Extended bridges which have seen very few trains

[Old Yard Dog]

There are two former railway bridges in the Bradford area which were extended in the 1960's to allow roads to be built or widened.

One is the bridge over Wakefield Road (A650) which used to carry the Bowling Jn - Laisterdyke (Bradford avoiding) line. This was once part of the Leeds, Bradford and Halifax Junction Railway. As far as I know, this only ever had a very limited passenger service with Bowling station closing in 1895. Later I think it was used by a parliamentary timetabled passenger service which ceased in 1969. The line closed to freight in August 1981. The widening of Wakefield Road also hastened the closure of the trolleybus routes to Holme Wood (17) and Tong Cemetery (18) in 1967.

Railway Bridge - Wakefield Road -... © Betty Longbottom

This bridge carries a now dismantled railway over the road.

www.geograph.org.uk

I think this bridge is still extant.

The other is the bridge over the M62 near Chain Bar (J26) which carried the Spen Valley line from Low Moor to Mirfield which closed to passengers in 1965, before the M62 was built. It now forms part of the Spen Valley Greenway.

http://www.ukmotorwayarchive.org.uk/filemanager/root/site_assets/images/m62/hartshead_to_gildersome2.jpg

Huge amounts of money must have been spent on extending these two bridges but how many trains actually travelled over them? Very few I would wager.

Are there any other examples of money being spent on altering railway infrastructure to allow roads to be built or widened - and that railway infrastructure being little used subsequently?

 

[Ianno87]

There's a bridge over the M61 Worsley Interchange on the remnants of an old line from Kearsley up towards Walkden:

Kearsley https://maps.app.goo.gl/BWJjZx82GWiWPitC8

 

[swt_passenger]

I think just near Durham Park and Ride, the mothballed Leamside line got a bridge extended for road dualling. Near A1(M)/A690 junction at Belmont?
I expect such work is fairly common and a pretty long list might be made...

 

[Railwaysceptic]

During the 1960s, in the Hackney Wick area of east London, the (then A102M, now A12 Extension) urban motorway was built which necessitated construction of a major new railway bridge to carry the North London Line from Victoria Park Junction to Bow Goods depot. The passenger service along that alignment had ceased in 1944 and the very few freight trains stopped in, I believe, 1967. The extreme anti-rail Economist Magazine made a meal out of this at the time. The southern half of that route is now part of the Dockland Light Rail system, but the section for which the new bridge was built is unused, even by cyclists and pedestrians.

The bridge has now been removed.

 

[The Planner]

As SWT says, there will be loads, one on the M42 south of Dorridge ready for 4 tracking. The M4 second Severn crossing is wider for a re-alignment at Severn Tunnel Jn that never happened.

 

[6026KingJohn]

In Brownhills, West Midlands, there was a road bridge over the South Staffs line from Walsall to Lichfield. Because of extra traffic a second bridge was built alongside to create a roundabout on top. The bridge was constructed with the help of a crane sitting on the (recently closed) railway line beneath, one track of which had already been removed! The other track was removed shortly after.

In the same vicinity, when the M6 Toll was built, the railway bridge on the same line (but the bit that was still open to Anglesea sidings from Lichfield and was now single line) was built for double track. This was just before trains stopped running to Anglesea sidings. I understand that the line is currently not closed technically, but is out of use and it will need many trees and bushes removed before anything will be able to use it.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There's a bridge over the M6 north of Keele services, which used to carry the North Staffs branch line from Stoke to Market Drayton.
The line was closed in the early 60s except for the short section over the M6 between Silverdale and the WCML at Madeley, to serve the colliery at Silverdale.
In fact I think the chord from the WCML to the Silverdale line was built then to allow closure of the rest of the line.
The colliery soon closed, so the expensive M6 bridge (and the WCML chord) is redundant.
There must be many such works where the railway barely outlived motorway construction.

The M6 also crossed the Warrington-Timperley line at Thelwall, though the railway bridge was dwarfed by the adjacent viaduct over the Manchester Ship Canal.
By the time the second M6 viaduct was built in the 1990s the railway has vanished, so the trackbed hosted a giant concrete pier for the new viaduct.
This put paid to any thoughts about reopening this stretch of railway.

 

[6Gman]

There's a bridge over the M6 north of Keele services, which used to carry the North Staffs branch line from Stoke to Market Drayton.
The line was closed in the early 60s except for the short section over the M6 between Silverdale and the WCML at Madeley, to serve the colliery at Silverdale.
In fact I think the chord from the WCML to the Silverdale line was built then to allow closure of the rest of the line.
The colliery soon closed, so the expensive M6 bridge (and the WCML chord) is redundant.
There must be many such works where the railway barely outlived motorway construction.

As I understand it the chord was primarily built to allow traffic from Wellington to reach Basford Hall from the south, and to allow closure of the Silverdale-Stoke section. Back then Oxley - Wellington - Market Drayton - Crewe had significant freight flows.

The colliery survived until 1998 and I believe stockpiled coal was still being moved in 1999.

So the need for the bridge long outlived construction of the M6, which was around 1962-65 on that stretch.

 

[edwin_m]

During the 1960s, in the Hackney Wick area of east London, the (then A102M, now A12 Extension) urban motorway was built which necessitated construction of a major new railway bridge to carry the North London Line from Victoria Park Junction to Bow Goods depot. The passenger service along that alignment had ceased in 1944 and the very few freight trains stopped in, I believe, 1967. The extreme anti-rail Economist Magazine made a meal out of this at the time. The southern half of that route is now part of the Dockland Light Rail system, but the section for which the new bridge was built is unused, even by cyclists and pedestrians.

The bridge has now been removed.

As recently visited by Diamond Geezer: https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2020/05/disused-railway-old-ford-victoria-park.html

The junction's complex because it was supposed to link to the North Cross Route but that was never built, for which residents of Camden, Highbury and Dalston remain eternally grateful. It was also complicated by the presence of the North London Railway, which swept across the left-hand carriageways at what used to be ground level via a brand new concrete viaduct. This touched down on the wooded embankment you can see in the middle of the photo, which was also the site of Victoria Park station, by this time defunct. The viaduct was finally removed in the late 1990s, having carried no passengers and very little freight.

See previous post for southern part of route.

In Brownhills, West Midlands, there was a road bridge over the South Staffs line from Walsall to Lichfield. Because of extra traffic a second bridge was built alongside to create a roundabout on top. The bridge was constructed with the help of a crane sitting on the (recently closed) railway line beneath, one track of which had already been removed! The other track was removed shortly after.

In the same vicinity, when the M6 Toll was built, the railway bridge on the same line (but the bit that was still open to Anglesea sidings from Lichfield and was now single line) was built for double track. This was just before trains stopped running to Anglesea sidings. I understand that the line is currently not closed technically, but is out of use and it will need many trees and bushes removed before anything will be able to use it.

That is one where re-opening is talked about from time to time, so it's good that extra obstructions are not being put in the way.

 

[Midnight Sun]

The new rail bridge that was built over the new Coronation channel (Flood relief Channel)in Spalding for the Midland & Great Northern line to Kings Lynn. The line was closed before the channel was finshed.

 

[GlosRail]

I know there a bridge built over the M50 when it was built in the 1960's to carry the railway from Tewkesbury.

It seems the railway closed when the motorway was only a few months old and the bridge was unused until being knocked down about 7 years ago.

Some photos of it appear here http://malvernrailway.blogspot.com/2016/06/ripple-m50-bridge.html

 

[Hagbard Celine]

Following a long campaign by local MPs the Damhead bridge carrying the Forfar branch over the A94 near Coupar Angus was rebuilt. Due to its narrow width and restricted headroom it was an accident blackspot.

Three months later BR closed the line completely.

 

[edwin_m]

The M1 has bridges over the Towcester-Olney line, Northampton-Blisworth and the Great Northern Nottingham-Derby line, all of which closed before or very soon after the motorway opened (less overlap than the better-known one where the GC passes over south of Leicester). The Blisworth one now carries the A43 at junction 15A, the others are unused although the Nottingham-Derby one might become a tramline in the distant future.

 

[gg1]

In Brownhills, West Midlands, there was a road bridge over the South Staffs line from Walsall to Lichfield. Because of extra traffic a second bridge was built alongside to create a roundabout on top.

A little further south on the same line a number of bridges have been built between Walsall and Dudley post closures in 1992.

 

[topydre]

The M40 bridge near Thame? (Princes Risborough - Oxford)

 

[Bald Rick]

In Brownhills, West Midlands, there was a road bridge over the South Staffs line from Walsall to Lichfield. Because of extra traffic a second bridge was built alongside to create a roundabout on top. The bridge was constructed with the help of a crane sitting on the (recently closed) railway line beneath, one track of which had already been removed! The other track was removed shortly after.

In the same vicinity, when the M6 Toll was built, the railway bridge on the same line (but the bit that was still open to Anglesea sidings from Lichfield and was now single line) was built for double track. This was just before trains stopped running to Anglesea sidings. I understand that the line is currently not closed technically, but is out of use and it will need many trees and bushes removed before anything will be able to use it.

Slightly OT, but the M6 toll also has a bridge over it for the Essington and Wyrley Canal, which is notable for a) not having been open for nearly 3/4 of a century, and, b), having no embankments on approach. It is literally a dry aqueduct, and nothing else. Complete waste of money!

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

On the M5 in Devon there is a distinct 'hump' near to Tiverton Junction (Willand) where the embankments were built to cross the Hemyock branch. BR then gave notice to close the line during construction of the motorway due to the loss of the milk-traffic, so the bridge was never installed.

On the reverse side there are several examples of railways being forced to close to reduce costs of road construction e.g. Winchester - Alton (M3/A34), Forfar (A90), Buckfastleigh - Ashburton (A38).

 

[Bald Rick]

On the M5 in Devon there is a distinct 'hump' near to Tiverton Junction (Willand) where the embankments were built to cross the Hemyock branch. BR then gave notice to close the line during construction of the motorway due to the loss of the milk-traffic, so the bridge was never installed.

On the reverse side there are several examples of railways being forced to close to reduce costs of road construction e.g. Winchester - Alton (M3/A34), Forfar (A90), Buckfastleigh - Ashburton (A38).

Winchester - Alton certainly wasn’t the M3; the line shut in 1973, and the M3 opened (there) in 1985.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

The new A55 had a bridge built under the Amlwch branch sometime in the 1990s, I think, by which time it had closed to all traffic.
CL

 

[IanH440]

New bridge built over the A465 Heads of the Valleys rd nr Cefn Coed Station - Old Brecon and Merthyr route.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Slightly OT, but the M6 toll also has a bridge over it for the Essington and Wyrley Canal, which is notable for a) not having been open for nearly 3/4 of a century, and, b), having no embankments on approach. It is literally a dry aqueduct, and nothing else. Complete waste of money!

The aqueduct was paid for by the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust. It may take many years to re-open that stretch of the canal, but putting them in across a live motorway would have been far more expensive .

I'm told the M11 bridge over the Ongar branch of the Central Line was built to accommodate double track. The line was built as single, and remai8ned so throughout GER, LNER, BR, and LT ownership, and is still so in preservation.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Single track bridge built over the M4 at Ynysforgan , north Swansea - to serve the Mond-Inco plant at Clydach from Felin Fran on the Swansea District line. Unused for many years , as rail traffic ceased just after construction around 1974 (but raw material from Canada went in by road from Swansea Freightliner terminal in containers)

 

[DarloRich]

I think just near Durham Park and Ride, the mothballed Leamside line got a bridge extended for road dualling. Near A1(M)/A690 junction at Belmont?
I expect such work is fairly common and a pretty long list might be made...

Do you mean the A690 one near Ramside Hall Hotel? That bridge has been like that as long as I can remember. It must have been done 40 + years. It will have seen substantial colliery/speedlink traffic over the years. If we are to include that one then the Leamside line bridge over the A1M ( between Shincliffe and Sherburn) must be in the same category.

 

[Bald Rick]

The aqueduct was paid for by the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust. It may take many years to re-open that stretch of the canal, but putting them in across a live motorway would have been far more expensive .

No doubt building it over a live motorway would have been more expensive than building it during the motorways’s construction, if it was done at roughly the same time period. However, the money spent on that bridge nearly 2 decades ago would be worth a rather larger sum had it been invested wisely. Whether it would have covered the costs of building above a live motorway now (or 10 years in the future) may well be debateable. Of course if it is there unused long enough, it will need renewal!

 

[Richard Scott]

Sure there was a new bridge put in over the A48 on Caerwent branch and it's possible no train has ever been over it?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The Battersea Curve, which got Eurostars from the Chatham main line into Waterloo for a decade or so, is now unused I believe.
The Fawkham Jn-Gravesend link between the Chatham line and the first phase of HS1 is also unused after a life of less than 4 years until phase 2 opened.
Other Eurostar infrastructure also had a short life, but much of it has been repurposed for the national network after a gap of a decade or so.
The Sheepcote curve (West London Line towards Waterloo) has I think been lifted.
Has the Redhill-Tonbridge line ever been used for electric Channel Tunnel freight (the reason it was electrified)?

 

[norbitonflyer]

The Battersea Curve, which got Eurostars from the Chatham main line into Waterloo for a decade or so, is now unused I believe.

The Sheepcote curve (West London Line towards Waterloo) has I think been lifted.

The Battersea Curve has no regular services, but has been used to divert South eastern services to Waterloo when the SE main line to >London Bridge and Charing Cross is closed.

Carto Metro, usually accurate about these things, shows the Sheepcote Lane curve as still present and correct.

 

[Nottingham59]

When the Nottingham ring road was built in the 1980s, they built a double-track extended railway bridge to carry the Old Dalby test track over the A52, even though the track terminates just 200 metres beyond the bridge. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.904152,-1.1158592,17z

 

[gimmea50anyday]

I think just near Durham Park and Ride, the mothballed Leamside line got a bridge extended for road dualling. Near A1(M)/A690 junction at Belmont?
I expect such work is fairly common and a pretty long list might be made...

Some of the road improvements in the West Carnforth area near Metal Bridge in the 1990s saw new railway bridges built yet the railways they were built to carry were closed

 

[Dr_Paul]

The Sheepcote curve (West London Line towards Waterloo) has I think been lifted.

The last time I travelled up to Waterloo, just before the virus business, it was still there, if looking a bit rusty.