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Trivia: Lines/stations planned but never built or built but never opened

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Jorge Da Silva

Jorge Da Silva

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What lines or stations have been planned but never built (or built but never opened in some cases).

These do not include stations or lines which were planned/proposed for reopening only new builds.

Where were they meant to go from? Why was it never built? When was it meant to open? Who was meant to operate it?

An example of line planned but never built:

  • Glasgow Airport Rail Link
  • Lincoln and Louth Railway (planned by GNR)
  • Fenny Compton to Rugby? (part of the Oxford and Rugby railway)
  • Bushey Heath Extension of Northern Line
  • Chessington South to Leatherhead

These include lines proposed by a group (with some concrete plans not just a suggestion) or a rail company (like GNR or GCR or BR) plans for a new line.
 
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KeithP

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Does the Croxley Rail Link, aka the Metropolitan Line Extension fit here?
 
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route:oxford

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Jorge Da Silva said:
What lines or stations have been planned but never built (or built but never opened in some cases).

These do not include stations or lines which were planned/proposed for reopening only new builds.

Where were they meant to go from? Why was it never built? When was it meant to open? Who was meant to operate it?

An example of line planned but never built:

  • Glasgow Airport Rail Link
  • Lincoln and Louth Railway (planned by GNR)
  • Fenny Compton to Rugby? (part of the Oxford and Rugby railway)
  • Bushey Heath Extension of Northern Line
  • Chessington South to Leatherhead

These include lines proposed by a group (with some concrete plans not just a suggestion) or a rail company (like GNR or GCR or BR) plans for a new line.
Click to expand...

There's a hidden station in the bowels of T5 - built in anticipation of growth.
Tunnels built under Lords in anticipation of growth but never used.
EARL - Edinburgh Airport Rail Link
 
Lucan

Lucan

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That's a tall order. During the railway mania many lines were proposed merely as a way of undermining a proposal by a rival railway company, and were never built even if they did get Parliamentary approval. There was often no real intention of ever building them.
 
CarltonA

CarltonA

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The Central Line was meant to be extended to Denham but in the event got no further than West Ruislip. This was mainly due to the creation of the green belt around London post war.
 
Jorge Da Silva

Jorge Da Silva

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Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway was not fully completed. Suppose to continue to Warrington and Sutton on sea.

Quote from Wikipedia

From Lincoln the line would continue eastward over the Lincolnshire Wolds, with a junction near Stainfield as it crossed the GNR Louth to Bardney line. Proceeding well to the north of Horncastle it would cross the East Lincolnshire Railway to the southwest of Alford passing to the south. It would then join that line's loop (at that time known as the Willoughby Railway) near Thurlby turning north east to Sutton on Sea, where the North Sea port would be built.
Click to expand...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancashire,_Derbyshire_and_East_Coast_Railway
 
61653 HTAFC

61653 HTAFC

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The Midland Railway's Huddersfield to Kirkburton branch was planned at one point to be extended to Barnsley. Of course this never happened and the Lancashire and Yorkshire line to Clayton West sort-of cut it off anyway. I believe there were also aborted plans to extend that line to Barnsley.
 
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big all

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dont know if it counts
during the war there where earthworks to form a triangle at shalfords between the portsmouth/london and reading/redhill lines
there was also earthworks at dorking to connect the deepdene to betchworth tunnel section

this would have the ability if fully installed with the required trackwork and bridge to give you a horsham rounder branch off at christ hospital via cranleigh to shalford via a few yards on the portsmouth main line then via deepdene and betchworth tunnel back to horsham
 
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Cricketer8for9

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There are earthworks east of Kent House station for a curve round to the line between Crystal Palace and Beckenham Junction. The railway map of London suggests there may have been a siding but never a through running connection.
 
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big all

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Cricketer8for9 said:
There are earthworks east of Kent House station for a curve round to the line between Crystal Palace and Beckenham Junction. The railway map of London suggests there may have been a siding but never a through running connection.
Click to expand...
yes go on google earth and use timeline back to 1945 and you can see both your kenthouse and the dorking earthworks
 
61653 HTAFC

61653 HTAFC

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Did the missing side of the "triangle" at Virginia Water ever have track? You can see the earthworks from the Chertsey lines but I'm not sure it ever actually opened.
 
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neil henderson

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Edinburgh Airport Rail Link

Would have been a major upgrading of rail services connecting the Glasgow Line and Fife line together underneath the airport

From Wikipedia:
The Edinburgh Airport Rail Link (EARL) was a proposed rail link to Edinburgh Airport, Scotland. The project was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2007,[1] but following a change of government, was cancelled in September 2007 on grounds of cost.

The link was planned to open in 2011 and would have included an underground airport station located beneath the terminal building. A tunnel was to have been constructed to take trains underneath the main runway.[3] The Edinburgh Airport Rail Link would have allowed direct rail travel to and from the airport from Scotland’s main towns and cities. New rolling stock was to be ordered for the service to compensate for any extra journey time created by the additional stop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Airport_Rail_Link
 
bramling

bramling

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Jorge Da Silva said:
What lines or stations have been planned but never built (or built but never opened in some cases).

These do not include stations or lines which were planned/proposed for reopening only new builds.

Where were they meant to go from? Why was it never built? When was it meant to open? Who was meant to operate it?

An example of line planned but never built:

  • Glasgow Airport Rail Link
  • Lincoln and Louth Railway (planned by GNR)
  • Fenny Compton to Rugby? (part of the Oxford and Rugby railway)
  • Bushey Heath Extension of Northern Line
  • Chessington South to Leatherhead

These include lines proposed by a group (with some concrete plans not just a suggestion) or a rail company (like GNR or GCR or BR) plans for a new line.
Click to expand...

Collywell Bay branch
Royston Junction to Deesbury
Doncaster York Road branch
Edgware to Bushey Heath
Barrhead to Paisley
Queens Road Clapton station
Lullingstone station
Crowlands station

are ones which spring to mind.
 
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Batman

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What about the proposed tunnel under Birmingham city centre to divert the cross city line away from New Street?

I think the tunnel would have run from just south of Aston to Five ways with deep level platforms at New Street and Five Ways station being re-built in a new alignment. There may have been plans for an intermediate station between New Street and Aston, but I’m not entirely sure.

The plans were killed off in about 2005 IIRC.
 
Bevan Price

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Wigan Central to Longton (near Preston) - authorized, with an eventual target of reaching Blackpool, but never built.
St. Helens Central (GCR) to Liverpool - opened by "The Liverpool, St. Helens & South Lancashire Railway" , but never got further west than St. Helens.
 
Xenophon PCDGS

Xenophon PCDGS

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The Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway line from Aire Junction on the Hull and Barnsley line to Braithwell Junction on the Great Central and Midland Joint Railway had fully completed a total of five passenger stations on that line section, but none of these ever handled a passenger service. The five stations were:-
Snaith & Pollington
Sykehouse
Thorpe-in-Balne
Doncaster (York Road)
Warmsworth
 
RichJF

RichJF

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Ouse Valley Railway - Authorised & construction initially started but never built. Line would never be profitable but planned to stop the SER encroaching on LBSCR territory.

Southern Heights Light Railway. 3rd rail branch line on the North Downs . Dropped in the 1930s.
 
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abn444

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Chobham in Surrey has a station road for a station that was never built despite there being plans for lines through there twice
 
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