Category: Closed Railway
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Switzerland’s first ever cable car was once to be found near Grindelwald. Sometimes it is extolled as the first in the world – which it certainly is when it is described in the technical sense it was – as lift or aufzug (German for elevator). The Wetterhorn Aufzug was a short lived operation nevertheless in…
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Plateways, characterized by their flat-topped rails or “plates” often laid on stone blocks, were designed to be pulled by horses. These early railways were primarily for private transport of goods – usually for canals, mines or factories. The Surrey Iron Railway was in essence a public railway, being accessible to any individual or company willing…
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Remember the post A Revisionist Surrey Iron Railway? This post goes further that the detail featured in the previous one – and that because its not a revision in any way or form. In fact its a prequel of sorts to the Surrey and Croydon to Merstham iron railways. And that means its both factual…
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2026 is the 180th anniversary of the closure of one of the world’s earliest public railways. It wasn’t a passenger carrying railway however. The Surrey Iron Railway was officially closed on 31st August 1846. Its traffic had been considerably low for at least two decades prior to that date and in the final years there…
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A London Inheritance published a post detailing the Tower Subway and also implied the southern end of the subway happened to be a mystery because it could not be ascertained whether the modern structure behind the Unicorn Theatre in Vine Lane was indeed its southern end. Its not its original southern end however the tunnel…
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The former railway from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe opened on 20th July 1874 – 150 years ago. It never reached its 100th anniversary, closing on 5th October 1970. By the time the anniversary year came about four years later, the line had been disused for that time and not long after, despite deliberations on whether to…
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This is the second part of the online guide to the Ilfracombe railway and features the stretch from Braunton to Willingcott. That is near near the summit of the line just south of Mortehoe. Although around half of the route through Barnstaple, Braunton and Ilfracombe now constitutes the Tarka Trail, much of the following section…
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The Barnstaple and Ilfracombe railway opened in July 1874 thus 2024 is the 150th anniversary of the line’s opening. Despite opposition the line closed in October 1970 after British Railways had totally rationalised the line in an attempt to keep the costs of running it to a minimum. Ultimately the Government of the day was…
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Avery is of course the western end of the noted 440 mile long Rockies electrification. However the company also ran another electrics division that traversed the Cascades in Washington state, and these tracks led to Seattle and Tacoma. The latter was of course the absolute extremity of any of the Milwaukee’s electrified lines even though…
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This week is the 50th anniversary of the closure of the Barnstaple to Ilfracombe Railway. This opened on 20 July 1874 and shut for good from 5th October 1970 – the last train was actually two days earlier on the 3rd October – an eight car DMU forming the 19.55pm from Ilfracombe to Exeter carrying…
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- The Wetterhorn Aufzug
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- From revisionist to factual
- Was canal breach partially due to hidden culvert?
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