What railways should be looked at for reopening?

[DarloRich]

Oxford-Bletchley got knocked back again fairly recently. But it is another one that really should be open, however there is no money so it wont happen any time soon.

 

[TheBigD]

In terms of others -

Oxford - Bletchley should be a no-brainer, most of the route is in-situ, this could run onto Bedford and then via Corby to Peterborough (though a new curve would be needed at Manton). This would be an 'easy to do'.

Back in the early 1990's Regional Railways ran a 155 unit on a Swindon-Peterborough run along that route for the local councils etc. Shame it never came to anything.

Okehampton - Bere Alston would appear to make sense given the problems with trains running so close to the sea at Dawlish.

Tavistock progress is here...

http://www.kilbridegroup.com/tavistock/TVA-CJH-GEN-Position Statement-October 2010.pdf

http://www.kilbridegroup.com/tavistock/Jacobs-Phase-2-Report.pdf

http://www.kilbridegroup.com/tavistock/Structures-Condition-Report.pdf

 

[NXEA!]

I'd have to agree with the Devonshire suggestions having lived locally for a few years. Re-opening Barnstaple-Torrington/Ilfracombe would be a good idea, as it is an area popular with tourists and holiday makers, and in the summer these towns get extremely busy roadwise with people passing through. Also Okehampton-Tavistock-(Bere Alston is it?) Would be something worth investing in as Okehampton and Tavistock have got sizeable populations and many commute to Exeter and Plymouth, not to mention the potential it has as a diversionary route for when the Dawlish route is shut, as nothing can reach Cornwall if that stretch of line is shut so it keeps connectivity. In Essex I would suggest reopening a line to Maldon from Witham or South Woodham Ferrers as Maldon's population has grown somewhat, and it would be within an hours travelling time from Liverpool Street for commuters. Braintree-Dunmore extended onto Stansted would make travelling from East Anglia to the airport simple with a change at Witham and when the Stansted line is shut for engineering works, trains could be run from Liverpool Street via Witham. Lastly I would like to see the line from Chappel & Wakes Colne to Halstead reinstated as people do commute from there to London and have to drive to Witham/Braintree for a train. Just a few schemes there

Dunmow* :$ oops

 

[The Planner]

Oxford-Bletchley got knocked back again fairly recently. But it is another one that really should be open, however there is no money so it wont happen any time soon.

CP5 its planned for last I heard, no one has said its dead yet.

 

[DarloRich]

it isnt dead - it just wont happen for a while! Cant see it happending in CP5 either

 

[cle]

I didn't see where it was delayed?

Isn't Evergreen 3's upgrading of the line going to be continued? I wonder if this will be part of Evergreen 4, which Chiltern had some public consultation on.

Aylesbury Vale Parkway is also a bit of a middle of nowhere stop - they could continue from Bicester Town, and AVP, to Bletchley. Surely it wouldn't be that expensive, without wires and with alignments pretty clear. Huge freight potential too - and some nice new platforms at Oxford for terminating trains!

 

[mr williams]

However, I don't see Aberystwyth - Carmarthen ever being reopened.
Did it in 1964 - just 3 trains per day, each way, none of which was particularly well-filled. Too much sparsely populated land between the termini to provide much custom, unfortunately..

But surely that was the case with so many lines in the 1960s when the railways were in almost terminal decline and that is why all the lines being discussed were closed in the first place? Looking back, yes, he went too far but it is so easy to criticise Beeching with the benefit of hindsight.

As for Carmarthen - Aberystwyth, I agree that we'll never see it back - unless the EU come up with a very big grant or they strike oil in Cardigan Bay!

 

[matchmaker]

If we include new
Inverness-Fort William-Oban
Wonderfully scenic route, and does something about the current travel times (7-8 hours Fort William-Inverness by rail, 2 by coach). The Great Glen is a natural route, and would undoubtedly attract thousands of tourists, especially with a few steam services in the summer.

Well, there are traces of trackbed still remaining between Spean Bridge and Fort Augustus!

Dunblane - Callander. Quite a lot is built over now and one stretch of the trackbed is used by quarry traffic near Callander.

 

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

How about reinstating passenger services on the freight lines serving Bedlington/Blyth/Ashington? There would be a lot of commuter demand from pepole who currently travel by car or bus into Newcastle.

Stage Two would link into the reopened Leamside line, so you could have trains from Ashington to Middlesbrough via Washington.

A less fanciful option would be a two-way circular service Newcastle - Morpeth - Bedlington - Newcastle.

Other ideas: Elgin to Cullen, over that magnificent Spey crossing and the viaduct into Cullen, or Gaerwen to Amlwch (both perfect for tourist-friendly summer steam services - if not much else!).

 

[scotsman]

This one was never built, due to landowners objecting. Garve - Ullapool. A small fishing village, however, it is the port for the ferry to Stornoway. At the moment, 2 coaches from Inverness come for ferry passengers. A single Class 158 could cope and would porbably prove a sound investment?

 

[tbtc]

How about reinstating passenger services on the freight lines serving Bedlington/Blyth/Ashington? There would be a lot of commuter demand from pepole who currently travel by car or bus into Newcastle

Good suggestion for two reasons:

1. There's an obvious "year round" demand from commuters etc (rather than relying on tourist trade, like some suggestions)

2. It'd be straightforward to operate - units terminating in Newcastle, which has only a handful of services serving the north/eastern throat each hour - so shouldn't be impossible to path

The bus demand is certainly there - I'm just not certain whether the path of the railway would be ideal for station locations though

 

[sprinterguy]

This one was never built, due to landowners objecting. Garve - Ullapool. A small fishing village, however, it is the port for the ferry to Stornoway. At the moment, 2 coaches from Inverness come for ferry passengers. A single Class 158 could cope and would porbably prove a sound investment?

I've always been surprised that Ullapool never got a railway, when similar towns such as Mallaig were connected to the rail network. It always seems like it should have had a rail link to Inverness. So I advocate a Garve-Ullapool line...150 years ago! Even if it hadn't survived the Beeching cuts (had it been built in the first place), it would have made a great steam railway, even just in part, running down the side of Loch Broom.

How about reinstating passenger services on the freight lines serving Bedlington/Blyth/Ashington? There would be a lot of commuter demand from pepole who currently travel by car or bus into Newcastle.

There's such a clear cut argument for reopening the Blyth and Tyne for passenger traffic that it's amazing nothing has been done about it already. It's not even a proper reopening, just a service reinstatement: The track is already there, prefectly servicable.

 

[142094]

1. There's an obvious "year round" demand from commuters etc (rather than relying on tourist trade, like some suggestions)

2. It'd be straightforward to operate - units terminating in Newcastle, which has only a handful of services serving the north/eastern throat each hour - so shouldn't be impossible to path

The bus demand is certainly there - I'm just not certain whether the path of the railway would be ideal for station locations though

IIRC a while back when I travelled on the special service that ran through to Ashington, the first stage could see a reopening from Morpeth - Bedlington without the need of any additional stock - the current MetroCentre - Morpeth train would just be extended. However to do the full whack and get the trains going from Morpeth - Bedlington - Blyth - Ashington - Seghill - Northumberland Park - Newcastle would need two more units. Easy way I see of doing this is remove the Newcastle - MetroCentre shuttles which are hardly used during the day (apart from school holidays).

Only problem could be a lack of platform space in Newcastle - so could either stick it into 1 or even 8 if needed.

All the lines run near to the centres of each of the towns - in some cases the remains of the stations are there and just need to be redeveloped.

The more and more I think about it, I can't see a good enough reason why both the ABT and Leamside lines haven't been reopened yet.

 

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

not certain whether the path of the railway would be ideal for station locations

...but if the stations aren't in the towns/villages, then there could be space for large Park & Ride car parks.

I've always been surprised that Ullapool never got a railway

Have you seen the topography from Braemore Junction down to Loch Broom? It would be quite a ride, but the engineering challenges would be enormous! And who's to say the landowners would be any happier now than they were in the 19th Century? Great idea though...

 

[sprinterguy]

Have you seen the topography from Braemore Junction down to Loch Broom? It would be quite a ride, but the engineering challenges would be enormous! And who's to say the landowners would be any happier now than they were in the 19th Century? Great idea though...

True, but there were some pretty spectacular challenges to be overcome in the building of the railways 150 years ago: No doubt proposing to build the S&C, or the West Highland across Rannoch Moor, would have been viewed as madness at the time, but they managed it!

I'd also like to suggest a reopening in combination with a like for like closure: Specifically, reopening the Keith-Elgin route via Dufftown and Rothes and closing the current alignment: The Dufftown route serves larger population centres en route than the current Keith-Elgin line which remains. The choice of which route to keep appears to have been made purely on the shortest distance rather than the number of people the line serves.

 

[Bittern]

Keith - Dufftown is already open as a heritage railway.

 

[sprinterguy]

Keith - Dufftown is already open as a heritage railway.

Yeah I know, I didn't reckon that precluded it from being added to this list of possible reopenings for national rail use. It would be good to see the Keith and Dufftown running a weekday service to connect with at least some of the Inverness-Aberdeen trains at Keith (Assuming they don’t do this already; my knowledge of this particular preserved operation is limited).