RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted December 13, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 13, 2011 Definately the West Somerset Railway. Watchet station is right by the active harbour and once had lines onto the piers. Blue Anchor station is about 50m from the sea - and a really good sandy/pebbly beach with beach huts. Minehead station (a great terminus) is again right on the beach. All are highly recomended and all of course are backed by the glorious west somerset countryside. Have a look on google earth and you'll see. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Jason T Posted December 13, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 13, 2011 The Cumbria Coast Line is my favourite, for the obvious reason that I spent most of my life living within earshot of Arnside Viaduct (2 miles away but you can hear trains crossing it). Carnforth > Barrow > Carlisle. Coast on one side and the Lake District Fells on the other. Lovely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike2steam Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Yes, that's one of the first examples that came to my mind- it's always struck me as being a very modellable location (from memory it's been done a couple of times) right down to the line disappearing into a tunnel in the cliffs, providing the perfect scenic break between layout and fiddle yard... Yes in the early 90's I seriously considered modelling Ramsgate Harbour, then chickened out, and went for the easy option - Bembridge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Fisher Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Blackpool Central... you can ditch the candles and sea air and replace with hotdogs and onions....! Morecambe...neat little station beofre it became a supermarket. New Brighton Nice tidy station Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike2steam Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Definately the West Somerset Railway. Blue Anchor station is about 50m from the sea - and a really good sandy/pebbly beach with beach huts. Minehead station (a great terminus) is again right on the beach. All are highly recomended and all of course are backed by the glorious west somerset countryside. Have a look on google earth and you'll see. The track bed to the west of Blue Anchor part way runs along a dyke that holds back the sea from reclaimed land. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Of course, there's always the "Daddy Longlegs" that used to be at Brighton but that's probably getting pretty far from any definition of a 'train' now! But you can't get any closer to the sea than that! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted December 13, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 13, 2011 Of course, there's always the "Daddy Longlegs" that used to be at Brighton but that's probably getting pretty far from any definition of a 'train' now! But you can't get any closer to the sea than that! If we're going to Brighton, let's hear it for Volks Electric Railway, running along the beach since 1883, albeit not all year round. http://www.volkselectricrailway.co.uk/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pondy Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Lee on Solent springs to mind Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 The Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Burnham-on-sea on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway where the Highbridge line met the South Wales ferry. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 96701 Posted December 13, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 13, 2011 Whitby-Redcar-Middlesbrough Union at places like Sandsend, Tweed Dock branch, Wells harbour (Norfolk), loads in Scotland. Ian L Sandsend bridge photo here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/buffalo_skinner/5002389542/ What's not to like about that? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSB Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Looking slightly further afield how about the South Island Main Trunk in New Zealand which is mainly single track and follows the Pacific coast for part of the way. Never been there but from videos it appears extremely scenic. HSB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 The late Malcolm Parker done Ramsgate Harbour in OO in about 1968. What about the line from Hastings along the south coast to Eastbourne, follows the beach most of the way. The Southend Pier Railway, entirely over the sea... Folkestone Harbour branch with it's 1 in 36 climb... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Both the Jersey Railway and the Jersey Eastern Railway had coastal stretches, as did the German Occupation lines that re-used the old trackbeds. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Smeeton Posted December 14, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 14, 2011 Ardrossan/Saltcoats/Stevenston I hope that I have posted the link correctly Regards Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catkins Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I can add a small "main line" terminus - Swanage, the station is a small station that has hosted mainline motive power, in preservation, and the bufferstops are within sight of the sea - straight down a road - (rather helpfully called Station Road) website for Swanage Railway - http://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/ Wikipedia page for Swanage Station - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swanage_railway_station and a google maps page - http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&cp=8&gs_id=y&xhr=t&q=swanage+railway&safe=off&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=673&wrapid=tljp1323827735833014&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl The most awe inspiring / desolate section of the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway - http://www.rhdr.org.uk/ - is the stretch out to Dungeness - great if you like desolation, IFAIK it was also served by a standard guage branch line. My favorite Scottish location is Kyle of Lochalsh, a small station situated on a pier, that did have extensive sidings, and trucks could be shunted across the end of the pier. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 There was the old CLC line to Southport, which, of course, is now the coast road into Southport from Woodvale some info for those who dont know about it... http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/a/ainsdale_beach/index.shtml Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted December 15, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 15, 2011 Here's a very compact example of what can be acheived. http://www.railpage.com.au/f-p1622515.htm Post 5, photo 5. it has all the attractions. Kevin Martin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted December 15, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 15, 2011 Several which don't yet appear to have had a mention: St. Erth - St. Ives branch which runs in a clifftop sweep above the beaches of Porthkidney Sands (Lelant)and Carbis Bay as well as alongside the estuary between Saltings and Lelant stations. A short branch off this led to Lelant Quay with rails almost down in the estuary sands. Hayle Harbour branch had some fascinating track arrangements as well as coming through an uncommon beach-side industrial area to end a gull's poop from the bathing beaches facing Leleant across the estuary. The Treamble goods line was another to reach the sands of the north Cornwall coast at an isolated spot between Perranporth and Newquay. The Bude tramway was a short distance narrow gauge line which was used to transport beach sand from sea level up to barges waiting in the canal above. The barges could not be loaded below the sea lock with the tide out. This line (the remains of which are extant) had a wagon turntable actually in the sands of Summerleaze Beach which survived in situ there until a few years ago when it was moved into the nearby museum. Eastbourne had a tramway along the shingle of the beach-top towards Langney Point until 1969 when it was moved to Seaton in Devon. Volk's Electric Railway in Brighton has been mentioned and still operates along the beach but there was also the earlier "daddy long-legs" which had tracks out on the sea floor and which actually ran in the sea at all but the lowest of tides. Some mortal remains of the track survive beneath the cliffs at Ovingdean. It was the sea which was its undoing as it was unable to run at a suitable speed through the water and was all but destroyed weeks after opening by a storm. Althouigh rebuilt it was never a success. There are superbly scenic lengths including beside some sands on the Kyle of Lochalsh line particualrly as it approaches its destination beyond Plockton alongside the sea lochs of the west coast. Moving to territory less familiar to some of us there are some superb and eminently modellable spots in Australia. The Illawarra line south from Sydney threads its way through ocean-side tunnels and over clifftops south of Kiama on its way to Bomaderry including along the back of the beach at Berry. There is a short and popular stretch of the Sandringham line out of Melbourne beside the beach at Brighton including over the (now closed) gated crossing at New Street when all other crossings have booms. The station at Stony Point in Victoria is alongside the mangrove swamps and jetties of the Western Port waters including a small bathing area and a busy boat ramp. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 A couple of US classics come to mind: The SP "Coast Daylight" - the section of the LA-Oakland SP Daylight that runs along the coast north of LA. Still modelable as the Amtrak "Coast Starlight" The ATSF "Surf Line" between LA and San Diego. Still modelable as excusions or the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, which covers both the SP section from San Luis Obispo to LA and the ATSF from LA to San Diego. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Q Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 If you don't mind not having holiday beaches as such, How about what is now the Scottish railway presevation society Line from Manuel Junction to Bo'ness. either now or before preservation. It's got a viaduct, through a cutting, down the side of an escarpment, past a coal mine, crossing a major road by bridge (under today), alongside the Firth of Forth, through a station to a harbour. The Q Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozzyo Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 How about Ramsden Dock Road Station, Barrow-in-Furness, about 20' from the sea wall. Will that help you. OzzyO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 I don't think that anyone has mentioned the last bit of the line into Penzance which is pretty much "on the beach" and has been single and double track at various times in its life. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted December 16, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 16, 2011 My home turf as well yet I still overlooked it! The line between Marazion and Penzance is actually laid long the top of the beach and in its earlier days was subject to rather frequent washouts and storm damage. It was later reliad on a low embankment built along the top of the beach ridge and which has, among other things, at times helped to minimise storm inundation of the main road and the homes alongside it which are all at sea level. The bay might appear shallow and often calm but it's surprising how angry it can get in a storm. Arriving one morning in charge of the first bus from St. Ives at 7am even I was taken aback to see waves not breaking over the railway but clearing it and smashing into the wall behind the signalbox at Chyandour. The airborne water from one crashed down onto the roof of the bus causing several pebble dents and a couple of smashed windows. Despite that weather trains and buses continued to run though we diverted the buses up and around the by-pass for a while. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hal Nail Posted December 16, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 16, 2011 How about Allhallows-on-Sea? If you left the baseboards bare, that would still be more developed than the real thing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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