London Rail

Category: Historical

  • On the Milwaukee Road #1

    A tour featuring some of the highlights of the 440 mile electrified length of the Milwaukee Road between Harlowton and Avery and showing what exists these days mostly using Google Streets. This is a follow up to the introductory post I did a few days ago covering the history of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St, Paul…

  • Electric railroad: Rockies #2

    Most of the westward extension has now vanished and many of its structures have been demolished, save for a few spectacular ones. Tunnels have been blocked off and parts of the route are now highways, or in the more spectacular mountain parts, have become trails for people to walk or bike along and enjoy the…

  • Electric Railroad: Rockies #1

    Forty years ago one of America’s most iconic and controversial transcontinental lines closed down for good, having worked for just over seventy years. This was the only electric line that stretched right across the Rockies & popularly called the Milwaukee Road. Despite the controversies surrounding its construction this once expensive, lengthy and high quality engineered,…

  • Brindley, Wet Earth Colliery, nr Manchester

    I am writing this because I have seen two of Martin Zero’s videos on the excellent work by James Brindley, which revolves around the construction undertaken in the 1750s to resolve both flooding issues as well as give an abundant working water supply to the mines around the Irwell Valley at Ringley, north of Manchester.…

  • The County Donegal Railways #3

    The third part of the CDRJC feature covering the line’s closure and what can be seen of the railway today. The County Donegal Railways closes The end of the CDRJC. December 1959 notice announcing the system’s closure on 31st December 1959. Source: Twitter Although the closure notice implies all freight services were to finish at…

  • The Tōkaidō Shinkansen

    While we in the UK battle wits over whether a new high speed railway should be built or not, I thought it would be a good idea to do a feature on the world’s first ever high speed railway – the New Tōkaidō Line. It was originally planned in 1940 albeit with lower speeds. Although…

  • The County Donegal Railways #2

    This is part two of the tribute to the famed County Donegal narrow gauge railways which closed on the very last day of 1959. In the first part we took a look at the CDRJC’s route to Ballyshannon and Killybegs. In this second part we look at the CDRJC’s other stations including Derry and Letterkenny,…

  • The County Donegal Railways

    Sixty years ago this week the last passenger trains rain on the County Donegal Railways. Its popular knowledge the last public trains bowed out on December 31st 1959, but what is less known is the railway continued solely as a regular freight operation for a further five weeks or so. Which means, like several other…

  • Whatever happened to Brunel's bridge?

    The famous (since 2004) bridge was dismantled and taken to Portsmouth where it currently resides at Fort Cumberland in Eastney. Few know its there. It seems the stored remains are not even labelled as Brunel’s bridge. At the time of its dismantling there was every promise it would be stored for a short while and…

  • Coventry Canal #2

    The Coventry Canal opened in 1769, that’s 250 years ago. Its architect, James Brindley, worked on the scheme for a few months before being sacked. It must be the only occasion which this most notable engineering genius was told he was no longer wanted. The first part of the canal from Bedworth into Coventry was…

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