Trivia: Buildings with never used railway infrastructure

[adamedwards]

The British Library is due to get an extension with Crossrail 2 shaft and tunnels in the basement. In London there are also the Northern Line stations like Belsize Park which got WW2 built extra tunnels for an express tube which never happened. I'm also aware the Arndale shopping centre in Manchester has provision for the never built PicVic Exchange station (replaced by a tram stop outside).

So do members have any other examples of where a building has gone up with provision for a railway which has then never happened?

You can see a plan for the British Library works here:
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/article...n-to-include-large-crossrail-2-tunnels-53546/

If Crossrail 2 is built, the British Library will then have two underground railways built-in as the Victoria Line goes through the current basement, surrounded by the book stacks.

 

[urpert]

There's been discussion on here before about passive provision at City Thameslink for the Fleet Line (I believe at least part of the space is what's now used as the lost property office)

 

[snowball]

The station (or ground transport building or whatever it's called) at Manchester Airport has an unused basement area to allow Metrolink to be extended through it to form the western loop of the airport line. This will now include the HS2 station though IIRC HS2 was not yet heard of when the building was designed.

 

[swt_passenger]

Heathrow T5 was built to allow for heavy rail to/from the west.

 

[adamedwards]

I ought to add the tunnel under the road at Edgware for the Northern Heights extension to the northern line (although not strictly a building there are shops on top.)

 

[AM9]

Probably the biggest recent infrastructure that hasn't seen use (other than on a very short-term special occasion) is platforms 1 & 4 at Stratford International (SFA). These two platforms were built for the planned use of Eurostar trains to provide an alternative point of entry/exit to the UK. When planned, the Home Office were to man the customs and immigration facilities in the dedicated part of the station above. It was decided later not to stop Eurostar trains at Stratford would not be done. Thus apart from 17 days of use for special services added to serve the London 2012 Olympic Games, those platforms are never used for public services. During the period that they were used, the platforms' height which was set for Eurostar class 373 trains, was raised by a temporary wooden structure to make them suitable for the class 395 trains running the Javelin service.

 

[SargeNpton]

Dartmouth railway station. Built (and still exists) but the railway never got permission to construct a bridge across the river, so it has never seen a train. The line went to Kingswear instead, with Dartmouth served by a ferry.

 

[MadMac]

What was originally a Co-op supermarket in Maryhill, Glasgow was built with provision for a reopened Maryhill Central station underneath.

 

[Snow1964]

I ought to add the tunnel under the road at Edgware for the Northern Heights extension to the northern line (although not strictly a building there are shops on top.)

The new Northern line depot building was also constructed, but the trains never got there. After WW2 the building was adapted and became the Aldenham bus overhaul works

 

[S&CLER]

The viaduct at Tadcaster never carried a train, or did it? And the GWR built a viaduct off the Oxford-Birmingham line in the Birmingham area that was never used either, I believe.

 

[John Luxton]

Dartmouth railway station. Built (and still exists) but the railway never got permission to construct a bridge across the river, so it has never seen a train. The line went to Kingswear instead, with Dartmouth served by a ferry.

Given the location of Dartmouth "Station" on the river wall I wonder if the crossing of the Dart had been agreed that the station might not have been located further up river somewhere near the Higher Ferry?
Short of narrowing the River Dart and building out some very hefty embankments to support track, run round loops and sidings, the building that was constructed would not have been of any use.

When permission was refused I imagine the GWR constructed a station building to act as the ferry terminal, I can't imagine it was constructed in anticipation of the railway being built on that exact site.

 

[Ken H]

They built some large diameter short sections of tunnel which were designed to be used as air raid shelters before WW2. they were designed to be useable in a new express district line after the war. but they never were.

 

[kevconnor]

The station (or ground transport building or whatever it's called) at Manchester Airport has an unused basement area to allow Metrolink to be extended through it to form the western loop of the airport line. This will now include the HS2 station though IIRC HS2 was not yet heard of when the building was designed.

There was also provision within the building and around the airport perimeter for an extension to the railway to meet up with the mid-Cheshire line.

I have read there is also provision on the recently rebuilt Thornley Lane motorway bridge for the Metrolink western loop. Similarly, the Manchester Ship Canal Western Gateway Bridge also has provision to allow Metrolink to be extended to Port Salford, where there are also these ramps for a link from Liverpool - Manchester line into Port Salford (a planning requirement) but which will probably never get built.

 

[Gloster]

Llangurig station, at the end of the line from Penpontbren Junction, opened on 28 October 1863, but only saw one train. That was only run so that the Llanidloes & Newtown Railway could start charging the line’s owner, the Manchester & Milford Railway, for the station at Llanidloes, as stated in the Act of Parliament. Thereafter the station mouldered.

 

[43301]

The viaduct at Tadcaster never carried a train, or did it?

Didn't it have tracks laid on it for use as a siding?

 

[LOL The Irony]

The Arndale has an escalator well for Picc-Vic. In fact, I believe it's the only infrastructure ever built for Picc-Vic.

 

[stuu]

Given the location of Dartmouth "Station" on the river wall I wonder if the crossing of the Dart had been agreed that the station might not have been located further up river somewhere near the Higher Ferry?
Short of narrowing the River Dart and building out some very hefty embankments to support track, run round loops and sidings, the building that was constructed would not have been of any use.

When permission was refused I imagine the GWR constructed a station building to act as the ferry terminal, I can't imagine it was constructed in anticipation of the railway being built on that exact site.

Yes, that's absolutely right. The original vague proposals were for some sort of crossing, but the schemes which were progressed never envisaged going any further than Kingswear. The Dartmouth station building came much later IIRC

 

[geoffk]

The Grange furniture shop, Watford High Street, intended to be the terminus of the Metropolitan's Watford branch, but no railway was ever built to serve it. Now a Wetherspoon's I believe. Watford Council had recently bought part of the Cassiobury Estate and objected to the proposed railway through the park and gardens. It seems the Met bought an existing building rather than build a new one without the powers to build the railway. This is mentioned in an earlier thread, now closed - Metropolitan Line Extension (MLX/Croxley Rail Link).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The Arndale has an escalator well for Picc-Vic. In fact, I believe it's the only infrastructure ever built for Picc-Vic.

Interesting! Which part of the Arndale Centre complex (in Manchester) is/was that?

 

[LOL The Irony]

Interesting! Which part of the Arndale Centre complex (in Manchester) is/was that?

I can't remember, but something is telling me around the Lego store.

EDIT: I was right, it's under Topshop.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I can't remember, but something is telling me around the Lego store.

EDIT: I was right, it's under Topshop.

Thought it was an urban myth, but there looks like there's some substance (actually it's a void!) behind the story.

 

[John Luxton]

I don't know if my mind is playing tricks but I seem to recall reading an article about the CLC Dingle Tunnel now used by Merseyrail which stated that a short section of parallel tunnel was built around the time the Liverpool Overhead Railway tunnel was constructed. This was to to enable the CLC lines to be quadrupled should the need arise without disturbing the LOR as there was very little clearance between the bottom of the LOR tunnel and the top of the CLC tunnel. Can anyone confirm this? I have done some searching and whilst there is quite a lot of material on old tunnels under Liverpool in particular the LOR tunnel I can't find any reference to this short section of parallel tunnel.

 

[urpert]

Of course, if we are looking beyond the UK, the various Belgian (pre-) metros are a rich source of this sort of thing.

 

[Dave S 56F]

Didn't it have tracks laid on it for use as a siding?

I've seen a O.S. map showing a line over it to a goods yard.

 

[AlbertBeale]

They built some large diameter short sections of tunnel which were designed to be used as air raid shelters before WW2. they were designed to be useable in a new express district line after the war. but they never were.

Weren't the express line tunnels which came to nothing on the Northern Line and the Piccadilly Line, rather than the District?

 

[urpert]

Weren't the express line tunnels which came to nothing on the Northern Line and the Piccadilly Line, rather than the District?

Yes - in Bloomsbury + Stockwell - Clapham South.

 

[Ken H]

Weren't the express line tunnels which came to nothing on the Northern Line and the Piccadilly Line, rather than the District?

You may well be right. I am dredging up stuff out of my head that I read years ago.

 

[pitdiver]

Te one in Bloomsbury had access to it via Googe St Stn. That is now closed but access is now via the Eisenhower Centre across the rd.
It was used during WW2 as Eisenhower's HQ then after a communication centre then later as temporary troop accommodation.

 

[gg1]

If we're allowing historic examples, Himley on the GWR's short lived Wombourne branch (which only saw passenger services for 7 years) had 2 platforms but only one of them had an adjacent track.

Presumably built in anticipation of a future loop which was never needed.

 

[Ken H]

If we're allowing historic examples, Himley on the GWR's short lived Wombourne branch (which only saw passenger services for 7 years) had 2 platforms but only one of them had an adjacent track.

Presumably built in anticipation of a future loop which was never needed.

Did Chessingtons other platform ever see a passenger train?