Disused or mothballed railway lines with track still in place

route101 · 1 Sep 2016

South of Motherwell station , theres a spur off the mainline , think it goes into the former ravenscraig site . Looks still connected but not sure if it gets used. Further down towards carluke theres a line that has recently been disconnected .

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DarloRich · 1 Sep 2016

PHILIPE said:
The Leamside line, I believe. Ooops, somebody has nicked the rails.

no they haven't. Well not all of them. NR took away the rest and the rest was a LOT

TimSYoung40145 said:
Northampton to Brackmills?

fv43576 said:
I can think little more mothball line
Little Eaton junction - Denby colliery

Long gone

TimSYoung40145 said:
Does any traffic use the line to High Marnham Power Station?

Most of it is the Rail Innovation & Development Centre but I am not sure about the short section up to the power station

61653 HTAFC said:
The Horbury curve still has track in places... but you'd not get anything from end to end apart from a JCB!

Come to think of it, Healey Mills yard would qualify, there's miles of abandoned track there...

Most of the track has gone off Horbury Curve and I doubt Healy Mills is long for this world..

KingDaveRa said:
East West rail? Don't think that's been mentioned. There's a large chunk from Oxford to Milton Keynes, hence it being reopened (one day, eventually, probably, perhaps).

There is a LARGE missing section in the middle. It has gone walkies.

Mark62 said:
The Tyne and Wear metro line at South Shields still runs to the docks, I believe. Last time I was there the lines were heavily rusted but in place. I can't imagine freight trains sharing the single line to South Shields as its not part of the rail network.

if you mean Tyne Dock then the line is still in use. It cant be South Shields as there is a hell of a hill down to the riverside and although the line runs a bit beyond the metro station it runs out under a bridge

Harbornite · 1 Sep 2016

Muzer said:
Rumour has it it'll still have plenty of movements this autumn as they'll still be running the regular leaf fall trains (water jets/sandite/whatever)

Oh I see, thanks. Ince thatbis over then there won't be much else using it.

Altfish · 1 Sep 2016

I'm not sure exactly how far it still goes but the Skelton Junction (Timperley) to Partington line is certainly still in situ and connected at the Timperley end.

Ash Bridge · 1 Sep 2016

Altfish said:
I'm not sure exactly how far it still goes but the Skelton Junction (Timperley) to Partington line is certainly still in situ and connected at the Timperley end.

May I draw your attention to posting #148

Altfish · 1 Sep 2016

Ash Bridge said:
May I draw your attention to posting #148

Moodster020 · 5 Sep 2016

The 5mile branchline from Scunthorpe steelworks to the docks at Flixbrough. I ma have been one of the last to traverse a small section of the line in an 08, as i work for HNRC & we recovered the last 2 08s that worked the docks in May2014. I recall it just looked like the 08 was going through a field it was that overgrown..!

Harbornite · 6 Sep 2016

Moodster020 said:
The 5mile branchline from Scunthorpe steelworks to the docks at Flixbrough. I ma have been one of the last to traverse a small section of the line in an 08, as i work for HNRC & we recovered the last 2 08s that worked the docks in May 2014. I recall it just looked like the 08 was going through a field it was that overgrown..!

Cool! I'll add that to the list.

By the way, what happened to the 08s?

Moodster020 · 6 Sep 2016

Harbornite said:
Cool! I'll add that to the list.

By the way, what happened to the 08s?

They returned to Barrow hill for a bit of a refurb & went onto other sites across the country.

Harbornite · 6 Sep 2016

Moodster020 said:
They returned to Barrow hill for a bit of a refurb & went onto other sites across the country.

I see, thanks.

Poolie · 7 Sep 2016

There's a loop on the up side all the way from Hartlepool to Seaton still connected, but obviously never been used for years, overgrown with bushes and trees, yet it received colour lighting when the coast line was resignalled about 5 years ago.

chappers · 7 Sep 2016

There is an awful lot of mothballed track in situ in and around Harwich, Dovercourt and Parkeston.

When we relayed the line through Dovercourt Station a good few years ago, we were able to put Engineering trains on the line between the points at the London end at Dovercourt and Alexandra Road (?) Level Crossing after a bit of de-veging and tie bars fitting. However the section between Parkeston Quay and Dovercourt was beyond help.

The rumour was at the time was that the line had to be left in situ as in the event of war it would still be used for military traffic of some kind (quite what it would be used for I don't know, and apparently the building that sits on the site of the old linkspan is easily "demolishable")

Not sure if it counts and apologies if its been mentioned already

RichmondCommu · 7 Sep 2016

chappers said:
When we relayed the line through Dovercourt Station a good few years ago, we were able to put Engineering trains on the line between the points at the London end at Dovercourt and Alexandra Road (?) Level Crossing after a bit of de-veging and tie bars fitting. However the section between Parkeston Quay and Dovercourt was beyond help.

I seem to remember Parkeston Quay seeing trains carrying cars for export or maybe import many years a go.

Did the train ferry from the Netherlands also depart from there? I seem to remember that it did.

DarloRich · 8 Sep 2016

RichmondCommu said:
I seem to remember Parkeston Quay seeing trains carrying cars for export or maybe import many years a go.

Did the train ferry from the Netherlands also depart from there? I seem to remember that it did.

Yes I think so. Did it not transfer from Dover?

Parkeston is , of course, in use as a base for the high out put train on Anglia

RichmondCommu · 8 Sep 2016

DarloRich said:
Yes I think so. Did it not transfer from Dover?

Parkeston is , of course, in use as a base for the high out put train on Anglia

To be honest I always thought that there were two services running at the same time; one to Harwich and one to Dover.

Callum · 12 Sep 2016

What about the Burghead line that joins the Aberdeen to Inverness route at Alves. On Google streetview you can see the line from several road bridges that cross the line. Interesting to see how much vegetation has taken over the line when you look at previous years streetviews. Does anybody know if the branch is still connected to the mainline though? You can't really tell from Google maps.

Whistler40145 · 13 Sep 2016

AFAIK The Burghead branch is still intact, but has been oou since 1998 and is overgrown.

Sleepy · 15 Sep 2016

Leiston and Southminster will see loads more traffic with the new power stations to be opened ?

Dr_Paul · 16 Sep 2016

Does the scrapyard near Mitre Bridge Junction at Willesden Junction still have freight services? I've not seen anything there of late whenever I've passed by on the North London Line.

Steveswan10 · 8 Nov 2016

Just a quick one, further to my mention of the line into Wiggen's (INCOME ALLOYS) in hereford, these are a couple of pics of a bridge on a path that runs down the side of the factory, one shows the very overgrown cutting looking towards the main line and the other of the yard and you can see the track still in place (or at least part of it)

theshillito · 23 Dec 2016

Now, which of these lines would you be able to use one of these http://rrbike.freeservers.com/ on?

swt class 450 · 23 Dec 2016

I think the track of that branch line in Hamble is still in place despite no longer being used?

iknowyeah · 23 Dec 2016

A bit of Skelton Jn to Glazebrook is still in situ

cogload · 23 Dec 2016

The Ludgershall branch will swing back into use from next year.

stuart100100 · 26 Jun 2017

Ships said:
It's all there, with many trees. We were looking at getting it devegged and fettled for use of engineering trains for a renewal at aintree

There's been a bit of activity at the Aintree end in the last couple of weeks I've noticed. A lot of the trees and bushes are gone and you can see the tracks now

Firesprite · 26 Jun 2017

swt class 450 said:
I think the track of that branch line in Hamble is still in place despite no longer being used?

It is along the full length of the branch buried under all the undergrowth.

XDM · 27 Jun 2017

swt class 450 said:
I think the track of that branch line in Hamble is still in place despite no longer being used?

Correct, but the signalling & connection to the main line west of Hamble was severed years & years ago

Thebaz · 27 Jun 2017

backontrack said:
In that case, then there are the lines to Youghal and Foynes.

You'll also find several places along the old Tralee-Fenit route where the tracks are still in place, including on Fenit pier. The station platforms and footbridge still exist too but IIRC Kerry County Council has built a children's playground on the trackbed.

mailbyrail · 27 Jun 2017

The line to Chalmerston Colliery from Ayr looks pretty unused - is it Out of Use?

bassmike · 28 Jun 2017

The ex Eurostar line from Fawkham junction to Ebbsfleet.

Disused or mothballed railway lines with track still in place

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