I know someone who was an architect until he retired, some years ago he was commissioned to build an industrial building over part of the trackbed of the DN&S, the customer was never told that the building was designed in such a way that the track could be replaced without demolishing the building (careful positioning of shutter doors)!

One night when on a Bedwyn I was instructed by the signaller to examine the line for a body, just short of the old Southampton junction. I found it. It wasn't dead however, just dead drunk and asleep in the cess. And female. So I let BTP deal with her. I obviously couldn't leave the scene in case she came too and got hit by another train. I then had to convince some girls mother on her phone that she wasn't lying about the delayed train to stop out late. And some think we get payed too much.

Saying that Newbury became a junction for different railway lines reminds me of the story of Secaucus Junction. NJ Transit operates in two divisions, Hoboken and Newark. The Hoboken Division was part of the Erie Lackawanna Railway, while the Newark Division (on the Northeast Corridor) was once the Pennsylvania Railroad and Central Railroad of NJ. These two divisions were never previously integrated (because competing railway companies), even when both were under Conrail. When ownership was passed to the state in 1983, they built connections where trains from the Hoboken Division would be able to switch onto the Northeast Corridor, but they still never had a direct transfer. In order to go to NY Penn Station, those in Hoboken would have to take the PATH to 33rd Street. While those at Penn Station wanting to go to Hoboken would have to also take the PATH to Hoboken Terminal. That is until 2003 when Senator Frank R. Lautenberg advocated for federal funds to build Secaucus Junction. Because of this when it opened, the station was named in honor of his dedication (when he passed away in 2013, an Amtrak train carrying his coffin stopped at the station). The station serves all NJ Transit lines except for the Princeton Branch (which runs between Princeton Junction and Princeton) and the Atlantic City Line (which runs between Philadelphia and Atlantic City). In 2009 it became a stop on the new Meadowlands Rail Line which branched off the Pascack Valley Line. This line became the selling point of NJ's push to host Super Bowl XLVIII. They did an initiative to promote the use of mass transit to the big game. But this plan was a failure, not because it didn't get people to ride the train, but rather the opposite. There was too much OVERCROWDING, and it proved that the current NJ Transit infrastructure just cannot accommodate that many people to one destination at once.

Imagine running Cross Country services from Southampton to Birmingham and beyond, avoiding Basingstoke and Reading, going instead, via Newbury, Didcot, Oxford and Worcester. Quite picturesque through Wiltshire, West Berks and the Cotswolds. Not to be of course, but that would have been a handy and more direct route, as well.

My Great Great Grandparents lived in Newbury and their son (my Great Grandfather) emigrated from Abbotsbury to New Zealand in 1882. We have a number of postcards sent by his parents to him in NZ featuring Newbury scenes, including the railway station. During a visit to the UK in 2018, my wife and I spent a fascinating afternoon exploring some of these old postcard scenes and recreating a modern-day shot of the same thing - also including the railway station.

Lots of interesting places can be reached within an hour by train from the London termini. When I lived in Central London decades back, I seemed to spend a lot of time trying to get out of it at weekends, so I took a lot of cheap day returns out to the home counties, often just to walk a bit and explore. Just travelling on branch lines like the Marlow and Henley lines were nice enough little trips in themselves. Here's looking forward to seeing some of your trips out of London.

Newbury passengers were a cut above the rest. In his autobiography, Gerry Fiennes related a time when he was on the platform at Reading, and was frustrated by the slow transfer of passengers from a branch train, delaying a fast train. "Blow your whistle at them", he said to the inspector who replied "Sir, we do not blow whistles at people from Newbury". (G F Fiennes: "I tried to run a railway" 1967)

Well now you've just opened a can of worms haven't you. First Windsor and now Newbury. You probably ought to do Reading next, and maybe even Bristol. I also think Portsmouth and Bournemouth stations could be interesting.

I don't know about anyone else, but that two-car train at 4:09 really speaks to me. I know how they feel out there, but they should know that they shouldn't let anybody talk smack about it for being small. As long as you have the spirit to dream big, that's all that matters

As a wee nipper, Newbury was famous to me for 'Swampy' and the Newbury Bypass.

My mother was the youngest of seven children born in Newbury, I have loads of cousins in and around the town. I can just about remember seeing trains on the various pre-Beeching branch lines.

Although I thoroughly enjoy Jago's videos about the Underground, it *is* nice to also have other "tales from the rails" to watch. Thank you, Jago!

TRIVIA There's a station on the Reading - Newbury Line about half way at Woolhampton, but the station is named Midgham, after the next village west of Woolhampton. The GWR thought that passengers departing from Paddington for Wolverhampton, might get on the wrong train by mistake, hence Woolhampton station is called Midgham. More trivia, according to Geoff Marshall, Midgham station is the least used station in Berkshire. (Yeah, I must get out more)

"...which feels like a redundant piece of information and I don't know why I left it in the script" One of the reasons I appreciate this channel so much is that it's one of the few whose author actually bothers to write a script in the first place. Well done, as usual!

When you reach Swindon you can tell us a story. "Once upon a time, in the West "

Wow! The Newbury Station takes me back to when I was a youngster. My Uncle was Station Master in Tenterfield. End of the line in New South Wales just before the Queensland border. Architecturally I'd have to say the station was based on Newbury Station. On holidays I'd delight in spending time in the office with my uncle or with other staff under his command. I can still see my uncle at his desk, silver armbands, eye shade, dipping his pen into the ink bottle and keeping his journal up to date. No sound, other than the big clock on the wall with a loud tick tock that was the heartbeat of the establishment. (sigh)

You could hop off at Midgham station on the way back and ponder why it's in Woolhampton rather than Midgham.

I for one appreciate the cans of worms that have been opened here. Your style of video would be a good supplement to what is out there, unique still, and could be applied to many more stations like this. Whatever content suits you to keep making, thank you, and long may it continue!

As much as I enjoy watching your videos on London, seeing one on a station so close to where I work (in Thatcham, the next town along, sandwiched between the railway line and the canal) I clicked this video faster than usual. It is indeed a busy line and I have lost many hours of my life waiting at the crossings for multiple freight and commuter trains to pass by. On more than one occasion getting stuck in my yard when the only road out was blocked by a malfunctioning crossing gate... fun times!

You have my vote to carry on visiting The Provences

My late father-in-law was station master at Newbury in the 60s (and later at Windsor, but that’s another story). Coincidentally, last weekend I finished editing a book of his memoirs about working on the lines there, ready to send to print in the next week or so. Funny to see this pop up today, echoing so much of the history he covered!

Thank you I did indeed enjoy this episode. Please keep the content coming, I find your Channel a good escape from reality after Work and a fantastic Nod to our Rail history. Thanks again and best wishes. 🙏

" I wonder if there's a new Jago video" and then kapow! it was there. Well played sir.

I got confused by the GWR posters too but for reference. The station buildings aren't being rebuilt, the business outlets are going to be in a separate building in the car park next to Platform 1. The multistory car park is open, the new ticket barriers on P1 are done, P2/P3 are still waiting along with the new ticket office (although why it needed to be changed I have no idea the old one was perfect fine)

Great video Jago

Love these videos about railways outside of london, please keep doing them

Thanks for making this! I grew up in Newbury and took trains into Reading and London quite regularly. This is the first time I'm hearing about some of this stuff, especially the old Lambourne line.

Brilliant video sir!

perhaps cover some preservation railway stations, such as the one at the bluebell railway, as they have some very intersting histories.

Great video as always, Jago !

Always interesting to me the differences between old world trains picking and choosing the towns to serve, and the American west where often towns sprang up because the tracks were there. I found something similar it seemed when I lived in Germany with freeways/the autobahn.

Really enjoyed this foray into rural not-quite Wiltshire. How about a feature on proposed railways through London? The one which immediately springs to mind is Brighton Mainline 2. It's been lingering for so long in various forms, currently being "Thameslink 2". And you'd have a chance to get out of London into the Sussex countryside, too. What's not to like?

Probably the most disparaging nickname given to a railway was that that was given to the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway. It was nicknamed "the Old Worse and Worse," after they broke ranks with the GWR and opted for the so called "Narrow Gauge," what we now recognise as Standard Gauge

Another interesting video! You always find good stuff to show us!

Great video Jago. I especially enjoy your story telling. If you ever decide to come to Swindon would be delighted to show you round the GWR museum, plus there is the heritage railway at Blunsdon near by and Swindon's other railway the Midland and South Western Junction railway which imho is more interesting than the GWR story. Best wishes and happy filming.

Interesting. Thanks Jago. When I lived near Newbury I would often go from Newbury to London, sometimes just pop up for an evening meeting. It was a good service but often overcrowded. Some trains were direct but others were a Newbury to Reading shuttle, so I had to change at Reading. One evening when returning late (c11pm) there was no train from Reading and we put on a small decrepit bus. It had about 20 seats but about 30 people need to get to Newbury. So many were standing including myself. It was packed and no doubt over the official carrying capacity. The driver tore down the A4 at about 60mph or more and I recall holding on for dear life. Terrifying. Luckily we got there. The joys of rail replacement bus services.

Loving your videos. You are good.

I'm just about old enough to remember the DNS closing in '67 and crying myself to sleep. With the benefit of hindsight, I think the line ought to have been kept as a useful north-south link, which might have taken some lorries and cars off the now badly congested A34 road. It's good to get out of the 'Smoke' once in a while and inhale some of that good country air! Isn't it?

If you want an interesting one, try the Admiralty Line that branched off from Portsmouth and Southsea, looped through the dockyard and back to Portsmouth Harbour. There's a surprising amount of it left.

Always good when you do something s bit different or unexpected and maybe something around “ just beyond the purple train “ would be something good to do .

Jago on Safari, checking out the wildlife out of town.

Enjoyed this and learned a few things, so thank you.

I have a soft spot for the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton. H H Gasson wrote about it in his Days series of books which caught me at a young tender age and got me hooked on the GWR. There's only three books as far as I know: Firing, Footplate and Signalling Days. I think videos of things rail further afield than the Tube would be an excellent idea. Your style is concise and entertaining.

I've started working on building the unbuilt section of the DN&SRyl on Train Simulator from Winchester to Southampton. If that section was built and still around today, it would of acted as a "Cross-Rail" for Hampshire. I really enjoyed this video, keep up the good work!

no, its Newry station served by Waterline and Stepford Express, inbetween Newry Harbour and Eden Quay

As the grand son of a Southern Pacific yard worker and a very mild rail fan in my own right, I take great pleasure in learning English v American terminology form you. Over here we have 'sidings' rather than 'passing loops'. Oh and if any UK rail fans plan on visiting the Columbia Gorge might I suggest a stay that the Lyle (Washington) Hotel? Built as crew change station it oozes the loud charm of being @ 30 meters from a main east west freight rail line. Bath's down the hall (one with shower one with claw foot soaking tub. Ear plugs come with each room (having grown up near yard and then living next to a siding on the main line out of Eugene Oregon I am quite used to the building rattling sound of a multi unit diesel local slow freight of 100 cars full of wood chips pulling back on to the main after a fast container train to Denver has blown past.

ooh , my local station .. and a recent one given the state of the building works.. apparently I was the first person to use the temporary ticket office on its first day. you can watch the bi-mode trains come in and switch from diesel running to pantograph up to electric traction... shame the first trains on a Sunday are so late.

After the passenger service ended on the DNS, the line continued in use for a while as a route for oil trains coming up from Fawley towards the midlands. The other point of interest at Newbury is the racecourse just east of the town; that has its own station.

Nice to see Newbury get a heads up here, albeit I still find it a bit weird to see they’ve now got catenary. Of course, I realise it’s progress and all that, and whilst I love steam age buildings in splendid original surroundings et al, it is good to know it’s getting a facelift. In fact, it’s good to know another ‘hub’ is being suitably served by retail developments in order that their passengers are likewise afforded such service 🤔 It is another one of those “Oh dear, you silly sods” moments (trying to be nice here) with regards to the Didcot line. What a useful avoiding line it could provide for traffic heading north instead of having to (ironically) go the ‘long way round’ 🤷🏻‍♂️ Shame about the heritage railway idea being aborted too, but one can’t help wonder if the non#introduction of DMUs or railways was one of those accidentally-on-purpose ruses to fix the figures just in case there was a feasibility study that got in the developers’ way 🙄 One station I am rather fond of, albeit I’ve only actually got off there as a destination once, is Salisbury. Quite apart from its endearing curvy nature and splendid old awnings, there’s a tale or two to be told (especially if you include Brunel’s station etc), as well as a few interesting things such as the reason all trains stop there (or at least at one time this was the case…🤔) Hopefully too you should be able to slip in a few stanzas about Salisbury’s other notable features, such as the Cathedral which is apparently particularly revered by fanatics of British Medieval Architecture in Russia 😒 I also rather like Dawlish but I suspect that has already been suggested. So I’ll say Wareham as it’s where (hopefully one day) the Swanage Railway will have a regular connecting service with the main line there. Plus it gives you an excuse for a nice excuse for an excursion to the Isle of Purbeck 😎 Sköl! 🍻🍀👍

Perhaps it could be explained why local semi-stopping services went on to Bedwyn , which sounds like it should be in South Wales, but is a little down the line, near a more important town that lost its rail service some years back (I feel with bi-modes extending Bedwyn services one further station stop would be useful

Thank you for bringing about Newbury station I lived in Newbury over 40 years ago And now I lived in East London for 29 years. I would like to know more about Newbury And surrounding areas of the railways. Please and thank you

every time i go home i use the newbury by pass.... this was a railway i say to family who grimly look out the window and grunt... 18 years ive been saying this....

A Jago video with _a map_ ?!? Which was shown multiple times?!? My my, Jago, I am impressed! And very grateful, since I've always found a good (!) map to be really helpful in visualising what was said. Thank you for another interesting video!

Ah Newbury, brings back so many memories!

And not far away, a line ran from Andover up to Cheltenham and thru to The midlands and also south via the Sprat and Winkle to Romney, Southampton and thence along the south coast. The Andover-Southampton section took up much of the old Andover Canal route and was ‘Beeching-Ed’ . Thus two midlands-south coast routes were wiped away, with the Didcot-Newbury-Southampton link going the same way.

Thank you so much Jago ...I know Newbury Station well having lived in nearby Hungerford for over ten years. In 2010 I composed a poem (I am a poet you see) which I presented to the station. It was still there in the staff room the last time I looked and I would like to think it is still there. I cannot see electrification going beyond Newbury as beyond is an area of outstanding natural beauty and the costs would be astronomical . There are cow bridges galore and rights of way and the next big nothingness is poor old Westbury which is in the middle of nowhere.....even the Victorians would have thought this to be a crazy idea. Quite why it was electrified as far as Newbury in the first place is open to question because it was never going to reach Taunton ....methinks that some people are feeling a tad foolish......

It's a shame that the old footbridge was replaced. It was a fine example of Great Western footbridging, and because it was in the same style as the buildings, it tied the two sides of the station together visually. Personally, I would have kept it in place and built a new footbridge (with lifts and all the modern trimmings) elsewhere on the platforms - as has been done at Slough. But Slough station is a listed building, and Newbury station isn't. Slough would be a good subject for an out-of-London station video. Lots of historic bits and pieces to see, if you poke about a bit. There's a length of Great Western fencing, still painted in Network SouthEast blue (two layers of railway history in one!), the buffer stop on the Windsor bay platform is partly made of Barlow-type broad gauge rail...and there's a stuffed Victorian dog on platform 5.

I'm plugging Bedford for an out-of-town excursion, and not just because I grew up there. Thameslink terminus and once and future intersection of the Midland and the Oxford to Cambridge with defunct branches to Hitchin and Northampton, it was a major railway town. The lost original Midland Rd station - long since replaced with a soulless steel & glass box - was a paragon of Victorian wrought iron work. And of course the Hitchin line had/has Old Warden tunnel, of 'Those Magnificent Men' etc movie fame.

Super! So nice to see that Jago is interested in covering stations outside London! Please visit Bath ASAP and don't forget to mention Box Tunnel on the way; I grew up in the shadows of that engineering masterpiece!

What a brilliant, enlightening, well researched documentary. Thank you. I'm afraid to say my wife's childhood family home was built right in top of the Lambourne valley line. Imaginatively names 'Sleepers'....A travesty! From a Newbrarian.🙂

Great to get out of London and its sooty Tube for the fields of Berkshire. A breath of fresh air - even if it was your friend's birthday. I think you should do more outside London.

I wasn’t expecting my home town to feature here. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one!

I still hope you do an episode on Network South East 🙂 would love to sit back with a bottle of proper job and watch that here in the Vienna woods, fantastic episode on Newbury, it is a shame the branch lines were cut.... As you said, short sighted...

Good stuff on my home station Jago!

I wish Network Rail would have at least got the electrification as far as the old Network Southeast Boundary at Bedwyn. As it is, you have to get a little diesel train and change at Newbury, with a typical 20-30 minute wait for an electric train to whisk you towards the bright lights of Thatcham, Reading and beyond.

astonished that you've come this far out west! and even more so that you did NEWBURY of all places before you did the far more important and interesting Reading!!! beautiful station it is too, so much is original to the 1910 rebuild, everything is still there but the footbridge!

I certainly hope you have lots of friends in lots of towns outside of London as this was a great video. Nice one geezer. ( this, by the way is the first time I've ever called someone, geezer.) 👍

please produce more videos outside the tube, love it :-)

Jago visited my town and I didn't even know it! Weird seeing such familiar sights on KZfaq!

Last time I travelled from Southampton to Newbury by train. I had to changed twice in Basingstoke and Reading to get to Newbury...

Thank you for telling us all that is new in Newbury. Perhaps one day you can tell us all that old in Oldham!

If you’re ever up in Harrogate, there’s a few closed lines round there including the Harrogate-Church Fenton Line, Ripon and Wetherby fairly nearby having a closed station each and some old infrastructure that can be seen from the Harrogate Line just north of the Bramhope Tunnel in North Leeds

How about covering the Art Deco splendour that is Horsham Station (West Sussex) and it’s two active/two closed lines? Of course I may be biased as my flat overlooks the southern end of the platforms and my late father used to work there!

My adopted home town (for way too long! hahaha) Some of the old station buildings on the Didcot-Southampton line still exist as houses and can be seen from nearby roads. As you'll have seen, it now has the inevitable station-side flats being built, as per most of the stations between here and London. :-( Am intrigued how the station will look once the current construction is complete... with the new footbridge and electrification, it's already changed beyond recognition from how things were even a couple of years back.

I am biased but I think Farnborough Hampshire has an interesting railway history deserved of a video. It has two seperate lines, and three stations including one that is linked to Queen Victoria with a tall doorway apparently built to accommodate her hat, and another linked to the army camps of Aldershot. There is also the old network of rail tracks at the RAE airfield which joined the main line via a track that ran down the road in a residential street. There is an exhibition at the FAST museum on the RAE railway, and still some rail track hidden in grass at the corner of Elm Grove Road and Union Street, You can also see the shine of the railway line embedded in the road on a sunny day.

The Lambourne branch relied in the early days on racehorse traffic. Once that was switched to road (why) there was only local stuff left.

Milton Keynes Central was opened by 'Fraud', Bletchley is where Track Connections remain.

Newbury, my on and off commute for 25 years. The 125's were fun.

Tales from the rails would be a lovely addition, re astragalus post below. Your dry rail humor always slays me, lol!

As someone who lives not too far from Newbury, I discovered plenty by watching another of JH's excellent videos

I grew up in Lambourn, it is redundant generally. Though, there is a small housing estate on the old station aptly called "old station yard" and still has some old track.

Closure is never inevitable

Cambridge station might be an interesting one since it's served by a good few companies now, Great Northern, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Thameslink. From a hub perspective and multiple routes to London.

Thanks for making these videos Jago. Your videos are super-fun, but they actually get across an important message. You remind me of LockPickingLawyer who makes fun videos about how easy it is to pick open locks. His messages educate over time and make people realise that lock making companies know about flaws in locks, but refuse to address them. There have been people trying to sell the idea of a nostalgic Britain where everything was better in the past. Your videos talk about that past. And, without being preechy about it, they make us realise: * Victorian raliway capitalists didn't want to do what was right for the UK - they just wanted to get rich, * The original owners of the District Line and Metropolitan Line were idiots who stood in the way of progress, * Both the District Line and Metropolitian Line needed to have sections "amputated" and "grafted onto other lines" to make them less disfunctional. * Revitalisation plans, like the DLR, Thameslink and London Overground can create massive extra demand for rail travel in a very short amount of time. * A lot of our railway history involves things being done wrong the first time and then adjustments being made. * Electrification is good. Overhead electrification is better (and safer). You teach all that sort of stuff. And you teach that stuff with fun stories that teach us the highs and lows of the past. Today I learned that Newbury is successful because of a station that the dominant private railway company didn't want to build. I learned that Newbury had two other railway lines that could be useful if reopened. I learned that "good old British Rail" was not running the last line that closed in the most efficient way (i.e. a London Overground style revival could easily be both viable and a success). And I had fun learning these things. Thanks for doing things the way you do Jago. You are the Jackanory to the grass routes movement to create demand for radical amounts of investment in railway building, that will create modal shift from roads back to rail.

When Jago says Hello there befire Kenobi :(. Great video as always, very informative.

I used to live in Newbury back, up until 2009. It’s really strange to see a station I knew so we’ll looking so different!

" The LSWR were the Great Westerns deadly rival" *Takes drink*

Great video. Would love you to do a video on Rushden, Higham Ferrers, Raunds etc. Apparently the line from Higham to Raunds was prevented by landowners building rows of terraced houses on the proposed route (though I've no evidence whether that is true or not) 😊 Raunds was served though by the Northampton-Peterborough line.

knocked it out of the Park! I was thinking you were doing a Le Ferrovipathe level station name gag there, but happily not (not that it was terrible, mind, but the Paris Métro may beat out the Tube for namesake stations

On covering railways outside London, I'm still hoping for one on the first railway passenger line in Dublin.

Ah Newbury, this was my cycle touring start point for a good few years before those new trains with their terrible bike/luggage cupboards that only fit racing bikes. I'm looking forward to the Liz line through-running so I can get back out that way (Reading) with a touring bike.

Jago - Your venture outside the London area to visit Newbury Station is a success! You asked for suggestions about other stations you could investigate for your videos. How about a trip to Brighton? I think that the terminus there is magnificent, and unlike so many major stations in the country, it has a wealth of details remaining today, from its 1882/3 rebuild.

I learned another new thing about my town, I never knew it had three branches going through Newbury.

Damn, I was driving trains through Newbury last week, shame I missed you.

Come to Gloucester, great railway history. Home of the former Gloucester wagon and carriage company (built one of the 56 stock - that’s your link)

I think you should step out of London more often. Fascinating video.

Coventry is a modern listed building. Believe it was the last station built to have a station master's house. Last I heard was being used for storage

Great vid. You should go to Banbury next.

Happy Birthday to the friend of Mr Hazzard.

I remember the old footbridge, it gave you a crossing option at both ends of the platform. It's a shame the Southampton line didn't remain as it would avoid going to Reading to do the same journey.