"Heavy Rail" Tramways Still In Situ

[SpacePhoenix]

Is the Weymouth tramway (which will probably never see any trains run over it again) the only example left in the UK of a "heavy rail" tramway that's still in situ?

 

[snowball]

I assume the Welsh Highland Railway at Porthmadog doesn't count as heavy?

 

[AlterEgo]

Is there still some at Trafford Park?

 

[RichmondCommu]

Does the length of track in Kings Cross goods yard count?

 

[Surreytraveller]

Bristol Harbour? They still run steam along it

 

[SpacePhoenix]

I assume the Welsh Highland Railway at Porthmadog doesn't count as heavy?

Looking at that location I couldn't really call it a tramway, it's more like a normal railway line crossing the road at level crossings

Is there still some at Trafford Park?

yes, looks like bits of still exist, it looks like it might not have been too long ago that bits were lifted. Google Streetview images from 2015 show old level crossing lights

Does the length of track in Kings Cross goods yard count?

What's the Google Earth coordinates for the that?

 

[snowball]

Looking at that location I couldn't really call it a tramway, it's more like a normal railway line crossing the road at level crossings

But it runs along the road here (including over the bridge you can see, which is confusingly known as Britannia Bridge, making two combined road/rail Britannia Bridges in NW Wales):

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.9...4!1sYZA0DNRbvCG1tLVKaqIn_A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

[snowball]

I've just been looking at Trafford Park on Google and failed to see any lines which run along a road in the carriageway. There's one place where a quite modern-looking (but disused) line cuts across a roundabout, but if I remember correctly the Metrolink Trafford Park extension will require removal of that line and will cut across the same roundabout in a different direction.

And now I've mentioned Metrolink, there's this in Oldham - never been heavy rail so off topic for the thread, but still amusing:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.5...4!1ss8JLL2PYm93rSMHRD3CjLA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

[Mag_seven]

Is there still some at Trafford Park?

e.g.

This

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4...4!1sVouiEu-HWbjJ_2hVkM3edQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

or this:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4...4!1saOLYpzYadGvsifjnBPSCNQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

[stut]

Has all the quayside stuff at Ipswich been lifted now? Think some is still in place (possibly still used, although not the stuff around Neptune Quay, obvs).

https://goo.gl/maps/1v5D7zZgYp82
https://goo.gl/maps/YyfTUrSQZUR2
https://goo.gl/maps/NqUmYAJD4j82

 

[Dr_Paul]

There are still fairly lengthy bits of dockside track at the Royal Docks in East London that can be seen on aerial shots, and -- when I last went that way -- some tracks across the road leading to the Woolwich Ferry. Some years back I saw a lone remnant of the line from New Cross Gate to the Surrey Docks, a level crossing on Cold Blow Lane; and some odd fragments of track in cobble-stones of the ground-level part of Spitalfields goods station off Vallance Road. These may have been redeveloped out of existence since then.

I don't know if these count. There's still some yards of tram-rail for a crane on the wharf outside Watney's brewery in Mortlake, although site will soon be redeveloped. And a few years back I was delivering some things to a warehouse in Ryland Road, next to Kentish Town West station, and noticed in its entrance alley some tram-rail and a turnplate.

 

[AlterEgo]

Actually, there are isolated tram tracks at London City Airport, alongside the old dock! You can see them running parallel to the runway, on the north and south sides.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5042768,0.0634019,86m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

[najaB]

I can't remember, is there some tramway on the Preston Docks branch?

 

[pdeaves]

I can't remember, is there some tramway on the Preston Docks branch?

Yes, where it crosses a bridge over the water (i.e. it's a shared bridge). When I rode that line an ambulance had to wait while we trundled over.

 

[randyrippley]

there are still some short sections embedded in the road alongside the docks at Liverpool. Whats inside the docks appears to have gone - these are just where they crossed the dock road

 

[richard1976]

Would this track outside Spondon station count

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.912...4!1sneYKEoCcLfyVMkx435H5kA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

[route101]

e.g.

This

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4...4!1sVouiEu-HWbjJ_2hVkM3edQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

or this:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4...4!1saOLYpzYadGvsifjnBPSCNQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

When was the last time these lines used?

 

[route101]

I've just been looking at Trafford Park on Google and failed to see any lines which run along a road in the carriageway. There's one place where a quite modern-looking (but disused) line cuts across a roundabout, but if I remember correctly the Metrolink Trafford Park extension will require removal of that line and will cut across the same roundabout in a different direction.

And now I've mentioned Metrolink, there's this in Oldham - never been heavy rail so off topic for the thread, but still amusing:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.5...4!1ss8JLL2PYm93rSMHRD3CjLA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Where did that go ? Was it a temporary terminus?

 

[Ploughman]

Does Immingham count?

 

[DerekC]

There are still some remains of the Eling Tramway on Eling Quay, near Totton.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

How long ago did Trafford Park go OOU?

 

[Liam]

Not UK obviously, but Alexandra road tramway in Dublin is still used by a couple of weekly freight services (I think).

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3...4!1sAj1wUNoufWjie170cvBeOQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

[AndrewE]

Not UK either, but look at this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOvrpbCm3z0 Austrian loco, but in Croatia.
(Still happening when I was there last year!)

 

[90sWereBetter]

Has all the quayside stuff at Ipswich been lifted now? Think some is still in place (possibly still used, although not the stuff around Neptune Quay, obvs).

https://goo.gl/maps/1v5D7zZgYp82
https://goo.gl/maps/YyfTUrSQZUR2
https://goo.gl/maps/NqUmYAJD4j82

The bit at the New Cut was still in use up to two years ago. The rails outside DanceEast are still in situ. However, the rails at Neptune Quay were obliterated about 4 to 5 years ago.

In Lowestoft, part of the connection between the docks and the station still exists alongside the station, and I believe there's still a section within the docks itself. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4736965,1.7522244,108a,35y,177.95h/data=!3m1!1e3

 

[Cowley]

Not UK either, but look at this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOvrpbCm3z0 Austrian loco, but in Croatia.
(Still happening when I was there last year!)

Still happening when we were there three weeks ago!
Mrs C took these photos out of the van window while I was driving through Rijeka on the same stretch of street running line that goes to the container port that your clip was from.
Not an Austrian loco this time though but a local shunter type thing.

 

[twpsaesneg]

Historic Royal Navy Dockyard Chatham!

 

[John Webb]

Actually, there are isolated tram tracks at London City Airport, alongside the old dock! You can see them running parallel to the runway, on the north and south sides.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5042768,0.0634019,86m/data=!3m1!1e3

These are part of the once-extensive railway system that the Port of London Authority (PLA) ran throughout the Royal Docks Group and which was linked to the former Great Eastern branch line to North Woolwich.

 

[snowball]

Where did that go ? Was it a temporary terminus?

Not a temporary terminus, but a temporary through route!

The original heavy rail route (the Oldham loop, Manchester to Rochdale via Oldham) bypassed Oldham town centre to the south, for gradient reasons.

The concept of the Oldham/Rochdale Metrolink line was that it would take over the heavy rail line and mostly follow the same route but with a deviation to go through the town centre, partly on-street.

There was a struggle for many years to get funding and when finally approved (known as Phase 3a) there was not enough for the town centre deviation so an interim solution was adopted in which the Metrolink line followed the old rail route (but crossing the road on the level at the site of the picture, replacing the previous embankment and bridge).

The line that stops at the kerbs is the remains of that interim route. The permanent route (part of "phase 3b") can be seen above it.

As luck would have it, the funding for phase 3b came unexpectedly soon after that for phase 3a, so the interim route didn't last very long. It opened partially in June 2012 and fully (so far as the Oldham area is concerned) in December 2012, and was superseded in January 2014. If I remember correctly there was a time whe both routes were under construction simultaneously.

 

[AndrewE]

""Heavy Rail" Tramways Still In Situ"
I think there are far more than we realise, it's just that they have been covered with tarmac.

I couldn't count the number of times I've seen them revealed when holes are dug in roads in cities all round the country

 

[smilerish]

There's lots 'in situ' in Southampton Docks, though I'm not sure that they're still used. Being in the docks, they're not publicly accessible (not that the guards on the gate ever stop pedestrians from entering!): https://goo.gl/maps/TEfzCREota52

There's also some still in place on Town Quay, although these aren't connected to the rail network anymore: https://goo.gl/maps/ZpWfSLDfDdM2