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

[bradfordbuffer]

14 hours ago, bradfordbuffer said:

Light weight flat bottom contractors rail holding canal side sheeting on Leeds & Liverpool cut in skipton....main line to left of pic in slight cutting and the old skipton to ilkley line going over canal (still in use to Rylstone/Swindon quary about 5 trains daily)

Posted and disappeared...so reposted 

[bradfordbuffer]

1 minute ago, bradfordbuffer said:

Posted and disappeared...so reposted 

Peco insulated joint anyone! 

[Pacific231G]

Quayside tracks were of course once commonplace and tend to hang round rather longer than tracks in other sorts of roads but this one has long intrigued me.

 

I took this picture in about 2000 and the quay is at Pointe de Grave on the southern side of the mouth of the Gironde where the car/passenger ferries from Royan arrive. What is really odd is the arrangement of track on the left hand side where the points lead to a siding that shares a rail with the siding it branched off from and there is no normal frog. Looking more closely it's not quite the same rail. The other inset track on the quayside uses rail with a lighter check rail (possibly "Broca" tramway type grooved rail) but the common rail is actually a double rail with each siding using the other's running rail as its checkrail. 

 

This quay seems to have been part of an extensive system of lightly laid railways owned by the Port of Bordeaux that transported stone etc. to its various coastal defence on the duney peninsula between Pointe de Grave and Soulac-sur-Mer. Movement of that peninsula would have compromised the entrance to the Gironde which provides Bordeaux and other ports on the estuary with access to the Atlantic. The railway did though serve other purposes including the transport of buoys to and from from the port authority's workshops not far from this quay to the vessels that maintained them.

I don't know whether the extra displaced siding was just to bring wagons closer to the quayside for loading stones discharged from ships or barges or were something to do with moving buoys around. In either case though why would they have needed both lines. They couldn't have shunted wagons on both sidings simultaneously so I can't see why this arrangement was adopted.

The port authority railway crossed the electrified SNCF line from Bordeaux to Pointe de Grave  a few hundred metres from its terminus and, just before the crossing, there were the remains of  a small interchange yard. From there it took a sinuous route between the SNCF line and the coast as far as Soulac with various sidings leading to coastal defence workings. That is now a tourist railway using draisines (mororised gangers trolleys) but the once extensive trackage on the Gironde side of the SNCF line had all been lifted apart from this quayside section. 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Pacific231G
clarity

[K Hatton]

Having spotted the comment early in this thread about the Nottingham tram depot (now bus depot) I'm surprised non of the Notts members have mentioned Netherfield yet.

 

I don't know how to add links to Google maps from my phone so have screenshot some of the lines around the Netherfield industrial estates.

 

 

[K Hatton]

Edit: figured out how to do links:

 

Colwick industrial road No 2.

Rd No 2
https://maps.app.goo.gl/4nPhQoASBsYufi5f7

 

35 Rd No 2
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Sv1KnPJkhPSf4EXf9

 

Chris Allsop scrap yard - rails still visible at various places in the yard.

Colwick, England
https://maps.app.goo.gl/vz1qDDAXnLGA2NuTA

 

 

Also a bonus (*off topic*) - i have been lead to believe this brickwork is the remains of the GNR racecourse platform ( behind the Jaaaaag):

 

 Daleside Rd E
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Fz4KkRqd6kz3iGiX7

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by K Hatton
Links

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, K Hatton said:

Having spotted the comment early in this thread about the Nottingham tram depot (now bus depot) I'm surprised non of the Notts members have mentioned Netherfield yet.

 

I don't know how to add links to Google maps from my phone so have screenshot some of the lines around the Netherfield industrial estates.

 

 

Without wading through the entire thread, I'm fairly sure the Colwick industrial estate railways have been mentioned.

 

Mike.

[K Hatton]

4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

Without wading through the entire thread, I'm fairly sure the Colwick industrial estate railways have been mentioned.

 

Mike.

Hi Mike,

 

They may have been mentioned however I dont remember seeing anything other than the bus depot?

 

Either way still interesting (to me at least)

[Jenny Emily]

Went to see if these rails were still there. Amazingly they were. It’s West Cornforth, and I last looked ten years ago. I think the last train ran in the early 1990s?
 

[rockershovel]

The Colwick no 2 Road pictures clearly show a drilling rig. This would be British Drilling and Freezing, formerly Foraky Ltd at No 3 Road. I don't recall the place in enough detail (I last worked there in the early 80s) but Google earth shows no sign of rails there now 

Edited December 30, 2021 by rockershovel

[John B]

Not exactly "in the road", and no photographic evidence as I was driving, but the rails on the former Highland Railway Burghead branch are still extant, if distinctly overgrown, past Roseisle Maltings & Distillery towards Burghead (as of 30th December 2021).

 

Is there still grain traffic to Roseisle and beyond? 

Edited January 5, 2022 by John B
missed date..

[Metr0Land]

Church Street, Briton Ferry yesterday

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.6317287,-3.8235263,3a,75y,124.82h,96.4t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1scRFry4RpDpcug2_JAttX-Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

[uax6]

Many years ago I was with my Dad walking around Liverpool (Maybe 1988?) Anyway we walked past the old Corporation Transport office in Hatton Garden, and we were both surprised to see that in the yard there were tram track still.

Looking on Google Maps, although the gates are shut, they look to still be there:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.410227,-2.9868423,3a,75y,46.58h,84.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSTKnOMllB0JExmjydNh93A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

Andy G

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by uax6

[uax6]

Heres Falkner Street in Liverpool. Its a street that had Horse trams, but never had electric cars. The rails have been lifted (they were possibly centre grove ones, but you can still see were they went:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3997454,-2.9682885,3a,75y,266.9h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1stBHx3Fb5baYGq83m7DD4Gw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[pH]

A large cedar sawmill on the waterfront here in Port Moody was closed in 2020 and the site is to be redeveloped. Here’s the remains of the connection into the mill from the Canadian Pacific mainline:

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by pH

[Rivercider]

Following on from the photos I took of rails left over from the Ilfracombe line last year we have just returned from another short break in North Devon, and walked some of the Tarka Trail/South West Coast Path between Barnstaple and Bideford which follows the former LSWR/SR route. There is quite a lot of old rail in use as fence posts etc, and also at least two crossings. The last traffic was ball clay from Marland and Meeth, which finished in 1982.

 

The access road to the former East Yelland  power station looking east towards Barnstaple, 22/2/2022.

 

Marine Parade, Instow, again looking east towards Barnstaple, 22/2/2022

 

 

Instow signal box still stands guard over the crossing which has not seen a train for 40 years. 22/2/2022

 

cheers

 

[Ramblin Rich]

If I remember right, when James May did the model railway line all the way from Barnstaple to Bideford, they used the wheel flange 'slot' in the level crossing at Instow to allow the model railway line to go across the road without getting in the way of road traffic too much
 

[Rivercider]

17 minutes ago, Ramblin Rich said:

If I remember right, when James May did the model railway line all the way from Barnstaple to Bideford, they used the wheel flange 'slot' in the level crossing at Instow to allow the model railway line to go across the road without getting in the way of road traffic too much
 

Ha yes.

After I posted there had been no train for 40 years I did then think about the demolition train(s), and James May's mission.

 

cheers

[Ramblin Rich]

1 hour ago, Rivercider said:

Ha yes.

After I posted there had been no train for 40 years I did then think about the demolition train(s), and James May's mission.

 

cheers

Didn't mean to challenge that fact, just an interesting aside in the crossing use!

[Engineer]

Very brief visit to Bere Ferrers 2022 03 25, with a road containing rails that are polished by road vehicles that pass, but there doesn't seem to be any regular rail usage.

Land around the station and former yard is partly converted to residential developments.  Some of the yard is a railway heritage site with rolling stock, locomotives and equipment.  

Stepping outside the station on arrival there's a line of rails leading away, roughly perpendicular to the station alignment, along the centre of an access road. 

The rails seem to be worn bullhead, with some of the road surface around the rails given a topping of gravel.  The line might not be part of the original yard layout.

The distant end of the line is closed by a metal gate.  The rails end just after. 

At the station end, the rails arrive at a siding alongside the rear of the platform, with a form of small turntable making the connection.   

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Engineer
Use of English

[Jenny Emily]

According to Google street view those rails weren’t there ten years ago. I suspect they may have been installed for loading/unloading stock from lorries? 

[Engineer]

Today, toured a small part of West Sussex by bus and on foot, and began with a familiar bus journey to Steyning.  Looking out when passing the Old Cement Works near Upper Beeding, I noticed some rails.  Note on general site history below.

https://www.shorehambysea.com/chalk-history-shoreham-beeding-cement-works/

 

Only able to return and check at dusk so not good images.   The now-derelict works had sites on both sides of the A283.  There are rails visible in both sites.  The best-lit image is on the eastern side, with the lines clearly obstructed.  

 

On the western side, it's clear where the lines passed under the road and curved to connect with the other yard with about three parallel tracks - not very visible in these images against the dusk light.  The yard on the west side would have had the connection to the main line railway - now long gone.

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by Engineer
One defective image removed temporarily

[009 micro modeller]

On 09/04/2022 at 23:08, Engineer said:

The now-derelict works had sites on both sides of the A283.  There are rails visible in both sites.

Was this one of the locations with two separate systems that were both standard gauge but not physically connected? I think there were a few others like that as well, including some where the internal system had previously been narrow gauge.

Edited April 11, 2022 by 009 micro modeller

[decauville1126]

58 minutes ago, 009 micro modeller said:

Was this one of the locations with two separate systems that were both standard gauge but not physically connected? I think there were a few others like that as well, including some where the internal system had previously been narrow gauge.

 

No, there was a link between the 2 sides with the main road bridge over. This is a much-visited location by urban explorers.

[33C]

I was trawling google maps and spotted these in Hemming and Pedley streets in east London. They fed a lot of wagon turntables.

Edited May 4, 2022 by 33C
added detail

[SM42]

Eagle Crossing, Tipton today

 

This was on the line between Stourbridge and Walsall .

 

Last time I visited the remains of the signal box and the crossing barriers were still there under the bypass flyover. The box was to the left of this shot IIRC. 

 

I was passing purely by chance trying to avoid a motorway closure between the M6 and M5 and passed right over where I am stood.

 

Midland Metro extension to Dudley beckons. 

 

 

Andy

Edited May 15, 2022 by SM42