The direct line north from Madrid to Burgos may yet re-open to traffic, eleven years on from a tunnel collapse at Somosierra which left a tamping machine half-buried in the rubble. It was the excuse the Spanish railway authorities needed to close a line which they were already running down. The tamping machine, along with […]
Author: rradmin
Sep 2022 – Bassenthwaite Lake / Cockermouth, Cumbria.
Readers of this magazine will be aware of the restored station-cum-café at this ex-CKPR location. We had not reported a story involving the old Cockermouth Station benches which have been at the local bowling club since the station closed. When the Bassenthwaite Lake station owners were alerted to their departure and subsequent availability, within 48 […]
Sep 2022 – Wick St. Lawrence, Somerset.
The Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Railway Group report that they are working with North Somerset Council on a reconstruction of Wick St Lawrence station as part of the new shared-use path along the old trackbed. The project is fully funded. They also held a WC&P Railway Anniversary Exhibition in Portishead in early October. Related and […]
Sep 2022 – Former world’s longest rail tunnel opens to public
Glenfield Railway Tunnel in Leicester once the longest in the world is to open to the public as part of a series of heritage days.
Sep 2022 – Sponsored walk along the Elizabeth line
A new event, part of Rail Aid 2022, are looking for participants to join a 15-mile walk following the route of the Elizabeth line.
RR Magazine Autumn 2022 – out soon
Aug 2022 – Book Review: National Directory of Traditional Railway Societies 2022/23 edition
Aug 2022 – Spending on Trails
Aug 2022 – Pudsey, Lancashire.
An RR walk in May tracing the former line from Laisterdyke to Pudsey Lowtown revealed that for most of its course – from Dick Lane in Laisterdyke to the site of Tyersal Junction (and from there and Cutlers Junction towards Dudley Hill) – is filled-in cuttings with just bridge parapets visible as ground level walls, […]
Aug 2022 – Bowling, Dunbartonshire.
A route which opened last year at Bowling Harbour and uses a section of the ex-Lanarkshire & Dunbartonshire Railway has won the Master Planning/Landscaping: Public Realm/Landscaping Award at the Scottish Design awards. The route is shown on current OS mapping as starting at the east end of Bowling Harbour, but in fact begins at NS […]
Aug 2022 – Major revamp of Newham Trail.
An article outlining a major revamp of Newham Trail as work begins on Truro Loops footpath has been featured in the local pre
Aug 2022 – Isle of Wight.
The Isle of Wight’s railways were decimated by the Beeching cuts (and earlier closures), leaving only the line from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin. Since then, the IoW Steam Railway has reopened the section from Smallbrook Junction on the Ryde line to Wootton, and in May 2020, the Island Council received up to £50,000 from […]
Aug 2022 – Chequerbent Embankment, Lancashire.
In Spring 2022 the above structure was given Ancient Monument Status, which puts it into an exclusive club with Stonehenge etc. This means that the landowner’s plans for the area around the embankment will need to be revised as a hole was going to be punctured through it presumably for road access. The embankment is […]
Aug 2022 – Hundred End to nr. Banks (Gorsey Lane), Lancashire.
Part of the L&YR’s former line from Preston to Southport, this short walk comprises a public footpath at the east end (Hundred End) followed by a short stretch of unclassified road. Examination of aerial photographs suggests that the trackbed may be walkable for another ¼m from SD 403212 to Square House Lane at SD 400210. […]
Aug 2022 – Not so saintly. Cornwall.
Sad news from Cornwall where sections of the proposed Saints Trails keep being dropped in a kind of rail-trail ‘decanonisation’. Despite Cornwall Council being able to claw back £1m from National Highways for over-running, this still leaves £18m which has gone into an ever-shrinking project. The original plan was to open paths between Truro and […]
Aug 2022 – Watford, Hertfordshire.
A proposal to reopen the disused Watford – Croxley Green line ‘in some sustainable travel capacity’ is being pursued by a team of transport consultancies led by Atkins. The 3.5 mile stretch of track has been disused since 1996 and has suffered from a number of false starts as an extension to the Metropolitan Line […]
Aug 2022 – Bennerley Viaduct Opening Party
The event to officially declare Bennerley Viaduct open & celebrate the Friends of Bennerley Viaduct signing a lease, and receiving funds from @HeritageFundUK is being held on Sunday 7th August. Railway Ramblers has previously contributed to the re-opening of Bennerley Viaduct and is currently donating two benches to be installed on the Western Ramp
Aug 2022 – Rugby to Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.
Sustrans’ much-heralded ‘Lias Line Greenway’ between these two towns has opened, but it should be pointed out that, so far, it only uses three short sections of disused railway: the long existing Offchurch Greenway at its southern end, a brief trackbed visit near Long Itchington, and a section between Birdingbury and Draycote. (Further sections are […]
July 2022 – Plan unveiled for viaduct bridge to join Oldham and Tameside
The crossing would let cyclists and walkers move between Oldham and Tameside across the Medlock Valley in Park Bridge
July 2022 – Castlefield Viaduct, Manchester.
Technically this qualifies as a (tiny) piece of reopened disused railway. Lovers of plants, flowers and modern ‘art’ may be happy, but the preview video put out by the Manchester Evening News didn’t show much of a nod to the viaduct’s heritage, while the Daily Mail’s hyperbolic ‘stunning new look’ considerably over-eggs things. One also […]
July 2022 – Whitrope Tunnel, Roxburghshire.
The Campaign for Borders Rail (CBR) newsletter 65 reported a collapse in Whitrope Tunnel on the former Waverley Line between Hawick and Newcastleton. ‘Following heavy rain in March a large rockfall took place close to the southern end of Whitrope Tunnel in the location where a section of the tunnel lining had previously given way. […]
July 2022 – Hawes, North Yorkshire.
Following on from the news item in the last magazine, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) has conducted a survey which, it claims, shows there is strong public support for developing a multi-user route along the six-mile stretch of former railway in Wensleydale, between Hawes and Garsdale. Nearly four out of five members of […]
July 2022 – Coventry, Warwickshire.
A £200,000 ‘greenway’ is being built in Coventry to link Gosford Park School with the Binley Road cycleway at Gosford Green, part of which will use the southern section of the Coventry Loop Line which was opened in 1914 to enable freight to avoid the main station, but closed in 1981. Much of it, which […]
July 2022 – Holbeck Viaduct, Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Plans continue to convert around a mile of ex-LNWR track into a highline walkway, or – as the flowery rhetoric of the Holbeck Viaduct Project Group’s vision document puts it – ‘a distinguished linear public space.’ Which is more than can be said for the rather depressing industrial landscape through which the 92-arch structure and […]
July 2022 – Waverley Viaduct, Carlisle, Cumbria.
Meanwhile, a group of Northumbria University students, all from India, have launched a survey to boost public awareness of plans to reopen the Waverley Viaduct and offer their support to The Carlisle Waverley Viaduct Trust. The Trust has spent more than a decade campaigning for the Viaduct to be reopened as a footpath and eventually […]
July 2022 – Book Review – ‘Railway Paths & Byways: Scottish Borders’
July 2020 – New book ‘National Directory of Traditional Railway Societies’
2020 News (March Onwards)
Dec 2020 – Little Mill Jn – Usk, Monmouthshire Monmouthshire County Council’s planning committee has approved plans to convert about 4 miles of the trackbed of the ex-GWR line between Little Mill Junction and Usk. The path will start near a point on the A472 to the west of Coleg Gwent and the Monmouthshire Council […]
News 2021
Dec 2021 – Co. Donegal, Republic of Ireland. The main railway walking available in County Donegal is on the former Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway, which operated 99 miles of narrow gauge line from Londonderry to Tooban Junction, where separate branches led off to Carndonagh and Burtonport. A Google search for ‘Dismantled railway Letterkenny to […]
July 2022 – Campaigners urge enforcement action over tunnel infilling
HRE Group press release regarding Bradford Council’sfailure to take enforcement action after a disused railway tunnel was partially infilled using development powers which campaigners claim have been applied unlawfully.
Jun 2022 – Steaming back to Kirkby weekend Events
£5 Concert only tickets (pay on door or advance) now available for the ‘Singing the Steam’ concert at The Bentinck on Sunday, 10th July 2022 (1pm – 4pm). Snap / drinks break from 2pm – 2.45pm. Headline act is former Kirkby railwayman and folk singer / songwriter, Dave Goulder.
Jun 2022 – National Highways questioned over bridge infill “sweetener”
HRE Group press release regarding the National Highways role in committing taxpayers’ money to repairing a collection of old railway structures for which it has no responsibility if it was granted planning permission for a controversial bridge infill scheme.
Jun 2022 – New Book – ‘Railway Paths & Byways: Scottish Borders’
A new book titled ‘Railway Paths & Byways: Scottish Borders’ by Allan Foster has been released. RR will publish a review on the book later in the year.
Jun 2022 – Diversion for Cardiff – Brecon ‘Taff Trail’
From June 20th, a road closure has now been extended to pedestrians and cyclists and the completion date has slipped.
Jun 2022 – ‘Sky Park’ at Castlefield Viaduct
The National Trust are working to develop the Castlefield Viaduct in Manchester. Later this year, the first third of the viaduct will open as a ‘sky park’.
Jun 2022 – Plans to re-instatement the Monsal Trail rejected
The much talked about and somewhat controversial plans to reinstate the railway line now known as the Monsal Trail including the route over a landmark viaduct in Derbyshire have been rejected by the government.
Jun 2022 – Musgrave Bridge to be re-instated
Eden Council has voted unanimously to reject National Highways (NH) retrospective planning application to infill Great Musgrave Bridge.
June 2022 – Tyelaw Burn, Northumberland.
Here is a disused railway path not shown as such on OS maps nor is it listed in Railway Rights of Way or Vinter’s Gazetteer and has never been reported in Railway Ramblings. Promoted on the letsgoforawalk.uk website as the ‘Tyelaw Burn Railway’, this is in fact the former standard gauge mineral line which ran […]
June 2022 – Ardingly, East Sussex.
The Bluebell Railway have cleared the disused trackbed west of Lywood Tunnel on the Ardingly branch line towards a missing farm access bridge, with a view to reinstating the bridge. This was done somewhat controversially during nesting season, but it’s nice to see the trackbed clear for the first time in many years. (Chris Bedford)
June 2022. Kettleness to Runswick Bank Top, North Yorkshire.
A new path has come to our attention between these two locations, though the route has not yet been inspected. It is apparently open to cyclists and walkers, and is shown as a permissive bridleway on the latest OS mapping: 2½m, NZ 831155–NZ 803156. Part of the scenic North Eastern Railway line from Whitby to […]
June 2022 – Heathfield, Devon.
The Heath Rail Link is a public interest group formed with the intention of purchasing and reopening the line from Newton Abbot to Heathfield in Devon, initially as a commuter link, and later as a heritage line. Their plans include restoring Platforms 9 and 10 at Newton Abbot and relaying track in the latter, in […]
June 2022 – Bennerley Viaduct, Derbys/Notts.
On Monday 20 June 2022, I signed, as Chairman of Railway Paths Ltd (RPL), the 99-year lease of Bennerley Viaduct to The Friends of Bennerley Viaduct, who will now promote and develop it as a local landmark and tourist attraction. With the generous help of supporters such as the Railway Heritage Trust and the Heritage […]
June 2022 – Torrington, Devon.
The Puffing Billy Café, located in the old station building at Torrington, Devon on what is now the popular Tarka Trail, has new owners who say they are committed to retaining it as a community hub. The building itself is owned by a charity, Tarka Valley Railway, and retains a number of items dating back […]
June 2022 – Brislington, Somerset.
Temporary permission has been granted to extend, in effect, the Sustrans-built Whitchurch to Brislington trail further in towards Bristol city centre. The approval approval permits the old railway to be used as an active travel route for a period of 3 years, at the end of which the Council will have the option to proceed […]
Jun 2022 – ‘Steaming Back to Kirkby’ heritage project special events weekend
The ‘Steaming Back to Kirkby’ (SB2K) heritage project have a weekend of special events on Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th July 2022 to celebrate the railway heritage of Kirkby-in-Ashfield.
Jun 2022 – 2 Tickets for York to Carlisle Steam Excursion
RR Magazine Summer 2022 – out soon
May 2020 – Tour of the Uncompleted Northern Line Extensions (London)
The Group ‘UK Dismantled Railways & Disused Stations’ have an upcoming summer walk which may be of interest to RR Members.
May 2022 – Proposed donation to Friends of Bennerley Viaduct
A proposal will be made to the 2022 AGM to make a further donation of £3000 from the footpath fund for two benches to be installed at the top of the western ramp at the recently opened Bennerley Viaduct. The western ramp is relatively steep to reach viaduct level and it is thought benches would […]