The only old bits of railways in London I can think of (and not doing a video, because there's no point when you can't access the alignment or there's nothing to see!) are ... - Wembley loop (nothing to see, all built over) - Broad Street (definetely all wiped out, nothing to see) - That bit of track that goes beyond Chessington South that you can't access - Holborn Viaduct (which i covered in my Blackfriars Bridge video)

Duckies! Sad to see the end of a lovely little series. I doubt Geoff can ever appreciate how many of us from away are so fond of his looks at things we may never yet see.

3:34 to answer your suspicion: there are no tracks left up there judging from satelite images. only a car repair shop has put some cars on top of one end of it for some reason.

The second line i suggested to look at! I used to drive trains over this one, there are two freight terminals at Brentford. The southern most one is the West Waste 'binliner' terminal. The regular run was to Appleford near Didcot. At one point Appleford landfill lost the contract and the train ran to Calvert on the freight only line north of Aylesbury. But after a couple of years reverted back to Appleford. The other Brentford freight terminal is Days Aggregates which is to the north of the waste terminal. Once you pass under the Picc line, to the London side of the branch is Days Yard. That used to recieve stone trains once a day to unload, sometimes two. Normally from Westbury, but once a week a train left from Bardon Hill at night to Brentford (normally ran as the Angerstein's 6O59 all week except Thursdays, for Brentford was 6V26). To get into Days you opened a Ground Frame and locked the train inside. It was then possible to send another train Up the branch to Brentford, the Liners Change-over job (back in the mid 90s) being one where two trains were on the Branch at the same time, all under the control of the Southall Yard Shunter using the Ticket & Staff system. I don't think the line was ever double track but provision was made for another to be laid if required. The line from Princes Risborough to Aylesbury is the same, it has only ever been single but the bridges had room for two tracks. It was a nice, peaceful way to spend a summers afternoon, sitting in your class 60, moving up one wagon at a time while the stone was dropped through the hopper house onto conveyer belts below. The only problem was trying to get back across all 4 lines at Southall to get back to Acton Yard, once the peak started you had no chance!....Happy days.....

As a boy in the seventies I used to watch operations on the branch line near the transfer station. Day aggregates had an 08 shunter which would shunt mineral wagons onto a rotary tippler one at a time. These would be tipped and the aggregates would be taken from the hopper beneath by conveyor. There was also a hydraulic car crusher which was fun to watch. I would quite like to insert the BMWs which regularly undertake me in bus lanes into that crusher. The branch used to have a railmotor service. The great Western society restored an auto trailer to original railmotor condition and ran special a couple of years ago on the Brentford branch. They have also constructed a replica of the railmotor shed which stood at Southall to house it. The docks used to be larger. The arches were indeed the base of a warehouse. Tracks did not loop around the dock but fanned out both sides with sidings along the river front too where lighters could lie on a relatively level standing for loading first by travelling cranes and then by electric portal cranes. More information and illustrations are to be found in, 'Great Western Docks And Marine' by Tony Atkins.

Thanks @Geoff Marshall for bringing so many lost London railways to life - a compelling series: great research, superb narrative, tight editing. Really enjoyable.

For Brentford I'd have expected an electric railway powered by static from all the nylon... [Only people of a certain age are going to get that...]

Ooh a railway I don't know about. How Geoff teaches me so much! I LOVE it

That triple bridge is fantastic, going to look that one up - thanks Geoff!

Oh how I loved it when my Dad used to drive me over the three bridges and I could see the canal and railway. That was 70 years ago & I’m so excited to see it us still there!!!

Geoff , I like you reporting style - straight to the point and with very valuable and dense information.

Thanks Geoff, the series has proven to be very interesting! I remember the Tooting-Merton and Wimbledon line when it still had tracks, and then walking it once the tracks were lifted and abandoned. Keep up the good work. Ian.

wahhhh! geoff thank you so much for this video. i grew up around here and always used to go for walks along the canal but have recently moved away, so seeing that special little trail get some attention is so lovely. made my day!

Thanks Geoff for such a great look at another time In London. I have enjoyed every one of them thanks from Australia

Thanks for this series. Made me notice my town"s lost railway features - a station Road, industrial estate on the site of the station, footpaths following the route, double lines of trees, embankments but best of all allotments!

Looking forward to seeing some of this when I get round to completing my goal of running the full length of the Grand Union Canal.

When I stopped at Southall, I often wondered about that line.

I love watching your videos Geoff. You have a great knack at making it informative and entertaining at the same time. Keep up your good work and I look forward to watching your next video 👍👍

I used to live in a flat at Brentford Dock. It was a long time before I realised that I was living in a former GWR siding! A nice touch though as my grandfather was a GWR bridge inspector. Let's hope that the plans to reopen the branch to passenger use come to fruition.

So glad you covered the Brentford branch, as the docks were still being used but coming near the end when I was young. Keep up the good work. 💖

Hi, Geoff! I've finally stopped procrastinating and watched the entire series in one go, and I think it would definitely make an amazing movie! (especially because you've occaisionally found some rare and hidden pieces of railroad tracks in forests) Even though I'm from Slovakia and I sometimes have no idea what you're talking about, I've very much enjoyed the series! Love your videos and keep up the good work!

I had no idea how excited abutments made me, until today. Thanks Geoff.

There were recent plans to resurrect a line from Southall to Brentford - clearly some rerouting in parts but there was seemingly strong support but suspect that will collect dust for the foreseeable future

You can occasionally see freight trains in the Brentford goods yard from Piccadilly line trains between Osterley and Boston Manor. There's also bits of wide gauge track left a bit further down Brentford docks.

Lived in Brentford my entire life, and this was a fascinating answer to a big question mark I had every time I passed London road and saw the railway arches on the buildings over the bridge. Now I can imagine the track route towards the dock!

That is just amazing old engineering there at the Three Bridges. I'm still baffled at how the British managed to built entire houses and buildings on overhead bridges over the rails, something that I think is very infrequent in most other countries, at least outside of major constructions like Penn Station in New York. Thank you for this lovely series, Geoff. I might as well never be able to set foot in London so your videos will have to suffice. For now, hopefully.

Great start with this amazing structure. Thanks for the series, loved it👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻

Thank you Geoff! Uploaded so I can watch whilst I eat! Very good timing!

I think I enjoyed all these episodes! It was such fun, Geoff!

Wow! I lived in Brentford Dock back in the 90s, but never knew there was a railway line up there! Nice info! Thank you for sharing.

I never knew there was a station at Trumpers Way crossing. Thank you for this video, I lived on a canal boat there for years, and its very nostalgic to see it all again.

At he Three Bridges the road is called Windmill Lane, not Road. This place is well known to transport enthusiasts of a certain age as it was home to the associated Equipment Company, or A.E.C. for short. They are well known as builders of many of London's buses including the famous Routemaster, as well as producing commercial vehicle chassis and even components for a number of diesel railcar types. The factory was situated in a triangular plot on Windmill Lane bounded by the Great Western main line and Brentford branch. Opened in 1926 to replace a factory in Walthamstow, the factory was closed in 1979 when under Leyland Motors ownership all production was moved to Leyland.

Thanks Geoff, I’m born and bred in Brentford and even now, this video taught me a lot about my home town!

Great Video Geoff. I can think of another lost railway. Just to the west of London, The metropolitan waterworks railway, that ran from Hampton Warf to the pumping station at Kempton.

Fascinating. I remember walking around that bit of Brentford a couple of years ago and walking under that railway bridge at The Ham, and not twigging what it was 😁

Hello There, a great end to a fantastic series, thank you for sharing with us this fantastic experience and journey, it was very fascinating and interesting to see, it's much appreciated. Cheers Peter :)

Thank you. You keep looking and I’ll keep watching ( when you find them ).

Proper cool. A mate of mine used to live by the marina there - the bridge has had a lick of paint since then...!

A great video. Really enjoyable and a fabulous series. Thanks Geoff.

Fun Fact 1 - the bridge has a central median point. One point that is the centre of all three bridges. Fun fact 2 - is that it was the first bridge completed after the death of IKB Fun Fact 3 - during building, the canal was rerouted through the grounds of Hanwell Asylum on the North side of the Canal with a temporary road bridge over the canal constructed. The former bridge over the canal being demolished to make way for Three Bridges to be built.

Cheers, Geoff - really enjoyed this series.👍

Fascinating. I've been through Three Bridges on the canal and the road. In the 70s and 80s a friend live on a narrow boat at Little Venice, so we spent a day pottering down the Paddington Arm and then along to the locks at Hanwell. I've also been to Osterly Cricket Club, which is south over the road bridge and immediately right.

Nice one Geoff. And a splendid line to bookend the series. I always found this curious little line most fascinating as it is a fine illustration of the way London and its trade has changed so fundamentally within a few decades. From what I can gather it was actually a fairly busy basin with plenty of traffic but this all changed when the dynamics of water transport changed with things like containerisation and increases in road transport. It caused the closure of myriad ports, basins and quays as it became uneconomical to run them I guess.🤔 I have got some great b/w shots of the railway in a few then and now type books which do show how extensive the dock was! As a young lad, we did venture down that way as we combined it with a visit to the London Transport Museum which at the time was nearby in Syon Park. The marina had only recently been built but there was still plenty of railway crud to be seen up the line, though to be honest I couldn’t say where exactly we went 🤷🏻‍♂️ Have a great weekend mate 🍀👍🍻

Gee, couldn't you have snuck in a line like "Three bridges, that exceeds the normal allotment of bridges." ;)

I was taken to Kew Gardens in about 1956, and was very surprised to see a load of railway wagons on the opposite bank; I couldn't imagine what they were doing there.

The "binliners" from the Brentford waste transfer station go to SITA's Severnside Energy Recovery Facility, an energy-from-waste station on the Severn Beach line near Bristol, known to Realtime Trains as "Severnside Sita". The empties come back past the back of my flat in Bristol, but the full containers have usually gone via the Henbury Loop since the big GWR timetable change a couple of years ago.

Enjoyed so much the London's Lost Railway series, which prove all is not lost.

Google Earth 1945 view clearly shows the railway at Brentford Dock and the line leading from Southall. This series has been extremely interesting and really professionally produced and the hard work done by Geoff was well worth it. I am holding my breath in anticipation of the next Marshall production !!!

even though the series ended, we will still remember allotment #allotment

Thanks Geoff. I liked hearing about old and lost railways.

Great video love this series love looking at old railways

I very much enjoyed watching your series Geoff - Thank you very much!!! 🙂🚂🚂🚂

Hi Geoff, great video as usual. You might want to look into the bit that went from Hammersmith to Kensington Olympia, via a different Shepherds Bush station. Though probably not much left now - mostly street walking...

Thanks for that. I live not far away from Brentford and didn't know about the railway line you talked about.

I saw the visual pun you made at 05:01. Good series, a lot of fascinating history if one knows where to look.

I’m really enjoying the series so far 👍

Lovely bit of repurposed railway line there. Used to work on the border between Chiswick and Brentford, between Gunnersbury Tube Station and Brentford Train Station. Mainly used the former, as it was closer, but used the latter on a number of occasions, especially when going to the pubs down on the Thames at the weekend, or leaving them after work. :D

Great to find out a bit more about the town I grew up in.

Great series. Like most everything you produce, a real pleasure to watch. Thanks for the series and all your hard work. I can't help but notice that Brunel strikes again Ever think of doing a series on some of his most underappreciated rail oriented projects?

A seriously cracking piece of film. I have relatives that live in that area. All done by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. What a guy. Thanks for making and thanks for posting.

I remember being told that local residents, back in the day, campaigned to have the Bodmin to Wadebridge line connection closed, as they didn't want outside influence, or indeed, the town to expand as a result of which. It did close, and there was a supermarket built on the site where the station and tracks used to be. Whether this happened because of the local populace opposing it or cuts made by Dr. Beeching, remain to be seen. Now, it would appear that there are plans to restore the line, as it was, and return Bodmin General Station to passenger use once more.

Thanks for explaining about that line, i was always curious how those abutments all came together and surprised i never knew of the Three Bridges! That area is still a confluence of transport with railway, canal, tube line and motorways all being so close together.

I live in the area and its amazing to learn the history of my area I have walk over that track so many times and I never knew.

"Hey, have you heard the big news from Brentford this week?" "I sure have: Geoff Marshall's dropping a video about the disused railway line! Biggest thing to happen to Brentford in years!"

Petition for Geoff to make a whole "all the allotments" series?

I have only seen Brentford Dock from across the river. From 1946 to 1954 I lived at Kew and often walked along the river sometimes as far as Richmond and would often view the dock which was quite busy in those days.

Nice to learn about history so close to home, thanks Geoff

Thanks for the series Geoff!

I attended UWL and used to walk around here a lot. Never knew about the railway, but next time I'm there I'll have a look for it

As a local school boy to the 3 bridges this was very much a haunt to us kids during our school holidays,

Would love this to be encorporated into the West London Orbital to connect it to Southall!

Just to add, the line also sees occasional aggregates traffic as there is an aggregates facility just before the waste terminal. These dont run too often, but when they do, they run during the day which offers quite a rare chance to see this line in use during day hours.

That was great Geoff. A great series.

LSWR loop from Olympia to Hammersmith Grove Road & Ravenscourt Park. You can access the track bed at Shepherd's Bush station. Also various over bridges & the Motorail car park.

Amazing piece of construction, that triple-bridge!

A glorious nerdgasm of a video, thanks Geoff! Apart from the highly entertaining and educational aspects of the video overall, here are some of my favourite moments: 1. The Ham. Mad road name. 2. Ducks. 3. Trumpers Crossing Halt....and how you were very grown up and didn't even smirk at the name. 4. "LOON" under the bridge, and how you stood beneath this piece of graffiti without the slightest hint of a reaction, when you doubtlessly knew it was there! Loved it, thanks for another brilliant piece of work.

Excellent series. I think you may have walked every road, path and (disused) track in London.

Another nice one Geoff, most of the subjects you've covered in the past I've often had at least some knowledge of (though there have been one or two surprises in this series!!) , but I knew next to nothing about the Brentford Docks Branch, let alone the fact that there is a Three Bridges Park near there, the other Three Bridges having been my local station for over 40 years, when I lived in Crawley!! Btw, there is at least a 3rd "Three Bridges", there's "Trois Ponts" station in Belgium, near the Luxembourg border!!

This was a great series! And I learned a lot of the area I live in and I lived in the past. Next: London lost canals? Surely there must be more than just the Surrey canal

Thanks Geoff. Excellent again

Another excellent video - thanks Geoff!

3:29 I always love to see houses over canals, after walking along the Regent's Canal once (exactly 3 years ago)

A real nostalgia fest for me... I concur with everyone that these have been a fascinating series, but the ending is extra poignant because I used to live just across the road from the Brentford Dock estate, and once in the mid 90's I even had my car repaired by the garage that you showed under the rail arches. Many times I crossed that bridge into Brenford Dock without once realising its fascinating history, or that it was possible to get underneath it. Sadly those halcryon days are long gone, and even the partner with whom I shared my life back then is also long dead, but upshot is that this video brought it home to me again, how often in life we fail to properly appreciate where we are, or rather were, until we have long since moved on...

That is the end of London Lost Railways? (gets out of chair) Let me just get my London Railway Atlas out to see if there any more to add to this wonderful London Lost Railway series! But another awesome video Geoff.

Good series! Thanks Geoff!

Hi Geoff thanks for the series on London's Lost Railways

Great series, thanks Geoff 👍

brilliant series!

Born within a mile of Brentford Dock and now living within 5 miles of Whitlocks End. It's a small world!

Fun fact: I have lived in Three Bridges (Sussex), and Hanwell, about a mile away from your stated Three Bridges in this video. Have driven over that bridge on Windmill Lane many times without ever knowing what lurked beneath. Nice work, Geoff.

Thanks Geoff, I'm glad you liked it. Initially the branch was broad gauge.

what about the reused railway track at 0:17 at the edge of the canal, i love it when Geoff points out the subtle clues pointing to a railway having been there in a past life

Somebody Somewhere are bound to find a line that Geoff has not discovered yet.

Just north of Three Bridges on the west side of Windmill Lane, what is now an industrial/retail area was originally the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) factory where London's buses were built, as well as a range of lorries. The London General Omnibus Company started building its own buses and when the LGOC was taken over by the Underground Group the bus building business was formed into a separate company, AEC.

I work at Sky and you can see the old railway line behind our building. Looking on Google at the stretch of track next to The Ham, there's some old cars up there.

The Royal Docks area has abandoned railway lines! Silvertown tramway complete with tracks, North Woolwich Station, Beckton coal railway and even Island Garden further in. Come on Geoff, go East!

You finally found that foot crossing me and someone else mentioned on your foot crossing video :) I used to cross there when coming back from a shift at The Osterly Hotel. Also that path then leads to Windmill Lane where the Sultan Of Brunei has a house.

Another great one Geoff 👍

I did this line as far as it went (near a scrapyard at the end of Transport Avenue off the Great West Road) on a special rail trip from Southall Station some decades ago. Steve Pound a local MP at the time also enjoyed the trip on the same train probably in an old 1st Class compartment?!

Good to see my old home town! I don't know if you knew it but there are some old rails still evident on the north side of Brentford station (possibly, there was years ago) Maybe something to do with a goods yard?