Abandoned rails in the road.....(or elsewhere...)

[AndrueC]

Speaking of old buildings the engine shed at Farthinghoe (the next stop along from Brackley) still stands. It's now home to junk resale centre.

https://goo.gl/maps/T5ZRJv4xX7ySVEmg6

There's a funny anecdote about that. Back when HS2 was first being mooted there was the suggestion of a part time stop for Brackley as an excuse for reinstating the old route I mentioned. No-one believed it of course but someone dug up an old leaflet from when Farthinghoe station was proposed back in the 19th century. It turns out lots of people objected because it was too far from the village and they claimed it was a sop in an attempt to get the route approved. Just goes to show that planning shenanigans are nothing new.

 

In a way it's a shame the original HS2 route wasn't approved. Brackley used to have an impressive viaduct across a valley and HS2 would have created a new one. It would also have gone over the top of a roadbridge over the A43. Would have been quite impressive.

 

http://www.forgottenrelics.co.uk/bridges/brackley.html

 

The footings for that remain in place. There also appear to be remnants of that 'Skew Bridge' bridge near me. Leastwise I don't know what else they'd be for.

 

https://www.rcts.org.uk/features/mysteryphotos/show.htm?img=66-27-32&serial=13

 

There's an image somewhere of a loco and wagons going over that bridge. The location is here:

 

https://goo.gl/maps/ihDJecccvx3d4Ld76

 

The semi-circular gap in the trees/bushes must be the bridge. If you zoom out you can see that the roundabout is somewhat south of the original course of Banbury Road.

 

I still think HS2 is a white elephant though

[Rivercider]

The West Somerset Mineral Railway was built to take iron ore from Exmoor to Watchet, for shipment to South Wales.

At Watchet harbour a short section of track is visible with an interpretation board.

 

 

Watchet Harbour 13/8/2019

 

cheers

[AndrueC]

Not wishing to spam this thread but something I find kind of eerie about that picture of the road bridge. Taken from that position today my house would probably be visible (if not blocked by others on the estate) off to the left. Possibly near that tree in the distance.

 

There should be a name for that feeling. Knowing something about the future that those of the time didn't.

 

I know the bridge in the distance very well. It forms part of the path to the local 'pocket park'.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/E7TkSSFAw6CmHxXn7

 

One of several surprisingly impressive and tall bridges built for local farm traffic.

Edited April 4, 2021 by AndrueC

[Rivercider]

Does granite track count?

 

Here are a couple of views of the Haytor Granite Tramway, where granite blocks have been uncovered

at the southern terminus of the route at Ventiford Basin. Here the granite was transhipped onto the Stover Canal for transit to Teignmouth, there to be loaded onto ships.

 

Ventiford Basin looking north, the tramway ran to Haytor. 9/7/2019

 

Ventiford Basin looking south. This was the northern limit of the Stover Canal. 9/7/2019

 

A general view of Ventiford Basin looking north, with the canal basin to the left.. 

 

cheers 

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by Rivercider
clarification

[Halvarras]

Not sure if this strictly counts but cars now treat this area as a road, so........St Blazey roundhouse this afternoon (the upright posts are rails embedded in concrete too):

 

 

"All roads lead to....." er, the turntable actually (not Rome):

 

 

I hadn't set foot in this area since the early 1970s, when Class 25s were still a novel sight. I recall the shed better with Class 22s and 08s in it (and former Toton Class 10s D3452 & D3497 on 6/9/68 - now THEY were a surprise for sure!)

 

 

[montyburns56]

On 01/04/2021 at 11:17, Grovenor said:

I remember exploring Whaley Bridge a few years ago when the whole incline up from the canal basin was intact and you could walk all the way up between the houses. I've always regretted not having my camera with me that day. Now its quite difficult to find the route on Google maps.

 

Luckily I did. This is from Bingswood Avenue which judging from Google Street View has been resurfaced fairly recently.

 

[montyburns56]

A load from Trafford Park Estate from about 2008.

[Andrew1974]

The Spurn Point railway has always interested me.  Due to the changing shape of the spit of land the railway looks like it went straight out into the sea - which I didn’t.

 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurn_Point_Military_Railway

Edited April 4, 2021 by Andrew1974

[33C]

1 hour ago, montyburns56 said:

 

Luckily I did. This is from Bingswood Avenue which judging from Google Street View has been resurfaced fairly recently.

 

That is surreal!

[Lemmy282]

10 hours ago, melmerby said:

Pity it appears to be wrong as records show that the first urban steam trams in the UK were in Govan 1875!

It is more complicated than that. The 1870 Tramways act did not make provision for street tramways to use steam, assuming horses would be used, but loopholes allowed some steam trials. Tramways that were rural or ran alongside roads were exempt from this act, so this allowed the Vale of Clyde Tramway Co. which was a roadside tramway, to start using steam in 1877, having used horse trams since 1873. Not until the Use of Mechanical Power on Tramways Act of 1879 were street tramways allowed to use steam.

I think the wording on the Darwen plaque is misleading, in that it was the first STREET tramway DESIGNED to use steam trams from the outset in the UK, hence opening in 1881, after the act came into operation.

 

Nigel L

[33C]

1 hour ago, montyburns56 said:

A load from Trafford Park Estate from about 2008.

It's amazing, here is an entire "preserved in aspic" railway system, which could become an amazing asset to the town for tourism and the local council will quote H+S because it's too much bother than their latest 100 yard cycle-lane, bus stop (with no buses), statue to the town councilors wife, 2 extra street lights or out of town super-market. (delete where applicable). No vision, no drive, no idea, no care.......

[Lemmy282]

10 hours ago, Engineer said:

 

 

This a tramway trap point with single moving switch, protecting the approach to the junction ahead.  As well as the tramway junction, the Furness Railway had street tracks on Island Road crossing Michaelson Road and the tramways.  This was a signalled junction operated by a railway frame.  When the junction was set for rail traffic, the traps were set to protect against conflicting tram moves.

 

I think this is a standard tramway junction turnout, most only had one switching blade. These were manually operated points, they only have over-centre springs accessed by the two small cover plates adjacent to the blade, so unlikely to be part of a locking system. It would be for the line turning into Bridge Road that then ran onto Welney,  the marks in the setts showing where rails had been removed.

 

Nigel L

[AndrueC]

Different end of the country but I took this up near Newton Stewart. Doesn't really fit in with 'rails in the road' but if you're ever up that neck of the woods it's worth checking out the old munitions line.

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QxJuaeTAXu44tfDK8

 

Although there is a sign implying that you'll incur the wrath of British Rail if you set foot on it.

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_Water_of_Fleet_viaduct_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1535016.jpg

[Engineer]

Barrow-in-Furness tram track response

 

Thanks for your suggestion a couple of posts ago on the Barrow tramway street track.  I agree that standard tramway turnouts with one blade would be encountered aplenty indeed the reversing triangle at Darwen, shown earlier in this thread, is one example.  

 

I'm happy to be proved wrong but at the moment I apologise that I can't support the suggestion that the switch is part of a single chord connection from the inbound track from Ramsden Dock on Michaelson Road into the outbound track on Bridge Road towards Walney.  This doesn't tally with the track layouts in the contemporary OS [now added] and in the aerial photograph in my later post [link repeated below], nor with the likely route patterns of Barrow trams in that era.

https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW004065

 

My original source is "Barrow-in-Furness Transport" by Ian L. Cormack, and this describes the remodelling of railway and tram lines in Bridge Road around 1905, mentioning that the rail line through the altered junction was "... guarded by three sets of catch points, protected by Furness Railway signals.  The catch points were normally kept closed for tram traffic, but when the railway wished to go over the junction the traps were opened, being worked from a barrel frame outside what is now the canteen of Messrs. Vickers Armstrong.".  Some more details are given, and having read the book before walking the routes the location of the trap point on the ground is consistent with its role and the evidence that it did the job.  

 

I'm not knowledgeable on the railway aspects of this and my interests in the subject matters lie with tramway systems as well as a large amount of archive research on a Vickers project for the Metropolitan Railway.

[Craigw]

Something a little different. Tumbarumba is a town in the deep south of New South Wales. The branch was opened in the early 1920s and flood damage provided an excuse for the railways to suspend services in 1974. As was usual for here, the line then sat in a state of suspended animation with nature - and farmers slowly reclaiming the right of way. I went for a road trip there ain 1985 and spent quite a few hours walking around absorbing the atmosphere of one of our "pioneer" lines. This is a scan of a slide and is on the road leading into the town. The level crossing is still marked but the local farmers have fenced the line off to allow their cattle to roam. A few years after my visit the station area was flattened and now little remains.

[Brian Harrap]

On 03/04/2021 at 19:05, rob D2 said:

Not quite sure what was going on here...

I wonder if that connected to this?

[RichardT]

Tramway rails and switch, Friar's Wynd, Richmond (Yorks), just beside the Georgian Theatre Royal.

 

 

[AndrueC]

12 minutes ago, RichardT said:

Tramway rails and switch, Friar's Wynd, Richmond (Yorks), just beside the Georgian Theatre Royal.

And they say you should never use a first radius curve and always have a straight section between curves of opposite directions

 

That looks like something I'd have laid having failed to plan correctly and not wanting to remove a perfectly good wall

Edited April 5, 2021 by AndrueC

[Halvarras]

5 hours ago, Brian Harrap said:

I wonder if that connected to this?

 

Wow! That must have been fun to design and manufacture! 

[Lemmy282]

15 hours ago, Engineer said:

Barrow-in-Furness tram track response

 

Thanks for your suggestion a couple of posts ago on the Barrow tramway street track.  I agree that standard tramway turnouts with one blade would be encountered aplenty indeed the reversing triangle at Darwen, shown earlier in this thread, is one example.  

 

I'm happy to be proved wrong but at the moment I apologise that I can't support the suggestion that the switch is part of a single chord connection from the inbound track from Ramsden Dock on Michaelson Road into the outbound track on Bridge Road towards Walney.  This doesn't tally with the track layouts in the contemporary OS [now added] and in the aerial photograph in my later post [link repeated below], nor with the likely route patterns......

 

No, I'm quite happy to be proved wrong, I don't have specific knowledge of the Barrow system, it just seemed odd that the setts showed where a removed section of rails had been, which seemed a bit long for a trap point.

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, RichardT said:

Tramway rails and switch, Friar's Wynd, Richmond (Yorks), just beside the Georgian Theatre Royal.

 

 

Does anyone have any idea what that was for?

I assume a materials waggonway for some business or other.

[Moxy]

16 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Does anyone have any idea what that was for?

I assume a materials waggonway for some business or other.

 

It was to serve an iron works founded in 1788, although the tramway dates from 1895.  More links here:

 

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3469758

 

And some links to a book about Robert Spence & Co.

 

https://www.helenjohnsonyorkshirewriter.co.uk/2010/07/dalesman-for-august-2010/

https://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/news/5004829.richmonds-men-of-iron/

 

[simontaylor484]

I am happy to be wrong but wasnt a lot of the track in Trafford park re laid to become part of the tram system. Although there will still be a lot left over still

[johnd]

11 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

I am happy to be wrong but wasnt a lot of the track in Trafford park re laid to become part of the tram system. Although there will still be a lot left over still

 

I very much doubt it as any existing track wouldn't be up to modern standards  and if any utilities were in the route used they would have had to be moved.

[melmerby]

50 minutes ago, Moxy said:

 

It was to serve an iron works founded in 1788, although the tramway dates from 1895.  More links here:

 

 

 

Surprisingly not on a 1913 OS 25" map.