Fantasy station/line/route re-openings and other projects

[MidlandMainlie]

Reopen from Matlock to Buxton and electrify from Ambergate junction all the way to Manchester concurrently with electrification of the MML. Split Liverpool-Norwich at Nottingham with Liverpool-Nottingham run as an EMU via the peak district and Nottingham-Norwich run with existing 156's. Introduce a new electric St Pancras to Manchester service calling at Leicester, EMP, Derby and Matlock

 

[HSTEd]

Reopen from Matlock to Buxton and electrify from Ambergate junction all the way to Manchester concurrently with electrification of the MML. Split Liverpool-Norwich at Nottingham with Liverpool-Nottingham run as an EMU via the peak district and Nottingham-Norwich run with existing 156's. Introduce a new electric St Pancras to Manchester service calling at Leicester, EMP, Derby and Matlock

Liverpool-Norwich is untouchable I am afraid (and runs with 158s, not 156s), and for a similar outlay to the electrification project you jut proposed you can just electrify the electrification of Nottingham to Grantham and Peterborough to Norwich via Ely, thus giving you an all electric route.

 

[JohnCarlson]

Okay a biggie from me.

Basically the plan is, as the T&W Metro cars become life expired, integrate the system back into Network Rail.

Order new 4 coach dual voltage units, for both standard 25kv AC and the metro's 1500v DC.

The shared tracks with Netwrok rail are re-wired where necessary to 25kv in order to create an electrified route from Newcastle - Stockton - Yarm - Northallertton, with a stub to Middlesbrough. Plus electrification to Hexham.

The Metro is extended from South Hylton to Washington, and also from Washington up the Leamiside line in order to create a southern loop.

The Metro, now merely an electrified suburban service, is also extended onto the freight lines of south Northumberland, to Blyth and Ashington.

Ideally the frequency along the core current Metro line of Pelaw - South Gosforth could also be increased.

Therefore the Tyneside/North east electric services would be:

Middlesbrough - Newcastle Central - Newcastle Airport
alternating with
Middlesbrough - Newcastle - Blyth - Ashington

South Shields - Newcastle - Coast - St James (as present)
alternating with
South Shields - Newcastle - Airport

Ashington - Bylth - Newcastle - Sunderland - Washington - Newcastle - Blyth - Ashington
alternating with
Ashington - Blyth - Newcastle - Middlesbrough

Hexham - Metro Centre- Newcastle - Walker - Coast - direct to Airport (creating running lines through South Gosforth depot)


The current Metro Centre - Morpeth would be started back from Hexham and all electric

The Middlesbrough to Hexham services would be all electric, save for those extending to Carlisle.


Big plans, but you never know...

Hi There

I would make the following points.

Yes to duel voltage metro stock.

Yes to electrifying the Blyth and Tyne to Ashington and maybe even putting back the line into Blyth. However running along the Metro tracks via South Gosforth might make the service uncompetitive time wise. If you are traveling to say The Monument. I would extend it Via Team valley and Birtley up a rebuilt line to Consett. This would deliver big time savings for cross Tyne travelers.

Bring the Leamside line back and move much of the freight off the ECML to make some space for stopping passenger services at new stations around the Durham area.

Once Metro services from Sunderland and Washington reached Pelaw they would stay on the network rail lines. There would be new platforms at Pelaw to interchange onto South Shields bound services. Then Sunderland Washington metros would not stop at Heworth Felling and Gateshead Stadium and rejoin the Metro at a new junction immediately west of Gateshead Stadium.

And of course the Sunderland _South Shields link being built which might also lead to Grand Central Services terminating at South Shields.

I might also have The old Blyth and Tyne line between Percy main and Northumberlad Park being served by Metro services.

 

[MidlandMainlie]

Liverpool-Norwich is untouchable I am afraid (and runs with 158s, not 156s), and for a similar outlay to the electrification project you jut proposed you can just electrify the electrification of Nottingham to Grantham and Peterborough to Norwich via Ely, thus giving you an all electric route.

Sorry I meant 158's I suppose you could electrify the whole route and run it as a 4 car EMU Liverpool-Nottingham and 2 car EMU beyond Nottingham (an AC version of the 456 but 100mph capable and with 2+2 seating).

 

[HSTEd]

Sorry I meant 158's I suppose you could electrify the whole route and run it as a 4 car EMU Liverpool-Nottingham and 2 car EMU beyond Nottingham (an AC version of the 456).

I am not convinced that seperating the units is worth it.

It might be better just to run some sort of AC Class 444 all the way through.

It eliminates the need for messing around detaching units and reattaching them at Nottingham (which can take so long that the train could be half way to Grantham before it leaves Nottingham Eastbound).

A 2-car 158 uses something like 60p/km in fuel alone, so a 5-car 444 is might be better off in operational terms, even accounting for the increase in track acces charges. EDIT: Class 444 ends up marginally worse at 30p/km more... but has 299 2nd and 35 1st class seats.... which thrashes the Class 158s paltry seating of 98 easily.

 

[Class172]

For some local to me.

Apart from ones already on the cards (ie South Staffs Line), I propose reopening (fantasy of course):

Longbridge - Old Hill via Halesowen:
Not sure how the bit by Longbridge could be sorted now the new development has been built. But anyway a service of 2tph operated with Class 172s should suffice.

Stourbridge - Wolverhampton via Dudley:
Reopen the old OWWR with a connection to the Birmingham WCML as some of the route is built on now. Service of 2tph operated by a class 172/2.

Now for a complete fantasy...

A mixture of reopening old lines and some completely new ones. A line between Ledbury, Droitwich Spa and Stratford upon Avon (click on the link to see the route). The line includes some lovely areas of scenery as well as having the benefits of giving Ludlow better transport eastwards and to Birmingham, as well as connections between Shropshire/Worcestershire/Warwickshire. Proposed is a 1tp2h service between Ledbury and Stratford and also a 1tp2h service Droitwich to Stratford. Services would be operated a) using current stock a class 172 or 150; b) perhaps more suitably a class 153 or class 142/143; or c) what I want, a 1st gen DMU (ie class 101 etc).

Perhaps I have found the ideal service for a pacer!

 

[mister-sparky]

how many more threads like this are needed, really...

 

[Class172]

Well if the old ones were never locked… :roll:

In all honesty though, if you don't like these threads, don't bother viewing them surely?

 

[The Ham]

Reinstate the proposal for Blackwater Valley light rail.
- reopen the chord south of Frimley to the SWML (westwards)
- redouble Ash Vale - Camberley
- new light rail halts opened at approximately one mile intervals.

As well as the above I would suggest that a new chord is built to allow trains to run from Frimley to the SWML by first going under the SWML and then joining it, as otherwise you are never going to have the gaps in the main line traffic to get across on the flat.

However I would suggest that once on the SWML the gap between stations needs to be more than 1 mile as again you'll proberbly find that there wouldn't be gaps between the existing main line services, espicially if you are looking to run the light rail services more frequently than every 20 minutes.

I also think that light rail wouldn't be very helpful, much better to keep it as heavy rail and connect it to more places. For instance it would make a lot of sense to run Ascot to Salisbury (with electrification of between Basingstoke and Salisbury) as it would provide much better interconectivity between towns in north Hampshire as well as increasing the frequency of trains along those lines as well as providing options to reopen staion (Oakley) or open new stations.

The slight down side is that the new service from Salisbury wouldn't connect directly to London, but then it could free up seats on the existing services and it could make some of the existing services faster (as those services which terminate at Salisbury would be able to be run as EMU's).

Route 1 Ascot to Aldershot:
Ascot
Bagshot
Bagshot West
Camberley Heatherside
Camberley
Frimley Road
Watchetts Park
Frimley
Frimley Green (0.4M walk to Farnborough North for interchange with North Downs Line)
Mytchett
Ash Vale
North Town
Aldershot

Route 2 Ascot to Fleet
As for Ascot to Frimley Green, then
Farnborough Main
Cove
Fleet

One slight change, (although it depends one where Cove would be sited) I would suggest that one a little further along nearer Southwood could be of more use, possibly uterlising the existing underpass as the way passengers cross the tracks. For one thing it would save Nokia a fortune in running buses to Farnborough Main.

The other thing that I would do would be to split the Ascot to Guildford service at Aldershot and extend the services towards Alton some more (having built a bridge over the railway next to Farnham staion by mostly lowing the tracks) so the services run Ascot to Alton and Guildford (or possibly even to Godilming) to Farnham. That would proberbly also require the redoubling of the Alton line.

And, as a previous poster has mentioned, it would be nice if the Ascot - Aldershot and North Down Lines joined up!

Nice, yes. Do-able, not very cheaply! Bring benefits, not that many (espicially as longer distance travelers can get between then fairly easily).

 

[Helvellyn]

Okay, so as we're in total fantasy land here I'm going to look at various changes to the SWT network area: -

Fareham-Gosport
Rebuild the rail bridge over the road at the Portchester end of the station to allow the line to Gosport to reopen, with Fareham station signalled bi-directionally.

• Divert SWT xx:09 Waterloo-Portsmouth (via Eastleigh) services to Gosport.
• New SWT Gosport-Southampton all stations service to allow the Netley line (Fareham-Southampton) to have an half-hourly all stations service.

Alton-Winchester
Buy out the Mid-Hants line, perhaps with a reopening of the Meon Valley line as a substitute heritage line for the Mid-Hants volunteers (money no object remember!)

• New half-hourly Guildford-Southampton service, serving all stations.
• SWT Waterloo-Alton service remains as is, but extended in the Peaks to Winchester (then ECS moves to/from Northam for maintenance)
• Useful divisionary route gained if Bournemouth Main Line shut via Micheldever.
• Ascot-Guildford services curtailed to Aldershot, with new Southampton-Guildford service serving Aldershot-Guildford.

Chessington North-Leatherhead
Not a reopening, but completing a planned railway that never got finished!

• Waterloo-Chessington services extended to Guildford via Bookham, to give Leatherhead/Bookham a fifteen minute service to/from Guildford.

Shepperton-Addlestone
Another route that never got built as planned.

• Waterloo-Shepperton services extended to Weybridge Bay
• Waterloo-Weybridge via Staines services diverted to Woking via Byfleet Curve (see below for Woking plans)

Virginia Water triangle
Reinstate the missing side of the triangle at Virginia Water.

• New Weybridge Bay to Reading stopping service.
• Speed up Reading to Waterloo services by using the above as a feeder from lower volume stations.

Woking
Build the flyover the Southern Railway never got round to doing to improve service realibility for services to/from Guildford by removing conflicting movements (have split flyover between the Down Slow/Fast and Up/Slow Fast to allow easiest access to all four through platforms without having to cross another track).

• Close Woking Bay, and have a turnback line between Up/Down lines after the flyover towards Guildford to allow trains to terminate in platform 5, run ECS to turnback, then come back to start in service from platform 1.
  • Waterloo-Woking stoppers use this new facility
  • Diverted Waterloo-Weybridge (via Staines) services use this facility

Basingstoke flyover
Improve ability for services to get on/off Reading line by having a flyover to ease congestion at Great Western Junction.

• Reading-Basingstoke services transferred to SWT, and extended: -
  • Hourly Reading-Portsmouth via Eastleigh (replaces SWT Waterloo-Portsmouth via Eastleigh beyond Fareham, as that service diverted to Gosport)
  • Hourly Reading-Salisbury all stations, to provide Overton, Whitchurch and Grateley with half-hourly service to Basingstoke/Salisbury; also reopen station at Oakley

Eastleigh flyover
To reduce congestion at Eastleigh by allowing trains from Fareham direction to cross to Up lines without using flat crossings.

St Denys flyover
To reduce congestion at St Denys by allowing trains to cross from Southampton direction to Netley line without using flat crossings.

West of England re-doubling
No brainer in my head to really take this route to a new level, with speeded up services and better capacity. Also allows FGW to make better use of the route for diversions.

• SWT Salisbury '6' (Salisbury-Southampton-Romsey) changed to a Gillingham-Romsey-Southampton service, serving Tisbury (which would lose SWT Waterloo services except in the peak).
  • New Fawley-Southampton-Romsey service to replace the missing part of the Salisbury '6' service.
• Exeter-Axminster "local" finally introduced, perhaps as a half-hourly service to allow SWT Waterloo services to skip Whimple, Pinhoe and Cranbrook (when it opens) with passengers able to change at Axminster for through services to/from the East from those stations. Possibly served by FGW (or successor) as SWT have no Traincrew depot at Exeter, so inefficient to have crews come all way from Salisbury.

 

[Eagle]

[*]SWT Salisbury '6' (Salisbury-Southampton-Romsey) changed to a Gillingham-Romsey-Southampton service, serving Tisbury (which would lose SWT Waterloo services except in the peak).
[/LIST]

Not a brilliant idea to do that. It's the main station for a large area of north Dorset and south Wiltshire*, and could really do with both your proposed service and the current London one (although that would only really work if it was fully redoubled, which in this instance would require a CPO on the car dealership who owns the former site of platform 2).

*which is at least partially due to the ease of parking nearby

 

[bewildered]

I'd love tram train to become a reality in Leeds. If I could choose anything I'd have a loop line going around Morley. The line would run from city square and go down the side of Princes Square. A flyover the main lines onto the old Holbeck viaduct would take the line round to join the east coast mainline and run along side it with a stop at Elland Road and a park and ride scheme. The line would continue on past the back of Sulzer and Millshaw court and then cross Dewsbury road just before Middleton old course to form a station at the White Rose with another park and ride location.

From here the line can cross the fields and run down the side of the Hudds line into Morley station along Valley Road (with a possible link back onto the Hudds line to send local traffic back along towards Hudds). The line would then road run along station road, queen street, high street, Britannia road, bruntcliffe road. Just after bruntcliffe crossroads near the angel run across the fields into Birstall retail park with another park and ride by the Showcase.

I'd then reopen the Gildersome tunnel (albeit a lot of work needed under the M62) and run the line back into Leeds using the old embankment along Geldard Road. A new station at Cottingley new village and a link back onto the Hudds line headinging into Leeds. The route could then eithrbhradnstraight into the station and off along princes square or a new flyover onto the old central viaduct with a station along Whitehall road (the proposed new west end of Leeds). The route can then drop down onto Wellington street into city square.


Also if its complete fantasy a nice branch into Gildersome Green
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I'd love tram train to become a reality in Leeds. If I could choose anything I'd have a loop line going around Morley. The line would run from city square and go down the side of Princes Square. A flyover the main lines onto the old Holbeck viaduct would take the line round to join the east coast mainline and run along side it with a stop at Elland Road and a park and ride scheme. The line would continue on past the back of Sulzer and Millshaw court and then cross Dewsbury road just before Middleton old course to form a station at the White Rose with another park and ride location.

From here the line can cross the fields and run down the side of the Hudds line into Morley station along Valley Road (with a possible link back onto the Hudds line to send local traffic back along towards Hudds). The line would then road run along station road, queen street, high street, Britannia road, bruntcliffe road. Just after bruntcliffe crossroads near the angel run across the fields into Birstall retail park with another park and ride by the Showcase.

I'd then reopen the Gildersome tunnel (albeit a lot of work needed under the M62) and run the line back into Leeds using the old embankment along Geldard Road. A new station at Cottingley new village and a link back onto the Hudds line headinging into Leeds. The route could then eithrbhradnstraight into the station and off along princes square or a new flyover onto the old central viaduct with a station along Whitehall road (the proposed new west end of Leeds). The route can then drop down onto Wellington street into city square.


Also if its complete fantasy a nice branch into Gildersome Green

 

[MCW]

I am not convinced that seperating the units is worth it.

It might be better just to run some sort of AC Class 444 all the way through.

It eliminates the need for messing around detaching units and reattaching them at Nottingham (which can take so long that the train could be half way to Grantham before it leaves Nottingham Eastbound).

A 2-car 158 uses something like 60p/km in fuel alone, so a 5-car 444 is might be better off in operational terms, even accounting for the increase in track acces charges. EDIT: Class 444 ends up marginally worse at 30p/km more... but has 299 2nd and 35 1st class seats.... which thrashes the Class 158s paltry seating of 98 easily.

For what its worth, the current survices can often get full and have standing room only during peak hours, so yo electrify the route and get 4 car emus with more seating and standing place is a good idea. Splitting the trains at Nottingham is pretty much on a hiding to nowhere, if services were integrated more after electrification the Liverpool and Norwich trains could.have connects to the midlands when they arrive at Nottingham.

Other thing that I could suggest on top of this is a Leicester to Liverpool service which would work very well, as it is you either have to catch two or three trains to do it currently if you live in Leicester or derby.

 

[CockneySparrow]

1. Reopen Blackpool Central and use that for the vast majority of services as it was much better located then Blackpool North.

2. Reopen Spalding to March to enable more freight between Doncaster and Felixstowe to avoid Peterborough and then use the Joint line, this would enable much more passenger services to run.

3. Open a 4th platform at Newark Northgate for EMT services to allow much better integration with EC services.

4. Open a Parkway station south of the existing Peterborough station which would help reduce the road congestion around the existing station.

5. Wire up Harrogate loop between Leeds and York via Harrogate/Leeds to Preston via Bradford Interchange and Blackburn/Blackpool South to Colne/Windermere branch/Felixstowe to Doncaster via Peterborough and also via March and Spalding/Ipswich to Ely/Cambridge.

There is a prison built in the middle of the line March end so a no go, also houses have been built Spalding end and a bypass

 

[Batman]

Ok here's something really ambitious which involves knocking down industrial units, a small housing estate in Brownhills, a Morrison's supermarket, building new bridge/tunnel structures, and hijacking the Chasewater heritage railway.

By and large it involves bringing part of the Cannock Chase colliery railways back into passenger service.

I envisage the line to be used by LM 172's.

A typical journey from Birmingham New Street would start by running fast on the cross city line to Sutton Coldfield. The new line would leave the cross city line just to the south of the station and call at new platforms built on the site of the current station car park (the old terminus platforms). It would then enter a short tunnel under Tudor Hill and head west on a curve onto the Sutton Park line, before heading west through Sutton Park. New station will be built at Streetly (to the south east of the old station inside Sutton Park) and Aldrdige (the other side of the road bridge from the old station).

At Aldridge the line will head north along the old coalfield railway through the Northgate industrial estate towards Brownhills. There will be a station at Walsall Wood and at Brownhills just to the south of where it crosses the South Staffordshire line. The station is located outside the town centre, but land is available for a park and ride and would be a two level station for connections with Walsall - Lichfield trains.

The line would then head north across the A5 to a station at Brownhills West, before heading in a tunnel under the M6Toll onto the route of the Chasewater heritage railway. It will need to be reduced to single track at this point and head around the northern shore of chasewater to a Burntwood Parkway station next to the Burntwood by-pass, before continuing for a short distance to it's terminus point at Burntwood Town station on the site of the current Morrison's supermarket next to the Sankey's Corner shopping precinct.

I anticipate an half hourly Monday-Saturday daytime service with an hourly service evenings and Sundays. 2 or 3 car 172's should be sufficient in the off peak with 4 car trains being necessary on high peak services.

 

[LE Greys]

In my patch (Aberdeen area) I propose the folllowing simple options.

1. Investigate the possibility of opening a line running from Banchory via Westhill and Kingswells either via Dyce or directly to Aberdeen station. This is a serious development corridor and rail provision would help alleviate pressure on Aberdeen city centre.

2. Reopen the Formartine and Buchan (F & B) line from Dyce as far as Ellon. Park and Ride(P & R) provision at Ellon(serving amongst other places Peterhead and Fraserburgh) and Newmachar (to serve the likes of Oldmeldrum, Turriff, Banff etc) would once again take the strain off the city centre.

Also resite Portlethen station further south with significant P & R facilities. This would probably allow First Scotrail to offer a better service to the town now and would cater for the huge development just starting at Chapeltown of Elsick.

They could also look to see if a cost effective way of doubling the track between Montrose and Usan is feasable. This would surely make electrification a worthwhile proposition.

For the long term the connection to Peterhead could then be looked at. IMO this would all you would need to do up here for the rest of this century!

Connect that to my fantasy plan up there for reinstating the Aberdeen tram network, with tram-trains that run along the old Boddam branch and into Peterhead from the south. This would also cover Cruden Bay and the airport (with a station on the terminal side) then run down Great Northern Road to a new junction with the tramline from the beach and another along King Street. The line would run the entire length of Union Street (as if the traffic problems weren't bad enough already) and then fan out, with the longest branch taking over the Deeside Line. There might need to be considerable diversions, especially around Peterculter, where modern housing has cut the route. However, I've heard that Scotrail reckoned they could have made enough money during the summer to cover services to Ballater in the winter, and I hope that the Royal Deeside Railway would accommodate the entire route re-opening. Also make provision to keep the Grove in a secure siding at Ballater.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
As for down here, the line I'd really like to see reopened is Welwyn-Luton, especially if we could engineer a major bypass to get a lot closer to the airport terminal. Luton-Dunstable is probably impossible, let alone connecting all the way through to Leighton Buzzard (although it would make a much more effective 'Outer Circle' route than some of the other proposals, passing as it does through some quite big suburban towns). Going the other way and linking in to Hertford East might have its advantages, but is less likely to succeed, since there is probably sufficient connectivity accross Hertford to cope with current passenger load.

The Palace Gates Branch is another that might have carried plenty of people had it survived - and lots of Freightliners if linked to the Hertford Loop. That would be completely impossible, it's very difficult to find now that substantial work has blocked it off altogether in several places.

 

[Eagle]

I think for the purposes of this thread I might dust off a proposal I wrote a couple of years back, namely Weymouth to Exeter along the A35 corridor. :P

 

[Morgsie]

• Make Waterloo International a Sleeping service terminus and create a Sleeper Franchise
• Full Implementation of the 2009 ATOC Connecting Communities Report
• Make the Poole and Weymouth services non-stop between Brockenhurst and Southampton Central and make the Ringwood services call at those stops and with the Fawley line, those service call at all stations between Totton and Southampton.
• Reinstatement of the disused viaduct in Branksome, save trains reversing at Branksome station
• Double track the Salisbury to Exeter Line
• Reopen the disused platform Salisbury and have a Sailsbury to Swindon FGW service via Melksham
• Extend HS2 to Scotland: Manchester to Glasgow and Leeds to Edinburgh

 

[Manchester77]

Transfer the Manchester - Glasgow / Edinburgh services back to ICWC operating them with new 6 car baby pendolinios.
Or:
Create a new North West Coast franchise incorporating routes like Manchester - Scotland as well as Manchetser - Blackpool, MCR - Lake District, York - Blackpool, Blackpool - MCR etc

This was TPE won't be so over stretched, and will actually be transpennine routes. Then again you could incorporate TPE and other routes to form an express northern franchise catering for long distance routes.


I doubt this will ever happen since it looks like the Northern and TPE franchises will be merged. I was just thinking my idea would prevent 150s turning up on longer distance routes.

 

[Busterfridge]

1 :Re-open Penrith -Keswick - cockermouth - workington
This would reduce the rotten journey times to west Cumbria when travelling from the south, it would create one of the most scenic railways in England, it would give the tourist industry a hell of a shot in the arm for the area, start and finish the trains in Whitehaven,

2 : electrify the line from oxenholme to windermere (and redouble it) this would make for faster service and take out the silly changes at oxenholme

3: Redouble and electrify the whole of the S & C route this would lift the pressure off the wcml and ecml freight services and also create a 3rd 'proper' north south route with through trains from the east midlands to Glasgow

4: Relay and electrify preston - blackpool
this would increase the speed and traffic flow to blackpool

5: Lower the platform levels on the south side of london
Then introduce double deck trains to cure the commuter problem !! (have messed about with these in Germany, they work brilliantly !!

 

[Eagle]

• Reopen the disused platform Salisbury and have a Sailsbury to Swindon FGW service via Melksham

1 or 5?

(Technically 5 isn't actually closed, it's just never used in passenger service, kind of like the many bays of Stirling. 1 is now for all intents and purposes the reception siding for the depot.)

 

[GazUk]

Hello all

This is what my fantasy proposal would be - Linking up Leicester to london via the old GCR line, which would entail the following :

Use the Existing leicester station, the route would then follow the leicester to Nuneaton line with a new station at either Blaby or whetstone, the line would then leave the Nuneaton- Leicester line northwest of whetstone (Enderby road -B582) then a new spur would be built linking up to the Old GCR line south of whetstone by warwick Rd.

Then the line would follow the old disused GCr trackbed, with a new station at lutterworth (Near to the M1 J21) then onto rugby, with a new Parkway station close to the M6/M1/A14 Interchange North of Rugby, then it would again follow the old GCR route as far North Rugby (Brownsover where it would then enter a double tracked tunnel) going underground it would still follow the GCR route to bypass the Brownsover estate, the industrial estate and the WCML where the old line would of gone through and over.

The line would surface Near to the "Bridge street/sun street" part of rugby and then follow the old GCR Line again, with the reopening of Rugby central,and willoughby & braunston (For daventry), Once again the line would follow the old GCR route, through the catesby tunnel and onwards to a new station at woodford halse.

From woodford halse the line would once again follow the old GCR line towards brackley, a new station would be opened there and then continue the GCR line to where it would meet up with the Chiltern railways line at Aylesbury vale, and then onto london Marylebone

 

[Darren R]

1 :Re-open Penrith -Keswick - cockermouth - workington
This would reduce the rotten journey times to west Cumbria when travelling from the south, it would create one of the most scenic railways in England, it would give the tourist industry a hell of a shot in the arm for the area, start and finish the trains in Whitehaven,

2 : electrify the line from oxenholme to windermere (and redouble it) this would make for faster service and take out the silly changes at oxenholme

3: Redouble and electrify the whole of the S & C route this would lift the pressure off the wcml and ecml freight services and also create a 3rd 'proper' north south route with through trains from the east midlands to Glasgow

4: Relay and electrify preston - blackpool
this would increase the speed and traffic flow to blackpool

5: Lower the platform levels on the south side of london
Then introduce double deck trains to cure the commuter problem !! (have messed about with these in Germany, they work brilliantly !!

Proposal #4 is already happening now.

As for re-opening the CK&P - definitely! This is one that Dr Beeching definitely got wrong. Not only would it be a socially necessary railway, it also serves some fairly sizeable towns en-route, opens up the northern Lakes and provides a very useful WCML - Cumbrian coast link. I should think the Lake District National Park authority (whatever they're called) and all councils would be in favour of it too. Getting to the Lake District by public transport means going to Windermere or nowhere. Result - chaos in Windermere and Ambleside on a sunny day and horrendously busy roads elsewhere because you have to drive to get there.

Let's face it - it's a no-brainer!

 

[Amy Worrall]

You can, but it's rather awkward. You'd have the train from Leicester arriving into platform 6, then proceeding over the flyover and coming to a stop at the first signal past Abbey Junction. The driver then changes ends and the train takes the curve onto the mainline into platform 1, from where it can continue to Coventry.

Would never happen regularly, of course.

I was coming on here to propose that one!

Do you know if the signalling allows for that — is it bi-directional on the bits where the train would need to run both ways?

Failing that, if we're talking fantasy, perhaps a dive-under south of Nuneaton station, so the trains from Leicester can come straight into platform 1, then reverse there for Coventry.

 

[RailProfileUK]

Buxton to Matlock and the branch line from Thonton junction down to Leven where the power station used to be (fife) all the track is still there through Cameron bridge and it would make a great link to Edinburgh for the locals. I'd also like to see the Fife coastal railway opened for the scenery views.

If you search "fife coastal railway" in YouTube you will manage to get a cab ride in a dmu along it in the 1960's

 

[Helvellyn]

As for re-opening the CK&P - definitely! This is one that Dr Beeching definitely got wrong. Not only would it be a socially necessary railway, it also serves some fairly sizeable towns en-route, opens up the northern Lakes and provides a very useful WCML - Cumbrian coast link. I should think the Lake District National Park authority (whatever they're called) and all councils would be in favour of it too. Getting to the Lake District by public transport means going to Windermere or nowhere. Result - chaos in Windermere and Ambleside on a sunny day and horrendously busy roads elsewhere because you have to drive to get there.

Let's face it - it's a no-brainer!

Keswick-Cockermouth-Workington was a Beeching closure, but Penrith-Keswick was very much a BR initiative. Whilst Penrith-Keswick would a possible reopening, Keswick-Cockermouth would be hindered by the fact that the A66 was rebuilt over a lot of the track bed.

 

[Darren R]

Whilst Penrith-Keswick would a possible reopening, Keswick-Cockermouth would be hindered by the fact that the A66 was rebuilt over a lot of the track bed.

oh yes - I'd forgotten about that minor problem! It is a fantasy thread though - we'll just rip up the A66! (That really is fantasy!)

 

[GazUk]

I was coming on here to propose that one!

Do you know if the signalling allows for that — is it bi-directional on the bits where the train would need to run both ways?

Failing that, if we're talking fantasy, perhaps a dive-under south of Nuneaton station, so the trains from Leicester can come straight into platform 1, then reverse there for Coventry.

In theory the trains from leicester could always use the old freight loop (i think it was a freight loop! :/) from hinckley,where the junction used to be by the whitacre road industrial estate, then it would go over the hinckley road and weddington road (where the disused trackbed and bridges still exist) then the only logical way for the track to get from there would be to put in a Dive under curve/tunnel,undernearth the WCML and the line to coleshill and have it surface next to the up line to coleshill like this -

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[The Ham]

In no particular order:
1. Crossrail 2 to free up paths into Waterloo
2. Infrastructure works between Southampton & Waterloo to create more paths (i.e. grade separate junction at Woking)
3. line speed improvements on the SWML up to at least 125mph and re-electrify with OHLE
4. redouble the line to Exeter, electrify and line speed improvements
5. reopen line to Plymouth from Exeter via Oakhampton (double track), electrify and line speed improvements
6. new IC class trains for services Waterloo to Plymouth via Salisbury and Oakhampton and for services for London to Weymouth
7. line speed improvements between Reading and Penzance and electrify all routes which FGW services run
8. reopen branch line to Helston, Cornwall
9. create junction between SWML and Ascot-Aldershot line to run local services Ascot-Salisbury (reopen Oakley station with additional stations where there is likely demand)
10. redouble (and where needed reinstate) Winchester to Farnham and electrify all lines over which SWT's services run
11. split Ascot-Guildford services to run Alton-Ascot and Guildford-Southampton
12. Reopen Uckfield–Lewes and electrify throughout
13. electrify Devon metro
14. electrify all lines within M25
15. electrify all lines which IC class trains run on (e.g. all XC services, all ICWC, all Hull trains, etc.)
16. build East West rail all the way through and electrify
17. build HS2 and extend to Glasgow and Edinburgh
18. build a HS line from London north via Cambridge and connect to HS2 and allow some Scottish services to run that way
19. Electrify all lines which Chiltern trains run on
20. Electrify (infill) all gaps (i.e. where trains run under wires for say 65% or more)
21. Review all Beaching closures with a list of best cases to be reopened and protect as much closed track bed as possible (best case list to be reviewed every 5 years), assume electrification upon reopening unless very good case not to.
22. Review all 90mph plus lines and look at (if electrified) 110mph running for more services
23. All urban centres with population of over 500,000 to have their existing networks and stations reviewed and better connectivity and services options drawn up and prioritised (reviewed every 5 years)
24. Camp Hill line (Birmingham) opened for passenger use and electrify
25. Review of freight loops undertaken, options drawn up and prioritised
26. Electrification of all lines with more than 4 services an hour each way (in any one hour of a normal day, including freight)
27. Electrify Reading-Gatwick services and infrastructure improvements to increase train frequency to allow for IC service to Gatwick
28. Double the number of tunnels on the the channel tunnel
29. build a HS line running London to Dublin (via Cardiff?) with a spur to HS2 to allow Scotland to Dublin services with a connection (south of London?) to HS1 for though trains.
30. Review IC lines and any line where 12 coach trains are the norm, with a program of works so that full sized double decked trains could be cleared to run on them in time (i.e. when replacing over bridges ensuring that these are of a significant size) although service may not start for another 20-30 years.
31. Replace/remove at least 15% of all level crossings every 5 years
32. Look at route improvements on all lines where there are competing internal air routes where there are more than 7 flights a week and make improvements where viable
33. Have station reopening/improvement fund for each year
34. Have a web site for people to suggest new lines, services and general improvements with initial pier review prior to any investigation into suggestions (failing that just trawl rail forums for suggestions)

 

[David Goddard]

Remove ticket barriers from all National Rail stations and put revenue staff back on the trains.