Stafford - Wellington Railway line

Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Just come that way - 5 cyclists, 30+ dog-walkers and a jogger. Not bad for a freezing afternoon in January.

One thing i did wonder while riding it - was this a single line or did it have two sets of tracks? It doesn't look wide enough for two lines in places. If it can only support one track, wouldn't that diminish it's use as a link between heavily used lines?

I do think it would be a shame to lose it - i can't see there being room for rail track and cycleway along the route.
 
Kickstart

Kickstart

Well-Known Forumite
Hi

From the photos it was a double track line. Certainly in photos at the crossing at Derrington it was double track, and that is pretty close to the bridge next to the Red Lion which doesn't look that wide.

Quite a few places the plant life has appeared to narrow it down, and in Derrington a fair amount of the width was sold off to the houses next to it to extend their gardens.

Also just realised that it is used to carry the gas main out for villages along its route.

All the best

Keith
 
flossietoo

flossietoo

Well-Known Forumite
I may have inadvertently reduced recreational usage of the line on the Staffordshire-Shropshire border. This morning I was trotting along trying to keep upright behind one of the dogs on a waist-line. I was 'singing' along to whatever came on the radio in my headphones. As I passed below the railway line, I was happily doing the background oooos to 'Frozen' by Madonna and was struck by the fantastic echo potential of the bridge. I stopped there, to experiment with variously-pitched ooos. To my horror, when I emerged, I saw four elderly birdwatchers hanging over the bridge, looking frightened and asking if I was unwell. Doubt they'll be back any time soon.
 
wizzard

wizzard

Well-Known Forumite
flossietoo said:
I may have inadvertently reduced recreational usage of the line on the Staffordshire-Shropshire border. This morning I was trotting along trying to keep upright behind one of the dogs on a waist-line. I was 'singing' along to whatever came on the radio in my headphones. As I passed below the railway line, I was happily doing the background oooos to 'Frozen' by Madonna and was struck by the fantastic echo potential of the bridge. I stopped there, to experiment with variously-pitched ooos. To my horror, when I emerged, I saw four elderly birdwatchers hanging over the bridge, looking frightened and asking if I was unwell. Doubt they'll be back any time soon.
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I would have loved to have seen a video of that :D
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
I kind of assumed it must've been, as a single line over that distance seemed to my (uneducated as to the ways of the rail) mind a bit pointless.

I think there would be an extreme outbreak of NIMBYism in Haughton - it couldn't really be much more in their BY.

Wheeljack said:
Point I was trying to make was that when the line was put back they took other users into consideration. So Telford & Wrekin council spent money they didn't have to but they made the effort.
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I really don't see how a double track could also accommodate a cycleway/footpath, at least between Gnosall and Stafford, there just isn't room.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Withnail said:
I kind of assumed it must've been, as a single line over that distance seemed to my (uneducated as to the ways of the rail) mind a bit pointless.
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It's just a matter of traffic levels, signalling systems and passing loops, usually in stations. The Dublin-Galway line is single track west of Portarlington, for instance.

Haha, pointless...
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Gramaisc said:
It's just a matter of traffic levels, signalling systems and passing loops, usually in stations.
Click to expand...

Would these 'passing loops' make it more than a simple reinstatement of the line, though? Are they like the passing places you find on country lanes, for example? Would it require extra land to put them on?

Haha, pointless...
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Unintentional. :)
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Withnail said:
Gramaisc said:
It's just a matter of traffic levels, signalling systems and passing loops, usually in stations.
Click to expand...

Would these 'passing loops' make it more than a simple reinstatement of the line, though? Are they like the passing places you find on country lanes, for example? Would it require extra land to put them on?

Haha, pointless...
Click to expand...
Unintentional. :)
Click to expand...

No, you could just have double track in the stations, if you liked, as in the picture above, and have single track for most of the run. It would save some cost, if the traffic levels were light.

Here's a Galway train now.
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Gramaisc said:
It would save some cost, if the traffic levels were light.
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Unaccustomed as i am to such things,

Kickstart said:
More realistic would probably be 500~1000 passengers a day (ie, 50~100 average bus loads) every day...
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does this amount to light traffic levels?
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Passengers don't matter, really (oh, how true that is today!), it's the number of train movements that is at issue here.
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Withnail said:
Gramaisc said:
It would save some cost, if the traffic levels were light.
Click to expand...
Unaccustomed as i am to such things,

Kickstart said:
More realistic would probably be 500~1000 passengers a day (ie, 50~100 average bus loads) every day...
Click to expand...
does this amount to light traffic levels?
Click to expand...
Gramaisc said:
Passengers don't matter, really (oh, how true that is today!), it's the number of train movements that is at issue here.
Click to expand...
Does one not follow the other?
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Withnail said:
Withnail said:
Gramaisc said:
It would save some cost, if the traffic levels were light.
Click to expand...
Unaccustomed as i am to such things,

Kickstart said:
More realistic would probably be 500~1000 passengers a day (ie, 50~100 average bus loads) every day...
Click to expand...
does this amount to light traffic levels?
Click to expand...
Gramaisc said:
Passengers don't matter, really (oh, how true that is today!), it's the number of train movements that is at issue here.
Click to expand...
Does one not follow the other?
Click to expand...
No. One train each way every day with 1,000 people on - no trouble at all, don't even need passing loops and hardly any signals.

Ten trains each way every day with 100 people on each and you have to think a bit more carefully, if they're going to overlap anywhere...
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
That's what i mean about my lack of education in the ways of rail.

Succinctly, and educationally, put.
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Kickstart said:
... and in Derrington a fair amount of the width was sold off to the houses next to it to extend their gardens.
Click to expand...
I said:
I think there would be an extreme outbreak of NIMBYism in Haughton - it couldn't really be much more in their BY.
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Come to think of it, i think it was Derrington - i was getting perilously close to bonking at the time - first time in over ten years, ah the memories. Attention to detail was attenuated.
 
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