Lancaster Green Ayre

[DavidChandler]

It’s now over 51 years since Beeching closed Lancaster Green Ayre and today there is very little trace of it.

Here’s a short film about one feature which incredibly, has survived:

 

[Taunton]

Must be just 46 years ago today that I made my one visit to the site in 1971. It was November 5, coincidentally, when visiting friends who were at Lancaster University. They suggested going into town to a bonfire, which when we got there I identified as being in the yard of a former steam loco depot. Tracks were removed but buildings seemed intact. Lancaster shed was not an LNW one on the main line, but a former Midland one down at Green Ayre. The main line depot for the area was Carnforth.

 

[randyrippley]

That would have been "New Planet City" - a kids arts / playgroup run in the old loco shed by student volunteers from the University's "Community Action Group". Kept a lot of feral kids off the street, all lost when Sainsburys bought the site and built a supermarket there instead

 

[70014IronDuke]

Apologies for sounding critical - but I'm not sure what this film is for, exactly. It kind of left me thinking: is that it?

I mean, I suspect a 59-minute feature on Green Ayre would be rather too long for most folks - but making a film about a numbered bridge seems a bit, er, lacking. Wouldn't it be worth a few more minutes describing where the line went, the kind of folks who used it, with a map and maybe some old clips, that, some stills? As I say, hardly a full-feature, but 4-5-6 minutes?

 

[Taunton]

That would have been "New Planet City" - a kids arts / playgroup run in the old loco shed by student volunteers from the University's "Community Action Group".

That would fit in with my former schoolmate, who had become the editor of a radical semi-recognised university newspaper there called John O'Gauntlet, named not after Britannia 70012 (which I informed him about, to blank looks, and none of them knew of the loco shed background either) but a former town notable. He said he was "Running the Gauntlet". Likely a City banker nowadays. The paper probably disappeared long ago http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/unihistory/life/gauntlet.html

 

[Ash Bridge]

Apologies for sounding critical - but I'm not sure what this film is for, exactly. It kind of left me thinking: is that it?

I mean, I suspect a 59-minute feature on Green Ayre would be rather too long for most folks - but making a film about a numbered bridge seems a bit, er, lacking. Wouldn't it be worth a few more minutes describing where the line went, the kind of folks who used it, with a map and maybe some old clips, that, some stills? As I say, hardly a full-feature, but 4-5-6 minutes?

TBH IronDuke, the OP has in the past made some very interesting films about Lancaster Green Ayre and the former lines related to it, so I'm presuming that this short clip is perhaps just intended as a taster for those who haven't viewed and may be interested in viewing the previous and more informative full length program.

 

[delt1c]

correct me if I am wrong but didnt i see smoke deflectors on the bridge which is a bigger clue to its former use.

 

[randyrippley]

correct me if I am wrong but didnt i see smoke deflectors on the bridge which is a bigger clue to its former use.

yes, the deflectors are still there - I believe they are protected as part of the Skerton Bridge listing. First flat-top arched bridge in the UK

 

[randyrippley]

That would fit in with my former schoolmate, who had become the editor of a radical semi-recognised university newspaper there called John O'Gauntlet, named not after Britannia 70012 (which I informed him about, to blank looks, and none of them knew of the loco shed background either) but a former town notable. He said he was "Running the Gauntlet". Likely a City banker nowadays. The paper probably disappeared long ago http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/unihistory/life/gauntlet.html

FWIW, the name of the locomotive is preserved by a spoof "John O'Guant" (sic) nameplate in the "Ye Olde John of Gaunt" pub in the town centre. An old pub landlord used to like taking the p*** out of his customers, most thought it was real. Theres a fake numberplate 70012 in there as well.

 

[DavidChandler]

Apologies for sounding critical - but I'm not sure what this film is for, exactly. It kind of left me thinking: is that it?

I mean, I suspect a 59-minute feature on Green Ayre would be rather too long for most folks - but making a film about a numbered bridge seems a bit, er, lacking. Wouldn't it be worth a few more minutes describing where the line went, the kind of folks who used it, with a map and maybe some old clips, that, some stills? As I say, hardly a full-feature, but 4-5-6 minutes?

LuneTube is a channel which makes short films about heritage in North Lancashire and is designed to introduce the viewer to subjects they may not be aware of, in the place where they live.
I appreciate you’d probably enjoy a longer film, but that’s not what LuneTube is about, but I thought this would still be of interest.
If you visit the website and see some of the other films, it might make a bit more sense: www.lunetube.co.uk
That said, there will be other short films about Green Ayre in the future, I’m sure!