There are so many small nuggets of history that remain unknown! Thanks for capturing this!

Shortly after its dissuse, A friend of mine who worked for NR & Me went for a adventure down this branch and the remains of the "behind kellogs" way. He just so happened to have the required key to open that box and operate the crossing. To both our amazement the lights still worked! He quickly shut it off again but was a really funny moment

I remember that train , I use to deliver beer to places there , and saw it , many times around 1990

It is sad to see disused track.

Great video! That's probably the only cantilever crossing signal in the UK as a whole. Glad to see someone documented it before it disappeared! Some of the wigwags appear to still be in good shape as well! Looks like the crossbucks were recently replaced too!

Thank you for this - driven down the main road a few times and was intrigued by the abandoned rails. Mystery solved!

Fascinating, as always. Abandoned lines are always slightly sad. I'd love to see this in use again, if only to justify the existence of those nine wig-wags!. Anyone with imagination would have had the trackbed repurposed as a tramway, to take people to the footy.

I decided to explore the rest of the area on Google Maps and it seems rail removal started in 2012 or 2014 in most places, and the 'main' line was still brush free in 2007/2008. Interesting stuff.

I remember that line about 30+ years ago when I was a kid. Had occasionally thought about it but never bothered to find out exactly where it was. Interesting video. Thank you.

Another fascinating video morthen 👍 9 wigwags is quite a lot, would have been interesting to see them all in operation once upon a time 🤔 looking forward to the next video 👍 keep up with the great work 😄

Network Rail should hold an abandoned crossings day where they go out and test abandoned crossings to see if they still function, and if they do the section of line the crossing is on gets restored and added to an "Abandoned" line

I used to deliver milk bottles to the dairy on Trafford Park and was fascinated by the lines that were on the estate. Went there earlier this year and what a change with the tramway being built.

That Prius at 2:30 looked like it had been shoved out of the way by a train!

An overhead Wigwag? That's extremely rare!

I remember it well. Worked in 'The Park' in the early 60s and well remember the tracks and trains of waggons. The Park is unrecognisable now but the tracks soon oriented me. Thanks for posting.

What a very interesting video this is.. Thanks for sharing

I always love seeing old embedded tracks there's so much history to them

I worked in Trafford Park as a boy (my Dad worked for Allens Transport on Westinghouse Rd) and a man (HGV driver for the same company) back in the 70's and 80's. It was always busy with shunters particuary at Cerestar and Kelloggs. I remember being held up at the crossing at Kelloggs on a daily basis, sometimes twice daily. I think the shunters used to shunt containers in/out of the container depot on Barton Dock Rd too ?. The shunters were part and parcel of Trafford Park and you never really noticed them, until they were gone. Fond memeories of good times.

Great vid enjoyed it and well documented. Surprised so much of the old hardware is still there.

Large part of that railway line was intended to serve the MetroVick (Metropolitan Vickers) engineering works who made various electrical equipment for power stations, aeroplane parts for the war and rolling stock for British Railways and tram operators. Other odd end engineering items were television transmitters for the BBC at Sutton Coldfield when television first started in midlands the late 1940's. MetroVick factory (aka AEI which was the parent company) was based to the south of Westinghouse Road. They owned all the land between Mosley Road from the west through to the river near the present DB rail terminal. To the north of Westinghouse Road, the street names are all US naming were down to the origin of MetroVick being a USA company which copied american style street names and street layout. This was the local of shops and housing for the workers. Many of the houses have long since being pulled down and replaced by modern offices. Same for the factory when it became part of GEC Marconi when AEI was merged into GEC and eventually most of the factory, if not all of it was pulled down and the land used for other business.

Interesting video, I remember this being a working railway and I've watched the remnants decline and gradually disappear over the last few years. Even though it closed in the late 90s there will still trains running until a few years ago on the section of track near Kellogs. The swing bridge over to the quays has been kept, it is now a pedestrian bridge over the Erie basin, doesn't swing anymore though (but that section of line was well out of use decades before the rest of the railway).

I know next to nothing about trains, but this was in my recommended videos, and it's quite a nostalgia trip! I was brought up about five minutes away from these train lines, and very rarely remember the lines being in use in the mid-90s. However, I seem to remember they made a horrible racket whenever there was a train running. We'd often use that end of Trafford Park as a bit of a shortcut to beat the traffic on the A56, but it was always a gamble to see whether you'd get stuck with a train. There is a second bit of railway still in use much later than 1998 (and may still be in use today) in Trafford Park: there's a line which runs parallel to Barton Dock Road and has a crossing with Park Road (A5181). That crossing was notorious for holding you up at exactly the worst moments. It was about a 90 second drive away from home, and it always felt like we were stuck for hours whenever a train held us up. In reality, it can't have been more than a couple of minutes, but I'll always look back with mixed memories at those bits of track. I'm not sure if those two bits of railway are linked, but it's a wee bit interesting that there are two areas in Trafford Park where you could see slow moving trains.

Ah! Just imagine what this would've been like in its glory days! This was a cool video showcasing abandoned railroad track. It's probably an impractical task, but it would be nice to see this turned into a tourist railroad. Not only would this interfere with traffic, but lots of the track has been cut off by industry, or guarded by gates. Thanks for sharing this video with us all! Regards, Joseph cheeseinthepie. 10/7/2018

I can remember well the days i see trains running around Trafford Park estate thanks for the memories.

Very well done,T/P always interesting.

Fantastic find. Really enjoyed this.

Very interesting video. It shows one of those little parts of the past industries and football/leisure that used the railway and even although it's out of use for now, if not deterring parking et.c. in sensitive areas such as approaching fast roads junctions, it seems to be kept in place just in case it's needed again. That tantalising hope... It certainly helps point out that we have an industrial vent to us yet, as well as a history of it.

BR's decision to scrap Speedlink wagon load freight effectively killed the railway in Trafford Park. I remember seeing a 08 and a single wagon crossing the big roundabout on my way to work just before it closed.

Fascinating stuff. It would be interesting to see if the Wig Wags are still operational if the crossing activation controls were pressed. I love these videos, keep them coming but after the lockdown, stay safe and thanks for sharing.

Stumbled across this vid mate , as a BT engineer and working in Trafford park for around 2 months in the summer around The mid to late ninetys or early 2000 I remember stopped at one of those crossing's the loco in use I think was blue/ yellow But I'm going back a few years now in used in see it a lot

Great video! Good work!

When we started going in the late 70s, we used to park a couple of miles from the ground amongst a mostly disused industrial area, and there were miles of disused rail tracks. In fact it could well have been this area, very hard to tell.

New subscriber here! It's such a shame and infuriating to find warning signs, signals/wigwags and barriers left abandoned and in various states of fading, rot and decay! Would it not be a better for those who love the railways (including folks like yourself) to perhaps make an offer to Network Rail to purchase the disused wigwags, signs etc. for restoration and preservation?

I bet the concrete sleepers were added in the 1980s after the old bullhead rail and wooden ties gave out! 3:33 first time I've seen a UK crossing with high-mounted wigwags! They should use that more often, especially in Southampton!

Very nice video and fun to watch. Have a nice day.

It’s really sad seeing great examples of industrial marvel like this virtually abandoned an going to waste. These things were created to be used and it’s almost tragic seeing them going to waste like this. The fact there’s still traffic lights there looks like it could be fired up again tomorrow.

Hi, back in the late 80s/ early 90s I worked alongside Cammell Laird Shipbuilders on RN vessels and commercial ships sent in for conversion. The ‘conversions’ were usually completed within 24 to 48 hours using pre assembled parts taken direct from storage ie pre planned. One of these was a Baltic ro-ro car ferry converted to take railway wagons. I believe this line is being deliberately kept in a semi working state in case of National crisis or emergency - if it is near any kind of military base then this scenario could be correct.

Hi great video on Trafford Parks railways. I was born in Davyhulme in 1957 My Dad worked for Massey Ferguson tractors in the parts department shipping tractor parts all over the world. Asda is there now. 😢 Anyway the railway was a hive of activity back then serving all the local industries including its own power station and steel works. It was a perfect playground for me at a weekend lol 😂 The last trains used to serve Cargill foods. The siding on Trafford Park road use to receive foreign VTG ferry vans for Italy if I remember!! The rail connection to the container terminal on Barton dock road has gone now. Car showrooms going up in its place 🙈 The chance of it returning is never as the metro tram line has just cut the last line in half near where I park my lorry at F&G commercials DAF dealership. BR wagon load freight killed most of the freight on rail. On Saturday just gone I did the Mersey ferry trip to Liverpool. 6 hours of fantastic information on the Manchester Ship Canal. Well worth a trip 😊Stevie.

i'd like to see this converted to tram operation because it looks like that could be achieved easily and cheaply

Oh my, its so sad that its closed! I would have loved to have gone and seen it activate! 😟

imagine this as a preserved line, that would be cool!

I believe that the track and signals have not been officially closed too. You never know....!

An interesting video of my hometown shame its been neglected for so long

Good vid mate,i used to see them chuffing around when i was a kid,i think it was the biggest estate in europe back then.I,m sitting on an avro's chair right now! cheers from a new sub.

I used to drive to work through Trafford park daily in the 80s and although rare there were still the odd train rattling through the main section and near kellogs small shunters were quite common moving carriages in a ahort section. There used to be an abandoned steam emgine at the Barton end behind an old disused factory in the mid 70s I used to explore there as a teenager.

Nice one as always Morthren. Reminds me of rails that ran along/across one the roads to the east of Bedford (Cardington Road?). I only ever cycled that stretch a couple of times, and 'twas many years ago - probably late 1980s. What I remember most is being nervous where the lines crossed the road - at an angle - big danger of catching a wheel in a rut. Not too sure if the rails are still there. Someone will know.

Great video! I remember the goods trains well. I never thought it would come to an end. Virtually all manufacturing is gone now to what seems like modern day slave trade. Foreigners working for two Dollars a day! I’m nearly 60 now. Trafford park was so busy. In 1983 and onwards, the whole area was plagued with demolition. Everywhere! I don’t recognise anything now. That small piece of railway is all that is left of an era. Thanks for the video.

It must have been amazing to see this crossing in operation. I wonder if the line will ever come back into usage again?

3:42 - I love how they retrieved the sign but decided to keep the signposts in situ.

Fascinating I’m surprised the signalling is still there

I'm not a train enthusiast but was born in Stretford in the 60s about 1/2 mile from Kellogg's. I'm pretty sure the line you say was in use up to 1998 was disused quite a bit before then (the car park across the line looks older than 20 years). Trains were still running in Trafford Park at least to the late 90s or even into the 2000s across Park Road, near to Kellogg's and along Barton Dock Road - it was pain to be stuck there when a train was approaching as they were long and slow!. I live north of Manchester now but was down there today and didn't notice if the tracks are still cross Park Road, although a quick check on Google Maps shows they are!

For 9yrs in the late 60’s and early 70’s I drove through Trafford Park daily and have driven through frequently since. It was claimed to be the largest private railway in Europe with links all the way down the Manchester Ship Canal to Liverpool. On one occasion I drove down Westinghouse Rd not far from this crossing and saw an entire tanker train lying on its side on the curve. It looked like a giant Hornby Dublo set! Whils t I never saw the steam locos in service (one of them Hamburg is preserved and used to run on the East Lancashire Railway in Bury)I used to admire the blue Rolls Royce engined diesels parked adjacent to the fire station hear Kellogg’s. They also ran several larger green diesels.Metrolink trams will soon be running in part along former rail tracks to the Trafford Centre. The wigwags were made and installed by Forest City Signs Park Rd Timperley, Altrincham. I knew they did road signage but not rail stuff. They have gone now, not sure if they are still in business.

Great video! I live not too far away in Wigan but I actually didn't even know any of this existed as I don't go round this bit of Trafford Park. Interestingly, these tracks are actually shown on Google Maps as grey lines giving them the appearance of an active line. I don't know if Google's system does this automatically or someone actually mapped out the line thinking it was still used.

I worked in Trafford Park in the early 60,s and it was still a very active system.Companies such as Corn Flower Products (starch), Stewarts & Lloyds (now B.S.C. Corby I think)& Trafford Park Steel (where I worked), still received deliveries of goods by rail, with the M.S.C shunters (steam& diesel) providing the final part of the delivery chain.It was interesting but sadly things move on (progress?) & my only regret is that I didn't have a camera to record it! Could not afford one anyway.Great memories anyway.

I came across this a few years ago in a book called The Manchester Ship Canal Railway. The area had a very extensive railway network servicing all of the industries, the docks and mainline connections and a loco depot at Lode Wheel (could be wrong about that exact location?). I seem to recall that the local colliery railway was connected to the canal by inclined ramps to allow coal containers to be floated off wagons and towed by tug to waiting freighters. So much industry and inventiveness all gone now.

Your videos are addictive.

Very interesting. There are a few disused lines and crossings around Poole, especially near the docks and ferry terminal.

I found out about these Level Crossings about 3 weeks ago and was looking for a video

Brilliant 👍 - There's a couple more abandoned level crossings around that area, nevertheless its great to have a detailed look at one of them. Very confusing with wigwags everywhere; up, down, left, right & centre! Such a shame it will never activate again 😟😟

Fascinating!

I live not far from here and the Wigwags are due to be renewed on Tenax Road, there are Mellor Wigwags and the other type (Similar to SGE traffic lights). It may be worthwhile asking one of the contractors if they can spare you one. The Metrolink track will be running from Old Trafford right through Trafford Park and up to The Trafford Centre.

Shame road transport effectively killed off wagon load freight on the railway, was this line served by the Manchester ship canal company as i remember them bringing traffic in to Trafford park where they detached and the main line loco's worked the train forward.

I live within sight of these. A reminder of the past. Used to be three trains daily from Salford quays to the trafffrod centre. Closed in about 2011 or 12. Trans are now being built to the Trafford centre here.

I used to race against a train with my bicycle on Barton Dock Rd. when finished at work and wanted to get pass it before it reaches the crossing at the Kellogg` bakery

Once i was on the bus to the traford centre, I thought to myself "Why is there a railway line there?" and you've an awswered my question!

The rails on the crossing have been removed now. A pot hole in front of one of the rails cause significant damage to a car’s wheel, after that, they dug up the rails that cross the road and re-surfaced the whole section of road.

There used to be trains running all over Trafford Park - bringing raw materials from the Manchester Ship canal right up to the factories and taking away manufactured goods back to the docks for export or onto the main railway system for distribution within the UK. I thought there still trains running later than 1998. I can recall being stopped near Kellogs by the odd train. Not very often but when you were stopped it was for a good 10 minutes or more. The train would stop, the driver would get out and activate the crossing lights, the train would then start off again ….. slowly, stopping again once the last carriage had cleared the crossing, at which point the guard would hop out and turn off the lights.

The line was used until 2011 to carry freight services to Trafford Park.

Another place I worked in a few times was Salford railway sidings, I can't remember much about the place, only it had an electric shunter and the track was connected to the main railway track. Yep I had a go of driving that one night, did not go on to the main line, would not and could not, the double gates were locked.

Nee sub here, Very impressed with how you produce these videos, thanks

Good catch, as ever - did you get a peek of the matchday- only railway station?

The majority of that industrial estate has remains of the old track and there are several other smaller road crossings still visible. There is a new tram line being installed near by also

Cycling over that crossing is a nightmare, hard to not go flying ;)

I visited Old Trafford in the mid 2000s to see England vs Northern Ireland and remember the track was all still in place then and went to within a few hundred feet of the stadium.

Looked at a old map on line circa 1900 there was not a rail way installed around that time at Salford Docks and there are only three docks had been constructed and next to them is a race course later on the race course was demolished and a fourth dock was added .

Saw lots of freight lines like this when i visited New Orleans, usually the case with this is they mothball route so its never officially closed so that it can be reopened in the future.

I remember seeing the train tracks in the 80's, I used to work in security at sterling green gate cables. I hated the place. Had a good over head crane in the work shop, which I of course could not resist having a go of during the evening. And no I had no idea how to operate it, but did with out crashing it. Yep it was fun.

"Once upon a time in a land that time forgot…"

Has anyone seen the most ridiculous level crossing at Marton Gypsy Lane in Middlesbrough. Blocked off with concrete bollards but still has the barriers.

There was a goods yard outside the docks office which is know a carpark and a single track ran under Barton bridge. I have looked at some oldmaps on line co.uk the rail system was huge the big engineering company,s had there own sidings with some of the track going in to the factory.

Nice job i might go there also can you go to lime kiln level crossing in Newport?

Probably one of the only section of main line railway running at street level in the UK

Years ago the Trafford Park Estate had its own electric tramway built by Westinghouse, whose factory was there in the green fields. At one time the Serpollet double deck STEAM tram (as used in Paris) was tried there. The electrics later became Corpy cars

Nice video

I was there last year making deliveries to I think it was to XPO anyway I was amazed at how much rail is still there and not been uplifted by one of the many scrap dealers

Amazing old infrastructure

oh I'd LOVE to get the signals & signs!

I've been there a few times in the past and there is lots of old disused sections of track still in place, including one bit that's half buried under a roundabout. And those remaining sections of track and crossing lights etc. should be removed and sold off to preservation groups instead of being left to rot. But then removing them costs quite a bit so that idea might not be viable. Some of the track at the old Agecroft power plant was sold off to a preservation group.

I think this is very interesting.

Lots of similar abandoned rails here in America

I would love to see a video of the crossing in action. It may look quite old but it would be worth it.

Used to see the shunters on this with all the Kellogg's wagons full of cereal boxes.

S'cuse I, but: me n a pal used to go Vic bottle hunting/Carrington back in 02/3. Strange pace > lots of flat fields (levelled tips) South of what seemed a dismantled industrial complex/factories? In these fields came across a wide cobbled area which reminded of railways /echoes of. In the years since I ve come to believe the area may have been railway yards/Cheshire Lines. Am I right? Partington was just along the way, Glazebrook not far off. Man U's training ground south of the site (saw Mrs Beckham in River taking David's sarnies to him, weguessed, Sir Alec as well, one afternoon, but fballs not my bag, bottles were. Just wondered. Also - we used to get buzzed by Manc Plod Choppers whenever we left the area, sounds like they're still up there!

Just found this vid on here, really fascinating thank you; so I did a comparison on google maps (to be nosey actually lol) and it looks like there is a lot of updating to the tramway in Manchester which this line seems to be associated with. I don't live in the area so I can only go by what I saw on the map app, but maybe someone who is closer can throw some light on this? If so, in advance, thank you.

Considering this is right beside the road, I'm surprised it hasn't been utilised as part of the tram network in Manchester.

“Oooh a abandoned crossing, save me a signal” “Ok that’s good” “That’s good” “Th-that’s good!” “Ok alright ok” “ITS ENOUGH FUCKING SIGNALS MAN” "THATS ENOUGH SIGNALS-" "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!" "s t a h h h p"

Still some tracks on Barton Dock Road, Towards the Kelloggs factory

Would have loved to see inside the locked box. Aand if it still functioned

It would be good if The Trafford Park Railway turned into a Heritage Tramway.

Google Maps still shows remnants of the track all the way to the end of Trafford Park Road. Shame you didn't carry on past the level crossing.