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

[runs as required]

The old Stanhope and Tyne trackway (see pic looking down towards Waskerley) is now part of the Coast to Coast cycleway. The 1834 line, 33 mile long, used the traditional NE waggonway approach: negotiating ‘wayleaves' with landowners - before raising capital to use Parliamentary Act powers for limiting land costs emerged as much the preferred method for longer lines. The S&T, engineered by R Stephenson, lasted only 5 years before being declared insolvent because of its high land lease outgoings and was disposed of into several shorter sections.

Even more dramatic, the alignment of the former highest stretch of standard gauge railway in Britain at 1700 ft. can be followed from where it leaves the S&T, (later the Stockton & Darlington) at Parkhead Junction  and contoured westwards across Stanhope Common to the top of the former Rookhope incline.

The Rookhope railways closed when  the inter war Depression killed off the mines, but the S&T from Waskerley over the moors to Parkhead survived - being a branch of the S&D, then of the NER and LNE and finally BR (as freight only) into the mid 1950s.

They must have been Hard Men the old railwaymen working on these moors in winter.

These days the café (in the former Parkhead station at the top of the old inclines plunging down Crawleyside to Weardale) is an excellent warm refuge for cyclists to stoke up their boilers ready to tackle the next Coast to Coast stretch.

dh

Edited February 4, 2016 by runs as required

[Raised On Steam]

Also look out for the milestones still alongside the trackbed marked 'S & D'.

[Arpster]

One of my favourite places to go walking on a cold, clear day. It's really hard to imagine a Q6 working across the top of those moors with a train in tow. Or even an EE Type 3!: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/stanhope_and_tyne/index23.shtml

I love the slowly-rotting sleeper-built snow fences, the walls made from stacks of old stone sleepers (that are 150-years-old!), the little culverts that still carry moortop streams under the trackbed, and of course the ghostly remains of Bolts Law engine house standing at the top of the incline like an old Roman fort.

I remember going for a walk with my parents in Washington a few years ago and finding, at the bottom of a long embankment where the S&T crosses Oxclose Burn, a culvert made entirely out of stone sleepers like the ones in your photo. An unexpected thing to find in the middle of a new town!

Arp

[russ p]

Looking at the link to the 37 picture makes you think, that loco is working over a route that was originally a waggonway. Which predate locomotives, now some of them have been fitted with ERTMS. One complete extreme to the other!

[Reorte]

Rails sticking out of the bottom of the rail / canal transhipment warehouse at Whaley Bridge, formerly one end of the Cromford and High Peak railway.

 

There's a crane inside too, I must remember to take my camera along the next time it's opened to the public (only once a year AFAIK).

 

[Grovenor]

 

Subsequent Edit

Tracking further south along railsquid's link to the Google map satellite I noted how  the Google map here  marks a single line of rails running along the old GC mainline from Aylesbury Vale Parkway past Buckinghamshire Rail Centre at Quainton Road out as far as Calvert where it joins a similar line along the former LNW Oxford-Cambridge from Bicester to run as far as Bletchley.

If all this actually exists, why do they need such an long drawn out expensive 'Transport and Works Act' order rigmarole to continue reopening on from Oxford/Bicester to Bletchley?

The aerial photos in that area look quite old, Aylesbury Vale parkway had not been built when the photos were taken. Was Calvert not in use as a landfill site? There is a train on the photos at Quainton that looks like rubbish containers.  I think the re-opening East of Bicester requires some diversions off the original route.

Regards

Edited February 7, 2016 by Grovenor

[The Stationmaster]

The aerial photos in that area look quite old, Aylesbury Vale parkway had not been built when the photos were taken. Was Calvert not in use as a landfill site? There is a train on the photos at Quainton that looks like rubbish containers.  I think the re-opening East of Bicester requires some diversions off the original route.

Regards

Calvert was a destination for rubbish trains from London (I presume it probably still is?) - the unloading terminal can be seen on Google Maps.

 

I can't see any need for any diversions off the original route east of Bicester as the line has, I believe, largely remained in situ as it has never been formally closed (certainly between Bicester and Claydon L&NE Jcn) and any encroachments over the railway boundary would only have been 'unofficial ones'.  The main work will really be clearing down to a suitable formation level to reballast to replace double track plus no doubt drainage works and the provision of those ludicrous 'modesty fences' as well as providing up to date signalling.

 

The route was lightly used for many years in its later life and when I went over it on an inspection special in 1993 it was generally in pretty good condition but obviously it will require considerable work for the West-East rail scheme.

[Fat Controller]

Calvert was a destination for rubbish trains from London (I presume it probably still is?) - the unloading terminal can be seen on Google Maps.

 

I can't see any need for any diversions off the original route east of Bicester as the line has, I believe, largely remained in situ as it has never been formally closed (certainly between Bicester and Claydon L&NE Jcn) and any encroachments over the railway boundary would only have been 'unofficial ones'.  The main work will really be clearing down to a suitable formation level to reballast to replace double track plus no doubt drainage works and the provision of those ludicrous 'modesty fences' as well as providing up to date signalling.

 

The route was lightly used for many years in its later life and when I went over it on an inspection special in 1993 it was generally in pretty good condition but obviously it will require considerable work for the West-East rail scheme.

Calvert is still in use, receiving not just containerised domestic rubbish, but construction spoil in bogie open wagons; some of this comes from a transhipment point at the erstwhile Willesden Euroterminal.

[railsquid]

Maybe not exactly evocative, but travelling around Japan one sometimes stumbles across odd structures, like this abandoned stub of platform at Yokohama station:

The oddness is that it's beyond the end of what's already the longest (15 car) platform. Have theory, but no confirmation.

[Southernboy]

An interesting subject matter.

 

I must confess to not having having read all 16 pages of this thread, so hope i am not repeating anything.

 

I grew up near the former Brookwood Cemetery Necropolis Railway (1854 - 1941) and as a child / early teen enjoyed frequently cycling the former trackbed.

 

Here's an overview.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's one of the stations.

 

 

 

 

 

Both of the stations had catering facilities and were fully licenced. I believe (but stand to be corrected) that they were the only licenced premises on hallowed ground.

 

North Bar was demolished before I knew it. South Bar however survived into the 1960s and the restaurant / bar continued to serve the odd passer by until the proprietors, Mr & Mrs Ladd died. I distinctly recall visits: It was like something from an old Disney animation - the deer, squirrels and birds would tentatively creep up to the table and take tit-bits from your hand, before gently retiring back to the undergrowth. A quite magical experience.

 

Here's part of the route of the former trackbed. looking toward South Bar from the line from Brookwood Station.

 

 

 

 

 

In the '60s it looked like this ...

 

 

 

 

But by 2011 it was much overgrown. The platform is all still there - but you have to make an effort to peer through the fence (why fence it?) to see the platform. 

 

 

 

 

 

Further down the line was North Bar.

 

The platform here is still evident.

 

 

 

The original buildings were burnt by an arsonist in the '70s.

 

A religious order now occupies the space and have built on the platform

 

---------------------------.

 

I would heartily recommend the place for a day trip with a difference. Brookwood Cemetery is crammed full of impressive Victorian memorials as well as being home to immaculately maintained War Graves from 14–18 and 39–45.

 

And a couple of decent pubs are ten or so minutes walk away

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2016 by Southernboy

[runs as required]

An interesting subject matter....Both of the stations had catering facilities and were fully licenced. I believe (but stand to be corrected) that they were the only licenced premises on hallowed ground.

 

Thank you for the post on the Necropolis  railway - and the delightful photos.

 

My favourite great aunt lived out on the Southern Electric and a trip through Waterloo station was always exciting.

Aunty Hetty used to tell us about the Funeral trains that left from Waterloo - I hadn't realised they'd lasted as long as to 1941.

It was good to contrive to just miss the train 'cos you could then go up into the News Cinema above No 1 platform and watch cartoons. Was that originally the Necropolis train departure platform?

 

 

As to licenced premises on hallowed ground, maybe it was unique in Victorian days. Nowadays (assuming hallowed mean Holy, consecrated  or sacred) Durham Cathedral has a licenced restaurant just off the cloisters - as does Norwich. Sunderland Minster has one such within the main church building to attract lunchtime visitors.. 

 

I reckon a preserved line or two ought to institute a Funeral train - where the Wake party could hoy out the ashes of the Dearly Departed at a suitably orchestrated Ritual stop on a bridge or w.h.y.

 

dh

[jamie92208]

The Necropolis station was initially on the south side under where the approach track to platforms 1 to 4 are now but was moved to the North side alongside the stabling sidings and the track that lead to the Waterloo and City lift. The bombed out building was still there until it was demolished and the site is now underneath the end of the Eurostar platforms.

 

Jamie

[davefrk]

I've been meaning to post this for a while, Kemp Street entrance to Hamilton Central station. I remember as a kid that the original owners name was covered up with a blue enamel sign which slowly disintegrated and had to be removed. The platform access was blocked up many years ago and the building became a fireplace showroom but the steep steps down to the platform can still be seen as well as the original bi-fold doors.

Hamilton once boasted four stations with another three or four on the outskirts and two different railway companies. There were many branches going to various collieries and from what I understand there were over the years 36 pitheads within a three mile radius of Hamilton Central.

Hamilton Palace of the Dukes of Hamilton, one of Scotland's grandest houses was built on the proceeds of Hamilton coal but undermining caused the structure to become unsafe and it had to be demolished, a local saying was - 'Coal built it and coal cawed it doon'.

 

Photo taken 20-02-2016

 

Dave Franks

Edited February 20, 2016 by davefrk

[Coach bogie]

Just a few hundred yards from Darlington station entrance, hidden amongst the terrace houses is the entrance to the PW yards still displaying it's original owners.

 

engineers.jpg

 

Mike Wiltshire

 I see Railway magazine are getting in on the act by using the Darlington PW entrance as their mystery location of the month.

 

Mike Wlitshire

[BSG75]

Here are a few quick phone camera shots around Shoreditch.

 

First, one of the last pieces left of the old alignment into Broad Street

 

 

Next, a couple of the old entrance to Bishopsgate Goods Yard. There are some very fine pieces of stonework secreted under the arches of Bishopsgate, right next to the GEML, and I suspect they came from Liverpool Street during the rebuilding. 

 

 

One of the goods yard's retaining walls, running from the new Shoreditch Hight Street station to Brick Lane.

 

 

 

 

Bisphpsgate Goods Yard, in truncated form, at Brick Lane

 

 

The old Shoreditch Station. The old alignment of the East London Line ran in a cutting on the right; now filled in and grassed over, leaving the station building looking a little sunken. 

 

 

 

Apologies for the Angle, the pavement here was a little narrow and the road behind very busy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[runs as required]

Would that originally have been part of the original Bishopsgate terminus station of the ECR before the extension to Liverpool Street ?

A bit like Nine Elms relative to Waterloo (or several earlier north country pioneer passenger inter urban lines).

dh

[BSG75]

Would that originally have been part of the original Bishopsgate terminus station of the ECR before the extension to Liverpool Street ?

A bit like Nine Elms relative to Waterloo (or several earlier north country pioneer passenger inter urban lines).

dh

Hi, yes, that's my understanding. The approaches to Bishopsgate are supposedly on the level, so when they start looming over the GEML very quickly, you get some idea of how steep the gradient into Liverpool Street actually is ! (supposedly part of the reason for the non-standard nature of the class 125 DMU ?)

[BSG75]

Would that originally have been part of the original Bishopsgate terminus station of the ECR before the extension to Liverpool Street ?

A bit like Nine Elms relative to Waterloo (or several earlier north country pioneer passenger inter urban lines).

dh

When Liverpool street was opened, they also opened a Bishopsgate low-level station for people who still wanted to alight there. The low-level platforms are still visible from the GEML, and I believe there is still a boarded-up entrance from street level.  

[runs as required]

When Liverpool street was opened, they also opened a Bishopsgate low-level station for people who still wanted to alight there. The low-level platforms are still visible from the GEML, and I believe there is still a boarded-up entrance from street level.  

Yes, now you mention it, I do remember seeing them from the train.

A totally folorn station I remember from childhood usage of the jazz up from Theydon Bois was Coburn Road - is there still any on-street or lineside relic of that ?

dh

[BSG75]

Yes, now you mention it, I do remember seeing them from the train.

A totally folorn station I remember from childhood usage of the jazz up from Theydon Bois was Coburn Road - is there still any on-street or lineside relic of that ?

dh

There are some photos from 1994 here : http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bishopsgate_low_level/

 

I'll try to get over to Quaker street some time and see what's there. 

[PhilJ W]

Would that originally have been part of the original Bishopsgate terminus station of the ECR before the extension to Liverpool Street ?

A bit like Nine Elms relative to Waterloo (or several earlier north country pioneer passenger inter urban lines).

dh

 

 

Hi, yes, that's my understanding. The approaches to Bishopsgate are supposedly on the level, so when they start looming over the GEML very quickly, you get some idea of how steep the gradient into Liverpool Street actually is ! (supposedly part of the reason for the non-standard nature of the class 125 DMU ?)

The platforms at Liverpool Street are in fact below street level in contrast to Broad Street alongside which was on an embankment/viaduct.

[brian daniels]

Found this earlier this week on the Lyme Regis branch made of Southern concrete.

[keefer]

 

The line through Shoreditch used to run through to Liverpool St. (ie looking in the direction of your pic of the filled in station). I think it was called Bishopsgate junction and it allowed through running from the GE to the SR.

Edited March 10, 2016 by keefer

[runs as required]

The platforms at Liverpool Street are in fact below street level in contrast to Broad Street alongside which was on an embankment/viaduct.

That was always so humiliating - peering up from the smoky panting Hell of the GE jazz towards the maroon paintwork of the LMS Oerlikon stock gliding to and fro in the sunlight.

The 'Premier Line' electrics really enjoyed grinding our noses deep down into our cheapo 'workman's' shadows. 

Heh Heh! But where are they now?

 

dh

[C.A.T.Ford]

The Necropolis station was initially on the south side under where the approach track to platforms 1 to 4 are now but was moved to the North side alongside the stabling sidings and the track that lead to the Waterloo and City lift. The bombed out building was still there until it was demolished and the site is now underneath the end of the Eurostar platforms.

 

Jamie

I think you will find that the Necropolis station was moved to the West side of Westminster Bridge Road where it still stands almost facing Lower Marsh. Or at least it was standing yesterday.

 

CAT