Minor lines in the far north

grahame

Administrator
Hero Member

Posts: 46144

Minor lines in the far north

« on: April 03, 2023, 15:23:17 »

On this day - 3rd April 1944 - no more trains to Lybster - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wick_and_Lybster_Light_Railway

Quote

The construction of a modern road over the Ord of Caithness in the 1930s was a boost to the area but it spelt the end of the railway; the distance from Lybster to Helmsdale by rail via Wick was 74 miles (119 km), but by the new road it was just over 20 miles (32 km).

Also lost off the far north line - Dornoch, Fortrose and Strathpeffer,. Just Kyle of Lochalsh and Thurso remain, with Thurso now being busier that Wick.


	Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Transport User Group, West Wiltshire Rail User Group Committee and TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member

grahame

Administrator
Hero Member

Posts: 46144

Re: Minor lines in the far north

« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2024, 10:26:33 »

And at the opposite end of the scale - line OPENED 1st July 1903

That's the same day that the Badminton cutoff was opened - Wikipedia link and that survives to this day and is a very expensive piece of infrastructure to keep open and run reliably. With some disquiet, I looked at Labour's plans to provide a railway that is more reliable and costs the public purse less. Closing expensive to maintain cutoffs would meet both of those manifesto objectives. Electrify Chippenham to Temple Meads and Parkway to Temple Meads, 20 minute frequency London to Bristol with one train onward to Swansea ... just asking.


	Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Transport User Group, West Wiltshire Rail User Group Committee and TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member

Noggin

Hero Member

Posts: 634

Re: Minor lines in the far north

« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2024, 16:43:17 »

Quote from: grahame on July 01, 2024, 10:26:33

If we're being silly, how about we cut-off the cut-off with HS4 from Swindon to South Wales via a new Severn Tunnel, roughly following the M4?

We'd need some kind of loop to enable the occasional semi-fast to stop at Bristol Parkway, but with the fasts removed and a bit of 4-tracking there'd be plenty of space for an intensive Cardiff to Bristol service and enough slack on the cutoff to convert it into a decent commuter line with stations at Winterbourne, Coalpit Heath, Chipping Sodbury and Dyson funded terminus at Malmesbury ;-)


	Logged

Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

Pages: [1]

« previous next »