Ghosts in the Machine.

[Not Jeremy]

Closed October 1966.

[david12345]

Another Saturday run on the Mountain Bike and came across the old Bothwell to Craighead viaduct. Last train 1955 according to the signage. It had a pedestrian walkway underneath the railbed which you can see bricked up on the abutments. Must have been some noise walking through as a coal train passed overhead.

The Blantyre piers were demolished by Network Rail a few years ago and the middle pier in the Clyde collapsed a few years later. The Bothwell ones don't look that great either.bh

Edited February 12 by david12345
reinstate photos

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, david12345 said:

Another Saturday run on the Mountain Bike and came across the old Bothwell to Craighead viaduct. Last train 1955 according to the signage. It had a pedestrian walkway underneath the railbed which you can see bricked up on the abutments. Must have been some noise walking through as a coal train passed overhead.

The Blantyre piers were demolished by Network Rail a few years ago and the middle pier in the Clyde collapsed a few years later. The Bothwell ones don't look that great either.bh

I can't see any photographs, just the jpg. reference. Perhaps they exceed the 10 MB upper limit?

[sir douglas]

they have been uploaded which means they are under the limit, the system doesnt let you go over while uploading them, i think there migth be some sever issues, i couldnt get on for a bit about 2 hours ago and maybe just unluckuy to upload during this short time, try reuploading

Edited January 23, 2022 by sir douglas

[LMS2968]

There are some serious issues with this site, Sir Douglas. I couldn't get on here at 7.0am this morning for over half an hour, and I doubt it was heavy traffic at that time. When I did get on, it took ages to move from one section to another or open threads and refused to let me post replies for a further half an hour. This has been going on intermittently all day, and in fact for several weeks now. 

 

I don't know if it's anything to do with the video on the right of the screen taking up bandwidth. I could certainly do without it: the sight of a pair of caterpillars having it off as I try to drink my tea doesn't appeal.

[Ben B]

 

Here's a bit of a ghost OF a machine... I was dropping my wife off for work this morning, and ended up coming back a weird way to avoid a traffic jam.  Thought I'd finally get some pics of a local bit of railway relic...

 

 

This is Hall Lane, Bradford.  At one point this was on an avoiding line, a main double-tracked route from Bowling Junction that let through-traffic avoid the need for reversal at Bradford Exchange Station.

 

 

With the general run-down and rationalisation of the railways in the area, it was severed as a through-route near Bowling Junction itself, but still had a freight customer on the line that required trip-workings of wagons, which must have mightily hacked-off BR who had to maintain a route which packed in this crossing and several large bridges in a relatively short length).  For a while a signal box lingered, controlling this crossing, until the barriers were converted for train-crew operations for the infrequent goods traffic (usually worked by 08 shunters, later Leeds-based 31's when Bradford diesel depot was closed).

 

 

A lot of the trackbed has been redeveloped, and relatively recently a homeowner has built his drive on the other side of the crossing.  But bizarrely some of the gubbins for the level crossing remain, including two barrier bases, and even the one barrier!  I have no idea why they weren't chopped when the track was lifted.  The route finally closed some time in the late 1980's (the rails were still there, but disused, in a pic I've seen from '87), and I have a vague memory that there might even have still been rails in the road the first time I went over the crossing in the early 2010's.

 

 

It's odd that the single barrier remains in place, but it's nice to see it continue to survive.  My Father-in-Law recounted doing a Starskey and Hutch and air-launching his SD1 over the crossing in the late-80's, as the road either side is pretty steep.  The lorry in the background of the pictures had stopped there, I'd suspect he was worried he might ground it, but it was too busy for him to turn around.  As a local relic, it would be nice if this barrier got preserved at the Bradford Industrial Museum perhaps, but I can't see them being too interested in it in the current financial and political climate.  Long may it survive the attentions of the scrap-metal faeries...

 

...though the thought occurs, I'd happily have it as a garden feature

[melmerby]

Is this notice still pertinent:

https://goo.gl/maps/G4zE1vuvJuAHuiySA

 

A5014 at Llangefni on Anglesey.

The line has been closed for donkey's and the deck slowly disappears piecemeal over many years but the notice in theat period changed from Railtrack to The Railway Authority.

 

Would they still own the abutments?

[Wickham Green too]

25 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Would they still own the abutments?

Don't blink or they'll fill the gap with concrete ! 

[96701]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

Is this notice still pertinent:

https://goo.gl/maps/G4zE1vuvJuAHuiySA

 

A5014 at Llangefni on Anglesey.

The line has been closed for donkey's and the deck slowly disappears piecemeal over many years but the notice in theat period changed from Railtrack to The Railway Authority.

 

Would they still own the abutments?

Yes, Network Rail own the whole of the branch from Gaerwen to Amlwch, so not really a ghost in the machine.

 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglesey_Central_Railway

[melmerby]

18 minutes ago, 96701 said:

Yes, Network Rail own the whole of the branch from Gaerwen to Amlwch, so not really a ghost in the machine.

 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglesey_Central_Railway

I'd take exception to the sentence "The railway's tracks remain"

Some does and there are a couple of heritage groups at work but a lot of the track has been lifted.

[Ben B]

20 minutes ago, melmerby said:

I'd take exception to the sentence "The railway's tracks remain"

Some does and there are a couple of heritage groups at work but a lot of the track has been lifted.

 

I thought the only track lifting had been at the junction with the mainline?  I was under the impression the rest of the route was still intact as far as the old Octel plant, though granted it will all need lifting and replacing if they ever get around to re-laying the branch.

[big jim]

I seem to remember that bridge was hit a few years back by a tractor and trailer with a JCB on it so they must have removed it semi permanently, especially as Llangefni is one of the locations the government want passenger trains to return to (as well as the heritage line wanting to run over it)

 

EDIT: here we go, bashed back in 2018 by a wagon and removed but must be put back 

 

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/anglesey-railway-bridge-damaged-lorry-16114356.amp

Edited January 26, 2022 by big jim

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Ben B said:

 

I thought the only track lifting had been at the junction with the mainline?  I was under the impression the rest of the route was still intact as far as the old Octel plant, though granted it will all need lifting and replacing if they ever get around to re-laying the branch.

 

58 minutes ago, big jim said:

I seem to remember that bridge was hit a few years back by a tractor and trailer with a JCB on it so they must have removed it semi permanently, especially as Llangefni is one of the locations the government want passenger trains to return to (as well as the heritage line wanting to run over it)

 

EDIT: here we go, bashed back in 2018 by a wagon and removed but must be put back 

 

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/anglesey-railway-bridge-damaged-lorry-16114356.amp

I'll take your word for it that there's still rails there.

It certainly looks in several places that the track bed has become part of the adjacent farmer's field.

https://goo.gl/maps/QmN5aUPvFmBQv7De9

Maybe it's the "creeping occupation" that you get, the farmer hoping to claim it's part of his field.

[96701]

I don't recall mentioning rails in or out. Apart from the missing bridge, the scrap fairies may well have removed some.

[Trev52A]

Not sure if this is still there today, but this North British Railway cast iron(?) drinking tap surround was certainly a 'ghost in the machine' on the platform at Drem station (between Berwick and Edinburgh) in August 1977

 

Trevor

 

[Wickham Green too]

I bet the cup's been deemed un-sterile by the Elf'n'Safety brigade ......... not to mention the lead pipe that undoubtedly fed it !

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

I bet the cup's been deemed un-sterile by the Elf'n'Safety brigade ......... not to mention the lead pipe that undoubtedly fed it !

The cup looks as if its made from lead as well. Hope its preserved as otherwise the metal faries would have spirited it away.

[PhilJ W]

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/tiny-abandoned-house-underground-tunnel-23897361?fbclid=IwAR11FK98-kZFZAYKXcMFUVYJ6aKoOmuFJLRk6uSWtarD7lYA0Y56hQvj7uE

[The Stationmaster]

16 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/tiny-abandoned-house-underground-tunnel-23897361?fbclid=IwAR11FK98-kZFZAYKXcMFUVYJ6aKoOmuFJLRk6uSWtarD7lYA0Y56hQvj7uE

Talk about some daft 'explanations' in that article.  Looks like an ordinary PW cabin to me.  And PerWay gangs drinking coffee - weird, I never met one that drank anything other than tea. 

[SHMD]

Whilst on the train back towards Waterloo, we came to a stand near this sign, on the all stopper.

It was a no brainer to whip the phone out an take a couple of snaps!

 

It must be a century old and still doing sterling work!

 

 

Kev.

 

[PhilJ W]

53 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Talk about some daft 'explanations' in that article.  Looks like an ordinary PW cabin to me.  And PerWay gangs drinking coffee - weird, I never met one that drank anything other than tea. 

Typical sloppy journalism. Mystery why it was built between the tracks unless the tracks were re-aligned at some point.

[rodent279]

17 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/tiny-abandoned-house-underground-tunnel-23897361?fbclid=IwAR11FK98-kZFZAYKXcMFUVYJ6aKoOmuFJLRk6uSWtarD7lYA0Y56hQvj7uE

It's not a train line, it's a railway line!

[melmerby]

13 minutes ago, SHMD said:

Whilst on the train back towards Waterloo, we came to a stand near this sign, on the all stopper.

It was a no brainer to whip the phone out an take a couple of snaps!

 

It must be a century old and still doing sterling work!

 

 

Kev.

 

"L&SWR Passengers Must Cross The Line by Subway"

 

Everyone else can take their chances dodging trains to cross☹️

[LMS2968]

59 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Typical sloppy journalism. Mystery why it was built between the tracks unless the tracks were re-aligned at some point.

If it's where I think it is, it would be at the end of the shunting neck with a gap between the Slow and Fast lines. There was no clearance to the other sides of these as there was a vertical cutting there.

[great central]

2 hours ago, LMS2968 said:

If it's where I think it is, it would be at the end of the shunting neck with a gap between the Slow and Fast lines. There was no clearance to the other sides of these as there was a vertical cutting there.

 

Yep that's it, I noticed it years ago when I first learnt the the route to Lime Street. 

I wondered if it was originally out in the open as some sections of the cutting have been roofed over using concrete beams, this being in one of those sections.