Mothballed Railway Lines

[trainsonrails]

Does anyone know where there are any mothballed railway lines near big townships or city's?

 

[MK Tom]

Does anyone know where there are any mothballed railway lines near big townships or city's?

Claydon-Bletchley section of East-West Rail is mothballed and runs through Bletchley which is part of Milton Keynes. Due to reopen by 2017.

Leamside Line runs into the Tyne and Wear (Newcastle/Washington/Sunderland) urban areas.

Stourbridge-Walsall line through the West Midlands Conurbation.

Just a few off the top of my head.

 

[Eagle]

Weymouth Quay line (inasmuch as it's never been formally closed and still owned by Network Rail).

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I always thought that Quay's closure (and the line to it) was due to be confirmed and acted upon (i.e. removed) before the Olympics - is the street-running track and station still there?

 

[Eagle]

Yep, still in situ (although the "station" is just a platform-height concrete cuboid alongside the track). The Sectional Appendix says that the temporary closure only lasts till May 2013, for some reason.

 

[Solent&Wessex]

Yep, still in situ (although the "station" is just a platform-height concrete cuboid alongside the track). The Sectional Appendix says that the temporary closure only lasts till May 2013, for some reason.

The sectional appendix pages often show like that. The line coming off at Poulton-le-Fylde is like that. Hasn't been used for years but the appendix, from memory, only shows it as "temporarily out of use till xxxx 2013". Next year (like last year, and the year before etc) the page will be re issued with it saying "temporarily out of use till xxxx 2014" or similar.

 

[MK Tom]

Another would be the Brackmills branch in Northampton, a part of the former line from there to Bedford.

 

[The Planner]

Lichfield to Bronwhills is another, Partington branch probably is too. They are shown like that in the Appendix as they are under a short term network change, it is an administrative way of not closing it and going through the full network change procedure which takes time and compensation.

 

[DarloRich]

Does anyone know where there are any mothballed railway lines near big townships or city's?

Why? Are you going on the rob?

 

[jopsuk]

Previously he was after some mrk 2s...

 

[Polarbear]

The line from Rock Ferry through to Birkenhead docks is still in situ, but very overgrown. I don't think there's much left of the link through to the Wirral Lines at Birkenhead North though.

 

[CallySleeper]

The Calverton Colliery (freight) branch line in Nottinghamshire has been mothballed.

 

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

The branch off the WCML near Madeley goes as far as the edge of Newcastle-under-Lyme, though not really into the 'township' itself.

 

[IanD]

Aldwych?

 

[SWT_USER]

Is the Croxley Green branch still technically mothballed?

 

[kjhskj75]

Is the Croxley Green branch still technically mothballed?

It no longer appears in the sectional Appendix (it was MD125)

Neither do Leamside, Calverton and Dudley-Walsall.

the others mentioned in this thread all do appear.

 

[fsmr]

Stoke to Leekbrook Junction section on the Churnet
Moorlands and City railways hope to get it reopened for stone traffic, they already have the section up to cauldon reopened after it was mothballed or abandoned in the 90s whichever word fits
thread from 2011 here

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=45231

Weymouth Quay line (inasmuch as it's never been formally closed and still owned by Network Rail).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6XEVvVRB_4

Yes the sight of all those cars being manhandled, of course health and safety would preclude the use of manual intervention these days for risk of injury or claims from the car owners no doubt

 

[CNash]

I don't know its official name, but the section of track between South Acton and Brentford which was previously used by London Crosslink until its closure in 2002. It may still be in use by freight, though.

 

[Eagle]

Still open and used by freight (and the odd charter).

 

[steamybrian]

Folkestone Harbour branch...

 

[OuterDistant]

Cheadle (Staffs) branch - most of the track still there, but not sure if it appears in Quail Maps.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Actually, scratch that - a search for more recent photos reveals much of the track to be gone. I must have walked the most well preserved bit!

 

[steamybrian]

Blaenau Ffestiniog-Trawsfyndd

 

[p123]

Aldwych?

The big A doesn't seem to think so...

Magical Maps!

 

[tsr]

If you have any interest in pretty-much-disused goods handling areas, you could do worse than to have a look at the large Redhill Goods facility, at least some of which may soon be cut off from the NR network due to the Platform 0 scheme, and, in addition, the nearby Betchworth Engineers' Siding and the former Quarry trackbeds.

 

[sprinterguy]

Blaenau Ffestiniog-Trawsfyndd

I'm not sure that Blaenau is really up there in the leagues of big towns and cities, mind

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Another is Poulton-Cleveleys-Burn Naze off the Blackpool North branch, I forget how long it has been disused for but it's a good few years.

I'm not sure that Blaenau is really up there in the leagues of big towns and cities, mind

Indeed, it's most interesting feature is the Co-Op store there. That said the slate excavation is quite interesting to look at, and the Ffestiniog Railway is one of the best railways I've ever been on; preserved, mainline or light.

 

[class303]

Most of the Princess Pier line in Greenock is still in place, branching from the Wemyss Bay line in the strone area of greenock down to the container depot.