Infrastructure that will never be used again

Elecman · 8 Oct 2017

billio said:
The viaduct and old carriage sidings that run from Manchester Victoria to what is now the Metrolink depot at Queens Road. It seems a shame that such a large area of railway land cannot be of use for the development of either railways or Metrolink.

Red Bank Sidings

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A0wen · 9 Oct 2017

Drayton Park - Finsbury Park tunnels? Built by the GN&CR to provide the link from the Moorgate branch to Finsbury Park.

Closed in the mid-60s to allow the Victoria line to take over the GN&CR's platforms at Finsbury Park. Were hidden from view when BR took over the Northern City Line and put in new link from Finsbury Park to Drayton Park.

route101 · 10 Oct 2017

What about the line from Abbeyhill to Pilrig in Edinburgh that used to have the waste trains , line still there .Or the Leith Docks line

Y961 XBU · 10 Oct 2017

Would the St Helens Central - St Helens Junction Link Line count? a lot of the track is still there including signals

tsr · 11 Oct 2017

There have been various proposals or ideas to reuse the parcels bridge at Redhill station for passengers to cross between platforms, but it seems there is little chance the structure will ever be used again. Given it is visible from a chunk of the town centre, it's hardly a minor thing to have sitting there, abandoned and a bit forlorn.

The Planner · 12 Oct 2017

Y961 XBU said:
Would the St Helens Central - St Helens Junction Link Line count? a lot of the track is still there including signals

Yes, its OOU, and the last set of plans for St Helens re-signalling severed it.

40129 · 12 Oct 2017

The siding adjacent to European Metal Recycling between Dudley Port and Sandwell & Dudley. Siding overgrown and connection to Down Stour very recently plain lined (trailing crossover to Up Stour remains in situ)

Welshman · 12 Oct 2017

I think there's still an arch or two of the old Pickle Bridge viaduct still standing in glorious isolation over the A58 Leeds-Halifax road at Wyke.

The Planner · 12 Oct 2017

40129 said:
The siding adjacent to European Metal Recycling between Dudley Port and Sandwell & Dudley. Siding overgrown and connection to Down Stour very recently plain lined (trailing crossover to Up Stour remains in situ)

Albion is officially mothballed and not dead. That one could come back at some point.

AndrewE · 12 Oct 2017

Treffry viaduct.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treffry_Viaduct
looks worth a visit.

IKBrunel · 18 Mar 2018

Scouseinmanc said:
The Bennerley Viaduct?

True that it's extremely unlikely to re-used as a railwayviaduct, but it is now being maintained by a local friends group, the long term plan is to carry out some repairs and use it as a walking/cycling route. Having been up there a fww times on workdays the views are awesome.

LNW-GW Joint · 18 Mar 2018

Tobbes said:
Nine Elms flyover which used to take Eurostars on a tour of south London before HS1 Phase 2 was complete. Is this the newest piece of major infrastructure to be in effect abandoned (I know it strictly speaking isn't, but I understood that that was only because it would be more expensive to close and knock it down than it would be to inspect it once a year, and there would be little practical benefit from doing so.)

Well the connection between the SE&CR at Fawkham Jn and HS1 at Gravesend is now similarly mothballed with no future use likely.
That had an even shorter life than Eurostar's Nine Elms viaduct.
North Pole depot can thank the IEP programme for coming back from the dead.
Bletchley viaduct is another structure seemingly coming back.
Some tram infrastructure has reused closed heavy rail routes around Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Birmingham.

Railwaysceptic · 19 Mar 2018

In Limehouse in east London, the bridge over Commercial Road near the T-junction of Lowell Street. The bridge is maintained and painted and looks immaculate but can never be used again because new buildings block the route. I don't know why the bridge is maintained so diligently instead of being dismantled and removed.

Mikey C · 19 Mar 2018

A tiny bit of the viaduct that took trains into Broad Street still exists in Shoreditch on either side of Great Eastern Street (the Overground East London extension diverts just north of here)

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...0x799b6c9640d63bfd!8m2!3d51.52849!4d-0.084728

There are a few 1983 stock carriages on one bit as art studios

old-tube-trains-shoreditch-london-england-uk-B66GB3.jpg

Darkinsider · 19 Mar 2018

deleted

BarryD · 19 Mar 2018

Railwaysceptic said:
In Limehouse in east London, the bridge over Commercial Road near the T-junction of Lowell Street. The bridge is maintained and painted and looks immaculate but can never be used again because new buildings block the route. I don't know why the bridge is maintained so diligently instead of being dismantled and removed.

Probably cheaper to maintain it than to remove it altogether, given its urban surroundings.

BigCj34 · 19 Mar 2018

Ulverston's Platform 2. No-one will be alighting onto Platform 2 to catch the Lakeside bound train on platform 3 as it has been culled up to Haverthwaite. It is physically there though, as it shares the same track with Platform 1 and the same island platform with Platform 3. I would also add Lancaster platform 6 and the bridge linking between Carnforth Junction and the Bentham line.

Dr_Paul · 19 Mar 2018

Railwaysceptic said:
In Limehouse in east London, the bridge over Commercial Road near the T-junction of Lowell Street. The bridge is maintained and painted and looks immaculate but can never be used again because new buildings block the route. I don't know why the bridge is maintained so diligently instead of being dismantled and removed.

That's puzzled me for years, as the viaduct leading to the bridge was severed at one point a long time ago, and more bits of it have been removed over the years. I don't know when the east curve at Stepney East (Limehouse) fell out of use, but it must have been 40 years ago if not more. There's no way that it could be brought back into railway use without the demolition of several recently-built buildings (not that there's much purpose in having a physical connection between the line to Fenchurch Street and the Docklands Light Railway).

Is there any chance of the rail connection off the West London Line to the scrapyard near Willesden Junction being used again? The last time I saw it, a few months back, there was shredded scrap all over the sidings.

Has anybody used the rail depot at Keresley, near Coventry, in recent years?

Harbornite · 19 Mar 2018

Dr_Paul said:
Has anybody used the rail depot at Keresley, near Coventry, in recent years?

Last traffic flow to serve that (Prologis park) was bottled water, that ceased 11 years ago.

whhistle · 20 Mar 2018

yorkie said:
Until we understand the question it is difficult to answer, but it could be a hugely extensive list, so would be difficult to know where to start!

Yeah but the guy has already admitted he left the choice list open wide and deep.

I'd start with favourite/local/interesting things... a viaduct is boring (unless it's rather large / track still in place). One that has been closed twice is a little more interesting. Closed stations, old yards that are still yards, old sheds that are still old sheds...

Isn't there an old station building near a retail park around Derby?

PeterC · 20 Mar 2018

The LT&SR station at Romford.

Despite the ambitions of the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway I don't think that the Garndiffaith Viaduct will see trains again and I am sure that the nearby Big Arch never will.

Railwaysceptic · 20 Mar 2018

Mikey C said:
A tiny bit of the viaduct that took trains into Broad Street still exists in Shoreditch on either side of Great Eastern Street (the Overground East London extension diverts just north of here)

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...0x799b6c9640d63bfd!8m2!3d51.52849!4d-0.084728

There are a few 1983 stock carriages on one bit as art studios

I've always been surprised that Network Rail hasn't gone into partnership with some property developer and made a "killing" with that extremely valuable site.

Julia · 20 Mar 2018

CarltonA said:
Helmdon Viaduct stands forlorn in a Northamptonshire village once served by two different lines each with it's own station. There is also a very substantial cutting nearby on the GC route. Reopening has been proposed a few times but I can't see it being likely, especially with the much more substantial Brackley viaduct biting the dust in the seventies.

Another Northamptonshire viaduct is to the west of Thrapston - still intact but the adjacent station site has very recently been covered with houses and the A14 has removed all hope of reinstatement.

londonmidland · 21 Mar 2018

The Moorgate Thameslink branch?

Chris M · 21 Mar 2018

Mikey C said:
A tiny bit of the viaduct that took trains into Broad Street still exists in Shoreditch on either side of Great Eastern Street (the Overground East London extension diverts just north of here)

Railwaysceptic said:
I've always been surprised that Network Rail hasn't gone into partnership with some property developer and made a "killing" with that extremely valuable site.

I believe that the viaduct remains are listed

Mikey C · 21 Mar 2018

The line from Gillingham to Gillingham and Chatham Docks was last used in the 1990s. This youtube video shows what it's like now

swt_passenger · 21 Mar 2018

londonmidland said:
The Moorgate Thameslink branch?

Being converted into LU stabling sidings. Details are in the LU sub forum somewhere, I’ll add a link when I find it. Don’t worry about the irrelevant title...
Waterloo and City 1992 Stock

HowardGWR · 21 Mar 2018

Bournemouth Railway Arches - a better connection from West depot to Central?

Ianno87 · 21 Mar 2018

Harbornite said:
Last traffic flow to serve that (Prologis park) was bottled water, that ceased 11 years ago.

Used to enjoy that chugging over the end of our street in my Uni days...

Harbornite · 21 Mar 2018

Mikey C said:
The line from Gillingham to Gillingham and Chatham Docks was last used in the 1990s. This youtube video shows what it's like now

Coincidentally I've got that video open in one of my tabs but haven't got round to watching it.

There's quite a few examples of lines like that- track's still in place but little chance of it being reused, e.g. the lines to Tintern, Sudbrook, Oldbury (Albright and Wilson), Folkestone Harbour and this:

Infrastructure that will never be used again

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