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NEWS
2020
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Above:
West
Derby station on the Liverpool Loop Line of the former Cheshire
Lines Committee. The former railway is now a popular cycle trail,
with the route running along the southbound platform seen here
on the right. The trail – still called the Liverpool Loop
Line and now part of NCN62 – runs from Halewood (on the
Widnes side of Liverpool) to Southport on the coast, although
there is an off-trackbed diversion intermediately at Aintree,
where the live Liverpool-Preston line gets in the way! 15th November
2019. (Jeff Vinter) |
April
2020. 'Now is the time to say goodbye. (Goodbye.) Now
is the time to yield a sigh. (Yield it, yield it.)' This
website will be replaced overnight on Sunday 26th/Monday 27th
April, so this post will probably be my last here, after
23 years as Webmaster – 20 on this site and 3 on its predecessor.
The club's new website is compatible with modern devices such
as mobile telephones and tablets, and has about one-tenth the
number of pages accessible here, where the page count now lies
somewhere between 350 and 400; a huge body of work for any new
Webmaster to take on. In future, news will be published in our
magazine first, thus prioritising members, but a selection of
interesting stories will be cascaded subsequently to 'News |
Recent News' on the new site. The current News pages and Photo
Galleries will continue to be available in an archive area accessible
from the new site, as long as members want them; look out for
'News | RR Wiki' and 'News | Photo Gallery'. A new Webmaster
will take over from me later in the year. Given the pandemic,
I am not sure about the precise timing of the hand-over, but
a sensible compromise would be to get my successor in post soon,
with me assisting for a 'settling in' period. Members will be
able to read further details in the next magazine. (Jeff Vinter)
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Above:
The
exterior of Down Street station, a 'lost' stop on London's Piccadilly
Line; for further details, see the story below. 9th February 2011.
(Mike Quinn, used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
Share-alike Licence 2.0, from an original at https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22849243) |
April 2020.
Yesterday TV Channel. With such far-reaching restrictions
in place as a result of the pandemic, readers may be interested
in a series entitled 'The Architecture the Railways Built',
starting on 'Yesterday' at 8:00 pm on Tuesday 28th April. Although
this may be a repeat from another channel, it provides something
of railway historical interest at this time of lockdown. The
first episode includes the extraordinary Down Street station
on London Underground's Piccadilly Line. Situated between Green
Park and Hyde Park Corner stations, which were close enough
to drain Down Street of patronage, the station was closed in
1932, but was used during World War 2 by Prime Minister Winston
Churchill and his cabinet as a bunker; and that is how it survives
today – as a little known 1940s time capsule. (Lisa Hebborn)
April 2020.
'Country Walking' Magazine. Subscribers to 'Country Walking'
received the latest edition of the magazine on 21st April, and
what did they find within its pages but an article entitled
'Got the Railway Rambling Bug?' This multi-page spread features
a number of disused railways which can now be walked or cycled,
and it gives this club a good plug too. The magazine's circulation
is reported as being in excess of 58,000, so perhaps we will
garner some new members from this very welcome publicity. (Tim
Chant)
April 2020. Nationwide.
Despite the good news reported in the story below, most railway
path developments are currently on hold due to the Covid-19
Pandemic, including two big projects being managed by Railway
Paths Ltd – the restoration of Bennerley Viaduct as an
aerial walkway and visitor attraction, and the basic restoration
of the GCR's gothic-styled Levenshulme South station prior to
a community group developing it as a new community centre. The
sensible expectation is that the delay in project completion
will be approximately equal to the number of weeks that the
building industry is suspended. Of rather greater concern is
the question, 'How will the pandemic affect project costs?',
because projects like these have fixed budgets. When Covid-19
is behind us, the government will want to get both the nation
and the economy working again. No useful purpose will be served
by leaving this work in abeyance, so let us hope that ways will
be found to complete it. (Jeff Vinter)
April 2020. Whitby
to Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Scarborough Council is to receive
a combined grant of £583,000 for improvements to the surface
of the popular 'Cinder Track' on the 4 mile section form Burniston
to Scarborough. The council announced that its planned work
will 'vastly improve users’ access and experience, promote
environmentally sustainable methods of travel, facilitate active
lifestyles and help to support wildlife'. Much of the grant
is being channelled through Sustrans, the national cycling charity,
by the Department for Transport, following a similar project
earlier this year to improve the Whitby-Hawsker section of this
old railway. The council has an over-arching 'Restoration
Plan' for the whole 21½ miles of the trail, which
– like many other rail trails in the UK – has become
so popular that its surface has worn out. Sustrans does not
have grant-awarding powers because its only source of regular
income is what it receives from the regular, voluntary giving
of its supporters. (Jane Ellis)
Comment: It
is good to see the DfT provide funds for a transport route
created exclusively for walkers and cyclists. Can we hope
that, in the near future, people might view it as rather more
than just the Department for Internal Combustion? (Webmaster)
April 2020. York,
North Yorkshire. One unexpected consequence of this winter's
excessive rain and recent storms was that the large flows of
water have moved around the silt on the River Ouse in York to
reveal the tracks of a lost 18" narrow gauge railway. These
have been revealed near the city's Millennium Bridge, and formed
part of a horse-drawn tramway that was used to convey armaments
from the so-called Ordnance Wharf on the river to military barracks
in Fulford. Obviously, no one knows how long these relics will
remain extant, but click here
to read the Yorkshire Post's illustrated article. (Jane Ellis)
March
2020. Daventry to Braunston, Northamptonshire. Anyone
hoping that the 1½ mile section of railway-based cycle
trail from Daventry towards Braunston would continue along more
of the old LNWR trackbed will be disappointed to learn that,
although Daventry District Council has set aside £730,000
for an extension to Braunston, it will follow the towpath of
the Grand Union Canal and not more of the old railway. A report
in a local newspaper explained that, 'This avoids drainage and
safety issues that would arise from continuing the path along
the route of the former railway line, as well as the need to
clear vegetation.' [Yet again, it seems that 'health and safety
issues' are being used as the all-purpose bogeyman to prevent
the re-use of a wasted asset. Webmaster.] The current trail
starts at grid reference SP 576630 off Welton Road, Daventry,
and appears (from online OS mapping) to continue to the railway
overbridge at SP 561648. A reasonable interpretation of the
somewhat vague particulars in the newspaper suggests that the
extension will start from the current end point, possibly using
a little more of the trackbed, before crossing fields to reach
the canal towpath. Tim Coghlan, MD of nearby Braunston Marina,
commented: 'Using the old railway line that linked Daventry
to Leamington Spa has been under discussion for many years.
I would have preferred the old railway line, as it is far more
interesting and dramatic, including a fine cutting, and would
have helped its future preservation. Too many old railway lines
are being destroyed in developments. But this new cross-fields
route has the compensation of providing funding for improving
the towpath from the Braunston tunnel entrance down to the village,
which is in part unuseable in winter'. Mr Coghlan expressed
the hope that this project would act as a stimulus for more
of the canal towpath to be improved. The scheme is being funded
by monies raised from local developers, but is dependent on
the agreement of the Canal & River Trust and the granting
of planning permission. (N.J. Hill)
March 2020. Christ's
Hospital, West Sussex. For many years, walkers and cyclists
travelling along the Downs Link from Guildford towards Shoreham-by-Sea
have had to leave the old LBSCR trackbed near Itchingfield and
take a road-based diversion to reach the trail's continuation
beyond Christ's Hospital station. We are pleased to report that,
after years of negotiation with landowners, the Downs Link now
follows the trackbed into the station's old Guildford platform,
which has been cleared completely, and the new route is shown
on the Ordnance Survey's latest definitive maps. There will
be a public opening event and celebration walk at 12:45 on Friday
24th April, starting from the disused platform at the station.
All that is needed now is for the Surrey local authorities to
improve their end of the trail, which in places over the last
six months has been indistinguishable from a bog. We recognise
that Surrey CC's parlous financial situation is the result of
past government policies, but hopefully the situation will improve
now that the country has a government in office which is not
totally obsessed with austerity. For further details of West
Sussex's recent good works on this trail, click here.
(Paul Hamlin, Graham Lambert and Jeff Vinter)
March 2020. Totton
to Fawley, Hampshire. Few railway lines have closed in recent
years, but this freight-only branch is one of them – and
it seems very unlikely to be converted into a trail. On 5th
March, the Hampshire Chronicle published a sizeable article
on plans to re-open the now mothballed line to passengers, noting
that local councils are giving the proposal strong support,
especially given development plans in the area which include
building a small new town on the site of the old Fawley power
station. Supporters say that this amount of building will cause
gridlock on the A326 (the main road from Fawley to Southampton),
but opponents along the rail corridor are 'horrified' at the
prospect of passenger trains passing their homes, and claim
that the railway will make no difference at all to traffic levels
on the A326. For good measure, they claim that the closing of
level crossings to let trains pass will make the local traffic
situation even worse. (Presumably, these people are unaware
of the phenomenal success of other rail re-openings, such as
Edinburgh to Tweedbank.) The Fawley branch has been described
as the only realistic re-opening proposal in the county. All
the old stations would be re-opened, with the former Hardley
Halt re-developed as Hythe & Fawley Parkway, and a new station
built to serve Hythe Town. (Chris Cook and Jeff Vinter)
March 2020. Ryecroft
(nr. Walsall) to Lichfield via Brownhills, West Midlands/Staffordshire.
Further to our report in May 2019,
the West Midlands' Express & Star reported recently that
the existing trail from Lichfield Line Junction to near Pelsall
has been extended northwards to an overbridge on the Wyrley
& Essington Canal, where a flight of new steps takes walkers
up to the canal towpath. Local trail development group Back
the Track undertook the trackbed clearance, which brings the
overall distance up to just under 5 miles. The start and end
points are now grid references SP 016998, near Lichfield Line
Junction, and SK 053064, the intersection with the canal. south
of Pelsall. The long term objective is to reach Lichfield. Curiously,
the newspaper's report did not refer to the trail as the McClean
Way, which is its intended name. Maybe when it reaches Lichfiled
… ? (Keith Holliday and Jeff Vinter)
March 2020. Nr.
Harrow & Wealdstone station to Belmont, Greater London.
Given the understandable scarcity of railway paths in London,
our correspondent felt that this one deserved a mention. Now
known as the Belmont Trail, it is the result of a scheme launched
by the London Wildlife Trust to re-open part of the old Stanmore
branch line as a railway path. Recently, the route has been
'refreshed' and waymarked to make it more appealing to both
walkers and cyclists. At 1¼ miles, it is not particularly
demanding, but would make a pleasant out-and-back Sunday afternoon
stroll during the colder months. The trail can be picked up
at grid reference TQ 167909, which is at the south-east corner
of Stanmore Golf Club and just west of Wemborough Road, the
latter providing access for walkers and cyclists. Heading south,
the car park which occupies the trackbed at TQ 165905 is the
site of the sole intermediate station, Belmont; the low height
of the nearby bridge reveals that no small amount of trackbed
infilling has gone on here. The following section is rather
a squeeze past back gardens which have encroached on to the
trackbed, but things widen out as the trail approaches Wealdstone
Cemetery. Along this section, a few railway relics remain, including
a gradient post and a ¾ milepost. After the cemetery,
the trail rises on a tall embankment as it approaches Harrow
& Wealdstone station, but stops short at Forward Drive /
Christchurch Avenue (TQ 161893), where steps take one down to
street level. Given time and the inclination, a section of the
former branch platform can be found at the nearby main line
station. (Keith Holliday and Jeff Vinter)
March 2020. Nationwide.
On BBC Radio 4's 'Farming Today' programme on Thursday 5th March,
a representative of the Open Spaces Society was interviewed
about that organisation's response to proposals by the Home
Office, which would make trespass a criminal as opposed to civil
offence (click here
for further details). While the proposals are designed to protect
communities from the nuisance caused by so-called 'travellers',
who each summer cause misery with their encampments, the OSS
fears that the legislation may be drafted in such as way as
to make temporary and unintended forms of trespass, such as
diverting from a footpath where it is flooded, a criminal offence.
At this stage, the Home Office is 'consulting' on its proposals.
(Jeff Vinter)
March
2020. Bradford to Keighley, West Yorkshire. An article
appeared in the Bradford Telegraph & Argus on 3rd March,
reporting that Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport,
has rejected the plan to close and partially infill Queensbury
Tunnel. He thinks that other possible uses are as a cycle track,
a tramway, or part of a light railway system. As regular readers
of these pages probably know, restoration of the tunnel is part
of the 'North of England Connecting Communities Initiative'.
It is good to see Mr Shapps supporting the local community's
view and also resisting the negativity of the DfT. (Graham Daurge)
February
2020. The Lost Railways of Devon and Cornwall. There
is an interesting article at the link here,
which provides an overview of almost every lost railway line
in Devon and Cornwall. Of particular interest is news that the
government will establish a £500m fund to help finance
feasibility studies into long-closed railways that could be
restored. Devon County Council intends to bid for money to support
its Bere Alston to Tavistock re-opening proposal, which has
been simmering on the back burner for years, as our reports
in previous years attest. However, the first two re-opening
proposals to benefit from the fund will be in the north: the
Ashington-Blyth-Tyne line in Northumberland, and the Fleetwood-Poulton-le-Fylde
line in Lancashire. (Jeff Vinter) |
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Two
scenes from the Downs Link, formerly the cross-country
line from Guildford to Shoreham-by-Sea via Christ's Hospital.
Left:
The new surface which West Sussex County Council
has been installing on its section of the trail, which
extends from Shoreham to Baynards, on the boundary with
Surrey. The prospect seen here, from Baystone Bridge (near
Christ's Hospital) towards Guildford, has probably not
been so clear since the rails were lifted in 1965. Note
the surface water in the middle distance, which reflects
the sodden autumn and winter of 2019-20. February 2020.
(Tim Grose)
Below:
Apart from the new surface – a vast improvement
on what went before – the other significant feature
in this photograph is the pair of metal bridge parapets.
These stand atop no ordinary railway bridge, but a girder
bridge mounted on top of an arched brick bridge. This
unusual arrangement, which carried the line over the River
Arun, came about because the 19th century Railway Inspector
found the gradient in Rudgwick station too steep, and
ordered the railway company to reduce it. The only way
to do that was to work backwards and raise up the approach
embankment, which (unfortunately for the railway's costs)
included the then too low original brick-built river bridge.
February 2020. (Tim Grose) |
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February 2020.
Peasmarsh, nr. Guildford, to Shoreham-by-Sea (Surrey/West
Sussex). Further to our report in December,
West Sussex County Council is now well into its programme of
improving the Downs Link long distance trail, which re-uses
the former railway lines from Guildford to Christ's Hospital,
and from Christ's Hospital to Shoreham. At the date of our correspondent's
visit, not everything was open officially, but the 'Link' (at
least in places) has not looked so good for years, if ever.
However, elsewhere, our correspondent described the trail as
a 'swamp', and, north of the county boundary at Baynards, it
was awful: here, the old railway was so wet right through to
Cranleigh that he 'gave up trying to dodge the water and ploughed
straight through'. If local authorities want trails like this
to justify their existence, they need to be easily useable,
pleasant experiences with an all-weather surface. Clearly, West
Sussex is doing something constructive south of Baynards, but
Surrey County Council and Waverley Borough Council need chasing
to 'raise their game' at the north end of the route. (Tim Grose)
January
2020. Newquay to Perranporth, Cornwall. A plan for
a new cycle trail from Newquay to Perranporth, largely using
the trackbed of the former Newquay-Chacewater railway line,
has been developed by Cornwall Council. This was voted on at
a meeting at County Hall on 21st January. (We do not yet know
the result, but have asked Cornwall Council to inform us.) A
separate traffic-free route has been designed from St. Agnes
to Truro, although the council's mapping does not make it clear
whether or not this will use more of the old branch line. A
summary of the council's plans can be viewed by clicking the
link here;
collectively, the four routes shown at this link will be known
as the 'Saints Trails'. The majority of the funding will come
from Highways England, with Cornwall Council making a local
contribution. The Newquay-Perranporth route also has a Facebook
supporters' group, which can be found here.
(Jeff Vinter)
January 2020. Cheddar
to Shepton Mallet, Somerset. The latest newsletter from the
Strawberry Line Society reports that the society's branches
and associates 'have had considerable success in creating new
sections of cycleway in and around Wells and Shepton Mallet'.
Unfortunately, the newsletter provides no further details. We
hope that these new sections of cycleway are based on the old
railway! (Jeff Vinter)
January 2020. Shillingstone,
Dorset. Many readers will recognise Shillingstone as the sole-surviving
station built by the Dorset Central Railway, which now provides
interest (and a rather nice café) on the North Dorset
Trailway. North of the station en route to Sturminster
Newton, the trackbed is owned by Bere Marsh Farm, so a diversion
takes the trail slightly to the east of the old line. Recently,
this farm has come on to the market for the first time since
before the railway closed, and the Shillingstone Station Project
has made two substantial offers for the trackbed – but
both have been rejected because the present owner wants to sell
the farm as a single lot. Now the group is aiming to raise £250,000
in loans in order to buy the farm, detach the trackbed, and
then re-sell it. If any reader is interested in helping, contact
Jon Jenkins at Shillingstone Station, Shillingstone, Blandford
Forum, Dorset, DT11 0SA. (Tim Chant) |

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Above:
The former GWR engine shed at Moretonhampstead in Devon
was built by the Moretonhampstead & South Devon Railway in
the early 1860s. Note how the walls fan out from the ground upwards:
this is not a trick of the camera, so was the shed really built
like this, or is the splay a sign of structural degeneration?
The new Wray Valley Trail runs to the right of the shed, behind
the three silver birch trees which can be seen in the upper right,
above the green fuel tank. 15th January 2020. (Jeff Vinter) |
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Above:
Two views of the former GWR goods shed at Moretonhampstead.
When these photographs were taken, the whole station site was
still being used by B. Thompson & Sons (Transport) Ltd, but
the company occupies a valuable piece of land in the town, and
it is likely that they will walk away richer after selling it
and moving to a new location. In the upper picture, the engine
shed can be seen in the distance, in the upper left. In the lower
picture, Thompson's green livery recalls Southern Railway green
– which seems a bit of an affront to an ex-GWR establishment!
15th January 2020. (Jeff Vinter) |
January
2020. Moretonhampstead,
Devon. The former GWR station site at Moretonhampstead is due
to be cleared. A notice at the site entrance states that a developer
has applied for permission to level the site and erect 35 new
homes, although a local resident stated that the application has
been granted and the scheme now provides for 39 new homes. This
development will mean the loss of the town's historic broad gauge
engine shed and goods shed, but the developer has promised to
provide direct access from Station Road to the newly-opened Wray
Valley Trail, which re-uses much of the old trackbed south to
Bovey Tracey. Currently, visitors wishing to use the trail cannot
access it from Station Road, but have to walk uphill to the town
square and turn left into Pound Street, then left again into Pudding
Lane. The trail can finally be accessed at grid reference SX 753856.
(Jeff Vinter) |
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Above:
The stone cutting at Lustleigh, looking south towards
the former village station. Signs warn trail users to pass through
here without stopping, and the size of the boulder on the trackbed
leaves no doubt as to why this advice should be followed. The
cutting dates from the early 1860s, which means that all this
was excavated by picks, shovels and manual labour. 15th January
2020. (Jeff Vinter) |
January 2020.
Moretonhampstead to Bovey Tracey, Devon. Further to
the above report, a visit on 15th January revealed that the
new Wray Valley Trail is to become part of NCN28. Signs (albeit
with a rather temporary appearance) have been erected, and a
planning application has been made to install an information
board at the start point in Pudding Lane, Moretonhampstead.
Substantial bronze signs point the way from the town centre.
60 years elapsed between the railway closing and the trail opening,
so one should not be surprised that the trail does not follow
every yard of the railway's former route. However, Dartmoor
National Park Authority has made a good job of linking together
those extant sections where landowners said 'Yes', and the diversions
are generally within sight of the old railway. An imposing feature
is a sheer-sided rock cutting just a few yards north of intermediate
Lustleigh, where the station survives in private ownership.
(Jeff Vinter)
January 2020.
Southern Area members have been asking our correspondent about
the fate of the plaque commemorating the Surrey Iron Railway
on the wall of the former Young's brewery in Wandsworth. This
extract from an article in the August/September edition of 'London
Drinker' magazine (published by Camra) provides the answer:
'The new Sambrook’s Brewery in Wandsworth will include
a tap room that will be four times the size of the current tap
in Battersea and be open seven days a week. There will also
be a shop and visitors’ centre cum museum to showcase
the unique historical character of this iconic brewing site.
The old Young’s coppers will be retained as part of this
experience, along with surviving iron and brickwork from the
Surrey Iron Railway that was the first public railway in the
world, sanctioned by Parliament in 1803. The new Sambrook’s
tap and shop should be open before Christmas this year [2019],
with the brewery becoming fully operational early in 2020.'
We do not know if the tap and shop have opened yet, but Sambrook's
brewing on Young's old site is great news, and keeping the history
of the Iron Railway is a very welcome development. (Keith
Lawrie)
January 2020. Cutsyke
to Methley Junction, Castleford, West Yorkshire. On the website
for this route (the new Castleford Greenway) is news that a
planning application has been made to connect this trail to
the existing Methley-Stanley trail, which forms part of NCN67.
The intention is to use as much as possible of the trackbed
which currently separates the two sections, and install a metalled
surface in order to make the whole thing an all-weather route.
The completed trail from Cutsyke to Stanley will be about 5
miles long. (Keith Holliday)
January 2020. Bennerley
Viaduct, Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire. Further to our report in
December, Railway Paths Ltd has just signed a 'significant'
contract with contractors, who will soon start the main repairs
of this iconic Grade II*-listed viaduct which straddles the
Erewash Valley near Ilkeston. The original intention had been
to have the viaduct open by about April, but the scoping works
by the companies tendering for the contract found that additional
repairs were required, which has increased the overall cost
and will, inevitably, delay completion. (Jeff Vinter)
January 2020. Totton
to Fawley, Hampshire. The former Southern Railway's branch line
to Fawley, on the edge of the New Forest, lost its oil traffic
about three years ago, but the local Three Rivers Community
Rail Partnership is keen for it to be restored and re-opened
to passengers. Last month, our correspondent was travelling
by bus in the area and crossed the branch on an overbridge at
Hythe. He looked down on the line and was surprised to see a
rail-mounted JCB, flailing the bushes either side of the running
line. Obviously, maintenance work continues, even though the
line is mothballed. While it may never see use as a rail trail,
re-opening to passengers would be a good result – especially
given the amount of development that has taken place in this
area during the last 50 years. (Richard Lewis) |
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