Places that lost their Railway that now seem cut off

[adamt958]

Okay, we all know that nowhere is physically cut off because of road transport nowadays, but i went up to where my a lot of my family originated from the other day in Blaengwynfi which lost its Railway under the beaching axe, i believe(?) it was on the lines from Treherbert - Bridgend via Caerau and onto the still open Maesteg line via the old castle street station and Treherbert to Port Talbot (or Aberavon which was open at the time) via Cymmer, Goytre, Cwmafan and the Tai Bach Viaduct.

but while i was up there, i was thinking how devastating the loss of the railway must have been during the early 60's for some of the locals. which places near you seem to be completely cut off nowadays.

 

[CalderRail]

Rishworth. Ripponden. Greetland. Stainland. Wyke. Norwood Green. Cleckheaton.

Elland ofc, although the line is still there - just needs the station rebuilding.

 

[3141]

Rishworth. Ripponden. Greetland. Stainland. Wyke. Norwood Green. Cleckheaton.

Elland ofc, although the line is still there - just needs the station rebuilding.

Greetland and Elland aren't "cut off" - they just don't have a passenger train service. Plenty of buses to Halifax and Huddersfield, and other places the train never reached.

Really "cut off" places are likely to be in the more remote rural areas where there was never much of a bus service, any buses provided following rail closure soon disappeared, and any bus services that now exist are infrequent and/or take a long time to reach the places people may want to get to.

 

[yorkie]

... i went up to where my a lot of my family originated from the other day in Blaengwynfi which lost its Railway under the beaching axe,...

A group of us cycled through Blaengwynfi last Summer. We mostly walked from Treherbert, which was probably a bit of a mistake as the path was rather more dodgy than it looked on the map, before having lunch at 'G2'. The old tunnel portal is no longer visible. Then a lovely ride, through the Afan Valey, finally finishing in Port Talbot, including some of the best descents along disused lines I can remember.

Many lines in South Wales don't have rails any more, but some of them can be explored on foot or by bike, and I would encourage people to do so!

 

[Greenback]

The Afan Valley is very pretty even if you are not on foot or a bike. A bus ride or even a drive through it is very much worth it.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I used to live in Taunton, just on the 'town' side of the M5, off the B3170 that heads over the Blackdown Hills to Honiton & the A303, past the Racecourse. During that time, I'd often use SWT from Honiton, which involved a scenic but long-winded route along said B-road. Along this route, and on many of the country lanes leading from it were a reasonable number of villages, some large enough to support primary schools and multiple pubs.

There was never any railway in the area, the nearest stations being Taunton or Honiton (along with the Chards/Ilminster/Donyatt Halt/Hatch Beauchamp in days gone by- all at least a 20min drive away).
At the time I was living there, there was a bus service from Taunton to Honiton that ran every three hours in each direction- the bus itself stuck to the main roads, meaning only a handful of these villages would be served directly- the others being 15-20mins walk away along roads with little or no lighting and no footways.
None of them are huge places, and I guess the lack of bus services is down partly to the reasonably high car ownership in the area, although one reason for the high car ownership is of course, the lack of any alternative!

Getting slightly more on topic, Wellington in Somerset has reasonably good road links and a bus to Taunton every 30mins during the day... but it still seems cut off and is rather insular- something I'd put down to the lack of a train service. It's rather like a cider-soaked version of Royston Vasey!

 

[nottinghamcity]

Oddly when I saw the title of the post, I thought South Wales valleys. I think there is something about the nature of the communities. They can be quite sizable, with limited local employment, congested road connections come together to define why there is isolation. Sparcely populated rural areas don't share all of these issues. Comparing the fortunes of Rhondda fawr with the rail connectiions, and Rhondda fach without is a case in point.

 

[davetheguard]

I'm sure that plenty of others here will remember the fold out B.R. system map of Britain that used to come with the national all-line timetable.

That for me, showed places that were cut off: all of the north coast of Devon & Cornwall apart from the Barnstaple line; everything between Carlisle & Stranraer that used to be served by the "Port Road"; and the biggest "white hole" of blank paper of all: the ENTIRE borders region between west coast and east, from the England border all the way to the Scottish central belt.

And because there's no railway there, it is the only region of Britain that I've never visited: the only region of Britain I've never stayed in a hotel; never eaten in a pub; never visited a tourist attraction. In short, never spent any money.

I'm looking forward to putting all of these things right when the Borders' Railway re-opens! And I don't think I'll be the only one......

 

[PHILIPE]

There used to be 4 routes leading to Brecon. Today there are none thanks to Marples and Beeching.

 

[deltic08]

The City of Ripon (yes, we have a Cathedral) was on a major route linking West Yorkshire to the Northeast and Scotland via Wetherby and Harrogate. Beeching closed Harrogate-Wetherby-Leeds in 1964. This in turn reduced traffic on the Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton route so that when the RUCC hearings took place in 1966 numbers were down but still making a profit. York-Harrogate-Horsforth-Leeds remained open but Harrogate-Northallerton closed in 1967 as traffic could route via York instead 15 miles longer in distance at greater expense in time and fuel.

As a result, Harrogate under performs in rail footfall figures for a town of 77,000 and Ripon and Wetherby are in public transport poverty despite doubling in size since closure and planned to double again by 2030. Both are dormitory towns for Leeds yet both are connected by most inadequate and dangerous roads to Leeds. There have been 22 fatalities on the A61 Ripon-Harrogate road since 1999.

Both Leeds Metro and North Yorkshire County Council are indifferent to rail reinstatement but happy to spend £millions on new roads. Both at one time wanted to run trams on the trackbed from Leeds to all three towns. This is still a possibility and would kill all heavy rail expansion.

 

[LateThanNever]

I'm sure that plenty of others here will remember the fold out B.R. system map of Britain that used to come with the national all-line timetable.

That for me, showed places that were cut off: all of the north coast of Devon & Cornwall apart from the Barnstaple line; everything between Carlisle & Stranraer that used to be served by the "Port Road"; and the biggest "white hole" of blank paper of all: the ENTIRE borders region between west coast and east, from the England border all the way to the Scottish central belt.

And because there's no railway there, it is the only region of Britain that I've never visited: the only region of Britain I've never stayed in a hotel; never eaten in a pub; never visited a tourist attraction. In short, never spent any money.

I'm looking forward to putting all of these things right when the Borders' Railway re-opens! And I don't think I'll be the only one......

Personally I think the relative poverty of places like Bude and Ilfracombe - even compared with the rest of Devon & Cornwall! is attributable to the lack of any rail connection - even anything remotely nearby. Let's hope George Osbourne's suggestion that the West Country will be receiving investment will mean the Okehampton route will be revived!

 

[AndyHudds]

Rishworth. Ripponden. Greetland. Stainland. Wyke. Norwood Green. Cleckheaton.

Elland ofc, although the line is still there - just needs the station rebuilding.

You'll be pleased to know that momentum is gathering on a station in Elland, I assume it'll be in the Lowfields area, it was discussed at HADRAG's meeting recently and there is a support from Network Rail (next CP), Calderdale Council (who are desperate for it) and Metro. There is a small article in 'Rail'.

Area totally cut off, Spen Valley, with a bit of wherewithall this could easily be reinstated though.

 

[Quakers Yard]

Agreed about Brecon...how you got there from Merthyr must have been awesome.

 

[RichmondCommu]

I confess to knowing very little about the railway network in Lincolnshire, pre or indeed post Beeching but I am aware that many towns in Lincolnshire have lost their rail services.

 

[swcovas]

There used to be 4 routes leading to Brecon. Today there are none thanks to Marples and Beeching.

Actually closed a few months before Beeching was published!

Having done abit of digging into the history of the Brecon lines' closures I learn that consideration WAS given to keeping one of the lines open and surprisingly that would have been the line through Hay to Hereford. The biggest loss maker was the line to Builth and Moat Lane. The other two were only particularly busy in the more populated areas at the southern ends into Newport and Neath though the Neath line was already a bit of a dead duck.

Ironically the winter that followed closure was one of the worst of the 20th century. Objectors to closure had raised doubts as to the suitablity of replacement buses during winter months. Their fears were confirmed in that first winter without a railway because buses failed to reach St Harmon, Pantydwr and other villages once served by rail for TEN WEEKS! Would the trains have got through?

 

[CalderRail]

You'll be pleased to know that momentum is gathering on a station in Elland, I assume it'll be in the Lowfields area, it was discussed at HADRAG's meeting recently and there is a support from Network Rail (next CP), Calderdale Council (who are desperate for it) and Metro. There is a small article in 'Rail'.

Area totally cut off, Spen Valley, with a bit of wherewithall this could easily be reinstated though.

Oh I know. David Hardy has been pushing for it for years. I just hope the project doesn't fall down now he's not there to keep it on the Agenda.

 

[route:oxford]

Callander?

I could understand the line closing between Callander and Crianlarich due to the rockfalls... But the line between Dunblane and Callander was a fairly flat and straightforward route with just one level crossing.

 

[backontrack]

Dulverton, Helston, Forfar, Ilfracombe, and much of North Norfolk.

Maybe add Ullapool to the list? Admittedly, it never had a line or station (nearest is Garve, I think, or maybe Lairg) but a branch was in the planning stages, along with branches to Skye, Lochinver, Gairloch, Laxford Bridge, Portmahomack, Melvich, John O' Groats and Scrabster. The latter would be well used today, but hard to route.

(Also, a branch line from Conon to Cromarty was started but never finished.)

 

[Mitch in Notts]

RichmondCommu mentioned Lincolnshire & I would punt for Louth as now being the most isolated in the county of size. It had trains on the Grimsby-London East Lincolnshire Line as well as trains to Mablethorpe & Lincoln.
The current bus service is hourly to Grimsby, Mablethorpe & Skegness with five a day to Lincoln. No evening or Sunday service. So really anyone wanting to head west is very restricted.

 

[168lover]

Chinnor in Oxfordshire gets an hourly bus service monday to saturday between High Wycombe and Thame. On Sunday the only form of public transport is the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Line!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

A view of the railway stations that were on the closed branch lines in the north-east of Scotland is quite revealing.

I would have been the tender age of 6 years of age when the Wick and Lybster Light Railway closed in 1951.

 

[harry42]

Nobodies mentioned Bakewell yet...

 

[Parallel]

A few places in Wiltshire... Devizes, Calne, Marlborough, Malmesbury, Amesbury, Wootton Bassett and I'd also say Owestry, and Market Drayton in Shropshire. There's probably loads more but these are ones I have in the front of my mind at the moment!

 

[infobleep]

Wotton Bassett could be reopened if they wished, surely.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[onyxcrowle]

The City of Ripon (yes, we have a Cathedral) was on a major route linking West Yorkshire to the Northeast and Scotland via Wetherby and Harrogate. Beeching closed Harrogate-Wetherby-Leeds in 1964. This in turn reduced traffic on the Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton route so that when the RUCC hearings took place in 1966 numbers were down but still making a profit. York-Harrogate-Horsforth-Leeds remained open but Harrogate-Northallerton closed in 1967 as traffic could route via York instead 15 miles longer in distance at greater expense in time and fuel.

As a result, Harrogate under performs in rail footfall figures for a town of 77,000 and Ripon and Wetherby are in public transport poverty despite doubling in size since closure and planned to double again by 2030. Both are dormitory towns for Leeds yet both are connected by most inadequate and dangerous roads to Leeds. There have been 22 fatalities on the A61 Ripon-Harrogate road since 1999.

Both Leeds Metro and North Yorkshire County Council are indifferent to rail reinstatement but happy to spend £millions on new roads. Both at one time wanted to run trams on the trackbed from Leeds to all three towns. This is still a possibility and would kill all heavy rail expansion.

I was in Wetherby last weekend stopping off on the way back from up north.
Had a meal at the Wetherby whaler.
She used to live in Tockwith but before that leeds.
Anyway I was asking about the railway line and she said how she's thought it used to be great n I think she said it went onto Harrogate.
Now when you look at Wetherby I think it's a lovely place . Quite touristy.
And it seems madness not to reopen the line from leeds to Wetherby and onward to where ever it used to go.
I seem to recall a village might be Spofforth with a castle n close to It a house has the old viaduct ad part of It's back garden.
Wetherby with a it's traffic would be a huge money spinner for the railways.
Though I'd hope a decent operator.
Makes you wonder why they ever shut it.

 

[Parallel]

Wotton Bassett could be reopened if they wished, surely.


Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Yeah, I'll admit I wasn't originally going to put that one on the list! I'm also unsure of bus connections there.

 

[Starmill]

I confess to knowing very little about the railway network in Lincolnshire, pre or indeed post Beeching but I am aware that many towns in Lincolnshire have lost their rail services.

The thread title made me think of Louth. Perhaps Mablethorpe too?

In The East Wisbech, Dereham.

In The Lakes, Kewsick, Cockermouth.

Cardigan / Aberearon (no idea if these actually were rail-served though!) in Pembrokshire.

Tadcaster and Market Weighton.

Hawick.

As I say just places that popped into my head when I read the thread title; my closed lines geography is not perfect!!!

 

[sarahj]

Alston. The line from Haltwhistle closed quite late as they decided to rebuild the road into an 'all weather road' first. But since the railway has gone and the bus service has thined out, it just seems very cut off, a long way from anywhere.
Off course one if the isses in keeping it open would been the Lambley viaduct. It needed major money spending which was just not there.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Blackwell Mill Halt...on the line outwards from Higher Buxton

 

[Mark62]

Spittal near Berwick on Tweed is a sad little place. I used to pop down to berwick a lot when I lived in Edinburgh and would pass through Spittal for the cliffe walks. It was a sad lost place 25 years ago. I went back there last year for the first in over 15 years and the place hasn't changed a bit in all of that time. It's still a sad dispirited place. We got speaking to a few people there and they all said that the town died when finally it lost all railway services in 1968. And yes you can see that , it's all to apparent from the towns archive of photos
Northumberland is one of my favourite counties. I have done countless hikes and come across so many disused lines and discarded villages. Petrol prices up there are shocking because the major companies won't sell as it's not profitable enough. Consequently local independent garages have to charge at least 20% more for petrol just to survive. Bus transport is non existant in many parts of the county. I can see that they may have been economic arguments to close many of the lines in the county, as the population was so sparse and maintenance costs high due to the extreme weather. It's even sparser now. There is more to running any transport system than making a profit. If this were the case, them just about every railway line in the world would have gone the same way as northumberlands railways.