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

[Axlebox]

The Rookhope and Middlehopeburn Railway in Weardale, which was closed in 1923. This section up by Heights quarry was in use until German POWs constructed an incline down the NER Wearhead branch during World War One...so these sleepers have slept on for over 100 years...and there, lying in the mud, you can still find the rails (For completeness the railway stool idle from 1923 until 1941(ish) when it was (supposedly) removed for the war effort.)

...

Edited May 12, 2021 by Axlebox

[bradfordbuffer]

2 hours ago, bradfordbuffer said:

Old contractors flat bottom rail holding up a wall over a small stream Embsay reservoir as res was completed 1908ish its stood the test of time..you can see fish plate holes on left end.few other bits of rail that are scattered round but vegetation has reclaimed...I did find a track spike in crumbled side into the res when water level was low...just got to open eyes stuff in plane view....some contractors rail also on Leeds Liverpool canal holding canal side in place near skipton so prob came off when midland route was made or line to ilkley as quite near Bridge over canal south end of skipton.

 

Bottom of contractors flat bottom has given up to rust but web an top looks good for another century

It's amazing what you find whilst out dogging.....(peter kay car share!)

[CazRail]

The old dockside in Caernarfon, where it seems the old track was simply burried in to create the car park. You can make out most of the point, thanks how the ground has consolidated and settled around the rails and timbers over the years. 

 

I've seen a photo of a 2mt loco stood on the sidings here, with the castle in the background. 

[Pacific231G]

This is rather sad to anyone who knew it not so very long ago.

 

It's all that's left of Dieppe's Gare Maritime. These are not actually quayside tracks. At this point the  water behind the low wall is the harbour entrance channel so this is the shunting neck beyond the cargo section of the former ferry port. On the quayside itself all traces of the  ferry port and its buildings, including the striking semi Art Deco passenger terminal, built in the early 1950s,  has been excised with all the track removed rather than simply covered over. 

There is some inset quayside track closer to the main railway station but this was part of the railway system of the commercial docks rather than the "main line" branch that once carried boat trains from the ferry port (Gare Maritime) past the side of the town station (Dieppe Ville and on to the main lines to Paris St Lazare and to Paris St Lazare via Rouen.   It was a bit like Weymouth except that main line locos such as my avatar ran on it and, as well as the boat trains, some local trains terminated there too.

 

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by Pacific231G

[Porcy Mane]

On 11/05/2021 at 22:04, Axlebox said:

the railway stool

 

Is that that what you get if you pull the chain whilst standing at the station?

 

Anyhow from the same sortie. 1247 ft. AMSL. A portrait of Mr. A Box's pet railway chair, "Charlie" which often accompanies him outdoors on railway walks.

 

[Georgeconna]

Cork City Railways have some great stuff about in the last century with some fab road running, I was too born too late to see the street running the but remember the tracks being in situ for agesn

 

and across the opposite side of the river more rai lines still in situ

 

 

Then 

 

 

and now, The Tracks in the 80's were still there to be walked on....Shop is long gone too.

 

[unravelled]

Here are a few from 2009, in Factory Road, North Woolwich. All swept away by Crossrail works, unless some survive under the tarmac.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next photo shows the only track still showing, an oblique line  entering the Tay Wharf site

 

 

Dave

[unravelled]

Mention was made earlier of some narrow gauge track at Three Mills in East London, Here are a couple of  pictures from 2011

 

 

 

Dave

[unravelled]

These are alongside the basin at the east end  of the Royal Docks, just off the end of the Docklands Light Airport runway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave

[melmerby]

I don't think this has been up before.

Barrow in Furness (Image = 30 June 2018):

https://goo.gl/maps/FwkJmauTr9ciQgTC7

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by melmerby

[Engineer]

Excellent spot of tracks in the north-west corner of the yard on Barrow Island, well done.  I'd not considered that part of the site in depth - it's just off the areas I looked at in the two April 4th posts with the OS and 'Britain from above' image.

https://maps.nls.uk/view/126514793#zoom=5&lat=3206&lon=14288&layers=BT

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

[melmerby]

A bit southeast of those rails is this strange survivor:

Edited May 14, 2021 by melmerby

[Engineer]

Today, I visited the village of North Hartley in Northumberland, through which passes the Blyth and Tyne freight-only line.  It's a former mining community which suffered a great tragedy in 1862, the loss of 204 people underground - which led to a mandatory requirement for mines to have two shafts.  There is a memorial garden for the tragedy.  As with many communities with mining connections there is a mine tub on show, here carrying the village name.  It is on rails but these are not offered as 'abandoned' or 'in the road'. 

Just beyond the village towards Seaton Delaval there is an estate of industrial units between the road and the railway, clearly a former industrial site.  It turns out to be part of the former Seaton Delaval colliery complex.  The unexpected find, very close to one of the estate's road entrances, is a short pair of rails still in place albeit part covered, and  with some of the original yard's granite setts visible.  Apologies,, camera image quality is degrading by the day..

 

Using 25 inch maps from the National Library of Scotland, here's a close overview of a 1920 revision OS alongside a modern aerial image.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=19&lat=55.08031&lon=-1.53035&layers=168&right=ESRIWorld

The rails, I reckon, are between the road and the corner of the dark building and on the OS, they're about where the words 'North Corner' are.  

The full NLS 25-inch view, 1920 revision including the wider Seaton Delaval colliery complex, is:  

http:// https://maps.nls.uk/view/132279329#zoom=5&lat=5615&lon=12439&layers=BT

 

[Engineer]

Referring to today's earlier posts on Barrow in Furness (Image = 30 June 2018): https://goo.gl/maps/FwkJmauTr9ciQgTC7
and:
"...  this strange survivor: ..."

 

Apologies for delay, had to think and I may not have found all the possible evidence as yet.

 

I reckon it's a jetty with moorings, and the rail access may have been for coaling and supply for ships.  
After a ship was launched, or if it was visiting for refit, the vessel would be moored in the Devonshre or Buccleuch docks, close to workshops and cranes.

 

Here, I admit and explain that I'm not a local nor an expert on the shipyard, so I am speculating,  Several years ago, however,  I did get the chance to talk to an expert on the yard for research.  My own interests in the area were twofold - the electric tramway, and the construction work done by Vickers on Metropolitan Railway locomotives in 1920-23, which I've been researching and writing up over a number of years.  I wanted to understand how the locomotives moved in, out and around the site during build, testing and finishing.  I was told that the rail lines in the north-west area adjacent to Devonshire Dock - highlighted in the posts -  were in places too tight in clearances and radii for bogie vehicles so the locomotives had to go the long ways around the eastern end of the island.

 

Here is the OS link from the early 1930s showing a jetty in the Devonshire Dock.  The jetty we're looking at appears to be in the Buccleuch Dock, maybe similar or a replacement.  The Devonshire Dock jetty and nearby lines are visible, also to the left corner there are the tram lines to Walney Bridge and Island and the Furness/LMS lines that ran across the island and served the shipyard.

https://maps.nls.uk/view/126514793#zoom=6&lat=5532&lon=12106&layers=BT

 

I'll look at other OS and aerial views confirm the position or role of the jetty.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Engineer
new information, still searching

[melmerby]

Hi Engineer

 

The dockside track is just right for loading unloading with a ship berthed there, however the landward track is barely far enough on land each end to stop anything on it falling in the drink.

 

 

[Engineer]

Agree, looks a tight fit.

 

https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW019739

Have found an image with the jetty in question, not present in the 1930s OS, so probably an expansion of facilities by the 1940s era. 

Can't help much with the issue of the landward line, only speculating on the information available.  There have been quite a few changes to that area of the island over the years, affecting both the land usage and the alignment of the water's edge.

 

I have access to an outline sketch plan of that particular area - unable to share - that shows the object in question as a fixed coal wharf.  It appears [as drawn] slightly inset to the edge of the dock and the connecting rail line appears to run along the join - maybe the wharf deck was extended onto the land side.  The line in question then continues roughly eastwards into a long headshunt that terminates a little short of the Buccleuch lift bridge , as was.  There is a further loop off the headshunt that returns by a slightly more inland route to connect to the layout of dockside lines. 

 

Another aerial image,.  At the left edge of the picture there's the west end of the coaling wharf and the rail access to it on a slightly curved  'bridge' over the rough, lower 'shore' of the island.

https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW019738

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Engineer
Word and information amendments

[melmerby]

7 minutes ago, Engineer said:

Agree, looks a tight fit.

 

https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW019739

Have found an image with the jetty in question, not present in the 1930s OS, so probably an expansion of facilities by the 1940s era. 

Can't help much with the issue of the landward line, only speculating on the information available.  I have access to an outline sketch plan of that particular area - unable to share - that shows the object in question as a fixed coal jetty.  It appears [as drawn] slightly inset to the edge of the dock and the connecting rail line appears to run along the join - maybe the jetty deck was extended onto the land side.  The line in question then continues roughly eastwards into a long headshunt that terminates a little short of the Buccleuch lift bridge , as was.  There is a further loop off the headshunt that returns by a slightly more inland route. 

I've just done a enlargement and it looks as if the land has been eroded away as I'm pretty sure I can see rails and sleepers suspended over water.

[unravelled]

A 2013 ground level view of one of the scissors crossovers  adjacent to the King George V dock. The road behind the gates to the left is the cab rank for   London City airport. This picture is from the footbridge at the DLR station.

 

North of Kings Cross, across the canal, part of the Goods depot complex has been converted for Central St Martins art school. The development has retained various  sections of inset track.

 

 

 

 

Dave

 

 

[33C]

17 hours ago, unravelled said:

A 2013 ground level view of one of the scissors crossovers  adjacent to the King George V dock. The road behind the gates to the left is the cab rank for   London City airport. This picture is from the footbridge at the DLR station.

 

North of Kings Cross, across the canal, part of the Goods depot complex has been converted for Central St Martins art school. The development has retained various  sections of inset track.

 

 

 

 

Dave

 

 

Second picture; wagon turn-table under the resurfacing? And i do love a wagon capstan. Were these steam/electric powered for hauling wagons onto the short, stub sidings?

[Fat Controller]

20 minutes ago, 33C said:

Second picture; wagon turn-table under the resurfacing? And i do love a wagon capstan. Were these steam/electric powered for hauling wagons onto the short, stub sidings?

Most usually, they were hydraulically-powered, as were dockside cranes. They might also be horse-powered.

[bécasse]

I am not sure that that one actually is a powered capstan, it looks more like a static bollard to me. There were usually a mix of bollards and powered capstans in areas where rope working was commonplace - which could be warehouse complexes (with multiple wagon turntables) as well as docks.

[melmerby]

21 minutes ago, bécasse said:

I am not sure that that one actually is a powered capstan, it looks more like a static bollard to me. There were usually a mix of bollards and powered capstans in areas where rope working was commonplace - which could be warehouse complexes (with multiple wagon turntables) as well as docks.

Birmingham Moor Street Goods had comprehensive bollards, capstans, traversers etc. to manoeuvre wagons.

[HonestTom]

On 15/05/2021 at 16:32, 33C said:

Second picture; wagon turn-table under the resurfacing? And i do love a wagon capstan. Were these steam/electric powered for hauling wagons onto the short, stub sidings?

Coincidentally, I was there myself yesterday. There was a hydraulic power station on site, and indeed the accumulator tower is still there (complete with piston). Article here. I'd thoroughly recommend a visit to the site. If you don't mind a bit of a walk, there's also the former goods depot at Camden a little way up the canal. This not only includes abandoned rails, but some LNWR and LMS signage. Also security guards who get a bit funny about you photographing the building, so you have to be discreet.

Edited May 17, 2021 by HonestTom

[4069]

The former MoD sidings on the quayside at Neyland, apparently added as late as 1962, just two years before the line closed. Now the only remaining trace of the station and yard.

[melmerby]

 

meanwhile across the water in pembroke: