Trivia: Any lines that were built but never used?

[DerekC]

There was once a link between the LNWR St Albans Branch just north of the new How Wood station, to the MR main line close to the site of Napsbury station and the branch to the former mental hospital. According to Wiki, it was built to allow materials to be delivered during MR construction but I know no more about it than that. The earthworks at the LNWR end are still clearly visible, but the rest must have been obliterated during the construction of Radlett aerodrome, probably in the 1930s.

 

[John Luxton]

Spotted a book in the National Railway Museum shop in York earlier today, which may be of interest with respect to this particular thread. If you shop around, it should be possible to obtain a copy of same for just under the £20 mark. (RRP is £30).

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Pic of "Unfinished Lines - Rediscovering the remains of railways never completed" (2021 book) by Mark Yonge.

I bought a copy of this when it was released having spotted it on the Pen and Sword web site several months before publication and was rather disappointed as it seemed to be highly selective and missed out lines. The biggest omission I thought was the Looe direct line and associated hotel recreational and residential developments planned and on which work started in the 30s only to be postponed by war and then killed off by nationalisation. Fortunately, a few months later I was able to secure a copy of a very well researched survey of the Looe line which had limited circulation and I only managed to just get a copy. The Looe book needs republishing with a bigger circulation "The Great Western Railway's Last Resort" by Alec Kendall. Now that is how a study of an unfinished line should be done.