 Hello, thank you for joining me. Today I'm out for a walk in the beautiful Bulkally Hill Woods in Cheshire These is a woodland owned by the National Trust. I'm down the bottom of the woodland. There's a very steep escarpment goes off up there, which we're going to go and have a look at in a minute. The main purpose of today's video is to explore an old railway line. Now this railway, it's a narrow gauge railway and the tracks still exist Which makes it even more exciting. It's not very long railway It was built as part of the pumping station nearby for a Surgery reservoir to bring components up and down the hill. Now just behind me here We have five steam engine boilers. Now these boilers Were from textile mills in Manchester and they were bought here not to be used as steam engine boilers But for use as fuel tanks to power the pumping station Got five of them there. It's really nice. You know, they're obviously not in use now, but they're still here for everyone to see so Just behind the trees there is the pumping station, but it's what's along here That's exciting this railway line. We're gonna go and have a look at so as I said It was built as part of the reservoir to Bring components up and down the hill. The hill is hard to convey from here but in a moment you'll see exactly what I'm talking about it is a very steep hill and It feels like, you know, you really are going up That's a quite a gradient. I'd say probably at least one in one. So we'll find out in a moment But as we come along here along this really nice, you know breezy path You sort of wouldn't think that we could be about to tackle such a steep incline So as we come along here the pumping station is now literally just behind those trees and In a moment's time. I'll be able to show you What's left of this little railway that the main purpose of today's videos about so if you just look up to here You can see is a fence Coming up now as a gap in the fence. That's where the railway ran So obviously the fence is a lot newer in the railway, but we're going to go through that gap and We're going to have a look at the beginning of the track. So we just get to here There you go There's rails there and if you turn round You can see the railway line stretching up the hill, but let's go in here first Have a look at the lower part. So the fixer track missing, but I'm actually standing on the rails now It's not so obvious here because we've got all these trees which are growing through it There we go, there's our first decent view of some railway track Already this is quite a gradient and all a steam locom probably wouldn't climb up this Probably could but it has to work hard. But You see now which you can already see is on a slope is nothing compared to What this railway will encounter so it goes then it just ends just over there You may just be able to see Or may not be able to see The pumping station is just behind literally just behind there So what we're going to do now, we're going to now follow the really steep part of the railway I think it's probably a two foot gauge. Well, look at you if I put both my feet down I'd say that's about two foot So um, yeah, let's set the ascent begin I assume I don't actually know What the trains would look like but I Assume there have been a couple of wagons pulled up and down by a winch But from what we'll see further up it looks like they could possibly have more than one training operation Any one time so crossing the path we just came along Here the ascent now gets deeper, but this is still nothing This is nothing for what it's going to become But I wanted to show you some interesting little bits here as we get to here you can see There's a piece of concrete there and just above The concrete now the track is very obvious Just a set of points So what I want to know is Interestingly all the points face off the track as if you're coming down. There's no points going off on that side So there's no What I could see has been a passing loop So whether if a train was coming down Because they put some wagons into here to let another one Go up. I don't know Admittedly this video hadn't been planned. I was out today Discovered the railway and thought let's make a video. But here we are. Here's a set of points Clearly you can see the track So we're just going to walk up here a little bit I won't film going the whole way up because It is also the main way people walk up and down this very steep hill So might I think we'll soon have quite a few people coming towards us. Let's just get to the next set of points so There would have been another set of track here somewhere so ever again This was to allow Another train to pass I'm not entirely sure You can quite clearly see the points and the track going up So I've just come a little bit further up now It may look on camera that what I'm sitting at Is level if it looks like the trees above the points are leaning like that Then not the trees are straight. It's the tracks at steep and beyond here The gradient takes an even steeper Sharper turn. So this is the final set of those three sets of points. The other one is Just down there just about where those people are But this one you can see the track runs out just after the set of points Have a closer look there's also There's a lever here. I don't think it's a pointy. It might be actually sort of look. So we've got this doesn't move I think That is possibly the lever for pulling the points So at the moment the rails have kind of come so they're not set for any route But these rails in the middle would have moved to allow trains when they were descending the incline either to go straight on Or go into what I think is probably a siding but I might be wrong So if you know you want to comment tell me please do but now just look at it. It's just like It's just like stressing up. I'd say now It's one in one. It is incredibly steep. So I'm going to walk Come on walking. I've got to get to the top I'm not going to film all the way up because um, you know, it's going to get quite Sort of the same But um, yeah, here we go my ascent and Hard climbing really begins now Oh get a bit puffed out here. I just want to stop here So you can really see I'm holding my camera level You can see just how steep This little two foot gage track is It stretches up. I don't even think I'm halfway I was looking back down interestingly It looks like up there. It's going to get Even steeper, but I'm hoping it's going to be worth it. Can you see how the gradient changes to go up? An even steeper incline. So I'm going to carry on climbing and um, make my way to the top of this, um Rather intriguing narrow gauge railway line I think I'm just passed about halfway up I've just stopped for a rest on a fallen tree. I'm not normally one who stops for rests when I'm walking I like to you know, be on the move, but this Is just so steep. It's got even steeper as I said a moment ago It was going to get steeper now because it I think this has got me one of the steepest railways I've ever seen whether I've been on any funicular steeper than this, but this it is steep And this tree's fallen down um, and you can see how they've had to kind of cut Cut through it in order to maintain the way I think it is just as hard To um come up this as it is to come Down I've passed a few people who are really struggling We're getting down here. So, you know, it is steep. I know now you can't see much you can just see the trees above me I'm just stepping off the track to this one. I'll get past now. I'm going to give you a view up Up the track. Look at that. Yeah, I'm quite near the top now but this is um steep very very steep I'll see you at the top Well, I've almost made it Look at that looking down I don't know how much we've come up. We must have come up More than a hundred feet pretty more than two or three hundred feet But I'm finally at the top The track just ends Almost a bit disappointingly Like it should carry on and level out Here we are It ends here I made it to the very last steeper and just see This must have been what the winch was attached to and then Looking back down there That's where we've Come up. You can see the gradient change here I'm gonna Just get the track doesn't go to last a little bit. I've just got to get up these rocks So we're on level ground and I can finish the video So if you come up here Oh, here we are Nice level This is the woodland at the top So this is what they built the railway for pretty quite puffed out now to bring stuff up and down to this woodland So I hope you enjoyed this video I'm gonna go and have a drink I think Thanks very much for watching. Goodbye