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

[Coach bogie]

Here is Stockton. No trains or rails but where it all began.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve Taylor]

St. John's Crossing? Weirdly I've never visited it. Ta for posting.

[Smiffy2]

Kezz and Dowson (or Kezz Dowson) clearly have.

Was that the pub that originally sold tickets?

 

>edit< Davison. Huh. They don't do graffiti like they did in the old days...

Edited August 19, 2014 by Smiffy2

[Phil Mc]

The, then, soon to be derelict Woodhead route.

Apologies for the pic quality, but it was taken by a child (me!) who's age was still in single figures at the time.

This is the section between Wath & Barnsley (Darfield Main Colliery headgear can be seen), its all cycle paths now, me & my son occasionally ride along here, he thinks i'm being quiet due to the effort, but it's actually because i'm listening for the sound of double headed 76's on the coal trains that I could hear from my childhood home. (ok, its because im struggling to keep up with him!!)

The road in the picture wasn't open at the time, it was still being built, no doubt in the name of 'progress'.

 

Cheers,

Phil.

[Colin]

For me, the two long-disused water towers at Upminster and East Ham take some beating. I guess they survived because it would have seriously disrupted traffic while demolition took place! I passed both recently on my way back from Upton Park and had no trouble visualising a grubby tank loco parked next to one, taking on water.....

[BSG75]

For me it's Bishopsgate in East London - both what's left of the old goods yard and its approaches, and also the low-level station. 

 

The remains of Spitalfields goods yard are also supposed to be in the area, but I have never been able to find them. 

 

The approaches to Bishopsgate goods yard seem to contain a number of rather ornate pieces of stonework - is it true they were removed from the Liverpool street rebuild and kept "safe" because they were listed in some way ?

[PhilJ W]

For me it's Bishopsgate in East London - both what's left of the old goods yard and its approaches, and also the low-level station. 

 

The remains of Spitalfields goods yard are also supposed to be in the area, but I have never been able to find them. 

 

The approaches to Bishopsgate goods yard seem to contain a number of rather ornate pieces of stonework - is it true they were removed from the Liverpool street rebuild and kept "safe" because they were listed in some way ?

The original entrance to Bishopsgate is listed and that is what you probably saw.

 

http://www.bob.bob.bofh.org/~giolla/photos/bishopsgate-2002/

EDIT I seem unable to get the URL to work, Google Bishopsgate goods yard and click on images.

Edited August 20, 2014 by PhilJ W

[Raised On Steam]

So many, so many!

Pontop crossing bridge over the river Don, where once mighty 9F's and Q6's rumbled across en route to Consett from Tyne Dock...

….and further down the line Washington station, the junction between the Leamside and Consett lines

Scotswood railway bridge, and the remains of the station.

Victoria Viaduct on the mothballed Leamside line.

Hownesgill Viaduct near Consett.

The magnificent viaducts on the Derwent Walk.

Riccarton Junction.

The remains of Border Counties bridge at Hexham.

Hagg Bank bridge at Wylam, Tyne Valley line.

The roadside reminders of the Border Counties, Wansbeck and Allendale branches in Northumberland.

The bridges at Dunston riverside.

The abandoned control tower at Tyne Yard.

The stump of Carville signal box in Wallsend.

The couple of remaining blackened buildings at the former Gateshead shed/works.

The little over birdge beneath the King Edward bridge in Gateshead that once carried the original Newcastle and Carlisle line.

The ghostly abutments of the overbridge from the line that never was to Seaton Sluice.

And last but not least the 'tombstone' markers alongside the Waskerley Way which are marked 'S & D' - Stockton and Darlington!

[Raised On Steam]

Daughter and me just spent a pleasant afternoon kicking around Bellingham and Redesmouth. Bellingham heritage centre (gift shop) is actually at the old railway station. So much of the earthworks and bridges remain up that way as ghostly monuments to the Border Counties line. 

 

Edited August 22, 2014 by Raised On Steam

[108]

Newport Viaduct on the line to Achill,

The various viaducts and cliff face ledges on the Valentia branch.

Broadstone station.

[Market65]

Hi. This is the former station house at Fangfoss, East Yorkshire, between York and Pocklington. There used to be a level crossing next to the house and a signal box. The house is now, I believe, something to do with the adjacent outdoor camping area - to think, that back in October 1937, the Royal Train (LNWR stock) ran through here hauled by V2 'The Snapper'.

.

 

All the best,

 

Market65.

[Raised On Steam]

Dunston Staithes. Built by the North Eastern Railway.

[Trevellan]

I've had plenty of evocative and wistful moments over the years while visiting sites of former railway glory, but in more recent times three stand out.

 

1. Delivering to the Sainsbury's supermarket at Nine Elms via the New Covent Garden site in 2002. On exiting the site I drove the truck through a narrow opening under the Southern main line and suddenly realised it was the old shed exit. I was driving where Bulleid pacifics would have been trundling around.

 

2. Ventnor station, here on the Isle of Wight. One of the most easily recognisable locations on the old island system, still accessible as it is now an industrial estate. If only...

 

3. Earlier this month I had a photographic commission in Sheffield and saw some impressive stone viaducts and bridges of the former GC route still in place.

 

This type of industrial archeology certainly brings home just how shortsighted our transport policies have been over several decades.

[Rivercider]

Here is a photo from Newquay, here part of the South West Coast Path follows the route of the Treffrey Mineral Railway from St Dennis to Newquay Harbour.

 

In Newquay this is on the route from Newquay Station down to Newquay Harbour, closed in 1925 and lifted in 1926, 10/9/2014

 

cheers

[bigherb]

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.

There is a bit of the Surrey Iron Tramway preserved in the Reigate Caves.

[Rugd1022]

Only recently demolished, this is the last remains of the structure that used to be Rugby Midland Carriage Shed.... many's the time I've wondered up the slope as a youth to have a wander round on a quiet Sunday morning when there was nobody about. In those days the horrible palisade fencing was a distant thought so it was an easy 'bunk' and no-one seemed to mind (apart from the day me and two other lads went a bitter further than we'd planned and ended up being chased out of the old Loco Testing Station by a P/Way ganger!).

 

The whole look and feel of the building and particularly the colours in the brickwork, are typical of most of the old LNWR structures that abounded at Rugby, my biggest regret is not photographing all of them properly when I had numerous opportunities. I have some good shots of the old down side goods shed but alas none of the interior, which we used to play in as kids (my Dad's Dad was in charge of it for a while before it closed, after his days as a Guard at Rugby had come to an end).... oh for a time machine...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rugd1022]

I've been meaning to post these for ages - the sad remains of Wellingborough Depot, alas now gone, taken by my mate Jon during a break in road learning the Midland south of Leicester...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Raised On Steam]

That reminds me of Gateshead MPD before they flattened it.

[Bernard Lamb]

Cut off from the rest of the narrow gauge system almost 50 years ago the wharf just south of Leighton Buzzard is all that is left as a reminder of a former integrated transport system for moving sand.

 

Detail of track.

Bernard

[Pacific231G]

Cut off from the rest of the narrow gauge system almost 50 years ago the wharf just south of Leighton Buzzard is all that is left as a reminder of a former integrated transport system for moving sand.

 

Bernard

Excellent photos Bernard; that isolated piece of track on Garside's Wharf has long fascinated me. When I first saw it I assumed that it was part of the main Leighton Buzzard Light Railway system but, according to the plans and a chapter in Sydney Lelux's book, it was part of a smaller separate network that served various quarries and a tile works around Grovebury. As well as the canal wharf it had sidings alongside the LNWR Dunstable branch the other side of Grovebury Crossing from those of the LBLR but with no direct connection with its larger neighbour. The last narrow boat was loaded with sand from wagons at the wharf in October 1965 though the railway didn't finally close until 1968. Edited October 4, 2014 by Pacific231G

[Rob F]

Only recently demolished, this is the last remains of the structure that used to be Rugby Midland Carriage Shed.... many's the time I've wondered up the slope as a youth to have a wander round on a quiet Sunday morning when there was nobody about. In those days the horrible palisade fencing was a distant thought so it was an easy 'bunk' and no-one seemed to mind (apart from the day me and two other lads went a bitter further than we'd planned and ended up being chased out of the old Loco Testing Station by a P/Way ganger!).

 

The whole look and feel of the building and particularly the colours in the brickwork, are typical of most of the old LNWR structures that abounded at Rugby, my biggest regret is not photographing all of them properly when I had numerous opportunities. I have some good shots of the old down side goods shed but alas none of the interior, which we used to play in as kids (my Dad's Dad was in charge of it for a while before it closed, after his days as a Guard at Rugby had come to an end).... oh for a time machine...

 

 

 

I have never understood why Rugby Midland was called Midland when it is on the LNWR main line. I know the Midland reached the station from Leicester but the LNWR was by far the primary user. When was the Midland epithet first used?

 

Rob

[brianusa]

 

This track looks a bit  like  cheap O gauge tinplate!

 

Brian.

 

Detail of track.

1-DSC_0273.JPG

Bernard

[Bernard Lamb]

 

 

This track looks a bit  like  cheap O gauge tinplate!

 

Brian.

 

Detail of track.

1-DSC_0273.JPG

Bernard

 

Very much so.

It is in remarkably good condition considering how long it has been there.

Typical toy train radius as well.

The LNWR bridge on the branch mentioned by Pacific231G still exists over the canal a couple of hundred yards to the north. One track width is fenced off while the other is decked and provides a footpath and cycle way through the country park.

Bernard

[Bernard Lamb]

Looking in the other direction (north).

The LNWR bridge is not the one shown, that is just round the corner.

Bernard

[Graham Walters]

When I go back to Ross on Wye I'm always reminded of what used to be the stations area, the old engine shed is a landmark right on the edge of the by-pass, venture onto the industrial estate that now occupies the station area and you can see the old goods shed.

 

When I venture out to where I was brought up, you can still see what was bridge at the bottom of Fernbank road, the rails went through a very short cutting, which was used as landfill as a means of supporting the bridge which had become unstable.

 

In fact almost everywhere you look around what is referred to as the bottom of "Ross" you can see bridge abutments, go out towards Bridstow and Backney  and the piers of the Backney bridge still stand like sentinels in the river.

 

Go the other way towards Monouth, there are still the tunnels, walk along the old track bed bed by the river and if you look carefully you can evidence of platelayers huts, and other buildings.