Evocotive railway remains, what derelect or abandoned structure stirs your emotions?

[PinzaC55]

I remember visiting Greetwell Junction in 1980 but think my camera was out of film (how antiquated does that sound now?).

Here is Bardney station in 1982 when some British Rail painter had given the GNR trespass signs a fresh lick of paint

Bardney Station 2.4.82 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

Tattershall station on the same day

Tattershall Station 2.4.82 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

[PinzaC55]

And it doesn't seem to have been hacked about and ruined as many stations were?

[Nobby (John)]

speaking of the great central im currenly lodging in brackley for my claydon jn job, i've just come back from a drive around trying to find bits of the old line, i managed to trace where it crossed the main road north of the town centre and while heading out towards buckingham i spotted the top of a bridge abutment which is now level with the road so the line must have been backfilled

also worked out where the banbury-buckingham line used to pass through the town, there is a cafe called cafe locomotive pretty much on the trackbed.

if i get a chance tomorrow i'll grab some pics of the bridge abutment as its quite eerie!!

i may well have a drive out to woodford halse and finmere too

Hi Jim, as I live just down the road in Towcester there is a lot for you to see.

The GC is worth a look, especially at Helmdon where the viaduct is intact and there are a lot of remnants near Woodford Halse.

Also the SMJ.

Cheers

John

[Rivercider]

Yesterday, 30/7/2014, I walked the lenght of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal from Firepool Lock at Taunton through to Bridgwater Docks.

 

Just before reaching the start of the canal at Taunton I passed the former GWR Goods Offices

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And then got an unusual view of the water tower located beside Taunton East Yard, many of us will be familiar with the view from the railway side.

Here is the water tower on the right of the shot seen in July 1985.

 

I was previously unaware that it was built on top of a former lime kiln.

 

cheers

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheQ]

This link,

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Ludgershall+Road,+Tidworth&hl=en&ll=51.255374,-1.624861&spn=0.000003,0.004117&sll=52.640143,1.28685&sspn=0.186668,0.527&oq=ludgershall&hnear=Ludgershall+Rd,+Tidworth,+Wiltshire,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.255411,-1.624679&panoid=aYd15clN_tYhyK3KmGjRFw&cbp=12,148.13,,0,-0.76

 

shows Overbridge 12 on the MSWJR line at Ludgershall, from it's modern replacement. I cycled across the old bridge thousands of times to school, they demolished Rushers sweet shop to build the new bridge which was a great loss. The Overbridge 13  the other side of the goods yard (behind the camera) was demolished some years before. Beyond that on the railway Embankment,  on the railway side of the fence, where my grandfather the Ganger here, kept his Beehives, we used to pick wild strawberries.

 The Q

 

 Ah, the link brought up the map, I had hoped it would bring up the picture, Unfortunately from the company computer here  I can't copy the picture in, And I won't be able to for over a week. So if you wish to see the picture you'll have to spend more effort than it's worth to go on google maps to see it.

Sorry

Edited August 1, 2014 by TheQ

[tomparryharry]

For me, it's Common Branch Junction, just above Llantrisant. I can only remember the place post Beeching, but the junctions, with the trackbed going over towards Coedely, always caught my imagination.

[Coldgunner]

Had a walk down to the old Peterborough East station, some of it fairly recognisable...

 

DSC_0123 by Coldgunner, on Flickr

 

Here's a picture of 4472 outside the very same sheds...

 

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/p/peterborough_east/index9.shtml

 

 

The turntable also survives, but at Wansford.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Coldgunner

[Mike Storey]

Had a walk down to the old Peterborough East station, some of it fairly recognisable...

 

DSC_0123 by Coldgunner, on Flickr

 

Here's a picture of 4472 outside the very same sheds...

 

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/p/peterborough_east/index9.shtml

 

 

The turntable also survives, but at Wansford.

 

These sheds were occupied by a timber merchant until around 6/7 years ago, and they kept the structures in pretty decent shape. There was then waged a war of words to have them demolished in favour of the new riverside developments planned along there. I suspect that debate continues.

 

Until only a few years ago, you could also clearly see the outline of the sidings on the south side and parts of the old station platforms. Much of this will have gone now under the new housing development next to the football ground. There were moves a decade or two ago to have Pboro East resurrected as a station, to solve the increasing parking problems at the main Pboro (North) station. However, capacity problems between there and the ECML, meant it would only get an hourly service, or half hourly at best, and was therefore not an attractive prospect for a shuttle connection to the main line.

[forest2807]

The Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway's line from Spean Bridge to Fort Augustus has a bit of infrastructure still in tact. I cycled the Great Glen Way from Fort William to Fort Augustus yesterday and although I knew of the I&FAR I had never before explored the route. I couldn't help imagining the fantastic travel possibilities had this line remained open and indeed been extended to Inverness as originally envisaged. My Dad told me a story of an American woman who enquired of him (at Inverness Tourist Information Centre where he once worked) what the train times were between Inverness and Fort William. Apparently it took several attempts to explain to her before she finally understood that there were actually no direct trains between Inverness and Fort William, indeed there wasn't actually any track physically connecting the two places, and that she would have to travel via Glasgow if she wished to make the journey by rail. It was the lack of a railway line that really threw her, she just thought my old man was being difficult!

There is a group trying to restore Invergarry Station and relay some of the track. I have no connection with them, their details are in one of the photos I took yesterday of Invergarry Station. Also attached are some photos of the features just to the north of Invergarry, including the bridge over Calder Burn which flows into Loch Oich. The 1931 photo of the station complete with covered subway makes a fascinating comparison.

[Coldgunner]

These sheds were occupied by a timber merchant until around 6/7 years ago, and they kept the structures in pretty decent shape. There was then waged a war of words to have them demolished in favour of the new riverside developments planned along there. I suspect that debate continues.

 

Until only a few years ago, you could also clearly see the outline of the sidings on the south side and parts of the old station platforms. Much of this will have gone now under the new housing development next to the football ground. There were moves a decade or two ago to have Pboro East resurrected as a station, to solve the increasing parking problems at the main Pboro (North) station. However, capacity problems between there and the ECML, meant it would only get an hourly service, or half hourly at best, and was therefore not an attractive prospect for a shuttle connection to the main line.

 

More or less fenced off now. The public pathway takes you onto the old platform itself, running alongside the current alignment. I remember the timber merchants well, as the track was still in situe, and I got many a baseboard from them. What used to be B&Q and Matalan is just open wasteland. Bit of a shame really, as its ideal ground for a railway operation. Would be nice to see the buildings adapted, rather than demolished. But I suspect they are not safe.

[Market65]

Hi. Here's three more photo's of Stamford Bridge, East Yorkshire. It was closed down at the end of November 1965. I, along with my Parents were on the last train from York to Hull. This former station has both platforms remaining, along with the goods warehouse and the station buildings(which have had an extension added onto them).

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All the best,

 

Market65.

[dagrizz]

I mentioned the Belah viaduct earlier in this thread, I visited it again last week.

 

 

You can just see the carcass of the signal cabin on the far side.

 

I also had a quick look at the north side of the site of the Deepdale Beck viaduct. This, from what I can gather, was a smaller and lesser known structure to that at Belah. The valley here is heavily wooded so getting a good view is difficult. The northern buttress can be seen from below.

 

 

 

What was surprising though was the old signal cabin on the approach to the viaduct.

 

 

 

I was not expecting that!

 

Graham 

 

 

[wiggoforgold]

St Ives (Cambs) station, completely flattened and replaced by the terminal for the awful guided bus way. A piece of my formative years torn away. I went back a couple of years ago and was going to cycle up the cycle path to Cambridge, but it was so depressing I went somewhere else.

[TerryD1471]

Living as I do, in west Wales, there are several interesting closed lines. The closest to home is the Manchester & Milford railway, a grandiose scheme which never came within many miles of either location, but actually went from Carmarthen to Aberystwyth. Much of the formation remains intact and you almost feel that it would be possible to lay track straight down over great swathes of the route. There is much talk of re-opening, but it would be a miracle if this were to happen.

 

On the other side of the Cambrian mountains to the north east is the village of Llangurig, through which the M & M actually laid track to form a junction with the Mid Wales railway by which it reached Llanidloes. There was a grand plan to drive a route over the Cambrians, but it was hugely over-optimistic and therefore never had a hope of completion, but the formation of the parts that were built can still be seen from the main A483 road.

 

The Mid Wales Railway itself is also no more, either, but its route from Moat Lane Junction in the north through Rhayader and Builth onwards toward Brecon can still be seen in many places. The grand station building which was the head office of the MWR is still readily seen where the A483 passes Llanidloes on the formation of the old line.

[Smiffy2]

Way back in 1973 I came home from college (Durham) and went for a walk in the local park that I'd been playing in since I was a babe. Saw this in the path:

 

 

With eyes that had become attuned to industrial archaeology up north I realised it was a stone sleeper - in fact there were several set into the path - and on investigation found they were from the Surrey Iron Railway, c1803. There was a huge stack of them for kids to climb on. Near the Stockton and Darlington, which used the same system, they are like hen's teeth.

 

Soon after I enquired at the council the big stack disappeared, no-one knows where to.

[Smiffy2]

Or this, seen from #3 son's flat in Bermondsey:

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spa_Road_railway_station

Spa Road railway station in Bermondsey, south-east London, was the original terminus of the capital's first railway, theLondon and Greenwich Railway (L&GR). It was also the first railway terminus in what is now Greater London. First opened in 1836, the station went through several changes of ownership, was rebuilt several times, changed its name and was relocated a couple of hundred yards away from its original site before it finally closed in 1915 due to cost-saving measures during the First World War. The disused station building is today part of a light industrial estate. A number of elements of the original station – including the ticket office and remnants of the platforms – are still visible.

[philip-griffiths]

Clydach gorge on the MT&A.

 

http://www.alexsarchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Clydach1.jpg

 

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1262/673963220_1209615cd3_z.jpg?zz=1

 

Tredegar station in the Sirhowy valley. Sadly now gone but I measured it up and photographed it in the pre digital age.

 

Regards.

[Rugd1022]

This old water tower which still stands on the up side at Rugby holds many memories, it's probably not long for this world but every time I look at it I think back to the times we'd dare each other to climb up the ladder without getting spotted or caught. Access to it was very easy back in the '70s...

 

 

I really do miss the general atmosphere and raggedy look of the LNWR infrastructure of Rugby Midland, the endless cast iron supports holding up that vast, wind tunnel like overall roof with it's broken glass, pigeons loitering everywhere, the BR signs hanging from it and creaking in the wind, the slight feeling of neglect but knowing that it all still served a purpose - please excuse the very poor pic but it's a treasured Polaroid of a time now long gone : 1979, the Winter of discontent, but BR was still soldering on with Victorian infrastructure and nigh on twenty year old 'new fangled' AC electrics, we thought it'd all be around forever...

 

 

And the dear old Birdcage Bridge built by the GCR, another mighty landmark now gone...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Has anyone mentioned the Somerset & Dorset?

 

Charlton Marshall looks like all it needs is a bit of ballast and track, then it would be back to the days of Bulleid Pacifics, 9Fs, Black Fives, 4Fs, the occasional S&D 2-8-0..........

 

Oh to dream.

[DLT]

Has anyone mentioned the Somerset & Dorset?

 

Charlton Marshall looks like all it needs is a bit of ballast and track, then it would be back to the days of Bulleid Pacifics, 9Fs, Black Fives, 4Fs, the occasional S&D 2-8-0..........

 

Oh to dream.

As it used to look:

http://www.sdjr.net/locations/charlton_marshall.html

 

Sixth picture down http://www.coghlan.co.uk/Village%20files/blandford.html

[Steve Taylor]

Way back in 1973 I came home from college (Durham) and went for a walk in the local park that I'd been playing in since I was a babe. Saw this in the path:

 

 

With eyes that had become attuned to industrial archaeology up north I realised it was a stone sleeper - in fact there were several set into the path - and on investigation found they were from the Surrey Iron Railway, c1803. There was a huge stack of them for kids to climb on. Near the Stockton and Darlington, which used the same system, they are like hen's teeth.

 

Soon after I enquired at the council the big stack disappeared, no-one knows where to.

Would that have been in South Park perchance? I remember them there as a kid too. They were also set into the sea wall at Saltburn.

[Smiffy2]

No, it was in Carshalton. Seeing as the Surrey Iron Railway had gone by about 1840 they were a pretty amazing sight.

These were the older two-hole, of course, which worked with plate rail, gauge 4' 2". Oak pegs were driven into the holes, and then iron spikes driven into the oak to secure the cast-iron plates.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_Iron_Railway

[Steve Taylor]

aaah, oops my mistake. Autopilot was on i guess. The blocks used for the Saltburn seawall were from the Stockton & Darlington railway, and as mentioned there were some of them in South Park in Darlington - - - they may well still be: a bit heavy to casually walk off with for use in a rockery.

[Steve Taylor]

 

Anyone up for lighting a layout to give snow the right feel under a lowering sky?

 

[Smiffy2]

aaah, oops my mistake. Autopilot was on i guess. The blocks used for the Saltburn seawall were from the Stockton & Darlington railway, and as mentioned there were some of them in South Park in Darlington - - - they may well still be: a bit heavy to casually walk off with for use in a rockery.

Stone theft has been a thing round here.

The York stone around the local cenotaph was pinched. A year later it was found - neatly stacked in a cell at the local nick. It seems someone had 'forgotten' to log it in...

A local builder had already donated and laid new stone, so what happened to it was never revealed. One may speculate, however.