Railway lines which never got built but should've (or built differently)?

[Anetos]

As a Yorkshireman it feels odd that Burnley to Manchester trains have always had to go through Todmorden, or that there's no proper link between the Caldervale and Huddersfield lines other than at Cooper Bridge, for Wales there was never a real direct link north from the Cardiff area (Carmarthen is a bit west) and that Scottish rail links have never been that direct (to start with even the WCML to Glasgow curves a bit east of Adington, the Waverley wasn't that direct from the west coast to Edinburgh either, Glasgow's connections to the north are a bit bendy not to mention the route of the Far North Line compared to the relatively straight forward A9 (would the Inverness and Skye route have worked via Loch Ness, Cannich and/or the Highland Main Line with a link from Deeside for Aberdeen to Fort William?) although they did open up opportunities for mad branch line plans to serve the northwest highlands and islands that were never going to be worthwhile enough financially to survive Beeching

 

[The exile]

In most cases the reason is simple - topography.

 

[The Planner]

Money as well I expect, these were all initially private ventures. Much like the Banbury Leamington line with the abandoned route towards Rugby around Fenny Compton.

 

[Falcon1200]

Much like the Banbury Leamington line with the abandoned route towards Rugby around Fenny Compton.

That route had occurred to me too! Had it been built, in addition to the actual route to Birmingham still there today, would it have been useful (for freight in particular) and survived to this day?

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The obvious railway not built in Wales was Abergavenny to Brecon - an easy route up the Usk Valley. The canal company successfully lobbied against it. It could have provided an easier 'All-Welsh' route to north, linking up with the Mid-Wales Railway. Further north, the Bishop's Castle railway was conceived as a trunk route to reach the Cambrian at Montgomery, but quickly ran out of funds.

 

[The exile]

Money as well I expect, these were all initially private ventures. Much like the Banbury Leamington line with the abandoned route towards Rugby around Fenny Compton.

Though in many cases the amount of money needed and the ease of raising it was dependent on the topography and the population distribution caused by it.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

On the Far North (seeing as you mentioned it) the lack of a rail crossing at the Dornoch Firth along with the road bridge is often cited as a "missed opportunity".
One would assume that had a rail link been included in the A9 diversion, the line "around the loop" inland would have closed. The population of Dornoch itself served by the new line, modest though it is at 1,430 (2020) plus the 300 or so at Embo dwarfs the population along the existing route that would lose their railway access.

 

[The Planner]

That route had occurred to me too! Had it been built, in addition to the actual route to Birmingham still there today, would it have been useful (for freight in particular) and survived to this day?

Probably yes, depending on how it was connected up to the WCML. Would have also sped up south coast to north west passenger too.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Further north, the Bishop's Castle railway was conceived as a trunk route to reach the Cambrian at Montgomery, but quickly ran out of funds.

The idea of the Bishops Castle line as a 'trunk route' makes me smile, seeing how incompetently the part of the line that was laid was actually built and then managed. Going through to Montgomery would have 'cut a corner' for traffic heading north from Hereford and going on to the Cambrian towards Newtown and beyond, or towards Oswestry and Wrexham -- do we know what way the junction at Montgomery was to face? -- but I can't envisage there being much traffic going either way. Having driven across that area and seen how hilly it is, it would have required some fairly hefty engineering (although nothing quite as hefty as the projected Llangynog > Bala line, but that's another story).

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The idea of the Bishops Castle line as a 'trunk route' makes me smile, seeing how incompetently the part of the line that was laid was actually built and then managed. Going through to Montgomery would have 'cut a corner' for traffic heading north from Hereford and going on to the Cambrian towards Newtown and beyond, or towards Oswestry and Wrexham -- do we know what way the junction at Montgomery was to face? -- but I can't envisage there being much traffic going either way. Having driven across that area and seen how hilly it is, it would have required some fairly hefty engineering (although nothing quite as hefty as the projected Llangynog > Bala line, but that's another story).

It would have faced towards Machynlleth at Montgomery - the plan was for a new packet port for Ireland at Porth Dinallen on the Lleyn Peninsula (5 miles from Pwllheli). The 'main-line' out of Craven Arms was actually engineered to a pretty high-standard - but then the money ran out.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

As a Yorkshireman it feels odd that Burnley to Manchester trains have always had to go through Todmorden...

Or, potentially via Darwen?

In most cases the reason is simple - topography.

Indeed!

 

[D6130]

On the Far North (seeing as you mentioned it) the lack of a rail crossing at the Dornoch Firth along with the road bridge is often cited as a "missed opportunity".
One would assume that had a rail link been included in the A9 diversion, the line "around the loop" inland would have closed. The population of Dornoch itself served by the new line, modest though it is at 1,430 (2020) plus the 300 or so at Embo dwarfs the population along the existing route that would lose their railway access.

When I worked in the Scottish Region train planning office (1978-83), the plan was - had the rail link over the Dornoch bridge been built - for the original route to be retained as a branch line from Tain as far as Lairg, with mail and bus connections to North-West Sutherland....plus the oil traffic to Lairg station itself. The only station to be closed would have been Rogart.

 

[Dr_Paul]

It would have faced towards Machynlleth at Montgomery - the plan was for a new packet port for Ireland at Porth Dinallen on the Lleyn Peninsula (5 miles from Pwllheli). The 'main-line' out of Craven Arms was actually engineered to a pretty high-standard - but then the money ran out.

I didn't know about the projected port at Porth Dinallen. It would, I guess, have been a rival to Holyhead, albeit with a much more circuitous railway link.

 

[Shred Metal]

East West should have been established a long time ago. A decent partially orbital route around the capital (mirroring the M25) would have helped non-London bound traffic no end. Cross Country (as a franchise and sector) could have utilised it massively!

 

[Pigeon]

There were endless schemes for a railway to a new packet port at Porth Dinllaen. It was one of those things that refused to go away. Most of them started at Worcester even before any other railway had got there. Brunel probably originated the railway idea, or at least made the most noise about it, and surveyed routes, but there were several others, mostly "Mania" schemes, but it still popped up again at the turn of the century when you'd have thought people would have learned better by now.

All of them had the problem of being more or less at right angles to the very pronounced SW-NE "grain" of the topography of Wales, and once the Holyhead route to Ireland was established it should have been plain that Porth Dinllaen was now a hopeless idea, but for some reason it wasn't.

 

[The Pelican]

There was also a NWNGR 2ft gauge Pwllheli to Porthdinlaen line proposed later on. It might have got joined up with other 2ft gauge lines in the area, such as by running to Porthmadog in paralell to the Cambrian.

 

[LLivery]

I've long thought the Hayes Line should've gone to Orpington with a station at Keston, and been the 'Mid-Kent Loop'

 

[Dr_Paul]

East West should have been established a long time ago. A decent partially orbital route around the capital (mirroring the M25) would have helped non-London bound traffic no end. Cross Country (as a franchise and sector) could have utilised it massively!

I read in an old copy of the Railway Magazine an article about suggested postwar railway development around London, and there was on a map a loop going round from the West Coast Main Line roughly where the M25 goes, round to Redhill or thereabouts. I'll try to find it, but there are a lot of issues of the magazine to peruse...

 

[Bevan Price]

As a Yorkshireman it feels odd that Burnley to Manchester trains have always had to go through Todmorden, or that there's no proper link between the Caldervale and Huddersfield lines other than at Cooper Bridge, for Wales there was never a real direct link north from the Cardiff area (Carmarthen is a bit west) and that Scottish rail links have never been that direct (to start with even the WCML to Glasgow curves a bit east of Adington, the Waverley wasn't that direct from the west coast to Edinburgh either, Glasgow's connections to the north are a bit bendy not to mention the route of the Far North Line compared to the relatively straight forward A9 (would the Inverness and Skye route have worked via Loch Ness, Cannich and/or the Highland Main Line with a link from Deeside for Aberdeen to Fort William?) although they did open up opportunities for mad branch line plans to serve the northwest highlands and islands that were never going to be worthwhile enough financially to survive Beeching

Burnley - Manchester trains also used to be able to go via Accrington, Ramsbottom , Bury & Clifton Junction.

 

[izvor]

On the Far North (seeing as you mentioned it) the lack of a rail crossing at the Dornoch Firth along with the road bridge is often cited as a "missed opportunity".
One would assume that had a rail link been included in the A9 diversion, the line "around the loop" inland would have closed. The population of Dornoch itself served by the new line, modest though it is at 1,430 (2020) plus the 300 or so at Embo dwarfs the population along the existing route that would lose their railway access.

Agree totally, this was a very shabby decision not to add a rail line to the bridge at the time. This, together with a short cut-off at Georgemas to avoid the reverse there, would have made the Far North far more competitive with the bus.

Likewise I think making the new Lower Thames Crossing road-only is a wasted opportunity.

 

[yorksrob]

The Alkham valley railway might have been handy in the event of a catastrophic landslip between Folkestone and Dover.

 

[renegademaster]

Hitchin - Luton feels like something that was cut by Beeching but turnt out never existed.

 

[Helvellyn]

For built differently the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway going through Kendal, up Longsleddle, under Gatescarth Pass and then along Haweswater to reach Penrith would have been an easier route than going over Shap via the Lune Gorge (although harder to construct). The route was surveyed but ruled out but if it hadn't been that presents a few interesting "what if?" scenarios.

• With no railway in the Lune Gorge and over Shap would the Midland Railway have gone further West rather than build the S&C?
  • If the MR had built a route over Shap would they have neen able to agree to share the LNWR route Penrith-Carlisle, or have to build a duplicate route?
• Would Haweswater Reservoir have been built by the Manchester Corporation 1929-35 if they had to re-route the West Coast Mainline to higher ground? (I presume the 1840s railway would have been fairly close to the original lake)
• Would a Kendal-Windermere branch have survived Beeching? (I understand part of the reason Oxenholme-Windermere survived was because of all-year connections to Kendal)
• Would the early 1970s WCML Northern electrification have been harder to justify if an easier route had been built avoiding Shap?

 

[Uncle Buck]

The Milngavie branch to the north of Glasgow is a bit odd. You would think it would run further out, but it never was (except for a short extension to a goods yard).

I wonder what it will have looked like if it was either extended to the closed railway at Strathblane or to Bishoobriggs- the later route would be very busy today.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Both the Clayton West (L&Y) and Kirkburton (LNWR) branches from Huddersfield were intended to continue to Barnsley, but neither ever did. Had one of these proposals made it to reality (Clayton West would be more likely, as the eventual terminus was a good few miles nearer) though, the case for retaining the route from Huddersfield to Sheffield via Penistone may have been weaker.
An extension of the Clayton West line would probably have met the Wakefield to Barnsley line somewhere between Haigh and Darton.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Locally to me, I always bemoan the lack of a direct railway between Wilmslow and Macclesfield, without the need to go round the houses via Cheadle Hulme. Manchester to London trains could serve both towns with no need for a split service.

The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway did propose a railway from Chesterfield to Warrington via Buxton, Prestbury (Macclesfield), Alderley Edge and Knutsford. with a branch to the Midland at Cheadle Heath in Stockport. It was primarily to export coal from the Nottinghamshire coalfield, but needless to say never got any further west than Chesterfield. It would have certainly changed the railway geography of North Cheshire.

 

[devon_belle]

Chessington South to Leatherhead, which was planned pre-war but cancelled after the war due to new green belt legislation. Less so post-covid, but an extra pair of tracks would have been useful to ease the busy Epsom-Leatherhead section.

For similar reasons, the LBSCR's London-Worthing route (or just Brighton Mainline electrification) would prove useful these days.

 

[PTR 444]

Bournemouth to West Moors direct via Wallisdown, Kinson and Ferndown. The Castleman route via Wimborne was rather indirect for this flow, which was likely to have contributed to that line’s demise. If such a cut-off had been built, that and the West Moors - Alderbury line might have survived Beeching, since it would have provided a second viable alternative route out of Bournemouth.

 

[Transilien]

When I worked in the Scottish Region train planning office (1978-83), the plan was - had the rail link over the Dornoch bridge been built - for the original route to be retained as a branch line from Tain as far as Lairg, with mail and bus connections to North-West Sutherland....plus the oil traffic to Lairg station itself. The only station to be closed would have been Rogar

I wonder if this idea would have been a sustainable one at least in a passenger sense. Lairg and the surrounding area is not a popular tourist spot or very populated in of itself. I get the feeling that the original route branch would have survived perhaps a few more years, but then closed to passenger traffic because of the ruralness of the area.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

And of course various Crossrail should have been built in the 1800s .