Wellington - Stafford Line

[SNCF stephen]

With the opening of the freight terminal in Donnington, Telford there has been more talk recently of the possible reopening of the line from Wellington to Stafford which would allow freight traffic to come from Stafford from the south without having to go down the Shrewsbury line (via Wolverhampton if coming from Scotland). Some of the proposals (if you can call them that as its probably just wishful thinking at the moment) include the return of passenger traffic to the line with Stations proposed at Donnington, Newport and Gnosall. The cost of doing this is estimated to be £230 million which seems quite modest considering the amount of work involved (there is a housing estate over the original line in Newport, and other structures along the way).

 

Not knowing a great deal about the operational aspects of rail lines I was wondering if this was viable and what sort of operations might the line be used for?

 

Is there a potential market for freight considering the lack of use the Telford Freight terminal has currently got?

 

 

 

[Andy Y]

I'd say it's an absolute non-starter. Donington's facilities look akin to a backwater dumping ground at the moment and nowhere near what its anticipated usage would be. I'd say the cost estimates are way out considering the number of bridges which would have to be re-instated or replaced and as you say there are commercial and residential developments as well as the A518 between Newport and Donington on the old alignment. Add to that there would be a battle with Sustrans over The Way for the Millenium (Gnosall to Stafford bike route). I'd say it's fanciful talk.

 

There wouldn't be much passenger demand and freight would manage as it does now.

[StaffsOatcake]

Not sure how it would benefit anyone at all. the southbound trains would still have to reverse at Stafford to gain access to the line and then reverse again at wellington, so why not go down to Bushbury and then use the curve up to Oxley and just reverse once???. WCML trains wouldn't benefit from it as a diversionary route as there is already two possibilities to avoid Crewe if required.

[coachmann]

Similar proposals are often aired for reinstating the line from Bangor to Caernarfon, but with all the road improvements and land developments that have taken place in recent years, a railway to Caernarfon would be like building a new canal beside the ECML.

[chriswild]

Not sure how it would benefit anyone at all. the southbound trains would still have to reverse at Stafford to gain access to the line and then reverse again at wellington, so why not go down to Bushbury and then use the curve up to Oxley and just reverse once???. WCML trains wouldn't benefit from it as a diversionary route as there is already two possibilities to avoid Crewe if required.

The only trains i can think of that would potentially make use of this are FLHH coal trains portbury - rugeley that sometimes run to crewe - via shrewsbury before running down the WCML and accessing rugeley ps from this direction. I think they run to crewe for operating reasons so whether they would want to run them direct is another matter, and not really a line re-opening traffic flow.

Whilst it would be interesting, on the list of possible re-openings its got to be pretty far down the list in reality.

Cheers

chris

[Phil Traxson]

Similar proposals are often aired for reinstating the line from Bangor to Caernarfon, but with all the road improvements and land developments that have taken place in recent years, a railway to Caernarfon would be like building a new canal beside the ECML.

 

2 foot gauge with garrats and large diesels!!!?

[pete_mcfarlane]

Similar proposals are often aired for reinstating the line from Bangor to Caernarfon, but with all the road improvements and land developments that have taken place in recent years, a railway to Caernarfon would be like building a new canal beside the ECML.

 

You've obviously not seen the proposal a few years back for getting the Grantham canal back in to the centre of Grantham....

[SNCF stephen]

You've obviously not seen the proposal a few years back for getting the Grantham canal back in to the centre of Grantham....

 

Interestingly they also want to reopen the Canal to Newport at some point in the future.

 

Traffic from the south would not need to reverse at Stafford as the line runs from the northern end of the station at Stafford. Some of the alignment is still left in situ and I believe it was used as a place to shunt the mail trains when they still used the Royal Mail terminal at Stafford.

 

The traffic would not need to turn at Wellington for the freight terminal because Donnington is on the route, surely they could turn at the terminal?

 

Some sources have stated that it is on a list that is being actively campaigned for reopening ( http://www.bettertra...hould_reopen#wm )although it is not mentioned on there today. The front page of the Newport Advertiser recently had a large article about how they want to protect the alignment from any further encroachment (that is where I also got the £230 million figure from).

 

I had a think about the passenger services and I can only see an extension of the Birmingham - Hednesford - Rugeley - Stafford service as being possible because I doubt travellers from Shrewsbury and Telford would want to travel out to Stafford to get to Wolverhampton and Birmingham.

 

I suspect the alignment will be protected but unless the demand for railfreight in Telford soars in the coming years then I doubt this will ever actually happen.

 

EDIT - Campaign for Better Transport have it as one of their 36 links that would make for a better network:

http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/campaigns/public_transport/rail/lines_that_should_reopen/top_36

[Fat Controller]

The remains of the line at the Stafford end (which were partially electrified, I recollect) were used to serve the Universal Abrasives factory. This received some sort of material (aluminium oxide?) by rail from Hull, carried in sheeted 21t hoppers, until the late 1970s.

I struggle to see why, apart from sentimental reasons, anyone might want to reopen this line. The junction at the Stafford end is accessible for traffic from the south only, whilst that at the other end is fed from the west. The only potential justification I can see for such a line would need both junctions reversed, so as to allow coal from the north to feed Ironbridge.

[StaffsOatcake]

Trains still access the stub as it is used by engineers trains from time to time. It sued to be used for trains to and from rugeley PS at one time.

The coal trains from Portbury would not benefit from the line through Newport as accessing Rugeley PS from Stafford/ Rugeley Trent valley require propelling the train into the powerstation. where as the current routing usually sends the trains via shrewsbury/wolves/walsall or Crewe/bushburyjunc/walsall. Very little traffic is now propelled into the powerstation but it does happen occasionally.

The routing via Crewe is for operational/crew change reasons rather than simply pathing issues

[TheSignalEngineer]

 

EDIT - Campaign for Better Transport have it as one of their 36 links that would make for a better network:

http://www.bettertra...d_reopen/top_36

Having looked at the list I wonder what the people making some of the suggestions are on. I would like to know where I can get a supply.

 

Taking their suggestions for the country as a whole, whilst a few would make interseting diversionary routes, most would generate little extra traffic and make existing routes less viable.

 

The only use for many of them would be running an occasional CrankEx hauled by steam or heritage diesel power.

[TheSignalEngineer]

Trains still access the stub as it is used by engineers trains from time to time. It sued to be used for trains to and from rugeley PS at one time.

The coal trains from Portbury would not benefit from the line through Newport as accessing Rugeley PS from Stafford/ Rugeley Trent valley require propelling the train into the powerstation. where as the current routing usually sends the trains via shrewsbury/wolves/walsall or Crewe/bushburyjunc/walsall. Very little traffic is now propelled into the powerstation but it does happen occasionally.

The routing via Crewe is for operational/crew change reasons rather than simply pathing issues

 

Now for that traffic, reopening Stourbridge - Dudley - Walsall would make a tremendous saving in mileage. Would probably need assisting through Round Oak though, I suspect that in addition to pathing, one reason it doesn't come via Stourbridge and Soho already is the gradient for loaded trains to Old Hill.

[APOLLO]

With petrol / diesel soon to be £1.50 / litre, and every sign of even higher prices for prolonged periods, I suggest that more and more "marginal" route rebuilding schemes will become viable. Of course we have a little problem - the nation is skint !!

 

Sustrans need not be a problem. I think it should be mandatory to add fenced cycleways / footpaths at the side of ALL new routes, and many existing ones also.

 

Brit15

[Fay Singpoint]

The only potential justification I can see for such a line would need both junctions reversed, so as to allow coal from the north to feed Ironbridge.

 

 

Unlikely as the timing is all wrong with Ironbridge Power Station due to close in 2015.

 

F

[big jim]

Unlikely as the timing is all wrong with Ironbridge Power Station due to close in 2015.

 

F

 

im lead to believe there are no trains serving the powerstation any more either, the shunters that were based there are now at bescot and there is a huge stockpile of coal to be used up

[Fay Singpoint]

im lead to believe there are no trains serving the powerstation any more either, the shunters that were based there are now at bescot and there is a huge stockpile of coal to be used up

Hi,

That's correct although it's temporary and the train paths are still there (obviously) as we had to take account of them during a recent track layout risk assessment exercise at Wolverhampton.

 

The Newport line connection at Wellington has been a bit of a see saw! It was removed during the re-signalling of Wellington when Madeley Junction took control of the area. And then 4 years later whilst we were undertaking the Codsall- Madeley re-signalling scheme we were given a variation to re-instate the connection as part of stage 1 of the Donnington project. I think I may still have a copy of the train planning document somewhere which had identified the different train paths.

 

F

[SNCF stephen]

Now for that traffic, reopening Stourbridge - Dudley - Walsall would make a tremendous saving in mileage. Would probably need assisting through Round Oak though, I suspect that in addition to pathing, one reason it doesn't come via Stourbridge and Soho already is the gradient for loaded trains to Old Hill.

 

It is quite high on the agenda. Although the current proposal is that it will be Tram Train and shared with the Metro from Wednesbury to Dudley (although I have heard they may wish to extend this proposal to Walsall). The figure I have heard is that one train an hour will run along the route.

[D605Eagle]

Has anybody got any recent pictures of freight depot at Donnington? Last I heard it was very much unused, but that was a while ago.

[0O00]

Has anybody got any recent pictures of freight depot at Donnington? Last I heard it was very much unused, but that was a while ago.

 

No but I drove past about three weeks ago when I visited my folks who still live locally and it was used for all manner of engineers stock and stored EMU's.

 

I can't see this line being brought back into use now. It had potential about 20/25 years ago when freight operated daily into and out of COD Donnington and the Shrews - Wolves line was a busy freight and passenger route (a great local line to have as a young spotter). I just cannot see the patronage for this line now especially as the Shrewsbury to Wolves route is no longer awash with services (no direct London service for a start). Newport is the only key settlement on the old alignment that does not have access to a station or a line at the moment. An extension of the line from Donnington to purely serve Newport (5 miles or so) could be financially assessed but even then I just don't see the numbers to justify even a single 153 four or five times a day. I used to catch the bus from Newport into Wellington and rarely was it full, apart from school runs. A nice idea for a model though!