[Trivia] Unused railway infrastructure?

[Oxfordblues]

The short cutting about a mile north of Fenny Compton which was dug as part of the Oxford & Rugby Railway but was never used as the route was diverted via Leamington towards Birmingham.

And of course the "bridge to nowhere" on the Portmadoc, Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway just south of Goat Tunnel in Beddgelert and two bridge abutments abandoned in a nearby field: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portm.../media/File:PBSSR_abutments_at_Beddgelert.jpg

 

[Ianno87]

There was the direct curve between Birkbeck and Kent House, for which earthworks etc were completed, but track was never fully laid.

 

[fowler9]

That siding at the south end of Liverpool Central that I think was originally meant to head in to a tunnel.

 

[Ianno87]

That siding at the south end of Liverpool Central that I think was originally meant to head in to a tunnel.

I think it does have occasional planned movements to and from the siding (shunting between platforms at Liverpool Central).

But yes, the stub tunnels themselves were unfinished and unused - intended to connect to the City Lines at Edge Hill
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Should also mention the 75m or so of tunnel beyond the current Metrolink buffer stops at Manchester Airport. Built when the Ground Transport Interchange opened in 2003, and will form the start of the Airport Western Loop via Airport City, HS2 station and Wythenshawe Hospital.

The soon to be built Trafford Centre line has a few features:
-A very short stub of the Viaduct at Pomona to take the 'straight on' junction of the Eccles line
-A thin strip of greenery left around the Trafford Centre car parks when it was built, and
-The new Port Salford bridge over the Ship Canal has space for tram lines (for the future Port Salford extension)

 

[snowball]

-The new Port Salford bridge over the Ship Canal has space for tram lines (for the future Port Salford extension)

except that it suffered an accident while under construction (the lifting deck fell from height) and will have to be rebuilt. At present it's not clear whether the towers will need to be fully replaced or whether some of them can be repaired.

 

[infobleep]

The Ouse Valley was never fully built. The railway bridge between Haywards Heath and Balcombe has an extended straight wall at one side mainline, so the line could join. It's the Balcombe side.

There are brick remains beyond Haywards Heath golf course where the road is and an embankment exists in Lindfield. They maybe other remains elsewhere towards Uckfield. These are just what I remember.

 

[AndyW33]

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

During the 1980s and early 1990s I commuted regularly into Euston on the WCML. Queens Park AC lines platforms were used then by late evening WCML slow line services out of Euston, and the overnight Bletchley/Milton Keynes/Northampton slows in both direction that were really advertised staff trains. I've also actually used the AC lines platforms myself when trains were terminated there due to a derailment on Camden Bank. Not ideal for peak period services as the platforms weren't to modern widths and neither were the stairs or the footbridge.

 

[30907]

There was the direct curve between Birkbeck and Kent House, for which earthworks etc were completed, but track was never fully laid.

See post #19 for slightly more detail.

 

[The Planner]

The short cutting about a mile north of Fenny Compton which was dug as part of the Oxford & Rugby Railway but was never used as the route was diverted via Leamington towards Birmingham.

Always wondered what that was!

 

[bramling]

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.

Unused fan shaft built for the Fleet Line at Bouverie Street, would have been between Aldwych and Ludgate Circus.

On the same theme, a short length of experimental tunnel was built near New Cross, and still exists today. This is a little tenuous as its purpose was clearly experimental, although designed and sited in such a way that it could have been incorporated into the planned Fleet Line route.

Over time a few lines have been built complete with stations, but in the event the stations at least were never actually used for passengers. Off the top of my head ones that fit into this category are:
Brierdene, Collywell Bay
Doncaster York Road branch and associated lines
Barrhead - Paisley
Swithland
Queens Road Clapton
Crowlands
Lullingstone
Margate
Richborough Port
Crowlands

There's also been a few tunnels which have been unused for most practical purposes, for example Hawthorns Tunnel in the Dean Forest area. Also a mouth was constructed for a proposed tunnel at Monmouth Troy, but in the end the line and tunnel were never built.

Then there's the Ouse Valley Line in Sussex, which had come earthworks done before the project was abandoned.

 

[Dr_Paul]

There are a couple of abutments for a planned bridge across the North London Line (originally North and South-Western Junction Railway) some way to the north of Acton Central station, to the south of where it crosses the Great Western. There was originally a bridge built as well -- see this map -- but this had been removed by the 1950s -- see this map.

This line was to go south-eastwards from the Great Western at its Acton station, to the south of Wormwood Scrubs prison to join the West London Line to the north of Addison Road (now Olympia) station. The start of the line's course can be seen on the earlier map. (A connection between the Great Western and the West London Line was subsequently built from the former's Birmingham line to the east of this projected line. It was later paralleled by the Central Line, and has now been removed.)

There was a long-running rumour that this bridge was originally built for a new line from London to South Wales -- my dad had heard this rumour many years ago -- but this was an erroneous assumption.

 

[L&Y Robert]

- and all of this, of course!

https://youtu.be/jjuD288JlCs

 

[341o2]

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.

Actually Edgware to Bushey Heath as the section from Mill Hill East to Edgware saw regular use for freight until the 1960's.

Aldenham was a works depot rather than a garage eventually overhauling the Routemaster fleet

 

[adrock1976]

Is there a viaduct somewhere in the Dewsbury area that was constructed by the Midland Railway?

This was pointing in the direction of Bradford, but as the Midland Railway ran out of money (not for the first time), they then decided to abandon that proposed route and instead make Leeds City the hub for the West Riding of Yorkshire.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

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

That's the Spen Valley Line, which use to have rail services serving Cleckheaton Central, Liversedge Central and Heckmondwike Central. It use to diverge where Low Moor is.

 

[Cliveblackpool]

I was told by rail staff years ago that the GWR had planned a route from Newquay to Padstow. The route had been pegged out, and they walked it on a regular basis to maintain their right of way. Don't believe any structures were built though.

 

[Sox]

I understand that this cutting is the only construction relating to a somewhat ambitious scheme to extend the Longridge line eastwards to connect with the Blackburn-Hellifield line.

 

[jwbuchanan]

That's the Spen Valley Line, which use to have rail services serving Cleckheaton Central, Liversedge Central and Heckmondwike Central. It use to diverge where Low Moor is.

Yes, but the northern end of the line closed in the late 60s, and the M62 didn't open until the early 70s. So did the M62 bridge ever get used?

 

[Dr_Paul]

Aldenham was a works depot rather than a garage eventually overhauling the Routemaster fleet

A pal of mine's dad worked at Aldenham and he took us around the depot, this would have been the late 1960s, and I noticed that there was railway track set in concrete in some places.

 

[AndrewE]

How about the BR second (i.e. first recent) attempt at a Channel Tunnel? Another brave go at something that would probably have been a success if only the politicians had held their nerve.
A

 

[Taunton]

The Channel Tunnel overall must hold the record for wasted investment, including that which had a very short life.

All the upgrade of the main line across Kent.
Battersea flyover.
Waterloo International terminus (too bad, I found it better than St Pancras)
Ashford International station, now hardly used.
North Pole depot and all the links to it.
All the electrification on the NLL etc for the North of London service.
The North of London trains.
The sleeper trains.
Stratford International station.
Link from HS1 to Swanley.
Class 92 locos.
Freight loops on HS1.

The one that took the biscuit was the opening of the first stage of HS1, which cut 15 minutes off the journey time. It's opening coincided with increasing the check-in time at Waterloo by 15 minutes. Net effect of the investment : Zero.

 

[najaB]

The Channel Tunnel overall must hold the record for wasted investment, including that which had a very short life.
...
Waterloo International terminus (too bad, I found it better than St Pancras)

I don't know that 13 years is a 'very short life'

The one that took the biscuit was the opening of the first stage of HS1, which cut 15 minutes off the journey time. It's opening coincided with increasing the check-in time at Waterloo by 15 minutes. Net effect of the investment : Zero.

The thing about opening phase 1 was that it was followed by opening phase 2...

 

[yorksrob]

The upgrade of the mainline through Kent wasn't wasted. True, sections of it aren't used as intensively as before, but we still have two up to date main lines which are still in use.

 

[muddythefish]

I understand that this cutting is the only construction relating to a somewhat ambitious scheme to extend the Longridge line eastwards to connect with the Blackburn-Hellifield line.

Interesting - didn't know that line was proposed.

Where is that location and is there a link to details about the line?

thanks
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There was a proposed line from Bridgnorth to Wolverhampton I believe. I recall a double track bridge on the line south out of Bridgnorth that was built to accommodate the line.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

The coordinates on the old map bring up the location on Google Maps - it's here, just south of Hurst Green (or near Langho for non-natives ). I had no idea it existed, or that such a line was ever considered either.

 

[bramling]

How about the BR second (i.e. first recent) attempt at a Channel Tunnel? Another brave go at something that would probably have been a success if only the politicians had held their nerve.
A

From memory, however I believe it's the case that at least some of the workings at Shakespeare Cliff, in particular the access adit and sloping road tunnel, were incorporated into the eventual Channel Tunnel.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

The upgrade of the mainline through Kent wasn't wasted. True, sections of it aren't used as intensively as before, but we still have two up to date main lines which are still in use.

Apart from Fawkham Junction to Southfleet Junction of course, which has been something of a white elephant. Having said that, it was built largely on the trackbed of the Gravesend West branch, so its construction cost was presumably fairly marginal.

 

[philthetube]

and pon the underground, all the track work at the south end of East finchley sidings was built but never signaled and never had a train over it.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5811252,-0.1527779,171m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

[Tio Terry]

The Channel Tunnel overall must hold the record for wasted investment, including that which had a very short life.

All the upgrade of the main line across Kent.
Battersea flyover.
Waterloo International terminus (too bad, I found it better than St Pancras)
Ashford International station, now hardly used.
North Pole depot and all the links to it.
All the electrification on the NLL etc for the North of London service.
The North of London trains.
The sleeper trains.
Stratford International station.
Link from HS1 to Swanley.
Class 92 locos.
Freight loops on HS1.



The one that took the biscuit was the opening of the first stage of HS1, which cut 15 minutes off the journey time. It's opening coincided with increasing the check-in time at Waterloo by 15 minutes. Net effect of the investment : Zero.

At least WIT is, finally, being turned in to a domestic railway station - admittedly at great cost.

 

[bramling]

and pon the underground, all the track work at the south end of East finchley sidings was built but never signaled and never had a train over it.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5811252,-0.1527779,171m/data=!3m1!1e3

Good shout, although some of that has found use intermittently as a test track for TBTC signaling.

 

[randyrippley]

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

The Clifton Maybank spur that was built (by the GWR) did seem to have a fair bit of use while it lasted. It seems to have declined with the end of broad gauge. However - as has been noted before, the southward facing curve to the spur was never completed. The embankment was built, but the track never laid. Its still there waiting for someone to lay some rails down and allow direct Dorchester - Exeter traffic