Lines That Have Closed Since 1970

[Rich McLean]

Local to where I grew up, if not already mentioned is Mount Gold - Billiamcombe via Laira Bridge. (Plymouth)

Last used for Cement trains from the old cement works in the 80s, but passenger trains stopped post beaching, where there was a Yealpton and Turnchaple branch.

Bridge is still standing, and currently being converted to a Cycle path, but the over bridge on the Plymstock side got lifted in the early 90s to make way for what is now First Devon & Cornwalls HQ (the Ride) so deckers could get in and out. Rest of the track bed has now been removed and embankment cut through in many locations

EDIT: Posted above, but added info

 

[najaB]

Alas, I believe it has quite recently. Shame, walked a lot of it quite recently and it was pretty much intact.

I just looked in the Sectional Appendix and it's listed as OOU until 08 May 2015. I don't know if that is when it will be officially closed, or if there are plans to bring it back into use.

 

[ainsworth74]

I just looked in the Sectional Appendix and it's listed as OOU until 08 May 2015. I don't know if that is when it will be officially closed, or if there are plans to bring it back into use.

It'll probably just get rolled over as being OOU again. There's been rumblings about formally closing it so the council can just rip the track out next time they relay the road surface but I don't believe that's ever got anywhere.

 

[najaB]

It'll probably just get rolled over as being OOU again. There's been rumblings about formally closing it so the council can just rip the track out next time they relay the road surface but I don't believe that's ever got anywhere.

Apparently there's also been attempts to reopen it as a tourist attraction - who knows what will happen. Probably nothing.

 

[Starmill]

Balloch Pier is another, the line being curtailed on the other side of the level crossing at what was Balloch Central (now suffix-less). Of a similar ilk is Ardrossan Winton Pier, but I'm not sure how much track was closed there!

You would think. But even after all these years tickets still seem to issue to BALLOCH CENTRAL

 

[Elecman]

Thanks for this! Also was there a freight only line to a power station near Lostock Hall called Burn Naze?

Burn Naze is on the OOU line between Poulton and Fleetwood, also subject to repeated re opening ideas

 

[45rpm]

Holborn Viaduct & Broad Street in London. Burton Lane Junction (on the York to Scarborough line) to Layerthorpe (former York terminus of the Derwent Valley Light Railway) via Rowntree Halt closed after the final train ran on Monday 23rd January 1989. I know because I was there & spoke to the train crew.

 

[Bishopstone]

You would think. But even after all these years tickets still seem to issue to BALLOCH CENTRAL

Crazy. It's thirty years since we dropped a Balloch.

 

[Any Permitted]

Yarmouth South Town - Lowestoft Central. Closed in May 1970.

 

[racyrich]

North London Line Victoria Park to Poplar closed in 1980. The section south of the GER is now part of the DLR.

The Stepney Extension line through Bow Road is very much open, though obviously the station actually closed during the war. The line is used daily for route training and is a regular diversion route when the LTS line through West Ham is closed.

 

[yorksrob]

I just looked in the Sectional Appendix and it's listed as OOU until 08 May 2015. I don't know if that is when it will be officially closed, or if there are plans to bring it back into use.

Ah, I was under the impression that it had been mothballed since the late 90's and officially closed recently. Would gladly be proved wrong though !

 

[Lankyline]

Burn Naze is on the OOU line between Poulton and Fleetwood, also subject to repeated re opening ideas

Damn beaten to it ?????? The remaining traffic I think serviced the ICI works at Thornton. Currently a local society are tidying up some of the old stations on the line. It's still connected to the mainline at Poulton.

 

[The Planner]

Ah, I was under the impression that it had been mothballed since the late 90's and officially closed recently. Would gladly be proved wrong though !

It is repeatedly put under short term network changes to make it OOU on the basis that someone may eventually decide they want to do something with it. It also means that it takes most of the requirements to do any maintenance on it away. It will eventually get to the point where it will go permanently. It is similar to the Silverdale branch in Staffs. Northampton Bridge St was similar until recently when the council wanted the track bed, no operators objected so it went permanently.

 

[Bedpan]

The Alston branch was a real shame given that it survived the Beeching ax. Without checking on Google does a narrow gauge railway now operate on that route?

(Sorry if an answer has already been given - Ican't see one but may have missed a page!) ..... Yes the South Tynedale Railway runs along the trackbed at the southern end, gradually extending towards Slaggyford, the intermediate station, which is about 5 miles from Alston. (Not quite there yet, though, current line is about 3.5 miles long).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Dunstable is a good one. How come it lasted so long? I'm guessing here that the branch served a freight terminal.

There was a cement works at Dunstable, just east of Dunstable North, which kept the line between Luton and Dunstable open till 1990. In fact the track was only lifted recently, as part of the works to convert the line to a + guided busway + . The main A505 relief road between Luton and Chaul End, Dunstable follows the route and driving along it gives the impression that the formation was moved to one side to make way from the road. I don't know if this was actually the case but if it was, a new railway formation was laid and never used by a train at least in revenue earning service.

Also, going from Luton Bute Street along the trackbed of the Leighton Buzzard - Dunstable - Luton - Welwyn Garden City line in the opposite direction in the early 1970s (until the spring of 1971) you would have eventually come to Blackbridge Sidings at Wheathampstead which was accessed from the WGC end of the line. There was an old gravel quarry at Blackbridge which then became a landfill site, Blackbridge Tip, which was rail connected until it closed in 24th May 1971.

There is an article on Blackbridge Tip in www.disused-stations.org.uk (Although the last paragraph about the access road is incorrect).

Also in the Harpenden area was the Harpenden - Hemel Hempstead line known as the Nicky or Nickey Line although nobody knows quite why (various suggestions abound). This closed to passengers in 1947 but was used for freight, latterly to transport ash to the Hemelite works in Cupid Green, Hemel Hempstead. It continued in use for this purpose until 1979, although it was sold to Hemelite by BR in 1968.

 

[Geeves]

Manchester Victoria East Junction (loop line) to Thorps Bridge junction closed 1998. Partially reopening for the Metro to Oldham now though as of 2011.

A massive amount around Shirebrook, Clipstone, Bolsover and all those branches went in the late 90s

 

[Juniper Driver]

Broad Street to Dalston Jn closed 1986, now except Dalston Jn east curve and Broad Street itself now returned to use.
Bathgate Station closed and re-sited upon opening of A2B
Stratford to North Woolwich closed 2000s now part of DLR Stratford to Canning Town, Connaught tunnel to be used by Crossrail services.

Good call,remember working along that in my SM days.Wasn't there a sugar factory?...remember going in a yard near Woolwich which had something to do with a sugar factory plus a gate we had to manually open and close.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Would the line through Altofts qualify? After closure in (I think) 1992, all passenger services ran via Castleford, up until the semi-fasts were introduced a few years ago.

 

[Holmbridge]

Spen valley line via Cleckheaton. Closed to passengers prior to 1970 but freight use continued into the 80s......used to wake me up early in the morning as it trundled through Liversedge. Rumours about ten years ago that it might re open but it's way down the list

 

[turboslug]

there has always been suspicion about the real reason why mouldsworth to west Cheshire junction closed, it was a busy freight line, west Cheshire box burnt down & then BR wanted to take out the junction to UKF but they wanted it keeping in only to stop using rail a year later, the line would of been mothballed by now especially with hardly any freight going to or from ellesmere port & nothing going beyond hooton, another line that is effectively closedis rock ferry to Birkenhead docks, its so overgrown the line would need to be relayed, they even built a new bridge when they opened rock retail park even though no trains had been over the line in at least 10 years

 

[ac6000cw]

The last remnant of the Cambridge-Mildenhall branch closed (I think) sometime in the 1990s or early 2000s - the few hundred yards from Barnwell Junction to an oil terminal.

 

[thenorthern]

Don't think the Sinfin branch has been mentioned yet, opened to passengers in 1976 and closed in 1998 although the last train ran in 1993. The branch is still used though to carry jet fuel though to Rolls Royce. Another one I don't think has been mentioned is the Croxley Green branch.

Has anyone mentioned the chord to the north of Carnforth which closed in 1998 and carried freight trains and made the junction a triangular junction.

 

[ac6000cw]

Mentioning Carnforth prompted a thought about the Carlisle freight avoiding lines (which closed in 1986 following a derailment - BR decided that it wasn't worth repairing the considerable infrastructure damage, so all north-south freight has run through the station since then).

 

[CalderRail]

Spen valley line via Cleckheaton. Closed to passengers prior to 1970 but freight use continued into the 80s......used to wake me up early in the morning as it trundled through Liversedge. Rumours about ten years ago that it might re open but it's way down the list

I never understood why it was closed. It'd be a really useful diversionary line.

 

[mlambeuk]

The Foss islands branch line in York shut in the 80's
The Riverside branch on the North Tyne loop closed in 1973.

 

[Green Lane]

Bromborough Dock Branch. Closed some time in 1990s.

 

[DT611]

deleted

 

[34104]

I believe the Plymouth Millbay-Cornwall Junction and Devonport Kings Road-Devonport Junction lines were closed in 1971,both had been used for carriage storing/parcels/freight long after the passenger services had gone [1941 and 1964 respectively].

 

[341o2]

Maiden Newton to Bridport 1975

freight only Barnstaple - Meeth early 80's?

Barnstaple - Ilfracombe 1970
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I believe the Plymouth Millbay-Cornwall Junction and Devonport Kings Road-Devonport Junction lines were closed in 1971,both had been used for carriage storing/parcels/freight long after the passenger services had gone [1941 and 1964 respectively].

Yes, in 1964 the connection at St Budeaux between the former GWR and SR lines was reinstated, SR trains then ran over GWR tracks into Plymouth

Devonport Kings Rd remained as a freight depot until 1971 connected at the Plymouth end

Holborn - Aldwych
Epping - Ongar both LUL

 

[iantherev]

Aber Junction - Walnut Tree Junction in South Wales c1982 (freight)

 

[34104]

Maiden Newton to Bridport 1975

freight only Barnstaple - Meeth early 80's?

Barnstaple - Ilfracombe 1970
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Yes, in 1964 the connection at St Budeaux between the former GWR and SR lines was reinstated, SR trains then ran over GWR tracks into Plymouth

Devonport Kings Rd remained as a freight depot until 1971 connected at the Plymouth end

Holborn - Aldwych
Epping - Ongar both LUL

Yes, the Barnstaple-Meeth line certainly stayed open until the early 1980's for china clay freight from Peters Marland, rather ironic that the line should have stayed open for so long as it was one of the least used passenger lines in the country probably! Some interesting shots of it post closure here;

http://northdevondiesels.webs.com/torringtontomeeth.htm