Ventilation shafts are built in an oval form to aid the extraction of smoke by forming a small vortex effect,if you look at the map the run of the tunnel is North to south and the prevailing wind is from the east,hope this is useful,thanks for another interesting video.

Quite possibly the most important M62 related Auto shenanigans video made this week.

I worked for two weeks, in March 1969, for a joiner who was short of work, and we ended up shuttering on that damned bridge. Two pairs of jeans, two jumpers and a denimn jacket under my donkey jacket, and it was still bloody freezing. Ten years later, in March 1979, I was working on the other side of the pennines, in Shaw. It started snowing. I'd just pulled out someone's front door and side panel, so had to finish the job. I set off back home at 3.00pm, assuming the M62 - which the 'expert' designers had assured us all would never close, because it had been so designed that any snow would just blow off it, would be flowing freely. It was blocked; nothing moved. I stayed in the car overnight, then in the morning, followed a convoy of cars and trucks, lead by a police range rover, through a narrow path that had been cut through the twelve foot drifts on the Eastbound carriageway. That was the last time I took any notice of 'experts.'

That Land Rover incident sparked the construction of armco style barriers at every location where there was a possibility of road traffic running onto a railway. You'll notice them now...

A reservoir with a highway crossing over where the water is blocked? Dam!

It always amazes me how John can make something like a bridge, road or tunnel sound like the most interesting thing ever. That is something to be respected and most certainly not sneered at.

Love these videos. Educational, informative, hilarious. I won't drive down a motorway without thinking "what has Jon found out about this one?".

Theres a great woman who leaves messages of hope on that bridge as apparently its sadly a place where those with no hope often go. That woman may have saved many lives.

The M62 towards 'Ull is one of those roads thats seems to go on and on and on and on...

I had forgotten about this rail crash. Eclipsed by significant unforgettable premeditated events later in 2001, which I stood watching live on cable TV with a visiting electrical engineer.

I've been crossing the Ouse bridge since it opened and I don't think the bloody thing's been fully open for more than fifty weeks of its nearly fifty year's life. Mind you, it's still better than the traffic queues when the old Boothferry bridge was opened for ships to pass...

Pedantic Yorkshireman here: the Scam in Scammonden is pronounced Scam, not Scarm. I can remember the bridge there being built. Traffic was diverted down a steep temporary road, across the motorway which was under construction, and back up the other side. I think you can still see evidence of this temporary arrangement to this day, more than fifty years later. There’s a similar but narrower bridge at Windy Hill that you could have mentioned in Part One. It carries the Pennine Way footpath over the motorway.

What did Huddersfield do to hurt you? Just entirely jumped past the secret junction just after Scammonden, the uni directional J23 plus 24 and 25 😱

There also used to be a “bridge to nowhere “ across the M62 where the Hensall services were going to be. It was there for years before they finally removed it.

The tunnel ventilation shaft is oval shaped because it isn't round. ...and Northern Rail couldn't run a bath let alone a train service!!

6:43 We once used the Long Lane exit to get out of standing traffic. We were travelling back to Pontefract from Hull after playing football, and the traffic backed up for some reason........after about 20 minutes, some guy got out of his car just before the bridge and opened the gate........Everyone that knew the area, and could get out, followed him through, and then we all turned right at that little junction and then went back over the bridge. I can imagine the residents of the quiet villages around Hensall and Eggborough wondering what the hell was happening!

Yeah ..... that driver. Accidents happen but he seems to have a bit of a judgement problem. Staying up all night and falling alseep at the wheel were two connected events but not according to him. All the deaths occurred 700 yards down the track from his car so that meant it was someone elses fault. Apparently. He prefers to think of it as fate. Where's Karma when you need it.

Thank you for including a Northern Rail jibe ❤️👌

It’s a testament to your presenting as I can’t believe I would find videos about motorways secrets this interesting. 😁👍 Thank you.

There is a nice video of Fred Dibnah crossing the Scammonden Bridge in a steam-roller (or traction engine) towing a living van.

M62 mentioned by name on the song 'Driving Away from Home' by Its Immaterial in 1986.

My grandad was an Undertaker in the village of Milnrow at the time of construction of the bridge. He was contracted as the , for want of a better word, "Body collector" for the poor unfortunate souls that didn't make it home from work on a given day. A small part of the death toll on the bridge and surrounding work, at least 2 he recalled, was due to the guys on site rolling back to the work camps after a night on the town, and falling from the bridge, He would be woken up at 3am in the morning to go collect. It is difficult to find casualty figures for back then, however he recalls some of the lads were cash in hand and not necessarily accounted for. One fatality is always one to many.

The Selby Great Heck rail crash was almost exactly twenty two years ago. Sounds haunting listening to that emergency phone call from the Land Rover driver.

I can't speak to the UK but in the US, the cost to add additional width to a bridge (to accommodate a future widening) works out to be about half the cost of adding it later (including inflation) but it only makes sense if it's reasonably presumed the roadway will be upgraded during the lifespan of the bridge, otherwise it's a waste. I work/live (as a highway engineering professional) in Michigan where we built most of our freeways from 1960-1980. Most of the significant bridges built during that time (especially over rivers) were built with extra wide piers to make widening the bridge in the future really easy. We are only now embarking on a massive infrastructure program and unfortunately most of those bridges are beyond their life and will be totally replaced. So in that case, it was kind of a "waste" to build all of the 'future possibilities' into it if it takes you 50+ years to get around to doing it. We just finally finished the US-31 freeway 51 years after it was started, so sometimes things take longer than planned.

Thanks - very interesting. I've driven the M62 hundreds of times and you've told me a few new things. We have a running joke that I always tell my wife about the highest motorway point trivia when we drive to Manchester, but never knew I also live just near the lowest point (now I'm going to be doubly annoying).

Thanks as always for a great video Jon. Looking forward to you getting proper north and crossing the border again - the pizza crunch awaits!

typical land rover owner even had to remind the 999 operators that the train did in fact go through the front of his land rover. Great video Jon, a lot of well-researched and entertaining content about something I never knew I was so interested in! :)

The bridge features in Fred Dibnahs ‘Made in Britain’ TV series when he took his steam engine towing its caravan across it. Fantastic film and pictures of the event .

Hey, an interesting lighthouse right at the very end. I don't know about other viewers, but I was mightily disappointed that Jon did not show the custom-made sign warning walkers about crossing the bridge under conditions of high wind. I'll have to make a trip there myself to see that.. I will also take in the unadvertised Old Long Lane motorway entrance for no reason in particular, just because I can......

A motorway two parter with a Car Park in the middle. A perfect Auto Shenanigan sandwich. Very filling.

Great work. I used to live in Birkenshaw, just by the wide A58 bridge. There is a cracking story of a Halifax Bomber crashing in the field next to the A58 during the war. Tom Scotland was the young pilot on manoeuvres when he got into trouble. His crew bailed out and he put the plane down into the field next to the A58 but also avoiding the village of Drub.

"wicked sweet awesome" has become our family catchphrase

My Father was responsible for laying the Drainage, between Tingley roundabout and Saddleworth Moor Top, the highest point. This section was finished 6 Months ahead of schedule. I was always told that his name is on a memorial plaque just off Saddleworth top. Never seen it as it's at the side of the Motorway. His name was R.P.Smith.

Remember the old Ferrybridge services, before they realigned the motorway, was always a toilet break, from A180 in the east to the A1 in the north

There's a big problem with it ending at the A63 now though, the A63 is no longer fit for purpose thanks to the amount of traffic now coming from Hull, Beverley, and the surrounding villages which are rapidly growing into towns themselves, like Brough (and the Brough junction is a nightmare of an accident blackspot which only seems to be getting worse). The A63 also has a recurring problem with becoming flooded between North Cave and Brough, yet despite resurfacing work carried out over the past 20 years no effort has been made to either raise the road or improve it's drainage, that I can see. Ideally the M62 needs extending to at least Melton, or better still, the Humber Bridge.

This is one of the 3 motorways I’ve been particularly excited to see in this series. 2 more to go lol

An interesting thing you missed out at Scammonden dam is the hillclimb track. Short, nasty and brutish as these things go.

Another motorway I’m on a hell of a lot. I never knew the oval stone thing was a big shaft. PCD 3:56 😂 I also didn’t realise I was driving across a dam at Scammonden. I’ll be looking for those ghost slip roads the next time I’m on it (off work til early April ☹️) Excellent episode yet again 👌🏼

Thanks John. There's no reason for me to care about any of this but your delivery is so damn compelling. :)

I think your best bet on finding out about the reason for the odd shape of the air/construction shafts is to ask Martin Zero. He's on youtube. He is an oficionado of all things connected to mills and mining, and in particular tunnels. He may already have a video or two on this particulr railway line/tunnel already. Since most shafts are round, these ones are bounds to have peaked his interest. And the name certainly sounds familiar.

I commute using Northern trains, and can confirm that they do still run, sometimes, if you're lucky (or unlucky).

I used to drive over the Scammonden bridge every day on my way home from work

My Auntie and uncle used to run the fish and chip shop/newsagents in Ferrybridge (on the Pontefract road, now called Ferry Bridge Fisheries) we used to visit twice a year and as kids we marvelled at the cooling towers (which you could see from their garden) as there was simply nothing like it in rural Cornwall. Sorry for the digression 😂

0:29 when building Scammonden Bridge it took 72 mile of scaffolding poles l, it’s a fact I remember but not sure where it came from. Excellent video

Love the nerdy question for railway nerds - by a road nerd ❤

Really sobering to hear that 999 call from the infamous Land Rover driver. Excellent video John as always. Was the 'late night' comment at the start intentional foreshadowing, or just coincidence?

Due to the great heck rail disaster, after the enquiries and investigations every road bridge over a railway line had safety barriers fitted to the roadside eachside.

Old speed hillclimb venue at Scammonden dam.You can still see a bit of armco ,where the track used to end , as you travel eastbound along the 62. Might fit in with the series of videos about old race tracks?

Gary Hart, the builder who caused the Great Heck rail crash served thirty months of a five year sentence, he later said "No deaths occurred at the point of impact with my Land Rover." "They all occurred 700 yards down the track which I feel other people should have been held accountable" Hart, who was driving down the westbound carriageway of the M62, had been up much of the previous night talking on the phone to a woman he had met on the internet when he fell asleep at the wheel at just after 6am.

I'd never heard of that rail crash before.

Great research and presentation as usual…keep it up.

Nice one John, more interesting facts and insight into these projects 👍

Great video John thank you

As always, a great video.

Thanks Jon 💥

Great video John, incredible engineering involved to build that lot 👍😀👌

Nicely done 👍

Jam packed with facts, great episode

Wonderful video as ever

Wow, what an epic video! So much to see on the M62, making it more of a journey of discovery than a bland trudge along a motorway. Good stuff!

"scarr-mon-den" oh yes jolly good, bit like "sour-bee-bridge" the people who live there how you say? they say scam-n-din and saw-bi. we're a rough lot. Thank you for lifting the tone with another splendid video.

Newish to the channel and I just went back to some of the earlier videos, and you have gotten a lot better. Plus I get the hat now!

I respect what you do very educational .

Thanks, another great video

Another great and informative video, I remember that crash like it was yesterday at Selby.

I've always wondered about the ghost slip roads near J30, now I know. Thank you!

That's the best one you've done for a while.

loving these videos !

Wicked, sweet, awesome! 👍🏻

Thanks for another cracking vlog very interesting 🧐

Sat here with a beer 🍺 having hundreds of lovely facts blast out my TV screen at warp factor 10 - love it Jon your channel is ACE!

My favourite channel John. Never change.

Nice one John. Weeks been very stressful if im honest. Wont bore you with it. take care pal. Great video as always

Brilliant as always.... Thank you.

Congrats on surpassing 80K subscribers!

The only motorway I have driven on where my ears popped at the summit; it's that high, but living in East Anglia where I do, a slight incline is a challenge....:) Loving the videos so much now that I just subscribed.

great aerial shots

This might be the best episode yet. Actually tempted to try and drive all the M62 to see the sights myself.

Fantastic...very interesting.

The backdrops which you find for your videos are fantastic - especially love the pipes and pylon at 3:55! ;-))

After watching your Oliver’s Mount video earlier this week I’m disappointed you didn’t cover Scammonden Dam Hillclimb. Not as accessible as Oliver’s Mount but interesting nonetheless

My week always gets excited when it gets to Sunday and I know that John is on ,cos he's always miles away from his home lol 😆 he will be needing a new car soon x lol x

great video

I don’t normally subscribe to channels but that outro was so incredible. Well done sir keep up the good work. More maps and before/after pics would be cool!

Wicked, sweet, awesome…

A Brilliant video

Definitively covering the highs and lows of the M62. Good work Jon. (or is it John)

awsesome work love the comentry

Your openings are always good..

Brilliantly entertaining.

Great video! I go to the university of hull so drove on the M62 just two days ago to go home for reading week. The Ouse Bridge is definitely the most memorable part of the journey - especially because of current roadworks which mean it’s got a 30mph limit.

nice one, that bridge near Goole, good for absailing off

Always wondered what the shafts were now I know. Thanks Jon.

Once again John a brilliant video..... 👍

There is a tenuous Sir Bradley Wiggins connection. In 2015 he attempted to break the 10 mile time trial record on what is known as V718. On the A63 at South Cave, which is pretty much the continuation of the M62, he set a time of 17m 58s which was not enough to break the record. This TT course is regarded as the fastest in the UK.

This is the best video I've ever seen about anything

Well I'll be damned! Another great episode of Auto Shenanigans. 😄

If I recall, the Land Rover accident was considered a road traffic accident since it had been initiated by a car, and at £22 million paid out by the driver's insurers, the most expensive car accident in history.

Closing theme - Go With Noakes. (Get down Shep!) Do I win the internet today? But surely you are not old enough to remember him are you Jon?

I live near Scammonden and one of the things we do around here to keep the Yorkshire Puddings off is park next to the dam, run along it and down the track, then up those 458 steps several times - great fun