KINGS LYNN TO HUNSTANTON - John Betjeman

[Apalmeic5]

the beast has been busy building a fake new age...nwo....golde n age with evil pan behind it all..............only j can return to make the aeon utoipa we are in these final days now............

[Apalmeic5]

somerset already ois trying to sel or lease aonb to goon squads................if nature dies j does not return bible says..............but the beast will if nature dies,even amazonians say this........

[Apalmeic5]

the tories are comin to either hll or kings lynn building some concrete runway like thing..........buildings,,nffp planning law of evil..................natur eaters.....hourus the destrction anti god...of ill

[tomm9091]

gay

[nylonTS]

@tomm9091 I think he was happy doing this

[nylonTS]

I watch this over and over

I really cant help it thanks for posting

[nylonTS]

Ive just been to woferton in a word Fantastic

The Owner Richard showed us around it was great

A place to visit and a place to stop and think

Thanks Again Richard your a gem

[laggymam]

When England was England and not a rivers of blood trouble maker in sight? Watching these old clips depresses me like hell? Railway travel in the black and white 50s must of been some thing else? I got the 60s bit of steam before the death knell passing the bottom of my street the trains looked like giant monsters sat on the railway wall looking at them? You can now only live the old decent English life through old videos, and get lost in them?

[derwent]

Doesn't it seem like complete madness that we had such an incredible rail network 50 years ago - and now half of it has gone. I don't drive and rely on trains. I feel really aggrieved that I cannot have day trips to quiet places in the country by train. Even my hometown of Keswick in Cumbria has lost its station. Keswick is one of THE tourist towns in Britain for heavens sake! There should be more to running railways than mere finance.

[nylonTS]

what happend to England

[alanheath]

Absolutely fascinating film! Thanks for posting.

[sleeming88]

Is it common practice in Norfolk to leave syllables out when pronouncing place names? Huns-ton, Snett-sham etc

[Lisnageeragh]

Does anone remember a series of programmes John did in the 1970s ''Sweet ongs of Zion''?

[Gingerblokey]

I absolutely love John Betjeman, just his voice is enough to sooth me.

It goes without saying what a shame it is that the line is no longer there. I actually watched this sat at the back of a 40B bus coming back from Hunstanton and I must say I'd have rather sat in a musty DMU watching fields of lavender roll by than on this incredibly uncomfortable bus watching Budgens roll by.

Saying that Hunstanton isn't what it used to be. It's tacky and down-market now and the pier's gone too.

[SumDoood]

"The long, level land below the North Sea".

[JohnnyTheWolfLupino]

Wolferton, great place name! Those carraiges look so comfortable, miss the view from behind the cab.

[Dorigen42]

Interestingly, by the sixites, when I went to Hunstanton every year with my parents from Peterborough, it seems most people were pronouncing all the syllables in Hunstanton. I seem to remember also that people used to call it Peterborough on Sea

[TeenyR1]

When we were young you could walk down the track after they closed it (60s and 70s). I bet it would be really hard to get onto the old track now, if it's even still there, which I expect it isn't.

[TheBeltane]

As a kid I went with my gran on this trip in it's last days as a line. Sad to see how it's all changed. If the line were open today it would be packed with trippers. The station masters had pride in their stations and the hotel was still standing. Sad it's all long gone!

[MrBazzabee]

If I was really honest about it .....This video for me is not really just a lament on the loss of a railway line but ...It's about a britain, and a way of life that has sadly....all but disappeared!!! It is at least, for myself and for my generation- a window into-- the land of lost content-.the happy highways where I went................and cannot come again!...sigh!!!

[voyager4u]

@MrBazzabee

I agree and Britain today lacks all that was seen in this video.

[EnglishG3nt]

Absolutely wonderful.

[sturdle]

JB is all that is British....

[grahamfitzjohn]

wonderful

I wish I could give it more than five stars it's a "proper" short film , unlike the many five star rated video clips badly thrown together with poor soundtracks and little idea of how to tell a simple storyline

[amarone1956]

I wish life was like that nowadays.

[valdasilva123]

I lived there from 1945 to 1954, and it was always pronounced Hunston.  Now Snettisham I don't recall that being Snetsham,,, always remembered it Snettishum.

[fiveshorts]

Why, why, why did mankind allow the innocence do fade and die?

Things that mattered; things that stayed.

Snettisham, hedges, pubs, GER.

Not ashamed to use the word 'Great'.

Trees untouched. Allotments.

Tickets handed in.

I can't bear the loss.

[nylonTS]

@fiveshorts I belive two things runnied this country the EEC and Decimlisation we have never been the same since

I was too young to vote for the EEC or Decimlisation so dont blame me LOL

But you are totaly right in your commenst dear freind

[NSMerryweather4771]

Oh by the way, for your video description, the line wasnt closed by Dr Beeching it was deemed for closure by Her Majesty's Goveners and Railway Inspectors.

[NSMerryweather4771]

I uploaded this video and was asked to remove it or face a penalty charge. its not fair! Thanks for uploading :0D

[TrainmasterCurt]

If greedy men who dont care about the common public are responsible for the abandonment of railways, then lets fight them and gather together and do something about it, let let our ideas be known, and help rebuild the railway network of the future!

[norfolkheron]

For those of us who can remember this line in operation its a wonderful reminder of what a beautiful, quiet and serine landscape Norfolk had. Most of it is now gone for good and we have a pretty poor over populated and degraded landscape in comparison. We were a lot richer then than we are now in many ways. Greed has, and is continuing to steal more away from us - fight developers and politians every inch is what this film cries out.

[fiveshorts]

Here, here.

[THERESALWAYSSOMEONE]

Hear-Hear!

[UKTrainMan]

A truly fascinating peice of film, I was in awe of it as I watched.  Makes me want to take a drive upto Kings Lynn now and follow the old railway line...might just have to do it soon after watching this. Many thanks for uploading a brilliant video, a 5-star rating just doesn't do it enough justice.

[LauraSommer]

I enjoyed this, especially because I have travelled up to Norfolk many-a-time over the past 18 years. The only thing that puzzled me is how he pronounced Snettisham and Hunstanton because I've never heard the locals use his clipped sound for these place names. Could he be mistaken or is it that the English spoken there has, heaven forbid, degenerated?

[THERESALWAYSSOMEONE]

That's how they pronounced them in the fifties - when I was there!

[ericjwest4]

they were the Days

[TeenyR1]

@THERESALWAYSSOMEONE They still do. My Dad lives there and I'm off for a visit next week.

[lilmizzamy101]

@LauraSommer how people in norfolk speak

[wallygator100]

How come I have missed this film. It is wonderful. Thanks for posting it.

[mentalistboi]

wolferton is pretty much non existant these days

[type2thrash]

Shame the branch wasn't open now, as I live at Heacham! Shame Mr Betjeman didn't call there either. Anyway I liked the 'Coal shed Gallery' at least something survives on the branch, there again the owners of the stations have done an excellent job preserving them! I know the owners of Heacham Station, complete with MK 1 Coach where you can stay on holiday, along with the waiting room on platform 2!

[nathanielbagshot]

England in the black and white early sixties.

I want to go and live there. I don't like it here anymore.

[mbrookfi]

I was lucky - I left in 1968 for Canada - and when that got just as bad I left for Taiwan: where there are still great trains, polite people and things work.

[alanheath]

@nathanielbagshot I think you would prefer it here today. There is a much better standard of living.

[DADRENO]

Takes me back to 1958 - fifty years ago! when I was going out with Bridget, daughter of the station-master/signalman/ticke­t man.

[DADRENO]

i.e. Snettisham station.