'Failed' preservation projects

[avonside1563]

There was a project based at an old power station near fleetwood if I recall. Went there once, hellish difficult to find in amongst lots of dereliction and mostly locked away in a shed, just parts of an avonside stored outside.

[avonside1563]

Lytham Motive Power Museum is another one that seems to have vanished into the mists of time. I remember the locos and stock being auctioned off in the 90s but no idea whether it is still extant or not.

[edcayton]

If we include 7 1/4" gauge then the saddest loss must be Dobwalls.

 

Ed

[25901]

Lytham Motive Power Museum was in the Helical Springs factory. The company nearly went to the wall and the owner had to sell a lot of spring making equipment and contracts to keep the company going ( I know as I helped move all the gear to Rochdale ) Afterwards he rebuilt the company but any grand ideas of his museum went out of the window.

Have been told there are some items in the collection but don't know were as the area is slowly becoming housing

[25901]

Hi

just to add to the above, I have been told today that 4 standard gauge locos are still at Lytham including one of those steam loco cranes

 

http://www.atlanticpublishers.com/tag/puffing-billy/  2nd story

[avonside1563]

The steam crane loco will probably be Nielson 4004/1890 'Snipey' which worked alongside my alter-ego at Millom Hematite Mines.

 

http://www.banklands.com/images/Millom/snipey.jpg

[EddieB]

Hi

just to add to the above, I have been told today that 4 standard gauge locos are still at Lytham including one of those steam loco cranes

 

http://www.atlanticpublishers.com/tag/puffing-billy/  2nd story

According to 16EL, there are three standard gauge steam locos (two saddle tanks, and the steam crane locomotive), and two-foot gauge one steam and one diesel.

[25901]

The picture of "Jonathan" is showing it in the old reception area of Helical Springs, the site is now called Helical Technology but the loco and running line out side the factory is still there and used. And for something different there is a Red Arrow Gnat hanging from the factory roof.

The owner has a narrow gauge railway in his garden but have no idea what gauge or rolling stock due to this site being very very private

[Jawfin]

Dunsandle (Ireland) is a half-failed project, as there has been little activity in the past few years apart from moving their loco to prevent vandalism. There are some relatively new-looking stock (but only a few tankers and a coach) and a violently abused E class, E428. There is (was?) a few hundred yards of track and a station. 428 was recently moved to a shred of track somewhere else in a remote field to prevent vandalism.

There's also another place I know of in Ireland, 4ft 8.5 by the way. See this forum for details:

http://railways.national-preservation.com/diesel-electric-traction/28847-leyland-experimental-vehicle-rb002.html

I believe there's a BR Railbus RB2, "The Denmark," a brake van, and a rather elusive steam loco, "Robert Nelson No. 4," in a small shed.

Neither of them are in the UK but...

[cornelius]

I guess the Tralee & Dingle in Ireland could be considered failed at present as well.

[peak experience]

isle of mull

[jamie92208]

Wasn't there a scheme at North Woolwich which had a couple of locos at one time in the days when it was still the tail end of the North London Line.

 

Jamie

[31A]

 the rest of it being hidden near Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire....

 

 

 

 

It must have been well hidden!  I grew up there, and still have connections with the village but have never heard that one before!

 

I was a member of the Sandy & Potton Steam Railway Society at one time - does that count?

[37114]

There's a growing collection in the bushes of Wishaw, at Andrew Goodman's haulage yard.  47484 and at least a pair of Class 08s, a lattice footbridge span, Class 58 cab and more is all squirrelled away there.

 

I think most of them are owned by various groups working on them the 58 cabs belong to the class 58 group so will probably move to Barrow Hill in the future, 47484 is owned by the Pioneer diesle group (also based at Barrow Hill).

 

Allelys at Studley has 37023 under restoration in the yard as well.

[Bernard Lamb]

One of the promoters was Baron Bob Symes-Schutzmann, better known for his interest in model and miniature railways.

Another director and his right hand man at that time is a member of this forum.

It was to be a private commercial line rather than a preservation project, although there were plans to run preserved steam locos hauling tourist trains over part of the route.

Bernard

[Bernard Lamb]

Wasn't there a scheme at North Woolwich which had a couple of locos at one time in the days when it was still the tail end of the North London Line.

 

Jamie

There was indeed.

Ex GER Coffee Pot 229 was one of them.

Bernard

[Ravenser]

The Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway?  Opened in the 1960s using track, locos and stock from the 2ft gauge Nocton Estate Railway, and ran for about three quarters of a mile or so alongside a road to a holiday camp just outside Cleethorpes.  It was still going, just about, in the mid-80s, but closed not long after. I did read a report that it would be reconstructed on a site near Skegness...but I'm not sure if anything ever happened there.

 

Elsewhere in Lincolnshire, I vaguely remember that one of the signalboxes between Louth and Firsby was turned into a private railway museum - that's since closed, too.

 

Would the Scottish Railway Preservation Society's original Falkirk site, before they moved to Bo'ness, count?

 

It was either Aby or Legbourne Road - I have a feeling Legbourne Rd - where there was a collection of railwayana in a large brick shed , which I think may have been either purpose built or converted from the goods shed. It was run by the owner of the station , which was converted to a house. The owner sold the collection about 5 years ago - I think he may have moved 

[Guest 838rapid]

The Coffee Pot is/was owned by Bill Parker,the guy that runs the restoration works at the Flour mill in Dean Forest.

[Lochty no more]

Lochty Private Rilway?

It did not fail, it was killed by John Cameron

[Catkins]

Wasn't one of the Ironstone branches near Grantham briefly operated as a preserved railway in the early 1970s (possibly the one from High Dyke)?

 

All of the schemes mentioned seem to have failed in their early stages (except for Dinting which simply moved to a different site). So you could argue that they just weren't viable in the long term - probably due to them not not having ownership of the site or a long term lease.

 

 

  The original plan was the High Dyke branch, associated ironstone lines past Sewstern to the ex BR Bourne  to Saxby line and then along another ironstone line to Market Overton.

 

When it was found out how much it would cost to keep the main line connection at High Dyke that section was abandoned and consideration was given to relaying the line to Saxby.

 

The economic and political situation was such that the whole thing became uneconomic.  I recall it was not a simple decision at the time.  I remember a lot more but it is not relevant to this forum.

 

David

 

the Ironstone Branch was at Market Overton - near to, but not connected with, the Rutland railway Museum at Cottesmore.

The Market Overton site did host some famous items of motive power - Flying Scotsman and Pendennis Castle, and sectioned the Merchant Navy for the NRM.

The problem with the Ironstone Branches is that they are in the middle of the countryside, and any possibility of ever rebuilding the High Dyke branch have gone with the re-building of the A1 junction at Colsterworth.

 

Wasn't there a scheme at North Woolwich which had a couple of locos at one time in the days when it was still the tail end of the North London Line.

 

Jamie

 

The North Woolwich Station Museum was forced to close with that section of the North London Line, when the line was handed over to Transport for London.

 

It was either Aby or Legbourne Road - I have a feeling Legbourne Rd - where there was a collection of railwayana in a large brick shed , which I think may have been either purpose built or converted from the goods shed. It was run by the owner of the station , which was converted to a house. The owner sold the collection about 5 years ago - I think he may have moved 

 

The site at Legbourne Road is a private property, but there is still a home signal at the end of the platform, along with the railway buildings, including the Goods shed, still being in good condition, and the last time I went past (possibly three weeks ago next wednesday) it was up for sale.

 

There was (over 15 years ago) also a PRIVATE site at Rippingale Road Station, ran by one of the people who helped start the rutland Railway Museum - but by the time he set up at Rippingale he was moving away from Cottesmore.

 

A quick plug here - If you are in South Lincolnshire of a weekend, then have a quick look in Baldocks Mill on South Road Bourne. The Civic Society has a small display on the top floorof the Mill.  

[LaGrange]

There's also another place I know of in Ireland, 4ft 8.5 by the way. See this forum for details:

http://railways.national-preservation.com/diesel-electric-traction/28847-leyland-experimental-vehicle-rb002.html

I believe there's a BR Railbus RB2, "The Denmark," a brake van, and a rather elusive steam loco, "Robert Nelson No. 4," in a small shed.

Neither of them are in the UK but...

Thats the Riverstown Mill pub in Co Louth. The intention was to have the railway as a 'shuttle'  to connect the pub to its car park. Travelled over it once many years ago

 

A more infamous scheme in Northern Ireland is the BCDR trust, going since 1972 and full of empty promises, keep in mind not yet a failure as nothing has actually happened, http://www.bcdr.co.uk/

[pete_mcfarlane]

Thats the Riverstown Mill pub in Co Louth. The intention was to have the railway as a 'shuttle'  to connect the pub to its car park. Travelled over it once many years ago

 

A more infamous scheme in Northern Ireland is the BCDR trust, going since 1972 and full of empty promises, keep in mind not yet a failure as nothing has actually happened, http://www.bcdr.co.uk/

Their website reminded me of 1995, when all websites were that clunky and badly designed. 

[Horsetan]

Dunsandle (Ireland) is a half-failed project, as there has been little activity in the past few years apart from moving their loco to prevent vandalism. There are some relatively new-looking stock (but only a few tankers and a coach) and a violently abused E class, E428. There is (was?) a few hundred yards of track and a station. 428 was recently moved to a shred of track somewhere else in a remote field to prevent vandalism.....

 

Dunsandle looks like it'll never go anywhere, judging by the photos I've seen. By contrast Westrail at Tuam should be considered a heroic failure because they actually managed to run services.

 

Other failures may yet include the recreated T&D, and - though I'd be gutted if it became so - the County Donegal project. Funding is so very hard to obtain.

[pete_mcfarlane]

While we are still talking about Irish preservation schemes, what happened to the Foyle Valley Railway? They seemed to have mde quite a bit of progress in the early 1990s judging by reports in the railway press, but it's all gone quiet.

[Pacific231G]

Noticed no one has mentioned Ashburton which briefly was used by the Dart Valley. There was later a scheme to build a new line around the A38 but nothing seemed to come of that.

I've always considered that the saddest loss. While volunteering on the DVR in 1968-1969 I walked up to Ashburton from Buckfastleigh to assess the state of the track and the terminus was still an absolute gem. It was part of the DVR but we knew it was threatened by the road and I don't think it was ever re-opened to regular trains. In those days though the zeitgeist was so pro-road that you had about as much chance of diverting a road scheme as stopping the Vogons!!