North England Unused railway line locations?

MythicalSnapshots

MythicalSnapshots

Messages
103
Name
Joe
Edit My Images
Yes
Hey everyone I am looking for locations to shoot as I have a few ideas to do with railway lines.


I dont want to be breaking in, climbing fences etc.

I also dont want lines that are in use.

I am thinking old railway lines no longer in use, railway or transport museums that have railway lines preferably outdoors.

I know there is a spot down near London that has a old railway line through a park which I plan to go to once this is all over but if there is any in northern England that would be great too.
 
Check out Whitewick's Abandoned Railways on youtube. The abandoned lines seem more accessible than you may realise... and the videos are a joy to watch (as is Rebecca...)
 
There’s one near me in Bolton. It’s been convverted to a bike /footpath. Also when this current thing is over there’s the longsdendale trail, not sure of the spelling, near glossop
 
The C2C cycle route start in Whitehaven follows and old railway line converted to a cycle path for the first 8-10miles.
 
Yeovil Junction has a railway museum, old stock, old engines, a shed with plenty of engineering and a fair amouth of track.
 
Thank you so much everyone il be sure to check these out tomorrow and then get to them at some point when everything calms down
 
MythicalSnapshots said:
Hey everyone I am looking for locations to shoot as I have a few ideas to do with railway lines.


I dont want to be breaking in, climbing fences etc.

I also dont want lines that are in use.

I am thinking old railway lines no longer in use, railway or transport museums that have railway lines preferably outdoors.

I know there is a spot down near London that has a old railway line through a park which I plan to go to once this is all over but if there is any in northern England that would be great too.
Click to expand...

Some useful stuff here already as is googling for "Disused railway lines in the north east of England", I might have misread what you want but are you looking for disused railway lines where the rails are still in situ?

If so, that might be a bit more difficult to find as many lines have had the rails removed.

Along with the suggestions above this site - https://www.geograph.org.uk/ - could be useful. It is trying to get photos of every OS grid square. If you find the location of an old line there is a good chance there will be photos of it on the site.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
Some useful stuff here already as is googling for "Disused railway lines in the north east of England", I might have misread what you want but are you looking for disused railway lines where the rails are still in situ?

If so, that might be a bit more difficult to find as many lines have had the rails removed.

Along with the suggestions above this site - https://www.geograph.org.uk/ - could be useful. It is trying to get photos of every OS grid square. If you find the location of an old line there is a good chance there will be photos of it on the site.

Dave
Click to expand...


Sorry Dave yes with the old lines in situ hence why I was struggling a bit after already searching Google and YouTube and finding a couple of options but not what I was looking for.

I have since found something suitable via someones YouTube channel recommended on here.
 
Hi Joe.
A few of things to consider.

Just because a railway appears to be dis-used doesn't mean it really is, and certainly doesn't mean any laws related to it are null and void.
I can't believe that trackbeds would be abandoned with the permanent way still in place.
Trespass on a Railway is a Criminal offence under various Railways Regulation Acts 1840 / 1861 / 1868 / 1949 (not a civil offence as Trespass usually is). This applies to Heritage Railways as well as Network Rail.
Railways not in normal use may still have the occasional train run down it, and trains can be surprisingly quiet (I have a valid PTS and can atest to the fact that you don't always hear trains coming - hence why you need to keep a lookout).
Just because it's a bit overgrown, doesn't mean it's not in use (quite a few freight only lines only see the occasional train and can look abandoned). I'll give you that you are probably not going to be run down if there are trees growing through the trackbed, but grass etc is no giveaway.

If you are looking to do a photo shoot on a railway (and given this is a photography forum, I guess you are), I would recommend that you contact a local heritage railway and ask permission. If it's for a personal project, I suspect a small donation would probably get you a positive result. (If it's a paid job, then payment for location would be the norm).
You might also be able to find somewhere on a real abandoned railway where someone has brought a station building as a house, and relayed a little track for aesthetic purposes - They may well be open to letting you do a shoot (I'd offer Whisky ;) ).

if you want to have a read trough the various acts (and penalties - right up to life imprisonment!) have a look here:
https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/transport-offences
 
LC2 said:
Hi Joe.
A few of things to consider.

Just because a railway appears to be dis-used doesn't mean it really is, and certainly doesn't mean any laws related to it are null and void.
I can't believe that trackbeds would be abandoned with the permanent way still in place.
Trespass on a Railway is a Criminal offence under various Railways Regulation Acts 1840 / 1861 / 1868 / 1949 (not a civil offence as Trespass usually is). This applies to Heritage Railways as well as Network Rail.
Railways not in normal use may still have the occasional train run down it, and trains can be surprisingly quiet (I have a valid PTS and can atest to the fact that you don't always hear trains coming - hence why you need to keep a lookout).
Just because it's a bit overgrown, doesn't mean it's not in use (quite a few freight only lines only see the occasional train and can look abandoned). I'll give you that you are probably not going to be run down if there are trees growing through the trackbed, but grass etc is no giveaway.

If you are looking to do a photo shoot on a railway (and given this is a photography forum, I guess you are), I would recommend that you contact a local heritage railway and ask permission. If it's for a personal project, I suspect a small donation would probably get you a positive result. (If it's a paid job, then payment for location would be the norm).
You might also be able to find somewhere on a real abandoned railway where someone has brought a station building as a house, and relayed a little track for aesthetic purposes - They may well be open to letting you do a shoot (I'd offer Whisky ;) ).

if you want to have a read trough the various acts (and penalties - right up to life imprisonment!) have a look here:
https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/transport-offences
Click to expand...



Hi Lc2,I thought my original post was pretty clear regarding what I was looking for but thanks for posting that for anyone in the future who may read and have similar ideas. I have already found several suitable locations now.
 
@MythicalSnapshots yeah, I read through the thread.
You're looking for somewhere abandoned, but where the track is still in place. You mention somewhere in a park in London, I'm struggling to think where you mean, but in general if there is track, it's still regulated even if it looks abandoned.
You're thoughts on a Museum etc might well work (what about the NRM in York?)

Depending on what you're planning though, it might be worth following my suggestion of asking a heritage railway?
 
LC2 said:
@MythicalSnapshots yeah, I read through the thread.
You're looking for somewhere abandoned, but where the track is still in place. You mention somewhere in a park in London, I'm struggling to think where you mean, but in general if there is track, it's still regulated even if it looks abandoned.
You're thoughts on a Museum etc might well work (what about the NRM in York?)

Depending on what you're planning though, it might be worth following my suggestion of asking a heritage railway?
Click to expand...


The place I know of is in a park near to London and still has track and is completely unused.
 
ChrisH said:
Have a look on google maps at Salford near the quays, there's a truly disused railway line running from the canal into the industrial estate near Salford quays.
Click to expand...

Where abouts? As a nipper I used to see saddle tanks moving stuff around Trafford Park and the docks but don't remember much on the Salford side of the ditch
 
morfis said:
Where abouts? As a nipper I used to see saddle tanks moving stuff around Trafford Park and the docks but don't remember much on the Salford side of the ditch
Click to expand...

Next to Manchester academy of music, like a reverse S shape, beware thought that at the top end it does connect to a live railway. There are trees taking back the line but I intend to go when we are allowed back out again ( 11 weeks for me )

Manchester Academy of Gymmastics

Look just to the right.

The above click will open google maps and the track is clear as day.
 
Tanfield near Newcatle on Tyne, has rolling stock tracks old engines ect
 
Joe (@MythicalSnapshots )
I *think* someone mentioned the Whitewicks Abandoned Railways YouTube to you.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIq8eTj7OPk

Has some abandoned track in the first 5 minutes (I think I've seen some others on there recently).

But you want NE don't you? Not the South...

I wonder if they might be able to point you at something in your area if you emailed them and explained.
 
LC2 said:
Joe (@MythicalSnapshots )
I *think* someone mentioned the Whitewicks Abandoned Railways YouTube to you.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIq8eTj7OPk

Has some abandoned track in the first 5 minutes (I think I've seen some others on there recently).

But you want NE don't you? Not the South...

I wonder if they might be able to point you at something in your area if you emailed them and explained.
Click to expand...


Thanks I will give them an email.

Kind Regards

Joe
 
Is this any good to you?

Rail by Tim White, on Flickr
It's a pile of abandoned track panels on land that used to be a marshalling yard, but has been open to the public for many years.
These are left over from when they were doing some emergency work nearby a few years back.
I am standing up to take this shot (it's a pile of panels). I've geotagged it so you can find it.
 
LC2 said:
Is this any good to you?
....on land that used to be a marshalling yard, but has been open to the public for many years.
Click to expand...
I like the photo but that's not really 'North England' as requested by the OP
 
Whitrope is just over the border from you. There's a length of track at the summit
 
I happen to live right in the centre of what was the North West Durham Coalfield. There are no pits here now except Washington 'F' pit which is a museum but the masses of railway tracks all open to the public as cycle tracks and footpaths. For my daily exercise (well not exactly daily but 3 times a week) I have a selection close to where I live and every time I walk them I come across something new. I am interested in Industrial Archology and if you know what to look for, there are always things to find. Being in Durham very few of them are level and there are some steep inclines so it can be challenging!

There is also the Tyne Dock to Consett line about 1/2 a mile behind where I live where 800 ton iron ore trains were dragged op from sea level to around 850 feet in 14 miles. It is open to the public right from Jarrow on the Tyne to Consett

I work/ volunteer at the Bowes Railway in Springwell as a tour guide/photographer when it is open and that offers all sorts of Photographic opportunities and with a guide you can get to places not normally open to the public. Bowes has the only standard gauge cable hauled mineral rail line in the world! Like everything else it is closed for the duration and sadly will not be running when we eventually re-open.

There is also a fair bit of footage on You Tube from when it was working for real in the 1970's.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sorry to destroy a myth. There were never any permanent railways as we know them now at Beamish There was a Colliery there during the 19th C and early part of the 20th C but nothing like they have now. There was a waggon-way with coal carrying chauldron wagons drawn by horses and later by very primitive steam, but nothing like there is now. Most of what is Beamish has been brought from elsewhere and re-erected in situ.

Don't get me wrong, what they have done is exceptionally good, due to the foresight of it's founder but it wasn't like that one little bit. Even the coal drift mine was constructed for the museum. The quite large building housing the 'Co-operative' shop, now a cafe, was originally in the village I now live! Rowley Station was uplifted from the village of Rowley which is on the A68 about 15 miles away, stone block by stone block and reconstructed on site.
 
LC2 said:
:rolleyes:
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
Click to expand...
That is still a working railway and they have tightened up where you are allowed to go although there is a footpath close by. The shed is accessible and holds the claim to be the oldest working shed in the world. The NE of England is steeped in the history of railways.
 
Two images of Bowes Railway taken in Jan 2019

051 shows the general layout of the colliery yard with the white painted supports for the cable rollers to guide the haulage cable around the curve/
052 has the three main companies that went to form the Bowes Railway P&JR was the Pontop and Jarrow Railway and the one marked PMC was the Pelaw Main Colliery. These two mining companies were amalgamated in the 1930's to form Bowes Railway
 

Attachments

  • 051 Colliery Yard.jpg
    051 Colliery Yard.jpg
    342.7 KB · Views: 12
  • 052 Wagon line up (BOWES PJR).jpg
    052 Wagon line up (BOWES PJR).jpg
    384.7 KB · Views: 12
Last edited by a moderator:
Just last week I was walking near a long-abandoned line thinking about how best to access it with a human subject :)

When a train came very slowly by !!!

I've been walking near that line for over 20 years and never seen a train before :D

I do know of a real abandoned line not far from me though, and I'm certain of that one as the tracks run out in both directions after a few hundred yards :)

Dave
 
Hadlow Road Railway Station is completely disused - up in Willaston - has been turned into more of a museum style place and is maintained - may be suitable for you if you're anywhere near. I've done a few shoots there & it's got some nice outbuildings, vintage signs and a phone box.
 
MythicalSnapshots said:
Hey everyone I am looking for locations to shoot as I have a few ideas to do with railway lines.


I dont want to be breaking in, climbing fences etc.

I also dont want lines that are in use.

I am thinking old railway lines no longer in use, railway or transport museums that have railway lines preferably outdoors.

I know there is a spot down near London that has a old railway line through a park which I plan to go to once this is all over but if there is any in northern England that would be great too.
Click to expand...

Have a look at Google Maps, or Google Earth. You should be able to see long off colour lines :) . Although I haven't seen any lines that are still intact:thinking:
 
10 months since he asked... surely sorted by now :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top