exploring?
I'm sure I'll find something soon
14:42-14:44 what did i saw on the key? some Chinese? "专业人员工具" (tool for professional personnel)
You could see that? It came from China 🙂
@@morthren yes i'm Chinese, you can double check that key later
and i think we can buy such tool key easily from ebay
Nice !
I half expected Slenderman to appear and take you due to the night shots lol.
Slenderman is nothing but shite and if you believe in him, you're just as much a bit of shite yourself
@@MikeT-TheRetiredColonel I don't believe in slenderman 🤦♂️. I was making an observation that the night shots, hell, the whole video is reminiscent of many a slender ARG.
Very nice video 👍🏻
Greetings from Stockholm
Awesome very nice
Do the old pier and rail track in Southampton or do the Winchester viaduct and tunnels but the tunnel is sealed off about 30 yards from the exit where a shooting range now is
Quite a lot of rails remain then
its sketchy at night time is you come from the left direction
Two old red lights hanging out. My mind two old ghost hanging out by the river.
cool
Reminds me of paths we used to follow by the railway near Folkestone Camp Site. Probably all gone now.
Love this abandoned stuff
Fascinating to watch
It's definitely a branch line now
How the hell did you get over that first fence?
More under than over
Stream engine?
Well done what a huge site and like many thoudands thruout the uk lost jobs and under used infrstructure.
We hear that not enough infrsastructer after Brexit yet i can think of many areas just crying out to out to be revamped and put to good use perhapd now the hsppy times with China have gone we can start to understand long supplies dont work well as many have found out during Corona Virus..
How do you climb over the fence with spikes and barb
Most of them can be walked around or they have a big enough gap to crawl under
@@morthren ok. What you just said totaly cracked me up.
How are your halogens?
I've still got it. I'm going to connect it up some day
@@morthren idk how many volts it is, get it hooked up! I did the same with my barrier light, and you wont regret it!
They're 24v halogen bulbs. It shouldn't be too hard to make up a flasher unit
@@morthren dont forget to make a video then!