Heritage Railways - Making a Success of a Main Line Connection

[DerekC]

A lot has been written on this Forum about the perceived failure of the Swanage Railway's main line connecting service.

I was trying to recall which heritage railways have a main line connection, and if any of those have made a success of a regular (probably seasonal) main line connecting service over it.

Examples of schemes that were trialled and died would be interesting. If this just doesn't work, why?

There are obviously costs involved, mainly in getting heritage railway stock main line compatible, but are there operational and commercial reasons why such schemes just don't attract enough custom?

 

[Jan Mayen]

Bluebell Railway. Short connection at East Grinstead, used for stock transfers and (very occasional) charters.

North Norfolk. Very occasional use, I believe.

North Yorkshire. Connection at Grosmont used frequently. This is the only regular Heritage railway to Network Rail passenger service I can think of.

I assume all three of the above regard the connection as successful.

 

[DerekC]

There must be quite a few main line connections that have stock transfers, visiting locos and the occasional charter - The Watercress Line in my back yard has one, but I was thinking of a regular service. NYMR to Whitby is an excellent example, and it's successful as far as I know.

 

[Anonymous10]

There must be quite a few main line connections that have stock transfers, visiting locos and the occasional charter - The Watercress Line in my back yard has one, but I was thinking of a regular service. NYMR to Whitby is an excellent example, and it's successful as far as I know.

Would Welsh Highland railway out of bleauna Ffestiniog count? Narrow gauge but is preserved

 

[Jan Mayen]

Would Welsh Highland railway out of bleauna Ffestiniog count? Narrow gauge but is preserved

No stock transfers or passenger traffic as different gauges. But it does cross on the flat at Porthadoc, so maybe a connecting spur could be built, together with gauge changing facilities? Euston to Caernarfon, perhaps?

There must be quite a few main line connections that have stock transfers, visiting locos and the occasional charter - The Watercress Line in my back yard has one, but I was thinking of a regular service. NYMR to Whitby is an excellent example, and it's successful as far as I know.

Thinking about it, I'm sure I read somewhere (on here, probably) that some NYMR staff/volunteers feel it isn't really worth doing the Grosmont to Whitby bit.

 

[Brush 4]

Most of the main line connections are underused. They make such a fuss about reconnecting and then allow most of them to fade away. An own goal really, they should be actively promoting them to railtour companies.

As for daily services, much better to let TOC's run on to their line rather than them run on out onto NR. TOC trains are already main line compliant. The revenue and costs would be shared equally. WSR and GWR seem to be serious about this type of operation, although one AM peak and one PM peak service should run through to Minehead from Taunton, as people don't like changing.

 

[John Webb]

Bluebell Railway. Short connection at East Grinstead, used for stock transfers and (very occasional) charters.

North Norfolk. Very occasional use, I believe.

North Yorkshire. Connection at Grosmont used frequently. This is the only regular Heritage railway to Network Rail passenger service I can think of.

I assume all three of the above regard the connection as successful.

North Norfolk Railway: the crossing at Sheringham is, I recall, subject to a limited number of trains per year as part of the planning conditions allowing its installation.

Keighley and Worth Valley railway has a direct connection to NR track. But not in regular traffic use - mainly used again for stock transfers and the occasional charter train.

 

[StoneRoad]

Until very recently the Ribble Railway had a freight connection from the docks onto the main network [the infamous Bitumen tanker traffic].
This was eventually run down and has now ceased in favour of road transport. The last empty [cleaned] 100t bogie tankers left on 4th March 2025 - for storage at Eastriggs, if my info is correct.

Still viable from the Ribble's point of view, but the client preferred road tankers.

 

[Trainlog]

The vast majority of heritage railways I have visited that aren't local to the Southeast for me have been via the national rail network. Without it I wouldn't have visited the North Norfolk, Great central railway, Gloswarks, or the Chinnor and Princes Risborough so to answer the question, its not essential but it certainly removes any barriers of 'its too far to visit' by road and enables the lines to be visited by those who don't drive or choose not to drive that day.

The Bluebell's extension is certainly an interesting case study of a heritage railway using its mainline connection well. Even just getting to East Grinstead is a bonus as it also opens up more bus routes as a connection to the railway, as well as the mainline connection itself.

Its best uses of the connection -Metropolitain railway coaches were able to be hired out for the LU150 events ,they did some interesting tours when it first opened such as the Mid Hants - Bluebell railway tour and the tour down to Uckfield. Camelot being dragged on the mainline was also certainly interesting to see.

Why it misses its potential today - Its certainly underutilized its connection post pandemic with exception of the Giants of steam gala loco movements. Would certainly like to see more tours go back to visit the line though I have heard its due to track charge rates that there has been a lack of tours there recently.

The Line I argue that makes the best of its connection currently is probably the Nene valley, especially with its latest strategy of hiring in mainline locos every couple of months to visit the line. As I have said previously its certainly one of the more creative strategies for getting more visitors to this line. The East Lancs also does well in its mainline connection too with the amount of visiting mainline locos there aswell.

The line that I feel sabotages itself the most over making a success of a connection is probably the Epping Ongar railway. The buses do help make the line accessible from London. Still, its just as much of a barrier as you have to remember the last bus at gala days instead of walking across the platform to a national rail, or in this case, Central line train once you are done for the day, and it adds more time getting to North Weald rather than just enjoying the line the moment you arrive at Epping. Its a line well worth visiting, I just wish that they expanded to Epping proper.

The best example of a line that is backing out of a mainline connection is the Gloswarks, they are definitely more hesitant post pandemic to go to Honeybourne, though apart from the mainline connection opportunity there isn't much at Honeybourne. Its a shame as there is less likely a chance for a mainline loco to visit the line now, (unless they are persuasive enough to let the NRM bring Scotsman in by low loader) but its understandable from an economic standpoint.

The line is doable via national rail in a day, from London however, despite the walk between the two Cheltenham stations is along the old Honeybourne route, its still takes an hour off potential visiting time to the line. I would suggest that this line would be better suited at using heritage buses as a proxy connection than the Epping Ongar as it's physically impossible to link the two Cheltenham stations by rail today.

 

[John Webb]

.....The line that I feel sabotages itself the most over making a success of a connection is probably the Epping Ongar railway. The buses do help make the line accessible from London. Still, its just as much of a barrier as you have to remember the last bus at gala days instead of walking across the platform to a national rail, or in this case, Central line train once you are done for the day, and it adds more time getting to North Weald rather than just enjoying the line the moment you arrive at Epping. Its a line well worth visiting, I just wish that they expanded to Epping proper.....

From a couple of visits to Epping-Ongar I believe they would love to expand into Epping, but TFL's use of the station for Central Line services, including retaining a section of track beyond the station towards Ongar as an overrun facility, rather blocks any extension of the preserved line into Epping.

 

[merry]

The Severn Valley Railway has a main line connection at Kidderminster that has seen fairly regular use. it hasn't really ever closed - SVR has had a main line network connection at one point or another (Alveley, Foley Park, Bewdley). Most movements reported seem to be ECS, engineering and light engine, but definitely not a failure.

The Great Central (Northern) has always had a mainline connection at Loughborough, which had regular freight (flue gas desulphurisation product for gypsum) until about 2020, plus various charters and stock movements. The link only ceased operation due to the discovery of infrastructure defects on GCR(N). Definitely successful up to that point. And could be again, now repairs to the route are advanced enough to allow trains to restart.

The Dart Valley railway has a connection at Totnes , once used for regular service trains into Totnes P1. I have no idea what use this sees nowadays, so no way to say how successful.

The Torbay & Dartmouth has a connection at Paignton, used reasonably often for railtours. It's the only one i have travelled over! This has to count as a success in terms of operational use.
Strathspey (Aviemore) has a regilarly used conbection, of Flying Scotsman infamy, but a clear success for charters.

Other lines I know with connections include the Dean Forest (Lydney), SRPS (near Polmont), Wensleydale railway (Northallerton), Nene Valley (Fletton), and some others I can't recall right now. No idea how successful any of these might be.

 

[Trainlog]

From a couple of visits to Epping-Ongar I believe they would love to expand into Epping, but TFL's use of the station for Central Line services, including retaining a section of track beyond the station towards Ongar as an overrun facility, rather blocks any extension of the preserved line into Epping.

To be fair I have also heard this said before.I definitely did enjoy the gala in 2023 with Pendennis castle charging the Epping forest gradient to the very end extent of the line. Then again, if TFL is trying its best to not increase spending with the financial problem its in, a new station at Epping probably isn't anywhere close to a priority project.

Whilst I am here, I would also argue that for the category of 'Mainline isn't possible but a captive audience is' would be the Churnet valley railway if they expanded down to Alton towers.

Whilst many have dismissed the idea of people wouldn't visit the line if they are there for the theme park. There is still other bonuses to consider such as a wider and more reliable pool of bus links, having the line next to the Alton towers would mean that the line will show up on Motorway signs, there is the potential for the line to work with Alton towers maybe in the form of discounted evening dining trains for those staying overnight at the park and they can advertise events such as the Polar express.

I wish them the best with the Leek expansion, I just hope that they do reconsider the Alton towers extension properly in the near future.

 

[paul1609]

Most of the main line connections are underused. They make such a fuss about reconnecting and then allow most of them to fade away. An own goal really, they should be actively promoting them to railtour companies.

As for daily services, much better to let TOC's run on to their line rather than them run on out onto NR. TOC trains are already main line compliant. The revenue and costs would be shared equally. WSR and GWR seem to be serious about this type of operation, although one AM peak and one PM peak service should run through to Minehead from Taunton, as people don't like changing.

Most of the heritage railway connections are freight connections that arent signalled for passenger movements. they can be used as a passenger connection a few times a year but this requires extra staff on the ground to control the movements, clip points etc.

 

[LittleRedTrain]

Technically speaking, the Chinnor & Princes Risborough railway does/did actually run over a Network Rail line to operate to Princes Risborough station.
However, this is a rarely used siding, so presumably there are dispensations to avoid some of the more onerous requirements for running heritage trains over main line tracks (though they did have to lock the toilets out of use on that section).
It did also mean that, if the siding was required by NR/Chiltern, their operations wer curtailed to Thame Junction.

To avoid having to do this, they are now rebuilding the adjacent second track to give them a direct 'independent' connection without having to rely on the NR siding.
See https://www.chinnorrailway.co.uk/product.php/376

I'm not sure what the official status/ownership is of Princes Risborough Platform 4 and the sidings beyond, as they are mostly used by the heritage railway, but occasionally seem to have NR tampers etc stabled in them.

Regardless, I'd argue the main line connection is very successful, at least from a passenger point of view. It makes the railway run from 'somewhere to somewhere', makes it accessible by public transport, and has even been used for a few railtours.
Investing money to build the 'independent line' suggests the Railway thinks it's a worthwhile exercise too.

 

[duffield]

The vast majority of heritage railways I have visited that aren't local to the Southeast for me have been via the national rail network. Without it I wouldn't have visited the North Norfolk, Great central railway, Gloswarks, or the Chinnor and Princes Risborough so to answer the question, its not essential but it certainly removes any barriers of 'its too far to visit' by road and enables the lines to be visited by those who don't drive or choose not to drive that day.

The Bluebell's extension is certainly an interesting case study of a heritage railway using its mainline connection well. Even just getting to East Grinstead is a bonus as it also opens up more bus routes as a connection to the railway, as well as the mainline connection itself.

Its best uses of the connection -Metropolitain railway coaches were able to be hired out for the LU150 events ,they did some interesting tours when it first opened such as the Mid Hants - Bluebell railway tour and the tour down to Uckfield. Camelot being dragged on the mainline was also certainly interesting to see.

Why it misses its potential today - Its certainly underutilized its connection post pandemic with exception of the Giants of steam gala loco movements. Would certainly like to see more tours go back to visit the line though I have heard its due to track charge rates that there has been a lack of tours there recently.

The Line I argue that makes the best of its connection currently is probably the Nene valley, especially with its latest strategy of hiring in mainline locos every couple of months to visit the line. As I have said previously its certainly one of the more creative strategies for getting more visitors to this line. The East Lancs also does well in its mainline connection too with the amount of visiting mainline locos there aswell.

The line that I feel sabotages itself the most over making a success of a connection is probably the Epping Ongar railway. The buses do help make the line accessible from London. Still, its just as much of a barrier as you have to remember the last bus at gala days instead of walking across the platform to a national rail, or in this case, Central line train once you are done for the day, and it adds more time getting to North Weald rather than just enjoying the line the moment you arrive at Epping. Its a line well worth visiting, I just wish that they expanded to Epping proper.

The best example of a line that is backing out of a mainline connection is the Gloswarks, they are definitely more hesitant post pandemic to go to Honeybourne, though apart from the mainline connection opportunity there isn't much at Honeybourne. Its a shame as there is less likely a chance for a mainline loco to visit the line now, (unless they are persuasive enough to let the NRM bring Scotsman in by low loader) but its understandable from an economic standpoint.

The line is doable via national rail in a day, from London however, despite the walk between the two Cheltenham stations is along the old Honeybourne route, its still takes an hour off potential visiting time to the line. I would suggest that this line would be better suited at using heritage buses as a proxy connection than the Epping Ongar as it's physically impossible to link the two Cheltenham stations by rail today.

Yes, I was thinking of the Nene Valley. I wonder how much they will have saved in just a few weeks getting both The Flying Scotsman and Britannia in and out, compared to the road transport cost? I'd guess the road option probably involves a heavy insurance premium - imagine a big lorry smashing into the Scotsman!

 

[Krokodil]

Other lines I know with connections include the Dean Forest (Lydney), SRPS (near Polmont), Wensleydale railway (Northallerton), Nene Valley (Fletton), and some others I can't recall right now. No idea how successful any of these might be.

The Dean Forest did have a sideline in hiring the line to plant operators for training. So the railway got paid to have its ballast tamped. Not sure if this still goes on. A class 360 was dragged there by ROG a little while ago for a filming contract. One siding at Lydney Junction is also a Network Rail siding so can be used to shunt crippled wagons out of trains. At one point a Crosscountry 170 used the road loading point after hitting a herd of cows near Chepstow, and 360s for the GCRE site at Onllwyn were transferred to road haulage there. The Hastings DEMU makes an occasional visit.

Yes, I was thinking of the Nene Valley. I wonder how much they will have saved in just a few weeks getting both The Flying Scotsman and Britannia in and out, compared to the road transport cost? I'd guess the road option probably involves a heavy insurance premium - imagine a big lorry smashing into the Scotsman!

Even without considering collisions, road haulage has the potential to damage locos. Broken springs are quite possible (probably partly down to the state of the roads) and initially the A1 Steam Trust banned road moves for their loco.

 

[12LDA28C]

Technically speaking, the Chinnor & Princes Risborough railway does/did actually run over a Network Rail line to operate to Princes Risborough station.
However, this is a rarely used siding, so presumably there are dispensations to avoid some of the more onerous requirements for running heritage trains over main line tracks (though they did have to lock the toilets out of use on that section).
It did also mean that, if the siding was required by NR/Chiltern, their operations wer curtailed to Thame Junction.

To avoid having to do this, they are now rebuilding the adjacent second track to give them a direct 'independent' connection without having to rely on the NR siding.
See https://www.chinnorrailway.co.uk/product.php/376

I'm not sure what the official status/ownership is of Princes Risborough Platform 4 and the sidings beyond, as they are mostly used by the heritage railway, but occasionally seem to have NR tampers etc stabled in them.

Regardless, I'd argue the main line connection is very successful, at least from a passenger point of view. It makes the railway run from 'somewhere to somewhere', makes it accessible by public transport, and has even been used for a few railtours.
Investing money to build the 'independent line' suggests the Railway thinks it's a worthwhile exercise too.

Platform 4 at Princes Risborough is owned by the CPRR I believe, they certainly built it. I wouldn’t call the CPRR use of the Thame Branch Siding a main line connection as the CPRR operation is self-enclosed and they don’t run trains onto the main line as used by Chiltern although as you say an occasional charter train has used the true main line connection onto the heritage line and indeed another tour is due to start from Chinnor in the coming months.

 

[High Dyke]

Yes, I was thinking of the Nene Valley. I wonder how much they will have saved in just a few weeks getting both The Flying Scotsman and Britannia in and out, compared to the road transport cost? I'd guess the road option probably involves a heavy insurance premium - imagine a big lorry smashing into the Scotsman!

Indeed. During the mid-80's, and possibly just into the privatisation era (I'm not sure these days), there used to be a Saturday Only shuttle from Peterborough (North) - Orton Mere. I used the service a couple of times. Apart from that it would be charter trains or movements.

One other notable working being the trains of large pipes being delivered to the area for a water supply project. Traction was mainly a Class 60 from the mainline with a Class 14 taking the train forward. Occasionally the Class 60 worked throughout.

 

[Ashley Hill]

The Dart Valley railway has a connection at Totnes , once used for regular service trains into Totnes P1. I have no idea what use this sees nowadays, so no way to say how successful.

The SDR still have their connection but make seldom use of it. The last movement was the class 60 for their diesel gala last November. It’s a shame the SDR don’t make further use of this connection as it would open many opportunities.

 

[Bill57p9]

The Strathspey Railway main line connection at Aviemore is passenger rated and used regularly during the season by the Belmond Royal Scotsman. I remember doing the connection myself on the Skirl o’ the Bagpipes class 33/1 hauled railtour way back in 1993.

The Midland Railway Centre at Butterley is still connected though I don’t know how much use it gets these days.

Barrow Hill Roundhouse is main line connected and used regularly for taking locomotives in and out of the works.

 

[JKF]

I guess Mid Norfolk does well out of theirs, they have sidings for stock storage for TOCs that I imagine earns them some commercial revenue.

 

[D365]

I guess Mid Norfolk does well out of theirs, they have sidings for stock storage for TOCs that I imagine earns them some commercial revenue.

the sidings were built / renewed for the Greater Anglia 745/755 fleet to be stored pending full service introduction. Reportedly this was significant commercially for MNR - and presumably still is.

 

[43096]

The Midland Railway Centre at Butterley is still connected though I don’t know how much use it gets these days.

It gets a reasonable amount of use, including RailVacs coming and going and, of course, 125 Group’s HST when it is out on mainline workings.

 

[65477]

Has anyone repeated the East Anglian Railway Museum's feat of achieving a main line connection via a track slew? Back in the early 1970's when, as the SVRPS, the N7 was delivered by rail and the S15 "Greene King" went out under steam on its was to the S&D celebrations, so ths makes the second occurrence 50 years ago. How time flies as I was working there that night.

 

[A S Leib]

Wensleydale railway (Northallerton)

It's a shame Northallerton West station's been closed since 2016.

I don't think the Weardale Railway (Bishop Auckland) has been mentioned yet.

 

[D Williams]

The SDR still have their connection but make seldom use of it. The last movement was the class 60 for their diesel gala last November. It’s a shame the SDR don’t make further use of this connection as it would open many opportunities

The SDR still have their connection but make seldom use of it. The last movement was the class 60 for their diesel gala last November. It’s a shame the SDR don’t make further use of this connection as it would open many opportunities.

What opportunities do you have in mind?

 

[wce]

Has anyone repeated the East Anglian Railway Museum's feat of achieving a main line connection via a track slew? Back in the early 1970's when, as the SVRPS, the N7 was delivered by rail and the S15 "Greene King" went out under steam on its was to the S&D celebrations, so ths makes the second occurrence 50 years ago. How time flies as I was working there that night.

The Dean forest did the same before they owned the branch itself, firstly with moving the stock from Parkend to Norchard, then also making use of the slew for trains of spent ballast around 1980.

 

[Ashley Hill]

What opportunities do you have in mind?

Visiting locomotives,tours and stabling main line loco’s to name but a few.

 

[D Mylchreest]

I'm not so sure that the NYMR's Whitby connection has been all that successful at least in one sense,
I get the impression that the potential penalties involved in NR access has led the NYMR to prioritise that part of the service. I used to go to the railway's steam galas and that seemed to cause difficulties in keeping to the timetable for the rest of the line

 

[rower40]

Bodmin and Wenford Railway has a Ground-frame-controlled connection from an Exchange Siding onto the Up line at Bodmin Parkway. There's no crossover to the down line. See my avatar for the occasion when Tornado came to visit, after hauling a railtour to the Duchy.

The connection is not frequently used, but very handy for delivery of loan vehicles; or when the preserved line is hired-out for training of drivers or machine (e.g. tamper) operators.