Buddleia roots and the damage they cause.

Envoy · Tuesday at 11:11

If Network Rail were to act now by hacking down the Buddleia bushes before they set seed, they would help prevent the seeds blowing to create new plants. When the cut down Buddleia’s start to regrow, then they should spray them to knock them out.

Photo below shows the situation yesterday by the Canton depot in Cardiff. Clearly no effort is bing made to control these invasive shrubs which wreck masonry.

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alxndr · Tuesday at 23:40

The problem is the off-track department are snowed under this time of year with reports of obscured signals, spraying giant hogweed, treating Japanese knotweed, and all their usual fencing and access point tasks. There’s lots of stuff I’m sure they’d like to do as much as we’d like them to do, but they can only do what they can with the staff they’ve got.

The exile · Wednesday at 07:16

alxndr said:
The problem is the off-track department are snowed under this time of year with reports of obscured signals, spraying giant hogweed, treating Japanese knotweed, and all their usual fencing and access point tasks. There’s lots of stuff I’m sure they’d like to do as much as we’d like them to do, but they can only do what they can with the staff they’ve got.

Fair enough, but the buddleia’s also there for the taking in the winter.

silexa · Wednesday at 08:37

chris_in_salop said:
The Flora of Birmingham and the Black Country (2013) lists the following plants as being particularly associated with railways in the West Midlands.

Buddleia (Buddleia davidii)
Danish scurvy-grass
Common stork's-bill
Common fumitory
Common toadflax
Common mallow
Long-headed poppy
London plane
Yellow mignonette
Oxford ragwort
Hedge mustard
Rat's-tail fescue
Japanese knotweed

Many (but not all) are drought-tolerant weeds with abundant seed production.

I've also noticed quite a large amount of Lupins on the XCity line (specifically purple ones, which look wonderful around Bourneville station). Lovely to see, but do spread well...

The exile · Wednesday at 09:03

chris_in_salop said:
The Flora of Birmingham and the Black Country (2013) lists the following plants as being particularly associated with railways…
Oxford ragwort

I’m sure I remember reading that there was a direct correlation to be seen between the spread of Oxford ragwort in the 19th century and the density of goods traffic from goods yards in Oxford.

fandroid · Wednesday at 09:21

chris_in_salop said:
The Flora of Birmingham and the Black Country (2013) lists the following plants as being particularly associated with railways in the West Midlands.

Buddleia (Buddleia davidii)
Danish scurvy-grass
Common stork's-bill
Common fumitory
Common toadflax
Common mallow
Long-headed poppy
London plane
Yellow mignonette
Oxford ragwort
Hedge mustard
Rat's-tail fescue
Japanese knotweed

Many (but not all) are drought-tolerant weeds with abundant seed production.

I see that London Plane is in that list. It's a hybrid and I imagine that most of those were planted. I don't think it naturalises very readily. I remember reading in a tree guide (published around 1970) that the oldest known ones are still growing, and the earliest ones date from the 17th century! Those in London, that haven't been pollarded to within an inch of their lives, are huge. Southwark Park has a fair number of big ones, I think

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Wednesday at 09:27 ==

Different countries have different railway weeds. In western Germany the trackside in places is a jungle of what looks like False Acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia). If that's what they are then they'll need clearing as it grows to around 30m high!

The exile · Wednesday at 09:44

fandroid said:
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Wednesday at 09:27 ==

Different countries have different railway weeds. In western Germany the trackside in places is a jungle of what looks like False Acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia). If that's what they are then they'll need clearing as it grows to around 30m high!

Memories of various trips at this time of year (Slovakia in particular) with the train ploughing through a sea of poppies.

XCTurbostar · Wednesday at 11:12

Problem is, after it has got to such a size, you could argue that without it, the surrounding structure would not be stable.
The way I see it, if this continues, we aren't far away from a serious incident where it has some involvement of weakening the structure. Visually, structures with it look un-maintained which is a bad look for a modern railway trying to extract every last inch of efficiency and paths from a legacy system.

Welly · Wednesday at 13:50

Peter Mugridge said:
Indeed.

The one I've just had removed had self seeded.

I can't even work out where from!!!

Ahem... I recall you have a railway line behind your house!

Peter Mugridge · Wednesday at 15:49

Welly said:
Ahem... I recall you have a railway line behind your house!

Yes, but there's no buddleia growing on the embankment!!

Probably a bird plop seeded it.

XCTurbostar said:
Problem is, after it has got to such a size, you could argue that without it, the surrounding structure would not be stable.
The way I see it, if this continues, we aren't far away from a serious incident where it has some involvement of weakening the structure. Visually, structures with it look un-maintained which is a bad look for a modern railway trying to extract every last inch of efficiency and paths from a legacy system.

We already have haven't we? The viaduct partial collapse near Vauxhall a couple of years ago was down to buddleia roots wasn't it?

Elecman · Wednesday at 21:45

Northwich station

adc82140 · Thursday at 11:55

Most rose bushes: "get my soil pH just right or I will die"

Buddleia: "yeah, concrete & masonry!"

Russel · Thursday at 14:51

silexa said:
I've also noticed quite a large amount of Lupins on the XCity line (specifically purple ones, which look wonderful around Bourneville station). Lovely to see, but do spread well...

Can't remember with, either Erdington or Chester Road on the X-City has ivy (I think) growing from under the platforms almost up to the railhead on the Lichfield bound platform side!

Belperpete · 2025-07-06T00:13:43+0100

Mcr Warrior said:
Rosebay Willowherb (a.k.a. "Fireweed") and Himalayan Balsam also tend to grow unchecked on railway verges, but not sure though what damage they might cause, if any, to masonry.

Himalayan Balsam likes damp conditions. It will rapidly choke up streams and other watercourses, with potential flood risk.

godfreycomplex · 2025-07-06T01:08:55+0100

Tetragon213 said:
I was under the impression it was "unassisted" lookout working that was virtually banned, i.e. TOWS/LOWS/ATWS based systems were still ok? When did this all change?

Planned unassisted lookout working

Tetragon213 said:
They still teach you Red Zone Working in the PTS! (Went on mine very recently)

Still used for critical fault, failure or emergency. Which buddleia isn’t.

Buddleia roots and the damage they cause.

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