And part of it is a foot/cycle path.
At least one tunnel was at one point in use as a shooting range (Devizes), while IIRC others have housed mushroom farms.
Do you know of any lines in Scotland in this state? I've always fancied "urban exploring" but it mostly seems to amount to breaking and entering disused buildings. An abandoned railway line sounds like an interesting day out!
Goodness me, how long have you got? There's about 13,000 miles of disused railway. Is there a specific one you have in mind?
As much time allows. In terms of specifics nothing as such. Maybe the most notable disused railway lines and the most interesting repurposing of them.
www.railwayramblers.org.uk
Thank you. I will take look.I'd suggest by mileage the majority of disused lines are just there in the landscape, slowly going / gone back to nature - probably sold back to adjacent landowners in many cases but still a feature if you know what to look for - depending on the nature of the farmland and how easy it is to do they can end up cleared and ploughed back (common in flat landscapes) but often embankments and cuttings are just there to see.
Something I find interesting is to look at old Ordnance Survey (OS) maps where disused lines, where they are a distinguishable landscape feature, are marked on the maps. Streetmap.co.uk gives free access to small sections of maps - but the easiest thing is to go to a charity shop and buy a few old OS maps which are usually dirt cheap (c£1 or less in my experience) and find the lines - the older the map edition the better - post beaching era - as the lines were more likely to be clear on the land and thus justify being mapped - so OS maps from the late 1960s / 1970s and 1980s usually have plenty of old lines you can clearly follow - as we get closer to today the lines are less distinct so you can see parts of their routes them get gradually removed from the maps - or get OS maps of different editions from an area where you live from different time periods and compare - again pretty cheap from charity shops or on e-bay
as an example - here's a bundle of various 1960s OS maps from Oxfam on line - 12 for £15 +p&p - but better to go to a local charity shop and then you can look to see ones that show what you are looking for before splashing out with your loose change
OP could also look at the Railway Ramblers website too
Railway Ramblers
Railway Ramblers is a national club that organises walks and encourages interest in disused railway lines throughout the UK.
Disused Stations website shows old maps around closed stations on closed lines which of course gives a clear indication of where lines one were - and they always include an OS map snippet too
There is a current discussion here on roads on former railways:
www.railforums.co.uk
Chesterton Junction-St Ives is a longer example.
www.explore-essex.com
Not forgetting many lines have in entirety (e.g. Par Harbour to Fowey) or in part, been converted to public road or private-haul road.
It was the old tunnels originally, but as soon as the Woodhead line closed completely in 1981, the CEGB rerouted the cables through the 1953 tunnel as it was in a much better condition than the 1845/52 single bore tunnels.
The third Woodhead tunnel was indeed re-used by National Grid plc for re-routing a number of their high voltage electricity cables (between Longdendale and Dunford Bridge). This was late 2000s / early 2010s (so not immediately after line closure in the 1980s).
Bit nitpicky but the vineyard is either side of the former railway cutting.
Fair comment, but the vineyard is more appealing than the unopened chunk of the M23!
Is that Brailsford Road by any chance? I lived there in the 1970s when the line was still open and it ran right behind the house. I actually got to travel on it one Sunday when Oxford Road to Warrington trains were diverted that way due to engineering work.
Very near to what was Wilbraham Rd station
