Minor lines in the far north

[whole diary]

[grahame]

On this day - 3rd April 1944 - no more trains to Lybster  - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wick_and_Lybster_Light_Railway

The construction of a modern road over the Ord of Caithness in the 1930s was a boost to the area but it spelt the end of the railway; the distance from Lybster to Helmsdale by rail via Wick was 74 miles (119 km), but by the new road it was just over 20 miles (32 km).

Also lost off the far north line - Dornoch, Fortrose and Strathpeffer,. Just Kyle of Lochalsh and Thurso remain, with Thurso now being busier that Wick.

[grahame]

And at the opposite end of the scale - line OPENED 1st July 1903

That's the same day that the Badminton cutoff was opened - Wikipedia link and that survives to this day and is a very expensive piece of infrastructure to keep open and run reliably.  With some disquiet, I looked at Labour's plans to provide a railway that is more reliable and costs the public purse less. Closing expensive to maintain cutoffs would meet both of those manifesto objectives.  Electrify Chippenham to Temple Meads and Parkway to Temple Meads, 20 minute frequency London to Bristol with one train onward to Swansea ... just asking.

[Noggin]

And at the opposite end of the scale - line OPENED 1st July 1903

That's the same day that the Badminton cutoff was opened - Wikipedia link and that survives to this day and is a very expensive piece of infrastructure to keep open and run reliably.  With some disquiet, I looked at Labour's plans to provide a railway that is more reliable and costs the public purse less. Closing expensive to maintain cutoffs would meet both of those manifesto objectives.  Electrify Chippenham to Temple Meads and Parkway to Temple Meads, 20 minute frequency London to Bristol with one train onward to Swansea ... just asking.

If we're being silly, how about we cut-off the cut-off with HS4 from Swindon to South Wales via a new Severn Tunnel, roughly following the M4?

We'd need some kind of loop to enable the occasional semi-fast to stop at Bristol Parkway, but with the fasts removed and a bit of 4-tracking there'd be plenty of space for an intensive Cardiff to Bristol service and enough slack on the cutoff to convert it into a decent commuter line with stations at Winterbourne, Coalpit Heath, Chipping Sodbury and Dyson funded terminus at Malmesbury ;-)