[Trivia] Unused railway infrastructure?

[matt_world2004]

Terminal 5 westbound platform for heavy rail services.

 

[Railsigns]

Two facing connections at Bathgate, complete with signalling, for the never-built STVA sidings.

 

[L&Y Robert]

This isn't quite what you mean, but it applied for a wile. Those two excellent, locally made semaphore starter signals at the south end of Banbury station. They were brand new but made to an old spes., then installed and connected up to Banbury South box's lever frame for use to reverse trains at Banbury during the Reading diversions. They would be little used after that. Then when Banbury South box was ab-olished and dem-olished last year they disappeared - dunno where to.

 

[EM2]

Lullingstone station. The platforms are still there.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lullingstone_railway_station

 

[J-2739]

Good Afternoon,

Any railway infrastructure that was to serve a purpose, but in the end, unused?

It can also include things that were only used for a short time (like half a year), before being put out of use.

 

[furnessvale]

Two facing connections at Bathgate, complete with signalling, for the never-built STVA sidings.

Connections into the Pentalver container depot at Cannock.

But hopefully these will eventually be used, especially as Pentalver are now owned by the same holding company as Freightliner.

 

[J-2739]

Lullingstone station. The platforms are still there.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lullingstone_railway_station

Any chance they could reopen that station in a miniature scale to serve the town?

There's also wide spaces at City Thameslink, intended for the Fleet Line

 

[Ianno87]

Terminal 5 westbound platform for heavy rail services.

Are you talking about the two unfitted out platforms 1 and 2? Platform 3 is used to reverse the (sometimes ECS) connect service, and Platform 4 is the normal Express one.

Also: Stratford International international platforms

HS1 connection to North London Line (ECML connection used recently for taking 373s to scrap)

12-car platform extensions at Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Sawbridgeworth and Stansted Mountfitchet (other than very occasionally during disruption)

 

[Timrud]

There is a line at London St Pancras that goes between the MML and the Eurostar tracks that looks like it has never been used

 

[Dr Hoo]

There is a line at London St Pancras that goes between the MML and the Eurostar tracks that looks like it has never been used

It is only an exchange siding for infrastructure maintenance vehicles and it is occasionally used. (The alignment was used by passenger services as an interim arangment during the re-construction of St Pancras when Midland Mainline and Thameslink were terminating on the east side of the station that is now where the Southeastern platforms are. This was never intended to be permanent.)

 

[Ploughman]

Tadcaster viaduct.
Built for an alternative route to York, the viaduct was completed but never saw service trains as the Church Fenton - York line took the traffic.
In the end it was used to access an industrial site just over the river.

 

[Clansman]

Perth station still retains old stabling points and yards from post privatisation.

 

[The Planner]

Castle Donnington Freight terminal

 

[neonison]

Embankment south of Chessington South towards Leatherhead for an extension that was never built.

Mill Hill East to Bushey Heath. (Northern Heights extensions to LUL Northern Line.) The depot ended up as Aldenham bus garage.

 

[pdeaves]

The penultimate item on this page http://www.railwaycodes.org.uk/stations/trivia.shtm gives some stations that were built but not used. I realise the question is about more than just stations.

Gillingham (Kent) 'signal box' (term used in a loose sense) used to belong almost in this category. After construction it was not used, after all, to signal trains but to store deeds and other legal documents. Many years later it finally signalled trains as 'East Kent Signalling Centre'.

Edit: Ooh, just thought of something else. South Marston freight terminal (just east of Swindon) has not seen a train.

 

[topydre]

Llangurig branch. (Penpontbren Jct. - Llangurig)

This was supposed to be part of the Manchester and Milford Railway, linking to SW Wales via Llandidloes, Strata Florida, Lampeter, Carmarthen etc, but the company ran out of money to build the tunnels from Strata Florida to Llangurig (and diverted to Aberystwyth instead)

The branch only saw its maiden train, no scheduled services since!!

 

[Ianno87]

Tadcaster viaduct.
Built for an alternative route to York, the viaduct was completed but never saw service trains as the Church Fenton - York line took the traffic.
In the end it was used to access an industrial site just over the river.

See also: Bordesley Folly. Viaduct built to connect Snow Hill lines near Bordesley towards New Street, but never used as such (or even connected at the New St end)

Bletchley flyover almost counts too. Built for Varsity Line traffic that was closed soon after. Only very irregular use since for an expensive bit of infrastructure.

 

[edwin_m]

Bletchley flyover almost counts too. Built for Varsity Line traffic that was closed soon after. Only very irregular use since for an expensive bit of infrastructure.

To be clear it was built for freight to serve the Swanbourne marshalling yard just down the line towards Oxford, and continuing to destinations further south and west avoiding London. Passenger traffic would not have used it because everything stopped at Bletchley and in fact most Oxford and Cambridge trains terminated there.

Swanbourne was never upgraded to a marshalling yard (stopped by Gerry Fiennes according to Wikipedia). The other marshalling yards that were actually built around 1960 saw very little use.

 

[30907]

Any chance they could reopen that station in a miniature scale to serve the town?

Dont quite understand. What town? And what would be smaller scale than the 2x8car platforms originally built?

While we're on LCDR territory, the Penge Loop (at Kent House, round to the Crystal Palace line) never saw scheduled traffic -or unscheduled either, in the opinion of A M Hajducki, Railways of Beckenham - though it was used as a carriage siding at a later stage. (In my schooldays we thought there had once been a rail motor service, but no....!)

Turning to the LSWR, did the Clifton Maybank spur at Yeovil see much use?

 

[Cowley]

Torquay and Totnes pumping houses. Remnants of Brunels atmospheric railway that were built but never actually used as the scheme was abandoned by the time the railway reached the two towns.

 

[Andyjs247]

Duddeston Viaduct in Birmingham was originally intended to link the Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway (later Great Western) into Curzon Street Station and the Grand Junction Railway. However the plan was thwarted by the nascent London North Western Railway. Apart from a short section at the south end it never carried trains along its length. This is the "Bordeseley Folly" Ianno87 mentions above (post #17)

This map shows the location.

I do wonder if the viaduct may yet be used for rail post HS2. Possibly it might make sense for the Midland Metro extension. But (without going too far off topic) I would have preferred it to be part of a through station solution for HS2 at Curzon Street.

 

[Timrud]

It is only an exchange siding for infrastructure maintenance vehicles and it is occasionally used. (The alignment was used by passenger services as an interim arangment during the re-construction of St Pancras when Midland Mainline and Thameslink were terminating on the east side of the station that is now where the Southeastern platforms are. This was never intended to be permanent.)

Thanks for the information

 

[DelW]

At Shalford Junction south of Guildford, embankments were built for an east to south chord but no track was ever laid. IIRC the chord was the result of rivalry between the SER and LSWR at the time.

South of Beddgelert on the Welsh Highland, two bridge abutments in a field, built before the WHR alignment was moved westward.

 

[XDM]

Fratton freight siding. Put in after vigorous campaigning by a Portsmouth rail employee who argued there was container traffic from the dockyard & surrounding local industries currently going by road that was ideal for rail. I thought he was right,but we were wrong. I am told that in about 9 years not a single freight train has ever served the 2 tracks & lengthy hard standing.

 

[pompeyfan]

Fratton freight siding. Put in after vigorous campaigning by a Portsmouth rail employee who argued there was container traffic from the dockyard & surrounding local industries currently going by road that was ideal for rail. I thought he was right,but we were wrong. I am told that in about 9 years not a single freight train has ever served the 2 tracks & lengthy hard standing.

I believe there were 2 service, 4T05 rings a bell. Was hauled by a EWS 66 with only about 4 containers on it. They're being worked on now to bring them into 3rd rail use to stable an extra 12 units a night that will be available from the introduction of the 707s.

 

[yorksrob]

Golgotha tunnel on the East Kent light railway has the roof of a double track tunnel. Only one side of the tunnel itself was ever excavated.

 

[sk688]

Could you say Heathrow Junction , considering it was only used for six months , and the station and the track were dismantled soon after .

And what about Queens Park WCML platforms ? Were they ever used ?

 

[The Planner]

I do wonder if the viaduct may yet be used for rail post HS2. Possibly it might make sense for the Midland Metro extension. But (without going too far off topic) I would have preferred it to be part of a through station solution for HS2 at Curzon Street.

Far too high for the Metro which is street level and it would require a reversal at Curzon St to go where, down the Chilterns?

There is another unused piece of infrastructure near there in the S&C that goes into a fence on the up side at Tyseley with the exit signal shining red constantly.

 

[jwbuchanan]

Did the Spen Valley bridge over the M62 at Chain Bar ever carry a train?

 

[pdeaves]

The Midland & South Western Junction Railway started tunnelling through Swindon before settling on a separate alignment to the west. Apparently the started tunnel is visible in Queens Park but I have never knowingly seen it.