1957 Saxmundham to Aldeburgh Railway line, with Flanders & Swann, the slow train

A train journey on the now closed railway line from Saxmundham to Aldeburgh.
At 45 seconds you can make out the house in the clouds and windmill at Thorpeness before the trains comes into "Thorpe Halt" station for Thorpeness.Part of the line is now a walk.
The Station at Aldeburgh was next to the Railway Tavern on the roundabout into Albeburgh. It was built using the white Aldeburgh brick. On its demolition some of these bricks were reused on extending existing buildings in Aldeburgh(to meet conservation area requirements).
The song is "Slow train" by Flanders and Swann, a lament to the closure of the railways under Dr Beeching.
Interesting observation. Not a single car parked in Park Lane! The car is a Morris Oxford Traveller http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Oxford.
It should also be noted that the daughter of Newson Garrett a weathly local business( & himself grandson of Richard Garrett of Leiston) after much resistance became the first female doctor in the UK. Dr Elizabeth Garrett Anderson founded the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital in London, and the new wing at Ipswich Hospital is named after her. She also become the first female mayor in the UK

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Railway
• Saxmundham
• Aldeburgh
• Archive
• flanders
• swann
• slow
• train

[Inkyminkyzizwoz]

I believe there is still a branch line near Saxmundham that's still open for freight - it wouldn't be part of this line, by any chance?

[bridgelangley]

I beleive the line to sizewell power station is still open.

[gusgorilla76]

Wow! That was emotional. I know this area well as my grandparents were both from Saxmundham area. I just about remember seeing passenger trains moving along this line, when Sizewell power station was being built. Aldeburgh was one of our summer holiday haunts (sadly not on the train, but in Grandad's dove-grey Morris 1100, reg. no. KEV 885C).

[bridgelangley]

Glad you enjoyed it! I trust you've had a look at the lifeboat carnival one's as well for a nostalic look back at Aldeburgh. sadly i don't hink i have any cine of Sax though

[xxxChrist]

That was fabulous, so sad these lines have gone but we're so lucky that the technology was available to record them, and that now we are able to see them via YouTube.

[bridgelangley]

Glad you enjoyed it

[plqx2]

I believe that it was planned for closure in one of the Beeching reports. There were a lot of line closures that he recommended that never actually happened. Plus of course a fair few lines that he closed were later reopened by private enthusiasts as tourist railways.

[JimTLonW6]

Very enjoyable video; am I correct that this line actually merited two units? If so, I'm amazed!

I wonder if Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears ever used this line?

[GeorgeBrooks09]

I can see my house at 1:24! 

[dkbmaestrorules]

@cleckheatoncentral Well don't give up hope just yet. I don't know if you've heard that the Long Shop Museum in Leiston (the former Garret works) have just restored a funny little loco called Sirapite that used to work there. Anyway, they have plans to rebuild the 'tramway' through Leiston to the old station, and there has even been talk of running on a bit of the branch from time to time - since there's only about one train a week it shouldn't be difficult fitting it in...

[Inkyminkyzizwoz]

@kernowfem Believe it or not, Beeching actually refused to close Manea Station in Cambridgeshire because of 'the acute social hardship it would cause' - yet today it only has two trains a day in each direction, so it probably wouldn't be missed much if it WAS closed!

[APublicDomain]

0.35... Chorlton cum Hardy, my home town, The new tram line opens this April, along the same line they closed all those years ago at a cost of untold millions. Short sighted bureaucrats and money grubbers, swinging the axe and catching the cash.

Great video and song, ta very much,

[Inkyminkyzizwoz]

I just found out last night that the only person who can authorise closure of a line is the Secretary of State for Transport, so techincally it's incorrect to say that Beeching closed all these lines! He would've only recommended the closures as Chairman of the British Railways Board.

[Inkyminkyzizwoz]

@plqx2 Do people perhaps lay a bit too much blame on Beeching? After all, the Minister of Transport who employed him just happened to own a road building company (something which wouldn't be allowed these days!), so maybe that had something to do with the approach being so heavy handed?

[TrevsMum]

Wonderful - thank you - but oh! how sad :(

[Fidodog08]

What I nice bit of video/cine married up well to a sound track!

[Inkyminkyzizwoz]

@kernowfem I've just finished writing a story about reopening the Woodhead and Matlock-Buxton routes! I came to realise that in many ways they're quite similar to each other, so I thought I'd write about them!

[cleckheatoncentral]

Yes, the branch is still there, it goes through Leiston and terminates near Sizewell. I once thought would it by great if the line got restored as a heritage attraction. Sadly Aldeburgh station is history and I'm not a multi-millionare!!!