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

[melmerby]

6 hours ago, melmerby said:

There is also a flashing crossing sign but it faced the trains!

 

Following the above comment, what are these flashing lights for?

They face the (now non existent trains) not the road:

https://goo.gl/maps/fxcJPiqDoN9WAzPx5

 

(By this date there wer no trains as the bridge about 100m behind the camera had gone)

Edited January 4, 2023 by melmerby

[Ben B]

On 17/12/2022 at 17:38, Michael Crofts said:

I've just seen a Facebook post about the railways around Burneside Station on the Windermere branch including the tramway which served the James Cropper paper mill. It suggests there may still be some rails around the site of the old station. Here's a screenshot of the post:

 

And here's a NLS side-by-side screenshot

 

I'm sceptical about this but maybe someone will pass by and take a look one day.

 

I finally found my pics from a visit to Burneside in 2021 :)

 

 

The tramway ran along the side of this road... not much evidence there.

 

 

What I gather is the goods shed, next to Burneside Station.

 

 

Goods shed again.

 

 

The paper mill; again, no evidence of the tramway there today that I could see, but we didn't go too close to the site, as it was only a flying visit.  There may be some tracks still embedded in the roads beyond the gates.

 

 

The tramway ran up this road, looking towards the station (the wonderful shot of the Ruston passing the church is on this stretch).

 

 

Then there's this side at the end of an alleyway...

 

 

And there we go :)

 

 

Looking towards the mainline.

 

 

A nice survivor!  Good to see a bit of the industrial heritage left in place here.

[cessna152towser]

Closed in 1913, some track of the four mile long three foot gauge Skye Marble Railway was still in situ at Broadford in 2016.

[cessna152towser]

East Branch and Lincoln Railroad in 2010.    A logging railroad in New Hampshire USA closed shortly after World War 2, which followed the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River into the hills above Lincoln.    A three mile section now forms part of the walk from the nearest road towards the Franconia Falls.   The rails are gone but the ties have been left in situ, some still complete with their spikes,  The first four miles out of Lincoln has been subsumed into highway, with one of the locomotives preserved alongside the highway at the entrance to Loon Mountain Ski Resort.   At Lincoln the line made an end on connection with the Boston and Maine Railroad.   After the B & M closed the route in the 1970s, the State of New Hampshire took over the tracks and heritage tourist trains continued to run down the valley as well as very occasional freight.   However on my visit to the freight yard in 2010 it looked as though there had been no activity there for some time.

Edited January 8, 2023 by cessna152towser
add photo

[cessna152towser]

Netherdale Siding, Galashiels, Scotland.   Accessed from the Selkirk branch which ran on the embankment to the left, this short section of line closed in the 1960s.   Sleepers were still in situ in 2019.

[009 micro modeller]

1 hour ago, Ben B said:

 

I finally found my pics from a visit to Burneside in 2021 :)

 

 

The tramway ran along the side of this road... not much evidence there.

 

 

What I gather is the goods shed, next to Burneside Station.

 

 

Goods shed again.

 

 

The paper mill; again, no evidence of the tramway there today that I could see, but we didn't go too close to the site, as it was only a flying visit.  There may be some tracks still embedded in the roads beyond the gates.

 

 

The tramway ran up this road, looking towards the station (the wonderful shot of the Ruston passing the church is on this stretch).

 

 

Then there's this side at the end of an alleyway...

 

 

And there we go :)

 

 

Looking towards the mainline.

 

 

A nice survivor!  Good to see a bit of the industrial heritage left in place here.

Very interesting - I hadn’t realised there was so much left of this one. Does the sign refer to the tramway or the main line? If the former it’s a little odd as hadn’t it closed by 1980?

[cessna152towser]

Under the bridge at Cross Wynd Hawick a section of rail buried at a shallow depth was still visible as recently as 2008, either part of the original Waverley Route track which was lifted in 1972 or a discarded rail from the adjacent wagon workshop siding.

[Ben B]

8 hours ago, 009 micro modeller said:

Very interesting - I hadn’t realised there was so much left of this one. Does the sign refer to the tramway or the main line? If the former it’s a little odd as hadn’t it closed by 1980?

 

I was a bit puzzled by that as well at the time, the sign is just visible in the shot with the caravan, and is well away from the (fenced-off) mainline which was some distance away from where I took the shot.  And in any case, I thought the tramway was private too rather than BR property, so not sure about it to be honest.

[009 micro modeller]

40 minutes ago, Ben B said:

 

I was a bit puzzled by that as well at the time, the sign is just visible in the shot with the caravan, and is well away from the (fenced-off) mainline which was some distance away from where I took the shot.  And in any case, I thought the tramway was private too rather than BR property, so not sure about it to be honest.

I don’t know precisely what it’s referring to but I gather the Act mentioned has something in it about tramways running down roads that are shared with other traffic (where the tramway isn’t separated from the road). I haven’t seen any signs mentioning this on major tram networks at points where they run down the middle of the road though, and anyway wouldn’t Burneside have been slightly different as some of the stock used was more similar to railway rather than tramway stock? The phrasing (‘The Railway Company’, but it doesn’t identify the name of the company) makes me think it is to do with the tramway and not British Railways, it’s just a bit odd given that the tramway closed in 1974. Was there perhaps an idea that it might reopen at some stage, hence the sign?

 

Alternatively, perhaps it’s nothing to do with rail traffic and ‘not dedicated to the public’ just refers to how the alleyway to the station might be used by road vehicles belonging to the railway etc.?

[33C]

There was a similar sign, east side of Southend Vic. No rails were ever there, but it meant access for vans entering the main entrance or for larger goods to access the side entrance, newspapers from Menzie's, for instance, without having to use the main yard, could drive on the paved area.

[Michael Crofts]

On 08/01/2023 at 21:49, Ben B said:

 

 

And there we go :)

 

 

Thanks so much for this - I was worried I might have started a wild goose chase! What a lovely find. 

 

[Rugd1022]

I can't remember if I've already posted this one before - anyway, it's Parkfield Road level crossing in Rugby with the truncated sidings leading into the cement works, taken in 2006...

 

 

Alas it's all gone now, swept away when the a new road junction was built just off to the right of shot.

Edited January 11, 2023 by Rugd1022

[Michael Crofts]

Deepdale Mill Street, Preston (with acknowledgements to Steven B on the thread 'When the real thing looks like a model').

 

One of Martin Hilbert's marvellous photos of this location in times past:

 

[melmerby]

If you go to the next road (Skeffington Road) the gates were still there in July 2022:

[Erichill16]

Not quite abandoned but not seen any traffic for a few months. Its the private  line from Deepcar to Stocksbridge steelworks. First picture looking towards Deepcar and the second looking towards the works.

[SM42]

On 04/01/2023 at 16:56, melmerby said:

Following the above comment, what are these flashing lights for?

They face the (now non existent trains) not the road:

https://goo.gl/maps/fxcJPiqDoN9WAzPx5

 

(By this date there wer no trains as the bridge about 100m behind the camera had gone)

 

Interesting one that

 

The lights appear to be some sort of signal, having red, yellow and green lenses

 

Perhaps an improvised  arrangement.

 

Did they actually flash?

 

The yellow seems quite steady in the 2009 images

 

Andy

Edited January 20, 2023 by SM42

[melmerby]

8 minutes ago, SM42 said:

The yellow seems quite steady in the 2009 images

Hadn't thought of a 3 colour signal.🙂

I assumed that the top two were the same and  the camera had caught one on whilst flashing.

Maybe I should've paid more attention when I lived up in Cumbria.

(I drove across that several times)

[Engineer]

Just a small item from warmer times. 

Close to the main highway on an access road to a former Cement site in Kent, a remnant of the narrow gauge railways that crossed the area to the quarries.  It's the remains of a Pooley weighbridge in the roadway, with evidence of narrow gauge [maybe 2'] rails and flangeways in its cast deck and approach.

 

 

[ess1uk]

I was at Hele the other day and there are still rails leading to the mill just up from the level crossing 

[ess1uk]

On 21/01/2023 at 20:59, ess1uk said:

I was at Hele the other day and there are still rails leading to the mill just up from the level crossing 

I don’t think they will be there much longer as the area looks set to get made flood resilient 

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/western/hele-flood-alleviation-scheme/

 

[Michael Crofts]

Still there?

[Johnson044]

A tiny surviving fragment of the Martin Mill Military Railway that has been exposed by the National Trust. Both rails plus check rails were revealed about a year ago and I've been meaning to photograph them but only got the chance on Sunday - by which time a lot of vegetation had sprouted... This was where the main line from Martin Mill to the big gun emplacements crossed Reach Road, between Dover and St Margaret's Bay.  The other set of rails are near the bike's back wheel.

[33C]

Finally got around to photographing the set of rails that crosses Short street footpath. Unfortunately, a recent resurfacing job has, nearly, obscured them! Look closely and you can just make out the indentations. Second photo shows the angled wall that follows the track-bed. Third photo shows the line entering the "Corporation Depot". 

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by 33C
added photo.

[Captain Slough]

Croxley Green, Watford, Hertfordshire: On northeast side of Grand Union Canal lock 79 Common Moor Lock (bottom of Byewaters housing estate) some tram-track style rail inset into the canal towpath, exists from where Dickinson Mill on same site had a branch line off the Watford to Rickmansworth railway and internal sidings allowing crossloading to canal boats

 

Only one rail of the track is visible, the other side has been encroached upon.  Practically invisible in google maps due to trees overhead.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Captain Slough

[009 micro modeller]

2 hours ago, Captain Slough said:

Croxley Green, Watford, Hertfordshire: On northeast side of Grand Union Canal lock 79 Common Moor Lock (bottom of Byewaters housing estate) some tram-track style rail inset into the canal towpath, exists from where Dickinson Mill on same site had a branch line off the Watford to Rickmansworth railway and internal sidings allowing crossloading to canal boats

 

Only one rail of the track is visible, the other side has been encroached upon.  Practically invisible in google maps due to trees overhead.

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

 

That area in general is quite interesting in terms of railway history and disused railways as it has the two LNWR branch lines (I posted some photos of the remains of Croxley Green earlier in the thread) and the narrow gauge Colne Valley waterworks line (which as far as I know has no remaining rails in place but there is a small embankment and bridge - I’m a bit unclear if there’s any evidence on the ground of the exchange sidings for this or where exactly they would be).