Can’t Believe it’s Gone! Abandoned Bela Viaduct, Arnside - Sandside
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- čas přidán 2. 09. 2020
- Exploring the area of Arnside and Sandside looking at a great feat of Victorian ingenuity, with iconic pillars of Arnside's viaduct that has spanned the River Kent for more than 150 years. Connected the industrial port of Barrow to towns and major cities around.
Book reference: Lost Railways of Cumbria by Gordon Suggitt: amzn.to/328zGKs
This old structure underwent major repairs and refurbishment, including the complete replacement of the rail deck in 2011 and similar work was carried out on the nearby Leven Estuary viaduct in the spring of 2006.
From Arnside the was a short branch line to Sandside Station over Bela Viaduct to Haversham Station and Hincaster Junction on the West Coast Main Line once diverged from the line here, which carried a Grange-over-Sands to Kendal local service from its opening in 1876 until 1942.
In July 1922, a Furness Railway service ran five times per day in each direction on weekdays. The branch was also used by mineral trains from County Durham to the Barrow-in-Furness area, allowing them to avoid having to reverse direction at the busy junction at Carnforth.
The railway was also largely responsible for the growth of Sandside quarry, which provided significant employment in the parish. The limestone was sold for construction purposes throughout the UK, including the foundations for Blackpool Promenade.
Local freight traffic continued as far as Sandside until final closure of the line in 1972.
Nodrog ©️
Your face when the siren went off 😂😂
It is a siren to warn people of the tide coming in in Morecambe bay by the way.
The boar hahaha
"Just start filming and the Germans show up"
😂😂😂😂😂 Absolutely legend of a comment!!😁😁😁
Lovely video matey, informative and relaxing 👍
What a thoroughly enjoyable video Nodrog, beautifully captures the essence of a long gone branch line. Keep up the good work!
Great walk and discovery and shows how we used to be with no cars,in beautiful countryside.
Fantastic as always and better than anything on the BBC
Thank you 🥳🇬🇧👍🚂
I grew up on a farm on the hills in the background of your opening shots and went to school at Heversham (not Haversham!), now called Dallam School and would regularly play on the old line. I remember the viaduct being dismantled, you could hear the demolition blasts across the whole area, they must have been loud to have been audible 10km away.
Locally it's pronounced as beelar maybe a bit closer to "beeluh".
The village of Milnthorpe a little way up the River Bela used to be a port, possibly dating back to Roman times, I think the pier/wharf is still there behind the football ground. Post glacial rebound means the area is slowly lifting so it's been a long time since any vessel has been able to get anywhere close. If you can get a reproduction copy of the first OS map of the area it shows the ground north of Arnside viaduct as being mostly marsh, the viaduct had just been built at that time.
This is excellent detail thank you!
Now come, Gordon. The line still has semaphores so that means it speaks feet and inches not these new fangled meaties... And there IS something better than a cup of tea. It's two mugs of tea.
Joking aside, a great video 👍👍👍
One of your best videos for quite a while, you may make a living out of this photography lark after all...
It's the village of Sandside, not Bela... It's the RIVER BELA. That's why it's called the Bela viaduct.
Rich 🥰
Gordon, just like to say thanks for recommending this chippy. We had a terrible chippy visit in Scarborough recently (cooked in tallow) and felt we had to undo the curse. Stopped off here after a wildcamping trip in South lakes. We were not disappointed, cheers!!
My pleasure 😇 glad you enjoyed it!
Superb video Gordon!
Great video, really enjoyable. But please tell me you had some proper fish n chips (haddock of course) when you were in Cleethorpes last week..??!!
absolutley fantastic video nodrog. that was well worth watching. looking forward to more .
A super video Gordon please keep them coming.I agree the fish and chips are top notch from Arnside chip shop.
My nan used to get permission from the bloke at Burneside level crossing, to go onto the lineside, between trains, to pick blackberries. We had pasties ALL YEAR round 😁♥️😁.
Rich 🥰
Sorry Gordon, Arnside is in Cumbria. Sandside goods yard was north of the Ship, where the old builders supplier is up to the flats. The station was behind the flats. The information board is wrong as coke didn't pass over the line from hincaster to Arnside until WW1, 40 years after the line opened to passengers, plus goods to Arnside. Bela viaduct was demolished as under the original act the view had to be maintained from nearby Dallas Tower. Line closed, viaduct followed.
Loved the sound from the semaphore signal
Lovely viaduct, love the semaphore signals and the box, Looks like a beautiful place.
Great video sir 👍 my neck of the woods area .the limestone from Sanside quarry .I've done tarmac and stone from there in an ex firms tipper ..and also holme Park quarry ..about 4 miles or so from there .next to the m6 motorway ..i carted stone to the Blackpool sea defenses Job way back in 2007 and 2014.big .Rock..and smaller stuff ..and the village is heversham..
Nodrog, this was excellent and thorough entertaining. I can see why Channel 5 have taken a real interest in you. Those fish & chips looked mouth watering!
Arnside chippy is known to be one of the best around here!
Another great video thank you. I'm really envious of the fish & chips - and I'm now feeling quite hungry.....Cheers John
Thank you for your support John, yes the supper was most delicious 😋. All the best! 👍
nice one Gordon.
Thank you 🙏
Wonderful place, I must visit one day from Australia to my ancestors home land. In the summer though I feel the cold.
You’ll be very welcome here anytime anytime! 🇦🇺 ✈️ 🇬🇧
Great video gordon ..we walked this old line during one of our walks last year mate...that is a bloody long slog along that stretch bringing you back to arnside station .....thanks for this brought back some wonderful memories of our day out round there ....top chippy that too good reputation ....stay safe ..Frank & Lee.....
Great video I will have to do that walk one day
You should!
Fascinating video Gordon.
Fantastic Video Gordon
Great video thanks Groden
Fantastic video nodrog, Walked that line a few times will look forward to the next section of the line, Hope you enjoyed fish and chips and especially the dandelion and burdock a absolute must.. thank you keep up the good work:) 👍
Excellent video captured perfectly:-)
Great video Gordon. Thanks for sharing. I love the Silverdale, Arnside and Grange areas. The Arnside Bore is spectacular too when the conditions allow. I've always loved that chippy too. On train trips around the Cumbrian coast I'd always have a break of journey just for the fish and chips. It's a well recommended and popular venue. Please keep them coming.
I wish when they relaid the deck on the viaduct they had added a walkway to the side of the railway. It would have been a popular walk no doubt. Thanks again for sharing.
Really enjoyable, thank you
Great video Gordon! Remember visiting Arnside a lot during a camping trip in Silverdale with my dad in 2009.
Awesome Nodrog. Please keep up the research of history which makes your videos superbly interesting. Great stuff, love your enthusiasm! From a southerner!!!!
Excellent video Gordon, and thank you for continuing to entertain you subscribers on youtube. Enjoyed every minute of this production.
Brill to hear. Thank you 😊
Gordon is back - hooray!
Can I just say them fish and chips look bloody gorgeous 😍
Oh boy they were 🇬🇧🥳
Great video
Glad you enjoyed it
Fantastic once again! Made me hungry and wanting some fish and chips!
Amazing video Gordon onces again keep up the great work up Gordon the fish &chips look amazing too hope you well and safe hope your family and friends are well and safe too can't wait for next video Gordon
👍👍👍👍👍
Fantastic video excellent work great idea getting yourself a drone looking forward to seeing your drone shots.
Great video thx yes that is a ride warning siren
Think I need to switch depots to get some of this fantastic scenery in. Fish and chips for tea tonight now as well 😂😂 great vlog keep it up buddy
Great video and good fish and chips 👍
Excellent n informative as usual....
Lovely walk you had pity there where only the odd bridge to see and a few sleepers.......
Keep up the good work....
Great video, directly outside the builders yard at sandside you were walking on the track (or some of it) its just underneath the tarmac itself as a friend found out with a digger 😂 and as you reached the most southern point of the track it was then elevated across on another smaller viaduct across to Marsh lane, I think you can still see an small island in the river mouth where one of the columns used to sit ;)
Brilliant, very interesting
¡Hola buenas tardes Nodrog! Outstanding, captivating and, thoroughly well researched video. Stupid, though it may seem for me, the perfect, quintessential railway moment was at (38:50) when the signal man released the signal to danger, after the last train left the section. A rather excellent photo-capture moment! Stay safe and well. Un saludo. Gary
Tidal bore is a lot slower these days since dredging was stopped. Also Sandside has seen the tide come into the sea wall and actually has sand again.
Travelled that line day in day out when working in Barrow. Have to say views from the train are superior to the Settle to Carlisle which IMO is more picturesque when photographed track side.
We are spoiled in the NW and Cumbria with the disused line from Glasson to Caton being walkable and the Keswick line now clear for walkers again with lots of history.
Plenty of old goods wagons if you look closely being used by farmers. With keswick farms showing lots of evidence of wooden sleepers being used for fencing etc.
West Cumbria also as a few lesser known ones worth a visit.
Cracking video Gordon. The Furness Coast line is one of my regular routes and a route I love to work. The route is stunning all year round. I've seen some cracking sunrises and even better sunrises. As regards both viaducts. On a 156 you can tell you're crossing them. But, with a 195 you can't. I've only been able to walk the first 2 miles of the Hincaster branch. But, I'm not sure how much further you can go. I do hear the chippy is rather excellent. I still need to sample it. Oh and if you want to film one of the test trains that run up then i do recommend filming from the old branch. At least a mile from Arnside. Just for the sound
What a lovely adventure. Beautifully filmed and narrated. The way the pace seemed to match the surroundings. Great stuff. Thank you :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
agreed, there is sometimes a lot that can be said by saying nothing at all
Another cracking vid, Gordon. Been following some maps as you've gone along. Interesting, on old maps everything is spelled 'Beela', yet most modern descriptions of the viaduct have it as 'Belah' and most moderm maps spell everything 'Bela'.....! Me mouth's watering watching you eat them fish and chips. Good work, fella.
You must have left hundreds of cameras behind, as you've walked off and left them😂.
It would have been great, sitting at the pub at the end of Sandside prom, watching the steam trains going passed.
Rich 🥰
Glad you enjoyed the area and the Hincaster branch as we locals new it. When you walk the next bit you will find the Heversham station platform on your left just below the A6 road bridge. From there up to Hincaster it is very overgrown but at the Hincaster end part of the trackbed has been turned into a walk with picnic benches. My ex father in law used to tell me when he was young in the 1950's he would see the coking coal trains coming down the incline from hincaster in the dark mornings with the brake van wheels glowing red hot. I also recall they parked the royal train in the Hinaster end of the branch on a couple of occasions. If you have not already done the next stage it may be worth looking at the only tunnel on the Lancaster to Kendal canal which is only a few hundred yards down the road from where the branch joined the mainline. The canal was ruined by the Kendal bypass and Kendal council backfilling it from Kendal but there is a horse walkway over the top of the hill just by the southern portal of the tunnel which goes under the WCML well worth the walk and you will enjoy the bridges and the old horse stables at the northern tunnel portal. Now a private residence. Enjoy.
The quarry is still there. It IS a limestone quarry, but they also make tarmac(asphalt). My dad retired from working there only 3yrs ago.
Are you sure that, that embankment you're walking on is the old railway.? I think it's simply to keep the water back, away from the railway, and farm land as you mentioned. And, I also think that the railway is to your right, in that tree line, in a small cutting, which gets quite a bit deeper, as you'll have found out further up your walk. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the embankment goes off in the other direction, right along the 'coastline' as it were.
Also, my dad was the machine driver (loader) at that quarry for over 15yrs. Retired about 3yrs back.
Rich 🥰
Nice vid and day, at 9.32 the platform edge of the branch line to Hincaster can be seen. The original freight traffic would have crossed the spectacular Belah Viaduct - not the on this video - on the Stainmore Route. Could taste the chips!!!
More like the old Nodrog, thanks! But don’t tease/torture with the fish & chips😉
Great video of a lovely area.. Living in Germany I really miss fish and chips.
Hi mate, first time ever watched you but this interested me as I grew up in the area. If you're ever around there again you'll ha e to go to Booths carpark in milnthorpe. I remember there being some old track that had just been moulded into the concrete and always wondering why and how it got there. This explains a lot. Great video
Now that was a brilliant walk and now jealous of the Fish and Chips! LOL But on a serious note, hope you really enjoyed the Fish and Chips and looking forward to the conclusion of this journey. Till next time, Chip. Chip!
I remember the viaduct being refurbished. So much smoother now on the once bumpy tracks.
Great video, really enjoyed it. I grew up and spent most of my formative years in Storth (next to Sandside) and it would be too easy to point out where you got things wrong (the 'tunnels' at Sandside were the limekilns) but you did a really good job. Arnside Chippy is fantastic 👍
first time viewer. very good content,well done. if you do get a drone dont forget to get your faa lience which you can pass on there web site. once again well done lad
Done. I passed 👍. Free to fly 🥳
Hiya @ 22:26 - I too was 'out & about' & came across some 'Fresh wild blackberries' - aren't they just too good to eat!!! Yum 😊🚂🚂🚂
Another great one Gordon! Really enjoying these vids!😁 Portillo? You're sacked! Take your pastel blazers and do one! Nodrog does such a better job. Such a natural. Well researched and such a relaxed atmosphere to his style. Kind of reminds me of our fellow northerner, the late, great, Fred Dibnah. Well done Gordon!😁
There was a level crossing where the road and rail meet. The road may be higher now, so it makes it hard to see. But both the road and railway were there at the same time.
Rich 🥰
Thanks for the info
Pity that the Bela viaduct has gone. (Not the more famous Belah). As it was mainly stone you think it would have remained. I'm at Arnside on a holiday. Knowing there is nothing left has saved me a trip. Fortunately photos and even a good Trainsimulator 2020 remain of this route.
Ah at 10:30 is the viaduct which ran over the river Bela, too your right from there you can see Dallam Tower which is deffinatley worth a look if your passing again👍
beautiful part of the country especially in the nice weather. rounded off with a nice fish supper. wonder if they deliver to Ayrshire.
Cool. That must be one of the last stone built signal boxes left...
I remember my nan telling me that she remembered been able to go directly to Barrow from Burneside.(and, direct trains to London.!😮).. But, I'd say it was dismantled because of the lack of freight traffic. There's no way that 'they'd' run trains between Windermere and Barrow nowadays. It just wouldn't pay.
Rich🥰
Great video Gordon another abandoned line a bit further north is the old Foxfield to Coniston line ?
Thanks for a great video, only problem is, I want some fish and chips now.
According to Rail Map online, the station was by the blocks of flats. Probably in what is now the car parking and green garages.
Great videos Nodrog. We have alot in common. I live in bolton le sands and if you ever fancy a walk together let me know.
Sounds good!
Arches may have been cement furnaces perhaps? Looked like bricked up kilns inside and it’s a limestone quarry
Interesting video of a line i knew little about. Was this last tuesday? if so there were DRS 37's on a test train through Arnside around 4pm.
V. Good .are you keep well St Helens NW 👍
Hiya pal, top quality material yet again. Re: tea, what brand do you use? It has to be Tetley for me! lol Take care, stay safe.
Yorkshire ☕️👍☕️
Hi Nodrog. Have you seen the Class 390 Prideolino “390119” up & down on the West Coast Main Line. Including at London Euston, Birmingham New Street, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Wigan North Western, Warrington Bank Quay, Preston, Oxenholme Lake District and Carlisle. What do you think of the Class 390 in Pride livery. They do look really nice.
I'm stunned! What a fascinating film Nodrog, i've visited Arnside many times, but didnt know about the branch line, or the viaduct.
Thankyou for a very informative film.
I had an idea today of setting up Lancashire railway archives if anyone has any interesting info on the area let me know by replying to this comment thanks and as always gordon great content
What is in the video for 2people(at time of writing), to 'dislike' it.? Please let me know if you're one of them. I'd love to hear why you'd click on it.
Love the vids Gorgon, keep 'em coming.
Rich 🥰
Thanks for that!
👻👻 talking of haunted 👻👻...
My dad, who just retired from the quarry after over 15yrs service, told me that he'd seen a ghostie on 3 seperate occasions. He's DEFINITELY NOT the kind of person to lie about something like this, and he still doesn't 100% believe. But, twice, as he reversed his machine, whilst on nights, he saw something in his mirror. The second time, he actually got out of the cab to have a look, he was THAT convinced someone was behind the machine, but there was no one there. Then, one night on his way home, as he crossed the bridge, over the river Bela, he saw the same 'figure' stood at the side of the road, but was gone when he looked in the mirror. The next morning, someone had crashed their car, right at the same spot that he'd seen it.
He knows of a past worker, who threw himself off the cliff edge at the quarry, and thinks that maybe it's him haunting the place. As I've said, he's not the kind of person that craves attention, or makes things up, and still doesn't really believe in ghosts, but, he definitely saw something, 3 times.😲👻😲.
So, make of that what you will.
Rich 🥰.
There's a much earlier, smaller banking beyond the railway banking that protects the farmland, 16th century from memory.
Blackberry and Apple pie with custard, or ice cream ummmm.
Dont mention the War
D and b Is THE only pop to have with chippy chips
I found the delay between sound and video rather off putting, but otherwise great video again
Confucius say: Woman who fly Airplane Upside-Down have hairy crack up.
Not far wrong Gordon about Germans showing up Barrow got bombed don't know after Liverpool got bombed or on their way to Belfast or Clydebank maybe someone knows more about it ?
Great video