RR 158 (Summer 2018) carried a note about this disused station. Originally a pub, it acted as both ticket office and waiting room for the horsedrawn Nantlle – Caernarfon services. The Nantlle Railway operated between 1828 and 1865. Officially, the passenger service did not officially begin till 11th August 1856 but from a local property […]
Author: rradmin
Aug 2021 – Harlow, Essex.
How far can the London Underground extend? Harlow Town Council has said it is willing to lobby for the London Transport network to be extended from its current terminus at Epping, which lies about 8 miles away. Of course, if such a project ever came to fruition, it would hardly qualify as either ‘London’ or […]
Aug 2021 – Pulham Market, Norfolk.
William Brown A fabulous disused station is up for sale in Norfolk and the current owner is hoping to sell to a fellow enthusiast. ‘I’m looking for a railway enthusiast to take it over. Hopefully it will become a holiday destination for railway enthusiasts to come and stay in. That would be brilliant if it […]
Aug 2021 – Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire.
A station that has long been on the Editor’s bucket-list to see but is hidden away behind high hedges and down a private drive also came on the market recently, meaning some pictures could be viewed on the estate agent’s website. Despite being a sumptuous property ‘with its own tennis court, paddock and gardens’ however, […]
Aug 2021 – Powerstock, Dorset.
It is with great sadness that we report the death earlier this year of Mrs Diana Read, who lived at Powerstock station on the former Bridport branch with her husband Brian. Both were very good friends to this Club, and many members over the years enjoyed their generous hospitality when we called at the old […]
Aug 2021 – Pontarddulais, Glamorgan.
The online magazine, Railway Herald, reports that Swansea Council is to undertake a design and feasibility study into creating a foot and cycle path along a currently overgrown and/or inaccessible mile-long section of the former Central Wales line trackbed between Pontarddulais and Grovesend. Further funding would need to be found to bring it to fruition […]
July 2021 – Forest Row (The Forest Way), East Sussex.
The last remaining building at Forest Row station site, the Coal Office, has permanently closed as a café due to a lack of custom accentuated by enforced lockdowns. The building is in a sorry state – though the former café use is evident with coffee beans still in the machine and furniture stacked. (Chris Witt)
July 2021 – Three Bridges to East Grinstead (The Worth Way), West Sussex.
The official NCN21 in Worth comes off at Church Road but the footpath further along the railway cutting is clearly signed to the wooden steps at the Salehurst Road & Saxon Road point. The trouble is that this last section has been allowed to deteriorate with fallen trees (which the nimble and able can just […]
June 2021 – Stow, Midlothian.
The station building at Stow has been saved from demolition and is being turned into a café/bar. The village, which has a population of around 700, has lost all three of its hotels and bars over the years and only has a part-time café. The station building is 173 years old and was originally earmarked […]
June 2021 – Manchester, Lancashire.
Castlefield Viaduct in Manchester is to be turned into an urban park and meeting-place under plans drawn up by Highways England and The National Trust. The viaduct was built in 1892 and designed by Heenan and Froude, the engineers who worked on the Blackpool Tower. It formed part of the approach to Manchester Central Station […]
Sep 2021 – Are you aware of any plans for the 102 structures threatened with infilling?
We quickly need to identify all proposed projects which are reliant on the retention of any of the 102 structures on the National Highways list which are ‘on pause’ but threatened with infilling.
Charity walk along the Tissington Trail
UPDATED Sep 2021 – Construction of Somerset Circle Section between Wells and Shepton Mallet now Under Way
RR Magazine Autumn 2021 – out soon
Sep 2021 – National Highways: “existential threat” to legacy rail structures
Aug 2021 – Highways England suspension of bridge infilling
August 2021 – RR Chairman, Mark Jones, in Limerick
Final Details for AGM on 2nd October 2021
Aug 2021 – Highways England acting like “cowboys and bullies” over bridge scheme
A fortnight after the announcement that the infilling programme would be ‘paused’ (i.e. not stopped), The HRE Group identifies more imminent infillings
UPDATED Sunday 1st August; Jonathan Dawson completes 10 day Charity bike ride to John O’Groats
Jul 2021 – Government pauses bridge infilling schemes
Encouraging news as the Government published a progress report, Gear Change: One Year On, which reviews efforts to encourage and facilitate safe walking and cycling.
July 2021 – Highways England’s infilling in the national news
It is being widely reported that Boris Johnson has intervened to halt the plans to fill in dozens of Victorian railway crossings with concrete
Jul 2021 – Historic Railway Structures
Jul 2021 – Free Tours of Wingfield Station (Derbyshire)
Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust (DHBT) are hosting a series of free tours of Wingfield Station where you can visit inside the station and learn about the restoration project.
Pressure mounts on Highways England as councils push back against bridge “vandalism”
.Council officials have told Highways England that it must seek retrospective planning permission after infilling a Victorian bridge which two heritage railways need for a connecting line between their operations.
Minister condemned over “embarrassing” bridge deceit
Press Release from HRE Group regarding Highways England’s infilling and demolition of historic railway structures
Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton lines. A member review of a new DVD from Dumpman Films
Jul 2021 – Parliamentary petition to stop the destruction of the Heritage Railway Estate
There is now a parliamentary petition to stop the destruction of the Heritage Railway Estate by Highways England which, if enough people sign, will result in a debate in parliament – so really could make a difference.
Scottish bridges under threat after council’s “planning blunder”
PRESS RELEASE FROM HRE GROUP. Campaigners have called on Dumfries & Galloway Council to take urgent action after a “perverse decision” by planners threatened to make the proposed reopening of a railway more difficult and costly.
HRE Group featured on Jeremy Vine’s BBC show and in The Times…
The HRE Group has had great success gaining further publicity and raising awareness of the destruction/infilling activities of Highway England in the mainstream media this week.
Highways England slammed over bridge “preservation” claim
PRESS RELEASE FROM HRE GROUP: Campaigners have expressed their disbelief after Highways England claimed to have “preserved” a Victorian railway bridge by burying it within hundreds of tonnes of aggregate and concrete.
Video featuring member Graeme Bickerdike campaigning against HRE’s plans
Jun 2021 – Contract for new decking on Bennerley Viaduct signed
The Best Thing I ever did
Rachel, a member living in Lincolnshire, describes her experience of RR – and asks if there is more we can do?
10th Jun 2021 – Latest press release from HRE Group on the infilling of Great Musgrave bridge in Cumbria
**Updated 3rd Jun – May 2021 – Cumbrian railways unite against “destructive” bridge scheme
Article updated with council’s response to HRE intention to infill the bridge and a follow up letter from the HRE Group to the Chair of the Transport Committee
National Walking Month: TfW Blog
Transport for Wales (TfW) have published a blog of former rail routes. Our own Chris Parker is one of the guest contributors
RR Magazine Summer 2021 – out soon
May 2021 – Kingham to Bourton Recreational Trail
There is a group planning to establish the former Kingham to Bourton rail track as a recreational trail.
May 2021 – Lichfield to Brownhills Study
An interesting link that brings news of a possible development to the Lichfield – Brownhills mothballed line.
May 2021 – SW Articles (May Blossoms)
Jeff Vinter has written the fifth in his series of newsletters with a selection of articles originally issued to South Western Area members titled ‘My Blossoms’ which he is happy to share with all RR members
May 2021 – The HRE Group continuing to fight!
Goodmanham to Market Weighton new railway footpath
May 2021 – Usk, Monmouthshire.
Usk Tunnel, built originally by the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk & Pontypool Railway and now part of an official footpath, has been temporarily closed due to reports of falling bricks and debris, according to the South Wales Argus. A metal fence has been erected to prevent access and a spokesman for the Council said they had […]
May 2021 – Disused railway infrastructure.
The ‘burdensome estate’ has reached the national press. The ongoing saga over the demolition or infilling of bridges and tunnels by Highways England (HE) was reported on in The Times newspaper of May 4th, with both an article and editorial comment. It described the recent decision by Herefordshire Council to refuse planning permission to HE […]
May 2021 – Butternab Tunnel, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
The secret is out. In 2016, the owner of a house whose garden includes the southern portal and a section of Butternab Tunnel on the ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway’s Meltham branch (closed 1969) allowed the Yorkshire Area group in to see what remained. However, he did not wish this to be widely publicised so we […]
May 2021 – Kingham, Oxfordshire, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire.
It has been reported that a group is commissioning Sustrans to investigate using the former Kingham to Bourton line as a recreational trail. First though, they have to raise funding for a Sustrans feasibility study. They claim the disused rail line ‘is flat, relatively undeveloped, usefully sited and travels through beautiful countryside’, which could be […]
May 2021 – Lichfield, Brownhills, Staffordshire.
Lichfield District Council is starting work on a project that could transform the mothballed railway track between Brownhills and Lichfield into a new cycle and footpath. Working with Network Rail and Sustrans, the council will assess a section of the old South Staffordshire Railway line for its potential to reopen as a greenway. This would […]
Apr 2021 – Cardiff, Glamorgan.
Network Rail is claiming a world first in using electric resistant paint to avoid demolishing a Victorian-age railway bridge in Cardiff, which would have cost £40m. Intersection Bridge, a rail-over-rail structure in the city centre and on the main line from Paddington, is too low to fit all the kit required for electrification – as […]
Apr 2021 – Tidenham, Gloucestershire.
A planning application has been made by Greenways and Cycleroutes Ltd, in conjunction with Wyedean School and the National Diving & Activity Centre, to extend the Wye Valley Greenway from Bishton Lane, Tidenham, to Wyedean School, Sedbury, just across the River Wye (and Anglo-Welsh border) from Chepstow. Importantly, this would include the old railway bridge […]