TRIVIA: Hardest Rail lines to reinstate

[Malcolmffc]

Which lines would be so hard to reinstate (from an engineering/construction point of view) that even the most ardent of crayonistas wouldn’t claim it was possible?

Some suggestions
- Westerham branch - now part of the M25!
- Bedford-Cambridge (original alignment), now has housing, a cycle path and a telescope in the middle
- Waterloo to Waterloo east- you’d need to build a line across the concourse...

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Tebay to Barnard Castle surely. ?

 

[bramling]

Which lines would be so hard to reinstate (from an engineering/construction point of view) that even the most ardent of crayonistas wouldn’t claim it was possible?

Some suggestions
- Westerham branch - now part of the M25!
- Bedford-Cambridge (original alignment), now has housing, a cycle path and a telescope in the middle
- Waterloo to Waterloo east- you’d need to build a line across the concourse...

Any of the lines through or around Nottingham would be in with a shout. Relative to elsewhere, Nottingham seems to have done a particularly thorough job of obliterating and/or re-purposing disused railway alignments. The Great Central route, for example, has lots of housing and other development. Many disused tunnels in the Nottingham area are also partially or entirely backfilled - whilst this is by no means a showstopper (qv the re-opening of Kirkby Tunnel as part of the Robin Hood Line), it certainly adds complexity and expense.

As a wild card, how about the LD&ECR route through the troublesome Bolsover Tunnel. One wonders if it would be even technically feasible to re-use Bolsover Tunnel, or whether a new tunnel would end up being built, perhaps avoiding the troublesome area altogether?

Some routes in the South Wales valleys area have also been quite comprehensively redeveloped.

 

[Cowley]

I’ll stick Exmouth to Budleigh Salterton in being that the long viaduct through Exmouth was demolished and houses built where it stood used to stand.

 

[Firesprite]

Spalding to Boston Line, Now the A15

 

[OverSpeed]

The Coventry loop line, as most of it was used for the A444 Dual Carriage way to be built upon, there is a bit of it left though from the former Humber Junction on the Coventry-Rugby line, to Gosford Green But that will never be used for anything!

 

[snowball]

Often mentioned on here, Kinross to Perth, two sections of which are now the M90.

Keswick to Workington, much of which is now the A66.

 

[DenmarkRail]

Stafford to Market Drayton, Via Great Bridgeford, and Eccleshall...


Shh... It was never even built

 

[Trainfan344]

Lowesotft to Great Yarmouth, A cycle path, housing estate, theme park all in the way before you even get out of Lowestoft.

 

[cuccir]

A small branch but the Piel Branch of the Furness Railway would have to get through a gas power plant, a village, and over a causeway to Roa Island, which is now taken up by a road.

 

[snowball]

Bowness-on-Solway to Annan

Sharpness bridge

I'm not aware of any major new obstacles but both involve major river/estuary crossings.

 

[AM9]

Broad Street station. Just flatten the Broadgate development and join the line to the elevated section of the ELL part of the LO. Probably a ten or eleven figure sum for a basic two platform terminus at the end of less than a mile of track.

 

[DarloRich]

Tebay to Barnard Castle surely. ?

there is nowt in the way except a get big hill and some inhospitable moors

 

[AlterEgo]

Liverpool Overhead Railway. At least, on its former alignment.

 

[Malcolmffc]

Broad Street station. Just flatten the Broadgate development and join the line to the elevated section of the ELL part of the LO. Probably a ten or eleven figure sum for a basic two platform terminus at the end of less than a mile of track.

May as well reinstate the Bishopsgate Goods Yards while you’re at it

 

[HSTEd]

Waterloo to Waterloo East would be easy - perfect place for a tram-train trial!

I'll just get my coat.....

 

[Steveswan10]

hereford-Brecon, lots of houses have been built along the line as well as most bridges-river and road have taken down

 

[NorthernSpirit]

Ilkley to Skipton.
Ilkley town centre has expanded on to and over the level crossing with addtional buildings and the main drag to Skipton being built taking out a vital section between Addingham and Ilkley. The section between Skipton and Addingham is sound and is part used for the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway.

East Lincolnshire Line.
The Grimsby end is now occupied by housing, the A16 Peaks Parkway and a roundabout. In Louth, half of the town would require being sliced through to relay a pair of rails and enough space for a railway station because the old one is currently occupied.


Most of the Great Central route, goes without saying but certain parts could be reopened on a local level.

 

[philthetube]

Whitby to Scarboro, part of it has gone into the sea.

 

[Bookd]

Agreed about Waterloo, although that is how it was done when there was a connection - probably fewer passengers milling around the concourse in those days. Mileages from Waterloo are still taken from the long closed junction.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Neath - Pontypool Road, rebuilding the Crumlin Viaduct alone should eat up a tidy sum.

 

[route:oxford]

Dunblane, Doune & Callander Railway

It's mostly clear west of Doune, but houses built directly on the former trackbed in Dunblane & Doune with no opportunity to divert around them.

 

[Llanigraham]

Aberystwyth - Carmarthen..........................





I'll get my coat!

 

[Failed Unit]

Not much of the Lincoln avoiding line left. If only the knew and kept it and March - Spalding open. Nice run from Felixstow to Yorkshire.

 

[Elecman]

Kirkham to Blackpool Central, most of it is the M55/Link Road/ Yeadon Way plus the demolished bridge at Bloomfield Road and the missing station at Central itself

 

[topydre]

Bexhill West. A 4 mile branch line to cut off a corner (without then reconnecting to the east coastway). 17-arch massive viaduct on unstable ground, about 1/3 of the trackbed taken up by the A2690 (I think), and not really much reason to reinstate it.

 

[DanNCL]

Hexham to Riccarton Junction. Part of the route, along with Plashetts station, is now underneath Kielder Water.

 

[Spartacus]

The Leeds New Line, Heaton Lodge Jn - Wortley Jn: Nothing especially difficult with the Leeds boundary despite the M621 kissing the trackbed, but in Kirklees it's another matter. The Southern portal of Gildersome Tunnel has J27 on the M62 on top of it, followed by embankments being obliterated and cuttings infilled for housing, the site of Gildersome station being built on followed by housing in the Liversedge, Heckmondwike and Northorpe areas, plus lacking a bridge over the Calder. There's various other bits that would be slight complications, the odd building for example, and quite minor, but unusually another railway, the Royds Park railway.

 

[snowball]

there is nowt in the way except a get big hill and some inhospitable moors

Wouldn't be a reinstatement if it was on a new alignment.

 

[DarloRich]

Wouldn't be a reinstatement if it was on a new alignment.

So the question is which old railway line would be hardest to reopen on exactly the same route as previously without any slight deviation due to the passage of time