Lines that closed with the minimum of fanfare.....

[Dr_Paul]

The Stanmore Village to Belmont section of the Harrow to Stanmore Railway was quietly closed to passengers in the 1950s. According to my Dad there wasn't an ounce of protest or fanfare. Definitely one of those sections of line that was built for a small but wealthy estate than of wider use to the area. By contrast when the remaining section was closed from Belmont to Harrow there was quite a large but empathetic farewell. The local buses made a lot more sense for this barely 2 mile run.

I remember as a lad in the 1960s looking at a London street atlas and wondering why half the branch had been shut, but half remained open. I'm surprised that the line wasn't shut throughout, particularly as passengers needed to change at Harrow to go further.

 

[Titfield]

As I recall the last regular boat train ran on it in 1987 and the last charter train in 1999, but it remained nominally open until a few years ago. There have been several threads on it on these forums over the years.

Doubtless said before but once the Channel Islands boat service relocated from Weymouth to Poole the raison detre of the service to the quay was lost. In any case foot passenger traffic to the Islands had been declining for some time.

 

[chorleyjeff]

Two I can think of:

Cherry Tree (Blackburn) to Chorley, this line was constructed as a quicker way to get coal from Wigan to the East Lancashire mill towns. The stations (except the two mentioned) closed to passengers in 1960 and goods 1966.

My old line, North Lancs loop between Blackburn and Rose Grove (Burnley) via Padiham and Great Harwood. Closed to regular passengers Dec 1957 after the usual public meeting. The public were pacified by retaining the summer day excursions and wakes week holiday services, however the year Beeching brought out his report was the last year for the wakes week specials. It was quietly closed at the end of 1964.

I thought the Blackburn to Chorley line was part of the route from Liverpool- St Helens-Wigan- Blackburn- Burnley and E Lancs that brought cotton and other imports from Liverpool plus the coal traffic, and exports to Liverpool. Also a freight route from South Lancashire area to Carlisle and onwards via Hellifield. It also served an ROF site and quarries.