Conversions - Options and Illustrations
If any of our readers have any pictures or data to do with railway lines and the adjacent roads please send them to us and we will publish. Examples follow (click to view):
Live railways
Dover to Folkestone: Courtesy of Bob Harrington
London to Dover at Sheperdswell , Kent . More from Bob Harrington.
Llandudno to Betws-y-coed and Ffestiniog: Yet more from Bob Harrington.
See also our memoredum on Rural Railways (text and pictures).
Coming soon:
Leeds - Harrogate - York
Walsall to Wolverhampton
Converted railways
Merioneth 1963.
North Devon Link Road.
Yeadon Way Blackpool 1986.
Dover to Folkestone :
Courtesy of Bob Harrington
Bob Harrington commented: "The railway line between Dover and Folkestone closed on Saturday 30th April 2005 to enable TEN MILLION POUNDS to be spent on tunnel and track repairs (Source form the costs - the BBC). The line has a half hourly service on weekdays and hourly on Sundays. It runs beneath towering cliffs. In the meantime the traffic is handled quite adequately by a shuttle service of buses. Paving the route would ensure its effective use".
We comment, the width is everywhere adequate for a standard 7.3 metre (24 ft) carriageway except in the single-track tunnels. There the width is 13 feet between tunnel walls, allowing a single 12 ft carriageway in each tunnel, subject to Health and Safety not requiring an escape route. In that context we would say that the casualty rate within the tunnels would probably be well below that of a typical historic A-road. Hence gold plating should be resisted.
Separately from that, we note that conversion would, of course, impose environmental costs on the sea front. Hence, rather than maintain the line, at immense cost, or convert to a road, the line could be abandoned except for the spurs into Dover and Folkestone. If those were converted they would bring environmental benefits by relieving the historic road networks, particularly within the two towns.
The next two pictures below show the relative effects of good road access compared with that of rail. The first is an abandoned rail depot. The second is the old Dover Marine (later Dover Western Docks) station, closed in 1994.
London to Dover at Sheperdswell, Kent.
(More from Bob Harrington)
This "important" historic route carries 96 trains each way on a weekday, 4 trans per hour. If each have 8 coaches then there are the equivalent of perhaps 50 motor coaches - illustrating the trivial use to which the route is put. On Sundays there is one four- coach train at hourly intervals. The distance is 73 miles and the fastest train takes 1 hour 40 minutes. That provides an average speed of 47 mph.
The pictures illustrate that the right of way would make a very good road indeed. The tunnel is at least 24 feet wide. It would be desirable for it to be wider but 24 feet is sufficient for a standard carriageway void of marginal strips. In such a tunnel speeds might be limited to 40 mph.
We would welcome photographs of the adjacent trunk roads along with traffic flow data.
Llandudno to Betws-y-coed and Ffestiniog:
( Yet more from Bob Harrington)
Bob Harrington wrote: "I only saw and rode on the section that operates from Llandudno Junction to Betws-y-Coed, a run of about half an hour and about twelve miles. The single coach train shuttles backwards and forwards infrequently and although the journeyed was with the main flow (the 16.30 or so from Llandudno Junction - the main conurbation, into the hills) there were no schoolchildren and few other people using the service. A 15-seater minibus could have met all demand)".
"The stills suggest that widening is not much of a problem, at least on this stretch".
"The line runs almost parallel with the busy A470. A tarmac-ed route would serve to take buses and lorries off the main road. The line is VERY labour intensive for what it is. Two staff are on each diesel railcar and there is a signalman in his box at Llanwryst North who must have the cushiest job in existence"!
"Because the route runs through attractive scenery and, at its destination links up with an old steam line called the Ffestiniog Railway (a tourist line) there would be strong interest from railway enthusiasts for "preserving" it as a steam line or some such despite the fact that there seem to be several already in the area. They would probably be the main opposition to any conversion scheme but whether their objections would carry much weight is questionable. Interestingly the Ffestiniog tourist line charges £16 for a thirteen mile journey so they are clearly not able to make ends meet very easily".
"There is a lengthy and no doubt expensive tunnel at the southern end of the route which would not seem to lend itself to conversion but there would be adequate road alternatives at this point. Total length of the line is about 25 miles excluding the Tourist Railway South from Ffestiniog"
If anyone can provide us with pictures of the related A470 and traffic flow data then we would add the detail to this item.
Merioneth 1963
Clearly a single-track railway may make a very good road indeed.
The North Devon Relief road on an old railway viaduct:
Yeadon way on an old railway embankment.
The road was opened in 1986. It links the M55 to the central south shores area of Blackpool.
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