Railway locations that are now only a shadow of themselves

[devon_belle]

Yeovil Junction has kept a lot of its track and has a fairly good regular service pattern to and from Exeter and London, but it has lost out in terms of connectivity and freight. Formerly you could get direct trains (or through carriages) to seaside destinations throughout Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, as well as east to Portsmouth and Brighton. The yards were significant too, both for distribution of goods around the local SR network and transfer to/from the GWR.

It puzzles me that both Yeovil Pen Mill and Yeovil Junction retained so much trackwork when most similar stations were severely rationalised.

Another candidate along that line is Templecombe (almost every passenger train stopped there and there was a significant yard as well as connections to the S&D). Formerly I would have said Exeter Central, but really it is thriving in terms of services, albeit with far fewer destinations and less trackwork than it used to have.

 

[marsker]

Place that came to my mind is Relly Mill, 1 mile south of Durham. Today, there is just the ECML, plain double track. Back in the 1960s there were lines going off to Consett (well, strictly, Blackhill) via Lanchester and to Bishop Auckland. Just to the south of there was Deerness Valley Jct with the Waterhouses branch heading west and a direct line from the Bishop Auckland line to the Lanchester line.
Additionally, there was a line from the Lanchester line which buried under the Bishop Auckland line to provide a direct route south from the Lanchester line to join the ECML at Browney signal box, again a short distance south of Relly Mill.
I remember the Tyne Dock to Consett ore trains being routed via Durham and Lanchester when the normal route through Beamish was blocked by a pile up of runaway coal wagons.

 

[leytongabriel]

Indeed the freight depot at Feltham was one of the biggest in the country. Part of it has now been repurposed as a depot for the 701s should they ever enter service

Yes - much of it has now been reclaimed by nature. I went down thereto help with an ecological survey recently.

 

[Wyrleybart]

Several that spring to mind for me are

Pontypool Road
Worcester
Severn Tunnel Junction

You would sometimes see 25 locos stabled at STJ as well as another dozen at Newport.

 

[Merseyrailfan]

Ormskirk has been downsized from 3/4 platform station to two platforms divided by buffers. The Down platform station Building remains, up platform is full of weeds, the up station Buliding, I don’t know if it is either abandoned or sold, the old electric bay is a cycle path now. But service wise it in hindsight for local services at least, it is the Same service or likely better than in 60s, with 15 minute daytime service to Liverpool and 1 hourly to Preston. It also decently used especially on the Liverpool rather than Preston.

 

[Mgameing123]

Marsh station is a big shadow of its former self.

 

[Strathclyder]

St Rollox had it own station until ‘62 on the line out of Buchanan Street. Not many photos of it though & the name has always made me smile. Apparently she’s was a saint.

This is one of the few pictures of St. Rollox station I've managed to find online, taken on the day of closure I think (5th November 1962):

 

[Taunton]

Yeovil Junction ... The yards were significant too, both for distribution of goods around the local SR network and transfer to/from the GWR ... Another candidate along that line is Templecombe ... there was a significant yard as well as connections to the S&D).

Yeovil Junction was never that much of a freight point, what there was for Yeovil itself was tripped on down to Yeovil Town where the freight depots were, and there was little interchange with the Western as both tended to serve themselves all the key points.

Templecombe however was a substantial intermediate location for long distance freight, as the S&D was jointly owned by Southern and LMS, and all the freight from Midlands and North, etc, including much coal traffic, came through Bath and there to keep it off the GWR. The S&D thus had far more freight north of there than south, and the Southern had far more west of there than east. However, the yard wasn't big enough for the traffic, so the S&D used to bring it down just as far as Evercreech Junction, where there was a bigger yard, and just trip in on the few miles to Templecombe when the Southern were ready to take it on. What a palaver and waste of time! And that's how the freight all ended up on a lorry all the way.

 

[Dr_Paul]

St Rollox had it own station until ‘62 on the line out of Buchanan Street. Not many photos of it though & the name has always made me smile. Apparently she’s was a saint.

Me too. I'm surprised that 'a load of old saints' hasn't become part of the lexicon of London rhyming slang as a term for rubbish, in the way that a certain American artist's name has, that is, 'a load of old Jacksons'.

 

[devon_belle]

Yeovil Junction was never that much of a freight point, what there was for Yeovil itself was tripped on down to Yeovil Town where the freight depots were, and there was little interchange with the Western as both tended to serve themselves all the key points.

Thanks for clearing this up, although with the interchange I was referring to when Clifton Maybank was still open (I should have clarified that), although I guess that was only truly important when it was a transfer point for broad to standard gauge. Yeovil Junction must have still been of some significance for the civil engineering (?) sidings to be added in 1957/8.

However, the yard wasn't big enough for the traffic, so the S&D used to bring it down just as far as Evercreech Junction, where there was a bigger yard, and just trip in on the few miles to Templecombe when the Southern were ready to take it on.

Fascinating! I am surprised that the yard was still insufficient after the 1938 expansion.

 

[urbophile]

St Rollox had it own station until ‘62 on the line out of Buchanan Street. Not many photos of it though & the name has always made me smile. Apparently she’s was a saint.

She had to be to live with a name like that.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Lincoln. No less than eight lines converging on the city until the 1960s - from Grimsby, Boston, Sleaford, Grantham, Nottingham, Chesterfield, Sheffield (direct, via Torksey), and Doncaster. Only four left now

Here are some track plans from 1955

The lines to Skegness, Grantham, Tuxford and Retford (direct) have gone. So has St Marks Station and the avoiding line east of the bridge over the Nottingham line (which has been connected to the western half of the avoidung line). The Boultham jn/Pyewipe Jn section has been singled. The "Holmes Goods" lines survive, but otherwise everything is plain double track throughout.

All that's left here is the double track route Lincoln/Doncaster, plus a single track spur off at Pyewipe Junction (where there were four)

Double track on the north and east curves, single on the south curve

Most of this site is taken up by the University. The only tracks left are the two goods lines, and two main lines (re-routed to be alongside the goods)

The main lines have been re-routed alongside the goods lines off the top of this diagram - nothing else remains

Central station reduced to five platforms (former platforms 3 to 7). East Yard, GC level crossing, flat crossing at Pelham Street all gone. Tentercroft Street has been widened and now connects up to a grade separated roadjunction with Canwick Road

The former GC loco depot is now a bus depot. The Grantham and Boston lines have been closed. One of the "Terrace" carriage sidings remains, shortened to just long enough for a 5-car Azuma

Nothing left of this at all, apart from part of the station building, now incorporated into a shopping centre.

Railway Operating Maps and Diagrams Lincoln District : 5 - Holmes Yards & Goods Depot - photrek.co.uk

Railway Operating Maps & Diagrams: Cover Plate 1 General Map of Rail Connections with Lincoln Plate 2 Diagram of Running Lines, Lincoln Plate 3 Pyewipe West & Pyewipe Junction Yards Plate 3a Pyewipe West & Pyewipe Junction Yards – as in the 1960s Plate 4 West Holmes, Boultham & Pyewipe Junctions...

www.photrek.co.uk

 

[Scouseinmanc]

This is one of the few pictures of St. Rollox station I've managed to find online, taken on the day of closure I think (5th November 1962):

View attachment 142789

This is one of the few pictures of St. Rollox station I've managed to find online, taken on the day of closure I think (5th November 1962):

View attachment 142789

Great picture Strathclyder, thanks!

 

[Gloster]

She had to be to live with a name like that.

He was a he: St Roch, also Roc, Roque, Rocco and (in English) Rock, and possibly Roche. St Rollox is said to be a corruption Roch’s Loch, a small loch close to a chapel dedicated to him.

 

[Strathclyder]

Great picture Strathclyder, thanks!

No worries. Main reason it caught my attention at first was the Class 21 (D6125) taking centre stage lol

 

[uglymonkey]

Exmouth went from;

2 branch lines, one with through coaches to Waterloo
Engine shed
4 platform lovely station with canopys
Large good shed
Large goods yard
Own branch line to docks
Big signal box
WH Smith kiosk
Taxi rank

To:

Brick souless small "shed" 1970's station on single platform further away from town beside busy road at the end of a dead end siding from Topsham.

 

[Helvellyn]

Indeed the freight depot at Feltham was one of the biggest in the country. Part of it has now been repurposed as a depot for the 701s should they ever enter service

I believe in the mid-2010s South West Trains toyed with the idea of a big depot there to replace Staines and Strawberry Hill Depots. I assume cost and/or the thought of Union negotiations for transferring staff killed that one off.

 

[Falcon1200]

Bellgrove-Carntyne: Long stretches of four tracks, goods loops, numerous private sidings serving iron & steel works and other major industries....now two tracks and unstaffed stations.

Indeed, but (until Covid messed things up) that section had its busiest ever passenger service, the post-electrification 4 trains per hour increasing to 6 when Airdrie/Bathgate re-opened!

Has anyone mentioned Honeybourne? A place where two GWR main lines crossed with connections between the routes, multiple signalboxes, a four platform station and even once an engine shed. At its nadir the remaining line was singled and the station closed, at least there has been some revival with the station re-opened and the route partly redoubled.
(Not far away Kingham is not what it was either)