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

[Captain Slough]

1 hour ago, 009 micro modeller said:

Sounds interesting. Is it from a standard gauge siding or a narrow gauge internal railway?

 

 

standard gauge, the curve roughly lines up with how the standard gauge branch enters the site

 

the exchange sidings for the colne valley waterworks railway are discernable as groundworks

Edited February 20, 2023 by Captain Slough

[Engineer]

I walked through the area of the Colne Waterworks Railway in March 2021.  In the distance, a plate girder bridge broadly on the line of route that I think may have carried the railway.

 

View along former track alignment towards waterworks.

At this location, the railway and a footpath intersected, and there had been a metal footbridge, second-hand from the Wembley Exhibition NeverStop Railway. 

Links that give good images and clues to the railway and route:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/boxbrownie3/albums/72157719141267363

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/r/rickmansworth_church_street/index99.shtml

https://www.westwatfordhistorygroup.org/2019/06/colne-valley-narrow-gauge-railway.html

https://www.flickr.com/photos/trains-travel/31111247605

http://www.industrialgwent.co.uk/wuk21-se/index.htm#hampshire

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by Engineer
Use of English

[009 micro modeller]

7 hours ago, Engineer said:

I walked through the area of the Colne Waterworks Railway in March 2021.  In the distance, a plate girder bridge broadly on the line of route that I think may have carried the railway.

 

View along former track alignment towards waterworks.

At this location, the railway and a footpath intersected, and there had been a metal footbridge, second-hand from the Wembley Exhibition NeverStop Railway. 

Links that give good images and clues to the railway and route:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/boxbrownie3/albums/72157719141267363

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/r/rickmansworth_church_street/index99.shtml

https://www.westwatfordhistorygroup.org/2019/06/colne-valley-narrow-gauge-railway.html

https://www.flickr.com/photos/trains-travel/31111247605

http://www.industrialgwent.co.uk/wuk21-se/index.htm#hampshire

 

I took some photos a few years ago (which I have saved somewhere) similar to your ‘present day’ ones - no rails though. The old photos are interesting as they show the layout and levels of the exchange sidings (which I feel like I might have seen one other photo of before, yet I’m sure it showed the NG track at a slightly higher level).
 

Interestingly the accompanying photos of the LNWR branch seem to show that it had been de-electrified after passenger services ended - obvious if you think about it as the lines concerned didn’t use electric freight locos, but not something I’d really thought about before. I always found it surprising that the branch to Church Street closed so early to passengers, given that the adjoining Croxley Green line continued until the 1990s.

[unravelled]

This is a repeat post, it's been on here a couple of times, but the riverside site has been cleared some more recently, (and the old pics might be gone)

 

This is the google maps view, showing the tracks on the jetty they connect to

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4939105,0.0278764,99m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-GB

.

The jetty  was there and connected on the 1948 aerial survey, now available as an overlay on NLS maps

 

Dave

[Peter Kazmierczak]

There must be literally hundreds of tons of former broad-gauge rail scattered around the former GW system, being used as fence posts. Even with new pallisade fencing, the old stuff is still kept in situ.

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

There must be literally hundreds of tons of former broad-gauge rail scattered around the former GW system, being used as fence posts. Even with new pallisade fencing, the old stuff is still kept in situ.

I spotted a similar length near Aldermaston the other day - didn't have a camera on me unfortunately. What was more concerning was the state of the modern fencing, part of which looked like it was not far off collapsing, and was mostly being held up by a small tree that had grown through it...

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Just had a thought 🤪

 

Has anyone included some broad-gauge rail in the fencing on their GW layout? Indeed, is broad-gauge rail available in model form?

[Chris116]

43 minutes ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Just had a thought 🤪

 

Has anyone included some broad-gauge rail in the fencing on their GW layout? Indeed, is broad-gauge rail available in model form?

I am sure that if it is not available then @Modelu Chris would soon be able to make some up! 3D printing would be cheaper and easier to work with I would think.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

On the erstwhile Shrewsbury and Welshpool Railway on the old trackbed by Pontesbury station which is now a footpath, there are broad gauge rails which were used as sign and milepost supports. One was loose-ish and I fancied it as a memento but soon went off the idea once it was nearly out of the ground, it weighed a ton, even for a short piece, and carrying back to the car didn't seem a viable option!

 

Mike.

[Enterprisingwestern]

22 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

I am sure that if it is not available then @Modelu Chris would soon be able to make some up! 3D printing would be cheaper and easier to work with I would think.

 

I'm sure the Broad Gauge Society must make it?

 

Mike.

[Porcy Mane]

5 hours ago, unravelled said:

The jetty  was there and connected on the 1948 aerial survey, now available as an overlay on NLS maps

 

Durham Wharfe. For taking coal into the Bottle works. No Surprise that Robert Candlish of the Charlton Bottle Works, started of with a bottle works  at Seaham Harbour.

[Modelu Chris]

On 27/02/2023 at 14:55, Chris116 said:

I am sure that if it is not available then @Modelu Chris would soon be able to make some up! 3D printing would be cheaper and easier to work with I would think.

Thank you for thinking of us but the BGS already sell this:

https://www.broadgauge.org.uk/modelling/bgs_parts_prices_7mm.html

[Chris116]

2 hours ago, Modelu Chris said:

Thank you for thinking of us but the BGS already sell this:

https://www.broadgauge.org.uk/modelling/bgs_parts_prices_7mm.html

That looks great for 7mm but for those of us in 4mm (and other scales) the BGS does not help.

[Moxy]

22 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

That looks great for 7mm but for those of us in 4mm (and other scales) the BGS does not help.

 

They offer the same thing in 4mm as well.

 

https://www.broadgauge.org.uk/modelling/bgs_parts_prices_4mm.html

 

Search 'rail.'

Edited March 1, 2023 by Moxy
Clarity

[Chris116]

1 minute ago, Moxy said:

 

They offer the same thing in 4mm as well.

 

https://www.broadgauge.org.uk/modelling/bgs_parts_prices_4mm.html

I must need to visit Specsavers as I still can't find the 4mm broad gauge rail.

[Moxy]

 

They are there, no images though. F044 & F045 at the bottom of this page.

[Michael Crofts]

Do broad gauge rails used for fences count as abandoned rails? I suppose they do. Quite a few still to be seen where I live (Forest of Dean) but vey slowly they are disappearing.

 

I took these pictures of an occupation crossing on the Monmouth - Ross on Wye trackbed, this is Barlow rail. Please excuse tummy in shot. Click on picture to see the album.

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Michael Crofts

[Halvarras]

On 27/02/2023 at 11:55, Peter Kazmierczak said:

There must be literally hundreds of tons of former broad-gauge rail scattered around the former GW system, being used as fence posts. Even with new pallisade fencing, the old stuff is still kept in situ.

 

Yes, it does seem to have found lots of use as fence posts and sometimes nowhere near the railway! While out walking yesterday I remembered to take some photos of four pieces I'd noticed previously in passing - these have been used to make an entrance onto the Carlyon Bay Golf Course (I don't think a gate was ever hung on them, but the lane curves across the green further down with open access so this gap is just a short cut to the tee for those who can get their kit through it and down the steps!)

Beyond this view from the 'inside' is the lane up to the Merthen Farm overbridge with the Cornish Main Line just the other side of the newly-erected fence (I should photograph some doomed 'Castle' HST sets from here before rampant fern growth blocks the view again........) :

 

A look at the other side with the green beyond:

 

And a close up of the ivy-less side, with rust getting a grip now - the sea isn't far away.......(bending rails like this must be fun!):

 

I suppose these qualify as 'Abandoned Rails....Elsewhere', but since I'm at this location, here's a view taken from the bridge towards St Austell with the main Golf Course visible in the distance (the above rail posts are just out of sight to the right), taken on 7th January this year. This is how rusty the sea air turned the Cornish Main Line's railheads when 'abandoned' for 5 days due to strike action! 

[Erichill16]

On 04/10/2022 at 01:59, jjb1970 said:

I'd wager these rails have a good claim to be considered the most remote outpost of rails in the world (though there will be other contenders). Hard to get much more remote. Husvik on South Georgia, pics from the mid 90's when I worked for British Antarctic Survey.

 

 

I've been meaning to post this picture since seeing yours but only just got around to it.

The picture is taken in August 2016 at Ny Alesund on Spitzbergen and is probably as far away from South Georgia as you can get.

Ny Alesund was a coal mining settlement and the wagons are on a section of original track. Usually these is on O & K tank engine on display to compliment the wagons but unfortunately for me it was away for restoration. 

Thats a glacier in the background but Ive forgotten its name.   

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Erichill16
Tidy things up.

[Michael Crofts]

Glimpsed from the train yesterday, south east of Exeter St, Thomas. Part of the line leading down to Exeter Basin, now the Historic Docks which I mentioned in an earlier post. The rails are clear to see, embedded in concrete.

 

[Michael Crofts]

As an aside, I was surprised to see just how much bullhead rail still exists in sidings and loops between Plymouth and Bristol. I estimate at least a couple of miles of track, all rusty and a lot of it overgrown. Some of it has been disconnected so it must count as abandoned, even though it's on the right of way of an operative line.

[33C]

2 hours ago, Michael Crofts said:

Glimpsed from the train yesterday, south east of Exeter St, Thomas. Part of the line leading down to Exeter Basin, now the Historic Docks which I mentioned in an earlier post. The rails are clear to see, embedded in concrete.

 

Good spot!

[pendlerail]

 At Lowestoft Station route to the Docks 

[melmerby]

On 10/03/2023 at 21:22, Erichill16 said:

The picture is taken in August 2016 at Ny Alesund on Spitzbergen and is probably as far away from South Georgia as you can get.

Ny Alesund was a coal mining settlement and the wagons are on a section of original track. Usually these is on O & K tank engine on display to compliment the wagons but unfortunately for me it was away for restoration. 

It's on Google Maps in several spot pictures

e.g.

https://goo.gl/maps/kf6iLq895B57XTZr6

[Michael Crofts]

5 hours ago, pendlerail said:

 At Lowestoft Station route to the Docks 

I'm delighted to see this. I remember that line in use but sadly I was too late for the Sentinel shunters. 

 

Is there anything left up the road, at Great Yarmouth, the line down to the docks? Rangers posted a reminiscence here but wasn't sure whether anything remains: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/163553-abandoned-rails-in-the-roador-elsewhere/#comment-4385901 I remember that one in use as well.