Trivia: Redundant railway infrastructure built post WW2

[Bill EWS]

Woodford Halse 'New' Marshalling yard. Built during WW2 and closed in 1966 with the whole railway itself less than 70 years old.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Woodford Halse 'New' Marshalling yard. Built during WW2 and closed in 1966 with the whole railway itself less than 70 years old.

Good shout, but if the yard was built during WW2, then it just falls outwith the original criteria.

 

[DelW]

Graham Road Curve in Hackney, built in the early '80s to allow trains off the North London line that had run into Broad Street to access Liverpool Street instead.

Those services were discontinued a few years later. The curve is still open, complete with OHLE, but only used by occasional movements.

 

[Mikey C]

The Fawkham Junction line connecting HS1 to the Classic network until the second phase of HS1 was complete

Yes there had been a railway there, but this was completely rebuilt with new bridges and a slightly different alignment

 

[Mikey C]

On the Tube, the Jubilee Line platforms at Charing Cross, as the line was diverted to Westminster when extended to Stratford

 

[geoffk]

How this subject qualifies as 'trivial' defeats my understanding of English. Many of the aforementioned projects were huge investments, later seen as money wasted. Some thought so at the time.

Portbury dock was for a long time a white elephant, but made it, eventually, just about. This was more due to it having been built and thus not to waste an existing asset, so the branch line was upgraded.

Portishead station was rebuilt on a new site nearer the town in 1954.

 

[A0wen]

Widened lines electrification from Farringdon to Moorgate? All wired at 25kv as part of the Bedpan electrification now closed following the Thameslink upgrade.

 

[AM9]

On the DLR, there's Island Gardens surface station and the trackwork on the old embankment, (abandoned as the station is now underground as the line passes under the Thames in tunnels). Then there's the original E-W chord of the triangle just north of West Ferry station, (the junction is now fully grade separated).

 

[steamybrian]

On the West Drayton to Staines West branch two small halts Poyle Estate Halt and Colnbrook Estate Halt were built and closed in 1960s with a short life of only a few years. The connection at Staines between the Staines West branch and the SR Staines to Windsor line was built in the 1980s and now closed (unsure if track still in situ?).

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Quite a number of post-war power station connections have closed (Didcot, Ironbridge, Ferrybridge etc, Fiddlers Ferry to come).
The Selby coalfield infrastructure.
Manchester Airport second runway construction siding.
Sheepcote Lane curve (WLL/SWML).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Manchester Airport second runway construction siding.

Was the (temporary) airport construction siding that significant a piece of infrastructure?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Woodhead Tunnel is neither closed nor largely redundant, and it's more useful to the railway now than it would be if it still had trains running through it.

It carries the power lines that eventually reach the Stalybridge substation and the Heyrod feeder.

It also (and correct me if I'm mistaken, I may be thinking of one of the Victorian tunnels) still has a railway inside, albeit a narrow-gauge one used for maintaining the HV cables.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It also (and correct me if I'm mistaken, I may be thinking of one of the Victorian tunnels) still has a railway inside, albeit a narrow-gauge one used for maintaining the HV cables.

Was in the area at the beginning of July and could see no evidence of there being any railway tracks still in situ (narrow gauge or standard) at Woodhead Tunnel (Western portal). The high power cables were moved out of the Victorian tunnel(s) (now blocked off) into the 1950s tunnel a few years ago now due to the poor condition of the former.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Was in the area at the beginning of July and could see no evidence of there being any railway tracks still in situ (narrow gauge or standard) at Woodhead Tunnel (Western portal). The high power cables were moved out of the Victorian tunnel(s) (now blocked off) into the 1950s tunnel a few years ago now due to the poor condition of the former.

The Victorian tunnel which used to hold the cables had a narrow-gauge railway inside, it was featured in a magazine article about the tunnels I read ages ago. I'd expect that the more modern tunnel has a similar set up.

However as this system was entirely contained within the tunnel, it's no surprise that nothing could be seen from the outside!

 

[Ken H]

1967 leeds city station train sheds. lasted till 1999-2002.
And Leeds Powerbox. Control went to York at the same time

 

[yorksrob]

1967 leeds city station train sheds. lasted till 1999-2002.
And Leeds Powerbox. Control went to York at the same time

That's an interesting example.

The trainsheds at Leeds (ugly though they were), never fell out of use - they were more "outgrown".

 

[LowLevel]

The Victorian tunnel which used to hold the cables had a narrow-gauge railway inside, it was featured in a magazine article about the tunnels I read ages ago. I'd expect that the more modern tunnel has a similar set up.

However as this system was entirely contained within the tunnel, it's no surprise that nothing could be seen from the outside!

It was located in the bore nearest the new tunnel and had some small out in the open sections immediately west and east of the tunnel, siding/loop type affairs. There was a maintenance shed outside the west portal. A manrider train and some wagons featured. There were petrol or diesel and battery locos though the latter were killed in a flood not long before it came out of use and dumped in the shed.

The narrow gauge railway infrastructure outside of the tunnels was totally removed when the old tunnels were capped.

The new tunnel is wide enough for road vehicles to use it for access so no need for the train.

 

[Ianno87]

Was the (temporary) airport construction siding that significant a piece of infrastructure?

In any case, the siding and facing crossover were lifted and the alignment filled in years ago now (now an airport car park)

The only clue as you pass by is a slight indent on the embankment where it used to deviatr.

 

[billio]

1967 leeds city station train sheds. lasted till 1999-2002.
And Leeds Powerbox. Control went to York at the same time

Talking of Leeds wasn't the connection from the Wakefield line (LNER) to the Dewsbury line (LMSR) near Wortley built post war and then abandoned on electrification to Leeds.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The Victorian tunnel which used to hold the cables had a narrow-gauge railway inside, it was featured in a magazine article about the tunnels I read ages ago. I'd expect that the more modern tunnel has a similar set up.

However as this system was entirely contained within the tunnel, it's no surprise that nothing could be seen from the outside!

The narrow gauge railway infrastructure outside of the tunnels was totally removed when the old tunnels were capped.

The new tunnel is wide enough for road vehicles to use it for access so no need for the train.

So which is it? Inclined to concur with LowLevel since if there was a narrow gauge railway still in place at Woodhead Tunnels, you'd expect it to accessible from one or other of the portals for maintenance purposes.

 

[65477]

Coal has already been mentioned but with the decommissioning of nuclear power stations are there not some spent fuel rail facilities that are now disused?

 

[bishdunster]

Ampress Works Halt (Welworthy Engineering) on the Lymington branch, opened 1/10/1956. closed sometime in 1989.

 

[lincolnshire]

Scunthorpe West Marshalling Yard. ( behind Scunthorpe Station )

It was built and equipped with Dowty Retarders and a hump for shunting wagons. Its been closed down and lifted a good few years ago and is now reverting back to a new forest with the amount of trees etc growing on the land. When opened and fitted with Dowty Retarders it was visited by railway companies from across the world for Dowtys to try and sell retarders to them.
Now as usual all gone and heading back to nature.

 

[LowLevel]

So which is it? Inclined to concur with LowLevel since if there was a narrow gauge railway still in place at Woodhead Tunnels, you'd expect it to accessible from one or other of the portals for maintenance purposes.

My experience is first hand having ridden the train from one end of the tunnel to the other and had a tour of the maintenance facilities

 

[65477]

Another short lived works halt was Acrow Halt on the Saffron Walden branch 1957 - 1964

 

[Rikki Lamb]

Bridge over M62 on the Low Moor - Thornhill line. Built 19970 closed 1987 and carried less than 100 trains

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

Abercynon North Station which lasted for just twenty years from 1988 to 2008. Actually Abercynon might be a competitor for the station that's had the most names having been called "Navigation Road", "Aberdare Junction", "Abercynon", "Abercynon South" and now "Abercynon" again.

 

[RT4038]

On the West Drayton to Staines West branch two small halts Poyle Estate Halt and Colnbrook Estate Halt were built and closed in 1960s with a short life of only a few years. The connection at Staines between the Staines West branch and the SR Staines to Windsor line was built in the 1980s and now closed (unsure if track still in situ?).

Was this connection not built during WW2? There were plans to divert the West Drayton service into Staines Central after DMUs were introduced, but the line was closed instead.

 

[Class 170101]

Perhaps not quite redundant but vastly underused considering the purpose it was built for, Shaftholme Flyover.

 

[AM9]

How about Workington North. The station opened in November 2009 and closed in May the next year, - just 180 days. It took 6 days to build and apart from the bare rectangle of land that was the gravel car park, to a casual visitor there is no trace of its previous existence. Arguably it wasn't a 'significant' investment in pure financial terms, but it was presumably greatly appreciated by the residents and businesses of the area.