Redundant routes?

[Donny Dave]

At some locations around the country (Masborough Junction is a prime example), there is a fully signalled loop. However, this has been disconnected at both ends, and is heavily overgrown. Is there any reason for such loops/tracks to remain in situ? Or is it a case of not being worth the time and effort to remove the track and alter the signalling?

 

[joshTikeeti]

This will be very interesting to find about as I have been asking myself same question.

 

[gazthomas]

I wonder this myself.

While not a loop, I walked over a very flooded Eggborough Power Ststion line earlier in the year. I was amazed to see the signals still powered on this defunct line. Seems another waste of money

 

[The Planner]

It costs to take them out. Both in terms of track and removing the signalling from the interlocking. The money it costs to keep a signal lit is an awful lot less.

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

A lot of these routes aren't actually closed, even when the track is ripped up or points leading to a branch/siding/route plain lined.

It's ordinarily formally listed in the Sectional Appendix as "temporarily out of use".

To actually close a route or asset requires a Network Change proposal, and freight operators in particular normally object as it can cause them difficulties in the event that business picks up / deters potential customers from using rail.

A surprising number of lines are actually still open.

 

[172007]

Lessons learnt from Beeching. If you close the line then inevitability the land gets sold off or roads get built over them and they are post forvere. If they are kept loou then they ask be used again if and when traffic picks up. Old power station sites are always great potential for rail connected cargo loading points etc as an example. If the Cheltenham yo Stratford OA line had simply beem left out of use then no doubt some if not most would now be in use.

 

[Towers]

Is there still that rather famous signal steadfastly protecting the entrance to the former Weymouth Quay route? I can think of ground position lights protecting the entrance or exits to long since lifted sidings which remained in situ, lit and presumably interlocked for years afterwards. Must be dozens of them out there!

 

[D6130]

I can think of ground position lights protecting the entrance or exits to long since lifted sidings which remained in situ, lit and presumably interlocked for years afterwards. Must be dozens of them out there!

The East end of the former Healey Mills yard was like that for years....despite most of the track having been lifted and what remained having twenty feet high birch trees growing between the sleepers.

 

[Towers]

The East end of the former Healey Mills yard was like that for years....despite most of the track having been lifted and what remained having twenty feet high birch trees growing between the sleepers.

Can’t be too careful!

 

[JKF]

I wonder what line had been the longest out of use but still with track down (excluding quaysides/crossings where it’s not worth taking out).

Track is still down on the few miles running into Portishead, which last had regular freight in 1981 and specials in 1985 for the GWR 150 event. There’s also Leamside (lifted now I think?) and that line in the west mids which I think is being reopened. Any other significant ones?

 

[swt_passenger]

Is there still that rather famous signal steadfastly protecting the entrance to the former Weymouth Quay route?

Yes, when discussed a few months ago somewhere in these forums. Still visible on Google Streetview as of 3 years ago, the up signal is also present although in a hedge, as of 2 years ago.

 

[The Planner]

I wonder what line had been the longest out of use but still with track down (excluding quaysides/crossings where it’s not worth taking out).

Track is still down on the few miles running into Portishead, which last had regular freight in 1981 and specials in 1985 for the GWR 150 event. There’s also Leamside (lifted now I think?) and that line in the west mids which I think is being reopened. Any other significant ones?

There are loads. Caldon branch, Silverdale branch, Brownhills branch, Birkenhead docks, Deepdale branch, Prologis Park Coventry, Amwlch, Oswestry. Round Oak Bescot isn't being reopened to heavy rail.

 

[JKF]

There are loads. Caldon branch, Silverdale branch, Brownhills branch, Birkenhead docks, Deepdale branch, Prologis Park Coventry, Amwlch, Oswestry. Round Oak Bescot isn't being reopened to heavy rail.

So maybe the question should be which was the last line to be closed and properly dismantled?

I imagine it’ll be a mining related one. I know there was one near Butterley towards Derby that was taken up a few years ago, but I think they wanted that for a cycleway.

 

[D6130]

There are loads. Caldon branch, Silverdale branch, Brownhills branch, Birkenhead docks, Deepdale branch, Prologis Park Coventry, Amwlch, Oswestry. Round Oak Bescot isn't being reopened to heavy rail.

I thought the Caldon branch had been lifted beyond Ipstone? The Marchwood-Fawley section must be another candidate.

 

[12LDA28C]

Track is still down on the few miles running into Portishead, which last had regular freight in 1981 and specials in 1985 for the GWR 150 event.

Just as well, as the line is scheduled for reopening and reinstatement of passenger services.

 

[The Planner]

Just as well, as the line is scheduled for reopening and reinstatement of passenger services.

It would be ripped up and relaid anyway, so its of no odds.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Blaenau Ffestiniog to Trawsfynydd is still in situ, I walked it a couple of years back when they cut all the overgrowth back, it was a lovely walk on a sunny day over a viaduct and with some stunning scenery. Sadly it has all over grown again now the group have stopped work on it.

 

[JKF]

Just as well, as the line is scheduled for reopening and reinstatement of passenger services.

Scheduled is a bit overstating things at the moment! Let’s see what the new government prioritises, it’s been constantly pushed back for relatively minor details, with each delay adding another 10 million or so to the costs, and round the funding merry-go-round it goes again.

 

[higthomas]

It costs to take them out. Both in terms of track and removing the signalling from the interlocking. The money it costs to keep a signal lit is an awful lot less.

Would it be possible to turn the bulbs off/remove them whilst leaving the signal in situ?

IIRC someone estimated it would a surprisingly large amount of money to leave a signal lit for years.

If the track is overgrown, there's no risk of the signal being needed, and just removing the bulb is trivial to reinstate.

 

[Towers]

Would it be possible to turn the bulbs off/remove them whilst leaving the signal in situ?

IIRC someone estimated it would a surprisingly large amount of money to leave a signal lit for years.

If the track is overgrown, there's no risk of the signal being needed, and just removing the bulb is trivial to reinstate.

If the signal is not physically lit then in some/many cases it’ll throw up a ‘wrong side failure’ issue, which may or may not have wider implications for the related signalling in the area. Generally speaking you can’t just take the bulb out, the system knows that the signal then isn’t working.

 

[Western 52]

Plenty of disused lines in South Wales:-
Ogmore Vale Extension
Gwaun cae Gurwen
Kidwelly to Coedbach
Onllwyn
Vale of Neath
Ford branch at Bridgend
Aberthaw power station loop
Glascoed
Hirwaun to Aberdare

A couple have hopes for new use, but most don't as far as I know.

 

[12LDA28C]

It would be ripped up and relaid anyway, so its of no odds.

Of course, my point was more that if the track had been lifted after closure there may have been more chance of the land being sold off, in which case the chance of reopening would be zero.

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

There are loads. Caldon branch, Silverdale branch, Brownhills branch, Birkenhead docks, Deepdale branch, Prologis Park Coventry, Amwlch, Oswestry. Round Oak Bescot isn't being reopened to heavy rail.

Although interestingly the Silverdale/Madeley branch has an "out of use until... date" marked against it - presumably was connected to HS2 works in the area. Should be theoretically available again in a few months.

You get branch lines like Rosyth that are just 'temporaily out of use' and that's it...!

 

[jammmmmsssssss]

I wonder what line had been the longest out of use but still with track down (excluding quaysides/crossings where it’s not worth taking out).

Track is still down on the few miles running into Portishead, which last had regular freight in 1981 and specials in 1985 for the GWR 150 event. There’s also Leamside (lifted now I think?) and that line in the west mids which I think is being reopened. Any other significant ones?

I think the line to Wisbech is listed temporarily out of use in the sectional appendix

 

[The Planner]

Although interestingly the Silverdale/Madeley branch has an "out of use until... date" marked against it - presumably was connected to HS2 works in the area. Should be theoretically available again in a few months.

You get branch lines like Rosyth that are just 'temporaily out of use' and that's it...!

No, it always been down to some vague plan to extract sand out of the area, so freight always object is the story. It would need a complete rebuild as well as not being connected to the down slow anymore.

 

[vic-rijrode]

I wonder what line had been the longest out of use but still with track down (excluding quaysides/crossings where it’s not worth taking out).

Track is still down on the few miles running into Portishead, which last had regular freight in 1981 and specials in 1985 for the GWR 150 event. There’s also Leamside (lifted now I think?) and that line in the west mids which I think is being reopened. Any other significant ones?

The only part of the Leamside alignment that has track still on is a a few dozen yards of double track at Pelaw which can be seen below the Tyne & Wear Metro bridge east of the station. The track is disconnected from the Network Rail Heworth to Sunderland line in one direction and I believe peters out round the bend from the erstwhile junction. At all the other locations where roads cross the old alignment, I have not seen any track - indeed in several places (including at Washington near the Nissan Works) the road has been resurfaced and no trace of a crossing is left.

The other end of the Leamside alignment is at Ferryhill - there is no trace of the junction to the mainline between Durham and Darlington.

Of course the Victoria Bridge (viaduct) remains in all its splendour awaiting a dimutive Metro train from South Hylton to the outskirts of Washington to rumble over...

Edit. Both Google and Bing Maps show that track remains on the Leamside line for a significant distance from Pelaw Junction to an industrial estate in NE Washington - but looks as if it has not been used for many years judging by the undergrowth.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

What's the current status of the former 17.5 mile branch line across mid Anglesey, from Gaerwen to Amlwch (via Llangefni)? Is this redundant route ever likely to re-open?

 

[The Planner]

What's the current status of the former 17.5 mile branch line across mid Anglesey, from Gaerwen to Amlwch (via Llangefni)? Is this redundant route ever likely to re-open?

Always comes up and has done for years. No nearer to anything happening.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The other end of the Leamside alignment is at Ferryhill - there is no trace of the junction to the mainline between Durham and Darlington.

I thought there was still about 200yds of line in situ at Tursdale, the junction to the Leamside line is at the point where the northern end of the loop at Ferryhill Station starts.

But the level crossings went a long time ago- at Fencehouses it even went before the rest of the track had been lifted:

 

[Trackman]

Yes, when discussed a few months ago somewhere in these forums. Still visible on Google Streetview as of 3 years ago, the up signal is also present although in a hedge, as of 2 years ago.

Still showing as signalled on Tracksy.