Looking up rail lines you go by: Does anybody else do this?

[Scott M]

Say you're out and about, for example on a car journey, and you go by a set of rails.

Do you ever start to wonder what those rails are, and if you can't think of what look them up, say on your Google Maps app on your iphone?

This happened to me the other day - when going to a particular place, I always drive over a bridge that goes over a set of rails. Curiosity finally got the better of me so I did some research, and to my surprise they were part of the ECML.

Most of the time though, they turn out to be a freight line (not that that is a bad thing!).

 

[Lrd]

I've done that on occasion yeah. I have a few track maps and when I'm out and about I can see how inaccurate they are in showing all the track. (Need to get myself a quail!)

Another one is where you see old bridges, cuttings, embankments etc that clearly used to have tracks on them but have been torn up.

 

[Welshman]

Another one is where you see old bridges, cuttings, embankments etc that clearly used to have tracks on them but have been torn up.

I tend to do that - looking-out for treelines, cuttings, relatively level footpaths, gates, etc [while I'm not driving, I must add!]. Then, later look-up which disused railway line I've been following.

Must explain why I like the Closed Stations Journey Quiz.

 

[GarethJohn]

Their are old Rails by the Gas Club on the way to Huddersfield Football Ground.
There is still a lot of infrastructure left on the Trawsfynydd branch. As this closed less than 20 years ago,with a link too the mainline and the Ffestiniog Railway in an area with a lot of Railway preservation I'd of thought this would have been an ideal project.
Isn't their ambitious goals of linking it to Corwen & the Llangollen Railway?

 

[deltic08]

Say you're out and about, for example on a car journey, and you go by a set of rails.

Do you ever start to wonder what those rails are, and if you can't think of what look them up, say on your Google Maps app on your iphone?

This happened to me the other day - when going to a particular place, I always drive over a bridge that goes over a set of rails. Curiosity finally got the better of me so I did some research, and to my surprise they were part of the ECML.

Most of the time though, they usually turn out to be a random freight line.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8fasGcAi6Q

I do it all the time and have done since Beeching started closing lines and routes. It can be very depressing realising what we could have had if the Tories had had greater insight.

 

[table38]

I do the same, and got totally confused driving through Shipley to Menston last week and had to check the map when I got back!

Scarily even once when walking to Old Trafford I could see a wall in a car park which I definitely recognised as part of an old railway bridge. After checking some old maps, it turns out it was the stub of the line from Manchester Central to Cheadle. The bridge is now much more obvious, you can see it from the tram if you travel from Chorlton where the line dives under and joins the Altrincham line.

Sites like these are a major help in sleuthing out old railway infrastructure!

http://www.ponies.me.uk/maps/osmap.html
http://www.npemap.org.uk/
http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

 

[telstarbox]

It works the other way round too. Sometimes I see what looks like an old alignment and then find out what it was, e.g. the Tyldesley Loopline is visible on satellite view:

http://goo.gl/maps/RNh2J

 

[Marvin]

Doing this was how I discovered the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway existed!

 

[table38]

I've probably mentioned this before, but many years ago before maps were readily available on the internet, a colleague and I were intrigued by a railway embankment visible from the M62 here.

Many visits to the library and the Ian Allan bookshop, and a bit of wandering around the area later revealed it to be an old colliery tramway.

However a similar "line" here turned out to be the line of the Thirlmere Aqueduct!

 

[IanD]

I look up (or down) lines when driving over to see if there's any train activity. I do the same if I'm on a train and know there's a junction or similar approaching.

I also look-up lines in the thread sense ie to work out where they go/went.

And I often look up lines if I'm visiting an area so I know what to look out for whilst travelling around (eg having looked up old Yorkshire railways, if I was to visit Nidderdale, I'd be looking out for signs of the railway).

 

[muddythefish]

This thread has prompted me to look up a single track line on the map that has intrigued me for years - it goes under the A149 Kings Lynn - Hunstanton road and appears well maintained but on the map appears to peter out in the middle of nowhere. Any ideas ?

 

[table38]

This thread has prompted me to look up a single track line on the map that has intrigued me for years - it goes under the A149 Kings Lynn - Hunstanton road and appears well maintained but on the map appears to peter out in the middle of nowhere. Any ideas ?

If you persevere with the http://www.ponies.me.uk/maps/osmap.html site, you can get it to do cool things such as superimpose new map on old map like this:

Similaly on the http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm site you can do "side by side" and the maps scroll together:

 

[theshillito]

I do this too. I had to take the motorway (M6) home because the road I'd normally take was closed and saw a train going across a bridge over the motorway. I had ideas which line it was, but I double checked when I got home (Mid-Cheshire line).

Another time was more interesting when I drove to the Trafford Center for the first time. I noticed rails around/across a large roundabout near/in Trafford Park. It was the Trafford Park Railway, which I'd never heard of before (since it's disused, I probably wouldn't have needed to anyway). Found it quite interesting to read up about it.

 

[sprinterguy]

This thread has prompted me to look up a single track line on the map that has intrigued me for years - it goes under the A149 Kings Lynn - Hunstanton road and appears well maintained but on the map appears to peter out in the middle of nowhere. Any ideas ?

If you're talking in the vicinity of Kings Lynn itself, then that would be the freight branch to the sand quarry at Middleton Towers, near Leziate. It's traversed by a regular traffic of sand trains.

 

[muddythefish]

That must be it. Presumably the stump of an old through route to Dereham ?

 

[LDECRexile]

I've had hours of fun and interest with these two sites:

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html?txtXCoord=567500&txtYCoord=337500

and

http://www.npemap.org.uk/tiles/map.html#568,337,1

 

[sprinterguy]

That must be it. Presumably the stump of an old through route to Dereham ?

Yep, closed as a through route in 1968.

 

[PeterY]

I do the same thing but because I cycle a lot on towpaths, when I get home I check out what railway infrastructure I've passed by.

 

[billio]

I've had hours of fun and interest with these two sites:

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html?txtXCoord=567500&txtYCoord=337500

and

http://www.npemap.org.uk/tiles/map.html#568,337,1

If you like those you are certain to like this site at the National Library of Scotland, which has maps for the whole of the UK :

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/

 

[CockneySparrow]

This thread has prompted me to look up a single track line on the map that has intrigued me for years - it goes under the A149 Kings Lynn - Hunstanton road and appears well maintained but on the map appears to peter out in the middle of nowhere. Any ideas ?

There is a sand transfer site at Middleton Towers, where sand is transfered to train, there are usually 2 workings a day, one goes down there about 5am and returns around 8am the next goes down around 10am from Kings Lynn

Used to be the Kings Lynn to Swaffham line through Narborough you can see left over of the old bridge on the road going out towards Marham, you can also walk along some of it near that bridge too

Back at Middleton Towers you can drive down there, at the round about next to the hospital on the way back from Hunstanton take a left instead of going straight ahead, follow that road down for about two miles turn right when you see the sign for Leziate follow down that road you will go past Middleton Towers station (still exists but closed) keep going and you will come out on the A47 between Lynn and Swaffham

If on another day you want to see where there is no track on this line same as above but instead of taking the right for Leziate go 200 yards further take the right for East Winch follow the road down and when you get to a junction where there are small planes in the field turn right and instantly you will pass the same line but the tracks gone, old station to the right still there and there used to be an old box to the left but believe its gone now, again follow road round to the A47
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Yep, closed as a through route in 1968.

A couple of people/passengers still use the station at Middleton Towers though, but yes line closed to normal passengers in 1968, must say though there is a gulf in class to Middleton Towers station to that of the Wolverton which has been restored and now a museum

 

[LDECRexile]

If you like those you are certain to like this site at the National Library of Scotland, which has maps for the whole of the UK :

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/

It looks seriously fab, thanks. Will explore this evening when the grandchildren have gone home.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

There is a sand transfer site at Middleton Towers, where sand is transfered to train, there are usually 2 workings a day, one goes down there about 5am and returns around 8am the next goes down around 10am from Kings Lynn

Used to be the Kings Lynn to Swaffham line through Narborough you can see left over of the old bridge on the road going out towards Marham, you can also walk along some of it near that bridge too

Back at Middleton Towers you can drive down there, at the round about next to the hospital on the way back from Hunstanton take a left instead of going straight ahead, follow that road down for about two miles turn right when you see the sign for Leziate follow down that road you will go past Middleton Towers station (still exists but closed) keep going and you will come out on the A47 between Lynn and Swaffham

If on another day you want to see where there is no track on this line same as above but instead of taking the right for Leziate go 200 yards further take the right for East Winch follow the road down and when you get to a junction where there are small planes in the field turn right and instantly you will pass the same line but the tracks gone, old station to the right still there and there used to be an old box to the left but believe its gone now, again follow road round to the A47
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


A couple of people/passengers still use the station at Middleton Towers though, but yes line closed to normal passengers in 1968, must say though there is a gulf in class to Middleton Towers station to that of the Wolverton which has been restored and now a museum

Are these passengers a quite elderly couple who normally live in London?

 

[Amy Worrall]

I've wanted to make an app for this, with current and disused railways shown on a map, with links to the Wikipedia page for the line in question.

Dunno when I'll get time though!

 

[MatthewB]

I've wanted to make an app for this, with current and disused railways shown on a map, with links to the Wikipedia page for the line in question.

Dunno when I'll get time though!

Like this?
www.RailMapOnline.com

Hoping to launch a more mobile-friendly version later this year.

 

[CockneySparrow]

It looks seriously fab, thanks. Will explore this evening when the grandchildren have gone home.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Are these passengers a quite elderly couple who normally live in London?

It might be used more often if his son, daughter in law and grandson think its practical, they I believe are having an annex built on the estate

it will be interesting how things pan out though when the extra half hourly passenger services start as the Ely to Lynn section will be maxed out to the max

If I am allowed to give a mention to Kongs Lynn online forums in the history section a couple of threads on Lynns railways, decent info and pictures

 

[Scott M]

Another one is where you see old bridges, cuttings, embankments etc that clearly used to have tracks on them but have been torn up.

I do this too - although it tends to be more difficult to trace defunct lines. I usually have to follow them until they join up with an active one.

There is still a lot of infrastructure left on the Trawsfynydd branch. As this closed less than 20 years ago,with a link too the mainline and the Ffestiniog Railway in an area with a lot of Railway preservation I'd of thought this would have been an ideal project.
Isn't their ambitious goals of linking it to Corwen & the Llangollen Railway?

Infrastructure might be there but I'd assume it'll all come down to whether or not it'd make a profit.

Scarily even once when walking to Old Trafford I could see a wall in a car park which I definitely recognised as part of an old railway bridge. After checking some old maps, it turns out it was the stub of the line from Manchester Central to Cheadle.

That is quite impressive recognizing a wall as part of a railway bridge!

I've probably mentioned this before, but many years ago before maps were readily available on the internet, a colleague and I were intrigued by a railway embankment visible from the M62 here.

Many visits to the library and the Ian Allan bookshop, and a bit of wandering around the area later revealed it to be an old colliery tramway.

However a similar "line" here turned out to be the line of the Thirlmere Aqueduct!

That is some dedication! My detective work tends to extend to google maps (lazy)

I look up (or down) lines when driving over to see if there's any train activity. I do the same if I'm on a train and know there's a junction or similar approaching.

I also do this!

This thread has prompted me to look up a single track line on the map that has intrigued me for years - it goes under the A149 Kings Lynn - Hunstanton road and appears well maintained but on the map appears to peter out in the middle of nowhere. Any ideas ?

Glad to see your question has been answered. Funny how that line that you always wondered about, and possibly thought only you had spotted, somebody else had in-depth knowledge of - including where to drive to to get a better look at it.

Also thank you to all those who posted sites to help with this sort of stuff - there's a real wealth of resources on this thread now.

 

[james60059]

I'm guilty of that, especially where disused lines are.

I was travelling East along the A14 and just before the junction with the the A605 (Jct 13) I noticed an old viaduct so I pulled off the road and had a look on Google Maps and sure enough was the old line from Kettering to Cambridge

 

[martinsh]

must say though there is a gulf in class to Middleton Towers station to that of the Wolverton which has been restored and now a museum

Er, I think you mean Wolferton !

 

[work-traveller]

Another one is where you see old bridges, cuttings, embankments etc that clearly used to have tracks on them but have been torn up.

I have a 1960 AA Road Atlas (hard cover and properly bound) which my dad bought at the time. I made a conscious decision to keep it as it shows the British Rail network pre-Beeching and so has been a marvellous source of information for determining where this or that line use to go.

 

[LDECRexile]

Not on line, but the following are seriously fab:

"Railway Atlas Then and Now" by Smith, Paul and Turner, Keith. Published by Ian Allan in 2012. ISBN 978 0 7110 3695 6 This gives all present and former passenger lines, using different colouring to show their status.

"Midland Railway System Maps ( Diagrams)" Published by Kay, Peter tel 01626 776285 these deal with former MR lines in minute detail. My guess is that Mr Kay (if still in business) knows of many more of their ilk.

"Railway Atlas Then and Now" could be just the job for people who like this thread, though it doesn't show lines which were only ever freight lines.

 

[CockneySparrow]

Went on the ECML last week and noticed what looked like a disused line 4 miles north of Doncaster that would of went over the ECML, any ideas what this line might have been