New Bridges on Railways never used

[Altfish]

The title isn't very clear but what I mean is, can you identify any new road over or under bridges that have been built across a railway that has never been needed because the railway has/was closed at the time of construction.

I can think of two that I'm fairly sure have not been needed as yet...

M6 Toll Road under the Litchfield to Brownhills line
Turnbull Road (in West Timperley) over the Skelton Junction to Glazebrook line.

On the M6 toll road there is also a canal bridge hanging in the middle of no where waiting for a canal restoration scheme that seems a long way off.

 

[edwin_m]

Isn't there one on the M1 south-west of Northampton?

 

[150219]

The title isn't very clear but what I mean is, can you identify any new road over or under bridges that have been built across a railway that has never been needed because the railway has/was closed at the time of construction.

Bridge 11A on the WBB (High Wycombe to Bourne End line) is an overline bridge for the M40, although the line had already been closed and lifted when the M40 was being constructed.

 

[Dye]

Isn't there one on the M1 south-west of Northampton?

M1 Junction 15a. The northbound a43 lanes use the old bridge.

 

[Railsigns]

There used to be a bridge over a road in the village of Connel that was built to carry a never-constructed west to north railway chord that would have allowed trains to run directly between Oban and Ballachulish. It was demolished a few years ago in connection with new housing, after standing unused for around a hundred years.

 

[AndrewE]

Has the Cheadle (Staffs) branch under the A50 ever been used? I don't know if the rails were in place when the road was built.

 

[snowball]

How soon after the opening of the M6 was the Kidgsrove to Sandbach line closed?

If the Stoke route had been chosen for HS2 the bridge might have found a new use.

 

[Deepgreen]

Not a road bridge, but the infamous footbridge from the island platform at Swindon to the adjacent waste land springs to mind. It was in situ for at least ten years but never led anywhere (the commercial development which it was to serve never materialised) and was never used. Now removed.

 

[cossie4i]

A bridge Ashford end of Ebbsfleet station over HS1

 

[BelleIsle]

The bridge that took the Luton-Dunstable line over the M1 was replaced despite the line being disused in order that it did not become an obstacle to reopening. That all ended well :cry:

 

[billh]

Audenshaw Road ,over the OAGB junction line near Guide Bridge Station. The line closed in 1982 between Stockport Junction and Crowthorne. Early 1990's the BRB applied in an Act of Parliament to re-open the line to force the proposed M60 motorway construction to build a bridge over the formation, where a link road was built to the M60 Junction 23. It is possible that the reason for the bridge, at that time, was the Central Railway project which was to use that route. That plan has since faded away and the old formation remains overgrown and derelict.
Bill

 

[bolli]

The best has to be the bridge over the Severn and Wye mineral loop, renewed in the last 5 years, over a filled in cutting just south of Whitecroft.
Here it is pre-restoration: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.7...4!1syomrqH6aRjpw5f2Jhn3ERA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

It closed in 1951!

 

[emoaconr]

Birkenhead Docks Branch - new(ish) bridge built over Mollington Link road in the 1990s, after the final trains traversed the lines in 1993. Mothballed tracks on either side of bridge, but the bridge itself has never had rails.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Bridge 11A on the WBB (High Wycombe to Bourne End line) is an overline bridge for the M40, although the line had already been closed and lifted when the M40 was being constructed.

This is what wiki has to say about the construction of the M40 between Hillingdon and Stokenchurch

The first section from the High Wycombe Bypass from Handycross to Stokenchurch (J4–5) opened in June 1967[1] with a temporary junction (J2*) opening in 1969, extending in a southerly direction to Holtspur just outside Beaconsfield. The 'Beaconsfield bypass' to J2 was built in 1971 and the 'Gerrards Cross Bypass' to J1 was completed in 1973.


The bridge at Loudwater is on the Handy Cross to Holtspur section, so would have opened before the line was closed in 1970.

 

[Ianno87]

I think The M60 has a bridge over the former Walkden Loop line between Junctions 13 & 14, which is now a cycle path/bridle way through the Roe Green area.

I think closure of the railway pre-dates the opening of the motorway (originally part of the M62), but happy to be corrected!

 

[notlob.divad]

About to start work on the A565 Great Howard Street in Liverpool. The existing bridge at the end of the Waterloo tunnel is to be replaced (Widened) despite the tracks not existing.

It is a bit of a strange one as to why, most people thought it might be an indication of preserving the route for future passenger services by the council, but no it is the DfT who mandated that the route might be required by freight to get to the docks. I don't think the person who made that decision paid much attention in their map reading lessons.

 

[Dr_Paul]

If we're going to extend this to rail bridges over roads that have never been used, there's two that come to mind.

At Beddgelert on the Welsh Highland Line, a bridge was built over the A498 just south of the village, but the trackbed was built in such a way that it crosses the road further along the road. A pair of bridge abutments were built along the original alignment, but the embankment was never built, so they sit isolated in a meadow.

In South-East London, an embankment was built for a curve that was intended to go from Kent House round to the line from Beckenham Junction to Crystal Palace, including a bridge over a lane. It's still there, but I don't think that track was ever laid on it. See the 1890s map here.

 

[thenorthern]

There are a couple of bridges on the A38 north of Derby that I think were built for the railways but never used.

Has the Cheadle (Staffs) branch under the A50 ever been used? I don't know if the rails were in place when the road was built.

The Blythe Bridge to Uttoxeter A50 was built in 1989 and wikipedia says the last train rain in 1986 so probably never been used.

 

[47271]

https://www.railscot.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=15169

Not quite meeting the criteria of the thread, but whenever I drive from Perth to Forfar on the A94 I'm always amused by this monster carrying the long closed Caledonian Main Line over the road. The route shut in 1982 and was probably carrying around one freight train a week by that time, but this thing looks like it was put in very shortly beforehand and is fit to handle TGVs at full speed.

 

[route:oxford]

Two that I am unsure whether they were ever used by the railway or not:-

On what was the former siding from the Morris (now BMW) factory at Oxford into what was is now the Business Park.

https://goo.gl/maps/VgLdWt2VaLM2

On the former Watlington & Princes Risborough Railway and is now the Ridgeway Path.

https://goo.gl/maps/8iou6F2ZgRT2

 

[The Planner]

Neither were built for the railway IMO, Chinnor was closed long before the M40 opened in 1974.

 

[Polarbear]

One that springs to mind in the North West is the crossing of the A57 at Irlam by the Glazebrook - Timperley line. The bridge was built well after the last rail services used the line & is quite a substantial structure as well.

The contrast between that and the bridge across the Manchester Ship Canal that sits right next to it is stark to say the least.

 

[QueensCurve]

Can't remember the details, but I believe there was a road forced to bridge over the woodhead route some 10-15y after it had closed. It may have bee while a certain Michael Portillo was a transport minister

 

[RichmondCommu]

There are a couple of bridges on the A38 north of Derby that I think were built for the railways but never used.

I can assure you that there aren't any bridges on the A38 north of Derby that were ever built for railway use and not used.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Pretty certain the A55 North Wales Coast Expressway crosses over the Amlwch branch somewhere in the Pentre Berw area. The branch would have been out of use by the time the new dual carriageway was built, I think, some time in the 1990s.

 

[Penmorfa]

Between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynydd in the vicinity of Maentwrog Road station. The bridge carries the A470 road over the line.

 

[snowball]

Can't remember the details, but I believe there was a road forced to bridge over the woodhead route some 10-15y after it had closed. It may have bee while a certain Michael Portillo was a transport minister

Here, near Deepcar, on the A616 Stocksbridge to M1 link.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4855379,-1.5531806,81m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

[RichmondCommu]

Here, near Deepcar, on the A616 Stocksbridge to M1 link.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4855379,-1.5531806,81m/data=!3m1!1e3

In which case surely the line is still in use?

 

[krus_aragon]

Pretty certain the A55 North Wales Coast Expressway crosses over the Amlwch branch somewhere in the Pentre Berw area. The branch would have been out of use by the time the new dual carriageway was built, I think, some time in the 1990s.

Correct: trains last ran in '93, and the road was built seven years later.

 

[snowball]

In which case surely the line is still in use?

If you click on the link in my post above, you'll see there are no rails.

Going south, extant track resumes not far south of the bridge, serving Stocksbridge steel works, but when it was used by passenger traffic it of course led to Sheffield Victoria station, now closed. Trains from Penistone to Sheffield now run via Barnsley instead.

Edit: here's the location on OS Landranger:

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=429435&Y=398305&A=Y&Z=120