Five of the World's Longest Abandoned Railways

[editor]

This is an interesting piece...
https://www.abandonedraillines.com/2019/04/fworlds-longest-abandoned-railroads.html

 

[newbie]

"building 2,300 miles of track by the Milwaukee across two mountain ranges in only three years"

good grief.

 

[editor]

"building 2,300 miles of track by the Milwaukee across two mountain ranges in only three years"

good grief.

I had to double check that:

The two main mountain ranges that had to be crossed (the Rockies and the Cascades) required major civil engineering works and additional locomotive power. The completion of 2,300 miles (3,700 km) of railroad through some of the most varied topography in the nation in only three years was a major feat. (Original company maps denote five mountain crossings: Belts, Rockies, Bitterroots, Saddles, and Cascades. These are slight misnomers as the Belt Mountains and Bitterroots are part of the Rockies. In fact, the route did not cross over the Little Beltsor Big Belts but over the Lenep-Loweth Ridge between the Castle Mountains and the Crazy Mountains.)

Some historians question the choice of route, since it bypassed some population centers and passed through areas with limited local traffic potential. Much of the line paralleled the Northern Pacific Railway. Trains magazine called the building of the extension, primarily a long-haul route, "egregious" and a "disaster."[5] George H. Drury listed the Pacific Extension as one of several "wrong decisions" made by the Milwaukee's management which contributed to the company's eventual failure.[6]

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad - Wikipedia

 

[editor]

 

[Dogsauce]

Longest abandoned rather than ‘abandoned the longest’. I guess the latter title will go to the one in Greece from 600BC.

 

[planetgeli]

How about the shortest ones? I've been, ridden (on a bicycle) the length of it even, to this one in Laos. All 7km of it, built by the French.

Old French locomotive Don Khong - Si Phan Don - Laos

 

[Dogsauce]

I wonder what the longest stretch is in the UK? Maybe the borders line south of tweedbank? Or sections of the S&D or M&GN?

 

[planetgeli]

I wonder what the longest stretch is in the UK? Maybe the borders line south of tweedbank? Or sections of the S&D or M&GN?

List of closed railway lines in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia

Take your pick, find your own measurements. There's a lot to choose from.

 

[editor]

List of closed railway lines in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia

Take your pick, find your own measurements. There's a lot to choose from.

What a depressing list that is

 

[Duncan2]

I don't suppose Lawrence of Arabia's activities much helped the prospects of the Hejaz railway?

 

[Dogsauce]

List of closed railway lines in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia

Take your pick, find your own measurements. There's a lot to choose from.

Looking at my old rail atlas, some of the longer sections of closed line are:

M&GN Wymondham Jn to Yarmouth (approx 110 miles)
Dumfries - Stranraer (approx 60 miles)
Somerset & Dorset joint to Burnham on Sea (about 60 miles, other route to Bath about 55),
LSWR route from Meldon Quarry to Padstow (approx 50 miles)
GC route through Rugby up to Leicester (approx 50 miles)
Caledonian Montrose - Stanley Jn (Perth) (approx 50 miles)

There’s also a few long stretches of closed railways in mid Wales and the North East but seem to be separate lines connected together rather than single stretches.
Couldn’t figure out the length of the remaining closed bit of the Borders line as it crossed the edge of several pages, but think it’s about 40 miles.

 

[Don Troooomp]

It would be a little naughty to forget all the abandoned and pulled up pit lines all over the old coalfields. There are miles of them, a few still with tracks, but most now empty or turned into cyclepaths.

 

[planetgeli]

Looking at my old rail atlas, some of the longer sections of closed line are:

M&GN Wymondham Jn to Yarmouth (approx 110 miles)
Dumfries - Stranraer (approx 60 miles)
Somerset & Dorset joint to Burnham on Sea (about 60 miles, other route to Bath about 55),
LSWR route from Meldon Quarry to Padstow (approx 50 miles)
GC route through Rugby up to Leicester (approx 50 miles)
Caledonian Montrose - Stanley Jn (Perth) (approx 50 miles)

There’s also a few long stretches of closed railways in mid Wales and the North East but seem to be separate lines connected together rather than single stretches.
Couldn’t figure out the length of the remaining closed bit of the Borders line as it crossed the edge of several pages, but think it’s about 40 miles.

The varsity line (Oxford - Cambridge) deserves a mention. Strangely I can’t find an exact measurement for the whole thing though it seems to be in the region of 80+ miles. They closed it but kept open the Bedford to Bletchley section, now known as the Marston Vale line. That bit is just 16 miles or so.

 

[Duncan2]

Would be so nice if they could have re-opened the Central line.Rugby is cut-off from Leicester and so is Loughborough(though with the heritage line from Loughborough you can get tantalisingly close).There was a consortium looking at this a couple of decades ago but I expect its all forgotten now.

 

[Dogsauce]

The varsity line (Oxford - Cambridge) deserves a mention. Strangely I can’t find an exact measurement for the whole thing though it seems to be in the region of 80+ miles. They closed it but kept open the Bedford to Bletchley section, now known as the Marston Vale line. That bit is just 16 miles or so.

Most of the western end was also still in use for freight until relatively recently. You could possibly consider the Great Central on a similar basis - the length which closed to passengers will have been huge, but significant sections remained for freight plus the preserved section.