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What happens when a heritage railway has opened on an old line then network rail decide to re-open it?
Yes, Mid-Norfolk Railway at Wymondham.Isn't there a case at the moment of a heritage line being used for storage of mainline units? Vaguely remember reading it somewhere (probably on here) and the Norfolk area comes to mind but can't be sure.
It is very unlikely that just Network Rail would want to reopen a railway line. There is usually a customer or major stakeholder who wants to reopen the railway line for certain traffic.
Another possible Devon example was the suggestion by ATOC, as then was, for a extension of Paignton services to Churston over the Dartmouth Steam Rly (is that its name this year?) to act as P&R for Brixham. Given the chronic traffic congestion in the Torbay area (all-year round these days) I would like to see the whole line used for commuter traffic - unlike many heritage lines it is a very useful transport link.
No demand for buses to Dartmouth in the evening? Well, I’m sure a decent service would be used. But maybe not enough to make Stagecoach a profit. What a way to run public transport!I agree but probably a peak only service, outside the normal steam operating hours in the high summer, as the single line is effectively full when the 45 minute interval tourist service runs. There might be an arrangement for local residents in possession of an appropriate card to be able to use the steam service at the same price as the early morning and evening diesel service, or (horror of horrors!) inter-availability of such tickets on parallel buses during the day. Dartmouth Steam Railway is unusual in having centralised colour light signalling control, with only one member of signalling staff required on duty at Britannia Crossing to run a full timetable. A couple of early morning local Exmouth trains starting back at Kingswear and maybe an hourly extension of Paignton terminators in the evening until 20:00ish and then a single later one around 22:00ish that could form a nice after meal or pub return to Torbay and beyond. Note however there are currently no local buses to Kingswear from Brixham or Paignton after about 18:30 in the evening since Stagecoach removed them as uneconomic. Despite there being plenty of characterful pubs and good restaurants in Dartmouth it appears there's no demand for bus travel to and from the town in the evening so perhaps there would be no demand for trains services either.
Isn't there a case at the moment of a heritage line being used for storage of mainline units? Vaguely remember reading it somewhere (probably on here) and the Norfolk area comes to mind but can't be sure.
The Ordsall Curve took out the main line connection for the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. Parliamentary approval and payments sorted it all out. So I would think this would be a likely model for other lines.
Freight trains access the gypsum plant at East Leake over the GCR(N) from Loughborough. There have also been numerous railtours to or from heritage lines including Minehead, Alton, East Lancs. Not to mention the NYMR Whitby service. So it's entirely possible to run passenger trains although all of them have been aimed at tourists rather than regular travellers.There have been some cases of freight coming on/off the heritage lines (e.g., Mid-Norfolk, Eden Valley at Warcop, sea defenses at Minehead on WSR, others?).
I did a feasiblilty study into this about 10 years ago. It would be a peak-hour commuter service such as MarkyT suggested above, but it's difficult to make the economics stack up on this basis.I'm sure there was something a few years ago about putting Rossendale (i.e. Rawtenstall) back on the National Rail map, which makes the East Lancs vulnerable (although that's probably too strong a word in practice). Of all heritage lines, I would think it's the one which serves the most populous area, after all.
Didn't Chiltern want to run services through to Bewdley? The problem is the gulf between a heritage line which is run by volunteers as a hobby and a daily service people need to be running for their commute is very large.
Most heritage lines are single track, if there was a genuine business case for adding the line or a section of it to the national network, doubling the line (assuming the original alignment pre-closure was double track) would generally solve the capacity issues.
Bewdley is a possibility on this basis, helped infrastructure wise by the fact the Bewdley station has 3 platform when the SVR only actually needs 2.
I don't think this line was ever double apart from a short section where sidings ran alongside at the Kidderminster end. It looks like the viaduct over the River Stour and canal may have been built with widening in mind however but Bewdley Tunnel was definitely only ever single. The single track might suffice however for an hourly National Rail service as long as that section was under NR signalling control, but I wouldn't want colour lights to take over Bewdley station as the SVRs most interesting signalling installation with its two boxes and AB section through the platforms. Hence I propose a branching chord (yellow) before Bewdley onto the Stourport alignment (orange) where a new 'parkway' station could be established near the A456/B4195 bypass roundabout which could help support options for housing development in fields nearby. A station on the former British Sugar site near Hoobrook to support nearby housing development would be a mistake in my opinion because it would be midway along the shared single track section, with impact on occupancy times and thus capacity and reliability for both NR and SVR, although a new passing loop might be built at this former sidings site to help alleviate this, at considerable cost however. For my Bewdley Bypass option I would also consider extending the line further, partway along the old Stourport line then branching off southward across fields (yellow) to make a new approach to the town centre near the River Severn bridge and Basin with a new terminus in the car parks thereabouts. It looks like such a route might be possible without any significant demolition. Station area signalling at Kidderminster and Bewdley would thus remain SVR administered mechanical as now with slots working to the NR control of the single line between. the shared single track would be about 3.8km in length or 2.4 miles. Even at a typical heritage speed of under 25mph this should be possible to traverse in under 10 minutes so an hourly NR service should be easy to accomodate amongst the heritage traffic. At commuter peaks, when there is usually no (or only limited) heritage running, the NR service could be strengthened to half hourly, although that might require an extra passing facility on the new branch. I'd envisage Stourport trains to be Birmingham - Kidderminster stoppers extended.
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Yes I think so. I found a local plan review document that mentioned the possibility of a new station at the former British Sugar site which may refer to that. If such a service went only thus far, a new terminal siding platform could suffice, but I suspect demand would be rather limited to just the local housing in the vicinity which might be very good for the site developer concerned but perhaps not so economic for a TOC or NR with much signalling expenditure required.Wasn't WMR planning to run half hourly services along part of the Severn Valley as an extension to the existing Kidderminster terminator services?