Abandoned rails in the road.....(or elsewhere...)

[F-UnitMad]

1 minute ago, rob D2 said:

Didn’t help that we were on our way back from a restaurant and I’d had too much wine

So you saw even more rails than are actually there...??   

[Reorte]

On 02/04/2021 at 23:45, Miss Prism said:

Pembroke Dock

Interesting that the flares on the check rails are there despite the continuous check rail also in place, so I wouldn't have thought they'd be required. Standard components (at least for the crossing)?

[PatB]

6 hours ago, rob D2 said:

Not quite sure what was going on here...

Looks like they might be gantleted/interlaced tracks, possibly both with continuous check rails. 

[33C]

8 hours ago, Axlebox said:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Team+Valley,+Gateshead/@54.9411127,-1.6266527,70m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x487e79f017f7a535:0x36b0afe6229e7eaf!8m2!3d54.9235965!4d-1.6180674

 

Team Valley trading estate in Gateshead...the line once linked the estate to the nearby Norwood coke works...

 

Great stuff, reminds me of fossilised remains and i like the way the gate respects the curves.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

11 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Look like modern tram tracks in somewhere like Manchester.

 

Close!!

 

Mike.

[Johann Marsbar]

5 hours ago, PatB said:

Looks like they might be gantleted/interlaced tracks, possibly both with continuous check rails. 

 

The lines there are dual gauge and I would suggest double check rails either side of the running line as it is a road crossing......

 

 

 

 

[Axlebox]

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.9676765,-1.6164466,3a,15y,272.32h,84.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s9y7l-dfpnDbFY-h4h0I5OA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

Round the back of the Central station in Newcastle is this section of the spur that once connected into Robert Stephenson's Forth Street works.

[Axlebox]

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.9674692,-1.5814737,147m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

Meanwhile just along the Tyne from Central station in Newcastle, there is still quite a lot of the historic Quayside branch still set in concrete...including a double slip set of pointwork.

 

https://tanfield-railway.blogspot.com/2020/04/where-is-it.html

[Axlebox]

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.6919659,-1.7001988,148m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

County Durham once had an extensive number of industrial railways and very little now remains, however, there is the odd length of rail still set in concrete, as here at West Hunwick brick works...

[rob D2]

1 hour ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

The lines there are dual gauge and I would suggest double check rails either side of the running line as it is a road crossing......

 

 

 

 

Super,

that’s round the back of the hotel where we used to stay .

[Engineer]

A tramway example at Darwen, Lancashire:

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18&lat=53.68036&lon=-2.45838&layers=168&right=ESRIWorld

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by Engineer
Map

[Engineer]

Northampton Cotton End
I visited this abandoned level crossing long ago while walking Northampton's long-gone tram routes, one of which crossed the railway at this site.  

NLS OS 25-inch map of the area from 1920s, showing rail crossing, tramway and nearby Bridge Street station:  https://maps.nls.uk/view/114479756#zoom=6&lat=2113&lon=9349&layers=BT

Unable to find my own pictures so here is the StreetView from several years ago:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.2287983,-0.8963694,3a,75y,338.76h,81.43t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sB3-SN_9RquaCb7xZoKDcWA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e2?hl=en-GB

The crossing was removed only in recent years after remaining unused for a very long time.  It was close to Northampton Bridge Street station, which has a good internet reference that includes one or two images of the crossing in its latter days:

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/n/northampton_bridge_street/index.shtml

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/n/northampton_bridge_street/index5.shtml

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by Engineer
Use of English

[melmerby]

50 minutes ago, Engineer said:

A tramway example at Darwen, Lancashire:

 

 

Pity it appears to be wrong as records show that the first urban steam trams in the UK were in Govan 1875!

[Steamport Southport]

That's also wrong as the first British street tramway was in Birkenhead in 1860. Invented by a Mr Train....

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/liverpool/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8958000/8958230.stm

[cctransuk]

6 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

That's also wrong as the first British street tramway was in Birkenhead in 1860. Invented by a Mr Train....

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/liverpool/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8958000/8958230.stm

 

I think that you overlooked the word 'steam' on the Darwen plaque.

 

John Isherwood.

[31A]

Abandoned rails visible from the train outside Leeds City station:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Leeds/@53.7925506,-1.558406,137m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x48793e4ada64bd99:0x51adbafd0213dca9!8m2!3d53.8007554!4d-1.5490774?hl=en

 

It's a former industrial area; I can't remember what was there before, but the site was cleared a few years ago for a redevelopment that never happened - victim of the 2008 financial crash ISTR.

 

[Engineer]

Barrow Island
This is a small area with a lot of railway and industrial past - tramways, the Furness Railway and the Vickers shipyard and works railway network.

 

NLS OS 25-inch map of the junction area also showing Michaelson Road rail crossing between Howitzer Shop and Gun Shop [discussed in later post on this page]:

https://maps.nls.uk/view/126514793#zoom=5&lat=3206&lon=14288&layers=BT

 

First - Tramway, Michaelson Road near junction with Island Road

This was the Ramsden Dock branch of the tramway.  Rails remain in place in the wide road, and the space is currently a well-used parking area during works hours.
Looking roughly south:

Looking North to the 'Tea House' [*] junction with Island Road, where the Ramsden Dock tramway branch merged with the tramway to Walney Island.

[*  building with arch windows to the left far side of the roundabout]

A small detail of the track on the left approaching the junction:

This a tramway trap point with single moving switch, protecting the approach to the junction ahead.  As well as the tramway junction, the Furness Railway had street tracks on Island Road crossing Michaelson Road and the tramways.  This was a signalled junction operated by a railway frame.  When the junction was set for rail traffic, the traps were set to protect against conflicting tram moves.

 

A note to link to the subsequent posts on 4th/5th April.
In summary, the trap point and track layout in the area is confirmed by the book on the area's public transport systems.
Although it might appear that rails have been removed from the trap overrun, close scrutiny suggests another explanation - no rails were ever laid for the overrun and instead the cracked and split setts [which are otherwise undisturbed] are the result of flange damage from the trams that overshot the trap when set against them.
 

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Engineer
Map and cross-reference to subsequent posts added

[Ben B]

I love looking for stuff like this- I've got a load on my machine at home (including Barrow in Furness, and other spots in Cumbria) but for the time being, some from Holyhead Breakwater, last summer.  The remains of the isolated Breakwater Tramway.  Most of the trackbed is preserved and able to be walked.

 

 

The engine shed, which has a new corrugated metal lid effectively, but the remains of the old building are there.  Interestingly, in the inspection pit inside the SG rails were laid on top of the old Broad Gauge lines I gather.  No idea what survives inside.

 

 

Looking the other way, up towards the old quarry which is now a nice park area.

 

 

Dropping down towards the Breakwater itself, there's this isolated section of rails.

 

 

Looking the other way again.

 

 

There's some trackwork left on the old quayside.

 

 

It doesn't show up too well in this shot, but where the lines ran (on the lower deck) can often be traced, and in places the tracks of the overhead gantry crane (on this upper level) can be spotted.  Out towards the very end there's some more visible tracks, bit it was too windy for us this day, the kids were being blown all over the shop, so we planned to go back and do it properly.  Still haven't managed the return trip, but maybe this summer, with a bit of luck.

 

What a shame it couldn't have been preserved when it shut.  I can understand the arguments for closing it, and the impracticalities, but at the same time, just picture the old Class 01 shunter propelling a couple of brakevans down there, as part of an attraction for the country park

 

 

[Engineer]

Second part of rails in the road from my visits to Barrow Island for research, now the pictures are found.

 

Vickers site railway network
First, there's a Britain from Above image, 1920, with plenty of detail in the centre of the tramway/railway junction noted in my previous post.  Also, Michaelson Road continues northwards between two large workshops:
https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW004065

Crossing the road between those two workshops is a standard gauge single line, not in use at present as far as I know:

At the eastern end of the crossing is the General Engineering Shop, known before this as the General Machine Shop which played a large part in the construction under licence by Vickers of many Sulzer diesel engines.  There is some background story at: https://www.derbysulzers.com/vaapp.html

Much earlier in history, the same workshop building was known as the Howitzer Shop and from 1920 to 1922 the building housed the re-construction and assembly work on Metropolitan Railway electric locomotives - five re-constructions were completed.  There was a rail line through the shop that headed eastwards and reached the Furness lines near Shipyard junction, enabling the original locomotives to be brought in from the main line network.

 

At the other end of the rail crossing is the Gun Shop, a very large building divided into longitudinal bays.  This building was for manufacture of naval guns and equipment and industrial plant.  Behind that wall is 'Bay 13'.

From 1921 to 1923 the two bays nearest the road, 13 and 12 were the storage and fitting-out area for the Metropolitan Railway's loco project after the decision to switch to new build for the last fifteen of the twenty-loco fleet.  Their underframes and basic superstructures made the short rail journey across the road.

Linking to the London Transport Museum's picture collection, just on the other side of the wall from the previous image, Gun Shop Bay 13 in early 1922 housing four locomotives in work. 

https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/system/files/styles/collection_item_component_600_px_wide/private/collection_item/2020-09/i0000694.jpg?itok=2JE0tL7z
Taken at the same time, the adjacent bay 12 houses the other 11 locomotives that are being finished and fitted-out.  The rail line across the road continues across the bottom of the image and then across the whole shop and onto the intricate works network.

https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/system/files/styles/collection_item_component_600_px_wide/private/collection_item/2020-09/i0000692.jpg?itok=dCmFNVU3

 

[melmerby]

When I first moved to Cumbria in 1999 there were remnants of track in the quayside at Whitehaven, around the steelworks in Workington and on the High Level railway in Maryport.

Sadly they have all gone mow.

[hmrspaul]

When Trev Mann and me got to Barrow latish one August evening we were staggered to find some very rare and unusual internal users alongside the roads. They seem to have been largely ignored. 

 

https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/barrow

 

Paul

 

[C126]

This thread might be of interest.  Page two of the postings features our pictures of the 'tramway' to the old cement works site:

 

 

Only yester-day I thought how pretty a '73' would look, trundling in and out along the track with a rake of VDAs to/from the replacement industrial estate.

[eastglosmog]

I don't think this is now visible*.  It is remains of the Penlee railway on the coast just west of Newlyn exposed by a severe storm back in 2014:

 

*Seeing Riverciders post below, apparently still is exposed - so much for promises of action!

Edited September 6, 2022 by eastglosmog
Restore photo

[Beechnut]

The first two pictures show the remains of the narrow gauge system at the Midland Joinery works in Burton on Trent, the third is the line into Burton Power Station.

 

Brendan

 

 

[Rivercider]

14 minutes ago, eastglosmog said:

I don't think this is now visible.  It is remains of the Penlee railway on the coast just west of Newlyn exposed by a severe storm back in 2014:

 

Unless some work has been done in the last couple of years then it will still be visible.

We walked from Penzance to Mousehole in  July 2019, this was the view then.

 

 

Near Newlyn harbour. 1/7/2019

 

cheers