Secrets of The Motorway - M6 Part 3 - Warrington - Lancaster

#infrastructure #road #m6 #cars #driving

Find us on:
Twitter - @JonShenanigans
Facebook - Auto Shenanigans

Right, we've done Scotland, let's get back to the longest Motorway in England.. the M6. It's part 3 of this massive motorway and we'll be, as usual, looking at all kinds of awesome stuff, like roads that don't exist, service station restaurants and Heinz baked beans. We'll also cover the Preston bypass.. the Uk's first motorway, this and so much more... what an episode!

In this series I aim to explore what our motorway network is hiding. As we drive along at 70mph..ish...we simply just wouldn't be aware of what we're missing. This series will uncover some of the hidden secrets our motorways have to offer.

**Special Thanks**

[Jernim]

I think the British Leyland era would definitely benefit from the Auto Shenanigans treatment. 👍

[PhilipStorry]

I'd just like to note that we should all be thankful that those old 1950s tapes of the original Secrets Of The Motorway series weren't wiped, like so many other things were. Imagine if we lost such a resource! The horror! Great to see the archive footage being used to good effect here.

[dilwyn]

@John ... Defo make a film about the British motor industry. With your ability to research in depth, i'm sure it would be more than interesting 😁

[georgebirchall]

The building at Haydock was a GPO repeater station. I worked there briefly in the mid 60's. Its purpose was to provide a boost to the analogue signals on trunk lines to/from Liverpool. Became redundant when the network went digital, hence the repurpose mentioned above and eventual abandonment. Working there, it was curious to eat lunch in the grounds, watching the motorway traffic apparently driving on the roof (simple pleasures!)

[adamclark]

Conway Twitty was genius, i properly laughed out loud! I love these little nods to other things.

[ianhutchinson]

As an old Leyland lad thanks for the shout out for my home town. As a kid in the 60s/70s there were parts of the motor works within the town itself and the present-day motor museum occupies one of these buildings. I remember bus and lorry chassis being driven from one part of the work to the other with just a bloke on a strapped down stacking chair by the bare steering wheel bereft of any other bodywork. 'Leyland Testers' we called them, and yes please to a BL video.

[jhdore]

That Juliet Bravo theme is an absolute banger.

[EuropaSman]

A nice nod at the end, what with Juliet Bravo being set in the fictional Lancashire town of Hartley. Good job, Jon👍

[TheWorldofGood]

How wonderful to hear the Juliet Bravo theme, it is a brilliant piece of music & I absolutely loved the first three series of the programme when Stephanie Turner was the Inspector. Those three series from 1980 to 83 show long long gone world.

[rileyuktv]

Love the authentic flashback to show how Motorway Spotter clothing style has evolved since 1958 ❤

[SharpblueCreative]

Juliet Bravo theme at the end was a surprise. Another great funny & entertaining video.

[starlight]

Yes, yes yes!!!! 🎉
I see you there on Fowler Lane, Farington (Leyland) Jon, doing your piece to camera 😁
You're right, Leyland Trucks does need a video all of its own but did you see Centurion Business Park whilst you were there? (Behind Paccar). The style of architecture in that business park is great. From the 60s right up to a modern Amazon warehouse.
Always love seeing the tower at Forton too.
Fwicked episode!! 👍🏻😁

[colinsmith]

As an ex truck driver I found these videos really interesting as I saw many of these features on the road but didn't really know what a lot of them really were, the internet was just a dream back then so finding information on places was a lot slower to get to, Jon's films and his personality really make them a joy to watch, keep up the good work.

[jeremywilliams]

For your next video on the M6 I'm sure you'll visit Lancaster University which borders the motorway.
The fun fact was the existence of a zebra crossing across the motorway at the northern end of the campus. It was the only one on the whole world motorway network at the time. Painted by the students, obviously, during the night of what was "Rag Week", it caused major police worries, not to say a quasi-nuclear level of irritation, as to how this was done without anybody being killed (speed was of the essence) and how to remove it afterwards.
The responsible persons were offered jobs running the Highways Maintenance Department, or so I've heard...

[davidpreston]

Gathurst Viaduct was the answer to one of the original Trivial Pursuit questions. Something like 'Which motorway bridge crosses all those other forms of transport?". Fun bonus fact - the River Douglas used to be navigable by small vessels at least as far upstream as Gathurst.

[thebazgaz]

My dad was born in Herbert Street, Leyland at his Aunts house, and 4 of her sisters lived with their families in the same road! My dad lives less than 100m away still, and worked at Leyland Motors for many years until he was, like literally half the town, made redundant when it eventually failed. As a town we have the commercial vehicle museum, and a festival parade in June, where a lot of old Leyland made vehicles (amongst other things) are brought out -including the Pope-mobile made for the Popes visit to the UK in the early 80's.
I believe the Leyland brand is still going in India too!
Id love to see a series on old British motor engineering companies, that would be wicked, sweet, awesome.

[colin.d]

Shame the Pennine Tower at Forton services couldn't be re-purposed, it is such a landmark and unique feature of the MW network.

[peterhurst]

In the 90's the abandoned building was a BT depot where the field data services teams were based for quick access to the network. Before that, not too sure but would expect it's Government related.

[christophermeiners]

You would do a phenomenal job of telling the history of all of the British auto makers. Though it would be much less unique than your Secrets of the Motorway series 😅

[SteveAndAlexBuild]

Love the original motorway signs on scaffold tube frames 😆🧱👍🏼