Blast from the past retired 7 years ago from warrington DB schenker as a driver. Job not changed railway not changed weather not changed scenery has in many places.great to see the railway again.

Great video it does show the short sightedness of BR closing beyond Warrington a once busy through route to Manchester and Stockport all because they wouldn't repair a bridge which is still in place. What an asset this line would now be to get heavy freight directly around Manchester without using the long route via Hartford / Northwich etc and also avoid Manchester Victoria just the same. Quite ironic both routes join at Skelton junction.

That 66 sounds really smooth. Enjoyable video from a retired Track Engineer.

Thanks for posting this one Ben. I think these are really useful - I’m in Australia building a model railway based on present day UK operation and even the inside of the maintenance shed helps in getting the scenario “right”. Good one mate👍🏻

Not been over this part of the railway since 1985 when i was a Guard at Guide Bridge..I must say that the PW hasn't changed much but the number of houses and buildings at the side of the line is incredible. I retired as a driver at Man Picc at the end of 2010 but i never went over this route again. Excellent video really good quality....Keep up the good work thank you.

Brilliant video, good to see all the shunting moves and love to hear all the interaction & banter with the shunters

Absolutely fantastic video mate. Love watching cab rides. Thankyou for the content, take care and stay safe 🙏❤

Some proper British spring weather on this trip! Thanks for sharing, seeing the different maneuvering was really interesting.

Love this! Thanks for sharing!

Loved seeing Garston Through / Speke East Jn from a driver's eye view. I'd die for your job!!

Great video & interesting route- thanks!

Thanks Ben, great video as always.

Loved this. More please.

Thanks for another fab video.

Thanks for this, Ben. You've moved to driving proper trains then!! Looking forward to more interesting freight lines to come.

Thanks for posting man. Kudos.

Superb interesting video, thanks!

brilliant, thank you for posting

Looking forward to this Ben, grew up next to the old low level line in Lymm.

My thanks go to the driver and all who made this vid. possible. Very much enjoyed.

Thank you Ben nice to see something different, enjoyable to watch bring on the next one.

Great to see another upload from you!

Thank you for all the work that you put into making and sharing this video. It was great.

Thank you Great video and enjoyed.

Excellent railway video

Good to see another video from you, looking forward to the next one!

Thanks for filming view from locomotive, as i see here the cleanest workshop, i as train driver too soo proud of this job, same track same time and work with amazing place

Fantastic.

Very interesting!

Thank you for this, rain and all.

Thanks Ben. Loved all the shunting and changing ends. My shunting days are long gone and I do not miss them. Travel safe my friend.

Thanks for a great video, for me I use to visit WBQ regurlarly when the MGR's ran with Class 60's and all the running round which kept a shunter very busy

Excellent video , very plain weather.

Wooo, so good to see another upload from you after a little while!

Superb video sir

Thank you, I love 'travelling' on the parts of the network that us lesser mortals don't usually get to see. I believe this line is going to be used as a spur connecting Liverpool to HS2 via Arpley/Bank Quay Low Level. Apparently, they're going to build a new line from Arpley to High Legh and not go via Latchford/Thellwall. The bridge over the ship canal (and at Cadishead too) is in serious disrepair. I've watch some URBEX vids and they're both falling apart.

Brillaint video! Really enjoyed this!

Looking forward to this

Thanks Ben: it's all in a days work !

just subscribed to your channel and a very interesting and enjoyable journey. Keep them coming Ben

Great stuff Ben. Another rare piece in the jigsaw.

Thanks Ben!

I love all these videos but Freight lines are my favourite, just something about them. I live in the North East and was born about fifty yards from a Mineral line that used to take Coal from Harton Colliery to the Staithes at Tyne Dock, where they loaded the Ships. We saw and listened to the Trains Day and night, it was part of my young life. Perhaps that is why I love these vids so much. Even in those days, 50's and 60's the Units were powered by overhead Electric Cables.

Ben, I just stumbled upon this video but you’ve got yourself a new subscriber! Fantastic video bud

I rreally enjoyed that

Oh yes dear Ben... Have been waiting for some more of your top draw videos... Thank you my friend...

มารับชมด้วยนะคะ

Amazing video! Nice cabview! Good work, master! Thumbs Up & Subscribe🚂🚂😎👍 Greetings from Romania Andrew

Thanks Ben, my neck of the woods this , really great to see it from the cab. So sad to see the state of Ditton Junction station where I spent so much time watching the blue electrics whizzing by

Ah, the viaduct over the Mersey, on the CLC. In better weather you can sometimes find me standing there on the public walkway, watching the world go round. So if you see an old white-haired chap with a beard, give me a toot! :-) The site-builders keep blocking up the footpath with their rubbish, though, because it is down a slight cutting - therefore out of sight of the new road! I'm sure, historically, there used to be another bridge there, otherwise what was that huge buttress for? If there is one on the other side, it is hidden by the undergrowth. So far, I've not found a drawing or photograph of it. - - - I wasn't aware that passenger trains could use that line past Fiddler's, except the very occasional 'Branch Line' tours, that go everywhere. - - - - Nice Vid, Ben.

Great video Ben , happy easter

Nice tren Manilyn

You certainly got plenty of exercise changing ends! Back in my Freightliner days (1980 to 1999 though I was EW&S via RfD by the end) Speke Sidings was very much bow and arrow country. In the time it took to get the electric off and the shunter on to get into the FLT the locals could cut the side out of a container and remove the contents, washing machines from Italy seemed to be popular. These days in Cornwall I have very ittle contact with railways. I think this is the first of your videos which has popped up, I'll have to investigate further.

Enjoyed the vid, I was a nobber at Arpley then moved to Signalman at Crossfield, think the speed limit was higher in those days.

Love train's

Good to see you back in harness. Great video, shame about the weather.

Many thanks for this one Ben, + the associated return run - brings back memories of working the loaded "tubs" from Carnforth in the '80's. Very much a regular source of overtime, there was a standing joke in the messroom at the time. What's the difference between Strangeways & Fiddlers Ferry? With Strangeways, at least you knew when you were going to get out, hahahaha...!!! Such a shame that what could be such a useful route for freight would now appear to be facing a somewhat uncertain future, unless the plans for HS2 come to fruition.

Very good. I lived in Warrington up to 2010 and was fascinated by the reversing moves at Walton Hall and Arpley. Tell me with the demise of the power station is there any freight traffic passing Fiddlers Ferry, or just light engine moves?

Best and most interesting track names I have seen. Usually it’ “down morbid” and “up inertia.” Network Rail needs a “Committe to Rename the Boring Track Sections to Catchy and Interesting one’s”!

Any chance of a simple map of this manouevring for those of us unfamiliar with the route, please?

Fascinating to watch. At 56:50 the linespeed changes from 30 to 75. Shortly after the driver eases off the power before passing a green signal with the train slowing. He then takes power again and speeds up. What would be the reason for that?

Interesting tour around the back of the Washing powder factory. Surprising the number of old signalboxes that remain around there. A 5 mph speed restriction doesn't suggest great confidence in the state of the track 🤔

love to see Sam journey from Latchford sidings from the head shunt at top never seen in cad run round be grate

I knew if I watched this for long enough, I would see lunar lights!!!!! (@ 33:44>)

Thanks Ben is that your days work or do you have other trips to do ? Thanks Ben😁

Hi Ben Great to see you back again, How far do you take the loaded train south ? and how do you get back to Warrington when you finish your shift ? Keep up the great work 😁 Many Thanks

I think that you went through Warrington Bank Q Low Level and it looks like a little bit of the platform remains but with the chemical works fence on it?

These videos could make me addicted to watching freight line videos. I used to watch mainly passenger line videos. These are great. Question - I noticed a number of lines still using semaphore signals. Why is that? It is really fascinating watching 21st century trains being controlled by 19th century technology. Keep up the good work.

Be nice to know how many wagons, weight, cargo etc. Thankyou

didnt know there was a Diamond in Arpley yard

Those sidings on the far left that appear around 1.09.00 - are they disused and do they still count as Speke Sidings? Most of the 1961/62 OHLE survives as erected in this area it seems, with only minor thinning of the 'wirescape' over the years.

What does the A mean at the end of the TSR. I have never seen a Letter A below the T (termination of restriction)

Just a day in the life of a motorman, or what is the name of an engineer? Very calming. He must have lots of coffee.

How many end changes was that..bout 6 at least....also is there internal access to each end of the loco so you dont go out side to change ends. good stuff though....Aussie here 👍🙂

Ben..when you change ends? Our you running around your wagons or. Is there a second locomotive at the back ? Thank you

Leave the tape at home this time! ;)

Hi Ben just 1 question was u the actual driver for this video if it was great to see the route some freight trains take it's a big thumbs up from me

Grand ride out on a beautiful day 🙄 . Change ends .

👍

Would you please explain why there always seems to be a longish delay between the signal clearing and freight trains moving off? I have often seen this is other similar videos, Thank you.

So I noticed that passage through Ditton Reception Siding No. 3 is done on a red signal with position lights, why is that? Is the only possible reason that the intermediate ground position signal was red at first, or are there other reasons for signalling it like this?

What's with the blur-out coming into Speke yard at the end? You still see everything that it might be hiding.

I wanted to know why don’t they dig a tunnel and do an extension for the main line Train so they extend the unused abandoned underground stations. Why couldn’t they use the part D78 Stock train doors on the sides and also restructure the front face of the A60 and A62 stock and remix and make them all together and also redesign them overhead line and also make them into 5 cars per unit and also having 2 Disabled Toilets on those 5 cars per unit A60 and A62 stock trains and also convert the A60 and A62 stock trains into a Scania N112, Volvo TD102KF, Volvo B10M, Gardner 6LXC and Gardner 8LXB Diesel Engines and also put the Loud 7-Speed Voith Gearboxes in the A60 and A62 stock and also modernise the A60 and A62 stock and make it into a 11 car per unit so it could have less doors, more tables, computers and mobile phone chargers. A Stock Trains and also having 8 Disabled Toilets on those A stock trains. why couldn’t we refurbish and modernise the waterloo and city line Triple-Track train tunnel and make it more bigger and extend it to bank station, making it into a Triple-Track Railway Line so those 4 European countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden to convert the waterloo and city line Triple-Track Train tunnel into an High Speed train. The Third Euro tunnel Triple-Track Train line to make it 8 times better for passengers so they could go from A to B. then put the modernised 11 car per unit A Stock and put them on a bigger modernised waterloo and city line Triple-Track train tunnel so it could go to bank station to those 4 European countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden. The modernised refurbish 11 cars per unit A stock could be a High Speed The Third Triple-Track Euro Tunnel Train So it is promising and 37 times a lot more possible to do this kind of project that is OK for London Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden. oh by the way, could they also tunnel the Triple-Track Railway Line so it will stop from Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex so that the Passengers will go to Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden and also extend the Triple-Track Railway Line from Bank to Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex Stations so that more people from there could go to Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden Easily. Why couldn't they extend the Piccadilly line and also build a brand-new underground train stations so it could go even further right up to Clapton, Wood Street and also make another brand new tunnel train stations in Chingford and could they extend the DLR. All of the classes 150, 155, 154, 117, 114, 105, 106, will be replaced by all of the Scania N112, Volvo TD102KF, Volvo B10M, Gardner 6LXC and Gardner 8LXB Diesel five carriages to disabled toilets are air conditioning trains including Highams Park for extend doing roots which is the Piccadilly line and the DLR trains. Could you also convert all of the 1973 stock trains into an air-conditioned maximum speed 78 km/hours (48 MPH) re-refurbished and make it into a 8 cars per unit if that will be alright, and also extend all of the Piccadilly train stations to make more space for all of the extended 8 car per unit 1973 stock air condition trains and can you also build another Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive Companies and they can order Every 17 Octagon and Hexagon shape LNER diagram and unique small no.11 Boilers from those Countries such as Greece, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, can they make Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive speeds by up to 117MPH so you can try and test it on the Original Mainline so it will be much more safer for the Passengers to enjoy the 117MPH speed Limit only for HS2 and Channel Tunnel mainline services, if they needed 16 Carriages Per units can they use those class 55’s, class 40’s and class 43HST Diesel Locomotive’s right at the Back of those 16 Carriages Per Units so they can take over at the Back to let those Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive’s have a rest for those interesting Journeys Please!!, oh can you make all of those Coal Boxes’s 16 Tonnes for all of the 117MPH Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive’s so the Companies will Understand us PASSENGER’S!! so Please make sure that the Builders can do as they are Told!! And Please do something about these very important Professional ideas Please Prime Minister of England, Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister of Germany, Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister of Poland and that Includes the Mayor of London.😉😅😅😀😀😅😀😀😅😅😀😀😀😀😀😉😉

5 miles per hour, that is the lowest speed restriction I've ever seen in this kind of videos. The signaler seems to apologize for it, or thanking the driver for obeying. 🙂 So it's only road knowledge that prepares you to look out for the second semaphore signal at 26:00 being possibly ''at danger' when the one before said 'proceed'? Or is there an indication that tells the driver the distant signal covers two successive stop signals?

30:53 love how theres still passenger speed signs despite it not being used for passenger services for many years

why the blackout in the middle of the screen at garston is that for security reasons fella?

the yard use to be very busy ...

Born at burtonwood....

How much Slutchers Lane has changed in the 18 months since this was filmed…

More information for novices like me would be appreciated, still enjoying the videos though

Genuine question Ben, how many bird strikes on average a year do you get? also from 1hr 12 you appear to have some kind of square water mark blurring out the middle of the screen for the rest of the video

I'm late to this video, but I have a question. At around 7:00 the train is waiting at a set of points to nowhere. It just strikes me as really weird for there to be a set of points that would do nothing but derail a train, and have them in use, unless derailment of a train that doesn't stop is the purpose?

Towards the end of the video there was a weird blurry box, was that just me or was there something we were not meant to see...?

Why is the temperature so high here?

Why are parts of the video blurred?

Is this you going to collect a load?

Whats with the blur square the las 20 minutes

Just out of curiosity, what’s the reason for routing via Speke instead of just departing south from Ditton?

It was raining through most of the video. This is obviously England. 😄 I'm assuming that the "blur" was to hide people who didn't want to be seen in the video.

Hi there, can you please tell me what ‘A’ means under the termination (T) board?