Do Any Of You Live Near A Disused Line?

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by rogue909, Jan 25, 2021.

  1. rogue909

    rogue909 New Member

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    I decided to have a look at track the line that runs past the power station near my home, what I've discovered so far is pretty interesting. It's over 100 years old but parts of it are still in use now and it seems to have become part of the Trans Pennine trail!

    https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Warrington_and_Altrincham_Junction_Railway

    Fiddlers Ferry had a station - which is near the powerstation not too far from me.
    http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/f/fidler's_ferry_&_penketh/index.shtml

    Sankey Bridges also had one - about a mile from my home.
    http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/sankey_bridges/index.shtml

    and Latchford had one - seems to be the same line.
    http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/l/latchford/index.shtml
     
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  2. Phil78

    Phil78 Active Member

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    When I was a nipper, I used to live in an area of Lymm called Statham and our house backed on to this line. It was still in use well into the mid 1980's, with coal trains on their way to Fiddler's often banging to a halt at the bottom of the garden just short of the Lymm signal box. Although partially demolished, Lymm station was still there on the Whitbarrow Rd crossing (and was great for making dens), as was the recently demolished Lymm hotel, which had the claim to fame of hosting the Brazilian football team for the '66 World Cup.
    In later years, I started my first post school job at a pub called The Crown up on Booths Hill Rd and every morning an older chap called Les would pop in for a couple of pints on his way back from a spot of shopping down in Lymm village. Les was one of the old signalmen who worked the box and would take great pride in telling the tale of how Pele (yes, THAT Pele!) just randomly turned up at the top of the steps for the box one evening and helped Les operate the levers in the signal box late into the night.

    As old Les told it, Pele had been fascinated by the trains, but had been regularly woken up by the sound of the trains passing the hotel. Awoken by the sound of a train stopping across the road and unable to get back to sleep one evening, he decided to sneak out of the hotel, head down to the crossing that sat between the hotel and the station and walk the 10 or so yards up the track to the box to chat with the operator about trains. Now Les could talk the hind legs off a donkey and he was always very enthusiastic about his work on the lines, so I imagine that if there was any truth to the story, he'd have kept Pele there for hours, showing him how the box operated and letting him get to grips with the levers (pull fully intended). That being said though and although Brazil's stay at the Lymm hotel is well documented, his story about Pele being kept awake and sneaking out for a chat with the signalman was always taken with a pinch of salt...until some years after leaving the pub, the local rag ran this story:

    https://www.warringtonguardian.co.u...l-star-pele-stayed-in-lymm-at-1966-world-cup/

    With one paragraph mentioning how the players were kept awake by the sound of the trains, it does tie in somewhat with the story that Les used to take great pride in telling me (very regularly!), so there may well be more to old Les' story than the tall tales of a signalman working the box on a late, lonely night.

    [EDITED] A handful of visual references:

    Lymm station when it was still operational, with the large building on the left of the picture being the Lymm Hotel.
    https://thelymmarchive.co.uk/archiv...-hotel-and-lymm-railway-station-from-the-air?

    The Les' signal box.
    https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2013/post-6662-0-45403100-1357725111.jpg

    The partially demolished station as I remember it from 'me yoof'.
    http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/l/lymm/lymm5.jpg

    From the opposite direction.
    https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2013/post-6662-0-60687100-1357725120_thumb.jpg

    How the crossing looks today - remains of the station long gone. A ranger's cabin for the Trans-Pennine Trail now stands on the site, just visible behind the tree line.
    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Lymm_Railway_Station.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2021
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  3. SonicScott91

    SonicScott91 Well-Known Member

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    When I was a lot younger we lived in the house that my Dad grew up in. At the end of the garden, below was a small cutting with a footpath running through it.

    Years later, I found out that this cutting was part of the original Severn Valley branch. It would’ve carried on through small villages eventually reaching Ironbridge and then Bridgnorth, where the heritage Severn Valley Railway still operates on.

    My Dad, when he was younger would hang around the line, watching the run down ex-GWR locos and early generation BR DMUs pass by. He also used to go to the nearby MPD in Coleham and watch locos moving around, ride the turntable or play in the tenders. Some workers would try and chase him away while others were more lenient so long as nobody caused trouble. Health & Safety would have a field day with that now.

    Most of the branch in Shrewsbury town is now footpath but if you walk along it, there are still hints that a railway used to be there. Some of the bridges still stand heading away from town with the brickwork still blackened by the steamers that passed underneath. The footpath ends on the edge of town and comes out onto the road where a new housing estate sits opposite but if you carry on along toward Bridgnorth in a car, you can still easily make out the old railway embankment in places where the road runs along the old line. There’s also a few remnants of overhead bridges along the way.

    The old Coleham depot was complete demolished with no hint remaining of it ever existing but a newer, smaller depot was built opposite the original’s site. It was built only to house the 4 class 97/3 locos, refurbished class 37’s, fitted with ERTMS systems.
     
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  4. formulabee#1362

    formulabee#1362 Well-Known Member

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    Stour valley line- Sudbury to Cambridge. The nearest stop on this line is marks tey
     
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  5. Gilly

    Gilly Well-Known Member

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    The CKP- Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith suffered the fate of many in the 70's. Such short-sightedness.
     
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  6. TinTin_57

    TinTin_57 Well-Known Member

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    I live fairly near to the Preston-Longridge disused branch. see details here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_and_Longridge_Railway

    Most of it is now a nice walk but when I was a kid the line still had the odd freight train running to the old Cortaulds factory at Red Scar.

    There is also the quite well known Miley Tunnel at Deepdale reputedly haunted by the Bannister Doll (a ghost of some notoriety in Preston).
    There is an interesting Youtube on the line and the Miley Tunnel as it is now here:-
     
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  7. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    I lived in Fishburn and live in Chilton- both County Durham (ex) pit villages that used to have rail connections. The line through Chilton (literally- it crossed the main road by the Library) ran from a colliery near Middleston, crossed the ECML at a place known locally as Linger and Die and connected to what was originally the Clarance Railway. A spur, that would have crossed the road at the end of my terrace, served Chilton pit and the workshops where the NCB serviced its steam engines. The site is now a small industrial estate with the road up to it on the track bed.
     
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  8. KiwiLE

    KiwiLE Well-Known Member

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    I used to live in a large village on the "Beeching victim" Lancaster Green Ayre to Wennington Jn - Settle Jn line.
    The other spur from Carnforth to Wennington Jn was kept open and the line is hardly used and there are no main population centres on it, one of the more stupid line closures from that era!

    TinTin_57 I remember Warrington men used to take the Deepdale coal down there in the early '90s.
     
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  9. tubefan1973

    tubefan1973 Well-Known Member

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    I live adjacent to where the Woodhead Line once was.
     
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  10. Bryer

    Bryer Well-Known Member

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    I live on the route of the old Kelvedon & Tollesbury Light railway.

    Wikpedia
     
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  11. Clumsy Pacer

    Clumsy Pacer Well-Known Member

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    Until I moved out for Uni this year, I lived near to the Sunderland-Hartlepool/Durham via Murton line, which closed to passengers in 1952, and closed completely to freight trains in 1993. The area had a lot of coal mines which the line served. They gradually closed in the 1980s and 90s, with Murton being the last to go in 1991. From then the line would simply export coal yet to be exported, which took another 2 years. I was building it in TS1 - will have to dig it up and continue :D

    My parents still live there.
     
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  12. tallboy7648

    tallboy7648 Well-Known Member

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    I live in Chelsea which is a neighborhood in the New York City Borough Of Manhattan and right across the street from me is the famous Highline which was a abandoned rail line converted to a park. I go there all the time
     
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  13. JP_4468

    JP_4468 Member

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    Yes I do I live very near the former South Staffs line, that ran from Lichfield City through to Dudley. My home town I believe was the only town on the line to have two stations, and both was operated by two different companies.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Staffordshire_line

    and a cab ride on one of the last trains to run the line a class 46 in 1984
     
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  14. Nick Y

    Nick Y Well-Known Member

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    There's quite a few abandoned lines near where I live that were built and operated by several railway companies.
    Great Northern Railway (GNR)

    Adwalton Junction
    to Wakefield via Howden Clough, Batley Upper, Batley GN, Chickenley Heath, Ossett, Flushdyke and Alverthorpe.
    GNR took over this route in 1865 from the Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds Railway (BW&LR).
    Wrenthorpe South Jct to Flushdyke opened: 7th April 1862
    Adwalton Jct to Batley opened: 1st August 1864
    Line fully opened: 15th December 1864
    Closed to passengers: 7th September 1964
    Closed to freight: 1st May 1972

    Ossett (Runtlings Lane Jct) to Batley via Earlsheaton, Dewsbury Central and Batley Carr.
    Runtlings Lane to Dewsbury Jct opened: 1st May 1874 (freight) and 9th September 1874 (passenger)
    Dewsbury Jct to Batley opened: 12th April 1880
    Closed to passengers: 7th September 1964
    Closed to freight: 15th February 1965
    Runtlings Lane to Dewsbury Jct section (including 1 tunnel) is now a footpath/cycleway from Ossett to Dewsbury.

    Lancashire and Yorkshire (L&YR)

    Crigglestone Junction
    (Barnsley to Wakefield line) to Horbury and Ossett (Calder Valley Main Line)
    A short length of track at under 2 miles but has some interesting landmarks. The route passes an old coal dump at the Crigglestone end of Blacker Lane (under the Blacker Lane bridge, tracks are still visible crossing the road from the Caphouse Colliery branch). There's also a tunnel and a steel bridge over the canal just after the tunnel.
    Until recently this line could be explored from both ends and I have walked it several times but now access is restricted by overgrown plants (Horbury end) and large boulders at the Crigglestone end (land still owned by coal companies).
    The Royal Train was also stored on this line at times.
    Opened: 1st July 1902 (passengers) and March 2nd 1902 (freight)
    Closed: September 1961 (passenger) and February 1991 (freight).
    After the line closed, both ends were disconnected from the routes they linked.

    Another closed line in this area was the Royston to Dewsbury Saville Town goods line. This includes 2 stone viaducts still standing at Crigglestone/Calder Grove (A636 passes underneath) and Horbury Bridge (A642 passes underneath) and the Crigglestone tunnel. There are a few other small viaducts between Horbury Bridge and Saville Town but they can barely be seen. None of these are accessible to the public now and have been gated off to prevent vandalism and accidents. At the Netherton side of the Horbury Bridge viaduct, a new housing estate has been built. The line further down from Crigglestone tunnel passes Newmillerdam and heads to Royston. This part of the line is now a footpath and cycleway.

    I used Lost Railways West Yorkshire for reference
    I gave these lines as they are the closest to me.
     
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  15. Thunderer

    Thunderer Well-Known Member

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    Screenshot 2021-02-04 221103.png Hi Rogue - I'm from St Helens, there are tons of disused stations in our area, not least the Runcorn Gap

    http://disused-stations.org.uk/r/runcorn_gap/index.shtml

    I don't know if you know the Sutton area of St Helens at all, but the Morrisons Supermarket there is built on the the old Sutton Oak depot and the store has many large paintings of the old depot by the checkouts, well done to Morrisons for keeping this bit of history visible.

    The Runcorn Gap railway used to cross the Liverpool-Manchester mainline in Sutton via Intersection Bridge, which was the world's first bridge carrying a railway over another railway.
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2021
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  16. fizpix

    fizpix Well-Known Member

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    Oh asheville has the s line which is barely used any more due to NS idling a hump yard
     
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  17. Doomotron

    Doomotron Well-Known Member

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    I live near Folkestone and Dover, which are known for having a number of disused lines, most notably the Dover Western Docks branch and the iconic Folkestone Harbour Branch.
     
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  18. Blacknred81

    Blacknred81 Well-Known Member

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    While this isn't near where I live, I am currently working nearby, and got off early enough today to take a nice walk along the old Westside Lumber Company's Rail line near Tuolumne California. Only got so far before I had to turn back due to the setting sun.
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  19. ixofxiii

    ixofxiii Well-Known Member

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    So I live in Rockaway, Queens, NY and the A subway line runs on what use to be LIRR before 1954. When traveling towards Brooklyn and Manhattan, the line merges with another branch of the A line, turning west. But the RoW continues north unused since 1962. It's about a 20 min ride to it from me. Currently, that's the only one near me. Growing up in the Bronx, I only had an old RR station near me (Westchester Ave on the New Haven-now the NEC).
     
  20. Geth_2234

    Geth_2234 Well-Known Member

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    I live near the old Wenvoe tunnel in Cardiff which was part of the old Barry railway which opened in 1889 and then closed in March 1963, it was mainly used as a freight line to carry coal from Barry docks to the coal fields in north Wales but later a passenger service also ran day excursions from rhymney to Barry island. The tunnel itself which is around a mile long and is one of the last remaining remanents of the line as the majority has either been built on or covered over there was also previously a viaduct adjacent to the north portal of the tunnel but I believe this was removed to now house the M4 link road. To this day the tunnel now houses the main water main into Barry but it is still possible to access the tunnel but this best done during the summer as it regularly floods during the winter months and after heavy rainfall.
     
  21. Mr heff

    Mr heff Well-Known Member

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    My towns line was shut down in the 70s, very interesting though. It's now buried under a supermarket carpark and there's a half mile long tunnel that's just sitting abandoned and covered under the town.
     
  22. hibiki

    hibiki Well-Known Member

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    There used to be the branch line from Darwen to Hoddlesden, although nothing seems left of it. Also Accrington to Baxenden is a walkway and the back of Helmshore.
     
  23. Tank621

    Tank621 Well-Known Member

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    Manchester is full of old lines and stations, been to the old sites of several to go spotting. There are the old bridges around too, the old Great Northern Viaduct that served the Warehouse near Manchester Central was one I visited. The old Bury branch from Vic is another, though that line like many others is now part of Metrolink. Then of course there are the old Trafford Park lines, they criss-cross most of the area around the dock. Honestly, Manchester is a treasure trove of old railway and tram infrastructure once you start looking.
     
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  24. driverwoods#1787

    driverwoods#1787 Well-Known Member

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    I do live near the Abandoned CRRNJ Main Line Phillipsburg to Bloomsbury segment. Service on the part of that line was in 1983
     
  25. fabdiva

    fabdiva Well-Known Member

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    A few of the disused lines around me are now foot or cycle paths. Given the low population I can see why the lines died off, still they are good to cycle!
     
  26. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Not far from here is the disused railyard at Fort Lee, which during WW2 was the largest yard in the world. All abandoned now. I used to be able to get in with my Dad (retired military), but no more.
     

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