Most effort/work spent on a railway project that ultimately never happened?

[Taunton]

Well, it's possible that selling what they have in stock and then re-ordering it when the projects are approved would be cheaper overall than storing it for an indeterminate period.

Quite possibly this overall view has not been taken - if it's accounted for project by project then getting a credit for the current project is all that is important to that project team. Any later repurchase cost is for some other team in the future to worry about.

 

[najaB]

But, presumably the scrap value of the earlier components will be less than what was originally paid?

True - if they're selling for scrap value. However, they may be effectively "putting it on Craigslist" for other railways to get the odds and ends that they need.

So if the components are out of production the loss may not be that great.

 

[gallafent]

True, and I suppose it would be an opportunity to electrify the Didcot - Oxford line, which isn't 125 mph, with less-ugly masts.

Hmm, it's very straight though, might be worth an upgrade to (at least) 110mph alongside electrification, you'd think, to allow the 387s (and of course the IETs and 802s, … and Voyagers … really most of the passenger workings along the line!) to fly up and down it with a bit more verve.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

True, and I suppose it would be an opportunity to electrify the Didcot - Oxford line, which isn't 125 mph, with less-ugly masts.

But, presumably the scrap value of the earlier components will be less than what was originally paid?

Didcot-Oxford is max 90mph, but not all the way (there is some 110 north of Wolvercote Jn for XC).
Series 2 OHLE would have done perfectly well, though I'm sure there were ambitions for 4-tracking and faster speeds.

 

[JKF]

Brunel’s atmospheric railway must have cost a few quid, some pretty substantial infrastructure involved.

 

[geordieblue]

Horsforth station got a turnback siding a few years ago (alongside signalling improvements IIRC?) which is barely used. Not the most effort on an unfinished railway project but it's unusual to have something completed so recently be so ineffectual.

 

[Recessio]

Probably wasnt much money, but NSE revamped all their stations, but a few ultimately shut within a decade or two. Thinking Primrose Hill, the North Woolwich end of the NLL, the branches in Watford, Newhaven Marine... Why spend the money when surely the end had been in sight for all these for years anyway?

 

[Gloster]

Probably wasnt much money, but NSE revamped all their stations, but a few ultimately shut within a decade or two. Thinking Primrose Hill, the North Woolwich end of the NLL, the branches in Watford, Newhaven Marine... Why spend the money when surely the end had been in sight for all these for years anyway?

A similar example is the amount of money that has been spent on refurbishing signal boxes in recent years. Although it will be welcomed by the signallers in those boxes that have a reasonable life-expectancy, some boxes seem to have closed shortly after extensive refurbishment.

 

[Springs Branch]

......... some boxes seem to have closed shortly after extensive refurbishment.

In BR days, I think it used to be something of a joke among signalmen that if the painters and carpenters arrived to give your 'box a good tidy-up, it meant it would be abolished soon.

 

[Kite159]

Horsforth station got a turnback siding a few years ago (alongside signalling improvements IIRC?) which is barely used. Not the most effort on an unfinished railway project but it's unusual to have something completed so recently be so ineffectual.

Used to see use on Sundays with a (West Yorkshire sponsored?) Leeds - Horsforth service during the daytime giving the West Yorkshire stations 2tph.

You can probably add the south facing bay platform at Milton Keynes to the list of something which is hardly ever used which probably cost a bit too install

 

[Journeyman]

As has been mentioned on another thread, the connection between the ECML and HS1 at Belle Isle was built but never commissioned.

 

[MadMac]

In BR days, I think it used to be something of a joke among signalmen that if the painters and carpenters arrived to give your 'box a good tidy-up, it meant it would be abolished soon.

I think I’ve told the story on here before of being at a box where the painters showed up three days before it was being bulldozed.....

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Apr 2021 ==

A similar example is the amount of money that has been spent on refurbishing signal boxes in recent years. Although it will be welcomed by the signallers in those boxes that have a reasonable life-expectancy, some boxes seem to have closed shortly after extensive refurbishment.

I think their hand was forced to some extent due to health/safety requirements in a lot of cases.

 

[Steve Harris]

As has been mentioned on another thread, the connection between the ECML and HS1 at Belle Isle was built but never commissioned.

But I think you will find it has been used (posted in "other" thread).

 

[geordieblue]

Used to see use on Sundays with a (West Yorkshire sponsored?) Leeds - Horsforth service during the daytime giving the West Yorkshire stations 2tph.

You can probably add the south facing bay platform at Milton Keynes to the list of something which is hardly ever used which probably cost a bit too install

Yeah, I guess it was slightly outside the thread's scope since it does see occasional use (I think some peak services may turn around there?). It's still surprising that something was commissioned so recently yet has done pretty much nothing (MK's south-facing platform being another good example).

 

[Ianno87]

Yeah, I guess it was slightly outside the thread's scope since it does see occasional use (I think some peak services may turn around there?). It's still surprising that something was commissioned so recently yet has done pretty much nothing (MK's south-facing platform being another good example).

The South Facing bay at MK has always been regularly used for turning Southern services (though not since they all became 8-car).

 

[Brush 4]

I haven't read all the pages but, the 1975 Channel Tunnel entrance, still visible I believe near Folkestone. Refurbishing Chester depot, then demolishing it. A new coaling tower at Mexborough shed in about 1961, closed in 1964.

 

[Bald Rick]

I haven't read all the pages but, the 1975 Channel Tunnel entrance, still visible I believe near Folkestone.

That was used for construction of the version that was built. The most visible tunnel there is the link road access from the A20 to what was the worksite and is now a maintenance access and Samphire Hoe country park - anyone can drive through that.

 

[Western Lord]

In BR days, I think it used to be something of a joke among signalmen that if the painters and carpenters arrived to give your 'box a good tidy-up, it meant it would be abolished soon.

This applied in other areas as well. In the cinema world in the dog days of cinema going the arrival of the decorators was taken as a sure sign that the place would close within six months.

 

[Ianno87]

That was used for construction of the version that was built. The most visible tunnel there is the link road access from the A20 to what was the worksite and is now a maintenance access and Samphire Hoe country park - anyone can drive through that.

And an access/intervention shaft is still there: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.1...4!1sxbOes4yd6JLNk9v7IbKVHQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

[najaB]

This applied in other areas as well. In the cinema world in the dog days of cinema going the arrival of the decorators was taken as a sure sign that the place would close within six months.

Don't know if it was the reason, but in the office world that's often because they want to get the building back to the condition it was in when the lease was signed.

 

[Bald Rick]

And an access/intervention shaft is still there: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.1...4!1sxbOes4yd6JLNk9v7IbKVHQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

There’s two!

 

[geordieblue]

The South Facing bay at MK has always been regularly used for turning Southern services (though not since they all became 8-car).

Wasn't it built for the Marston Vale though? (I guess that's a whole other thread - infrastructure not used for its originally intended purpose)

 

[Journeyman]

Didn't the Shenfield electrification of 1949 involve 1500v wires going into Fenchurch Street? Were they ever used for passenger services?

 

[swt_passenger]

Wasn't it built for the Marston Vale though? (I guess that's a whole other thread - infrastructure not used for its originally intended purpose)

IIRC @The Planner reported years ago that at the design stage it was referred to as the Reading Bay.

 

[Bertie the bus]

I'm not sure you could categorise them as a rail project but GO-OP are deserving of a mention in this thread. They've been at it for 12 years and achieved nothing and the end result will no doubt be nothing ever happens.

 

[Efini92]

The Ordsall Chord...

 

[pdeaves]

The Ordsall Chord...

Be fair, that exists so it's not a 'project that ultimately never happened' (as per thread title). It may not see full intended use but is still happened.

 

[A0]

Didn't the Shenfield electrification of 1949 involve 1500v wires going into Fenchurch Street? Were they ever used for passenger services?

From Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London,_Tilbury_and_Southend_line

"November 1949 saw platforms 1 and 2 at Fenchurch Street electrified through to Bow Junction on the Great Eastern Main Line on the 1500v DC system. No regular electric services worked this line and it was primarily for diversion and emergency usage although regular empty trains ran to ensure the system worked."

 

[swt_passenger]

I'm not sure you could categorise them as a rail project but GO-OP are deserving of a mention in this thread. They've been at it for 12 years and achieved nothing and the end result will no doubt be nothing ever happens.

I was just thinking earlier of posting this, they are persistent if not realistic…

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Two occur to me:
a. The venture by the GWR (and others?) into converting existing locos to oil burning and
b. The venture by the GWR into streamlining existing locos

I know that both of them actually took place and that neither of them involved a large number of locos, but equally neither of them were by any means a success and were converted back to what they had been quite quickly.