HS2 and The Digbeth Canal

Рет қаралды 9,894

6 ай бұрын

HS2 and The Digbeth Canal
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @courtabovethecut
A look at the Digbeth Canal on the Birmingham Canal Navigation (BCN)
We take a walk down the Digbeth Branch Canal from Aston Junction on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal down the locks towards Warwick Bar and the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal, through the Ashted Tunnel and Curzon Street Tunnel. Looking at the Gun Barrel Proof House, The banana Warehouse where Geest were once based and the soon to be BBC Masterchef studios
Stopping at Cursor Street Railway Station to look at the Progress of HS2 in Birmingham City Centre and the viaducts leading to it. High Speed 2 goes North from here to join the West Coast Mainline at Handsacre
All drone footage shot with a DJI mini 3 Pro.
All camera footage shot with an Insta360 One Inch with Rode Go mic and Lavalier.
Please follow me on socials
Twitter/X - CourtAboveCut?fbc...
Instagram - / courtabovethecut
Facebook - profile.php?...
Threads - www.threads.net/@courtaboveth...
TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@courtabovethe...
BlueSky - bsky.app/profile/courtaboveth...
Email - CourtAboveTheCut@yahoo.com

Пікірлер: 62

@richardfearn6638 6 ай бұрын

As a boy I remember going to Birmingham which ran close to the Fazeley canal. In those days late 50’s the canals were a sad sight, they were derelict with all the barge’s rotting away. It’s great to see that there has been a revival of the canals, but a pity that the brickwork has been graffitied

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

It’s a shame that no council wants to maintain their heritage

@eleveneleven572 6 ай бұрын

I travelled the Stratford and the Bham/Worcs canal a few times in my friend's narrowboat. The amount of graffiti was disgraceful. It conveys an air of dereliction ...and obvious danger from idiots if many reports are to be believed.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

@@eleveneleven572 I did the Birmingham Worcester and onto various parts of the BCN as a kid and I remember it being dirty in the centre, condoms floating down and rubbish in the canal but there wasn’t the graffiti, that would have been early 90s

@dougmartin7129 6 ай бұрын

The amount and variety of infrastructure weaving in and out is amazing. Thanks for the tour and happy new year from Southern California.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

Birmingham is fascinating for that!

@RitaFarrow 6 ай бұрын

thank you for the walk through ,enjoyed that ,nice and peaceful,

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

Thank you :)

@johngoring3825 6 ай бұрын

one of your most accomplished videos Steve; most enjoyable and interesting, thanks

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

Thank you for your kind words :)

@martinmarsola6477 6 ай бұрын

Thank you for today’s video. Always informative and interesting to watch. Enjoy your weekend, and the week ahead, Steve. See you on the next and shorts. 🇬🇧🙂👍🇺🇸

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching! Have a great week too

@BarrieHughes 6 ай бұрын

The new Curzon Street terminus is a mistake. As a terminus from London, trains will need to reverse if going elsewhere. The original Curzon Street terminus lasted less than 10 years before the common sense ‘through’ station of Birmingham New Street replaced it.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

Yeah I agree although with modern trains you don’t really need to turn round

@malcolmrichardson3881 6 ай бұрын

Very interesting tour of this somewhat under-explored section of the Brum canals network. The case for HS2, never particularly clear-cut in my view, has been hugely undermined by the decision not to extend it beyond Birmingham, as well as by spiralling costs and the Old Oak Common/Euston farce.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

It’s ridiculous not to continue, if you believe it was a mistake or not it’s definitely a mistake not to continue. Capacity is not really improved where needed

@keithadams1538 6 ай бұрын

Good video I remember a group of us getting taken around the banana warehouse in 1974.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

I’m actually a little disappointed I didn’t go 6 months ago before the scaffolding went up, I could have got some much better shots! It’s great to see it being repurposed though rather than demolished

@18robsmith 6 ай бұрын

The Digbeth canal was a regular lunchtime stroll when I worked in that area - great on a warm day, but much less so when it was cold & damp.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

I can imagine, I can’t believe how quiet it was. Although it was early on New Year’s Day.

@01jvb 6 ай бұрын

Hi Steve. I opposed HS2, but to me your video shows clearly how the new railway has a lot less impact on the canal environment around here than the awful graffiti that has badly spoilt the canals in Birmingham over the last few years. It's a great shame as 20-25 years ago there was very little of it, and sad that nobody seems to want to stop it.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

Hundreds of years of industrial heritage absolutely ruined, I genuinely think graffiti in the right places is art but this isn’t art it’s a mess.

@01jvb 6 ай бұрын

@@CourtAboveTheCut Maybe it could form the subject of another video ? It would be interesting to hear what CRT and Birmingham City Council say about it, for example.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

@@01jvb CRT can’t afford to repair water points, they certainly won’t have any money to deal with graffiti. The problem for the council is they clear it and the following day it’s covered again. It’s the blight of inner cities and a failed generation of youth.

@MartynHood 6 ай бұрын

I enjoy the street art along the canal. It's brought life to an area and even brings people to look at the murals. It's subjective but shows the varied use of the network. Side fact....the Duddeston viaduct is a disused line and is planned to be a linear sky park like the New York High Line.

@MartynHood 6 ай бұрын

@@01jvbCRT and Bham Council have put up boards to encourage the art. There are great pieces along here. Annatomix's Fox, under the one bridge is a well respected piece bu Lucy McLaughlin which is also on the cottage near the university.

@brondahawkins4526 6 ай бұрын

Absolutely fascinating video I had no idea this section existed. Hopefully in a few years time it will get cleaned up like the area around Gas Street Basin. As to HS2 in my opinion it should never have been started, ill conceived , poorly executed to date with a runaway cost that bears absolutely relationship to the original budget. A lot of people / companies I've no doubt have made a great deal of money out of it.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

I think the issue with HS2 is it was never going to cost what it said. If you actually look at the price for such a major infrastructure project it isn’t that bad but because we were led to believe it would cost much less it’s got the media on it and swayed public opinion.

@deanehammitt7604 6 ай бұрын

Thanx again for a wonderful video. I find the canal system in Britain absolutely fascinating. The amount of graffiti is very disappointing. Your friend in Northern California.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

It’s a shame as there is so much, graffiti in the right place can be great, Bristol is a prime example where they have some really famous pieces on buildings. This is 200+ year old infrastructure though, beautiful bridges destroyed by vandalism.

@eddieportmore1 6 ай бұрын

Can some one answer , why is their no boat craft, on and around these canals, to see of .were did all the people go to .

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

I wondered as well, it’s the first time I’ve ever walked down a length of canal and not seen a single boat. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s a bit rough down there or just people use it as a way through to the main canals, there 2 major canals each end. It’s worth noting it’s out of season as well, so no holiday boaters and a lot of people are over wintering in marinas.

@h.martinsmith7839 6 ай бұрын

One reason is that the official headroom on the Digbeth canal tunnel is given as very very low. That said the pound with the low tunnel on it is often so low that the headroom is much greater than given in the guide book. This low headroom puts a lot of people off. The big old Tea basin could be an incredible development and would put much new life in the area.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

@@h.martinsmith7839 I thought the same thing, there could be quite a bit of mooring there

@GJChurchward 6 ай бұрын

At 9:42, you've shown a large steel fabrication, at right-angles to the line of the railway. That's the bridge which will eventually be moved to sit on the four steel tripod piers, either side of the canal. I've no idea how heavy that steel assembly is, but I'm looking forward to the day they lift it into position. Whatever you think of HS2, they're doing some impressive engineering.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

Yes I didn’t notice it when I was filming but saw it on editing, It’s massive!

@GJChurchward 6 ай бұрын

@@CourtAboveTheCut Haha, that's a good one! I commented and you replied, before I reached the end of your video. I make about two return trips into Birmingham each week from Sutton Coldfield, and I've been watching the bridge being assembled. Even before the cross-members were assembled to connect the main steel arched beams, I was thinking 'They're going to need a big crane to get that into its final position'.

@jonathanfreyone526 6 ай бұрын

Euston station is still going head subject to getting private financing.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

Yeah I wasn’t sure on the exact situation

@cms9902 6 ай бұрын

Are they planting Sausage Trees, Umbrella Trees, and Acacia trees in greening the environment?

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

I struggle with trees I have to be honest! I love seeing planting etc but I’m clueless on species.

@cms9902 6 ай бұрын

They are species found in the Serengeti the home of Elephants@@CourtAboveTheCut

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

@@cms9902 I’m not that fat 😂😂

@cms9902 6 ай бұрын

Haha White Elephant!!!!@@CourtAboveTheCut

@cms9902 6 ай бұрын

HS2

@TonyAbbeyFETraining 6 ай бұрын

Great video, thanks for the update. However, its sad to see everything covered in graffiti. Don't you get sick of mindless morons trashing heritage buildings and infrastructure. A lot of love, money and effort goes into these renovations - and the graffiti just ruins it.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

Thankfully I don’t do much in the inner cities, we see bits in the more rural areas but it’s usually just the odd tag that gets removed

@TonyAbbeyFETraining 6 ай бұрын

@@CourtAboveTheCutthat’s really good to hear!

@dieselbushcraft1299 6 ай бұрын

The history all around is fascinating. Poor HS2, I typed quite a large paragraph then thought better of it. Enough to say that too many people/companies have made too much money out of the tax payers.

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

As always happens with these things but the tories seem to have taken it to a whole new level of greed. We used to be the world leaders at massive infrastructure projects, Now we are a joke

@davidh8664 6 ай бұрын

Great video re this small piece of the BCN, really enjoyed it - but leave politics out of your videos please

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

I’m talking about the biggest infrastructure project in years which is what the channel is about and I will continue to do so

@chino-vz1qd 6 ай бұрын

Birmingham looks broke apart from the new train coming 😂😂

@CourtAboveTheCut 6 ай бұрын

The area isn’t the best but is receiving a lot of money now to regenerate it. These things usually do go to the rougher areas as land prices are cheaper.