RARE Alley to a railway foot crossing in London!

This is a foot crossing on the Angerstein Wharf line in the London borough of Greenwich. It's considered rare because there are hardly any foot crossings in London. The crossing is accessible through an alley between the houses on Fairthorn Road. Angerstein Wharf is located on the south bank of the River Thames and is connected to the North Kent Main Line by this branch line. It is used to haul aggregate from the Aggregate Industries site to various freight yards in and around London.

EDIT: I made a mistake in the subtitles @1:14. It should have read "Built by John Julius Angerstein in the 1850s". The branch line opened in 1852.

#footcrossing #angerstein #charlton

[frogstamper]

I'm in my fifties now and these little alleyways were everywhere near rail-lines when I was a kid in the 70's, nowadays they really are quite rare.

[priestland]

Something so simple as an alleyway but built so beautifully, bricklaying at its best.

[marknestbox]

Found this randomly and thought 'WHAT, nearly 8 minutes of filming featuring an alley - and its got 400, 000 views? Is any nudity involved??!!' Was going to pass it by until I scanned the comments - and glad I did. Surprisingly, a brilliant video. Thank you.

[moominmay]

There was such a quiet beauty about how you shot your video. Don’t know why it was in my recommended’s but glad it was!

[disgruntledoflondon]

Wow, this is a blast from the past for me. I used to take this shortcut to get to Asda each Saturday with my Dad (we lived on Foyle Road1986 -1999). Thanks for sharing.

[Bob_Burton]

That brought back memories. I used to live close to the A102 side of the crossing before the road was built and the crossing was a short cut to the fish and chip shop in Woolwich Road.

Up some steps, across the crossing, down the steps, through the alleyway, turn left down to Woolwich Road, turn right and the fish and chip stop was just along on the right.

[beetooex]

I never used to get these kind of videos in my YouTube recommendations. Geoff and Vicki have got a lot to answer for...

[rsparker]

A video of absolutely nothing and I LOVED IT!!! Quite relaxing in a funny sort of way.

[culcune]

It is absolutely amazing how a little opening leads to so much! Love this video! Years ago, my two cousins and I went exploring over the rail lines on a footbridge in Faversham, Kent. It felt like we were doing something illegal, but in fact, it was a public footbridge over all the rail lines. This little alleyway almost makes it feel like we, the viewers, are doing something illegal by trespassing when in fact, it is a public right-of-way, as well!

[stiletto]

An architectural gem. I doubt if such a thing would be even planned these days let alone built so beautifully. Thanks for sharing.

[Gruntled]

Glad there were no dementors in the alleyway. It’s kind of hard to conjure up patronus when filming a video..

[dennisjeffs]

What a brilliant video, unless you live in this area you would never know about this pathway to Westcombe Park Station. As a retired Southeastern driver I was stopped a few times over the years for the freight to Angersteins Wharf to cross over at the Junction, but of course with the track non-electrified never went there myself, very interesting, thanks for the upload.

[TheRivetts]

Yay the ally from Westcombe to Charlton, we used to tell the kids it was a magic ally when they were small, we use it all the time to go to the shops :) thank you for sharing a little piece of our hometown.

[catcook]

When my husband was a kid he had a freight train pass close to the end of his back yard. He used to wave at the engineers and they used to throw huge thick pieces of chalk to him. They used it for marking train numbers on the yard chalk board. He loved it.

[Redoralive]

Guy walks like a 90's computer game character.

[Hertog_von_Berkshire]

What a gem of a location. Many thanks for the video.

[RODALCO]

Awesome alleyway. Great piece of history still in service. Thanks for sharing.

[catlover]

Outstanding video - Amazing how you timed your arrival at the line in time to photograph the train. I wouldn't feel safe walking that path after dark. You kept your camera very steady to produce a smooth video so very well done.

[malcolmabram]

I suppose I am a sad person, but little alleys and railways and foot bridges adds colour to life. Thanks for posting. Oscar on the way.

[brianartillery]

Fascinating. Thousands of people must walk by there every day, without a clue as to what lies down that path. Thanks for sharing!