Lines that should have been built

[tempests1]

During the railway mania period in the Victorian times when new lines were springing up everywhere even in duplication, & some completely pointless. I feel that some lines should have been built but never were. One example is the Chichester to Midhurst Line in West Sussex I wonder why the line was not continued to join the Portsmouth Direct Line at Haslemere, Midhurst is quite a reasonably sized town roughly 50 miles from London this would have been a prime commuter station if the line had been extended & would still be in existance today the station was closed to passengers in the 1950's no doubt due to the lack of a direct service to London. Although in the Seven miles between Midhurst & Haslemere there are a number of steep hills that probably would have need extensive earthworks etc. I am sure that the other Forum users could think of loads of places like this that should have got a line built

 

[Matt Taylor]

It seems odd to me that the Chessington line was never extended through to Dorking as was originally planned, Chessington seems an odd place to stop the line.

 

[Eric]

Linking Bradford Exchange and Forster Square

 

[MidnightFlyer]

It seems odd to me that the Chessington line was never extended through to Dorking as was originally planned, Chessington seems an odd place to stop the line.

Greenbelt ruling stopped it after WW2

 

[furryfeet]

the great central, with its generous loading gauge, should have been extended to the channel ports, as originally intended.
but they ran out of money ... oops!

Now whether that would have stopped Barbara Castle killing it off in 1966 is another story...

 

[LE Greys]

The Great Glen Railway and the Oban-Fort William line, one ended up going from Spean Bridge to Fort Augustus, only to be stopped by the Highland insisting that they ran all lines to Inverness, the other managed to cross Loch Creran all right, but stopped at Loch Levan, despite it being narrower. A through route from Inverness to Oban would have been good for tourists and would have saved a massive trek via Perth (and now Glasgow) to get between the two.

 

[Liam]

The Great Glen Railway and the Oban-Fort William line, one ended up going from Spean Bridge to Fort Augustus, only to be stopped by the Highland insisting that they ran all lines to Inverness, the other managed to cross Loch Creran all right, but stopped at Loch Levan, despite it being narrower. A through route from Inverness to Oban would have been good for tourists and would have saved a massive trek via Perth (and now Glasgow) to get between the two.

Also Inverness-Ullapool. Only reason this wasn't built was that in the late 19th/early 20th century the Stornoway steamers left from Mallaig and Stromeferry (later Kyle of Lochalsh). Only with the advent of the RORO car ferry was the port moved to Ullapool.

 

[scotsman]

Also Inverness-Ullapool. Only reason this wasn't built was that in the late 19th/early 20th century the Stornoway steamers left from Mallaig and Stromeferry (later Kyle of Lochalsh). Only with the advent of the RORO car ferry was the port moved to Ullapool.

Sorry, but that's rubbish. The Laird would not permit the railway to traverse his land!

 

[Liam]

Sorry, but that's rubbish. The Laird would not permit the railway to traverse his land!

Where have you read that?

Insufficient funds is the reason most often given. If there was a reason to send the railway to Ullapool it would have gone there.

 

[NSEFAN]

How about a full dedicated high speed network linking all the major cities in the UK? If this had at least made a start in the 1970s, perhaps we wouldn't be having so many capacity problems now?

 

[imagination]

How about a full dedicated high speed network linking all the major cities in the UK? If this had at least made a start in the 1970s, perhaps we wouldn't be having so many capacity problems now?

and if it had happened in the 60s instead of Ernest Marples' "let's give lots of money to myself" road building projects then the entire country would be a very different place indeed.

 

[AlterEgo]

A good opportunity was missed several times, to link the 'Nicky' li to what is now the WCML at Boxmoor.

 

[caliwag]

Linking Bradford Exchange and Forster Square

There is still a grand plan to do just that! Can't see the council accessing enough funds mind.

 

[Domeyhead]

Ah this is an easy one to answer - the Outer London Orbital Railway! All the independent rail companies wanted to get into the centre of the city but nobody foresaw that in 150 years both goods and passengers would want to go to/from the continent without going through town. If we had the rail equivalent of the M25 with junctions linking all the radial trunk routes railfreight would be double what it is today.

 

[yorksrob]

I think they should have built an electrified branch from the Southern Region (double track but with basic construction using Exmouth Junction products) to Heathrow Airport in the 1950's. They could have started off by splitting 2 carriage units from ordinary Reading trains, then worked up to dedicated semi fast services without blocking Great Western paths. Sadly, the Southern Region lost out on potentially 50 years of creaming off Airline passengers (apart from Gatwick of course).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Linking Bradford Exchange and Forster Square

Did not railway politics come into this over the years?

 

[PaulLothian]

Also Inverness-Ullapool. Only reason this wasn't built was that in the late 19th/early 20th century the Stornoway steamers left from Mallaig and Stromeferry (later Kyle of Lochalsh). Only with the advent of the RORO car ferry was the port moved to Ullapool.

Having been in Ullapool last weekend, I am sure that the line would never have survived financially - even with its expansion over the past 30 years, Ullapool has a population of only 1,300, and the sparsest-populated hinterland of any of the 'bigger' West Highland ports.

Still, it's nice to dream - a line crossing/descending through the Corrieshalloch Gorge could have made the Pass of Killiecrankie seem very tame!

 

[LE Greys]

Ah this is an easy one to answer - the Outer London Orbital Railway! All the independent rail companies wanted to get into the centre of the city but nobody foresaw that in 150 years both goods and passengers would want to go to/from the continent without going through town. If we had the rail equivalent of the M25 with junctions linking all the radial trunk routes railfreight would be double what it is today.

Well, we had a version of that with various branch lines that were never linked together properly (Hatfield-St Albans-Watford Junction-Croxley Green, Hertford East-Welwyn-Luton and so on). It could have been a lot better if, say, they had connected Croxley Green to West Ruislip and Uxbridge Vine Street, giving a link to West Drayton and Staines. ECML-MML-WCML-GCML-GC/GW-GWML-LSW. The main problem there was that up to about 50 years ago, the country's biggest port was London, so that's where all the goods traffic went. I've always been surprised that there was hardly any through goods traffic on the Palace Gates line, which linked conveniently with the Hertford Loop at one end and Temple Mills at the other. I reckon a "London Avoiding Line" based on the Varsity Line ought to work very well, linking conveniently with Felixstowe at one end, Southampton via Reading at the other and the Midlands and the North in-between.

 

[justinsteam]

The Wallingford and Watlington Railway Line was planned to connect the Great Western Mainline at Cholsey and the Wycombe Railway at Princes Risborough, it opened between Cholsey and Wallingford, but was not completed between Wallingford and Watlington.

Later, the Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway opened as far as Watlington, but the two lines were never linked.

 

[David Stringer]

Also Inverness-Ullapool. Only reason this wasn't built was that in the late 19th/early 20th century the Stornoway steamers left from Mallaig and Stromeferry (later Kyle of Lochalsh). Only with the advent of the RORO car ferry was the port moved to Ullapool.

I've been wondering about the possibility of (sections of) a 15" gauge railway along a route from Oban to Inverness. This would be to enhance the leisure/tourism offering that the region already offers. I'm aware that parts of the old standard gauge line between Spean Bridge and Fort Augustus pier might still be relatively easy to access.

Is this a completely barmy idea or could it be the kick start needed for a Telford scale cunning plan?

 

[kylemore]

Having been in Ullapool last weekend, I am sure that the line would never have survived financially - even with its expansion over the past 30 years, Ullapool has a population of only 1,300, and the sparsest-populated hinterland of any of the 'bigger' West Highland ports.

Still, it's nice to dream - a line crossing/descending through the Corrieshalloch Gorge could have made the Pass of Killiecrankie seem very tame!

If the line had been built to Ullapool the steamers would have followed and with Fish traffic the line would have had at least as good a chance of surviving as the Kyle line into the modern era. It probably would have been threatened with closure in the 60s but have survived just like the Kyle and Mallaig lines.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I've been wondering about the possibility of (sections of) a 15" gauge railway along a route from Oban to Inverness. This would be to enhance the leisure/tourism offering that the region already offers. I'm aware that parts of the old standard gauge line between Spean Bridge and Fort Augustus pier might still be relatively easy to access.

Is this a completely barmy idea or could it be the kick start needed for a Telford scale cunning plan?

I've also wondered whether any of the closed lines in the Highlands could be reopened with narrow gauge, the one I thought might be suitable was the Callander and Oban between Callander and Killin. What a tourist attraction that would be!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Manchester to Milford Haven. Only a very small amount of trackwork ever laid.