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

[33C]

10 minutes ago, Engineer said:

Back in the summer, I walked from Snodland in Kent back to Strood and made a detour to pass through the hamlet of Upper Halling.  The footpath to get there rose steeply alongside an abandoned quarrying area.  The satellite map link below shows part of the present-day footpath rising roughly East to West from lower right to upper left in the image.  

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Halling,+Rochester/@51.3450416,0.4324492,920m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x47d8cb49e70e315d:0xbc09c8d6ca824f9a!8m2!3d51.352063!4d0.441702!5m1!1e2?hl=en-GB

The 25-inch OS map 1939 revision shows roughly the same area, again with footpath but also a parallel tramway to the top of the quarry, rising from a Lime works in the river valley.  

https://maps.nls.uk/view/103678508#zoom=4&lat=8692&lon=2932&layers=BT

Given the steep gradient, and the presence of a top and a bottom 'Engine House' on the OS map, there might have been cable haulage on this section of the quarry tramways.

The footpath has remnants of rails along its straight section, mostly well hidden in thick undergrowth and shadows.  

At one place it was possible, just, to find both rails, the spacing of which suggested this might have been standard gauge line. 

Great find! 

[eastglosmog]

Seen near Glyn-Neath last week, the remains of the Aberpergwm Colliery loop line on bridge over River Neath.  Now a footpath.

[bradfordbuffer]

Another contractors rail found on the Leeds and Liverpool canal...

Just over a mile from main line near Cononley (skipton) many sections of rail holding canal Bank in place walked and cycled past this location hundreds of times and this crops up! Never seen before or just not looking hard enough! Not enough weeds embedded for it of to been hear long!, dumped from a farm?

[Rivercider]

We have visited the excellent Wheal Martyn China Clay Museum near St Austell several times this year.

On one visit we walked part of one of the Clay Trails south from the museum and down the Lansalson Valley, this trail follows the route of the Lansalson Branch for much of the way.

The Lansalson (or Bojea) Branch was the last branch line built by the GWR, the construction was delayed by WWI and was not completed until 1920. It was a freight only branch main mainly to service clay dries along the valley, it closed in 1968.

The line terminated at Ruddlemoor, where there was a goods depot/wharf, and a clay loading platform, the site of the clay loading platform is now a village green for Ruddlemoor, and at the south end there are still rails across the road.

 

Looking northwards towards Ruddlemoor village green which was the site of the clay loading platform, and the terminus of the branch, rails are still embedded in the roadway, 8/9/2022

 

cheers

Edited December 12, 2022 by Rivercider
Clarification, and additional information..

[Michael Crofts]

I thought that the 18" gauge light railway at Bere Regis built by the Sylva Springs watercress company had been mentioned previously in this thread but I can't find it. It's now 8 years since I last visited but I hope the remaining rails in a concrete bridge may still be there. This was a proper system at one time and nearly half of it has remained in use for an amazing number of years. It was recently confirmed to still be there, but this is the bit that fits this topic best. I think it is at What3Words ///measuring.drill.fussy looking across the valley from Doddings to Hollow Oak (my photo):

 

Here's the Google Streetview of the place seen from the left of my photo.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.7432259,-2.2116472,3a,75y,277.62h,95.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7QXSspI9JglCCQO1OQwsZg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

If you've got 5 minutes to waste you could do worse than explore this extraordinary survival of rural England on Streetview.

 

More photos in my album (a lot more): https://www.flickr.com/photos/119194913@N05/albums/72157720232758091

 

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Michael Crofts

[009 micro modeller]

12 hours ago, Michael Crofts said:

I thought that the 18" gauge light railway at Bere Regis built by the Sylva Springs watercress company had been mentioned previously in this thread but I can't find it. It's now 8 years since I last visited but I hope the remaining rails in a concrete bridge may still be there. This was a proper system at one time and nearly half of it has remained in use for an amazing number of years. It was recently confirmed to still be there, but this is the bit that fits this topic best. I think it is at What3Words ///measuring.drill.fussy looking across the valley from Doddings to Hollow Oak (my photo):

 

Here's the Google Streetview of the place seen from the left of my photo.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.7432259,-2.2116472,3a,75y,277.62h,95.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7QXSspI9JglCCQO1OQwsZg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

If you've got 5 minutes to waste you could do worse than explore this extraordinary survival of rural England on Streetview.

 

More photos in my album (a lot more): https://www.flickr.com/photos/119194913@N05/albums/72157720232758091

 

 

 

 

A great photo. The relatively recent book on Sylvasprings seems to suggest that a short part of the system remains in use but possibly isn’t loco worked any more (in which case, what happened to the loco? If it’s no longer needed then I suspect there would be some interest in preserving it, but I haven’t heard anywhere that it’s definitely surplus to requirements at Bere Regis).

 

I would post a photo of my own local watercress bed line, but currently it’s assumed to be still working (though the distinction between working and disused is less clear on a hand worked line with only two wagons than it might be elsewhere).

[russ p]

14 hours ago, Michael Crofts said:

I thought that the 18" gauge light railway at Bere Regis built by the Sylva Springs watercress company had been mentioned previously in this thread but I can't find it. It's now 8 years since I last visited but I hope the remaining rails in a concrete bridge may still be there. This was a proper system at one time and nearly half of it has remained in use for an amazing number of years. It was recently confirmed to still be there, but this is the bit that fits this topic best. I think it is at What3Words ///measuring.drill.fussy looking across the valley from Doddings to Hollow Oak (my photo):

 

Here's the Google Streetview of the place seen from the left of my photo.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.7432259,-2.2116472,3a,75y,277.62h,95.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7QXSspI9JglCCQO1OQwsZg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

If you've got 5 minutes to waste you could do worse than explore this extraordinary survival of rural England on Streetview.

 

More photos in my album (a lot more): https://www.flickr.com/photos/119194913@N05/albums/72157720232758091

 

 

 

 

 

That's amazing Michael,  when did it close

[Michael Crofts]

On 14/12/2022 at 09:12, russ p said:

 

That's amazing Michael,  when did it close

I can't find my notes and I can't remember when that part closed.  The system was in roughly two halves. The northern half started at the packing sheds and ran south to a level crossing of Hollow Oak - this part has been lifted for some years. The southern half still existed in 2014 and I think it might still exist now, running further south past the locomotive storage point (there has never been a loco shed) to the end of the watercress beds. The Bere Regis website has a lot of good photos and links to other sources. I have made a little visual map which I hope you can read. It's online here  temporarily or you can download it as a pdf:- Sylva_Springs_map_v1.pdf

[Michael Crofts]

And here's another 18" gauge line with abandoned rails in the road, at Haslar, Portsmouth, photographed in 2014. The rails were part of the Fort Blockhouse system. My pictures here, some public domain pictures included in my album here.

 

 

 

 

 

[Michael Crofts]

Here's a 7 1/4" gauge miniature railway which lasted only a vey short time, but it included a level crossing and I'm told the rails are still there as pictured from Google Streetview in my Flickr album, here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/119194913@N05/albums/72177720298149134

 

 

[33C]

21 minutes ago, Michael Crofts said:

And here's another 18" gauge line with abandoned rails in the road, at Haslar, Portsmouth, photographed in 2014. The rails were part of the Fort Blockhouse system. My pictures here, some public domain pictures included in my album here.

 

 

 

 

 

Quality capture!

[Michael Crofts]

Now, a puzzle. I drove over these rails a few weeks ago and because I knew the location was a standard gauge level crossing I assumed that's what they were. I didn't know about this thread at the time - I would have photographed them if I had. The thing is, Google Streetview shows them clearly, and the NLS side-by-side maps confirm the location as the standard gauge Stonehouse Branch (Plymouth) level crossing of Rchmond Walk, but in the Streetview image they look narrow gauge. I think it must be distortion - does anyone know or have I got to go back with a tape measure? EDIT: It is standard gauge, see my post of 9 May 2023

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Michael Crofts

[33C]

3 minutes ago, Michael Crofts said:

Now, a puzzle. I drove over these rails a few weeks ago and because I knew the location was a standard gauge level crossing I assumed that's what they were. I didn't know about this thread at the time - I would have photographed them if I had. The thing is, Google Streetview shows them clearly, and the NLS side-by-side maps confirm the location as the standard gauge Stonehouse Branch (Plymouth) level crossing of Rchmond Walk, but in the Streetview image they look narrow gauge. I think it must be distortion - does anyone know or have I got to go back with a tape measure?

 

May be a distortion or, were they 4' gauge?

[Axlebox]

Whilst riding on the Metro replacement 'bustitution' service to Jarrow, Uncle P and I spotted this crossing in the middle of nowhere...

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.9820634,-1.5150437,3a,75y,58.35h,61.04t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTwwbTNekShgoROuUT6e7-Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

Britain from Above and the National Library of Scotland confirm it as the line into the 'Bede Metal Works (Copper)' on Wagonway road in Hebburn (South Tyneside).

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Axlebox
additional info

[Michael Crofts]

The "rails" in this example are buried beneath the tarmac (confirmed by metal detectors), but they run a bit further beyond the level crossing and are covered by compacted stone which occasionally washes away to reveal the metal. It's the Bixlade (or Bicslade) Tramway in the Forest of Dean, a plateway which originally had classic cast iron plates but what survives is steel "angle iron".

The first image is mine, taken in 2021.

 

The GWR ran the tramway for a time

 

Here's a classic view taken very near the spot where the rails survive

 

More information here: https://www.forestofdeanhistory.org.uk/learn-about-the-forest/bixlade-tramway-rails/

 

[Michael Crofts]

Exeter City Basin. Hard to know how much is original, exposed and conserved, and how much has been restored and may or may not be the same as it originally was. 

My photos, 2021

 

 

 

The last image is by KDH archive - I think it is probably not the restored/conserved turntable but maybe someone here knows.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Michael Crofts

[Michael Crofts]

Andy Y of this forum posted some pictures of the last remnant of the Welshpool & Llanfair east of Raven Square. I can't find his original post so here's my stolen borrowed copy of one of his images.

[33C]

50 minutes ago, Michael Crofts said:

Exeter City Basin. Hard to know how much is original, exposed and conserved, and how much has been restored and may or may not be the same as it originally was. 

My photos, 2021

 

 

 

The last image is by KDH archive - I think it is probably not the restored/conserved turntable but maybe someone here knows.

 

 

Airfix tank wagons! (Last pic.)

[Michael Crofts]

I really don't know if this fragment of the original Southwold Railway is still there. Last time I saw it there was hardly anything, quite a contrast to how it was when I lived nearby in the late 1950s - 1960s. For those who don't know it's near the Harbourmaster's office and it's the end of the fish traffic spur which may or may not have seen regular revenue-producing trains. Photo by Ashley Dace, Geograph, CCL.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1758861

 

And this bit - still there?

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1881767

 

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Michael Crofts
Added Birds Folly

[Michael Crofts]

Chilmark Quarry.

 

 

Google aerial view dated 2022 shows the level crossing, possibly part of the roadside tramway, and the tracks in the Cutting Yard still there.

 

And here's what it looked like on Streetview 13 years ago.

 

There's very little about this on the internet so I have made a little album of Streetview snapshots for safekeeping. Click on this image below if you want to see the album.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Michael Crofts

[Johann Marsbar]

1 hour ago, Michael Crofts said:

I really don't know if this fragment of the original Southwold Railway is still there. Last time I saw it there was hardly anything, quite a contrast to how it was when I lived nearby in the late 1950s - 1960s. For those who don't know it's near the Harbourmaster's office and it's the end of the fish traffic spur which may or may not have seen regular revenue-producing trains. Photo by Ashley Dace, Geograph, CCL.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1758861

 

And this bit - still there?

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1881767

 

 

 

The bit of original track on the harbour branch is still there as far as I know, though It must have been obscured by other things when I went looking for it a couple of years back.

 

I'm not sure just how "original" that track on the Birds Folly section is in that photo - Its certainly been relaid since, and extended, by the Halesworth & Southwold NGRS and looked like this at the beginning of August 2022.....

 

 

 

Certainly those railings on the bridge aren't original and are a more recent added feature to stop people falling off! 

They are too close to the sleeper ends to allow clearance for passing rolling stock.

 

It gets even better when you get to Blythburgh, and that site has progressed further since I took this photo just over two months ago.....

 

[Michael Crofts]

9 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

The bit of original track on the harbour branch is still there as far as I know, though It must have been obscured by other things when I went looking for it a couple of years back.

 

I'm not sure just how "original" that track on the Birds Folly section is in that photo -

 

When I lived quite close all those years ago I was told there was an original piece of Southwold track in the woods somewhere but I never found it and the only bit I'm sure is original is the Harbour spur, what's left of it.

[Michael Crofts]

Alderney.

The railway is all original, consisting of the preserved section from the quarry down to Braye Road near the harbour. From there onwards it's almost all intact, but definitely abandoned, and although the Channel Islands aren't part of the UK I'm including it here because I happen to have some pictures taken on a visit in 2019 and the title thread doesn't actually exclude "foreign" places.

Clicking on the image should take you to the album if you are interested, and you can see the thumbnails by clicking 'Back to album' in the top left corner.

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Michael Crofts

[33C]

41 minutes ago, Michael Crofts said:

Chilmark Quarry.

 

 

Google aerial view dated 2022 shows the level crossing, possibly part of the roadside tramway, and the tracks in the Cutting Yard still there.

 

And here's what it looked like on Streetview 13 years ago.

 

There's very little about this on the internet so I have made a little album of Streetview snapshots for safekeeping. Click on this image below if you want to see the album.

 

 

Amazing what is still out there.

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Michael Crofts said:

Chilmark Quarry.

 

 

 

 

Plenty on the 'net.

 

Here's some drone footage:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilmark,_Wiltshire

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by melmerby