This is like a BBC 4 programme, the production quality, research and presenting is top drawer.

Swindon born and raised... I don't know if that's good or bad but I don't care, I love my town and its history.

Your wife is remarkable. She's a great asset to your work. Plus shes very glam. Excellent.

As a Swindonian, this was really interesting! I’d clocked you we’re fairly local, from other videos, but would love to see more on Swindon things like this (and the mechanics institute and its various sagas through the last 20 years!)

In terms of distance, Swindon was rather closer to Bristol than it was to London, but the GWR route got steaper beyond Swindon and needed locos with Smaller driving Wheels (Smaller wheels mean a loco better for climbing hills) and while Swindon was rather 'off centre' in terms of distance, the locos were swapped here, and the idea was, it was as many wheel revolutions on the bigger locs from London, as it was on the smaller wheeled locos from Bristol, so the locos for each end of the line would wear out at the same rate.

Besides being the chosen for the centre for locomotive engineering, Swindon was also infamous for an appalling refreshment caterer that had the franchise at Swindon. This is what Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the engineer for the line, wrote in a letter :- "Dear sir I assure you that Mr Player was wrong in supposing that I thought you purchased inferior coffee. I thought I said to him that I was surprised you should buy such poor roasted corn. I did not believe you had such a thing as coffee in the place; I am certain I never tasted any. I have long ceased to make complaints at Swindon. I avoid taking anything there if I can help it."

Like myself, I love the way you integrate maps, historical records and ground investigation into topics. It's a rare skill these days as most people think Google has the answer to everything and do a few google searches then declare they know the truth. You are true historians.

I spent a lot of time in queens park. In the late 60s, it has changed heaps. We left Swindon in mid-1971.🇦🇺 so thanks for the video. enjoyed it.

A few years ago I met a Landscaping contracter that had carried out some work in Queens park, possibly around the time Tunnel House was built. He claimed they had uncovered the tunnel entrance, he said they filled it in and built the ground to a higher level. The tunnel at Marlborough was open a few years ago, I walked through it, at one point they grew Mushrooms in it.

Another interesting video! I like how the safest house in Swindon is in the most dangerous street!

My dad was a builder and he told me about the tunnel when we visited Queen's Park. I think he had to do some work there and up in Old Town that related to it. He also did some work on or around the skew bridge that carried the M&SWJ across the Wilts & Berks Canal. He would have loved this video. Thanks for making it.

Went to Swindon many times when I worked round there, including the infamous Magic Roundabout but this is a new one on me. Thanks for yet another piece of lost history.

this is so creepy... I live in Swindon and this just came up in my recommended

Thank you so much again for yet another wonderful glimpse into Britain's lost tunnels. Keep up the excellent work Paul and Rebecca .

Great research here. Fascinating to hear of a planned tunnel actually being abandoned completely because they couldn't solve the civil engineering problems. Fareham Tunnel in Hampshire had similar problems and landslips caused several closures. They even built a "geological avoiding line" which experience showed did not actually avoid the problem. In 1967 the avoiding line was closed and they build houses on top of the cutting, like Hunt Street in Swindon. Surprise, surprise, they later encountered subsidence problems. The original line survives, with a very wide shallow sided cutting stabilised by trees.

You guys turn out some fascinating videos on engineering history, really good work. Thanks for bringing this to the internet 👍🏻

I was born in Swindon and lived as a young child in Dunbarton Terrace which is the road next to Hunt Street. We had to move out due to the house land sliding in to Queens park. I found this video very interesting and love local history. Anymore on Swindon would be great 😁

Nice video, thanks! I used to live on Hunt street, I can see my old house behind the Tunnel House in the picture. Lost a bit of our garden in the early 80s to a landslide. I don't know if it's because of the poorly filled in tunnel but you could really feel the vibrations from the house if a lorry went by outside.

I’m sure I read somewhere many years ago that the reason that the GWR placed the works at Swindon was due to the fact that it was the point on the line where the very flat section of the railway from London (Brunel’s billiard table) changed to the more hilly route onwards to Bristol. Hence it was a good place to change from fast locomotives with larger wheels to ones with smaller wheels that were better able to cope with the increased gradients west of Swindon.

Found this very interesting as when I was 7 we used to travel from the Newport St Station down to Southampton in carriages with no corridor. Will follow as I have an interest in Canals and railways in fact various structures.

I lived just across the road for 4 years and always wondered why they called it 'Tunnel House', and now I know! Anyway, really interesting and well-made video and there's a nice piece about you in the Evening Adver today.

Your information just gets better and better. yet another quality video about somewhere i knew nothing about. thought i knew my railways but just shows you're always learning. well done again guys.

Mate definitely you need to try your luck in national geographic The way you speak and the voice you have and the personality what you have It sounds like you made for this

Great work! Top notch production, and very engaging presentation!

Really interesting! Love our home town and it's history! Great job guys! There is a secret smaller tunnel, off Dean Street. It was access for the workers to get into the factory. Interesting tunnel.

Another piece of fascinating history. A great film - love the maps.

How lovely did Rebecca look in that dress 🤗❤

There is a couple of old railway tunnels near my house. One of them recently dug up now, however, one is still there in Gill Bridge Park on the banks of the Wear in Sunderland

Gee, I wonder why I like this channel so much. ;-)

Super video as always, didn't know about this one! Thanks for another great bit of history!

Also Swindon born and raised thank you for this :)

Another Swindonian here... fantastic video! Thank you!

Great story on a dangerous venue from yesteryear. Good that you found a reliable Cartographer.

7:22 Rebecca Whitewick is clearly the fashionable one in the family.

Another great video. Many thanks for all the hard work you put in, which culminates in these fascinating videos.

Great video thank you for posting this...👍

This is fantastic stuff and at one time would have been on mainstream TV. I won't go into what the channels are full of now.

The production on this is phenomenal. Well done. Super video and you've a new subscriber.

What a splendid assistant young Rebecca makes looking very glamorous indeed 😉

I live in Swindon so it was kinda weird watching a semi-viral video about it. Cool video though 👍

well damn. all this time i was looking for the tunnel on maps and i was looking on the wrong end! liverd in swindon my whole life and am quite a fan of the M&SWJR (earlier SM&AR) lovely video, thank you

I have lived in Swindon since 1996 and seen it change a lot. I'm really fascinated by the history of the town. I didn't know about this thank you for sharing. Oh and I have subbed 😎👍

I'm surprised, since it so wet, that they didn't turn the railway tunnel into a canal tunnel! But from what I've read, they encountered a band of clay that they hadn't known was there. I'm just amazed that a genius like Brunell didn't figure out a solution, after all he and his father built a tunnel under the Thames river.

Interesting video, brilliantly edited. Thanks for posting

Loved that thanks. It is so pretty there for hiking even without tunnels to chase. Thank you so much for taking me along. Take care

How interesting. Having worked in Pipers Way, Swindon for 22 years, I never knew about these railways and tunnels. Thanks.

It is a great video. I live near Swindon, almost on where the M&SWJ used to run. I was aware of some of the history and locations of the tunnel, but had never drawn it all out. You must have my "round tuit" as I never have the time! As mentioned by Ian, the planning department must have some detailed ground surveys, provided as part of the planning applications.

Interesting programme about a non-existent structure! Great delivery and top marks for investigative content. Thanks Paul and Rebecca 👍

Great video again Paul and Rebecca. They built railways everywhere, sometimes with no prior thought of, can we get through, or will it make money. I've only been to Swindon once, drove round the famous magic roundabout and stayed at the Menzies hotel for one night. One of my classic bikes was given a Swindon number, VMR.

I live not far from Newport St, and this was fascinating.

Walked the line I think the day before you did the tunnel visit its a great line with so much to see, never knew about the tunnel so well done again great stuff.

I have lived in swindon all my life and I never knew this! Great video!

I live in Swindon and never knew there was plans for a huge tunnel shame it didn’t work out great video guys

Superb content and production....brilliant work. Thanks.

I live in Swindon and I never knew it was so fascinating

OMG .. I live in Swindon .. and never knew this .. what a gem of information, thank you

Very interesting video. When there is a road number, that it's prioritised over road names. They would space for both at the scale you had the map at but they don't do that. Personally I would display both. I work in mapping and addressing, hence my interest the maps, amongst everything else.

Hello I just found your channel I like it very much. I will catch up with some of your videos you and your lady are doing a wonderful job bringing us all these different places I wish you luck for any future endeavours.

Despite the problems they had there Swindon Old Town has a network of old (smugglers) tunnels running underneath it. Some bits are still accessible I think from the cellars of some of the buildings.

More interesting history! The maps nicely bring it together too!

Swindon! I always wanted to visit. It’s the hometown of one of my favorite bands, XTC.

Sitting here in Houston, TX, I have no idea why I watched this. Never heard of Swindon, never been to England and never will. It must be Coviditis settling into my brain.

I was lucky enough to walk through Marlborough tunnel, when i was at school in the early 90s.

Just found your channel and I love it! Great editing and I like the cuts with your wife where you pop in and out. The content and editing is so good! Thanks to you both from Texas!

Great video I live in Swindon but knew nothing about this so thank you both

Very good explanation and good little documentation, this gentleman has produce .. please carry do more videos .. thank you .

You pair really do your research. Excellent video again!!..............Keep Safe!! xx

Great presentation thanks xxx.

Being a viewer from Canada (the 'New World), the more and more of these videos I see of all the infrastructure and buildings buried under Europe (the 'Old World) the more it looks like it's all been rebuilt over post apocalyptic ruins.

Good work very enjoyable...and yes I've subscribed

That was a brilliant video, I honestly thought when you shouted for Rebecca, I thought at that Rebecca wasn't going to show up lol!

That was a nice surprise to see you suddenly popping up with a new video. The sun's definitely brought you out! Oddly enough I was walking through boggy land today thinking of Swamp Castle from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The Sun and Planets are all I know about Swindon - I've cycled around them many years ago, so this was very interesting to see.

Great video, unaware of the existence of this proposed tunnel until your video. Our thanks to Rebecca for her informative comments and appearances in the video while trying to keep you “on track”.

Another brilliant video. keep up the great work.

Hi Paul and Rebecca thanks for another informative video in your inimitable style.

Another story about something I never knew! You guys should write a book! 😊

Great video Paul and Rebecca, very interesting,the tunnel caused a lot of subsidence I should think on a lot of properties, Rebecca looking rather glamorous 😉👍👌

I lived at 56 Bath Road Old Town Swindon, tunnels everywhere in this area . Lots where the works used to be too

Well presented and informative great work!

Great and informative video as always guys, thank you for covering the Swindon's abandoned tunnel. I'm very local and lived in Hunt Street for a while (the stable end, not the crumbly end). I currently live near to where the southern portal would have been. I love the history of the railway around here and often cycle the old line north through Cricklade or south to Marlborough.

Love this channel...new subscriber from annapolis, maryland. Just found you 2 today !!! Fascinating !!! Keep up the great work , both of you.

thats quite a bit of the town's history to digest, great sharing 👍 I am sure the town is a huge challenge for urban planners

Regarding Swindon street names being towns on the GWR line, I presume many of those moving to Swindon to work for GWR would have come from those same towns!

You got Tesco extra pencilled in on map amuses me on your route plan great programmes thankyou

As a child in the 1960s I attended Commonweal School on The Mall, Swindon. West of what was in those days the boys playground, immediately at the back (West) of the school, was a deep cutting that ended abruptly where, what was in those days, the school’s sports pitches. I always figured this may have been an attempt to take the line around the West side of Swindon, similar to the line eventually constructed across Rushey Platt, but much closer to Old Town. Indeed, it’s possible, in my head anyway, that the cutting continued North under the sports pitches but was partially filled in in the intervening years. I’ve never seen anything to support this theory but I can’t think why else the cutting would have been dug.

OS Old Maps. Used to use back in the 2002/3's to hopefully aid bottle ti finding. They didn't but, gd Lord I fell in love with olde OS plan detail. It was free resource, then, but different now.

Good to see you managed to find a copy of the original deposited plans, they can be very interesting to read.

Very interesting video,learning even more about my home town. The tunnel is one thing I didn`t know about.Thank you again.

So interesting, as are all your vids thanks you two and Rebecca pulls the most amazing expressions ! Makes me smile :o)

hey paul and rebecca , another very interesting video , well done :)

See as I've lived in swindon for most of my life before I moved for uni, my sole urge is to go to the most dangerous street after seeing the title haha

As one of those who keeps watching your videos but hadn't subscribed I thought I'd do the decent thing and subscribe!

Great video with lots of knowledge, but is it Swindons most dangerous? When I was a young lad circa 1995, I would knock about in the site of the old railway works - which is now the designer outlet village. In those days, the site was enormous, completely derelict and fascinating. The site included the two outlet carparks and the site of the museum in its footprint. Many empty sheds and buildings stood on the site, including the pattern store bar, it was a treasure trove of railway artefacts. During that summer, we explored the site, top to bottom, over and above ground. One day, to the west of the outlet we discovered an enormous tunnel which was open to the air in only a small section. Removing a make shift cover the tunnel below must have been some 30-40 ft deep and ran under what is now the Outlet's west car park. After days of exploring, we could not locate the tunnel entrance, and despite our best efforts, could find no way down into the tunnel, from the make shift cover as it was just too dangerous. So, because I have no idea how long that tunnel was, a carpark and perhaps even a housing estate has been built over it - could this be Swindons most dangerous tunnel? I have drawn a rough map of the tunnel location here - imgur.com/gallery/2IqFXut Do you have any knowledge of this tunnel? Or maybe it is a future project, I would love to know more!

another very enjoyable and interesting production - well done you guys

One of the reasons Swindon was selected was because it had access to the canal system, so it could bring raw materials for the works.

Thank you for a brilliant video. I enjoyed this. In 2010 , I stayed at The Marriott Swindon Hotel for a RCTS members weekend and there is an old M&SWJR railway bridge.

ITS DOWHILL TO LONDON AND TO BRISTOL FROM SWINDON.. GREAT VIDEO.KEEP UP THE EFFORT

My great-great-great grandfather was living and working in Swindon in 1851. Listed as a journeyman so probably working in the locomotive industry. Before 1861, the family moved to Sunderland and he worked in the ship yards as a boiler maker. As did his son and his son. Trades were kept in the family in those days.

Speaking of abandoned tunnels, the Woodhead line Manchester- Sheffield Victoria has Woodhead Tunnel and Thurgoland Tunnel still intact, Thurgoland you can walk through. Pieces of track lay dotted around, with evidence it was a double track mainline. All stations apart from Thurgoland, Hazelhead Bridge and Oxspring remain fully intact, and Oxspring can only be estimated for location. Interestingly Thurgoland was also the UK's shortest lived mainline station, at 1y11m total. This is one of the most interesting abandoned lines, and the old Grand Central Railway original station and engine shed are fully intact. Have you any idea when you may do that line? Just really like this line, and am frankly obsessed with the railway infrastructure, and I can't wait to see your visit to it

Off topic but since everyone from Swindon has gathered here, any ID's, iKONics, Carats, VIP's or Shawols in Swindon? 💗