Restoring Your Railway - Dept of Transport publishes map showing proposed reopenings
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mx wcfc
Well-Known Member
Down here, the Southampton/Fawley line may well happen. It enables a big housing development, plus the line is basically there, serving Fawley Oil Refinery, until a few years ago, and there are passenger services already to Totton and beyond, so getting out of Southampton and over the estuary isn't a problem.
www.railwaygazette.com
Similarly, Wareham to Swanage is already "open" - run by a heritage railway in Summer. Hopefully upgrading this to a full tine railway wouldn't cost the earth.
www.swanagerailway.co.uk
I keep meaning to do this, to visit a few pubs on the route.
SWR highlights Fawley branch passenger proposal
UK: South Western Railway ran a 'fact-finding' train on July 28 to highlight the proposals to reintroduce a passenger service on the 13 km branch from Totton near Southampton to Fawley. This follows Hampshire County Council's successful bid for funding from the Department for Transport's...
www.railwaygazette.com
Similarly, Wareham to Swanage is already "open" - run by a heritage railway in Summer. Hopefully upgrading this to a full tine railway wouldn't cost the earth.
Timetable - Swanage Railway
Find your preferred date of travel on the calendar below and click on it to see the train timetable for your chosen day.
www.swanagerailway.co.uk
I keep meaning to do this, to visit a few pubs on the route.
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
There's a couple I'm keeping an eye on ...
Tweedbank - Carlisle (one that should not have been shut !)
Portishead - Bristol ...
The one to Avonwen on the Llyen is not on that map and should also be considered.
tbh, I still think that Beeching was far too liberal with that axe. (let's not get into that again)
Tweedbank - Carlisle (one that should not have been shut !)
Portishead - Bristol ...
The one to Avonwen on the Llyen is not on that map and should also be considered.
tbh, I still think that Beeching was far too liberal with that axe. (let's not get into that again)
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
Some of those aren’t new lines, they’re just service improvements. Some are schemes that have been in the pipeline for years and are already progressing, some are just crazy nonsense that they’ve thrown a bit of money at consultants to tell them they’re crazy nonsense, in order that some section of the electorate feels like they’ve been ‘listened to’. Mostly spin, this isn’t some new dawn.
Yes, and a lot of the lines on that map are still in use for freight, and reinstating them isn't nearly as big a job as for a line that's completely closed.
I notice the Norfolk Orbital isn't on that map. I've been hearing a bit about this since I've family down that way, and I did think it seemed a bit far-fetched...
davesgcr
Reading books
Portishead and the Blyth&Tyne are well up there for being "runners" - the latter is a wrecked freight railway but restorable.
Not so sound on some of the other contenders , but in reality the way that railways at a macro level are burning through money with about 20% of the passenger load at the moment , I would not be too optimistic to adding to the subsidy bill at the moment. Manage expectations is the answer.
Norwich and the long lost Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway was always a deeply rural route - such that at the HQ at Melton Constable , such was the calm that cattle could be heard lowing from the platforms Not exactly an urban hub.
Not so sound on some of the other contenders , but in reality the way that railways at a macro level are burning through money with about 20% of the passenger load at the moment , I would not be too optimistic to adding to the subsidy bill at the moment. Manage expectations is the answer.
Norwich and the long lost Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway was always a deeply rural route - such that at the HQ at Melton Constable , such was the calm that cattle could be heard lowing from the platforms Not exactly an urban hub.
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
Some schemes just have very vocal individuals/groups behind them, but don’t really have a case that stacks up, so we often hear a lot about Skipton-Colne, Penrith-Keswick, Norfolk Orbital, the Waverley Route etc. when there are much more viable projects that would be a lot further ahead in the queue.
davesgcr
Reading books
"Consultants" are going to be having a lean time in the future railway world I reckon.
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
Portishead is still costing in the hundreds of millions, despite the track still being there. It‘s crazy how much projects cost these days.
davesgcr
Reading books
A fellow railwayman (now retired) , asked why Skipton - Colne should be considered to one of the promoters , a man who lived nowhere near the route. His answer was he enjoyed considering joining up sections of railway which were once co-joined. That's a great argument for spending vast chunks of money on "aspirations" .....I would not put money on all those.
The Welsh are even worse - they are still prattling on about complete no hopers like Carmarthen to Aberystwyth ,and some spark suggested a 30 min service interval to Trawsfynydd from Llandudno - population something like 350 at the former. The Swansea "11 lines" is another fantastic concept.
This from someone who prides himself in pushing through the Vale of Glamorgan and Ebbw Vale lines , - both of which were well over budgets within months of opening , to the extent of several millions a year. (in happier times) , also many great station openings like Beauly and Glasshoughton - the former an absolute winner.
davesgcr
Reading books
Agree - far too much , but some people - are on the case.
Indeed. AFAIK the population of northern Norfolk has grown a great deal since the Muddle & Go Nowhere closed, with Norwich doing well and towns like Fakenham and Aylsham expanding fast, but I still can't see it being enough to make a credible case for restoring the route. They'd have to turf out two heritage railways as well, if I remember rightly. Besides, the government's just chopped a big slice off NR's investment budget, hasn't it, so it's hard to see even much more promising and less costly schemes going ahead any time soon.
davesgcr
Reading books
One of the best services put on in East Anglia was direct Norwich - Cambridge (hourly) , which is now going through to Stansted - there was a pot of money calling "Rail Passenger Partnerships" - a tight and practical group which I sat on and had the "power" of saying yes / no - or go away and try this to would be proposers. That ticked a lot of boxes for both CGE and NWCH , more recently with CGE NTH , - and places like Thetford. Done more for that bit of East Anglia than you could imagine. Every year I go for a trip down memory lane on some of my successes.
Yes - A £1BN chopped off NR's budgets.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
here's hoping 2021's the year the direct service from london to grimsby is restored being as it might have been this year but for the virus Direct train to London from Grimsby and Cleethorpes back on track
Good service, that.
My dad lived in Wymondham for a few years so I used to use it quite a bit.
davesgcr
Reading books
Good service, that.
My son had to go to Norwich for academic reasons a couple of times , so I was pleased to direct him Hatfield to Norwich via Cambridge (cheaper than going via London) - and not a man who enthuses about train journeys , but he enjoyed it. Always love the site of free range pigs wallowing in the fields around Thetford. An underused railway as I described it once , now thriving. The train crews quite enjoy working it - the last one from Norwich rests at Cambridge overnight with the train crew - which is a pleasure at the height of summer as they can take nocturnal walks in the middle of the night - before working back home. (off topic I know - but let me wallow)
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
wot, a real "double home" turn ? I thought those were extinct !
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
likewise (i'd heard them called 'lodging turns' - used to know someone who had packed in being a fireman and gone on the buses instead because his wife didn't like him having to do that)
or is it a night duty with a long break?
davesgcr
Reading books
NIght shift with a long pause for next bit of train operation. Salisbury crews used to have it (may still do) at Exeter. Some Freight operators do "lodging turns" - e.g Eastleigh to Leeds in a legal shift, work back next day. The best has to be a Willesden crew for the Royal Mail trains who would Easy-Jet Luton to Glasgow , - taxi to Shieldhall and work back.
Newcastle crews on LNE (and GNER etc ) before them would book on Newcastle - work to Edinburgh - decent break there - work through to Inverness , stable and fuel the set, retire to hotel - eat etc - am start the unit up, breakfast, prepare it for service - work to Edinburgh (another good break) and work the final leg to Newcastle and home. Not just road hauliers who live with their workplace.
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
In May 2020, it was announced that £500,000 of funding from the government's Restoring Your Railway Fund would be available to enable transport planners to develop a business case around the Bricket Wood passing loop proposal. If approved, this scheme would enable an increase in train frequencies, as well as the introduction of a regular "clockface" timetable
(source)
woo fucking hoo.
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