Railways to Roads

[JR1984]

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[JR1984]

The A1 from darlington to Barton is built on the alignment of the old merrybent branch. was originally planned to go alongside it but when the branch closed they used the track bed to reduce the amount of land needed to purchase. In Darlington the new link road follows the course of the Stockton and Darlington Railway to the A66.

The a689 in Bishop Auckland reuses Newton Cap Viaduct.

[phil_sutters]

Much of Marine Drive and all of the Old Station Approach run along the old trackbed into Burnham-on-Sea SDJR and a bit of the line as it ran behind Highbridge Wharf is now under part of Tyler Way.

[Fay Singpoint]

The A143 between Bungay and Harleston uses the trackbed of the Waveney Valley line. The Satnav calls it railway road.

 

As for canals in to railways, the Churnet Valley line between Froghall and Uttoxeter was built on the route of the Uttoxeter canal.

[DavidBird]

Further north on the same line, the bridge over the narrows in Loch Creran was rail-only until the line closed and the bridge was re-purposed to short-cut the ~5 mile road route via Druimavuich.

 

(I believe that the Connel Bridge was a toll bridge for road vehicles until the railway closed and the bridge was dedicated solely to road traffic.)

 

Not quite.  While the bridge over the narrows in Loch Crearan, the Creagan Bridge (different spellings) was indeed rail-only until the line closed in 1966. (Not my photos)

 

The bridge was not re-purposed after closure but left un-used until 2001, when it was completely rebuilt, re-using just the piers to support a new dual-lane road deck.

 

Note the loss of not only the girder spans but also the castellated arches at either side of the loch.  I may have read somewhere (sorry, can't find a link) that there were applications to have the bridge listed, but this was blocked by the Scottish Office (pre-devolution), just so it could be demolished to be replaced by the road.

 

However you are quite correct that Connel Bridge was a toll bridge for road traffic until the closure of the railway, when it became a toll-free but single-lane, traffic-light controlled road-only bridge.

[andyman7]

A minor road following the River Wye from Llanstephan to Erwood

 

http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=311679&y=241916&z=120&sv=Llanstephan&st=3&tl=Map+of+Llanstephan,+Powys+%5BTown%5D&mapp=map.srf

 

The earthworks and bridges give it away - the yellow road to the right of the river.

 

I can still hear an Ivatt Class 2 echoing up the valley with two coaches on a Three Cocks to Moat Lane working every time we go fishing there

 

Phil

Amongst the ones mentioned, this one is unique in that it doesn't simply use the railway formation but (as a narrow country road) actually is engineered within the pre-existing railway structure using the original bridges etc. - absolutely amazing to drive along...

[Colin_McLeod]

Cork South Link road follows the trackbed of the Cork Bardon and South Coast railway for and then the South Ring road follows the trackbed of the Cork and Macroom Railway.

[MarkC]

The road from Woodvale on the A565 past Pontins and along the coast into Southport uses the alignment of the old CLC line into Southport Lord Street.

[Colin_McLeod]

The lower deck of the Craigavon bridge in Derry/Londonderry.