Defunct heritage railways

[MidnightFlyer]

Reading Greenback's post here reminded me of the ill-fated Swansea Vale Railway that closed in 2007, I think as a result of vandalism (confirmation appreciated), and it made me wonder if any other preserved / heritage railways or railway centres from over the years have ever closed, been absorbed or similar, and the dates and reasons why. I know the work around Porthmadog has seen the the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland railways merge, but I can't think of any more.

Cheers

 

[SussexSpotter]

Deleted

 

[jamieintercity]

I'm not sure about this one but was the lochty private railway in Fife one? It was closed in 1992

 

[Wath Yard]

A number of heritage sites have closed. Steamport, Southport is one. There are also 2 others I never knew existed until recently, having seen photos of them. One Dinting Railway Centre near Glossop and one near Grantham I think. There is also Carnforth of course.

 

[gazthomas]

Isle of Mull railway closed not too long ago.

 

[Prairie_5542]

What about Buxton steam centre which was part of Peak Rail, which was closed?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Barry Steam Railway? Now operated by Cambrian Railways.

 

[GM078]

The Shane's Castle Railway in Northern Ireland closed circa 1995 I think. Much of the stock is now at the Giant's Causeway line, with a diesel at Stradbally also.

The Foyle Valley Railway in Derry also spring to mind.

 

[bishdunster]

Not standard guage i know,and a fair while ago, but, the Creekmoor Light Railway (2ft Guage) on the outskirts of Poole Dorset, 1968-72 (see Wiki article), moved lock stock and barrel to form the Crockway Light railway near Maiden Newton Dorset 1972-79. Anyone who was connected with either of these i would love to hear from, as i was involved in both of these way back then !

 

[Greenback]

While the amount of unsuccessful ventures is disappointing to any enthusiast, I think its important to realise that not every line can, or should be preserved/reopened.

Locally to me, I hope that the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr railway (http://lmmrcoltd.com/index.html) will prosper, but I do have my doubts that it will be sustainable in the longer term.

 

[Ploughman]

A number of heritage sites have closed. Steamport, Southport is one. There are also 2 others I never knew existed until recently, having seen photos of them. One Dinting Railway Centre near Glossop and one near Grantham I think. There is also Carnforth of course.

Technically Steamport Southport moved site.
They had an offer for the site at Southport that could not be refused and a suitable alternative site was available at Preston. So the Ribble Steam Railway was born.

Carnforth still exists just not open anymore.

One that did close was the Lytham Creek museum from near Blackpool.

 

[steamybrian]

North Downs Steam Railway in Dartford, Kent closed in 1995 because the landowner (Dartford Council) wanted the land for redevelopment. The railway society and its assets were transferred to the Spa Valley Railway.
Ashford Steam Centre closed in the 1970s because of financial difficulties and the land owner (BR) took back full ownership. All the rolling stock has been dispersed to other railways.
North Woolwich Railway Museum (in East London) closed only a few years ago

 

[PaxVobiscum]

The Lochty Private Railway http://buckhaven.info/html/lochty_private_railway.html
closed some time ago but I believe that the Kingdom of Fife Railway Preservation Society http://www.kfrps.co.uk/ took over from it to some extent.

 

[D107]

Caerphilly Railway Society closed due to vandalism, but relocated to the Gwili as did the Vale of Neath Railway Society. The Butetown Historic Railway Society (in Cardiff) became the Vale of Glamorgan Railway Company and relocated to Barry Island (due to compulsory purchase of the Cardiff Docks site).

The Vale of Glamorgan Railway were evicted after a number years by the council following a tendering process for a new operator and too is no more.

 

[RPM]

An obscure one that springs to mind is the Dowty Railway Preservation Society that was formerly at Ashchurch. They had a standard gauge collection and a narrow gauge line. The site closed down sometime in the 1980s and the society moved to Toddington on the Gloucestershire Warwicksgire Railway.

 

[D107]

Bulmers Railway Centre at Hereford was another. It was sited alongside the Bulmers Cider sidings.

 

[theblackwatch]

There was also the Great Yorkshire Railway Preservation Society based at Starbeck. It relocated to Yorkshire Museum of Farming at Murton in 1990 and now operates over part of the former Derwent Valley Light Railway. This line actually ran as a steam railway between 1977 and 1979 but was not actually a preserved railway at the time (see the 'final years' section at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derwent_Valley_Light_Railway for more information).

 

[Kali]

The Somerset & Dorset trust did actually run trains along a bit of the S&D from Radstock for a while. I was never quite sure about why they had to leave.

 

[yorksrob]

Not exactly a "heritage" railway (but it was a tourist attraction and it ran along a former mainline) there used to be narrow gauge railway along the old Ramsgate harbour tunnel, but I believe it closed in the sixties some time.

 

[MP33]

A former colleague in the mid 1980's, who was very much involved with model railways stated that there were few total failures.

He said there was one in Kent, where according to him the owner did not listen to any good advice offered.

I have no idea myself as to where this was. I did read that in the early 1980's the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch threatened to dismantle everthing and move to an area with a greater tourist potential.

 

[507 001]

.......I know the work around Porthmadog has seen the the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland railways merge, but I can't think of any more......

Say Whut?

I think you'll find that they have always been one company

Well since 1933 anyway!

http://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/Welsh_Highland

 

[steamybrian]

A former colleague in the mid 1980's, who was very much involved with model railways stated that there were few total failures.

He said there was one in Kent, where according to him the owner did not listen to any good advice offered.

I have no idea myself as to where this was. .................

I believe you mean Mr. Lewis-Evans who ran Ashford Steam Centre.
I diplomatically stated in an earlier posting it closed due to "financial problems" although those few words cover a very large story.

 

[Robert Taggart]

All the railways named above ring a bell.
Methinks there be simply too many preserved railways in Blighty - perhaps austerity will weed-out the dross ?
The only such with any future should be those with a decent length of line to run trains along - five miles minimum ? Also, those which encompass other railway or heritage attractions - the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, the Nene Valley Railway, The West Somerset Railway...
Alas, methinks the 'tiddlers' will be gobbled up - by the 'big fish' - eventually.

 

[D107]

All the railways named above ring a bell.
Methinks there be simply too many preserved railways in Blighty - perhaps austerity will weed-out the dross ?
The only such with any future should be those with a decent length of line to run trains along - five miles minimum ? Also, those which encompass other railway or heritage attractions - the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, the Nene Valley Railway, The West Somerset Railway...
Alas, methinks the 'tiddlers' will be gobbled up - by the 'big fish' - eventually.

Probably some element of truth in that but arguably a more important aspect is the requirement for "new" lines to have a unique selling point. The days of lines/railway centres simply offering a ride in a brakevan behind a wheezing Austerity won't bring the punters in, whereas a properly marketed attraction sufficient to draw in the paying public is a more viable option.

"Attraction" and "unique selling point" are keywords here, in a climate where there are so many other, competing, options open to the public.

 

[JohnCarlson]

Is the Barry Island railway working now?

 

[fgwrich]

As were including some narrow gauge lines - Does anyone know what the set up at Hayle used to be about - up at the Riviere Towans?

 

[D107]

Is the Barry Island railway working now?

The Barry Island Railway closed following its eviction by the council, to be replaced by a commercial operation - The Barry Tourist Railway. Steam events run by the new operator seem to be using hired-in traction and diesel events relying on their 101 and 73. One of the running lines seems to be occupied by rakes of stored wagons at the moment.

People living in Barry are asking the same questions as you John!

 

[CatfordCat]

North Downs Steam Railway in Dartford, Kent closed in 1995 because the landowner (Dartford Council) wanted the land for redevelopment. The railway society and its assets were transferred to the Spa Valley Railway.

This was the NDSR's second site - they had previously operated within Chatham Dockyard.

I'm not sure what the circumstances were that led to them moving away from Chatham.

 

[steamybrian]

Does the narrow gauge railway at Dobwalls Adventure Park in Cornwall count as a "Heritage Railway" when it closed approx. 5 years ago.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

This was the NDSR's second site - they had previously operated within Chatham Dockyard.

I'm not sure what the circumstances were that led to them moving away from Chatham.

Prior to moving to Chatham for a couple of years they also used the former goods yard at Higham station in which they laid some track to store their growing collection of stock.

 

[hinko]

peak rail is very much operational although at matlock end and as far as rowsley,and some day we hope to get to buxton as we still have the station to go into although on a smaller scale.hinko

 

[Smudger105e]

I visited Transperience near Bradford, West Yorkshire some time ago, apparently it was built on the Low Moor Railway. it was open for 2 years and racked up a million pound debt in that time apparently

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transperience