Mornin’ Ron, Another fine matters arising. It was interesting to hear Maryln’s comment on Edge Hill. I’ve never been but it’s somewhere I really remember seeing as a child in the first books I read about railway history. Of course this was one of the first railways anywhere. The cutting is massive and it still in partial use by today’s railway. One of the tunnels still runs through towards the dockside, would recommend watching Martin Zero’s videos on this area. Strangely enough the original cutting had a Moorish arch, now long gone apart from the foundation. Maybe the architect based his design on the Moorish arches that can be found in the old part of town down here, who knows? Also for Marlyn he did a great video on the old engine shed at Dinting where nearby the current line runs over a viaduct which has similar bridge supports to those we saw in today’s film club. And what a fantastic combination walk that was so many bridges and locks. I can image that poor maintenance is the cause of the problems. I suppose poorly maintained pointing lets plants get a grip and before you know it bricks start tumbling down. They are magnificent bridges though. You pieced together some wonderful archive photos too together with that John Denver track Whispering Jesse, it was just magical!!. Really worth listening to the lyrics of Whispering Jesse the whole song is on KZfaq. This week I have been out into the hills following a water channel. I went in this direction because I wanted to get a closer view of the snow. Although it was still far off from the viewpoints I got an unimpeded view right to the top of the mountains and across the valley. It was truly memorable. Today’s song Whispering Jesse brought me straight there again. Temperatures are on the rise now and Easter is just round the corner Have a great weekend!!

Wow - Straight in with Awesome Structures . This one was an Absolute Brick-Fest 👏🏻 - I been lucky enough to work my way around much of the Cotswolds during the “Naughties”, but not always having the time to fully appreciate the beautiful surroundings I was in. I do remember enjoying watching Water Skiing on Horseshoe Lake when I did a Short Stint at the South Cerney Waterside Complex, which was marketed as a popular Getaway for London Folk. I wasn’t aware of Railway Heritage in the Area at the time, and I often wondered why there were so Many Stacks of Old Wooden Railway Sleepers Everywhere, so Now we know Thank you - I don’t know how you Managed to keep those Fancy Sneakers so Clean with all that Mud about, if that was me they would have been “Caked” (as my Mum used to say) within minutes 😄😆 Many thanks 🙏🏻

couldn't sleep, got up and watched this at 4am. There's always something to watch on youtube.

It is amazing to think that some of the descendents of the Navvies who built the Thames and Severn canal were most likely engaged in building the MSWJR. What a legacy they left us. The Thames and Severn is being splendidly restored. What a pity the same cannot be said of some of that magnificent railway architecture. It's time it received the due recognition, care and attention it deserves. Looking forward to returning to the Forest of Dean next week.

Hi Ron, Sumac here. James returned from Tennessee with a vacant look on his face, muttering something about 16 hours on a bus with 45 boys...he's still sitting in the corner sighing, only coming out for the odd scrap of food now and then. We did enjoy your visit to South Cerney. We saw it previously when hunting through your older videos, but James says you can never watch Ron's videos too often, and I agree. As you anticipated, we're looking forward to our visit to the Forest...always a good excuse to get the walking shoes on (or paws poised). Have a good week...I'm going to attempt to get Mopey outside today to play.

Brilliant, thanks again for sharing your passion, makes me want to hop on a plane a explore the uk again. Keep up the good fight

Moring Ron. That was great. I'm not sure if I've seen that walk before . Very interesting and lovely to be able to contain railway and canal and also a gorgeous spring day. Stay safe Pete

Hello Ron - greetings from Poland. A lovely rerun of a video you made 6 years ago. A wonderful walk which now fits nicely into West Country Wanderings videos of the Thames and Severn Canal. Those railway bridges are fabulous. How well built they were - what a pity that without maintenace, some are beginning to collapse. I guess it won't be too long before unrepairable damage takes place. Matters Arising today was very enjoyable. Thank you to all contribitors for their invaluable input.

Good afternoon Ron and thank you for today’s Vlog and video of your walk from South Cerney along the canal and old MSWJR. The walk you did was an amazing coincidence for me: A couple of months ago I was going to see some friends in Cirencester in the afternoon so thought I would plan a short walk nearby in the morning. Having never ventured around the South Cerney area before I decided to take a look at the old railway and canal. Now here’s the spooky bit, apart from going a little further south before crossing between the railway and canal to come back to South Cerney, I plotted exactly the same route as you! Thankfully, I did the walk in the opposite direction to you as, when I got to the point where I would leave the railway and go across the fields towards Cerney Wick and back north along the canal, the whole area was completely flooded and there was no way I was going to get across. I then started to retrace my steps and go back up the railway track from whence I came! I should have then crossed over by the road and bridge that you used (going in the opposite direction of course) to get across to the canal. Why I didn’t I don’t know: I was probably very grumpy by that time, had thrown my teddy out of the cot, and decided to consign the whole event to history! If you look on the OS map just to the south of where you crossed over, you will see the footpath across the field that I tried to use - the Thames Path/Thames & Severn Way. A warning for anyone else who would like to do the walk - don’t plan to use that footpath unless it hasn’t been raining for the last 10 years!! The over bridges along that section of the railway have certainly seen better days and are so untypical of the quality of old railway bridges that are normally seen. I would agree with you that the probable explanation is down to the quality of the bricks that were used. The final one you passed next to the road is particularly poor and, as I sat on the bench there by the car park (why is this piece of waste ground in the middle of nowhere “Pay & Display”?) to have my packed lunch I was thankful that I was not sitting under it! The modern luxury housing development near to the end of the walk is impressive. I think it has been designed well and sympathetically with the area. Mind you, it doesn’t take much to improve on the location of a load of old gravel pits. Well, after all that waffle, I suppose I’d better talk a little about the railway in the area itself. The history of the MSWJR and how it came to be could fill volumes in its own right of course, so I thought I would just keep it very local and cover the history of South Cerney station as there is not any more that I can add to what you showed of the trackbed and it’s remaining infrastructure in the video. The whole of the MSWJR route from Cheltenham to Andover Junction was opened in stages between July 1881 and August 1891. On opening, the station was known as Cerney and Ashton Keynes. It was subsequently renamed Cerney before a final renaming to South Cerney in July 1924. The station lay on what was known as the Cheltenham extension of the MSWJR. This extension was built in two stages with the station being included in the first stage of construction between Swindon and Cirencester, which opened on 18th December 1883. On leaving Swindon, there were stations at Rushey Platt, Blunsdon, Cricklade, and South Cerney before Cirencester (Watermoor) was reached. The line on this section was single throughout with passing loops initially at Rushey Platt and Cricklade. A passing loop was added at South Cerney in September 1900. South Cerney station had both “up” and “down” platforms and a multiple arched road overbridge to the south from where the video started. A main, hipped roof, station building was situated on the up platform, with a tiny waiting shelter on the “down” side. Initially, the simple track layout, consisting of a loading dock and goods sidings, both served by a short head shunt, was controlled from a small Gloucester Wagon Company-type signal cabin at the north end of the “down” platform. This was later replaced by a standard Great Western gabled box in 1942. In common with other wayside stations on the line, lengthy stops for the loading and unloading of milk churns was typical of the operations at South Cerney, which contributed little else in the way of originating traffic. The station closed to passengers on the 11th September 1961 and to goods in July 1963. Right, I’ll leave it there for this week Ron. I hope you and the PW family find something of interest in the foregoing and I look forward to next week’s video from my favourite place on the planet - the gorgeous Forest of Dean. Ammunition storage was a significant feature all over the forest during WW2 and, there were railway connections, so I am really intrigued to see which areas you visit. As always, have a great week and my best wishes to you, Pauline and the rest of the PW family.

Good morning Ron. Once again, an interesting walk on the old railway trackbed and canal. The canal looked in pretty good condition in places. Many of those lakeside properties looked very, very expensive. I never knew you were able to walk the line in that area. When I used to drive through the Cerneys, I had one eye on the road and the other on glimpses of the railway. I often used to wonder exactly where South Cerney Station was. That's another line I wished I had travelled all those years ago! Just imagine, boarding the train in Andover and travelling all the way to Cirencester and Cheltenham.

Another gem from the PW film unit. Far more interesting than anything on TV tonight. Much appreciated.

That as an epic walk Ron which I enjoyed from now what is my default position - my armchair Thank you. I was with the County when someone saw the potential of all those disused gravel pits. At least, we got something right Stay dry and well Peter

The designers and builders of those wonderful unusual bridges you showed us must have felt exceedingly satisfied when they were completed and they looked through the oval holes in each arch along the length. I hope they are listed. I don’t know how many are left and if there are any others along the M&SW junction. I had only seen one. It’s a shame the little station seemed to have gone but there were so many other interesting features, embankments etc in just that short stretch. And then you took us along the canal ending with a welcome coffee. We went in there a few times and enjoyed the views. My trip this week was to Buxton along a very scenic line. Names like Furness Vale, Chapel-en-Le-Frith and Dove Holes on the route. Just before Buxton the line is so steep that the guard is reputed to be 2’ below the driver on a small DMU. Sadly you can’t go further than Buxton which once had 2 adjoining stations but freight trains do and I saw 2 today. They do a very complicated manoeuvre at Buxton but don’t go on the passenger line. The line still has signal boxes and yes semaphore signals. Very much looking forward to seeing your next foray into the FofD. Many thanks for the Friday breakfast treat.

the bridge at cerny wick has bean restored ron and looks fantastic and is well worth revisiting

A lovely walk, Ron. The canal looks ripe for restoration, which I imagine won't be too far away. That lovely little lock-keeper's cottage (not the ugly round one) looked to be inhabited - how lucky to have such a location, which will be all the more interesting when boats travel that way again. Autumn here now, as you know, but the forecast is for 3 degrees overnight, which is more like mid-winter. I hope your spring is going well and things have dried up a bit.

I love how Marilyn paused you in real time Ron! 🤣 Lovely vlog as usual. Yes, the line to Malvern via Ashchurch would have been a really lovely journey, but I still like catching the train to Malvern, albeit via Worcester, these days. I love the station there, and the town. Good jumping off point for walks in the Hills too. Although I have explored the Thames & Severn around the Cotswold Water Park, and I have explored the M&SWJR around Swindon, I haven't looked at the latter as it goes through the Water Park yet, so this was really interesting to see Ron. I look forward to next week's Forest of Dean adventures - a place with so much of interest! Thank you! Hope you have a great week. Take care, Paul

Another very interesting ‘matters arising’, Ron. Good choice on this weeks film too. Your epic explore around the South Cerney area. Fabulous bridges and loads of structures along the way, and as a bonus, the Thames and Severn Canal. Brilliant viewing. We might get some dry days, next week. Emphasis on the word MIGHT!. Take care. Ron.

Morning Ron, did we ever figure out when a bridge becomes a viaduct? Is it length or height? Either way I sometimes think the railway builders were just showing off a bit. With their skills with stone, brick and iron. They seemed to want to push the limits of the materials as far as they could. Hence you get structures like the bridge over the Severn and the steam powered swing bridge over the canal. I've just watched a video of the bridge being taken down. Some of the spans were sold around the world to live on. Talking of major projects........I have been granted planning permission and funds for mine!

Im a bit late commenting on this one, Ron. I seem to have got interrupted halfway through watching it! Fantastic video! One if your best! And lovely location a lost railway and canal, but I i believe they are in the process of restoring some of that canal. Sleeping locks!

Happy Friday! Gorgeous bridges. Will the Swindon and Cricklade railway ever be extended?d

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