Closed lines you have travelled on.

[steamybrian]

As somebody born in '95 and raised in Sussex, I feel at a distinct disadvantage in this discussion. The only lines I was likely to have travelled on that have closed are Newhaven Marine and possibly the Thameslink Moorgate branch, I think. Neither of those I did, as we always went by car on the ferry and I never had any reason to go to Moorgate from south of the river (and I'd probably have used the tube to do so if I had).

Nationally, which lines have closed and had tracked lifted since privatisation?

Closures since 1994 include-
Folkestone Harbour branch
Weymouth Quay
Elmers End- Addiscombe
West Croydon-Wimbledon
Oldham loop (mainly now Manchester Trams)
Shoreditch- Whitechapel (London Underground)

 

[Calthrop]

It must have in the early 1950’s when we stayed in a caravan alongside the railway at Caister-on-Sea from where we used the train to visit the Broads and also to back into Yarmouth.
My family did not own a car so as far as I can recall, we boarded a train at London Liverpool Street to Yarmouth South Town via Lowestoft where the train had to reverse!
Why do I remember that?
I can only assume that we caught a bus from Yarmouth to our Caister caravan.

Ah, right -- it was "local" use during your holiday. My only 1950s venture anywhere near those parts, was a summer 1957 family holiday, staying near Lowestoft. That holiday, from Peterborough where we were then living, was 100% road-using. From the mid-1950s on, our family had a -- reliable -- car; which had not been the case for the first half of the decade. In the later '50s, rail travel on family's part greatly lessened, though it didn't completely cease.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Platform 13 at Paddington.

 

[flymo]

Not much for me but only the old line at Penmanshiel, the Leamside line many times during the ECML electrification with diverted HSTs, old line via Scotswood to Blaydon and the old lines through Manors on the Tyne loop. Probably done the old alignment on the South Shields line too at some point.

 

[30907]

It must have in the early 1950’s when we stayed in a caravan alongside the railway at Caister-on-Sea from where we used the train to visit the Broads and also to back into Yarmouth.
My family did not own a car so as far as I can recall, we boarded a train at London Liverpool Street to Yarmouth South Town via Lowestoft where the train had to reverse!
Why do I remember that?
I can only assume that we caught a bus from Yarmouth to our Caister caravan.

I think you did even better!
Until 1959 trains to Yarmouth (South Town) ran direct from Beccles and not via Lowestoft, so I'm not sure you went that way.
However, there was a direct Saturday train at 10.50am from Liverpool St to Caister on Sea. This ran nominally non stop to Wroxham (via Cambridge because there was no path via Ipswich) and the Wensum Curve and then to Potter Heigham but will have reversed at North Walsham and used one of the connections between the GE and M&GN routes. The last-but-one stop at 3.19pm was Caister Camp Halt.
(The return was at 10.41am, arriving 3.27pm - two sets of stock just for that one working!)
If so - and it would be the logical route as well as fitting with your description - that gives you one rare and one extremely rare bit of track!

 

[Vespa]

Dover Western docks
Folkestone harbour
Holborn branch to Aldwych

 

[D6968]

Dudley Zoo Minature Railway!

 

[Harvester]

ECML York (Chaloners Whin Junc) - Selby
Normanton (Goose Hill Junc) - Wath Road Junction

 

[Kingston Dan]

Penmansheil tunnel
High St - Bridgeton Cen
Paisley Canal - Kilmacolm
Old (new) Bathgate station
North Berwick original station

Old ECML alignment York-Selby
Barkston Junction
Lincoln St Marks

Broad Street - Dalston
Stratford - N Woolwich
Dover Marine

I'm told I've travelled on the Corstorphine branch and been to Edinburgh Princes Street - but don't remember as was too young at the time.

 

[Bevan Price]

Continuing again:
Liverpool Riverside
Manchester Exchange
Manchester Liverpool Road
Manchester Oldham Road
Chorlton Jn - Fairfield + curve to Gorton
Rose Hill - Macclesfield Central
Stoke On Trent - Hanley - Kidsgrove Liverpool Road & Jn with line from Macclesfield
Stoke On Trent - Leek / Caldon Low
Bucknell - Congleton Low Leel Goods
Leek - Rocester - Uttoxeter (including all sides of triangle)
Peak Forest - Matlock
Buxton M.R. station.
Buxton - Ashbourne - Rocester (still open for freight at Buxton end)
Harpur Hill - Cromford Walk (but we had to walk down the steep inclines)
Stoke On Trent - Market Drayton
Keele - Leycett - Alsager Road to junction with Crewe/Kidgrove line.
Kidsgrove - Wheelock - Sandbach
Connection from Crewe/Kidsgrove line under WCML to Basford Hall Yard.
Stafford - Wellington
Nuneaton avoiding line.
Rugby - Market Harborough - Peterborough East, including MML connection at Market Harborough
Northampton - Market Harborough.
Seaton - Luffenham
Northampton - Wellingborough (LNW) - Wansford
Spalding - March
Spalding - Boston
(Kings Lynn) - Magdalen Road (as it then was) - Wisbech - March - St. Ives - Cambridge (with a Class 30)
Kings Lynn - Hunstanton
Kings Lynn - Swaffham - Dereham
Swaffham - Roudham Jn (- Thetford)
Wymondham - Dereham - Wells Next The Sea (heritage lines now on parts)
Yarmouth South Town - Lowestoft
Aldeburgh branch
Felixstowe Beach
Maldon East branch
Brightlingsea branch.
Sudbury - Shelford Jn (- Cambridge)
Audley End - Bartlow
Buntingford Branch
Cambridge - Bedford
Bletchley - Oxford (parts being restored)
Verney Jn - Buckingham
Newport Pagnell branch
Higham Ferrers branch
Woodford Halse - Fenny Compton - Stratford Upon Avon
Woodford Halse - Banbury
(Calvert, GC line) - Ashendon Jn (GWR line)
Stratford Upon Avon - Cheltenham Spa (Lansdown Jn) plus connection to Honeybourne.
Stonehouse - Nailsworth & Stroud (Midland R.) branches
Gloucester Eastgate loop
Dursley branch
Cirencester - Kemble
Berkeley Road - Sharpness
Pontypool Road - Aberdare - Neath General
Yate - Mangotsfield - Bristol TM (M.R. route)
Mangotsfield - Bath Green Park
Bath Green Park - Templecombe - Poole, including connection to main line at Templecombe)
Evercreech Jn - Highbridge
Welwyn Garden City - Luton Bute Street - Dunstable North
Yarnton - Witney
Connections, Yarnton & Calvert to Oxford /Bletchley line.
Abingdon branch
Chacewater - Newquay
Bodmin Road - Bodmin (GW) - Wadebridge (part now heritage line)
Looe (original terminus)
Bere Alston - Okehampton (-Exeter)
Barnstaple Jn - Ilfracombe
Barnstaple Jn - Bideford - Torrington
Barnstaple Jn - Taunton
Taunton - Chard Jn
Sidmouth, Seaton & Lyme Regis branches
Tipton St Johns - Exmouth
Yeovil Pen Mill / Town - Athelney Jn
Athelney - (old line to Creech St. Michael & Taunton)
Maiden Newport - Bridport
Yatton - Clevedon
Salisbury - West Moors - Wimborne - Broadstone Jn - Hamworthy Jn
Hamworthy Goods branch
Brockenhurst - West Moors
Andover Jn - Andover Town - Romsey
Alton - Winchester Jn (now heritage line to Ropley)
Hayling Island branch
Chichester - Lavant
Pulborough - Midhurst
Guildford - Christs Hospital.
Christs Hospital - Shoreham
Kemp Town branch
Three Bridges - East Grinstead - Groombridge
Lewes - Uckfield
Haywards Heath - Horsted Keynes (part remains for freight)
Polegate - Hailsham - Eridge
Tunbridge Wells, West to Central
Appledore - New Romney (part remains for Dungeness traffic)

Railways converted to tramways (Newcastle/ Tyneside & Manchester Metrolink) were all "done" as railways.

To answer a previous question, lines "done" are marked in a copy of a railway atlas.
Apologies for anything that appears twice, and there may be a few that I have missed.
I have mostly omitted lines they were never part of B.R., such as parts of Longmoor Military Railway, nor have I included Ireland or mainland Europe.

 

[D6130]

Additionally:

Havant-Hayling Island
Portsmouth Harbour platform 2
Brighton platform 9
Eastbourne platform 2
Dumbarton Central platform 4
Helensburgh Central platform 4 (formerly platform 1)
Glasgow Central platform 11A
Gourock platform 4
Largs platforms 3 & 4
Oban platform 2
Stranraer Harbour platform 1

 

[richard1976]

North Woolwich Branch
Croxley Green Branch
Oldham Loop (now Metrolink)

 

[satisnek]

Been thinking about this (now there's a dangerous thing!) and I don't think that the Metrolink routes to Altrincham and Bury are eligible because the track was never lifted. I can certainly remember tram trips to Bury with a very lively ride on track which may well have dated back to LMS days.

Miniature railways? I can recall Southsea (terminus to reversing loop) and Chessington Zoo (circuit with no pointwork), both of which don't exist today.

 

[Tester]

Continuing again:
Liverpool Riverside
Manchester Exchange
Manchester Liverpool Road
Manchester Oldham Road
Chorlton Jn - Fairfield + curve to Gorton
Rose Hill - Macclesfield Central
Stoke On Trent - Hanley - Kidsgrove Liverpool Road & Jn with line from Macclesfield
Stoke On Trent - Leek / Caldon Low
Bucknell - Congleton Low Leel Goods
Leek - Rocester - Uttoxeter (including all sides of triangle)
Peak Forest - Matlock
Buxton M.R. station.
Buxton - Ashbourne - Rocester (still open for freight at Buxton end)
Harpur Hill - Cromford Walk (but we had to walk down the steep inclines)
Stoke On Trent - Market Drayton
Keele - Leycett - Alsager Road to junction with Crewe/Kidgrove line.
Kidsgrove - Wheelock - Sandbach
Connection from Crewe/Kidsgrove line under WCML to Basford Hall Yard.
Stafford - Wellington
Nuneaton avoiding line.
Rugby - Market Harborough - Peterborough East, including MML connection at Market Harborough
Northampton - Market Harborough.
Seaton - Luffenham
Northampton - Wellingborough (LNW) - Wansford
Spalding - March
Spalding - Boston
(Kings Lynn) - Magdalen Road (as it then was) - Wisbech - March - St. Ives - Cambridge (with a Class 30)
Kings Lynn - Hunstanton
Kings Lynn - Swaffham - Dereham
Swaffham - Roudham Jn (- Thetford)
Wymondham - Dereham - Wells Next The Sea (heritage lines now on parts)
Yarmouth South Town - Lowestoft
Aldeburgh branch
Felixstowe Beach
Maldon East branch
Brightlingsea branch.
Sudbury - Shelford Jn (- Cambridge)
Audley End - Bartlow
Buntingford Branch
Cambridge - Bedford
Bletchley - Oxford (parts being restored)
Verney Jn - Buckingham
Newport Pagnell branch
Higham Ferrers branch
Woodford Halse - Fenny Compton - Stratford Upon Avon
Woodford Halse - Banbury
(Calvert, GC line) - Ashendon Jn (GWR line)
Stratford Upon Avon - Cheltenham Spa (Lansdown Jn) plus connection to Honeybourne.
Stonehouse - Nailsworth & Stroud (Midland R.) branches
Gloucester Eastgate loop
Dursley branch
Cirencester - Kemble
Berkeley Road - Sharpness
Pontypool Road - Aberdare - Neath General
Yate - Mangotsfield - Bristol TM (M.R. route)
Mangotsfield - Bath Green Park
Bath Green Park - Templecombe - Poole, including connection to main line at Templecombe)
Evercreech Jn - Highbridge
Welwyn Garden City - Luton Bute Street - Dunstable North
Yarnton - Witney
Connections, Yarnton & Calvert to Oxford /Bletchley line.
Abingdon branch
Chacewater - Newquay
Bodmin Road - Bodmin (GW) - Wadebridge (part now heritage line)
Looe (original terminus)
Bere Alston - Okehampton (-Exeter)
Barnstaple Jn - Ilfracombe
Barnstaple Jn - Bideford - Torrington
Barnstaple Jn - Taunton
Taunton - Chard Jn
Sidmouth, Seaton & Lyme Regis branches
Tipton St Johns - Exmouth
Yeovil Pen Mill / Town - Athelney Jn
Athelney - (old line to Creech St. Michael & Taunton)
Maiden Newport - Bridport
Yatton - Clevedon
Salisbury - West Moors - Wimborne - Broadstone Jn - Hamworthy Jn
Hamworthy Goods branch
Brockenhurst - West Moors
Andover Jn - Andover Town - Romsey
Alton - Winchester Jn (now heritage line to Ropley)
Hayling Island branch
Chichester - Lavant
Pulborough - Midhurst
Guildford - Christs Hospital.
Christs Hospital - Shoreham
Kemp Town branch
Three Bridges - East Grinstead - Groombridge
Lewes - Uckfield
Haywards Heath - Horsted Keynes (part remains for freight)
Polegate - Hailsham - Eridge
Tunbridge Wells, West to Central
Appledore - New Romney (part remains for Dungeness traffic)

Railways converted to tramways (Newcastle/ Tyneside & Manchester Metrolink) were all "done" as railways.

To answer a previous question, lines "done" are marked in a copy of a railway atlas.
Apologies for anything that appears twice, and there may be a few that I have missed.
I have mostly omitted lines they were never part of B.R., such as parts of Longmoor Military Railway, nor have I included Ireland or mainland Europe.

That is seriously impressive!

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Been thinking about this (now there's a dangerous thing!) and I don't think that the Metrolink routes to Altrincham and Bury are eligible because the track was never lifted. I can certainly remember tram trips to Bury with a very lively ride on track which may well have dated back to LMS days.

Although the track was never lifted the routes were closed before being re-opened some months later as Metrolink

 

[PeterY]

Penmansheil tunnel
High St - Bridgeton Cen
Paisley Canal - Kilmacolm
Old (new) Bathgate station
North Berwick original station

Old ECML alignment York-Selby
Barkston Junction
Lincoln St Marks

Broad Street - Dalston
Stratford - N Woolwich
Dover Marine

I'm told I've travelled on the Corstorphine branch and been to Edinburgh Princes Street - but don't remember as was too young at the time.

As I read though posts I realise that there were some omissions so another one to add for me is;
Broad Street - Dalston.

 

[Calthrop]

To answer a previous question, lines "done" are marked in a copy of a railway atlas.
Apologies for anything that appears twice, and there may be a few that I have missed.
I have mostly omitted lines they were never part of B.R., such as parts of Longmoor Military Railway, nor have I included Ireland or mainland Europe.

I'm greatly impressed -- nay, awed -- by what you have done (and as envious as heck). Some of your "bags" ceased to be, so long ago -- you wouldn't, I suppose, be a nonagenarian-or-nearly? (Impertinent question , answer not sought !)

My competitive instincts fired by your, and other folks', lists; I haven't noticed on the thread (perhaps it's there, and I overlooked it): North Walsham -- Mundesley-on-Sea: which I travelled on in summer 1964, shortly before closure. Likewise, haven't seen Boscarne Junction -- Wenford Bridge (covered by brake-van trip. 1971 IIRC); or is that inapplicable because always goods-only?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Although the track was never lifted the routes were closed before being re-opened some months later as Metrolink

Only temporarily closed for a few months.

If I'm reading the OP's definition of "closed" correctly, they were referring to totally abandoned, track lifted. This only happened to very short sections of what is now the Metrolink system, such as the flat junction in the vicinity of Cornbrook, and parts of the former Oldham Loop, such as the bit near the one-time Oldham Werneth station.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

This might be slightly off topic, but I travelled on one of the two "last trains" between Totnes and Ashburton in 1971. This was a special train from Swansea, which joined the then Dart Valley Railway at Totnes. The top half of the line from Buckfastleigh to Ashburton is no longer there, having been dismantled for the construction of the A38 Road.

 

[Calthrop]

Further to mine, #167: I don't think anybody has mentioned Gunnislake -- Callington (travelled by me 1965).

 

[Dave W]

I am confused by Drayton Pk - Finsbury Park. Is that not the route taken by trains from Moorgate to Finsbury Park today? Or is it more complicated than that?

I suspect those mentioning it are referring to the lines which ran into the underground platforms at Finsbury Park, before Victoria Line works started in 1964 and the line was cut back to Drayton Park

 

[John Luxton]

Another one I forgot - Liverpool Exchange Station and that short bit of line under the bridge at Kirkby (soon to be reinstated)!

 

[Ken H]

I suspect those mentioning it are referring to the lines which ran into the underground platforms at Finsbury Park, before Victoria Line works started in 1964 and the line was cut back to Drayton Park

Aaah. of course.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Further to my small scale entry in post 75 (repeated in italics below for completeness) an extensive memory search has concluded I can list the following:

Kerrs Miniature railway (Arbroath)
Isle of Mull Steam Railway

Annat to Corpach Pulp Mill Sidings
Dumberton Central to Dunglass Jn (direct former NB route)
Vicinity of Dunglass junction to Rutherglen (terminal platforms) via Glasgow Central Low level (vicinity of Exhibition Centre to Rutherglen (through platforms) re-opened as Argyle Line
High St to Bridgeton Central
Goods lines High Street to Bellgrove
Airdire to Bathgate prior to closure to freight and lifting
The terminal station at Bathgate provided when Bathgate to Edinburgh re-opened
Dalry to Kilmarnock
Troon avoiding line
Curve off Mauchline line to Hawkhill Jn (Ayr)
Gleneagles to Crieff
Lenzie to Kirkintilloch
Kirkintilloch to Garnqueen South Jn
Lanark to Ponfeigh
The two closed sides of the triangle at Lanark
The closed side of the triangle at Lanark Junction
Larbert to Denny
Larbert to Alloa
Alloa to Dollar
Alloa to Dunfermline (direct)
Old alignment through Forres
Forres to Aviemore (Broomhill to Aviemore no re-opened as heritage railway
Elgin to Keith via Dufftown
Dyce to Fraserbugh
Perth (Bridge of Earn) to Cowdenbeath
Kinnaber Junction to Stanley Junction
Bridge of Dun to Brechin (now re-opened as Heritage line)
Thornton Junction to Leuchars Junction via Leven and St Andrews
Lochty Private Railway
Corstorphine branch
Leith South
Abbeyhill Jn to Piershill Jn via Lochend Jn
Waverley route throughout (part now re-opened but partly on a new alignment)
Longtown Jn to current NR / Mod Boundary (into Longtown MOD)
Carlisle Avoiding Goods Lines
Haltwhistle to Alston (part reopened as Narrow gauge heritage line)
East to south curve at Ashton Moss
Midland mainline from near Swinton to Monk Bretton
New Holland Pier
Kings Cross York Road towards Moorgate (remember 31s into Moorgate!) and return route through the down through platform at Kings X – was it platform 16?
Dover Marine (both routes)
Folkestone Harbour
I would like to add Newhaven Marine but note it is still listed in the SA as ‘Marine Sidings’ – well, I’ve mentioned it anyway!
Maiden Newton to Bridport
Weymouth Quay
Hereford to Grange Court (Gloucester) via Ross-on-Wye
Gloucester Eastgate
Stratford upon Avon to Cheltenham via Broadway (Broadway to Cheltenham Racecourse re-opened as heritage line)
Skelton Jn to Warrington Arpley

Lines closed and re-opened as Metrolink to Altrincham, Bury and Oldham Loop

Previous entry covered in post 75
Fort William old station, Dundee West, Edinburgh Princes Street, Fairlie Pier, Glasgow st Enoch, Glasgow Buchanan Street
Plus walk from Rose Hill to Macclesfield

On an International theme I can add the lines to:
Dun Laoghaire Pier
Dieppe Maritime
Boulogne Maritime
Calais Maritime
Dunkerque Maritime and Dunkerque Ouest
Hook of Holland (subsequently re-opened as Tram/Metro)

Kleve to Nigmegen
Huelva to Ayamonte

Additionally:

Havant-Hayling Island
Portsmouth Harbour platform 2
Brighton platform 9
Eastbourne platform 2
Dumbarton Central platform 4
Helensburgh Central platform 4 (formerly platform 1)
Glasgow Central platform 11A
Gourock platform 4
Largs platforms 3 & 4
Oban platform 2
Stranraer Harbour platform 1

I didn't plan to list closed platforms but will lay claim to all of the Scottish ones except Largs but will add for your local interest
Helensburgh Upper former up loop
Craigendoran former platform 1 (Pier platform - on a different alignment to any of the other 4 platforms there)

 

[LWB]

If platforms etc are permissible then there’s Central Station in Leeds. I must have left/arrived at every platform and track connecting the station to the remaining network.

 

[D6130]

If platforms etc are permissible then there’s Central Station in Leeds. I must have left/arrived at every platform and track connecting the station to the remaining network.

That reminds me....I've also done the Leeds viaduct line and the former bay platform 1 at Battersby and the former Thornaby lines between Eaglescliffe North Junction and Stockton Cut Junction.

Helensburgh Upper former up loop
Craigendoran former platform 1 (Pier platform - on a different alignment to any of the other 4 platforms there)

Sadly, I can't lay claim to either of those. My very first (black & white Instamatic) railway photo was of class AM3 EMU no. 078 from behind the bufferstops in the pier platform at Craigendoran, but I never travelled into or out of it. My first ever trip on the West Highland line was on a school camping trip from Helensburgh Upper to Crianlarich in June 1968, a week or two after the box at Helensburgh had closed. So, while the box and Up Loop (by then clipped and padlocked out of use) were still extant when I departed on a Swindon 3 car Cross-Country DMU and arrived back behind class 29 no. D6123, I never actually travelled over it.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

That reminds me....I've also done the Leeds viaduct line and the former bay platform 1 at Battersby and the former Thornaby lines between Eaglescliffe North Junction and Stockton Cut Junction.

Sadly, I can't lay claim to either of those. My very first (black & white Instamatic) railway photo was of class AM3 EMU no. 078 from behind the bufferstops in the pier platform at Craigendoran, but I never travelled into or out of it. My first ever trip on the West Highland line was on a school camping trip from Helensburgh Upper to Crianlarich in June 1968, a week or two after the box at Helensburgh had closed. So, while the box and Up Loop (by then clipped and padlocked out of use) were still extant when I departed on a Swindon 3 car Cross-Country DMU and arrived back behind class 29 no. D6123, I never actually travelled over it.

Leeds viaduct for me too.

Both Balloch Central and Balloch Pier got missed from my list, plus I can also claim Ardrossan Winton Pier which was closer to the ferry berth before the line was truncated at the present Ardrossan Harbour station.

On one occasion I arrived in Craigendoran platform 1 behind an unidentified NBL on the summer TThO through train from Balloch Pier formed of about 5 or 6 non corridor coaches.

 

[Ken H]

Leeds viaduct for me too.

Both Balloch Central and Balloch Pier got missed from my list, plus I can also claim Ardrossan Winton Pier which was closer to the ferry berth before the line was truncated at the present Ardrossan Harbour station.

On one occasion I arrived in Craigendoran platform 1 behind an unidentified NBL on the summer TThO through train from Balloch Pier formed of about 5 or 6 non corridor coaches.

Leeds Viaduct was quite recent wasnt it? When Leeds was electrified?

 

[Rob F]

Not many for me.

Woodhead
Weymouth tramway
Dover Western Docks
Midland main line through Cudworth

 

[Pinza-C55]

It would take a lot of thinking but from memory
Haltwhistle - Alston
March - Spalding
Newcastle - Consett
Sunderland - Pallion - Deptford (on a goods train)
New Holland Pier
Woodhead line
Newcastle - Blaydon via Scotswood
Leamside Line
Leeds Viaduct line
Holborn Viaduct
Clayton West branch
Lincoln St Marks