Closed lines you have travelled on.

[daodao]

Surprised nobody has mentioned/done March-Spalding.

March-Spalding was the first one that came to mind, as I travelled on it on a number of occasions in the 1970s when travelling from Manchester to Cambridge. IMO, this line should not have been closed.

Others (mostly on single occasions only) include:

Sheffield Victoria to Hadfield (unfortunately this was the diesel-hauled North Country Continental, but it did have a restaurant car)​

Clifton Junction to Bury Bolton Street​

New Mills Central to Hayfield​

Manchester Central to Matlock, both via Cheadle Heath and via Stockport Tiviot Dale - there are various bits of closed line on these routes​

Bangor to Caernarfon​

Yarmouth South Town-Corton-Lowestoft (when staying on holiday at Corton)​

Dover Marine branch​

Tilbury Riverside branch​

All these, apart from the last two, had closed, at least to passenger trains, by late 1970. I also travelled from Derby to Leeds via the old Midland main line in 1979, a section of which I believe has now been closed north of Sheffield.

 

[Harvester]

Some that spring to mind:

Rugby Central-Leicester Central
Northallerton-Harrogate
Into Edinburgh Princes Street (School excursion)
Into Leeds Central
Penmanshiel tunnel
Barkston south to east junction
North Wylam-Scotswood
Woodhead (pair of 76s on a Special, and a class 45 on a Sunday diversion)
Darlington-Stainmore-Penrith (School excursion, hauled by 2 Ivatt Class 4s)

 

[Magdalia]

Newcastle to Blaydon via Scotswood

I'd forgotten that.

Oops! Forgot about Farringdon -> Moorgate.

Me too.

 

[contrex]

Completely forgot Blackfriars - Holborn Viaduct.

 

[341o2]

Okehampton - Halwill - Bude
That 1962 holiday has a lot to answer for

 

[70014IronDuke]

Sheffield Vic - Mansfield - Nottingham Vic

I'd like to know about this route - it was, I suppose, a loop off the main GC line (which ran a few miles west of Mansfield. Was it just local trains, or did some expresses run this way?

Dumfreis - Lockerbie

Would that be large Dum-freis, sir?

Seriously rare route-trackage that on, I should think!

Interesting thread! Sadly too young to join my Dad and older brothers on the M&GN!

You did too much as it is! Don't be greedy

I hate you ! System not far off my childhood / adolescence patch, and which has always fascinated me: but opportunity never allowed me any of it.

Heh heh heh! And it was a sunny September Saturday afternoon. I remember every yard we covered through the lovely Leicestershire countryside. It was wonderful. (It is also a lie!) I do vaguely remember the train arriving at Melton, and getting off at Belgrave Rd. It was a Colwick B1 haulage.

You mention Loughborough -- Coalville: didn't that close to pass. in 1929 or something? -- though freight till much later ...

You're right. Gosh, I hadn't realised it had closed so soon. As a student at Loughboro in my final year, I lodged with a dear old lady on the Old Ashby Rd. I could see the route of the Loughboro - Coalville line from her kitchen window - it had already been closed for 40-odd years even then! I had no idea.

EDIT - Ok, just to get me a few rungs up in the one-upmanship ranks, I did Sheff Vic to Man Picc with electrics a number of times. Only with Cl 76 Tommies, it's true - it was a lovely view leaving Victoria past Hillsborough from six Mk !s, and also on the Lancs side of the tunnel, by the reservoirs.

Ha, that should sill make a few people in here jealous. I feel better already tonight now

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

I'd like to know about this route - it was, I suppose, a loop off the main GC line (which ran a few miles west of Mansfield. Was it just local trains, or did some expresses run this way

Frankly, I've no idea! It was a railtour....someone will know!

Would that be large Dum-freis, sir?

Possibly....but just a small slip of the finger...another railtour, obviously, just checked and it closed to passengers in 1952, finally closing in 1966,
the year after we were on a railtour behind the HR 'Jones Goods'.

Does Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhamton Low Level count? Was the track lifted and relaid for the Metro?

 

[Beebman]

Woodhead
Tunbridge Wells-Eridge
Selby-Challoners Whin
Old ECML route at Penmanshiel Tunnel
Spalding-March
Holborn Viaduct
Dover Western Docks
HS1 connection at Fawkham
Old Balloch Central Station (but not the Pier)
Old Eridge Station
Bicester-Bletchley (which will reopen)
Quainton Road-Claydon
Manchester Vic-Bury Bolton Street when part of BR electric line
Likewise the Altrincham line
Gorton Jct-Throstle Nest Jct
Skelton Jct-Warrington Arpley
Birkenhead Docks line (Birkenhead Central-Rock Ferry)

 

[Bertone]

Kings Cross York Road to City Widened lines

 

[jfollows]

Manchester Central to Matlock, both via Cheadle Hulme and via Stockport Tiviot Dale - there are various bits of closed line on these routes​

​

Cheadle Heath I think, though.

 

[AM9]

Already been mentioned a few times:
St Pancras to Chinley over the Peak District line
Stratford to North Woolwich, Victoria to Dover Marine
Epping to Ongar (on Central Line)
Plus:
Barking to Kentish Town via the south-eastern chord of the Calton Road triangle

 

[D6130]

I don’t think High Street - Bridgeton Central has been mentioned yet?

Well remembered! I've done that too....and also Broad Street-Dalston Junction, Liverpool Exchange and Sunnyside Junction-Gunnie cement terminal.

 

[Enthusiast]

Farringdon to Moorgate on the "Widened Lines"
Holborn Viaduct to Blackfriars
Broad Street to Dalston Junction (since reopened from Shoreditch)
Watford High St triangle to Croxley Green (not lifted as far as I know, but unlikely ever to be re-opened)
Seven Sisters to Palace Gates (last train)
Manchester to Sheffield (Woodhead route)
Dunton Green to Westerham
Finsbury Park to Drayton Park (Northern City tunnels)
York Road Curve/Hotel Curve (Kings Cross to/from the Widened Lines)
Maiden Newton to Bridport

 

[Bevan Price]

Will probably forget a few, and omit a few minor curves, but to start in Scotland.

Forres - Boat of Garten (- Aviemore)
Keith Jn - Craigellachie - Boat of Garten
Craigellachie - Elgin
Elgin - North Coast - Grange Jn
Dyce - Fraserburgh
Aberdeen - Ballater
Stanley Jn - Forfar - Kinnaber Jn
Dunblane - Crianlarich.
Dundee West station.
Tayport branch
Leuchars Jn - St. Andrews - Thornton Jn (part being reinstated)
Edinburgh Princes Street, including Leith branch as far as Murrayfield (for Haymarket shed visit)
Balloch Pier station.
Waverley Route throughout (Northern section since reopened)
Langholm branch.
Penrith - Workington
Whitehaven - Moor Row - Sellafield
Plumpton Jn (Ulverston) - Haverthwaite (- Lakeside)
Lancaster Castle - Green Ayre - Wennington & Morecambe.
Morecambe Euston Road & Promenade stations.
Clapham - Ingleton - Low Gill
Preston - Southport
Preston - Longridge
Kirkham - Marton - Blackpool Central
Poulton Le Fylde - Fleetwood
Poulton Curve
Blackburn - Great Harwood - Rose Grove
Colne - Skipton
Clifton Jn - Bury - Accrington (parts reopened as East Lancs Railway)
Rawtenstall - Bacup
Bury - Tottington
Bolton - Bury - Castleton (parts now as ELR)
Heap Bridge branch
Bury Knowsley Street avoiding line.
Radcliffe - Bradley Fold
Middleton Jn - Middleton & Oldham Werneth
Chadderton Branch
Guide Bridge - Ashton Oldham Road - Oldham Clegg St. & connection to Oldham Mumps
Oldham Loop (now Metrolink) & Royton branch
Droylesden Jn curve to Denton Jn line.
Rochdale - Facit
Boars Head Jn - Adlington Jn
Chorley - Cherry Tree
Bamfurlong Jn - Whelley - Standish Jn
Wigan Central - Glazebrook
St. Helens Central - Lowton St. Marys
Springs Branch - Tyldesley - Eccles
Tyldesley - Leigh - Kenyon Jn
Howe Bridge Curve - Bolton Great Moor St
Bolton Great Moor Street - Plodder Lane (Little Hulton Jn)
Stalybridge - Friezland - Diggle Jn
Stalybridge - Hooley Hill - Denton Jn
Hadfield - Penistone - Sheffield Victoria
Penistone - Worsborough Incline - Wath Yard
(Barnsley) Wath - Mexborough
Bramley - Pudsey Lowtown - Laisterdyke
Ardsley - Morley Top - Laisterdyke
Bradford Exchange station.
Low Moor - Cleckheaton - Mirfield & Thornhill.
Leeds New line (Spen Valley Jn - Farnley Jn)
Leeds Central station.
Harrogate - Ripon - Northallerton
Eryholme Jn - Richmond
Alston branch
Scarborough - Whitby
(Grosmont) - Pickering - Rillington Jn
Selby - Market Weighton - Driffield
Beverley - Market Weighton - York
Wath Road Jn - Normanton (Northern part remains for freight only)
Wombwell - Cudworth connection.
New Holland Pier branch.
Hunts Cross / Halewood - Aintree Central - Sefton Arms Jn & Altcar and Hillhouse
Ormskirk - Rainford Jn, plus connection to St. Helens line at Rainford Village)
Rainford Jn - Gerards Bridge Jn (St. Helens)
St. Helens - Widnes & St. Helens Jn (some disconnected rails remain near St. Helens)
Widnes Central loop.
Liverpool Exchange & Central High Level stations.
Birkenhead Woodside - Rock Ferry
Hooton - West Kirby
Chester Northgate - Mickle Trafford
Chester Northgate - both curves at Hawarden Bridge.

That's enough for now - will continue later......

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Has there been a shout for the old station in Fort William? - sorry, I haven't read all the entries.

EDIT: with the same excuse of not having read all entries I could add Dundee West, Edinburgh Princes Street, Fairlie Pier and Glasgow St Enoch (yes, the approaches are still there but no track onto the station site), and Glasgow Buchanan St.

If I applied my memory to it I have a reasonably lengthy list of lines closed in the sixties, mainly in Scotland, plus a few later entries, and I have walked Rose Hill to Macclesfield.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Cornbrook Junction-Deansgate

Still essentially very much operational isn't it, as you'd travel that way on journeys from Warrington Central into Manchester Oxford Road, wouldn't you?

 

[alistairlees]

I shall add the Trecwn branch (I assume it is lifted?)

 

[Welshman]

Good call on the Red Bank line. Would calder valley line trains have gone that way?

Yes indeed.
There were four lines, actually named Cheetham Hill up and down, fast and slow. Calder Valley services normally used the fast lines [left hand side of the formation leaving Victoria] whilst trains for Red Bank and the mpd usually used the slows. I think all the original L&Y services went this way to avoid congestion around Miles Platting. It was a busy stretch of line back in the day.

I'll add three lines in West Yorkshire that I don't think have yet been mentioned [although pardon me if they have]:-
i] Laisterdyke to Wakefield Westgate via Batley, Dewsbury Central and Ossett - used by local services Bradford Exchange- Wakefield W & K;
ii]Drighlington to Ardsley via Morley Top - used by the Bradford portions of Kings Cross trains;
iii] Low Moor to Mirfield via Cleckheaton Central [Spen Valley line].

One I would have liked to have travelled over was the GN Halifax-Bradford via North Bridge and Queensbury. I saw this being lifted in 1962 during journeys to school, but as it was closed in 1955, I never managed to travel on it. Incidentally, I gather this was the line they used to test emissions from the diesel multiple units being introduced to Bradford in the 1954. Their usage gave false hopes that the line had been saved from closure.

 

[Bertone]

If tram routes are “allowed”?

London (Holborn) Kingsway Tram tunnel.
However, there is still tracks in situ on the incline.

 

[D6130]

Possibly....but just a small slip of the finger...another railtour, obviously, just checked and it closed to passengers in 1952, finally closing in 1966,
the year after we were on a railtour behind the HR 'Jones Goods'.

I believe it was kept open until the mid-1960's partially to serve the creamery at Lochmaben and also to act as a diversionary route when the WCML was closed for engineering works between Gretna Junction and Lockerbie.

Still essentially very much operational isn't it, as you'd travel that way on journeys from Warrington Central into Manchester Oxford Road, wouldn't you?

Yes, sorry....I was getting my junctions and the Metrolink route mixed-up. Were there some changes to the layout in that area between the closure Manchester Central and the conversion of the MSJ&A line to a tramway?

 

[MP33]

Aslo Farringdon Moorgate on Thameslink.

 

[Isambard]

Too few, sadly. So many missed opportunities.
Dover Marine (from the west).
Altrincham to Deansgate.
Wells Harbour to Pinewoods.
Charing Cross to Green Park.
The through lines at Coulsdon North.
Just a few yards lifted, but can one count the connection towards Victoria from the South London line at Battersea Park?

 

[S&CLER]

I've just remembered doing Brixham to Churston in 1959 or 1960, during a Devon General bus strike. And of course the old East Lancs entry to Preston plus Blackpool Central, the direct line from Kirkham and the Fleetwood branch. Plus the Liverpool Overhead and the entry to Liverpool Exchange. I'm told I was taken from Sefton to Southport Lord Street in my pram (1948-49), as mum found it easier to walk to Sefton station and put the pram in the guard's van, than to put it on the train at Maghull and manoeuvre it down one fllght of stairs and up another at Sandhills. I did Hunts Cross to Gateacre but never the CLC from Gateacre to Sefton.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Altrincham to Deansgate.

Just to re-iterate, the section of heavy railway line from the one-time Cornbrook Junction into Deansgate station in Manchester is very much still operational today and hasn't been lifted, being the line from Warrington Central!

 

[Welly]

I've only caught a train from Lincoln St Marks twice.
I also did the Manchester Victoria - Bury pre-Metrolink.

 

[steamybrian]

A few more I have remembered-

Coulsdon North
Bricklayers Arms Goods branch (on a railtour)
Merton Park- Tooting Goods (on a railtour)
Tilbury Riverside (triangle)
Ryde Pier tramway
Old Oak Common- Greenford (via Park Royal)

 

[geoffk]

I didn't go in for much track bashing as a kid in the 50s/60s and regret that now but I did travel on these -
Yatton - Wells - Witham
Bristol TM - Mangotsfield - Yate/Bath Green Park
Bristol TM - Whitchurch Halt (maybe Radstock but can't remember)
Bath GP - Bournemouth Central (not West)
Evercreech Jn - Highbridge
Berkeley Road - Lydney via Severn Bridge
Gloucester Eastgate loop
Tetbury - Kemble - Cirencester
West Drayton - Staines West
Wath Road Jn - Goose Hill (Midland main line)
Sheffield Victoria - Hadfield
Shepley - Clayton West
Liverpool Central and Exchange, Manchester Central and approaches
Patricroft - Leigh - Kenyon Jn
Oldham loop (pre Metrolink)
Yeovil Jn - Town
Taunton - Minehead (pre-WSR)

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Hooton - West Kirby

My dad was based at Hooton station, when this line was still open for parcels traffic - must have been 1962-ish.
One day he was loading parcels when the branch train set off with him on board, so he had an unplanned trip to West Kirby and back.
You can still walk the whole route on the Wirral Way of course, via the nicely restored Hadlow Road station.

 

[rogercov]

I don't think anyone has mentioned Crowhurst to Bexhill West.
I did this several times as a young lad, before and after conversion to diesel.
Even got invited onto footplate of Q1 at Bexhill West.

Also Audley End to Bartlow (when it was served by 4-wheel railbus)

Other notable journeys (already mentioned):
Tunbridge Wells to Brighton via Uckfield (incorporating a number of currently disused bits)
Dunton Green to Westerham a number of times
Barnstaple to Ilfracombe (but only as far as Braunton)
Plus most of the London ones already mentioned (Widened lines, Holborn Viaduct, Broad St, N. Woolwich, etc.)

 

[AndyW33]

A few that others have already mentioned, but how about Filey Holiday Camp branch (using both curves - the third side of the triangle is very much in use of course), or Swan Village to Dudley (yes I know not all the track has been lifted but it is best described as discontinuous due to illegal scrap removal), or Bewdley to Hartlebury?