Level crossing stupidity...

[Hobby]

1 hour ago, beast66606 said:

It's the EDP, those of us who live in the area are well used to their reports

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Just sloppy reporting

 

Actually I think they've just quoted from something they've seen internally, that phrase is used all the time by our Control and I suspect it's taken from stuff NR sends out to them. Hence I said it was "railway speak". 

[beast66606]

7 minutes ago, Hobby said:

 

Actually I think they've just quoted from something they've seen internally, that phrase is used all the time by our Control and I suspect it's taken from stuff NR sends out to them. Hence I said it was "railway speak". 

 

I know it's railway speak - and I also know EDP ...

[RJS1977]

15 hours ago, Hobby said:

 

It just means all lines that go through the level crossing, not the whole country! Railway Speak.

 

Whereas as someone who has taken part in Tube Challenges in the past, I think Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria, Waterloo & City ('All Lines' Challenge).

[Player of trains]

This isn’t level crossing stupidity but it is grade A idiocy, I believe this is the Llanberis Lake but correct me if I’m wrong. Idiotic couple plastering themselves strolling down the line then having the gall to say it’s ok as it’s been disused for years when called out for it. I really despair that someone who’s made a living out of ‘influencing’ others could encourage such stupidity.

 

 

[Hobby]

More to the point but won't they be trespassing as well, even if the trains aren't running?

[big jim]

Personally I do think that sometimes people can be over sensitive when they see photos like that, it’s not like its a mainline and a Pendolino is going to come hurting along at 125mph, yes it’s probably not the best idea for a photo but am I wrong not seeing a huge issue with this particular photo

 

oh and cringy matching jumpers too! 

 

 

 

 

[Wickham Green too]

Some people wouldn't differentiate between one type of railway and another.

[big jim]

30 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

Some people wouldn't differentiate between one type of railway and another.

funnily enough I’ve just shown the pic to my wife and I she said just that, she also added that some people who follow ‘influencers’ can be a bit dim and will copy their heroes 

 

Fair point I suppose and my wife is always right 

[boxbrownie]

42 minutes ago, big jim said:

Personally I do think that sometimes people can be over sensitive when they see photos like that, it’s not like its a mainline and a Pendolino is going to come hurting along at 125mph, yes it’s probably not the best idea for a photo but am I wrong not seeing a huge issue with this particular photo

 

oh and cringy matching jumpers too! 

 

 

 

 

Your correct Jim, but as they are “influencers” it does send the wrong message, it’s not a huge issue with that particular line….but…..there are some really dense people who follow this type of post.

[boxbrownie]

8 minutes ago, big jim said:

funnily enough I’ve just shown the pic to my wife and I she said just that, she also added that some people who follow ‘influencers’ can be a bit dim and will copy their heroes 

 

Fair point I suppose and my wife is always right 

She beat me to it 

[Mark Saunders]

1 minute ago, boxbrownie said:

She beat me to it 

Alas stupidity is not illegal!

[MarkC]

5 minutes ago, Mark Saunders said:

Alas stupidity is not illegal!

True, and Elf'n'safetee has stopped Darwin's work from continuing...

[Mark Saunders]

1 hour ago, MarkC said:

True, and Elf'n'safetee has stopped Darwin's work from continuing...

But never underestimate the ingenuity of a fool!

[johnofwessex]

Worth making a general point that that despite the abandoned railway being something of a cliche I am not aware of that many locations with track still in place that are no longer used

[Hobby]

I think the Round Oak Steel terminal to Walsall section of the old South Staffordshire line may be one, I know it's mothballed and thing that includes the track being in place.

[Richard E]

20 minutes ago, Hobby said:

I think the Round Oak Steel terminal to Walsall section of the old South Staffordshire line may be one, I know it's mothballed and thing that includes the track being in place.

 

Isn't the line to Kings Lynn another?

[RJS1977]

19 hours ago, johnofwessex said:

Worth making a general point that that despite the abandoned railway being something of a cliche I am not aware of that many locations with track still in place that are no longer used

 

The Almwch branch springs to mind, as does Claydon-Bedford (currently being restored as part of East West Rail). I'm not sure if the Moretonhampstead branch is still there, but it remained for a long time, as did the Weymouth Tramway.

[Kris]

42 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

 I'm not sure if the Moretonhampstead branch is still there, but it remained for a long time, as did the Weymouth Tramway.

Still present as far as Heathfield. 

[Kris]

20 hours ago, johnofwessex said:

Worth making a general point that that despite the abandoned railway being something of a cliche I am not aware of that many locations with track still in place that are no longer used

Much of the line from Frome to Radstock is still in place beyond the junction for the quarry there. 

[melmerby]

12 hours ago, Hobby said:

I think the Round Oak Steel terminal to Walsall section of the old South Staffordshire line may be one, I know it's mothballed and thing that includes the track being in place.

From Brierley Hill to Wednesbury is currently being rebuilt as part of West Midlands Metro apart from through Dudley Tunnel (the trams will go through the town centre)

All old track is removed.

Edited November 7, 2021 by melmerby

[Dunsignalling]

24 minutes ago, Kris said:

Still present as far as Heathfield. 

Though there was a bit of embankment washed out near Teigngrace a couple of years ago that ISTR, isn't considered worth repairing until/unless there is a move to reactivate the line.

 

There have been proposals to locate a Parkway Station to serve Newton Abbot/Torbay commuters at Heathfield, but I've not heard anything about that for some time.

 

John

[Hobby]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

From Brierley Hill to Wednesbury is currently being rebuilt as part of West Midlands Metro apart from through Dudley Tunnel (the trams will go through the town centre)

All old track is removed.

 

Is it being rebuilt as a single line with the option of lay "heavy rail" alongside? I thought that was the intention, so they could re-instate the section across via Dudley Port to Walsall so SBJ to Walsall service could be re-introduced?

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Hobby said:

 

Is it being rebuilt as a single line with the option of lay "heavy rail" alongside? I thought that was the intention, so they could re-instate the section across via Dudley Port to Walsall so SBJ to Walsall service could be re-introduced?

I don't think so, the plans seem to be double track all the way.

Maybe an extension each end could add the missing bits? (obviously not heavy rail though!)

 

The current plans show the tram using the old railway route from Wednesbury to Dudley Station (the stop is to be called Dudley Castle) and then leaving the heavy rail route on the North side of the station site, goes up Castle Hill, through Dudley Centre passing the bus station and leaves by Flood St., then along a reservation by the A461, it rejoins the rail route at Cinder Bank, then leaves the rail route again at Canal St. and makes it's own way through Waterfront & Merry Hill to a terminus near Cottage Street in Brierley Hill.

 

I think the rail route beyond Canal St. to Stourbridge Jn. might still have ocassional use.

[Ben B]

8 hours ago, melmerby said:

I don't think so, the plans seem to be double track all the way.

Maybe an extension each end could add the missing bits? (obviously not heavy rail though!)

 

The current plans show the tram using the old railway route from Wednesbury to Dudley Station (the stop is to be called Dudley Castle) and then leaving the heavy rail route on the North side of the station site, goes up Castle Hill, through Dudley Centre passing the bus station and leaves by Flood St., then along a reservation by the A461, it rejoins the rail route at Cinder Bank, then leaves the rail route again at Canal St. and makes it's own way through Waterfront & Merry Hill to a terminus near Cottage Street in Brierley Hill.

 

I think the rail route beyond Canal St. to Stourbridge Jn. might still have ocassional use.

 

Just to add (I was in Dudley last week visiting family), the heavy rail route from Round Oak to Stourbridge Junction is still used by steel trains, though I think only one track of the two-track formation is used, and it isn't exactly used heavily.  Parry People Movers were campaigning to run a railcar service from Stourbridge Junction to Brierly Hill, but the usual delays and lack of political will seems to be stifling that.  Why invest in decent public transport when there's a slow bus alternative that weaves its way there on busy roads?

 

Back to Dudley, where the tram dives off at the old Dudley Station/Freightliner Terminal site and heads up Castle Hill, the formation carries on through Dudley Tunnel, where the heavy-rail tracks have been re-laid as a test track, there's a stripped-down 37 and 08 there being rebuilt as battery test vehicles I gather in the new factory that's under-construction on the old station site. 

 

 

These were taken at the other end of the tunnel, the old Blowers Green Station site, where there was once a junction with the branch to Old Hill.

 

 

There's a thread somewhere on RMWeb with some pics of the site in Dudley itself.  There's some talk of the Black Country Museum having some sort of interchange with the site too, so there's the chance of vintage 3ft-gauge trams, modern Metro services, and experimental railcars and battery vehicles all on the same site, which could be fun.  There was even a piece in the Express and Star paper a while back about battery railcars (with replica GWR bodyshells) running a shuttle from Dudley to Dudley Port (for the WCML) on the wider formation alongside the Metro.  I'll be honest, I never expected any of this to happen, so it's rather exciting to see things happening!

 

Back on the subject of routes with track intact but abandoned, the connecting branch from Kingswinford Junction (at Brierly Hill, near Round Oak) to Pensnett is mothballed, tracks still in place (except where the metal fairies have spirited it away).  The old yard at Pensnett beside the trading estate has been cleared and track lifted/buried though.  There were periodic calls to reopen the branch to a new freight yard, vociferously campaigned-against by a community group who rather enjoyed using the track to walk their dogs.  The parents of a lad I was at school with led the charge, basically convinced local residents that the proposed freight-only branch would have the frequency of the WCML at all hours of the day and night.  There were some rumblings about reopening as a passenger route for Parry People Movers or even a possible future branch of the Metro, but its doubtful, and there's a new housing estate at Gornal that blocks the continuation of the route to Wolverhampton.

 

Personally I'd have preferred to see it all rebuilt as a heavy rail route with capacity for freight, and a commuter service, but hey-ho, after several decades, there's the tram.  I can remember the line closing in the 1990's when I was a kid living in Dudley, and there was so much talk of it reopening.  I suppose at least it is finally happening in some form.

 

Going further off-topic from Level Crossings, I'm afraid

  

[melmerby]

8 hours ago, Ben B said:

 

Just to add (I was in Dudley last week visiting family), the heavy rail route from Round Oak to Stourbridge Junction is still used by steel trains, though I think only one track of the two-track formation is used, and it isn't exactly used heavily.  Parry People Movers were campaigning to run a railcar service from Stourbridge Junction to Brierly Hill, but the usual delays and lack of political will seems to be stifling that.  Why invest in decent public transport when there's a slow bus alternative that weaves its way there on busy roads?

 

Back to Dudley, where the tram dives off at the old Dudley Station/Freightliner Terminal site and heads up Castle Hill, the formation carries on through Dudley Tunnel, where the heavy-rail tracks have been re-laid as a test track, there's a stripped-down 37 and 08 there being rebuilt as battery test vehicles I gather in the new factory that's under-construction on the old station site. 

 

 

These were taken at the other end of the tunnel, the old Blowers Green Station site, where there was once a junction with the branch to Old Hill.

 

 

There's a thread somewhere on RMWeb with some pics of the site in Dudley itself.  There's some talk of the Black Country Museum having some sort of interchange with the site too, so there's the chance of vintage 3ft-gauge trams, modern Metro services, and experimental railcars and battery vehicles all on the same site, which could be fun.  There was even a piece in the Express and Star paper a while back about battery railcars (with replica GWR bodyshells) running a shuttle from Dudley to Dudley Port (for the WCML) on the wider formation alongside the Metro.  I'll be honest, I never expected any of this to happen, so it's rather exciting to see things happening!

 

Back on the subject of routes with track intact but abandoned, the connecting branch from Kingswinford Junction (at Brierly Hill, near Round Oak) to Pensnett is mothballed, tracks still in place (except where the metal fairies have spirited it away).  The old yard at Pensnett beside the trading estate has been cleared and track lifted/buried though.  There were periodic calls to reopen the branch to a new freight yard, vociferously campaigned-against by a community group who rather enjoyed using the track to walk their dogs.  The parents of a lad I was at school with led the charge, basically convinced local residents that the proposed freight-only branch would have the frequency of the WCML at all hours of the day and night.  There were some rumblings about reopening as a passenger route for Parry People Movers or even a possible future branch of the Metro, but its doubtful, and there's a new housing estate at Gornal that blocks the continuation of the route to Wolverhampton.

 

Personally I'd have preferred to see it all rebuilt as a heavy rail route with capacity for freight, and a commuter service, but hey-ho, after several decades, there's the tram.  I can remember the line closing in the 1990's when I was a kid living in Dudley, and there was so much talk of it reopening.  I suppose at least it is finally happening in some form.

 

Going further off-topic from Level Crossings, I'm afraid

  

Interesting developments.

 

BTW Birmingham & Black Country trams are/were 3' 6" gauge (IIRC the largest 'NG' network in the world!) with the possibility of running all the way from Birmingham city centre to Kinver, which did happen in the early years with single deck cars.

I can remember, when a nipper, riding from Birmingham to Rednal for the Lickey Hills by tram.

 

Maybe any more tram news should be in the West Midlands Metro topics

I'll start a new one for the Brierley Hill Extension.