Trivia - abandoned railways with intact track

[Greybeard33]

Partington?

The Skelton Junction to Partington branch has been out of use since 1994, but I believe much of the track is still in place, though heavily overgrown.

A substantial length was lifted by metal thieves when scrap prices were high in the noughties.

 

[Cowley]

From last weeks BBCScotland viewers pictures https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-56483972

Mark Reynolds said his image shows a ruined railway bridge on the old "puggy line" which carried supplies along a narrow gauge railway between Loch Treig and Fort William. Now an artistic shot
View attachment 93743

I love this!

 

[Swanny200]

Again in the North East, the Ferryhill and Hartlepool branch has track in-situ near Cornforth. Given the overgrowth, it would be quite a task to get it out even if you wanted to!

From what I could see there were tracks intact from near the ECML junction up to the first quarry, then it was dismantled both as it gets close to the mainline and once you're east of the quarry.

Isn't there still quite intact track on and around the overbridge going out of West Cornforth up towards Coxhoe?

 

[RH Liner]

Are you sure about the staveley bit? Thought the track had been lifted few years ago

No I’m not, but still there at the Creswell end as far as I know. My understanding was that it had been mothballed, but I could be making that up.

 

[LondonExile]

Isn't there still quite intact track on and around the overbridge going out of West Cornforth up towards Coxhoe?

The overbridge to Coxhoe is gone - you can just see some remnants. The intact bridge (which went to Hartlepool via West Cornforth, Trimdon & Castle Eden) does have some rails on it - they disappear as you approach the ECML. Heading the other way - the rails are intact between the level crossing where West Cornforth station was and the Quarry.

I think some of the boundaries may be confusing round here - there's a sign by the Quarry road entrance saying Coxhoe, but I'd consider the (definitely dismantled!) line to the north to be the one to Coxhoe?

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[4F89]

From Gobowen to oswestry and beyond. A heck of a lot of rail still in place

 

[Bill57p9]

There was a fair degree of the Leuchars MoD branch evident last time I was there.
I took some photos and will try to dig them out.

 

[najaB]

There was a fair degree of the Leuchars MoD branch evident last time I was there.
I took some photos and will try to dig them out.

My first instinct was to agree, but then I had a look at the NLS side-by-side viewer - there was a lot more track than I had thought there was, so the amount remaining is actually quite small.

Hopefully the link works: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sid...6.38086&lon=-2.88871&layers=170&right=BingHyb

 

[Swanny200]

The overbridge to Coxhoe is gone - you can just see some remnants. The intact bridge (which went to Hartlepool via West Cornforth, Trimdon & Castle Eden) does have some rails on it - they disappear as you approach the ECML. Heading the other way - the rails are intact between the level crossing where West Cornforth station was and the Quarry.

I think some of the boundaries may be confusing round here - there's a sign by the Quarry road entrance saying Coxhoe, but I'd consider the (definitely dismantled!) line to the north to be the one to Coxhoe?

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Last time I was down there was about a year and a half ago, there was a bridge as you come out of West Cornforth on funnily enough Bridge road, which I was told still had tracks on it, although on the google maps view, it does look like it has been lifted

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.7059915,-1.5137341,112a,50.3y,1.36t/data=!3m1!1e3

 

[ashkeba]

March to Wisbech has most of its tracks. The regional mayor wants to reopen it.

I think many of the Kings Lynn docks rails are still there, many tarmacked in.

There are pictures of other fen rails being lifted by special trains immediately after closure. I do not know where they wanted rail so urgently.

 

[LondonExile]

Last time I was down there was about a year and a half ago, there was a bridge as you come out of West Cornforth on funnily enough Bridge road, which I was told still had tracks on it, although on the google maps view, it does look like it has been lifted

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.7059915,-1.5137341,112a,50.3y,1.36t/data=!3m1!1e3

There were still tracks on that bridge in May/June 2020 - not been back since.

 

[d9009alycidon]

The track down towards the container terminal in Greenock is still largely intact, recent urban exploration photos on Facebook confirmed that. There is also a real oddball in Dumbarton where the remains of what was the branch into the shipyards is sill embedded into the A814

 

[Ayrshire Roy]

Hidden in plain sight is the former branch to Misk Colliery out side of Kilwinning.
As far as I can tell the branch has been disused since 1929 but the right of way has been turned into a road with the rails still in place.
They appear out of the ground at one end and disappear again at the other when the road turns.

 

[daveinstoke]

Tean - Cheadle branch just outside Stoke . Not sure when it closed , but some track is still there.
Dave.

 

[MP33]

On holiday in Wales I can remember driving over rails in the road that was a level crossing on the Carmarthen to Abersywth line. The rest of the track had long gone.

 

[Leyther]

Preston - the remains of the Longridge branch that runs under the city centre and leads to the Ribbleton area

Track bed as far as the buffer stops by west view leisure centre. Most of the line is just used as a dumping ground.
The reverse to the old coal yard the track bed is still there as well.

Poulton le fylde towards Fleetwood.

 

[montyburns56]

Madeley Junction to Silverdale I think is another which still has track, including through the three disused tunnels.

Yes, I was going to mention that one as the track was still in place when I visited a few years ago.

 

[Tio Terry]

Looking at Google Earth, there are still some remnants of the tracks at Lowestoft Harbour, out on the breakwaters. Back in the late 1960s, I remember seeing wagons being towed across the main road into and out of the harbour premises by a farm tractor, the old LNER 0-4-0 steam tractors having been withdrawn by then.

Again looking at Google Earth, there are remnants of track on the some of the disused piers on the Thames near Dagenham.

Around the time you mention I was doing my training with the Lowestoft S&T guys, there were certainly fish wagons in and out of the docks then - and we maintained the road swing bridge - now long gone - as well. We also looked after what remained of the Kirkley Branch from Oulton Broad South, but there was not much traffic over it by then, I guess all the track must have gone now.

 

[33021]

Rugeley power station branch is still complete

 

[Red Onion]

Not sure if entirely suitable for this thread but the Alderney railway still has tracks running beyond its Braye Road terminus and into the harbour along the length of the breakwater. The remainder of the railway is preserved. A fascinating little railway.

 

[class303]

The track down towards the container terminal in Greenock is still largely intact, recent urban exploration photos on Facebook confirmed that. There is also a real oddball in Dumbarton where the remains of what was the branch into the shipyards is sill embedded into the A814

Hey. Do you have a link to the urban exploration please? I'd be interested to see it. cheers

 

[d9009alycidon]

Hey. Do you have a link to the urban exploration please? I'd be interested to see it. cheers

Hi - It appeared on the Facebook Group "Old Scottish Railways" about two days ago, posted by a chap called Don Bonura.

Hi - It appeared on the Facebook Group "Old Scottish Railways" about two days ago, posted by a chap called Don Bonura.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1544258359219879/permalink/2753832754929094/

 

[Iskra]

Abandoned sidings at the old Nostel colliery, Crofton. These are next to the ECML and accessible from a public footpath.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There's a length of track at Hadlow Road station on the old Hooton-West Kirby line at Willaston, just west of Hooton.
The line now forms the Wirral Way, and Hadlow Road has been restored to its BR/Birkenhead Railway character of the 1950s, including the station buildings, platform signal box, lineside signals and level crossing gates.
It's a favourite starting point for the walk.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

The former Hawes station has both track and a train as part of the Dales Countryside museum, though whether it's the original track is open to question. See photo below.

 

[jumble]

I just happened to stay outside Leicester and go for a walk to see this in the road ( curiously named Billa Barra Lane )

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It was part of a 2ft Mineral Railway the Cliffe Hill Mineral railway

Cliffe Hill Mineral Railway - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The former Hawes station has both track and a train as part of the Dales Countryside museum, though whether it's the original track is open to question. See photo below.View attachment 93902

Fairly sure the short section of track adjacent to Hawes station is a recent reinstatement. Have seen an earlier photo of the station dating back to the late 1980s where the trackwork through the station has all been removed.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Around the time you mention I was doing my training with the Lowestoft S&T guys, there were certainly fish wagons in and out of the docks then - and we maintained the road swing bridge - now long gone - as well. We also looked after what remained of the Kirkley Branch from Oulton Broad South, but there was not much traffic over it by then, I guess all the track must have gone now.

Yes, the South Lowestoft branch. I didn't know it was called the Kirkley Branch. It was still there in the late 1960s and perhaps later, but it showed no evidence of being used, it was always very rusty.

I didn't know that BR looked after the Lowestoft swing-bridge. It was always breaking down, meaning that all traffic had to go via the swing-bridge at Oulton Broad. One day when I was up in Lowestoft, both swing-bridges jammed after letting shipping through, and north-south road traffic had to go via Beccles and Haddiscoe -- great fun!

 

[Trackman]

Is there still some track along the branch to Folkestone Harbour?

There is, The station track and the viaduct are all tarmacked in.
The track up to Warren road crossing is still there, then there's a gap and it's fenced off.

 

[Swanny200]

There is, The station track and the viaduct are all tarmacked in.
The track up to Warren road crossing is still there, then there's a gap and it's fenced off.

is any of the remaining track from the main junction to that crossing still used for stabling or anything do you know?