The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has announced its proposal to create a multi-user route or bridleway on the railway trackbed, thus precluding reinstatement of the railway for the foreseeable future. The Upper Wensleydale Railway (UWR) said in response that while it ‘has been aware for some time of the interest in a bridleway from […]
News
The latest from Railway Ramblers.
Jan 2022 – Smardale Gill Viaduct, Cumbria.
The ‘Cinderella’ of the three structures owned by the Northern Viaducts Trust (NVT), Smardale Gill Viaduct, on the ex-NER Barnard Castle & South Durham line between Tebay and Kirkby Stephen, is the intended recipient of funds raised by the 14 Peaks for 14 Arches Challenge. This is asking people to walk 90 miles in 14 […]
Jan 2022 – Ashbury, Devon.
The Pegasus Way is a 15-mile route between Meldon and Cookworthy, much of which uses the former railway line from Meldon Junction to Bude (via Halwill Junction). It will eventually link the Granite Way (Okehampton – Lydford) with the Ruby Way (Hatherleigh – Bude). The rail-related sections run from East Bowerland, near Meldon, to Venn […]
Jan 2022 – Nottingham.
The city of Nottingham lost its famous Victoria station in 1967 – and a significant amount of railway heritage has been obliterated from the city since then. However, Thurland Street Tunnel, which brought the Great Central Railway into the station, remains intact. A local history group, Nottingham’s Railways Remembered, arranged three visits to the tunnel […]
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 Burtonport’ will bring up Ireland’s travel guide (Active […]
Dec 2021 – Rainford Junction to Rainford (Rookery Lane), Lancashire (Merseyside).
Open to cyclists, walkers, wheelchairs, pushchairs, etc., this trail of 1¾ miles runs from grid refence SD 477025 to SD 486002. The walk is branded ‘Rainford Linear Park’, and passes through woodland managed by St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council. The trail starts within a few yards of Rainford Station, and originally formed part of the […]
Dec 2021 – Tetbury, Gloucestershire.
The Tetbury trail in Gloucestershire now runs two miles from the town’s restored goods shed to Trouble House Halt, and there are plans to extend it to Kemble, where the branch once left the main line. Tetbury to Trouble House Halt (ST 893930–ST 914953) is a linear walk and cycle trail started in 2005 on […]
Dec 2021 – Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Holton Heath, Dorset.
Following the walk (and boat journey!) report by Richard Lewis on this branch in our most recent Walk Reports Supplement, a letter was published in the Winter 2021 edition of the Swanage Railway Magazine about the line, which used to export cordite to UK munition sites via Poole Harbour. The factory site is now occupied […]
Dec 2021 – Caldicot, Monmouthshire.
Now is the time to examine what remains of the southern section of the MoD Caerwent branch, which is being cleared in order to create a cycle trail between a point north of the mainline at Caldicot Junction and an undefined point in Caerwent. Our correspondent reports that the single line leading to/from the three […]
Dec 2021 – Clevedon to Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.
North Somerset Council has announced that construction work has begun on missing sections of the Pier to Pier Way, a £3.1m project to link the seafronts of both towns. The trail, a long-held council ambition, is expected to be used by 70,000 one way trips a year and will form part of Route 33 of […]
Dec 2021 – Rhondda Tunnel, Glamorgan.
The opening of a cycle trail and path along the ex-Rhondda & Swansea Bay Railway’s connection between the Rhondda and Afan valleys came a step closer when Transport Minister Grant Shapps said ‘I would be happy to transfer it to a local group, the Welsh Government or the local council, with money for the purpose.’ […]
Dec 2021 – Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Holton Heath, Dorset.
Nov 2021 – Rathkeale to Kerry border, Republic of Ireland.
The Limerick & Kerry Greenway (Great Southern Trail) 25-mile section from Rathkeale to the Kerry border was officially opened on November 5, by Daniel Butler – Mayor of Limerick City & County. The ceremony took place at the beautifully restored Barnagh Railway Station, Templeglantine, in the presence of Ministers of State Niall Collins and Patrick […]
Oct 2021 – Cornwall’s four new Saints Trails
Cornwall’s four new Saints Trails have been dealt a blow: two have been scrapped and the others scaled back.
Oct 2021 – Dousland, Devon.
The old line from Yelverton to Princetown in Devon was first identified as a potential leisure route in John Grimshaw’s report on disused railways in 1982, and the section which falls outside Dartmoor National Park (DNP) has long since been converted into one, today forming part of the popular Devon Coast to Coast path. However, […]
Oct 2021 – Toller Porcorum, Dorset.
In October, contractors working for National Highways (the organisation called Highways England until recently) ‘came in like a tornado, removing everything in their path’, according to a landowner. They arrived on site and entered the property of three landowners, creating an access route up to the former trackbed, felling trees and disposing of the timber. […]
Oct 2021 – Bennerley Viaduct, Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire
On the recent Iron to Iron bike ride from Meldon Viaduct in Devon to Bennerley Viaduct (the only two such structures surviving in England), the Friends of Bennerley Viaduct were delighted to meet their patron, Sir Neil Cossons, at Ironbridge and share with him the remarkable progress which has been made over the past few […]
Oct 2021 – Spetisbury, Dorset.
The Autumn Newsletter of the North Dorset Spetisbury Station, Dorset Photo: Kevin Mitchell 14 Trailway Network (NDTN) gives an update on the hard work that has been carried out by volunteers at Spetisbury Station. They encourage people to appreciate the landscaping and maybe pause a while on one of the benches or picnic tables to […]
Oct 2021 – Cornwall.
A major cycling project looks set to be scaled back after a council scrapped some sections over costs. The £19m Saints Trails project aimed to put in place 19 miles of safe routes for cyclists and walkers in Cornwall, with £17.1m provided by Highways England, now known as National Highways, and £2m set to come […]
Oct 2021 – Lichfield, Staffordshire.
Work has begun on a new greenway linking Lichfield with the existing path that runs from Brownhills to Walsall, the McClean Way. This path stops at the A5, as to the north of here the track remains in situ. However, this does mean that the bridge over the M6 Toll remains in place, which otherwise […]
Sep 2021 – Barcombe, East Sussex.
Lewes District Council have condemned National Highways’ proposed infilling of Church Road bridge in Barcombe. In response, Hazel Fell Rayner, the local campaign organiser, said: ‘We welcome the news that leaders from Lewes District Council have written to the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, calling for the “full and unequivocal cessation” of National […]
Sep 2021 – Leaderfoot Viaduct, Roxburghshire.
This marvellous structure will appear in the next Indiana Jones film, due out in July 2022, as the Sunday Telegraph published a picture of actors Harrison Ford and Toby Jones standing by one of the piers. It is not known whether they actually filmed on top of the viaduct, which is closed to the general […]
Aug 2021 – Bassenthwaite Lake, Cumbria.
Bassenthwaite Lake Station reopened for business on July 30th, not offering tickets to Keswick or Cockermouth, but at least with a train standing at the platform. After two years of restoration work, café facilities are now provided in both the rebuilt station building and the static restaurant carriage. The café offers wildlife viewing and an […]
Aug 2021 – South Downs, Hampshire.
Highways England has found itself embroiled in yet another row over a planned bridge infilling project. Engineers, transport planners and the local authority have all hit out at Highways England’s proposal to infill a 156-year-old disused rail bridge in the South Downs National Park. The chief executive of the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) […]
Aug 2021 – Penygroes, Caernarfonshire.
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 […]
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 […]
Jun 2021 – Contract for new decking on Bennerley Viaduct signed
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 […]
Apr 2021 – Somerset.
John Grimshaw’s new charity, Greenways and Cycleroutes (GCR), is now working on the ‘Somerset Circle’, a circular network of lines around the county which will build on the existing Strawberry Line (Yatton – Cheddar) to create a county-wide route based largely on old railways. A map of the project and its ‘vision statement’ can be […]
Apr 2021 – Sandsend and Kettleness Tunnels to reopen?
Whitby Gazette reports that Sustrans and the North York Moors National Park are looking at the feasibility of opening them up to walkers and cyclists.
Apr 2021 – Rock Fall, Elan Valley Railway (EVR) (Powys)
**Now with pictures. Access to the spectacular Devil’s Gulch, close to the Pen y Garreg Reservoir in the gorgeous Elan Valley, has been prohibited since November 2018 due to rockfall which made it impassable
Apr 2021 – Darlington & Hetton-le-Hole (Co. Durham).
The former rail trail from Darlington (New Road) to Dinsdale, which was cut to about half its size when a new link road – the B6279 – from town to the A66 was constructed, has now been reinstated to not far off its original start point, while the former colliery lines in Hetton Lyons Country […]
Mar 2021 – Devon.
Information from DevonLive sets out summary details of all the proposed new (and to be extended or linked up) cycle trails in Devon. A search revealed the definite or likely-looking railway components as these: 1. The Pegasus Way. This will complete conversion of a long section of the Bude Branch – which has been a […]
Mar 2021 – Hovingham, North Yorkshire.
Hovingham Estate has decided to move the path from the old Hovingham to Gilling East railway line at Cawton to the side of the field so they can plough the whole field rather than have to do a little strip at the edge separately (the red line indicates the trackbed). (Item and photo: Peter Billington)
Mar 2021 – Carlisle, Cumberland.
The long-awaited re-opening of Waverley Viaduct in the city could be on the horizon, according to the leader of Carlisle City Council, John Mallinson. The bridge over the River Eden was used as an unofficial footpath for many years before being closed on safety grounds. Campaigners, led by the Carlisle Waverley Viaduct Trust, have been […]
Mar 2021 – Hesketh Bank, Lancashire.
Enabling works are continuing on the ‘Henry Alty Way’, a planned footpath and cycleway along the westerly bank of the River Douglas between Hesketh Bank and Bank Bridge, in Tarleton. The path< will be on the former trackbed of the West Lancashire Railway’s Tarleton Lock branch, which operated in the early years of the 20th […]