that's deeper i can't feel the bottom yet
gonna need a water break
obviously this here thick mud two feet deep we reckon judging by the cow situation but i
think we can get across that bit up there to the portal there morning everybody today we're looking
at some very old railways and we're looking at a really interesting place it kind of encapsulates
the evolution of the railways four different railways over about 50 or 60 years
from 1779 and we're joined by our friend martin hello i'm sure you know Martin Zero if you don't
go subscribe to his channel link below etc but for the meantime we're going to try and find the first
of these railways built 1779 with the caldon canal and that's where we are today
right there folks now where do i start i've done a fancy graphic for this video because
i'm genuinely excited about this place and i really want to ensure that you get the right
context of where we are against what you're seeing at the time so when the caldon canal was built
a rather primitive railroad was also built as part of the act of parliament at the same time
so limestone was to be brought from the quarries in the east to the canal in the west now over the
space of the next 70 years that didn't change that demand remained but something else did change and
that was a development of the railways the three or four mile stretch between the quarry and the
wharf of the canal saw four different railways between 1779 and 1847 and that is what i am
really quite excited about so let's go and have a look and see what we can find today
so we're at the western end of the route the canals just down there the wharf is just down
there nearly all of the four tramways over that sort of 50 60 70 year period
all utilized this part of the route i think the second was slightly up the hill there
but we're going to carry on now and we're going to head west sort of five or six kilometers right
the way over to where the quarries were and we're going to look at a few features of these
four different tramways and how it really shows the evolution of the early railway
so we're now on the northern route the northern route was the first route so this was built
and authorized uh in the act of parliament 1776 are built three or four years later
with the canals at the same time as the canal and we're just having this debate with martin about
the early railways in the early in the early canals and we're just
talking about how a lot of these railways were built at the same time as a canal
and they didn't sort of grasp by that point that actually the future was the railway itself
they just built was a rough embankment they cut into the into the hillside here
and it was up and down there was no real heavy engineering to it the railway technology itself
at that point period was wooden sleepers wooden track flanged wheels that went over the track
but the track itself had a sort of iron cast on top now that suffered because it was brittle it
eroded very quickly it always needed replacing and trying to find the the permanent way here
the actual railway is quite difficult but we think we're on it not completely sure
right so we found what we were looking for on this first tramway the 1779 tramway
so what we're looking at is a bridge across the brook
and we're assuming and definitely by the looks of things this isn't the original oh wow
so that's a three and a half lovely arch way through there under the brook
original 1779 a few um features that have obviously probably been updated including
the brickwork on the inside but nevertheless also two arches what's that other arch for
um we're thinking just a walkway but why would you have the walkway along the brook not sure anyway
we're now gonna head and try and find some of the other tramway routes this has been the first
of four we're back on track and when i say that i mean we're back on the the most recent yeah
the most recent um uh tramway here now part of the reason we wanted to come here and we've been
looking at this for years on the old map thinking we must do that one day is because it does give
you such a a span of the railway evolution from the 1779 when they were building it to support
the canal to this one which is 1847 so you're sort of 20 25 years into proper railways then
so i think we're nearly at the bridge soon so what we're looking for is a second tramway so they
built a second tramway only four or five years where we'd know four or five years after the first
and i think what they tried to do is level it out so they use the same technology in terms of
wooden track with metal uh bits on top wooden sleepers flanged wheels and again
they had the same problem as a brittle bit of cast iron on top of the wood kept on breaking
so the only gain of that four years later was a slightly gentle slope
this is the alignment just down there is the alignment of the second tram route that was
1783 and it goes through this route here now what we've got remember is when we're looking
that way we're not looking at a bridge that was needed because the embankment above us there
was built 65 years after this tram road was here so they didn't need to
accommodate this genre because it was gone it was not in existence anymore
from that huge embankment just there we're heading back down the fourth route we're
heading back down towards the canal we're going to veer off a little bit and we're going to have
a look for the first time today at the third route so the third route was built in 1803
and it was built a little bit differently to the first two so because the brittle railways of
the the early or the late 1700s with the wood and the cast iron plate on top were pretty rubbish in
terms of their quality and durability they decided to go with the new method of building tramways
which was a stone in the ground and you'd place your your cast iron plate if you're the
l-shaped plate so you could have non-flanged wheels and they would just sit either side
um we've got some good steep steps mine's just come up here like a spring
chicken
so we found it huge great masonry blocks looking a little bit worse for wear but um i think i
would after 220 years as well 1803 and i think we can walk up and down this a little bit and
what we're going to be looking for are the stone blocks in the ground i hope you can see something
but the old house just there we assumed was like a a winding house and we met a little old lady
there who obviously lives there now and uh she was telling us unfortunately there's not a lot
to see here in terms of the stonework and that but she's telling us these fascinating stories
so the guy that used to live there years and years ago obviously when this
tramway was in use put a ticket with each of the each of the the wagons it was up here it was his
job to put a ticket and um obviously mark how much was taken almost like a toll to a degree
and uh yeah that kind of information is fascinating
we're heading now back down towards the wharf before the last treat of the day and the last
treat of the day is the trump shore tunnel now that was named after the guy that built
the local engineer that built the last tram rose 1847 the fourth tram road we've already been on uh
James Trubshaw i think and they named the tunnel after him towards the end of july hottest day of
the year so far 29 degrees you can probably tell by martin's gear hanging off of every appendage is
something that tells you what we're doing just ahead of us i think is is the goal
daddy showing your legs we're nearly there
it stinks this field just mind the holes because there's a few
so the first clue as to where we are is right in front of us we've got a lovely embankment
just over there and it levels with a level of the land in front of us here and then of
course it goes to our left in the cutting now the cutting goes towards the trubshaw tunnel
and the tunnel is as we said part of the fourth alignment here um
he's quite deep in he yeah
we're wondering now how to get up the the cutting up there um the other side could be an option
right i'm wading up i'm going down the way ahead is very difficult um Mr Whitewicks down there
obviously this here thick mud two feet deep we reckon judging by the cow situation but i
think we can get across that bit up there to the portal there we just made it past bessie
we've also made it past that which is a nightmare that outcrop there right so turn
the camera around martin's already zooming off up this way which hopefully shows us
it's a little bit dryer underfoot although there is a lot of water still in the middle
i eventually eventually made it down
and we ain't going to get inside in a million years because it's you can see by the level
of the tunnel but paul's going to do a stick test on the mud that's hard floor there yeah
so that's that alone there is a foot and a half say
that's deeper i can't feel the bottom yet yeah two feet fair enough
that's a real
it's hard there yeah all right so we talked earlier about the overnight over engineering
of the line well this is one two three four five at least five bricks um thick deep changes all
these dimensions throughout even in the first 10 feet changes dimensions goes from round to almost
elliptical's probably along the way but oval egg shaped and this portal is seen better days
right above your head mine very couple of loose bricks and some you know you probably can't see
it from some of the pictures we've available what you can't see is how deep the mud is
trubshaw tunnel nearly completed we got to the portal we couldn't get inside a bit silly bit mad
but hopefully you guys have enjoyed today i've really enjoyed it myself looking at the
the different styles of railways the routes they took and like this this little area
here between cauldron and frog hall which is a little um you know five mile trek and it's got
70 years of railway evolution it's fascinating place big thanks so much for joining us today
thank you bye um and we'll see bye for me rebecca we'll see you next week no doubt
there's two things in this life as i've always said i don't ignore you again
that had been worth inventing one was electricity and the other was the pill