|
|
NEWS
2015
|
Above:
On
the face of it, these preserved Bedford OBs have nothing to do with
old railways … but they do. They are KJH 731, which was new
to Kirby's of Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, in 1949, and GDL 667, which
was new to Paul's Tours of Ryde, Isle of Wight, in 1950. These vehicles
are now operated by Alexcars of Cirencester, who will provide one
of them for a club event on Saturday 18th April organised jointly
by the South & West Midlands and South Western groups. This will
feature elements of road, water and rail, comprising in a ride in
a Bedford OB, a walk along part of the Thames & Severn Canal (including
the Cirencester branch), and finally a walk along part of the Midland
& South Western Junction Railway. 19th December 2014. (Jeff Vinter) |
'Flying
High' by Graeme Bickerdike. We recommend this fascinating
and beautifully filmed documentary
about disused viaducts in the north of England. A number of these
structures, including Bennerley, Conisbrough, Hewenden and Torksey,
all belong to Railway Paths Ltd, which works with sister charity Sustrans
to open them up for re-use as part of trackbed-based
multi-use trails. This is sanity-restoring viewing for those occasions
when the TV schedules induce profound despair. Click here
for another interesting 'short', also by Graeme, about the work of
Railway Paths Ltd. |
December
2015. England. On 19th November, Sustrans launched the
charity's latest campaign to influence the UK government to provide
funding for walking and cycling in England (outside
London) from April 2016, when the Local Sustainable Transport
Fund comes to an end. Decisions about how the Department for Transport
will allocate its funds are taking place right now, so people
need to write to their MPs and tell them how important it is that
funding for walking and cycling continues. To accompany the
campaign, Sustrans has released a media story (click here)
which highlights the fact that MPs want to see more spent on cycling.
We expect that the MPs' view has been influenced by the rising number
of accidents and fatalities affecting cyclists on the UK's roads,
which should be generating calls for action from their constituents.
RoSPA's 2013 statistics for cyclist accidents can be viewed here;
the 2014 figures are not yet available. (Sustrans Ltd)
December 2015. Hamworthy
to Hamworthy Goods, Dorset. On the very last day of the year, news
arrived that the new bridge over the Hamworthy freight line was
finally complete and open for business. Pat Bullock, Chairman of
the Friends of Hamworthy Park (which can now be reached easily),
said: 'It's a nice bridge and it's nice to have it finished after
all these years and all the promises. A lot of people have already
used it and are well chuffed with it.' (Trust the journalist from
the Bournemouth Echo to pick up a remark like that in connection
with a railway bridge!) The new crossing is already proving popular
with residents, which is hardly surprising: Hamworthy Park is an
attractive facility in a scenic waterside location. (Tim Chant)
December
2015. Keswick to Threlkeld, Cumbria. Flood water from Storm
Desmond has washed away one of the distinctive bowstring girder
bridges on this popular part of NCN71. Within days, Sustrans was
working on a temporary diversion, although the charity recommends
that walkers and cyclists avoid this route pro tem. (One
has only to look at photographs of the damage on social media to
see why this is a good idea.) We hope that, in due course, the bridge
will be replaced, as happened with the Navvies Bridge in nearby
Workington – the original of which fell victim to similar
flooding in 2009. (Mike Knight and Jeff Vinter)
December 2015. Bangor
to Carmarthen, Wales. Possibly encouraged by Scotland's Borders
Railway, the Trawslink Cymru (TRAWS) project to link Bangor and
Carmarthen via Afon Wen, the Cambrian Coast line, Aberystwyth and
Lampeter is gaining momentum after the recent publication of the
'Scoping Study for Phase I (Aberystwyth to Carmarthen)' commissioned
by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). The study revealed the cost
might be in the range £500-£750 million despite 97%
of the 56 miles of trackbed being clear of development. Two major
issues are the possible need for a tunnelled southern approach to
Aberystwyth (to avoid several houses built on the trackbed near
Trefechan) and a long deviation north of Carmarthen to avoid the
Gwili Railway (which occupies the trackbed for several miles) and
to improve the low speed alignment. Even so, the proposed end result
appears to be akin to the present Heart of Wales line with a line
speed of just 50 mph though far fewer intermediate stations. Click
here
to read the study. If this rail link is re-established, it could
mean the loss of two popular and scenic rail trails: Lôn Eifion
from Caernarfon to Bryncir, and The Ystwyth Trail from Aberystwyth
to Tregaron. On the other hand, it would make for a very scenic
railway journey. (Chris Parker)
December 2015. Wales.
Sustrans has now supplied detailed reports to the Welsh Assembly
on two major tunnel re-use schemes:
Collectively, 12 tunnels were
found to be unsuitable for use on trails but 5 were deemed suitable
for other use, while 5 were described as looking 'promising' as
potential future walking and cycling routes. These last 5 were Abernant
(between Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare), Tregarth (at Bethesda), Pennar
(at Pontllanfrath) , Usk and – most significantly –
the huge tunnel at Rhondda. The existence of high quality connecting
routes either side of a tunnel was an important factor in these
evaluations. In passing, we believe that Tregarth Tunnel is already
open as part of the NCN trail from Bangor to Bethesda, as reported
in March 2013. (Gwyn Smith, Sustrans Ltd)
December 2015. Rossendale,
Greater Manchester. On the hills above Rossendale, there is some
20 miles of trackbed walking along various disused tramways which
used to serve local stones quarries; these provided the building
materials for many 19th century mills in the area. but the stone
was so strong that many other uses were found for it, including
as kerbstones, road-setts, flagstones and engine beds. Most of the
quarries ceased to operate between the two World Wars, but most
of their trackbeds have been incorporated into the local rights
of way network. Full details of the tramways, quarries and inclines
will be found at www.valleyofstone.org.uk/journey/heritagesites/.
(Mark Jones)
December 2015. Newton
Abbot to Heathfield, Devon. What future awaits this 4 mile stub
of the former branch line to Moretonhampstead now? The December
edition of 'Rail Express' magazine reported the branch as now 'devoid
of traffic'. An HST chartered by the Branch Line Society made two
runs over it on Saturday 10th October this year, but these could
be the last train movements of all. (Paul Stewart)
Update: The
January 2016 issue of 'Tramways & Urban Transit' (p. 31) includes
this short report about the branch: 'A passenger service using
Parry People Mover technology is proposed for the … Newton
Abbot to Heathfield branch … subject to £100,000 being
raised for a feasibility study'. It continues with a description
of the Stourbridge Junction to Town arrangements, and the track
access agreement for any future freight operations; 'a facility
[which at Heathfield] Network Rail wishes to maintain'. (Keith
Holliday)
November 2015. Hamworthy
to Hamworthy Goods, Dorset. Further to our report
in March this year, the Borough of Poole has produced some good
photographs of the new Hamworthy Bridge and its components arriving
on site and being craned into position; The Bournemouth Echo has
published a couple of them on its website here.
The bridge will span the mothballed freight line from Poole Harbour
and should open before the end of the year. Also, if Poole Harbour
Commissioners have their way, freight could yet return to the rails.
(Tim Chant)
November 2015. Near
Balquhidder to Craggan, Central (Stirling). In the past, the club
has publicised an ex-railway route from Balquhidder to Glenoglehead
which follows the start of the Crieff branch for half a mile, but
then ascends a zigzag path to gain the trackbed of the higher Balquhidder-Crianlarich
line. Our correspondent has pointed out that this is the lower route
between Balquhidder and Glenoglehead, and that a higher alternative
exists which starts at NN 575214 and leads to the top of the zigzag
at NN 584233 above Craggan, a distance of 1½ miles. He writes:
'Visitors unfamiliar with the Scottish Highlands shouldn't be deterred
by the formidable gates on this section; they are the height they
are in order to be effective against deer, and all open very easily.
Signs requiring dogs to be kept on leads indicate that walkers are
expected, and with a surface that is suitable for estate vehicles
the route is cyclable with a mountain bike. For cyclists, this upper
route has the advantage of a more even gradient with avoidance of
the zigzags and undulating sections on the non-railway parts of
the lower option, but at the expense of having to dismount to operate
gates. For everybody, though, the big plus is that it is 100% trackbed!'
(Keith Potter)
November 2015. Lyne
to Peebles, Borders. We have learned recently that the 2¼
mile trail from Lyne to Neidpath Bridge, which re-uses part of the
Caledonian Railway's former line from Symington to Peebles, has
been extended through the curved and unlit South Park Tunnel to
the south western edge of Peebles before housing encroaches on the
trackbed. The Grade B listed tunnel is 600 yards long but the curve
means that no light can be seen from the other end, so anyone planning
to walk through requires a powerful torch. The end points of the
trail are now NT 209401 at Lyne and NT 244403 near South Park Crescent
in west Peebles, which brings the length of the whole up to 2¾
miles. On arrival at Peebles, by diverting through streets around
the site of the former Caledonian Railway's station (situated at
NT 250403 but now built over), one can follow a further section
of trackbed, now a tarmacced path, which uses the old railway bridge
under the A7062 and continues along the south bank of the River
Tweed as far as the former river bridge at NT 254402; its loss causes
no hardship thanks to the 1905 Priorsford suspension bridge, which
leads across to the north bank. The CR's Symington-Peebles branch
is included in the Upper Tweed Railway Path Project, part-financed
by the Scottish Government and the EC, which David Gray and John
Grimshaw are working on; their 2013 interim report can be viewed
here.
(Keith Potter) |
|
Above:
A view looking east along the old Caledonian Railway's trackbed
from Muirkirk towards Glenbuck and Lanark. This is an old trackbed
pretty much au naturel, for the establishment of the path
– from a physical as opposed to negotiating point of view –
seems to have required only that the trackbed was declared open to
walkers! For further details, see the story below. 20th August 2007.
(Elliott Simpson, used under the terms of this Creative
Commons licence) |
November
2015. Upper Wellwood to Muirkirk and Glenbuck Loch, Strathclyde
(East Ayrshire). Thanks to the River Ayr Way, one can now walk just
under 5 miles of the old railway through Muirkirk, where branches
of the Caledonian and Glasgow & South Western Railways used
to meet at an end-on junction. The on-trackbed section starts at
grid reference NS 675254 and continues to NS 750287, although there
is a ¾ mile detour around Muirkirk golf course and Kames
Motorsport Circuit, west of the town's station site (NS 696266).
The trail ends at Glenbuck Loch, which is the source of the river.
The River Ayr Way is promoted as one of Scotland's Long Distance
Walks, so obviously has been designed for walkers only. (Keith Potter)
November 2015.
Southcote Junction to Coley Park Goods, Reading, Berkshire. It is
a pleasant surprise to be able to report a railway walk in Berkshire,
a county with very few such facilities, although it sounds as if
this is a railway path more by common usage than official design.
The trackbed in question runs from near Southcote Junction (grid
reference SU 699719) to Coley Park Goods (SU 715731). Access at
the Southcote Junction end is via a public footpath which heads
west from Wensley Road at SU 699719. Within ca. 40 yards, the footpath
crosses the trackbed which can then be followed on a long curve
south of Reading as far as the A33 at SU 712721, a distance of just
under a mile. It takes a little bit of 'weaving' to get from the
A33 to Coley Park Goods (click here),
but the walk is not without interest and ends up adjacent to the
attractive Kennet & Avon Canal. (Alan Monk)
November 2015. Scotland.
Our correspondent has delved into the recent archives of RR Scotland
and supplied the following details of several routes not previously
featured by the club:
- Biggar to Broughton, Borders
(South Lanarkshire). This 5 mile trail, once part of the Symington,
Biggar & Broughton Railway, runs from grid reference NT 043372
to NT 112360. You can access the start via a track off Boghall
Road, Biggar, which starts at NT 038370 and heads east. This isn't
the most interesting of railway walks, with few relics, structures
or even substantial earthworks, but Biggar Water (a burn) is to
blame, for the railway followed its shallow valley. At the west
end, the route is used by farm vehicles, but it should be 'cyclable'
throughout on a mountain bike. The Heritage Paths website includes
a useful description here.
- Arbroath (St. Vigeans)
to Colliston, Tayside (Angus). This 2¾ mile trail, known
as St. Vigeans Nature Trail and part of the Arbroath path network,
runs from NO 639424 to NO 619459, which is the site of the former
Colliston station. It is not surfaced but should be manageable
for all but the most highly-strung road bikes. It may well be
good for horses too, but riders would need to persuade their steeds
to pass through narrow anti-motorbike barriers. Apart from a very
short section at St. Vigeans, it is true to the trackbed throughout.
- Callander (Bridge of Keltie)
to Drumvaich, Central (Stirling). Despite local hopes of a rail
trail from Callander to Doune (dashed, perhaps, by Stirling Council's
poor record on providing rural cycleways), 1¾ miles of
this line are accessible between NN 649069 and NN 668049. This
section of the old railway served for many years as the haul road
for a now apparently closed gravel quarry at Cambusbeg, and is
now used mainly for forestry access. Signs warning of various
forestry-related hazards suggest that the public are welcome to
use the route. It is dead straight for almost the entire length
and is easy going for walkers and cyclists, although perhaps less
so for horse riders due to the hard surface. At the eastern end,
one can exit the quarry to the nearby A84. A little to the south
east was the non-passenger crossing station of Drumvaich where
the stone building, which combined staff housing with a signal
box, has been sympathetically restored as a holiday cottage; it
is worth seeing.
The following short paths include
interesting viaducts, which make them worth a visit:
- Cumnock to Logan, Strathclyde
(East Ayrshire). This trail of just over a mile runs from NS 573195
to NS 588203. At the eastern end, the 13 arch Cumnock Viaduct
can be seen clearly from the train when travelling on the Kilmarnock-Dumfries
line.
- Dunure (north end) to Fisherton
(south end), Strathclyde (East Ayrshire). This ¼ mile route
includes Dunure Viaduct at NS 260164, an early reinforced concrete
structure comprising a girder deck on concrete piers, which seems
to be the only viaduct extant of several which once graced the
former Ayr-Turnberry-Girvan line. The trail runs from NS 257160
to ca. NS 261164, where it exits west over a stile to the nearby
A719. Several websites refer to it being part of the Ayrshire
Coastal Path.
Given Scotland's generous access
rights, more old trackbeds can be explored there than anywhere else
in the UK, but the above routes are ones used by the general public
for recreational purposes, as evidenced by such things as signs
and waymarks, surface quality, stiles, kissing gates, easy-to-operate
gates, wayside seating, sculptures and interpretive displays, and
– above all – lack of flooding or thick undergrowth.
(Keith Potter)
November 2015. Nationwide.
The re-opening in September of the northernmost 30½ miles
of the former Waverley route has prompted the Campaign for Better
Transport to call for more old lines around the UK to be re-opened
in order to improve the rail network generally and provide alternatives
to ever greater car use. The CBT's latest 'wish list' is as follows:
|
1. |
Ashington-Blyth-Newcastle |
|
7. |
Leicester-Burton-on-Trent |
|
2. |
Portishead-Bristol |
|
8. |
Fleetwood-Preston |
|
3. |
Stourbridge-Walsall-Lichfield |
|
9. |
Wisbech-March |
|
4. |
The Leamside Line (County
Durham) |
|
10. |
Totton-Hythe |
|
5. |
Lewes-Uckfield |
|
11. |
East-West Rail Link |
|
6. |
Skipton-Colne |
|
12. |
Bere Alston-Tavistock-Okehampton |
This list includes the whole
gamut of ex-passenger-railway states from popular rail trail (much
of route 12) to operational freight line (route 10) via incipient
jungle (the west end of route 2). The CBT says that all of these
lines have a strong economic and social case for re-opening, the
last of them being Network Rail's preferred option for an alternative
route from Exeter to Plymouth and Cornwall which avoids the troublesome
sea wall at Dawlish. Route 5 is another important one given that
the Southern Railway has warned Network Rail that the Brighton Main
Line will have reached capacity by 2020: Lewes-Uckfield is seen
as part of a future 'BML2'. (Jeff Vinter) |
|
Above:
Here's a view which, thanks to a luxuriant growth of trees
and shrubs, hasn't been seen clearly for decades: the Somerset and
Dorset Railway's viaduct over the London-Bristol main line just
west of Oldfield Park station. While the trackbed beneath the viaduct
is being lowered (see story below), this view is definitely not
accessible to any member of the public because it is within the
secured construction site. However, our photographer got chatting
to a young rail engineer in a 'hi vis' jacket who kindly agreed
to take some photos from a much better angle than could be obtained
from the adjacent road; this is the best of them. The two
side arches of the S&D viaduct will be filled with concrete
before the central arch is knocked out and replaced with a higher
profile one, allowing sufficient clearance for the electric wires
underneath. The trackbed will be lowered but not by as much as NR
would like because lowering it too much would cause gauging and
track profile problems at the platforms of nearby Oldfield Park
station. 10th
November 2015. (Matt Skidmore) |
November
2015. Bath, Somerset. The former Somerset & Dorset Railway's
viaduct over the Bath-Bristol main line west of Bath, which runs parallel
to suburban Bellotts Road, is currently closed despite having been
opened as recently as 21st March last year as part of the Two Tunnels
Trail from Bath to Midford. The viaduct was refurbished by Network
Rail, which had expected to replace it with a new, higher one when
the overhead electric wires were installed on the line below; but
now it is lowering the trackbed instead, as it has done recently through
Brunel's famous Box Tunnel, and not surprisingly the old S&D viaduct
has been closed while this work takes place. The NR signage nearby
unhelpfully fails to provide a time estimate for the works and reads
as follows: 'Great Western Route Modernisation. We're working to preserve
the spirit of Brunel's railway whilst modernising the Great Western
mainline (sic) and bringing it into the 21st century.' Our guess is
that the viaduct will be closed for a couple of months, but one can
never tell with NR– it could be a lot longer. Bellotts Road,
just a few yards away, provides a convenient detour, but includes
what for walkers and cyclists is a rather dangerous single carriageway
bridge; and it's a listed one too, as if NR didn't have enough complications
at this site already. On a related subject, anyone who travelled around
the west country this summer in one of First Great Western's massively
overcrowded two-coach DMUs might wonder how those units 'preserve
the spirit of Brunel's railway', but FGW's project to re-invent itself
as the 21st century Great Western Railway promises all sorts of improvements
– including extra capacity on trains. It's about time. (Matt
Skidmore and Jeff Vinter) |
|
Above:
A photograph of the old trackbed between Embankment Road
and almost Bembridge station site on the Isle of Wight (see
story below). The local Ordnance Survey maps show this trail as nothing
more than a disused railway, but in fact it does have public access
thanks to its forming part of the RSPB's Brading Marshes Nature Reserve.
27th October 2015. (Brian Loughlin) |
November
2015. Brading to Bembridge, Isle of Wight. When you're
next on the Isle of Wight and fancy a walk along the old trackbed
that heads off from near Brading station in a north easterly direction
across the flood plain of the River Yar, don't stop when you reach
Carpenters Road (the B3330) on the west side of St. Helens. If you
walk through St. Helens via Carpenters Road, Upper Green Road and
Station Road, a further section of the old Bembridge branch can
be walked to the south of Embankment Road, Bembridge, between grid
references SZ 631885 and SZ 640884. It's only half a mile long but
has permissive access thanks to its being part of the RSPB's Brading
Marshes Nature Reserve; it is shown clearly on the RSPB's Brading
Marshes Trail leaflet which, curiously, does not appear to be available
on the RPBB website. (Jeff Vinter and Brian Loughlin)
November
2015. Great Elm to Frome, Somerset. Colliers Way, part
of NCN24, currently connects Radstock West with Great Elm via a
railway path which runs alongside the still in situ rails
of this former GWR branch line. East of Great Elm (or more specifically
Hapsford Junction), the rails remain in place but operational as
part of the freight line from Whatley Quarry. Local campaign group
'Frome's Missing Link' has been working for several years to extend
Colliers Way into Frome town centre, and they have just achieved
a significant breakthrough with Network Rail agreeing to issue a
licence to run part of the 'missing link' alongside their operational
single track freight line. FML says: 'Once we have the licence,
the first use of our funds will be to erect the high specification
fence they [NR] require between their track and our path. Their
health and safety regulations require this is done by a contractor
they have approved. Once done we can get on, remove the rest of
the track [i.e. between Great Elm and Hapsford Junction], clear
vegetation and start construction. Without further delays we should
be able to get a walkable path through to Elliotts Lane [ST 760498]
by the spring [of 2016]'. That will reduce the length of the 'missing
link' to just under a mile since the eastern end, from Low Water
(ST 771490) into Frome town centre and railway station, is already
in place. The continuing success of this project, in the face of
very significant difficulties, demonstrates what can be achieved
with good leadership and the support of a local community. (Frome's
Missing Link)
November
2015. Ashburton, Devon. We first reported on the fight
to preserve the still extant Ashburton station in December last
year. The latest news is that the campaign to save the building
has scored a notable victory over Dartmoor National Park Authority,
thanks largely to the South Devon Railway Trust which pointed out
flaws in DNPA's planning process. Campaigners now hope to convince
the authority to protect the site permanently, and are warning local
residents that this really is the town's last opportunity to get
re-connected to the national rail network at Totnes. Given this
promising development, it is sad to report that, simultaneously,
DNPA has received a planning application to build 32 new 'residential
units' over the trackbed to the south of the station. Click the
link here
to find out more about this campaign. (Jeff Vinter)
November
2015. Darvel to Strathaven, Strathclyde (East Ayrshire).
A recent walk by RR Scotland found a waymarked path on the short-lived
Darvel & Strathaven Railway, near to its western extremity,
which runs from Darvel to just short of the site of Loudounhill
(sic) station. The path starts from a missing bridge at grid reference
NS 573378 which crosses the minor road that leads past Darvel Cemetery,
then follows the trackbed for about 1½ miles to the very
end of an embankment where a high 3-span girder bridge on sandstone
piers (the latter still standing) once crossed a minor road to the
south west of the iconic Loudoun Hill. (This is about 300 yards
short of the former Loudounhill station, which was beyond a further
demolished viaduct.) At the end of the embankment, steep ramps lead
down to the road, bringing the railway part of the route to an end
at NS 599376. There is a short section near the eastern end of the
path where the marked route follows the south edge of a deep and
rather wet cutting, but the trackbed is still walkable if preferred,
although the official route provides much better views. The only
other interruption is one missing small underbridge where the path
descends to ground level. The surface is earth/grass throughout.
There are good stiles at all fences, waymark posts in the few locations
where confusion might arise, and at the Darvel end it is signposted
for 'Loudoun Hill'. Of note are many fine sandstone and blue brick
culverts that take minor burns beneath the embankment sections.
The route is suitable for walkers but could not be negotiated by
wheelchair users, etc. (Keith Potter)
November
2015. Treherbert to Port Talbot, Mid Glamorgan/West Glamorgan.
Further to our reports in April and March,
Welsh Assembly Member Bethan Jenkins (Plaid Cymru) has called for
control of the Rhondda Tunnel to be transferred to the Welsh Government,
claiming that it would 'bring the decision-making process closer
to the people it will affect'. She has written to Welsh Transport
Minister, Edwina Hart, and Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick
McLoughlin, urging both to work together to transfer ownership of
the tunnel to Wales. The tunnel currently is owned by the Historic
Railways Estate (HRE) of the former Highways Agency. It is a safe
bet that the HRE would be pleased to divest itself of such a large
disused structure – though it will not be disused for long
if the local Rhondda Tunnel Society achieves its objective of getting
it re-opened for walkers and cyclists in order to provide access
from Treherbert to the network of railway-based trails in the Afan
Valley. (Tim Chant)
November
2015. Chichester to Midhurst, West Sussex. For nearly 20
years, a multi use trail called Centurion Way has existed on the
disused trackbed between Chichester and Lavant, extended more recently
about 1½ miles north to Binderton. Now the trail has been
extended still further, to just short of the south portal of West
Dean Tunnel, thus bringing the length of the entire route to just
under 5½ miles. The West Dean Estate is responsible for this
latest extension, and hopes that the trail will encourage more visitors
to its house and gardens. The trail was expected to be open by now,
so presumably the delay is the result of some final planning, or
health and safety, issues. Years ago, the local authority aspired
to make the old railway part of a link from Chichester to the South
Downs Way, but it remains to be seen whether this will happen. Given
that passenger services over this branch ceased in 1935, and freight
services in 1951, it is remarkable that so much has been re-used.
(Phil Earnshaw and Jeff Vinter)
October
2015. Wells to Dulcote, Somerset. Further to our report
in August (click here), volunteers from the
Strawberry Line Association have now cleared the railway path from
Wells to Dulcote. Originally constructed to a width of 3.2 metres,
encroaching vegetation (and brambles in particular) had reduced
the width to less than a third of that, while in places soil had
built up to a depth of 7". All of this has now been removed,
restoring the trail to almost 'as built' condition. (Tim Chant)
October
2015. Consett to Washington, County Durham. Sustrans and
Railway Paths Ltd are now carrying out a three-year programme of
maintenance work to the structures along this 18 mile former railway
line, with completion set for spring 2018. The easiest maintenance
tasks are being attended to first, with the more complex ones (e.g.
those dependent on the results of detailed ecological surveys) coming
later. At Washington, the route continues east to Sunderland, but
this part is not based on an old railway. (Railway Paths Ltd)
October
2015. Princes Risborough to Thame, Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire.
Two miles before this popular route (part of NCN57) reaches Thame,
it crosses Cuttle Brook via an underbridge at grid reference SP
757043. Over the years, this bridge had deteriorated, but repair
work finally started in mid-August and should now be complete. (Railway
Paths Ltd)
October
2015. Marlborough, Wiltshire. Anyone riding south recently
on the railway path from Chiseldon will have noticed a lot of water
near one of the overbridges on the approach to Marlborough. The
culprit is a collapsed drain, which has been causing the path to
flood whenever it rains, and in the process has washed away the
surface. Sustrans now plans to excavate the path, renew the drain,
and repair the damaged surface; the cost of the work will be met
by funds raised from a nationwide appeal this January, which raised
money not just for this but also similar projects throughout the
UK. Regular readers of these pages will remember that, by April
this year, the Coalition Government had left no sources of funding
for path maintenance, which is essential to keep the National Cycle
Network in good order – and well used. (Sustrans Ltd)
October
2015. Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan (Bridgend County Borough).
Although the branch line from Pyle to Porthcawl
closed to passengers on 9th September 1963, it has not been forgotten,
for the town's Station Hill area now includes some visible reminders
of its railway past. Artist Nigel Talbot and landscape architect
Geoff Whittington have created a wooden sculpture to represent a
cluster of railway signals, and a paving scheme inlaid with coloured
stones to depict the many tracks and sidings that once filled the
site. The project was supported by Groundwork Wales, Porthcawl Shout
(a forum that speaks for the townspeople), Bridgend County Borough
Council and Porthcawl Town Council. (Tim Chant) |
|
Above:
This is a fairly recent photograph which clearly shows the
altered surface on the Meon Valley Trail (see story below). It looks
innocent enough, but possibly different material has been installed
outside the immediate environs of the old station; it looks as if
this might be the case to judge from our April photographs (click
here). Local residents are certainly
up in arms about it. 19th June 2015. (Brian Loughlin) |
October
2015. West Meon to Wickham, Hampshire. Following improvements
to the old Meon Valley railway line (see here
and here), now re-branded 'The
Meon Valley Trail', local residents are up in arms about the new
surface which they claim is 'extremely hard' with 'many of the stones
… large and angular, causing horses and dogs, as well as human
walkers, to experience considerable discomfort'. In fact, members
of the local community are throwing the book at Hampshire County
Council and the South Downs National Park Authority, claiming that
they did not consult with the local community; that they have overspent
public money; and that the work was unnecessary and required planning
permission. The project cost a hefty £400,000 but was the
most significant maintenance for decades, while the local authorities
have pointed out that, as maintenance, their works did not require
planning permission. Anyone who had walked this route outside high
summer would be unlikely to agree that the work was unnecessary,
and it is with good reason that this club described it as 'the most
neglected of [Hampshire's] railway paths'. The Meon Valley Railway
Line Users Group has now filed a complaint against HCC with the
Local Government Ombudsman, who is expected to report within 3 to
6 months. Meanwhile, a South Downs spokesperson said: 'We remain
committed to achieving a wonderful trail accessible to and enjoyed
by all'. Possibly the surface now needs some remedial attention,
but the trail was not 'wonderful' before, and looked more like a
neglected asset – a view reinforced by the minimal number
of other trail users seen over the years on a succession of club
walks up and down the line. (Tim Chant and Jeff Vinter)
October
2015. Ticknall to Calke, Derbyshire. According to the National
Trust's website, work on the final stage of its Derbyshire 'Tramway
Project' was completed in March 2014 to create a footpath and cycleway
between Calke and the Staunton Harold Estate. The tramway in question
is the Ticknall Tramway, which was actually a 12½ mile network
of tramways built to connect the brickyards, lime quarries and lime
yards of Ticknall with the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal. Built between
1802 and 1804, the tramway finally closed in 1915, although the
last train ran in May 1913. Following the NT's work, a new rail
trail of 2½ miles now exists from grid reference SK 355237
(near Ticknall) to SK 359208 (on Heath Lane near Heath End) via
Pottery House and White Hollows. Sports England and the Disability
Access Fund both gave £20,000 each to the project. To conserve
the underlying archaeology, a membrane was laid over the tramway
remains and the new path laid on top. (David Thompson)
October
2015. Lount, Leicestershire. A short railway path of a
quarter of a mile has come to light in rural Leicestershire. It
is situated near Lount and runs from grid reference SK 378189 (east
end) to SK 382190 (west end), where it veers north just short of
the B587 to share an exit with the drive to Lountwood Farm. The
Forestry Commission's website refers to a 'permissive path along
the old railway line' which links Bignall's Wood and Alastair's
Wood; the map here
provides details. This path was once part of the Midland Railway's
line from Melbourne to Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Moira and Burton-on-Trent;
it is very close to The Cloud Trail from Worthington to Swarkestone.
(David Thompson)
October
2015. Hallaton, Leicestershire. Another short path which
has come to light is a 200 yard trackbed-based link at Hallaton,
4 miles north east of Market Harborough. It runs from SP 794966
on Horninghold Road to an east-west public footpath at SP 794968.
This was part of the former joint Great Northern and London &
North Western line from Market Harborough to Bottesford via John
o'Gaunt – an attractive cross-country byway of which virtually
no part has been re-used as a trail. (David Thompson)
October
2015. Bennerley Viaduct, Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire. The
Heritage Lottery Fund has just approved an application from Sustrans
and Railway Paths for £40,000 for the following purposes:
- To raise awareness about
Bennerley Viaduct through self-guided walks, tours, exhibitions,
school sessions and interpretation;
- To work with volunteers
to improve the condition of the viaduct and its environs to bring
it into better condition;
- To conduct wildlife surveys,
and improve habitat management and ecological heritage; and
- To recruit staff and volunteers
and develop a 'Friends Group' to support the delivery of activities.
This stage of the process will
be branded 'Re-Discovering Bennerley Viaduct', with a larger HLF
application to follow in due course. As we reported in November
last year, this Grade II* listed viaduct 'stands at the heart of
a plan by Sustrans to construct a cycle path network linking Nottingham,
Awsworth, Ilkeston and Derby'. (Huw Davies and Bill Tomson)
October
2015. Panteg and Griffithstown Station, Gwent (Torfaen).
Opened in 1879 by the Monmouthshire Railway & Canal Company,
acquired by the Great Western Railway in 1880 and closed by BR's
Western Region in 1965, the old station at Panteg and Griffithstown
is due to be removed stone by stone and re-erected on the Dean Forest
Railway. The building formerly housed a railway museum but Torfaen
Council now wants to clear the site for re-development, so offered
the station for removal rather than see it demolished. It is set
to become the northern terminus of the DFR at Cannop, between Beechenhurst
and a bicycle hire shop called 'Pedalbikeaway'; the estimated cost
of dismantling and storing the building is £20,000. (Tim Chant) |
|
Left:
While we wait for Devon County Council to 'plug the
gap' on the Tarka Trail between Knowle and Willingcott so as
to create a continuous railway path from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe,
this GWR parcel label serves as a reminder of how one used to
be able to reach this north Devon holiday resort. Work on the
link is continuing, but the wheels of the planning system turn
slowly. (Jeff Vinter Collection) |
|
September
2015. East Grinstead to Three Bridges, West Sussex. The
remains of this old line are better known nowadays as The Worth
Way, which links together surviving sections of trackbed to provide
an east-west link across the northern edge of the High Weald. In
September and October this year, the 1½ mile section from
East Grinstead to Gullege is being closed for re-surfacing work,
which is being financed by Section 106 grants as mitigation for
housing developments in the area. (In other words, developers are
paying for this work rather than local residents via their council
tax.) The Worth Way now attracts over 90,000 visitors per year,
who collectively have worn out the top dressing of the path and
eroded its camber, which used to allow rainwater to run off effectively.
Further Section 106 applications have been made which, if successful,
will enable the local authority to extend the repair works to Crawley
Down, 3 miles west of East Grinstead. A visit on Saturday 26th September
showed that the work is being executed to a high standard; trail
users will notice a huge difference when it is finished. (Jeff Vinter)
Note:
In early 2013, West and East Sussex County Councils re-surfaced
the Forest Way between East Grinstead and Forest Row to a similar
standard, the Forest Way being the former railway line from East
Grinstead to Groombridge. The link between East Grinstead's two
rail trails could be better, but unfortunately the direct route
via the old railway was re-used as a bypass for the town centre
decades ago. The bypass is called Beeching Way and, as part of
the A22, is no place for walkers; it's not very nice for cyclists
either. (Jeff Vinter)
September
2015. Radford Semele (near Leamington Spa) to New Bilton
(Rugby), Warwickshire. Further to our report in January, this ex-LNWR
cross-country line has been earmarked for re-use as a trail for
many years, but progress has been painfully slow. So far, only two
short sections have been converted: between Radford Semele and Offchurch
(SP 354649 to SP 366656, ¾ mile), and between Birdingbury
station and Draycote Meadows Nature Reserve (SP 431691 to SP 449708,
1 mile). However, the trackbed generally is open all the way from
Radford Semele to New Bilton, although muddy in places and waterlogged
near Bondon Farm, north of Birdingbury (SP 427688). Given that one's
way is unimpeded except for a single missing bridge east of Offchurch
(SP 375661), it seems likely that local authorities purchased the
trackbed but were unable to finance end-to-end conversion as a trail
– perhaps because of the several large viaducts along the
way. The section from Draycote Meadows towards Rugby is owned by
Railway Paths Ltd, which has thoughtfully erected a sign which states
that the old railway may be walked or cycled on a permissive basis.
Approaching Cawston, a local community group has been working to
clear vegetation and improve drainage, both of which are encouraging
signs. On the final approach to Rugby, which is made parallel to
the new A4071, a long wet cutting eventually gives way to a properly
made up cycle trail which ends at the Lawford Road traffic lights
(SP 489755). On the east side of these, when the trees are not in
leaf, one can just spot the buffer stop at the end of the disused
Rugby-New Bilton freight spur. Taking the route as a whole, this
old line can be walked from SP 354649 to SP 489755, a distance of
11¼ miles. Current conditions make an end-to-end cycle ride
unattractive except for those who are very fond of mud. (Jeff Vinter)
September
2015. Tintern to Chepstow, Monmouthshire/Gloucestershire.
There is good news about this scenic branch line down the Wye Valley,
which narrowly escaped conversion into a trail at the turn of the
Millennium when it was one of Sustrans' 'Connect2' projects and
ca. £1 million was available, including funds to construct
a new river bridge immediately south of Tintern station. At that
time, the concerns of residents at nearby Brockweir – that
most users of the trail would come by car and block local lanes
– held sway in Monmouthshire CC, where the crucial vote on
the project was lost by the narrowest of margins. Over a decade
later, other local residents who actually want the trail have launched
a petition in its favour which has attracted over 3,500 signatures.
Sustrans is again involved (see here),
but now Monmouthshire CC is singing to a different tune. Mark Hand,
the council's Head of Planning, was reported in the 9th September
edition of The Monmouthshire Beacon as saying: 'Monmouthshire County
Council welcomes the principle of this cycle path which would help
deliver the council’s aspiration to develop the county as
an attractive cycling destination and grow the benefits of cycle
tourism. We recently invited Sustrans to meet us to discuss ways
that we can work together to move this project forward. It was a
productive meeting and we look forward to working with Sustrans
and other interested parties, especially given the considerable
public support for this project locally.' To read The Beacon's full
report, click here.
(Keith Holliday/Jeff Vinter)
September
2015. Bilsthorpe to Clipstone Forest (Nottinghamshire).
A new 2¾ mile leisure trail opened in May 2013 along this
former colliery line, running from SK 648612 on the northern end
of Bilsthorpe to SK 608607 on the southern edge of Clipstone Forest.
As well as linking at Bilsthorpe with the Southwell Trail to Farnsfield
and Southwell, the eastern end in Clipstone Forest links to cycle
trails at Sherwood Pines Forest Park, which in turn link to Centre
Parcs Sherwood Holiday Village. Arguably most useful of all, this
new trail provides a safe crossing of the busy A614 at SK 638612.
The local authority's press release can be read by clicking the
link here.
(David Thompson)
August
2015. Aberystwyth to Carmarthen, Dyfed (Ceredigion/Carmarthenshire).
Traws
Link Cymru is campaigning for the reinstatement of the Aberystwyth-Carmarthen
and Bangor-Afon Wen railways, which were closed to passengers on
various dates in 1964, 1965 and 1970. This autumn, the group plans
to fly a camera-equipped microlight aircraft over the Aberystwyth-Carmarthen
route, claiming that only 3% of the 56 mile long trackbed has been
'lost'. TLC's campaign has attracted over 10,000 signatures on various
petitions, as well as the support of 37 AMs (Assembly Members),
5 MPs, 46 town/community councils, Ceredigion County Council, Carmarthenshire
County Council and the counties' local health board, Hywel Dda.
Despite successful public meetings throughout the area, the sticking
point is likely to be the cost of reinstating the railway, not to
mention the fact that the section between Aberystwyth and Tregaron
is now used by the Ystwyth Trail, which makes its own contribution
to the region by providing a largely traffic-free route for walkers
and cyclists. TLC says: 'We believe that closure of these routes
was a mistake which should be put right. We need a rail link to
boost the economy, protect the environment and connect the nation.'
Just two years ago, The Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways were
talking about re-opening the 7 mile rail link between Bangor and
Caernarvon in order to complete a 90 mile circular rail route around
and through Snowdonia; they estimated then that the cost would be
£40 million – and that was for a narrow gauge rather
than standard gauge line. (Tim Chant and Jeff Vinter)
August
2015. Wells to Dulcote, Somerset. Following complaints
about the poor state of the railway path from Wells to Dulcote,
which re-uses part of the former East Somerset Railway's line from
Wells to Shepton Mallet and Witham Friary, Somerset County Council's
Highways Department has given the Strawberry Line Association the
go-ahead to maintain the path with local voluntary help. The SLA's
first site meeting took place on 9th July with Sustrans rangers
to assess what needed to be done. (The Strawberry Line Association)
August
2015. Tunnels in South East Wales. The Welsh Government
– owner of disused railway tunnels in the Clydach Gorge and
at Tintern in the Wye Valley – has commissioned Sustrans to
develop proposals for their re-opening as part of safe routes for
walkers and cyclists. If the tunnel at Tintern is to be re-used,
the corollary is replacement of the adjoining but long-lost bridge
over the River Wye so that visitors to the restored Tintern station
can access Tintern Abbey via a safe, traffic-free route, i.e. the
trackbeds of the old railway and connecting Wire Works Branch. This
work is part of a wider commission to produce 'high level recommendations
… [to bring] … selected former railway tunnels in South
Wales into use as walking and cycling routes, enhancing and linking
into the existing active travel network in the region'. The largest
of these tunnels is the 3,443 yard Rhondda Tunnel west of Treherbert
station, which is reported elsewhere in these pages. (Gwyn Smith,
Area Manager for South East Wales, Sustrans Ltd) |
|
Above:
There is no way to convey the sheer size of Holbeck Viaduct
in a photograph taken from ground level, so we have highlighted its
course on an aerial photograph taken from Google Earth; our yellow
spots mark the section which the 'Holbeck Highline' group seeks to
re-use. The western end of Leeds station area is just visible in the
top right. For further details, see the story below. (www.google.co.uk/maps/) |
August
2015. Leeds, West Yorkshire. It's been 18
months since we last reported on the project in Leeds to
re-use Holbeck (a.k.a. Farnley) Viaduct, but the community-led
Holbeck Highline group is persisting, which is the key to success
in such cases. Ed Carlisle, one the group's leaders, reports
that talks with viaduct owner Network Rail have been 'positive',
but that progress is slow. (Isn't it always with NR?) In order
to increase the public profile of the project and build support,
the group has launched its own website, holbeckhighline.org.uk,
and – more adventurously – has engaged iSky Unmanned
Systems Ltd to fly a drone along the course of the route; the
resultant video can be viewed here
on the website of the Yorkshire Evening Post. The disused railway
which once crossed the viaduct ran for over a mile from Beeston
right into the heart of the city, and was the default route
for London to Leeds trains from 1st May 1967 until 11th October
1987, when its tight curves made it unsuitable for electrification;
the overhead equipment wouldn't fit. The main viaduct is 1,230
yards long with 83 arches, most of which have a 24ft. span,
although there are variations from 20 to 85ft. The structure
also incorporates 10 girder bridges and several blind arches
which result from the S bend at the east end of its route. (Tim
Chant and Jeff Vinter)
August 2015. Cheddar
to Yatton, Somerset. The Strawberry Line (formerly the Cheddar Valley
Railway Path) will be closed between Sandford and Congresbury from
Wednesday 2nd September for a fortnight to allow vehicles to convey
to an adjoining field the materials necessary to construct a new
'solar farm' of photovoltaic panels. Traffic is expected on the
old railway first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
While trail users will not welcome this 'occupation', it may serve
a useful purpose in knocking back vegetation, which always encroaches
at this time of year. There is better news at the Sandford end in
that a new electricity substation is planned, which will require
a diversion of the Strawberry Line … away from Nye Lane (off
the A368) on to the old trackbed, which it has never before been
able to use at this location. The new substation is part of a re-design
of the electricity supply in north Somerset, which needs to be in
place before the commissioning of the new 'Hinckley C' nuclear power
station on the coast west of Highbridge. (Strawberry Line Society)
July 2015.
Shepton Mallet, Somerset. Now rail-less Shepton Mallet used to have
two stations – one on the famous Somerset & Dorset Railway,
and the other on the former East Somerset Railway from Witham Friary
to Wells and beyond. Now the latter's trackbed through the town
could become a traffic-free multi-use trail, following completion
of a full survey and recent planning application to Mendip District
Council. The driving force behind all this is the Strawberry Line
Association, which aims to create a network of cycle trails in Somerset
based on disused railway lines. The Shepton
town route would run from grid reference ST 613432 to ST 622432,
where it would join the existing Millennium Way which continues
along the old trackbed on the south side of Collett Park to ST 627429
on Whitstone Road (the A37). Although only some 1,000 yards long,
the combined trail would be a significant achievement in terms not
only of providing a safe cross-town route for walkers and cyclists,
but also of re-using a town centre trackbed which last saw a train
in 1969, and has been re-developed considerably in the years following.
(Tim Chant)
Update
(September 2015): The development company behind plans
for 13 new homes to be built partly on the trackbed at Hitchin
Lane (at the west end of the old ESR station site) has included
provision for the Strawberry Line to go through, albeit slightly
off the trackbed. This will preserve the continuity of the route
and not compromise plans for a trans-Somerset network of multi-use
trails based on old railways. (Tim Chant)
July 2015.
Dolgellau to Barmouth, Gwynedd. One of the crowning glories of the
Mawddach Trail from Dolgellau to Barmouth is crossing the Barmouth
Bridge at the western end. The modest tolls (e.g. 90p for a pedestrian
and £1.50 for a cyclist with bicycle) are very reasonable
when one considers the length of the alternative route and the time
required to negotiate it. Unfortunately, Gwynedd Council needs to
reduce its spending from April 2016 by £9 million in order
to cope with reduced funding from central government, and has indicated
that it might cease to pay Network Rail the £30,800 p.a. required
for the public right of way over the bridge. Opponents have pointed
out that the bridge is part of both NCN8 and the Welsh Coast Path,
which generate considerable benefits to the local economy. Sustrans
Cymru's Area Manager, Glyn Evans, remarked: 'It’s a very small
cost saving but it would have a large impact on the local economy
in terms of tourism. The last figures I saw showed that the Mawddach
Trail attracts 90,000 users a year. If you stop those people getting
to Barmouth, that will have a big effect on the economy of Barmouth.'
Given the newly-elected government's intention to slash the cost
of public spending, this could be the start of a trend – but
it sits uncomfortably with the 2015 Infrastructure
Act which obliges the Secretary of State for Transport to devise
a strategy to increase walking and cycling, and fund it. How these
contradictory objectives can be fulfilled remains to be seen. In
the meantime, Gwynedd Council will consult the public about cuts
to its services; its 'hit list' deliberately includes more options
than necessary in order to offer local residents some choice. (Tim
Chant)
Update: Click
the link here
to support the campaign to keep Barmouth Bridge open to walkers
and cyclists.
July 2015. Allerton
Bywater to Castleford, West Yorkshire. Further to our report in
June (click here), there are proposals to
extend the current Garforth-Allerton Bywater railway path, known
as 'The Lines Greenway', on to Castleford using the disused stub
of line which once served Allerton Bywater Colliery. The Sustrans
website provides the details: 'Route 697 is currently open between
Garforth and Allerton Bywater on a disused railway line. The route
is proposed to continue on the railway path [i.e. trackbed] to the
River Aire on the north side of Castleford ...'. This suggests that
a 2006-7 scheme by Wakefield and Leeds Councils (click here)
has not been entirely forgotten; presumably, it could not be delivered
in 2006-7 due to the financial meltdown which started the following
year. (Keith Holliday)
July 2015.
Newent, Gloucestershire. Here's an unusual story – not that
the one about Clapham North (see below) is in any way ordinary!
Newent's old station on the former GWR line from Ledbury to Gloucester
has been acquired by the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal
Trust. The H&G Canal was opened in 1798 and 1845, but, as so
often, ran into financial difficulties which were eased in 1863
when the GWR took out a lease. The waterway closed in 1881 for conversion
into a railway, which saw its southern half converted into the Ledbury
& Gloucester Railway; most of this closed in 1959, although
freight services hung on between Gloucester and Dymock until 1964.
Newent station – long a scene of desolation – still
retains its platforms, and the fact that the new owner is a canal
trust (whose Chairman, incidentally, saved the original footbridge)
means that a restored waterway will flow between them.
To top it all, everything on the site will be elevated by one metre
to permit the creation of an aqueduct over nearby Bridge
Street using the surviving railway abutments. David Penny, Chairman
of the Trust, said: 'We are clearing the site now and hope by the
end of the summer to have exposed the platform and then we can start
restoring it and the building.. Plans include providing a tearoom
and visitor centre on the site; click here
for an artist's impression of how it will look in future. (Tim Chant)
July 2015. Clapham
North, London. In late June and early July, a lot of press coverage
was given to a company called 'Growing Underground', which is about
to start marketing its farm produce. The name is significant, for
this 'farm' occupies the deep level tube tunnels installed below
the current Northern Line in 1940-42. Although used as air raid
shelters during the war, the tunnels were intended to form part
of an ultra low level version of the Northern Line which would miss
out many of the intermediate stations for the benefit of commuters
from suburbs such as Colliers Wood and Morden. Unfortunately, the
country's parlous finances at the end of the war meant that the
railway scheme was abandoned, after which the tunnels struggled
to find a useful purpose – until now. They are 12 storeys
below ground level, which means that the temperature in them is
a constant 16 degrees Celsius – ideal for growing vegetables,
salad plants, herbs, etc. The tunnels have been fitted with rows
of growing trays and LED lights powered by green energy, with the
water supply coming from what naturally seeps through the London
clay. The scheme has been pioneered by two west country entrepreneurs,
who have the enthusiastic support of celebrity chef Michael Roux,
who is now a partner in the enterprise; his initial reaction was
that these west countrymen were crazy, but 'when I visited the tunnels
and sampled the delicious produce they are already growing down
there I was blown away'. Pests
and the vagaries of the English weather are not an issue, and there
is a lot of excitement about the farm being just a few miles from
both the centre of London and Covent Garden, from where its produce
can be distributed to just about anywhere in the country within
8 hours. The Daily Mail gave the project particularly good coverage,
as you can see here.
It has been extraordinary in recent years to see several of London's
old railways, both underground and overground, in the news; it is
great that such innovative uses are being found for them. (Jeff
Vinter) |
|
Above:
This former railway bridge over the River Plym at Laira,
Plymouth, is now part of a multi-use trail (see the story below);
it looked like this before the restoration project was conceived or
started. This is the view looking north west, with Pomphlett and Plymstock
behind the photographer, and Plymouth Friary ahead. 15th June 2009.
(Bob Spalding) |
|
Above:
This is approximately the same view now, with the pylons
in the distance providing a point of reference. We have to admit that
the 2009 picture is more interesting, but one cannot leave old railway
structures in that state forever because, eventually, they become
unsafe or beyond economic repair. In the end, it's the old, old story
– 'Use them or lose them'. July 2015. (Bob Spalding) |
|
Above:
To atone for the blandness of the above picture, here's a
view, again looking north west, which shows off the restoration work
to good effect. The old railway parapet has been made good and re-painted,
while an inner parapet has been installed to provide extra safety
on the new trail; as can be seen, the gaps in the old parapet are
rather large. July 2015. (Bob Spalding) |
June
2015. Plymouth Friary to Turnchapel, Devon. Further to
our report in March, the restored Laira railway
bridge in Plymouth was opened to walkers and cyclists in May. Passenger
trains last used the bridge in 1951 although freight continued until
1987, after which it began a long decline. The restoration, which
started a year ago, has included grit blasting, repairs to the ironwork,
a full repaint, the installation of a new deck, new parapets and
street lighting, and the removal of a disused gas main. The bridge
is set to become part of NCN27 but, according to Plymouth City councillor
Mark Coker – cabinet member for transport – more improvements
for walkers and cyclists are in the pipeline: 'We've also brought
forward work to provide a new bridge over The Ride [the connecting
route to Saltram House] as part of this project and, in the longer
term, we plan to extend the pedestrian and cycle path further along
the old railway alignment to Saltram Meadow [a new housing development
on the former Plymstock Quarry] and beyond.' The cost of the bridge
repairs was met largely by a £3½ million grant from
the Department for Transport's Local Sustainable Transport Fund.
(Greg Beecroft)
June
2015. Garforth, West Yorkshire. This town near Leeds is
the start of two railway paths, namely:
- Garforth–Aberford:
3m, SE 413338–SE 433369. This route is based on
the Aberford Railway, which the Gascoigne family opened in 1834
to carry coal from their collieries near Garforth to Aberford
on the Great North Road. The old railway can be picked up from
the north end of Ash Lane, off the modern A624 east of Garforth
station, from where it's an easy walk to Aberford thanks to a
falling gradient. The section to SE 421358 is a public footpath;
the rest a bridleway.
- Garforth–Allerton
Bywater: 3½m, SE 411324–SE 421280. Part
of the Leeds Country Way, also NCN697, based on a section of the
former NER line from Garforth to Kippax and Castleford.
The original entry in the online
gazetteer conflated them. We're not sure how that happened, but
the error has now been corrected. (Keith Holliday/Jeff Vinter)
June 2015.
Cockermouth, Cumbria. Exploring the Ordnance Survey's new online
product, 'OS Maps', it was discovered that a short section of the
former Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway is now a cycle
trail on the east side of the former Cockermouth station. The trail
runs from grid reference NY 122303, on the west
side of the River Cocker, to NY 132301, a distance of approximately
one mile. At the eastern end, the trail can be accessed from a link
off of Strawberry How Road. It looks as if the trail is part of
NCN71. (Jeff Vinter)
June 2015. Kimberley
to Hempshill Vale, Nottinghamshire. Continuing the trial of 'OS
Maps', it was found that a cycle trail now exists east of Kimberley
on part of the Great Northern's former line from Derby to Nottingham
via Ilkeston. The trail starts at grid reference SK 502450 by Kimberley
School and runs 1½ miles east to SK 526446 on Low Wood Road
(the A6002) in Hempshill Vale. En route, the trail passes
under the M1, which will be noisy, but it offers the quickest route,
and a level one, into Kimberley School from the east. (Jeff Vinter)
June 2015. St.
Budeaux, Plymouth, to Saltash, Devon/Cornwall. Here's a chance for
a very different type of railway walk – probably a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity. If you have a head for heights, are over 14 years of
age, have £15 to spare and nothing in your diary on Sunday
12th July, then click the link here
to book your place for an escorted walk over the Royal Albert Bridge,
which carries the Great Western main line between St. Budeaux in
Devon and Saltash in Cornwall. Network Rail, which has just completed
a six year refurbishment programme on the structure, is arranging
the walk for ten groups of 40 people each. (Tim Chant)
Update: All
tickets have now sold out but the organisers have applied to Network
Rail for a further batch to be allocated. An announcement will
be made here
on Wednesday 17th June. (Jeff Vinter)
June 2015. Lochearnhead
to St. Fillans and Dalchonzie, nr. Comrie, Central/Tayside (Stirling/Perth
& Kinross). It is early days yet, but funding has become available
for a shared use path from Lochearnhead to Dalchonzie on the trackbed
of the Caledonian Railway's former line from Balquhidder to Crieff
and Perth. The distance is 11½ miles, so this will be a significant
route. A community trust will be responsible for the construction
and maintenance of the path, but currently the construction standards
have not been finalised. The development of this trail would regularise
the present informal use of the 2½ mile section between St.
Fillans and Dalchonzie, while affording a connection at Lochearnhead
with a 4 mile section of the Glen Ogle Trail northwards to Glenoglehead.
(Jeff Vinter)
June 2015. Torksey,
Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire. Following the granting of all planning
and listed buildings approvals, Railway Paths Ltd (RPL) expected
to start work on a partial restoration of Torksey Viaduct in March
in order to open one span for pedestrian use. The charity has made
an application to the Railway Heritage Trust for a further £200,000
to be spent on the viaduct in 2015-16; this money will be used to
improve the parapet and install a sealed surface over the deck,
which is necessary to prevent water ingress. The charity remains
committed to opening the viaduct for cyclists, but an important
planning issue must first be resolved with Lincolnshire CC: on the
eastern approach to the viaduct, the former railway bridge over
the A156 has been removed, and the local authority wants it reinstated
to provide cyclists with a safe, grade-separated approach to the
river crossing. A site inspection in February this year confirmed
the difficulties at road level.
Torksey Viaduct has been an
extremely difficult structure to bring back into use. Setting aside
the decades of neglect before it was transferred to RPL, many statutory
bodies have an interest in it: two county councils (one each side
of the River Trent), two district councils (ditto), and the Canal
and River Trust. Then there's the matter of its Grade II* listing,
which meant that Historic England had to give approval for any improvement
works; the viaduct is on its 'Buildings at Risk' register as well.
Finally, owls nesting in box girders and a badger sett on one of
the approach embankments meant that Natural England had to be consulted
and give its approval. On the plus side, the local communities are
very keen to see the viaduct restored and brought back into use;
it has been a blot on the local landscape for far too long. (Jeff
Vinter)
June 2015. National.
The National Cycle Network, which includes a significant proportion
of old railways, suffered badly in the wind- and rain-lashed winter
of 2013-14, and not all of the required repairs could be financed
in 2014. In response to this, Sustrans launched a maintenance appeal
amongst its supporters, which raised over £190,000. In his
April newsletter, chief executive Malcolm Shepherd described the
response as 'nothing short of incredible' and thanked everyone who
had been able to support the appeal. (Sustrans Ltd) |
|
Above:
The new £350,000 bridge at Peek Hill, south of Princetown
on the course of the former GWR branch line to Yelverton, is an elegant
piece of design which re-uses the remnants of the earlier abutments.
However, despite installation on 2nd April, the bridge was still not
open officially when this photograph was taken four months later,
and there are no notices to explain why. The scheme was carried
out by South West Highways as part of the wider 'Granite and Gears'
project which seeks to improve access to Dartmoor for cyclists. The
lead partner in 'Granite and Gears' is Devon County Council, which
is working with Dartmoor National Park Authority and Maristowe Estate,
the landowner, to encourage more people to travel around the national
park by bicycle. Most local authorities now recognise that walkers
and cyclists spend more in an area than car-borne visitors, for whom
it is easy to bring much – if not all – that they need.
1st August 2015. (Bob Spalding) |
June
2015. Yelverton to Princetown, Devon. Further to our report
in November 2014, Devon County Council
installed the new Peek Hill Bridge over the B3212 (grid reference
SX 549696) on 2nd April; from a railwayman's point of view, it is
situated between Burrator Halt and Ingra Tor Halt, although it was
not officially open when visited in late May. The new bridge is
higher than its predecessor, whose low headroom was the reason for
its early removal. This link
will take you to a Plymouth Herald web page which includes a video
of the new bridge being lifted into place. Another very interesting
link is this
one, which will take you to a page on the Cornwall Railway Society's
website filled with photographs of the old branch throughout its
life. (David Bickell and Brian Loughlin)
June
2015. Usk to Little Mill Junction (nr. Pontypool), Monmouthshire.
Following closure of the freight line from Little Mill Junction
to the Royal Ordnance Factory at Glascoed, the Usk Trail Access
Group (UTAG) has asked Monmouthshire County Council to support its
proposals for a cycle trail along the old rail corridor; specifically,
the group wants the local authority to take on legal responsibility
for the route. On 29th January, local councillor Val Smith presented
UTAG's request to the Strong Communities Select Committee as a 'good
proposal'. The group's objectives are to benefit leisure and tourism
activities in the area, and to improve local transport infrastructure.
Although local authorities are reluctant to take on extra responsibilities
at a time of financial constraint, UTAG has pointed out the new
trail would come under the terms of the council's existing insurance
for all its other trails, footpaths and bridleways, and should therefore
be a marginal cost. According to Wikipedia, ROF Glascoed once included
its own 17 mile standard gauge railway system with a dedicated passenger
station and freight marshalling yards. 'It was linked to the Great
Western Railway branch line that ran between Pontypool Road and
Monmouth. This rail link enabled the three-times daily movement
of up to 13,000 workers in and out of the site as well as the receipt
of raw materials and components and the despatch of finished munitions.'
(Tim Chant)
June
2015. National. A story which escaped our attention earlier
in the year is this report from the spring edition of Sustrans'
supporters' magazine, 'The Hub'; the emphasis is ours. 'New legislation
was passed in February, placing a new duty on the Secretary of State
for Transport to set out a strategy for increasing the numbers of
people walking and cycling and, importantly, the funding
to achieve it. This wouldn't have happened without the
huge efforts of so many of you emailing your MPs and requesting
they put their name to an amendment to the Infrastructure Bill.
It's a huge achievement and one we should all be really proud of.
But the story doesn't end there. We have some way to go to make
sure political parties commit to this long-term strategy with a
budget for safe cycling and walking routes.' This is exactly
what is needed to deal with the expiry of so many sources of funding
for walking and cycling routes on 5th April, the end of the 2014-15
fiscal year. We will keep an eye out for any new Sustrans' campaigns
on this subject and promote them so that our own members can give
their support. The main risks now are that (a) the politicians fail
to provide the necessary funding, and/or (b) the funding is directed
wholly at urban areas so that valuable long distance routes –
which bring significant economic and safety benefits to rural communities
– receive no support. Finally, the Infrastructure Bill is
now the Infrastructure Act. (Sustrans Ltd/Jeff Vinter)
|
|
Above:
The proposed 85 mile traffic-free route around Somerset unveiled
recently by cycle campaigners in the Strawberry Line Society. For
further details, see the story below. (Strawberry Line Society) |
May
2015. Somerset.
Sometimes, the Webmaster receives news which strikes him as a work
of genius. The Strawberry Line's proposal for the 'Somerset Circle',
illustrated above, definitely falls into this category. There are
already well developed plans to connect Clevedon with Shepton Mallet
via Cheddar, but for many the really exciting thing here is the
proposed route along the Somerset & Dorset Railway between Midsomer
Norton and Shepton Mallet. If this goes ahead, as we hope it will,
the only gap in the S&D between Bath and Broadstone (and Poole
beyond) will be the relatively short section between Shepton Mallet
and Stalbridge, just inside the Dorset border. If this scheme goes
ahead, then hopefully pressure will build up to finish the job and
create a new coast-to-coast route from the Bristol Channel to the
English Channel. Elsewhere on the map, the proposals for a trail
along the course of the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Light
Railway also build upon current work in progress. Richard Jones
of the Strawberry Line Association commented: 'The smaller routes
linking these towns will make safer routes to school for children,
and will help people get around the area for leisure. They are really
vital for linking up local communities, making people less reliant
on ever more congested roads – especially when there are more
housing developments being planned. The Somerset Circle is a grander
scheme. The aim is to draw in visitors from all over the country.'
We say, 'Bring it on!' And don't forget to sign the petition in
the yellow panel above! (Tim Chant)
May 2015. Romsey
to Andover, Hampshire. The Old Station House at Mottisfont on the
former Test Valley line, now the Test Way, is on the market with
estate agent Winkworths at a hefty £850,000 – and it
is under offer. The property actually comprises the old railway
station and the station master's house, so the buyer will
get a lot for his/her money; and, until the sale is finalised, some
lovely pictures are available at the link here.
At the next station up the line, Horsebridge, owner Val Charrington
is hosting a series of 'Speakeasy' events in late May (click here),
which suggests that past planning wrangles with Test Valley Borough
Council have been resolved. While in this area, an unusual fact
has come to light about Mottisfont & Dunbridge station on the
still open Southampton-Salisbury line: it is the responsibility
of one train operating company (First Great Western), but the actual
train service is provided by another (South West Trains). There's
a full list of these anomalies here.
(Tim Grose)
April
2015. Preston to Bamber Bridge, Lancashire. There is an
impasse at the moment regarding extending the cycle trail from Bamber
Bridge and Lower Penwortham into Preston station. The culprit is
a bailey bridge near the station which was built by the Royal Engineers
in the 1950s to sit on top of the original 1848 railway overbridge
as a 'temporary' measure. NR says that it is 'aware of the aspirations'
for the cycle path at Preston station and has no objection in principle.
However, it will not issue a licence until issues regarding the
bridge's liabilities have been resolved. At the moment, NR will
not allow extensive cycle traffic to pass under the bridge because
it needs costly improvement work. It sums up the current situation
as follows: 'Network Rail are willing to joint fund refurbishment
of the Bailey Bridge (sic) and offer Lancashire County Council a
commuted lump sum payment to take on ownership and liabilities associated
with the bridge, leaving Network Rail with no remaining interest
at this location. Network Rail is currently awaiting advice from
Lancashire County Council on whether they wish to accept this offer.'
At a time when central government is strangling the money supply
to local authorities, it is a safe bet that LCC is concerned about
making a commitment due to worries about long term maintenance costs.
(Les Simpson)
April
2015. Treherbert
to Port Talbot, Mid Glamorgan/West Glamorgan. Further to our report
in March, the inspection of the sealed
Rhondda Tunnel by Hammond ECS and the Mines Rescue Service has now
been completed. The engineers found the tunnel to be in essentially
the same condition as when it closed in 1968, which sounds obviously
but could not be relied upon without an inspection. Now the long-lost
stone from the portal of the tunnel is to be transported to its
temporary home at Treherbert Station, where it will remain on display
until the day when it can be hoisted back above the tunnel entrance
where it belongs. (Rob Davidson)
Update: Following
the positive tunnel inspection, the Welsh government gave the
go ahead for a full feasibility study into re-opening it for walkers
and cyclists at the start of May; work will commence shortly.
If you want to see what the engineers saw, click the link here;
the pictures are fascinating, especially that of 'The Cog', a
timber structure built from old railway sleepers to prevent stone
falling on to workers while they removed the rails. (Rob Davidson
and Tim Chant)
April 2015. Rowden
Mill, Herefordshire. In about 1973 when our correspondent purchased
a Triumph Stag motor car (remember them?), he placed an advert in
Birmingham to sell his MGB. The gentleman who turned up to buy it
popped up in his life some years later, by which time he had purchased
Rowden Mill station on the former GWR line from Bromyard to Leominster;
restoration began in 1984, and now the station has been re-equipped
with track, rolling stock, various Wickham trolleys and a BR Class
03 diesel shunter. Recently, the property has been on the market
with estate agent Andrew Grant. The next station about 5 miles west
along the line was Fencote, where another railway enthusiast has
done an equally fine job of restoration. Wikipedia's entries on
these two stations (click here
and here)
are well worth a look. (Peter Duddy)
April 2015. Buxton,
Derbyshire. A large retail development planned for Buxton's station
area is in deadlock because Peak Rail owns some land there which
it acquired many years ago to secure access to the town from the
south. A spokesman for Peak Rail explained that, as a train operating
company, it has surprising and extensive powers, including a legal
right of access to its property at Buxton. In 1990, Peak Rail had
centres in both Buxton (the 'Buxton Steam Centre') and Darley Dale.
The steam centre was very successful and, amongst other achievements,
replaced an iron bridge over a road south of Buxton station, but
British Rail resisted its attempts to operate train services to
Blackwell Mill (the northern end of the Monsal Trail); eventually,
this inability to break out of Buxton persuaded the organisation
to re-locate to Darley Dale at the southern end of the line. Most
of the Buxton site was then sold to the Buxton Spring Water Company,
now part of Nestlé Waters UK Ltd which opened a massive new
factory at Buxton in 2013, thus – supposedly – releasing
the old factory at the station for re-development. Peak Rail, even
with the powers it is now exercising, still has a long way to go.
Its first newsletter spoke of reaching Buxton from Darley Dale in
2000, but 15 years later it still runs only from Matlock to Rowsley
South, some 15 miles away. (Mike Hodgson) |
|
Above:
The new Trailway car park under construction at the north
end of Shillingstone, Dorset; for further details, see the story below.
14th April 2015. (Tim Chant) |
|
Above:
Members of the Shillingstone Railway Project have been very
busy during the 2014-15 winter period, as can be seen from the track
that they have laid south from Shillingstone station. Before the work
could begin, the trackbed had to be made level again. This is the
first time that track has appeared at this location since it was removed
by the demolition gang in 1966. The North Dorset Trailway can be seen
beyond the fence on the left. 14th April 2015. (Tim Chant) |
April
2015. Shillingstone and Stourpaine, Dorset. Things have
been happening at Shillingstone on the North Dorset Trailway. First,
Dorset Countryside has been working on the construction of a car
park for Trailway users at the north end of the village, just east
of Hayward Lane bridge (on the road from Shillingstone to Child
Okeford). Elsewhere, the Shillingstone Station Project has installed
a new level crossing south of the station and relaid about a quarter
of a mile of track towards Stourpaine & Durweston Halt. However,
the news from Stourpaine is not so good, for both the village hall
and adjoining car park – once very useful for Trailway users
– have been demolished to make way for new housing. The loss
of the car park makes it awkward for car-borne visitors to use Stourpaine
as an access point for the Trailway, which is bound to affect trade
at the village pub and shop. Two years ago, the owners of these
businesses were thrilled by the prospect of extra trade being generated
by the Trailway; one wonders what they must think now. (Tim Chant)
Update: Research
in May suggested that things might not be so bad, as a replacement
village hall is due to open in July at the Draper Memorial Playing
Fields at the end of the road called 'Havelins', which is actually
directly on the Trailway; click here
for further details. Our correspondent writes: 'Whilst I cannot
see any explicit reference to the new parking arrangements, there
is a definitely already a car park there and I counted 25 cars
in the Google aerial map view, and it does not look full up even
then. So, if anything, this new arrangement could be better than
before.' (Tim Grose)
|
|
Above:
The platforms of West Meon station have been fully revealed
after decades of concealment by trees and general vegetation. This
time last year, Hampshire County Council's clearance work was under
way, as a result of which the platforms were stacked with timber awaiting
removal. This view is looking north towards the now demolished West
Meon Viaduct. 11th April 2015. (Brian Loughlin) |
|
Above:
Looking south along the trackbed from West Meon towards Droxford,
the next station down the line. The effect of the local authority's
work is obvious. Apart from improving the route for trail users, the
thinning of the dense tree canopy will improve bio-diversity along
the whole railway corridor. 11th April 2015. (Brian Loughlin) |
April
2015. West Meon to Wickham, Hampshire. Exactly a year ago
(click here), we reported that
Hampshire County Council had started improvement works on the most
neglected of its railway paths, namely that from the picturesque
village of West Meon south to Wickham. A year later, our correspondent
reports that this 11 mile route is a great deal better, and hopes
that the local authority's investment will increase awareness and
use of it. The photographs above show some of the enwly completed
work. (Brian Loughlin)
April 2015.
Shoreham-by-Sea to Christ's Hospital, West Sussex. As a general
rule, the bus services which replaced withdrawn rail services during
the 1960s did not last long, but that between Shoreham and Horsham
(just north of Christ's Hospital) re-appeared last year thanks to
local bus operator Southern Transit. In 2014, the company's new
route 3 operated on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays throughout
the school summer vacation, and it appears from local advertising
and the
company's website that it will run again in 2015. Click here
for last year's timetable, which shows the 2 hourly interval service
then on offer – a boon for anyone who wanted to walk one way
along part of the popular Downs Link bridleway, which has re-used
the trackbed since 1972. It is a nice touch that the bus company's
timetable features totem signs for all the 'lost' stations along
the line. (Jeff Vinter) |
|
|
Above:
The former station at Bovey Tracey, used for many years as
a furniture store, became available in 1995 and now houses the Bovey
Tracey Heritage Centre, operated by Devon Museums; it is open
from April to October, and admission is free. The building has been
fully restored – or will have been when the roof work is complete
– and contains a good collection of railway exhibits, including
a model of the station just prior to closure in 1959. The preserved
GWR 'Toad' brake van parked in the yard outside includes a model of
the now demolished Moretonhampstead terminus at about the same time.
In spring 2015, visitors could boost the centre's funds by purchasing
genuine GWR goods labels, such as those illustrated above. It is curious
that the 'glass' label lacks the 'with care' admonition provided for
the eggs; one would have thought that there was little to choose in
terms of fragility! Twenty years ago, finds such as these were not
uncommon in the attics of disused stations. 9th April 2015. (Jeff
Vinter) |
April
2015. Bovey Tracey to Moretonhampstead, Devon. Further
to our report in November 2014 (click here),
the extension to the railway path from Bovey Tracey is now complete.
The trail starts at grid reference SX 814782 in Station Road, Bovey,
and runs alongside the River Bovey through the town's Mill Marsh
Park before joining the trackbed at SX 811785. It then runs continuously
for 1½ miles to SX 794800, where a ramp drops down to Knowle
Lane for the final mile into Lustleigh. It is not known if the trail
will use more of the old trackbed into Lustleigh, but it will certainly
not use it within the village where new building, garden extensions
and understandable householder sensitivities make this impractical.
However, Devon County Council is negotiating to re-use the trackbed
from Lustleigh northwards to connect with the existing rail trail,
now part of NCN28, which runs from near Steward Farm on the A382
to Moretonhampstead. Note that this does not enter the town via
the old station site, which is now used as a depot, but skirts its
southern edge before running just south of the Wadley Brook to reach
Pound Street. (Jeff Vinter)
April 2015. Great
Elm to Frome, Somerset. The current 'state of play' with this project
is that Colliers Way from Radstock ends at Great Elm, but Phase
1 of the missing link into Frome Town Centre is open. Now the local
campaign is seeking to raise £20,000 which, if raised in full,
Sustrans will top up to £200,000 in order to get Phase 2 built
so as to complete the link. Sustrans is handling the collection
of donations, and you can contribute by clicking the link here.
If you are a taxpayer, don't forget to click the 'Gift Aid' option,
which will cost you nothing more. Please share news of this appeal
with others. (Frome's Missing Link)
April 2015. Barnstaple
to Ilfracombe, Devon. We have reported already that Devon County
Council plans to 'plug the gap', or rather the trackbed gap, on
the leg of the Tarka Trail that runs from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe,
largely via the old railway. We have now learned that DCC received
a planning application for this work on 14th September last year,
and that it recommended the granting of conditional permission.
Just to remind readers, this development will incorporate into the
Tarka Trail the final 25% of old railway which, until recently,
remained in private hands. When this work was announced initially,
the council aspired to have the new section open by the end of the
2014-15 financial year, but that may have slipped somewhat. If you
want to read the council's paper, click here.
(Tim Grose)
March 2015. Heacham
to Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk. This is not a conventional news
report, but a runner's survey of what survives of this former Great
Eastern cross-country line; as such, we thought that it would be
of interest – especially since we believe that this line has
gone unreported by the club since it was founded in 1978. Starting
at the east end, you can now stay at Heacham station in either the
old waiting room (sleeps 2) or a converted first class BR Mark I
railway carriage (sleeps 4); see here
for details. Most of the trackbed from Heacham to Sedgeford and
Docking is walkable, but none of it officially. However, an analysis
of GPS tracks by runners on the Strava website suggests that a fair
bit of use is made of the trackbed from Sedgeford station to the
junction with the Peddars Way at grid reference TF 721375. Sedgeford
station survives as a private residence, complete with canopy and
level crossing gate. Part of the platforms of Docking station exist
within the garden of the station master’s house, which is
now a private residence. Stanhoe station has enjoyed the same good
fortune as Sedgeford and is now part of Station Farm, although the
station was sited inconveniently at TF 799385 over a mile north
of the village. By the time you get out this far, the only trace
of the old railway is the field boundary shown on the local OS Explorer
map. The station at Burnham Market is another one where you can
now stay (see here):
it is an outpost of the The Hoste Arms, the town's boutique hotel,
but is about 10 minutes' walk away at TF 836420. |
|
Above:
The man-made lake which has been constructed alongside the
ex-GER trackbed east of Leath House crossing between Burnham Market
and Holkham in Norfolk. See story above and below. 26th March 2015.
(Tim Grose) |
Before the
next station at Holkham, a man-made lake has appeared beyond Leath
House Crossing Cottage in the field immediately east and south of
the trackbed. There is a permissive path on the trackbed from Burnham
Market to Leath House and, in the past, I used to run to/from Holkham
and come out on the B1115 just north of the Peterstone Cutting house
(which is at TF 865430). Now the northern bank of the lake is almost
on the old line and certainly parallel to it. Slightly further north,
the trackbed can be walked unofficially from Dale Hole for a mile
to the site of Holkham station, which has disappeared without trace;
only a 1953 flood level
marker survives on the trackbed, and its existence indicates why
this part of the line had no chance of remaining in use. The station
at the line's terminus, Wells-next-the-Sea, is now a bookshop, and
from south of here one can catch a narrow gauge train on the modern
Wells & Walsingham Light Railway to the new station at Walsingham.
The original GER station at Walsingham (further south) is now a
Russian Orthodox church with the platform still intact. While in
Walsingham, if you follow Sandy Lane south out of the village, you'll
soon pick up the trackbed-based cycle trail that leads on to the
Roman Catholic National Shrine at Houghton St. Giles. After that,
the trackbed is mostly walkable, again unofficially, to about a
mile outside Fakenham with access to the town thereafter on quiet
lanes. To conclude, while
the old line from Heacham to Wells doesn't make a viable walk, a
cycle ride is an option: between Heacham and Holkham, the route
is all B and C class roads with plenty of old stations to view along
the way. At Wells, the narrow gauge railway to Walsingham and the
cycle trail thence to Houghton St. Giles are bonuses. (Tim Grose) |
|
Above:
The edge of Lavenham station site, which is being re-developed
(see story below) looking from the new to the old path. Note the soot
marks on the brick arch of the bridge, which are still evident despite
the trains disappearing as long ago as 1965. 29th March 2015. (Tim
Grose) |
March
2015. Lavenham,
Suffolk. Further to our report in December
2013, when Lavenham station site had been cleared but not developed
because Babergh District Council could not find a commercial buyer,
our correspondent has returned to the scene. He reports that building
work by Knight Developments is now well under way, although the
name chosen for the development – 'The Halt' – is as
predictable and corny as any thought up by a developer in the last
50 years. (Lavenham station could never be described as a halt,
as a few moments' research on Google would have revealed; see the
selection of old photographs here.)
Good news for railway ramblers is that a path appears to be under
construction from the station site, passing beneath the Bury Road
bridge on to the start of the Lavenham Walk, the existing railway
path to near Long Melford. (Tim Grose)
March
2015. Treherbert to Port Talbot, Mid Glamorgan/West Glamorgan.
Further to our report in December last year (click here),
the campaign to re-open the 3,443 yard Rhondda or Blaencwm Tunnel
– the longest in Wales – is making slow but significant
progress. A three day inspection by engineers is now scheduled for
15th-17th April, which will be carried out by Aberdare firm Hammond
ECS alongside the Mines Rescue Service. The engineers will be looking
at the structural integrity of the tunnel and associated safety
issues, such as whether sulphuric acid has formed in stagnant water
(a known risk) and whether the air is breathable (the carbon dioxide
levels might be too high). Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood and several
Welsh Assembly members now support the campaign. Leighton Andrews,
Assembly Member for the Rhondda, believes that the project could
boost local tourism, and that the campaign’s aim of re-opening
the tunnel as an attraction for cyclists and walkers was 'the correct
one'. The successfully-completed Two Tunnels Project in Bath, which
in April 2012 re-opened Devonshire and Combe Down Tunnels on the
old Somerset & Dorset Railway out of Bath, was an important
precedent. (Tim Chant)
March 2015. Dundee,
Tayside. The Dundee & Newtyle Railway was the first railway
in the north of Scotland; it opened in 1831 and closed to passengers
on 10th January 1955, although freight survived until 6th November
1967. The original route included three rope-worked inclines operated
by stationary engines. One of these ascended Dundee Law, where there
was also a tunnel. Deviation lines to the north and west of Dundee
were opened in the 1860s, which enabled the inclines to be closed,
after which they fell into disuse. There the story might have ended
but for a local community campaign to get the tunnel re-opened as
a visitor attraction. This is making surprisingly rapid and effective
progress, as can be seen from the group's Facebook
page. The entry for 24th March reports that the Highways Agency
(presumably its Historic Railways Estate department) has completed
a full laser survey of the tunnel, which shows it to be in very
good condition, and that the Agency is 'warm' to the idea of 'transferring
the asset to the city along with a dowry/legacy fund for its long
term repair and maintenance'. (Greg Beecroft) |
|
Above:
Approaching Chippenham on the railway path from Calne. Until
November 2014, walkers and cyclists had to turn left into D'Arcy Close,
but now can continue straight ahead to near the former junction with
the GWR's Bristol main line. For further details, see the story below.
25th March 2015. (Robin Summerhill) |
|
Above:
A complementary photograph to the one above – approaching
Calne on the railway path from Chippenham. The re-development of
the former Calne station site is revealed by the stacks of building
materials beyond the fence on the right. At the end of this scene,
the path drops down from the railway embankment and swings left
to pick up the towpath of the Calne branch of the Wilts & Berks
Canal, which it then follows to the junction of Station Road and
New Road at grid reference ST 998708. For further details, see the
story below. 25th March 2015. (Robin Summerhill) |
|
Above:
This extract from the Ordnance Survey's out-of-copyright
1919 one-inch map of Marlborough and Devizes (Sheet 112) shows that
Calne station was a little way outside the town, though no great distance
by the standards of other west country stations such as Bodmin Road.
Note the 'Workhouse' just north of the A4, which runs across the map
from mid left to bottom right. The Wilts & Berks Canal is the
upper of the two blue lines above the railway, as revealed by the
locks near Conigre Farm. The railway underbridge immediately north
of Black Dog Halt was removed after the line closed on 20th September
1965, but replaced with a new structure when the modern railway path
was developed. (From ponies.me.uk/maps/osmap.html
by Andrew Rowbottom) |
March
2015. Chippenham
to Calne, Wiltshire. The path along the former GWR branch between
Chippenham and Calne has started rather inconveniently in D’Arcy
Close, half a mile or so from Chippenham station, for some years.
The line ran along the north-eastern edge of Chippenham Cattle Market
and, whilst that site was disused, unofficial access was possible
over it, but following a re-development in the early 2000s that
informal access was closed off. However, in November last year,
the barriers between the railway route and the new development were
removed, and a connecting path has now been laid from the old existing
path to the new perimeter path of the new development. This new
path follows the course of the railway for a further two hundred
yards or so, and now makes it possible to walk the full length of
the former line to within a short distance of its former junction
with the GWR main line.
At the other end of the route
at Calne, the path leaves the railway formation just short of the
former station site as that was re-developed in the early 1970s.
However, a further re-development of 110 houses is now taking place
at the station, although the plans are not completely clear as to
whether a direct access from the railway path to the new estate
will be provided. (Robin Summerhill)
March 2015. Canterbury
to Whitstable, Kent. It's not often that an old line in Kent features
in our news reports, but something unusual has just been excavated
outside Canterbury – the Beverley Meadow Arch on the former
Canterbury & Whitstable Railway, which now forms the loose basis
of the 'Crab and Winkle Way' which links the two towns. More a pedestrian
tunnel than an arch, Canterbury City Council infilled the structure
decades ago, but in 2010 the Friends of the Crab and Winkle Line
applied for a Heritage Listing – and got it. The arch, built
between 1825 and 1830, has now been excavated and awarded a Grade
II listing on account of the rarity of this type of structure. It
will not be re-opened for pedestrians, but metal gates will be installed
at the entrances so that visitors can see through. An interpretation
panel will also be installed. Click here
for further details and pictures. (Tim Chant) |
|
Above:
A
view from the trackbed of Broadway station on the former GWR line
from Cheltenham to Straford-on-Avon. The station is being rebuilt
as the new northern terminus of the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire
Railway, but the company has shelved plans to extend even further
north to Honeybourne; see the report below. March 2015. (Rob Davidson)
|
|
Above:
A
striking view of one of Broadway's new running-in boards. At the moment,
the railway ends at Laverton, two miles to the south, but this extension
– when opened – will bring the railway to one of the most
popular and attractive destinations in the Cotswolds. March 2015.
(Rob Davidson) |
March
2015. Broadway to Honeybourne, Worcestershire. The Gloucestershire
& Warwickshire Railway is no longer looking to extend northwards
from Broadway to Honeybourne, which means that this 4½ mile
section of the old Great Western line from Cheltenham to Stratford-on-Avon
could be used for a railway path. However, the bridges would need
attention, as the modern GWR found with the bridges on its extension
from Toddington to Broadway. (Jeff Vinter)
Update: The
club's Editor tried to verify this story with the GWR in time
for the Summer magazine, but the information arrived after the
publication date. However, Ian Crowder, the railway’s Press
Officer, has now confirmed that the railway still hopes to drive
north at some point, although this does not rule out
the possibility of a railway path running alongside. 'I can happily
confirm that our aim remains to reach Honeybourne. The trackbed
is owned by Sustrans [actually Railway Paths Ltd - Webmaster]
and there could be a sharing arrangement, but we are certainly
not abandoning plans to extend northwards although it may be a
while before such work starts: for example, the steel bridges
are in an extremely poor state.' Next year, the GWR hopes to commence
services to Broadway, where the re-building of the station continues
apace. (Jonathan Dawson)
March 2015. Honeybourne
to Stratford-on-Avon, Worcestershire/Warwickshire. The Harbury Tunnel
landslip on the line from Leamington Spa to Banbury has brought
re-opening of the ex-GWR Stratford to Honeybourne railway line back
on to the agenda. As part of a West Midlands and Chilterns route
study, Network Rail has been told to 'take another look' at reinstating
the 9½ mile link, which it is estimated will cost £76
million; if reinstatement does go ahead, it will create an alternative
route from Birmingham to Oxford. A spokesman for Network Rail stated
that there would have to be a strong business case for the project,
but conceded that NR supported the 'growth of the railway to meet
the demands of an increasing number of passengers'. At the moment,
NCN5 uses the old trackbed between Stratford and Long Marston. (Rob
Davidson)
March
2015. Plymouth Friary to Turnchapel, Devon. Further to
our report in June 2014 about the
restoration of Laira Bridge in Plymouth as part of a new multi use
trail, we have learned that Railway Paths Ltd will transfer to Plymouth
City Council part of the old railway formation beyond the eastern
end of the bridge. This is to support a PCC project which will see
the trail come off the bridge and then cross over The Ride (the
road to Saltram House) via a new trail-over-road bridge before 'landing'
back on the old railway formation. The length of trackbed being
transferred is small, but there are hopes that, in time, PCC will
wish to acquire more of the old line in order to take the trail
on towards the site of Plymstock station. (Jeff Vinter)
March 2015. Methley
L&Y and Midland Junction to Cutsyke Junction, Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Further to our report in October 2014
about the new Sustrans cycle route in the Methley and Castleford
area, we are pleased to provide details. The route reported last
October does indeed use the old line from Cutsyke Junction to Stanley:
it starts at the end of Ramsden Street in Cutsyke (grid reference
SE 422245) and runs to Lumley Hill (SE 411251) near Whitwood Junction.
Wakefield Council now plans to extend this route from Lumley Hill
on to the River Calder Cycle Route at SE 404255, which will extend
it to almost 1½ miles. The council plans to commence work
during the 2015-16 financial year. (Jeff Vinter)
March
2015. Cranleigh to Guildford, Surrey. Further to our report
in June 2014, over 2,000 people
have backed a petition to re-open the railway line between Cranleigh
and Guildford, much of which is now used as the popular Downs Link
bridleway between the North and South Downs Ways. According to the
'getSURREY' website (see here
or here), an
'unnamed firm has now undertaken a study to see if the Downs Link
project would be viable after being contacted by Guildford’s
Liberal Democrat candidate Kelly-Marie Blundell.' Ms. Blundell argues
that the inadequate local transport infrastructure causes 'problems',
which re-use of the old railway would remedy. By contrast, Guildford
MP Anne Milton has written to residents in Guildford to say that
the proposals are not feasible, as previous studies have shown.
She remarked: 'There is considerable discussion about whether the
Downs Link should be used as a rail link, a bus corridor or not
at all … A number of developers at the meeting in January
suggested the construction of a guided busway between Cranleigh
and Guildford along the Downs Link, as a possible way of mitigating
extra traffic. However, I believe we should be mindful that greatly
increasing infrastructure capacity can be a green light to considerably
increased development.' Given the disastrous record of the guided
busway between Cambridge and St. Ives, it is disappointing to see
developers proposing a guided busway here, and our correspondent
remarked, 'Please no concrete …' (Tim Grose)
March 2015.
Bath to Bristol, Somerset/Bristol. South Gloucestershire Council
has apologised 'unreservedly' to walkers and cyclists who normally
use the busy and popular Bristol and Bath Railway Path through Staple
Hill Tunnel and under the nearby Teewell Hill bridge (grid reference
ST 654757). The problem with the bridge was that it was too narrow
for modern traffic levels and needed to be widened. A council spokesman
explained: 'We have now completed three of the four concrete foundations
which form the corner supports which will hold the new bridge in
place. The other concrete foundation required an additional temporary
access platform to be created, which we did not anticipate at the
planning stage and as a result has had a knock-on effect on the
timescale of the build.' The railway path is not now expected to
re-open until 'late spring'. (Tim Chant)
March
2015. Hamworthy to Hamworthy Goods, Dorset. Further to
our report of October 2013, the
2nd March edition of The Bournemouth Echo revealed that construction
of the long awaited ramped bridge over the bottom end of the Hamworthy
Goods line will now go ahead. The bridge is intended to link the
new Harbour Reach development with Hamworthy Park, but Network Rail's
very high specifications were causing the price to escalate beyond
Poole Borough Council's budget. The breakthrough seems to have been
the realisation that, in 2004, Network Rail had leased the branch
for 125 years to DB Schenker, and therefore it was that company's
'build specifications' which needed to be satisfied rather than
those of Network Rail. This changed the situation sufficiently for
a £250,000 contribution from the borough to enable the £780,000
project to go ahead. Work is expected to start in the summer with
completion by the end of the year. Poole Harbour Commissioners view
the branch line as an integral part of their plans for the port;
the problem of its shallow water is to be addressed by the construction
of a new deep water quay, which is part of an £11 million
scheme of improvements announced last May. If this has the desired
effect, trains conveying bulk cargo imports may yet return. (Tim
Chant)
March 2015.
Chiseldon to Marlborough, Wiltshire. For many years, the railway
path from Chiseldon has delivered visitors to Marlborough into its
backstreets, but all that is due to change now that Wiltshire Council
has vacated its depot on the former station site in Salisbury Road.
Marlborough's Town Clerk announced at the end of February that a
new cycle path is to be built through the depot, linking the railway
path with Tesco's car park (also in Salisbury Road). Wiltshire Council
will build the new path as part of the Section 106 agreement with
the site's developer. (Tim Chant) |
|
Above:
Part of the former Longparish branch north east of Wherwell
which is now a permissive path; for further details, see the story
below. This branch lost its passenger service in 1931, so the re-use
of any part of it is quite an achievement. 24th February 2015. (Brian
Loughlin) |
February
2015. Fullerton Junction to Hurstbourne, Hampshire. A permissive
railway path has come to light in Wherwell, where, by Fair View
Cottages (near the centre of the village and about 50 yards from
The White Lion pub), steps have been fitted to take walkers down
to the trackbed which can then be walked towards Longparish as far
as Dublin Farm; here, walkers can turn right for Longparish Road
or left for the footpath to Harewood Forest, which includes a 1½
mile length of Roman road between SU 394441 and SU 407421. The grid
references for the railway path are SU 389410 (Fair View Cottages)
to SU 398416 (Dublin Farm), a distance of just under a mile. A lot
of the trees along the line have been cut back to open up a view
of the River Test below, where possible, and the new facility is
proving popular with children at the local primary school. Heading
in the opposite direction from Wherwell, i.e. towards Fullerton
Junction, a public footpath runs along the north side of the old
railway from near Fair View Cottages to Fullerton Road at SU 385404,
which provides a further half mile of railway-themed walking in
the area. (Brian Loughlin and Jeff Vinter) |
|
Above:
Still standing after all these years. This railway relic
is rarely seen because, even in the dead of winter, it is well hidden;
it is part of the platform at Clatford, which was the first station
south of Andover Town on the former LSWR cross-country route from
Andover to Romsey, known popularly at the 'Sprat and Winkle' line.
Clatford station was situated between Goodworth Clatford and Upper
Clatford at grid reference SU 361426, near the modern day Briar Hill
bus stop where a side road looks suspiciously as if it might have
been the entrance to the station. According to the Hampshire County
Council guide to the 'Sprat and Winkle' line (see here
or here),
a 'station house' survives in the village, but we have yet to find
it. 24th February 2015. (Brian Loughlin) |
|
Above: The site of Clatford station
in 1984. This is the view northwards towards Andover on the Stockbridge-Andover
road, then the A3057. Briar Hill bus stop can be seen in front of
the first bungalow. The station, of which there was 'no trace' at
this time, had been on the right; it closed with the rest of the Andover-Romsey
line on 7th September 1964. 30th August 1984. (Ben Brooksbank, used
under the terms of this Creative
Commons Licence) |
February
2015. Fullerton Junction to Andover Junction, Hampshire.
Further to the report above, our correspondent has reminded us that,
at the north end of the Fullerton-Andover line, a 1¼ mile section
of NCN46 now re-uses the old railway between SU 355439 (Upper Clatford)
and SU 362452 (a roundabout on Western Avenue, Andover). The section
of trackbed between Fullerton Junction and Goodworth Clatford has
been privately owned for many years, but there is a footpath from
opposite Fullerton Manor to Longstock Road at the south end of Goodworth
Clatford which is within sight of the old railway and provides some
fine views across the upper Test Valley. Clatford station was situated
at SU 361426 near Clatford Ford, where determined relic hunters may
be able to spot a small section of platform in the undergrowth during
the leafless months of the year. If you want to get from the station
site to Upper Clatford and NCN46, follow Green Meadows Lane to SU
362429 and there take the public footpath that heads north to SU 360433
on Norman Court Lane; this will keep you off the busy main road through
the village. (Brian Loughlin and Jeff Vinter) |
|
Above:
Someone is making a wonderful job of restoring Wherwell station
on the former LSWR line from Hurstbourne to Fullerton Junction in
Hampshire. The brickwork has been cleaned and re-pointed, while the
timberwork has been restored to the Southern Railway's old green-and-cream
livery. The one-time public buildings are in the foreground with the
station master's house beyond. 24th February 2015. (Brian Loughlin) |
|
Above:
Just for completeness, here's the next station up the line
at Longparish; note the former gents' facilities on the right. The
public buildings here reflect the Arts & Crafts Movement and are
of a type which was used along the Meon Vally line, as well as at
various stations on the LSWR network which remain in use today; notable
survivors will be found at Wareham in Dorset and Worplesdon in Surrey.
Passengers services between Hurstbourne and Fullerton Junction were
withdrawn as early as 6th July 1931, but freight services continued
until 28th May 1956. Even then, the track was left in place until
April 1960 for the storage of condemned vans and wagons. 24th February
2015. (Brian Loughlin) |
February
2015. Yatton to Cheddar, Somerset. Many readers are probably
aware that EDF Energy is building a new nuclear power station, Hinckley
C, at Hinckley Point on the Somerset coast. One unexpected result
of this is that the new and improved overhead power distribution
will run along part of the Strawberry Line (ex Cheddar Valley Railway
Walk), bringing with it funds to improve the safety of the road
crossings between Yatton and the A38 at Shute Shelve. (Mandy Brading,
The Strawberry Line Society)
February 2015. Norwich
to Aylsham via Themelthorpe, Norfolk. This is the 26 mile long Marriott's
Way, which a consortium comprising Norfolk County Council, Norwich
City Council, Broadland District Council, South Norfolk District
Council, Sustrans and the Norwich Fringe Project are seeking to
improve. Until the end of the month, this group is collecting feedback
on where and how this work needs to be directed; full details –
including the dates, times and venues of local meetings –
are available here.
At the time of writing (11th February), the online survey for users'
feedback was not available, but was promised 'soon'. (Tim Chant)
February 2015.
Galashiels, Borders. The relaying of the Waverley line between Edinburgh
and Tweedbank continues apace. On Tuesday 3rd February, the first
train for 45 years reached Galashiels station – the track-laying
train, which can be viewed in the video here.
Since then, the rails have reached Tweedbank (see here).
Club members who explored this line during its years of closure
will be very pleased to see it being rebuilt; public services are
due to resume on 6th September this year. Studies to see if the
line can be extended from Tweedbank to Carlisle have already started,
so Tweedbank may yet become a through station. In passing, the original
Waverley line did not have a station at Tweedbank, the next station
east of Galashiels being Melrose. (Jeff Vinter)
February 2015. Barnard
Castle to Bishop Auckland, County Durham. The North Eastern Railway's
former line from Barnard Castle to Bishop Auckland has moved a step
closer to becoming a new rail trail. The South West Durham Heritage
Corridor Project, also known as the Teesdale Rights of Way Improvements,
stalled in 2010 because of 'funding difficulties', but features
again in the draft version of the County Durham Plan. Durham County
Council has adopted an innovative method to encourage would-be funding
partners by establishing a 675 yard section of the route at Cockfield
to illustrate what could be achieved; for further details, click
here
or here.
Back in 2006, a two mile section of this route between Ramshaw (grid
reference NZ 150259) and West Auckland (NZ 184266) was converted
into a cycle trail, including at the west end a short section of
the branch from West Auckland to Butterknowle, which was also served
by a network of colliery tramways. (Tim Chant)
February 2015. Shildon
to West Auckland and Etherley, County Durham. In the course of researching
the article above, it became apparent that much remains of the Stockton
& Darlington Railway's branch from Shildon to Etherley, where
Witton Park Colliery near modern Phoenix Row (grid reference NZ
167292) was the source of traffic. It is sad to report that this
historic line features on the English
Heritage At Risk Register, with its condition described as 'Generally
unsatisfactory with major localised problems'. The branch included
two substantial inclines at Etherley and Brusselton, which enabled
trains to negotiate the valley of the River Gaunless; the requisite
stationary engines were completed in time for the S&D's opening
in 1825. The sections of trackbed listed below are now public footpaths,
and, with the aid of the local Ordnance Survey Explorer map (no.
305), it is easy to join them together via other public footpaths
or minor roads:
- A6072 west of Shildon to
Haggs Lane, NZ 219255 to NZ 206258, ¾ mile including part
of Brusselton Incline
- Burnshouse Lane to Oakley
Green, West Auckland, NZ 197260 to NZ 187264, ¾ mile
- Greenfields Road, West Auckland,
to Phoenix Row, NZ 176278 to NZ 167292, 1¼ mile including
Etherley Incline
The well researched article
here
and here
provides details of this historic branch line, together with maps,
a gradient profile and various archive illustrations. (Jeff Vinter) |
|
Above:
The modern Channel Tunnel Terminal to the west of Folkestone
has obliterated Cheriton Junction on the Folkestone-Ashford line,
which used to mark the end of the Elham Valley branch from Canterbury.
More of this scenic line is now open to walkers, as reported in the
article below. The path at the foot of the field in the foreground
is the bridleway from Peene to Folkestone. 4th May 2003. (Stephen
Dawson used under the terms of this Creative
Commons licence) |
February
2015. North Elham to Peene (near Cheriton Junction), Kent.
Further to our report in September 2012,
the proposal to 'establish a riding, cycling and walking route along
the disused Elham Valley Railway track between Peene and Lyminge
villages' has now been implemented partially. Between Lyminge and
Etchinghill to the south, the Elham Valley Way does not use the
trackbed, and we do not know if it ever will. However, south of
Etchinghill, it reaches the old railway at grid reference TR 174391,
then runs alongside it to TR 178387, where it switches on to the
trackbed proper for three-quarters of a mile to TR 185378, just
west of Peene. Beyond Peene, the course of the old railway has been
obliterated by the modern Channel Tunnel Terminal, but a bridleway
heads west to Newington or east to Folkestone. So what does this
mean for railway ramblers? The 5¼ miles of the Elham Valley
Way between North Elham and Peene are now an interesting proposition,
for they thread together the remains of the old railway and, when
not on the actual trackbed, are often very close to its course.
Along the way, there are plenty of footpaths and minor lanes which
enable past bridge and crossing sites to be visited, and one must
not forget Lyminge Library which, in its previous incarnation, was
the village's railway station. Our best advice is to use the local
OS Explorer map , no. 138, because the Elham Valley Way takes a
long detour around Etchinghill, which will not interest the explorer
of old railways. (Jeff Vinter)
February 2015. Green
Park to Charing Cross and Holborn to Aldwych, London. Check the
date (it is not 1st April), sit down and stand by to be amazed.
Design firm Gensler has suggested that the answer to London's congestion
problems might be a network of subterranean cycleways using abandoned
parts of the London Underground network. Apart from Green Park to
Charing Cross and Holborn to Aldwych, there are some interesting
possibilities in south London arising from partial construction
of the 'deep level tube' planned for the Northern Line; this was
intended to provide a pair of fast lines bypassing many intermediate
stations, but was never completed due to the outbreak of World War
2. Dubbed 'The London Underline', Gensler's scheme has already won
the prize for Best Conceptual Project at the London Planning Awards.
It may not surprise readers that these suggestions have met with
some incredulity, with one correspondent on The Guardian's website
describing them as 'bonkers'. Even the reporter in The Guardian
concluded that 'the Underline is about as practical a way of clearing
the roads as buying every Londoner their own miniature zeppelin'.
(Click here
or here
to read the source article.) However, setting aside the comic aspects
of this report, it is instructive to note how much views have changed
since Nigel Willis established Railway Ramblers in 1978: at that
time, abandoned railway land was treated as a headache and largely
ignored; today, even abandoned tube lines are treated as a potential
resource. (Tim Grose)
February 2015. NCN1
Routes, Tyne & Wear, Durham and Cleveland. One of the benefits
of subscribing to Ordnance Survey's 'Get-a-Map' service is that
one can conduct aerial surveys around the UK, looking for new railway
paths, and extensions to and connections between them; a not unpopular
occupation when the TV schedules make swallowing a cyanide pill
seem like an attractive proposition. Alighting upon Ryhope recently,
a substantial network was revealed; it is not 100 per cent railway-based
(maybe 95 per cent), but the great thing is that these old railways
have been joined together to create something which is almost regional
rather than local in its scope. These are the main routes, with
the connecting points colour-coded to make them stand out:
- Newport Hill to Ryhope
(NCN1), 2¼ miles
- Ryhope
to South Hetton (NCN1), 5½
miles
- South Hetton
to Seaham (NCN1), 3¾ miles including Hesledon Bank and
Stony Cut Bank
- South Hetton
to Wingate, Station
Town and Trimdon Colliery (NCN1), 7½ miles
- Wingate
to Hart Station (NCN14), 5½ miles
- Station
Town to Thorpe
Thewles (NCN1), 8¼ miles
- Thorpe Thewles
to Oxbridge, Stockton-on-Tees (NCN1), 2¾ miles but note
that a diversion is required south of Thorpe Thewles due to the
demolition of the magnificent Thorpe Thewles Viaduct
The above routes add up to
35½ miles in total, which is rather more than the last time
we looked at this area. That all this is now available is thanks
to the North East's bygone coal industry and the development of
the National Cycle Network. (Jeff Vinter)
February 2015. Peckham
Rye to Queen's Road Peckham, London. Here's something you don't
see very often: a report on a disused railway in London. (As a general
rule, London doesn't have any disused railways.) The former Peckham
Coal Line runs along the west side of the Atlantic Line (London
Bridge-Victoria) between Queens Road Peckham and Peckham Rye stations;
it once served coal drops used by Rickett Cockerell, coal merchants,
who were part of the William Cory group. Now an architect-led group
of local residents wants to convert the 1,200 yd trackbed into a
green space in the style of the Manhattan Elevated Railway; full
details are available from the website here.
The plans, costed at £2 million, include connecting with the
nearby Kirkwood Road Green Space and converting one of the railway
arches along the way into a café. Much of the route is on
a viaduct, which is hardly surprising considering that it used to
serve coal drops. (Jeff Vinter)
February 2015. Winchester
Chesil to Hockley Viaduct, Hampshire. Following on from the restoration
of Hockley Viaduct and its re-opening in April 2013, more of the
former Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway south of Winchester
Chesil can now be walked and cycled. The section concerned runs
between grid references SU 486284 and SU 484280; it is only 600
yards long but provides a grade-separated crossing of Garner Road,
which suffers from speeding motor traffic. (Previously, walkers
and cyclists travelling into Winchester from this direction had
to cross this road on the level.) The new route is part of NCN23.
Just south of Garner Road, it switches to the towpath of the former
Itchen Navigation (interesting in its own right) before passing
under a steel bridge on the old railway at SU 480270. Hockley Viaduct
lies about 350 yds beyond, just after a spanless underbridge where
only the abutments remain. The road here, now a quiet cul-de-sac,
used to be the A333, which crossed the adjacent A31 at the notorious
Hockley traffic lights – the cause of summertime traffic jams
of biblical proportions. When the new M3 was opened, the A31 was
dug up and its course returned to nature, a gesture perhaps intended
to assuage local anger about the motorway having carved a huge slice
out of Twyford Down. Despite this, we have yet to spot any trunk
road ramblers walking along the A31's now green and pleasant corridor,
clutching battered copies of old National Express coach timetables.
(Jeff Vinter)
January 2015. Sandbach
to Lawton, Cheshire. The North Staffordshire Railway's former line
from Sandbach to Lawton Junction is now a permissive bridleway between
Ettiley Heath (to the south of Sandbach) and Lawton Heath End (to
the north of Alsager), although a diversion via the Trent &
Mersey Canal is required between Malkin's Bank and Hassall Green,
where the trackbed has been lost to the greens of the local golf
club. The route is now part of NCN5 and runs between grid references
SJ 741604 and SJ 794567, a distance of 4½ miles; from west
to east, it comprises the Wheelock Rail Trail, the canal towpath
and the Salt Line. Both the Wheelock Rail Trail and the Salt Line
are maintained and promoted by Cheshire East Council, whose downloadable
guide is accessible here.
(Jeff Vinter) |
|
Above:
The start of the Sutton Branch Line Walkway and Conservation
Area in Crawcroft Lane near Sutton-on-Sea, Lincolnshire, looking north
east. The missing larch lap panels beyond the five bar gate leave
no doubt that this is a flat area with high winds. The walkway was
once part of the branch line from Louth to Willoughby via Mablethorpe,
which was closed in sections in 1960 (Louth to Mablethorpe) and 1970
(Mablethorpe to Willoughby). For further details, see the story below.
14th April 2012. (Ian S., used under the terms of this Creative
Commons Licence) |
January
2015. Louth to Willoughby via Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire.
Two sections of this former Great Northern line are now accessible
as public footpaths:
- Sandilands to Crawcroft
Lane, grid references TF 521802 to TF 514784, 1¼ miles.
This ruler straight section of the branch to the south west of
Sutton-on-Sea is known as the Sutton Branch Line Walkway and Conservation
Area.
- Farlesthrope to Willoughby,
TF 475737 to TF 465724, 1 mile. This is now the Willoughby Branch
Line Nature Reserve.
Also, at Stewton, near Louth,
the public footpath to Grimoldby runs along the northern edge of
the old railway formation from TF 362869 to TF 376876 (1 mile).
The branch was about 18 miles long, so these sections account for
only one-sixth of the whole, but it something that any part of it
can be walked in Lincolnshire's flat terrain, where old railways
can be removed so easily from the landscape. (Jeff Vinter)
January 2015. Great
Elm to Frome, Somerset. Further to our report in September last
year (click here), we are delighted
to report that the new section of path from Low Water to Welshmill
Lane will receive its official opening at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday
31st January with the Mayor of Frome in attendance. A prize will
be awarded to the participant who is the 'best lit up'. (Frome's
Missing Link)
Comment: The
trail between Low Water and Welshmill Lane is not a railway path
but runs alongside the River Frome. The importance of this project
is that it aims to extend the railway path from Radstock –
which stops 2½ miles away at the tiny village of Great
Elm – right into the centre of Frome. Long before anyone
thought of re-using old railways as trails, staff at British Rail's
Property Board were busy selling old railway land as quickly as
they could to adjoining landowners and developers, which is why
so many railway paths start on the edge of town. That's not a
problem if there is a safe alternative route to the edge of town,
but in many communities there is not – and that's why the
country needs more projects like Frome's Missing Link. The low
resolution map available here
illustrates why Frome needs this link. (Webmaster)
January 2015. Walsall
to Pelsall, West Midlands. Part of the LNWR's former line from Walsall
(Lichfield Line Junction) to Lichfield City now forms part of NCN5
between Ryecroft and the south end of Pelsall. To make things a
little more interesting, the trail starts on a short length of the
Midland Railway's former chord between North Walsall Junction and
Leighs Wood Branch Junction. The railway path runs from grid reference
SP 016999 to SK 025030, a distance of 2¼ miles. If you are
in the area, there is a little more railway walking on various bits
and pieces of old lines that served the now vanished local coal
industry. These sections are only a quarter of a mile each and not
worth enumerating here, but the local OS Explorer map (number 220)
will see you right. (Jeff Vinter)
January 2015. Whitchurch,
Shropshire. Within the Shropshire town of Whitchurch, the start
of the former Cambrian Railways' branch from Whitchurch to Ellesmere
is now a cycle trail between grid references SJ 549410 and SJ 542406.
Don't make a special trip, though – it's only half a mile
long! (Jeff Vinter)
January 2015. Narborough
to Enderby, Leicestershire. The Enderby branch was a joint line
operated by the LNWR and MR, built to serve Enderby Warren Quarry.
At just under 2½ miles, it is not exactly one of Leicestershire's
major lost lines, but 1½ miles of it are now in use as a
cycle trail between grid references SP 529973 and SP 531995. According
to Wikipedia, the route is known as 'Whistle Way'. The quarry has
fared less well than the old railway, for it is now being used as
a tip and slowly infilled. (Jeff Vinter)
January 2015. Nationwide.
John Grimshaw stood down as the Chief Executive of Sustrans Ltd,
the UK's cycling charity, in 2008. Since then, he has set up John
Grimshaw and Associates, a consultancy which specialises in
developing 'long sought routes which have proved intractable in
the past'. The company's website
is well worth a look and includes a number of interesting projects,
which include the following:
- The Rawtenstall and Rochdale
Railway Route (14½ miles), Lancashire. The company is currently
coordinating the opening of this heavily engineered route, complementing
the local council’s efforts by determining how best to resolve
the various barriers which currently splinter it into little-used
fragments.
- The Peebles Railway Path
(14½ miles), Borders. This aims to link Peebles to Biggar
and Symington to Tweedsmuir using disused railways to avoid the
main roads in the area. (Click here
for our May 2013 report.)
- The Portishead and Clevedon
Gordano Greenway (4½ miles), Somerset. This project plans
to re-use sections of the long-closed Weston, Clevedon & Portishead
Light Railway to give Walton-in-Gordano and Weston-in-Gordano
safe access to their nearby towns. The ex-railway content is not
particularly high, but it will be no small achievement to re-use
anything from a railway that was closed as long ago as 1940.
It was John Grimshaw who brought
us the Trans Pennine Trail and the National Cycle Network. The next
big idea that he is working up with partners Phil Jones Associates
and Royal HaskoningDHV (sic) is the 'HS2 Greenway', a National Cycleway
along the general corridor of the proposed railway from London to
Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. (Jeff Vinter)
Update: At
the end of September last year, John Grimshaw was honoured with
the 'Golden Eagle Award' by the Outdoor Writers & Photographers
Guild (see here).
A statement issued by the external panel of judges included these
remarks: 'John Grimshaw is a living legend. In this day and age,
anyone who has had such an impact on getting our society up off
the sofa and taking part in more healthy exercise is a hero.'
(Jeff Vinter)
|
|
Above:
A train on the Swanage Railway seen from Corfe Castle. It
should not be long now before visitors to this famous castle will
see trains from the main line travelling back and forth over this
scenic branch; for further details, see the story below. 17th February
2006. (Lord Harris, used under the terms of the licence on this
page) |
January
2015. Wareham to
Swanage, Dorset. We realise that this is not and never has been
a railway path, but thought that visitors to our site would be interested
to learn that the Swanage Railway has just signed a 99 year lease
on the whole of the Swanage branch south of Worgret Junction. This
extends the preserved line from 6½ to 9½ miles and
is the first step in securing a return of services to Swanage from
the main line. Speaking to a reporter from the Bournemouth Daily
Echo, Peter Sills (Chairman of the Swanage Railway) explained: 'Securing
a 99 year lease was one of the key elements in realising our ambitions
to have passenger trains running on the main line to Swanage …
It means a large piece of the jigsaw puzzle is now in place and
we can press ahead with the major work, including track restoration,
needed for the next stage of this historic project.' The 'track
restoration' concerns the section from Motala Junction, near the
railway's current northern terminus of Norden, to Worgret Junction.
Having the Swanage branch back on the national network will make
it a lot easier for railway ramblers to visit Purbeck, e.g. to explore
the area's extensive tramway remains. (Tim Chant)
January 2015. Rugby
to Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. In May, the club returns to Rugby
for its Annual General Meeting for the first time in nearly two
decades. Click the link here
to read what has become of the former LNWR branch line between these
two towns, which looked like a hot favourite to become a new railway
path all those years ago. (Jeff Vinter) |
|