Recent line closures

[railfan99]

I've not yet been on it, but reopening lines such as Okehampton is an achievement.

The flipside is line closures.

What were the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland line(s) most recently closed to passenger services that also lacked freight?

And what about the most recently closed line normally used only by freight trains?

What date was each closure effective from?

"Closed" can have variable meanings: I'm using it in the sense of 'permanently closed' i.e. most unlikely ever to reopen.

I'm excluding where a railway may have had a deviation built that aimed to (say) decrease running time by straightening what was curved track, or to avoid an area subject to frequent flooding.

 

[Farigiraf]

Folkestone Harbour branch line closed to all traffic in the early 2000s.

 

[The exile]

Scotland: Paisley Canal - Kilmacolm? 1983 I think.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

North Woolwich line, which was replaced by DLR.
The route via Crumlin and Antrim in Northern Ireland that was superseded by the cross-Belfast link, although the line is still intact and there is talk of reinstating it in some form.

Weymouth Quay branch, forget when (1990s, early 2000s?)

 

[swt_passenger]

Weymouth Quay branch, forget when (1990s, early 2000s?)

The exact date of the decision is not really explicitly documented, I think because it predated current (2005?) closure procedures.

 

[Wandering Pom]

A couple more:
Tilbury Riverside (November 1992)
The Thameslink / City Widened Lines route Farringdon - Moorgate (March 2009)

 

[SargeNpton]

Farringdon-Moorgate (Widened Lines): 2009
Manchester Victoria-Rochdale via Oldham: 2009 or earlier, but converted to Metrolink
Watford Junction-Croxley Green: 2005 or earlier (though trains had been replaced by bus/taxi way before the official closure)
Sinfin branch: 1997

All dates approximate.

 

[AndrewE]

New Holland pier - I went on it (and the ferry) just before the Humber bridge opened in 1981.

 

[Gloster]

Tunbridge Wells-Eridge - August 1985.

Lisburn-Antrim in 2003 is probably the most recent on NIR, although it may not be formally closed.

 

[norbitonflyer]

The west side of the Dalmeny/Winchburgh triangle, which carried a one-train-a-day-each-way service between Glasgow and Fife. suspended during Lurgi, I think, but the more intensive Edinburgh Glasgow timetable now makes it unlikely it will return.

 

[Falcon1200]

Scotland: Paisley Canal - Kilmacolm? 1983 I think.

Also Shields Junction-Paisley Canal, which subsequently re-opened and was later electrified! It always seemed wrong treating two separate lines, ie Shields Junction-Elderslie and Elderslie-Kilmacolm, as one route, because that was (largely) how the train service operated. The short section between Paisley Canal and Elderslie would have made the Canal line an invaluable diversionary route, but is now lost forever.

Also in Scotland; Balloch Central/Balloch Pier, 1986.

 

[krus_aragon]

In Wales, I've been racking my brains, but haven't been able to think of a single closure of a passenger line that had no freight since the Beeching era. Many lines lost their passenger services in the 1960s, and survived only for freight, but I can't think of many opposites. Certainly not ones that closed afterwards. (The Cardiff Bay branch almost went that was with the redevelopment in the 1980s!)

On the topic of freight line closures, the Blaenau Ffestiniog to Trawsfynydd section closed with the end of nuclear traffic in 1998. There may well be more recent coal-related closures in the South Wales Valleys, though I couldn't quote which.

 

[MadMac]

Has the Thornton-Westfield/Kinglassie branch ever “officially“ closed?

 

[Gloster]

In Wales, I've been racking my brains, but haven't been able to think of a single closure of a passenger line that had no freight since the Beeching era. Many lines lost their passenger services in the 1960s, and survived only for freight, but I can't think of many opposites. Certainly not ones that closed afterwards. (The Cardiff Bay branch almost went that was with the redevelopment in the 1980s!)

The last bit into the old Wrexham Central is a bit tenuous, but Barry Pier did not close officially until 1976. And of course the Vale of Rheidol changed status in 1989.

 

[John Webb]

North Woolwich line, which was replaced by DLR.....

But a chunk of which has been reused for the 'Elizabeth line'.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Lisburn-Antrim in 2003 is probably the most recent on NIR, although it may not be formally closed.

I'm not sure that Northern Ireland actually has a formal closure procedure. From the wording of the relevant entries on Wikipedia (not necessarily the most accurate source I know) it would appear that Translink/NIR made the decision to withdraw the service themselves in 2003. That route in fact has a chequered history; it was closed once before in 1960 but then appeared to have been reinstated in 1974, along with some of the intermediate stations as part of the rather circuitous Belfast Central-Londonderry route that was adopted at that time. When the cross-Belfast link was opened in the early 2000s, the route was retained with a skeleton service, only to be closed again in 2003.

 

[D6975]

Two bits of the ECML have closed. In 1983, Chaloners Whin to Selby closed due to the Selby coalfield diversion. And also the section at Penmanshiel tunnel which closed in 1979 due to the tragic collapse whilst repairs were being made.

Lisburn-Antrim is due for reopening, projected opening date is 2027-2030. If the normal pattern of such things goes to the usual schedule, we'll be lucky to see it before 2040.

 

[Kingston Dan]

Powderhall branch?

 

[bramling]

I've not yet been on it, but reopening lines such as Okehampton is an achievement.

The flipside is line closures.

What were the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland line(s) most recently closed to passenger services that also lacked freight?

And what about the most recently closed line normally used only by freight trains?

What date was each closure effective from?

"Closed" can have variable meanings: I'm using it in the sense of 'permanently closed' i.e. most unlikely ever to reopen.

I'm excluding where a railway may have had a deviation built that aimed to (say) decrease running time by straightening what was curved track, or to avoid an area subject to frequent flooding.

Don’t forget LU
* Holborn to Aldwych 1994
* Epping to Ongar 1994
* Green Park to Charing Cross 1999
* Whitechapel to Shoreditch 2006

 

[Western 52]

March to Spalding closed November 1982. There was also the Lincoln St Marks line.

 

[JKF]

The bit that Croydon tramlink now runs on was a fairly late closure I think?

 

[AlbertBeale]

The short branch to Newhaven Marine was closed to passenger service when that station was closed, relatively recently (c 20 years ago?), though they now have some freight sidings there. However I think that ECS trains that have terminated at one of the remaining Newhaven stations still go in there to reverse, if late running means they aren't continuing to Seaford, to get out of the way of any westbound service from Seaford - because the line becomes single track just after the Harbour junction. So does ECS count?

 

[john prytherch]

The short branch to Newhaven Marine was closed to passenger service when that station was closed, relatively recently (c 20 years ago?), though they now have some freight sidings there. However I think that ECS trains that have terminated at one of the remaining Newhaven stations still go in there to reverse, if late running means they aren't continuing to Seaford, to get out of the way of any westbound service from Seaford - because the line becomes single track just after the Harbour junction. So does ECS count?

Skelton Junction to Arpley Junction July 1985.

 

[railfan99]

There may well be more recent coal-related closures in the South Wales Valleys, though I couldn't quote which.

Yes, when writing the initial post, that was my first thought, given that the few? remaining coal mines in the UK from say the 1980s have almost all closed.

 

[Rescars]

The bit that Croydon tramlink now runs on was a fairly late closure I think?

I think the section through Waddon Marsh giving access to the gas works and power station lost its freight traffic some while before the West Croydon - Wimbledon passenger service ceased. But does closure for conversion to Tramlink count as a closure?

 

[railfan99]

...does closure for conversion to Tramlink count as a closure?...

Given in my distant city I regard the conversion of Oz's first railway line (1854) from Flinders St, Melbourne to Sandridge (now Port Melbourne) in 1987 to light rail/tram as a 'rail closure', I suppose the answer is 'yes'.

 

[krus_aragon]

The last bit into the old Wrexham Central is a bit tenuous, but Barry Pier did not close officially until 1976. And of course the Vale of Rheidol changed status in 1989.

A good call there on Barry Pier.

I'm not sure about the other two: the first was more of a station relocation (by a few hundred metres), and the other didn't close - it just changed hands.

 

[Irascible]

I suppose if we're going all the way back to the early 80s, Barnstaple-Bideford-Torrington-Meeth ( which is a pretty long way for a quarry! ) closed to freight in 1982, just barely missing EEC grants to upgrade equpment... similarily Wenford had freight until 1983.

 

[DanNCL]

Some post-Beeching examples in the North East.

1973: Riverside Line
Closed to passengers. Sections remained in use for freight until the 1980s. Now lifted.

1976: Haltwhistle - Alston
Closed to all traffic and lifted. Narrow gauge South Tynedale Railway now reuses part of the route.

1977: Manors - West Monkseaton via South Gosforth
Converted to Metro and reopened in 1980. Access remained on the Benton - Gosforth section for freight after Metro conversion until 1988.

1978: West Monkseaton - Tynemouth
Converted to Metro and reopened in 1980.

1980: Heaton - Tynemouth via Wallsend
Converted to Metro and reopened in 1982.

1981: Pelaw - Tyne Dock via Jarrow
Converted to Metro and reopened in 1984.

1981: Tyne Dock - South Shields (1st site) via High Shields
Closed to all traffic and lifted. Metro uses an alternative route via Chichester.

1982: Newcastle - Blaydon via Scotswood
Closed to all traffic and lifted.

1988: connecting chord at Benton between ECML and Metro network
Closed to all traffic and lifted.

1988:
Bank Foot - Callerton ICI
Closed to all traffic and lifted. Majority of alignment reused by Airport Metro extension in 1991 but not converted in the traditional sense.

2019: South Shields (3rd site) - South Shields (2nd site)
Closed to passengers. Track remains in use for empty stock.

There’s also the Leamside line which whilst it had no scheduled passenger service, remained in use as a diversionary route for passengers until at least 1989.

 

[Ken H]

Carnforth North Curve - direct line from Wennington to Silverdale