• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

What preserved railway extension would you most like to see?

Status
Not open for further replies.

61653 HTAFC

Veteran Member
Joined
18 Dec 2012
Messages
17,683
Location
Another planet...
Norton Fitzwarren to Taunton is probably one of the shortest stretches being mentioned in this thread...

Didn't think that stretch itself was overly long on it's own myself- 3 miles tops was my guesstimate without looking it up, but it's over a decade since I was down that way so didn't entirely trust my memory. The bigger issue mentioned by other posters was the overall round trip being towards the limit of what the average (non-enthusiast) tourist would want for a day trip.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Joined
7 Oct 2015
Messages
590
I'd extend the battlefield line to Nuneaton in one direction and Coalville in the other. Any left over i'd give to the GCR to get all the bridges and embankments done in double quick time!
 

Cowley

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
15 Apr 2016
Messages
15,795
Location
Devon
Didn't think that stretch itself was overly long on it's own myself- 3 miles tops was my guesstimate without looking it up, but it's over a decade since I was down that way so didn't entirely trust my memory. The bigger issue mentioned by other posters was the overall round trip being towards the limit of what the average (non-enthusiast) tourist would want for a day trip.
It definitely would be a long round trip for a family with young children.
I suppose though that we’re more coming from the point of view of getting off a train at Taunton station and hopping onto a service from the bay platform to Minehead like you could in the past.
With all the people travelling to Butlins in the high season, as well as the general holiday traffic to that area of the southwest (that have to use the slow A358), you’d think that with a line in situ this would be an easy win.
Unfortunately we all know that this isn’t the case in the current climate and although I would’ve thought twenty years ago that this probably would’ve been sorted by now, it’s not.
I wouldn’t have expected The Swanage to have beaten the WSR in a race to get scheduled services running from the local mainline station (yes I know it’s just been delayed) twenty years ago that’s for sure.
 

61653 HTAFC

Veteran Member
Joined
18 Dec 2012
Messages
17,683
Location
Another planet...
It definitely would be a long round trip for a family with young children.
I suppose though that we’re more coming from the point of view of getting off a train at Taunton station and hopping onto a service from the bay platform to Minehead like you could in the past.
With all the people travelling to Butlins in the high season, as well as the general holiday traffic to that area of the southwest (that have to use the slow A358), you’d think that with a line in situ this would be an easy win.
Unfortunately we all know that this isn’t the case in the current climate and although I would’ve thought twenty years ago that this probably would’ve been sorted by now, it’s not.
I wouldn’t have expected The Swanage to have beaten the WSR in a race to get scheduled services running from the local mainline station (yes I know it’s just been delayed) twenty years ago that’s for sure.
I guess that's something we have to wrestle with when we're discussing this topic:- are we proposing to improve the heritage offering from a tourist/leisure perspective? Or are we looking to reopen lost links through the "back door" of heritage railways? This then leads to the question of whether heritage railways can in fact be a genuine part of our public transport infrastructure, or if they're there purely as leisure activities and/or working museums. Is it even possible for them to be both outside of very small, specific situations such as Swanage to Wareham or the old RH&DR school trains?

We see this conflict whenever Uckfield to Lewes is brought up: what happens to the Lavender Line if the whole route were to be reinstated as part of the national network? (Though admittedly the LL is a small player in a part of the country not lacking for alternative places for the heritage aspects). It would be brilliant to have an hourly Taunton to Minehead service to ease the terrible A358, but is the WSR in a position to offer a viable service with a maximum speed of 25mph over a significant distance compared to most other heritage lines? Would the benefits of a re-engineered Minehead branch running an hourly sprinter at 40-50mph outweigh the loss of a major part of the local tourism industry and of the history which is kept alive there?
 
Last edited:

mushroomchow

Member
Joined
14 Feb 2017
Messages
455
Location
Where HSTs Still Scream. Kind of.
I'd extend the battlefield line to Nuneaton in one direction and Coalville in the other. Any left over i'd give to the GCR to get all the bridges and embankments done in double quick time!

This thread is fast reminding me that there are far too many good schemes to really choose just one!

The Battlefield Line is ripe for extension in both directions, and the surviving trackbed formation at Shackerstone could make for a wonderful recreation of a rural railway junction too.

At the moment it's a "nowhere to nowhere" line and its visitor numbers reflect that in spite of the strong tourism draw the area has - with Market Bosworth station being stuck in the hands of private owners and not likely to change, its not somewhere passengers tend to alight and visit. Shenton, despite its close proximity to the visitor centre, isn't particularly well-known about or frequented, presumably because most visitors to the area don't bother to visit Shackerstone due to it not really having anything to do with the battle, and facilities at Shenton are limited.

At the very least, an extension to Stoke Golding would be useful, to tie the line in with the battlefield story as much as anything - after all, it was supposedly where Henry VII's coronation took place after the battle, heralding the start of the Tudor dynasty. Pretty big part of the story, so to be able to sell a train ride from the (approximate) site of the battle to the site of its aftermath's most significant moment could be an attractive prospect.

The two challenges there are crossing the Fen Lanes junction, which would probably require one, if not two, new bridge and possibly a new embankment, and potentially deviating from the original trackbed at some points where it has been taken for light industrial use. The latter shouldn't be a massive problem given the very rural nature of the route - in fact, there's a pretty large field to the west of the track bed at Stoke Golding which could provide room for a proper terminus and sidings if needed.
 

zn1

Member
Joined
3 Sep 2011
Messages
435
quainton road take all the road to bletchley pre
 

The Ham

Established Member
Joined
6 Jul 2012
Messages
10,328
To throw in one that is probably not that well known, The Helston Railway in Cornwall.
 

xc170

Member
Joined
9 Feb 2008
Messages
815
This thread is fast reminding me that there are far too many good schemes to really choose just one!

The Battlefield Line is ripe for extension in both directions, and the surviving trackbed formation at Shackerstone could make for a wonderful recreation of a rural railway junction too.

At the moment it's a "nowhere to nowhere" line and its visitor numbers reflect that in spite of the strong tourism draw the area has - with Market Bosworth station being stuck in the hands of private owners and not likely to change, its not somewhere passengers tend to alight and visit. Shenton, despite its close proximity to the visitor centre, isn't particularly well-known about or frequented, presumably because most visitors to the area don't bother to visit Shackerstone due to it not really having anything to do with the battle, and facilities at Shenton are limited.

At the very least, an extension to Stoke Golding would be useful, to tie the line in with the battlefield story as much as anything - after all, it was supposedly where Henry VII's coronation took place after the battle, heralding the start of the Tudor dynasty. Pretty big part of the story, so to be able to sell a train ride from the (approximate) site of the battle to the site of its aftermath's most significant moment could be an attractive prospect.

The two challenges there are crossing the Fen Lanes junction, which would probably require one, if not two, new bridge and possibly a new embankment, and potentially deviating from the original trackbed at some points where it has been taken for light industrial use. The latter shouldn't be a massive problem given the very rural nature of the route - in fact, there's a pretty large field to the west of the track bed at Stoke Golding which could provide room for a proper terminus and sidings if needed.

Agree with this, the Battlefield is probably the closest preserved line to me, but it's easy to forget it even exists, Shenton to the battlefield visitors centre is a nice walk but not suitable for those in wheelchairs, or with pushchairs...

Lovely little line though.
 

L&Y Robert

Member
Joined
22 Apr 2012
Messages
585
Location
Banbury 3m South
Not really an extension as we understand it, more a widening of the scope of a line. West Somerset to construct - or allow to be constructed by others - a broad gauge section from Bishops L to a broad gauge base inside the new triangle. Could be a dedicated seven foot track, or p'raps a bit of mixed gauge. Somewhere for the broad gauge replica engines to 'really run', and the depot would be a real draw to some sections of the railway fraternity.
 

Cowley

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
15 Apr 2016
Messages
15,795
Location
Devon
Not really an extension as we understand it, more a widening of the scope of a line. West Somerset to construct - or allow to be constructed by others - a broad gauge section from Bishops L to a broad gauge base inside the new triangle. Could be a dedicated seven foot track, or p'raps a bit of mixed gauge. Somewhere for the broad gauge replica engines to 'really run', and the depot would be a real draw to some sections of the railway fraternity.
Yes definitely. I feel like going back and altering my wish list to include this, had thought of it before and the more I think about it the more I can imagine the possibilities.
 

nuneatonmark

Member
Joined
5 Aug 2014
Messages
471
I'd extend the battlefield line to Nuneaton in one direction and Coalville in the other. Any left over i'd give to the GCR to get all the bridges and embankments done in double quick time!

It would be nice, but it would never get past Higham on the Hill towards Nuneaton, as the line ran right at the boundary of MIRA which is now out of bounds, I can't see that changing. Also, from the A5 south it's a cycleway/path southwards towards Nuneaton.
 

Mutant Lemming

Established Member
Joined
8 Aug 2011
Messages
3,194
Location
London
East Lancs Railway - Rawtenstall to Bacup.
5 miles along the Irwell Valley, plenty of bridges, under bridges, embankments, cuttings and tunnels, sounds like it would be interesting, if highly impractical to reopen!

... as would the Stubbins to Accrington strectch - but it would pass the Hollands Pie factory on it's way
 

backontrack

Established Member
Joined
2 Feb 2014
Messages
6,383
Location
The UK
My wishlist:

-Caernarfon to Bangor on the Welsh Highland
-Broomhill to Grantown on the Strathspey Railway
-Robertsbridge to Bodiam on the K&ESR
 

mushroomchow

Member
Joined
14 Feb 2017
Messages
455
Location
Where HSTs Still Scream. Kind of.
Are there any standalone stretches out west where one could feasibly create a dedicated broad gauge line? It doesn't have to be long, just go from somewhere to somewhere as opposed to the engines pootling about outside the station at Didcot.
 

45517

Member
Joined
29 Jun 2013
Messages
23
Been thought of....quite a few years ago.

I've a 60 page study document on the subject which is, unfortunately, too big to upload here.

Was your study document in support of the 'petition' a few years ago ?
Wonder if it will ever happen.
Shame there isn't a Pickering bypass planned for the A170....
 

james60059

Member
Joined
6 Jul 2006
Messages
839
Location
Hinckley
I'd extend the battlefield line to Nuneaton

Just to add my idea, I'd extend to Stoke Golding BUT take the old formation from SG to Hinckley to Dodwells Industrial Estate by the A5/A47. A new station/car park could be constructed behind the Tesco Hinckley Distribution Centre at the end of Jacknell Road.
 

james60059

Member
Joined
6 Jul 2006
Messages
839
Location
Hinckley
Agree with this, the Battlefield is probably the closest preserved line to me, but it's easy to forget it even exists, Shenton to the battlefield visitors centre is a nice walk but not suitable for those in wheelchairs, or with pushchairs...

Lovely little line though.
It's local to me and I'm sorry to say that I haven't been in about 8 years :(
 

shredder1

Established Member
Joined
23 Nov 2016
Messages
2,712
Location
North Manchester
East Lancs Railway - Rawtenstall to Bacup.
5 miles along the Irwell Valley, plenty of bridges, under bridges, embankments, cuttings and tunnels, sounds like it would be interesting, if highly impractical to reopen!

Not a lot of the original trackbed left now, and quite a number of bridges missing sadly
 

Chrisyd

Member
Joined
16 May 2015
Messages
204
Not a lot of the original trackbed left now, and quite a number of bridges missing sadly

I would have thought just getting out of Rawtenstall station would now be very challenging, with the new road junctions, supermarkets etc!
 

shredder1

Established Member
Joined
23 Nov 2016
Messages
2,712
Location
North Manchester
I would have thought just getting out of Rawtenstall station would now be very challenging, with the new road junctions, supermarkets etc!

A section of the ring road sits on the old trackbed of course, the magnificent former Waterfoot goods depot survives.
 

route:oxford

Established Member
Joined
1 Nov 2008
Messages
4,949
My wishlist:
-Broomhill to Grantown on the Strathspey Railway

That would also be on my wishlist.

So, I will suggest an extension from Broomhill Junction(?) to Granton-on-Spey (East) Station via Nethy Bridge.

Then maybe, just maybe, one day in the future a brand new link line could be built creating a circular route.
 

D6975

Established Member
Joined
26 Nov 2009
Messages
2,867
Location
Bristol
I’d like to see the Caledonian Railway extended beyond Bridge of Dun towards Montrose. There doesn’t appear to be any large obstacle to prevent extension to the outskirts of Montrose, walking distance from the NR station.
 

theageofthetra

On Moderation
Joined
27 May 2012
Messages
3,508
Totally never going to happen but would love for the RHDR to have an extension out to the old sonic air warning structures.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top