Which is the best stretch of railway we have lost ?

Mutant Lemming · 28 Apr 2019

The thread on the best stretch of railway had me wondering about the best ones that have been lost

- The line Southern main line route through Devon
- The heads of the Valleys with the spectacular Crumlin Viaduct
- The Waverley route
- The LOR
- The Woodhead route

These are just a few I can think of but I have a feeling there may be more spectacular and scenic lines that have been closed than remain open.

RailUK Forums

Glenmutchkin · 28 Apr 2019

Scarborough to Whitby.

hexagon789 · 28 Apr 2019

Maybe the 'Port Road', Stranraer to Dumfries
The Fife Coast line
Oban to Ballachulish

Probably somemore I'll think of.

Mag_seven · 28 Apr 2019

Dunblane - Callander - Crianlarich

lancastrian · 28 Apr 2019

This is my list:-

Skipton to Colne
Honeybourne to Stratford upon Avon
The Waverley Route
The Kinross route between Dunfirmline & Perth
Workington to Penrith
Newport to Brecon
Barnstaple to Ilfracombe
Okehampton to Bere Alston

There are many other short routes that would make our Railway System much more beneficial to usage and availability.
To many short routes where closed because they were not 'profitable' but if the same criteria was used for our road system, almost all our roads would be closed just like our railways were.

Iskra · 28 Apr 2019

Woodhead Line
Ingleton Line
Stainmore Line
Queensbury Lines

yorksrob · 28 Apr 2019

The main line from Derby to Manchester strikes me as being both an important link with some beautiful scenery.

Obviously the Southern railway from Exeter to Plymouth.

chorleyjeff · 28 Apr 2019

lancastrian said:
This is my list:-

There are many other short routes that would make our Railway System much more beneficial to usage and availability.
To many short routes where closed because they were not 'profitable' but if the same criteria was used for our road system, almost all our roads would be closed just like our railways were.

Some people argue that taxes on vehicles and fuel exceed the costs of maintains all the roads in the Uk.
Who should have paid for loss making lines to be kept open ? 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing decades on but people could not have anticipated recent growth in rail traffic back then and fifty years of loss making could well have inhibited investment in viable or socially useful lines.
My suggestion of the best lines to have been lost are Settle to Tebay and Preston to Longridge ( like other suggestions for sentimental reasons ).

Bevan Price · 28 Apr 2019

Some routes which would have been potentially useful for current passenger services:

Chinley - Peak Forest - Matlock
Southport - Preston
(Manchester) - Bury - Accrington
Rugby - Leicester (ex-LMSR route)
Penrith - Workington
Bangor - Caernarfon (- Afon Wen)
Scarborough - Whitby
York - Beverley - Hull
Durham - Sunderland - South Shields
-----------------------------------
Either:
Uckfield - Lewes, or:
Horsham - Steyning - Shoreham
(To provide a "spare" route to the south coast areas around Brighton)
----------------------------------

TheEdge · 28 Apr 2019

Woodhead.
Southern mainline Exeter - Plymouth
Lowestoft - Yarmouth - Cromer.
Wymondham - Fakenham

Ladder23 · 28 Apr 2019

The lost Luton Hoo, Luton Bute Street line through to Leighton buzzard is something I wish I could of seen, and wish was still there, i believe Dunstable without any question would of been a great station in today’s world.

HSTEd · 28 Apr 2019

Nottingham Victoria station and it's approaches.

It was clearly the far superior station for the city, looked a lot better, and with appropriate selection of surrounding trackwork, could have provided equivalent connections to the Midland station without substantial additional expense.

(It is one of those things that makes me wonder if there was not really a 'Midland conspiracy' during the Beeching era)

deltic08 · 28 Apr 2019

Well I have to say Cross Gates-Wetherby-Harrogate-Ripon-Harrogate as I have been trying to reverse Beeching for 30 years.

I started at Leeds Med School in 1970 and could have easily commuted from Ripon by train for the next six years but was forced to motor to Harrogate which added a good 20 minutes each way to my daily commute as I queued in traffic to reach the centre of Harrogate and then tried to find parking near the station.

Definitely Workington-Penrith as it was the best way to reach Keswick when I lived in Workington. Would still be the best way to-day.

For scenic refreshment
Dunblane-Crianlarich as I only had one return journey on the line and one way was in the dark on an Oban sleeper and only 3 weeks before it unexpectedly closed.
Waverley route. I had lots of rides on the full route in my youth but would like more.
Mangotsfield-Bath-Bournemouth. Again used a lot in my youth.
Penrith-Stainmore-Darlington. Only just realised it was there the year before it closed and only managed to ride from Penrith to Kirkby Stephen and back when I was old enough to be allowed as far as Penrith unaccompanied. The western climb to Stainmore must have been spectacular and would be now and an easy way to visit Keswick now from North Yorkshire.
Clapham-Low Gill used only once on Glasgow-Birmingham diversion in the late 1950s when I was too young to realise. My late business partner boarded at Sedburgh school and can remember using Sedburgh station.
Woodhead line. Still the quickest route between Sheffield and Manchester.
Newport-Brecon.

yorksrob · 29 Apr 2019

chorleyjeff said:
Some people argue that taxes on vehicles and fuel exceed the costs of maintains all the roads in the Uk.
Who should have paid for loss making lines to be kept open ? 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing decades on but people could not have anticipated recent growth in rail traffic back then and fifty years of loss making could well have inhibited investment in viable or socially useful lines.
My suggestion of the best lines to have been lost are Settle to Tebay and Preston to Longridge ( like other suggestions for sentimental reasons ).

Well, it doesn't take a railway engineer to know that railways need to close occasionally for maintenance and renewals. Even in 1966 it should have been obvious to the powers that be, that relying on one route to London for everywhere between Worthing and Bexhill (as an example) was a bad idea.

Greetlander · 29 Apr 2019

I wish I could agree with the post above about the Queensbury line, but I’m not sure even now how much use it would receive as a commuter line. I suppose as an alternative route for a Northern Connect service it would have merit.

It’s hard to look past Woodhead as a lost opportunity, likewise the complete Waverley route. Both scenic too.

Calling at... · 29 Apr 2019

Aberdeen-Ballater
Aviemore-Grantown-Forres

RichJF · 29 Apr 2019

In my region, Horsham to Shoreham (Steyning). Would be a valuable diversion route. They were actually planning to electrify this in the 30s!

I'll pitch for the Woodhead Line though. If they'd kept it & upgraded the electrification then a major strategic route would still be open.

thejuggler · 29 Apr 2019

Having spent a week in the area last year and constantly reminded by the extensive railway infrastructure still in place of what once was, the Great North of Scotland route on the northern Aberdeenshire coast would have to be one.

DiscoSteve · 29 Apr 2019

Woodhead. And the associated CLC route from Godley to Glazebrook - forming a big chunk of a complete end-to-end route from Liverpool AND Manchester to Sheffield

BigCj34 · 29 Apr 2019

Foxfield - Coniston! In all seriousness the route between Oxenholme to Darlington via Kirkby Stephen and Barnard castle could potentially be useful for a transpennine service from Cumbria and North Lancashire to the North East. However considering the Bentham Line, another transpennine route, has just received an increase in services to 7 a day, how well used it would be to this day is debatable.

Essan · 29 Apr 2019

I reckon Ruabon-Barmouth would have been far more interesting - and spectacular - a journey than Shewsbury-Barmouth is.

jonesy3001 · 29 Apr 2019

i think giving up the oldham line was the biggest mistake, didn't have problems before metrolink took over with all the points failures, trams braking down and kids messing on the train stations, NR only give it up because they didn't want to repair the tunnels at oldham werneth/mumps, leaving them to do nothing now;

Mind you, could easily rebuild the stations and reopen the tunnels and you have a stourbridge type service for the old folk.

The old mumps line, note the tunnel now fenced off by Jonesy3001, on Flickr

Pyreneenguy · 29 Apr 2019

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Whilst it might not win any prizes for it's natural beauty, the Liverpool Overhead Railway might take some beating for the fantastic views it afforded of the busy Liverpool Docks. Sadly, closed and completely demolished before I was born.

jonesy3001 · 29 Apr 2019

Pyreneenguy said:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Whilst it might not win any prizes for it's natural beauty, the Liverpool Overhead Railway might take some beating for the fantastic views it afforded of the busy Liverpool Docks. Sadly, closed and completely demolished before I was born.

was heavily bombed during ww2 and repair costs would of gone through the roof.

61653 HTAFC · 29 Apr 2019

Though more modest than some of the suggestions, the Holmfirth and Meltham branch lines passed through some beautiful countryside and would both be well-used today if they'd survived or simply been mothballed rather than ripped up. In a parallel universe the Holmfirth line might even have been extended via a tunnel under Holme Moss to link with the Woodhead line...

Even the Kirkburton branch would be a lovely journey, though it probably wouldn't wash its face financially due to such a circuitous route!

If the LOR had survived the post-war period it might have been absorbed into Merseyrail, which would have been nice.

Pyreneenguy · 29 Apr 2019

Bombed yet rapidly repaired as it provided essential transport for thousands working on the docks. The costly repairing of the corroded iron trestles sounded the death knell of the Overhead railway in 1956.
All that remains is a short stretch of tunnel and the (underground) terminus station at Dingle.

LNW-GW Joint · 29 Apr 2019

The Leeds New line (Spen Valley) would have been useful had it remained, plus the Farnley Viaduct route into Leeds City.
It was part of the LNWR 4-tracking between Stalybridge and Leeds.
But no doubt there would have been complications at the junctions, and at Dewsbury (bypassed).
We are now searching for new alignments for NPR - this could have been one of them.
Too many obstructions in the way now, unfortunately.

Liverpool Central (High Level) would be handy too, removing today's congestion at Liverpool South Parkway (HL) from the CLC route.
I'm reluctant to suggest the reinstatement of Manchester Central, but some of today's problems around Castlefield were caused by its closure.
However it would detach the CLC route from the main network (which was once its strength).
I'm not sure about lines like the Waverley.
I don't see what problem it solves - there's plenty of capacity via Carstairs.

frodshamfella · 29 Apr 2019

Liverpool loop line would have been very useful today.

morrisobrien · 29 Apr 2019

Wye Valley.Chepstow to Monmouth.

Monarch010 · 29 Apr 2019

Dunton Green - Westerham

Which is the best stretch of railway we have lost ?

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