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 […]
News
The latest from Railway Ramblers.
Apr 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 […]
April 2020. Birmingham, West Midlands
Archaeologists working at the site of the proposed HS2 Curzon Street Station in Birmingham have unearthed what is thought to be the world’s oldest roundhouse. Curzon Street was once the northern terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway, which opened throughout in 1838. According to Industrial Archaeology, the roundhouse was built ‘to a design by […]
Mar 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 […]
Mar 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 […]
Mar 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 […]
Mar 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 […]
Mar 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 […]
Mar 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 […]
Mar 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 […]
Feb 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 […]
Feb 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 […]
Jan 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.) […]
Jan 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)
Jan 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 […]
Jan 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. […]
Jan 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 […]
Jan 2020 – Southern Area members
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 […]
Jan 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 […]
Jan 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 […]
Jan 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 […]
News 2019
Above: A typical Great Central Railway girder bridge carries the old GCR main line over the Midland Railway just south of Beighton Junction in South Yorkshire (east of Sheffield). This bridge has been sealed off, which is not surprising given that it has no deck, and an operational freight line passes below; the photograph was […]
News 2018
Above: This sylvan scene depicts the crossing of two railways near Port Penrhyn, Bangor: one remains in use while the other is now a multi-use trail. The viaduct carries the LNWR’s still operational Chester-Holyhead line, while the trackbed below – once part of the Penrhyn Railway – now serves walkers, cyclists, etc. The Penrhyn Railway […]
News 2017
Above: One of the many abandoned engine houses on the east side of Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, with the trackbed of the Liskeard & Caradon Railway clearly visible in the foreground. This part of the moor a treasure trove for railway ramblers and industrial archaeologists: the engine houses run into double figures, and a high proportion […]
News 2016
Above: This huge girder bridge – the ‘Black Path bridge’ – carries the Viaduct Cycleway, part of NCN53, over the West Coast Main Line just west of Rugby station. It leads on to a new cycle trail opened in July 2013 with connections to Newbold on Avon (via the Oxford Canal) and the Swift Valley […]
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 […]
News 2014
Above: The old goods shed at Cloughton on the former NER line from Scarborough to Whitby has now been restored for use as a guest house. Our photographer was there just after 9:00 a.m. at the start of a delightful autumn day. Scarborough to Whitby, or the Cinder Trail as it is known locally, is […]
News 2013
Above: A steam-hauled passenger working in Sichuan Province, China. We realise that this photograph is not representative of a railway walk, but thought that members might enjoy seeing anywhere in the spring as we in the UK slosh through a winter that Neptune would be proud to call his own. The photographer supplied these comments […]
News 2012
Above: The crossing keeper’s cottage at Leasey Bridge Level Crossing on the former GNR line from Hatfield to Dunstable via Welwyn Garden City, Wheathampstead, Harpenden and Luton. The level crossing is situated between Wheathampstead and Harpenden, and marks the point where a new section of rail trail regains the trackbed, which has been used for […]
News 2011
Above: On 16th October 2010, members of the club’s Southern Area walked along part of the former Test Valley line between Stockbridge and Mottisfont, taking lunch at the John of Gaunt Inn (formerly The Railway Inn) at the intermediate village of Horsebridge. While there, members were lucky enough to see this fine Marshall traction engine […]
News 2010
Above: The neat little station at Fort Brockhurst on the former LSWR branch from Fareham to Gosport was up for sale in June 2009, which explains why the ground floor windows had all been boarded up. Until the final freight-only years under BR, the branch was double track throughout; this is the up platform, with […]
News 2009
Above: A small viaduct on the LNWR’s former Heads of the Valley line crosses a gully in the Clydach Gorge, seen here in October 2008. The terrain that the railway builders were up against here could hardly have been more demanding. Between Llanfoist, just west of Abergavenny, and Brynmawr, this old line now forms part […]
News 2008
Above: This beautiful photograph by Graham Rains makes it obvious why railway enthusiasts, holidaymakers and casual passengers alike fell in love with the scenery beyond the carriage window when they travelled on the former Somerset & Dorset Railway. This view is taken from near Gains Cross, south of Shillingstone, and shows a permissive section of […]
News 2007
Above: That’s the way to do it! Just over two years ago, this site at Peasmarsh, Surrey, was a tangled mass of vegetation with empty brick abutments standing either side of the River Wey where once a railway bridge had carried the former branch line from Christ’s Hospital on towards Guildford. Just look at the […]
News 2006
Above: Just to prove that members do occasionally get out on to an operational railway, this is a picture of members from the Yorkshire Area enjoying a brake van trip on the Bowes Railway – the only railway in the country which features an operational rope-hauled incline. Unfortunately, the future of the Bowes Railway is […]
News 2005
Above: The rusting clock at Carron station on Speyside, frozen in time, calls to mind Rupert Brooke’s famous poem, ‘Grantchester’, which asks if the church clock still stands at ten to three. For how many years has this Victorian timepiece shown twenty past four? Normally, photographs in our ‘News’ pages illustrate a story, but this […]
News 2004
Above: While Sustrans has done a great deal to re-use old railway lines, this type of trackbed conversion is less than ideal. If a single track railway were relaid here (not an impossibility nowadays), the cycle trail would have to be dug up and relaid in a straight line. Why pretend that this wasn’t a […]
News 2003
Above: The club sometimes uses preserved buses to provide transport for members, especially as an easy way of linking short sections of railway path that are not worth a visit in their own right. This is ex London Transport RF single decker MXX 481, seen at Chawton, near Alton, Hampshire. When the photograph was taken, […]
News 2002
Above: Holsworthy in Devon was served by a station on the single track line from Halwill Junction to Bude. The station was unusual in having a viaduct either side of it. Derriton Viaduct, pictured here, is on the west side of the station, and has recently been restored for use by walkers and cyclists. For […]
News 2001
Above: View across Meldon Viaduct, Devon, in July 2000. This viaduct, near Okehampton, has recently been restored for public access and carries a new cycle trail which will link Okehampton and Tavistock within the next few years. For further details, see entry for February 2001. (Richard Martin) December 2001. How about some more pictures for […]
News 2000
Above: A party of ramblers from the club’s Yorkshire group cross the valley of the River Belah, once spanned by a massive viaduct on the Stainmore route between Barnard Castle and Kirby Stephen. Two stone abutments are all that remains of this structure. (Look for the vertical edges on the skyline to the left and […]