something different!

This is a rare shot showing the electrified industrial railway at Kearsley near Manchester, back in 1974. I'm not sure about the current (no pun intended!) state of this line, but what I do know is that the industrial railway will soon make a comeback big time!

When I started this blog not a lot of people were aware of Peak Oil but in the  last year or two it's an issue that's becoming ever more important. Whilst some roads may survive within towns and cities for electric vehicles and horse drawn traffic, it's highly unlikely that roads BETWEEN places will survive. At the same time most if not all freight will switch to rail, and many industrial locations, if they are to continue, will need dedicated rail access. This will mean a network of industrial railways springing up, as well as agricultural lines and lines into markets. Some will be electrified but many will use wood burning steam - diesels will vanish in step with oil.

I've been buying up negatives and slides of mainly diesel locomotives and industrial lines for The Rail Thing, which should launch fully later this year.

D10000

Something a little different today. These are press agency shots of the LMS prototype main line diesel no D10000 in the suburbs of north London, pulling freight trains.

Diesels are becoming an endangered species and I've been buying up diesel slides and negatives for some time now. Their death will be caused by Peak Oil, and it will be a brave person indeed who forecast that they'll still be around in 30 years.

And their replacements? Electric locos of course where it's economically viable to electrify routes, and a whole new range of  ultra-modern steam locos (presumably wood burners) on non-electrified routes.

Bremgarten Dietikon Bahn

(All 23.5.1987 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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Some shots of Switzerland's Bremgarten-Dietikon Bahn, which is mainly metre gauge but also has a standard gauge section which back in 1987 included that rare thing, a now closed branch line (to Wohlen-Meisterschwanden). There was and still is a bit of street running in Bremgarten and Dietikon, always a good location for getting good pictures, unless a car, or worse, a lorry suddenly blocks the shot, something that's happened very rarely to me!

crowborough 1977

(Both 4.7.1977 © Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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A couple of shots of Crowborough, on the Uckfield branch. I particularly llike the second shot with its array of BR(S) enamel signs, no doubt worth a fortune today!

This was (is?) a superb large intermediate station on what has been a rather neglected line since it was truncated at Uckfield, but is likely to become far busier when the Uckfield-Lewes section is restored, making this a second through route to Brighton from London, a long overdue move.

More info (from Wikipedia)

Crowborough railway station serves Crowborough in East Sussex, England. Train services from the station are provided by Southern, and the station is on the Uckfield branch of the Oxted Line.

History

The station was opened by the Brighton, Uckfield and Tunbridge Wells Railway on 3 August 1868 and was originally named Rotherfield.^[1] It was renamed several times: to Crowborough on 1 August 1880; to Crowborough and Jarvis Brook on 1 May 1897, before resuming the name Crowborough on 12 May 1980.

The station was also used to transport goods from the nearby brickyard and the old platform still remains, although not used any more. The old track still exists around the goods yard, however, like the platform, these are overgrown and unused.

Services

The typical off-peak service is one train per hour to London Bridge via Oxted and one train per hour to Uckfield.

Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05	0.175 million
2005/06	0.259 million
2006/07	0.324 million
2007/08	0.366 million
2008/09	0.353 million
2009/10	0.325 million
2010/11	0.363 million
2011/12	0.402 million
2012/13	0.406 million

Guildford, 20.8.1986

Cars always date exteriors well!

Western DMUs were working the Reading-Tonbridge line in 1986.

I think this was the first ever train I saw in Network South East colours.

Guildford was an interesting station back in 1986 with a good variety of trains, mainly electric but also diesels on the Tonbridge-Reading line. Sadly the valuable line to Cranleigh and Horsham is currently closed but otherwise Guildford escaped the stupid Beeching closures.

More info (from Wikipedia)

Guildford railway station is at one of three main railway junctions on the Portsmouth Direct Line and serves the town of Guildford in Surrey, England. It is 30.3 miles (48 km) from London Waterloo.

It provides an interchange station for three other railway lines: the North Downs Line northwards towards Reading, and with connection to Aldershot; the same line eastwards to Redhill; the New Guildford Line, the alternative route to Waterloo, via Cobham or Epsom.

Guildford station is larger, more frequently and more diversely served of the two stations in Guildford town centre, the other being London Road (Guildford), on the New Guildford Line however its London services operator is the same.

History

A 1912 Railway Clearing House map of lines around Guildford railway station

The Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway opened its services on 4 July 1849, and was operated by the South Eastern Railway. LSWR services to Farnham via Tongham began on 8 October 1849 and the New Guildford Line to Leatherhead and Epsom Downs on 2 February 1885. On the latter line is the other Guildford station: London Road: the line to it describes a curve around the town on an embankment, crossing the River Wey by a high bridge.The station was opened by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) on 5 May 1845, but was substantially enlarged and rebuilt in 1880.

Guildford station was also the northern terminus of the (currently closed) Cranleigh Line of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, which opened 2 October 1865 and closed almost one hundred years later on 12 June 1965. This line ran to Horsham by way of Cranleigh, Rudgwick and Christ's Hospital.

Accidents and incidents

• On 8 November 1952, an electric multiple unit suffered a brake malfunction approaching the station. It overran signals and collided with a stationary steam locomotive. Two people were killed and 37 were injured.
• On 28 July 1971, a parcels train was derailed at the station.

Platform layout

Looking towards the west from platform 2.

Platforms 6 and 7 serve the same single line.

Guildford Locomotive Depot 1965

An ex-Southern Region EMU operated by South West Trains at Guilford station in 2000.

The main station buildings are on the Down side. At the end of the Down side platform is a bay for the New Guildford Line. There are now three islands with seven platform faces plus the bay linked by both a long footbridge and a subway. Platforms 6 and 7 are opposite sides of the same line: these were used for unloading mail and parcels until the mid-1990s. The station was completely rebuilt (except for the platforms) by British Rail in the late 1980s.

• Platform 1 – Stopping services to London Waterloo via Epsom and peak time trains to London Bridge via Forest Hill, and London Victoria on the Sutton & Mole Valley Lines
• Platform 2 – Stopping services to London Waterloo via Cobham
• Platform 3 – Stopping services to London Waterloo via Woking [Small number of weekday services. Otherwise Sundays only]
• Platform 4 – Fast and stopping services towards Portsmouth; semi-fast services to Gatwick Airport
• Platform 5 – Fast services to London Waterloo
• Platform 6 – Stopping services to Redhill and Intercity services to Newcastle, Services to Ascot via Aldershot depart from either this platform or platform 8
• Platform 8 – Services to Reading. Services to Ascot via Aldershot depart from either this platform or platform 6

Platforms 6 and 7 are on opposite sides of the same single line. Automatic train doors only open on the platform 6 side. Today doors are not opened on platform 7 due to the live rail being on that side, hence rendering that platform disused. Platform 6 is signalled for bi-directional working – trains may approach from either direction.

Motive Power Depot

Guildford station was the site of an important motive power depot opened by the LSWR in 1845. The original building was demolished in 1887 to make room for the enlargement of the station, and was replaced by a semi-roundhouse which was substantially enlarged in 1897. This was closed and demolished in 1967. Farnham Road multi-storey car park was built on the site in the 1990s.

Airtrack

Guildford station was to have been the southern terminus for the proposed Heathrow Airtrack rail service. The project, promoted by BAA, envisaged the construction of a spur from the Waterloo to Reading Line to Heathrow Airport, creating direct rail links from the airport to Guildford, Waterloo, Woking and Reading. Airtrack was planned to open in 2015, subject to government approval. In April 2011, BAA announced that it was abandoning the project, citing the unavailability of government subsidy and other priorities for Heathrow, such as linking to Crossrail and HS2.

Services

Class 206 3R unit, on a North Downs Line service, showing the pre-rebuild station. (June 1979)

The station is served by services operated by Great Western Railway from Reading to Gatwick Airport and South West Trains from London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour, Waterloo to Guildford via Cobham or Epsom and Ascot to Guildford via Aldershot. Occasional CrossCountry trains to Newcastle and Southernservices on the Sutton and Mole Valley route towards West Croydon & London Bridge also calls.

Southern Region steam in 1965 in Guildford.

4Cig in 1980 in Guildford.

South West Trains

• 8tph (trains per hour) to London Waterloo, of which:
  • 4tph run via Woking
  • 2tph run via Cobham
  • 2tph run via Leatherhead and Epsom
• 2tph fast services to Portsmouth Harbour
• 1tph stopping service to Portsmouth and Southsea
• 1tph stopping service to Haslemere
• 2tph to Ascot via Aldershot

Great Western Railway

• 2tph to Reading
• 2tph to Redhill, of which
  • 1tph continues to Gatwick Airport

Southern (peak hours only)

• 2 trains per day to London Victoria via Sutton and Norbury. One morning and one evening service both to and from London Victoria.
• 1 train per day to London Bridge via Sutton and Forest Hill. One morning service to and from London Bridge.
• 1 train per day which terminates at Sutton. in the evening peak.

CrossCountry

• 1 train per day to Newcastle via Reading and Birmingham New Street

Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	6.543 million
2005/06	6.699 million
2006/07	7.186 million
2007/08	7.983 million
2008/09	8.115 million
2009/10	7.762 million
2010/11	7.809 million
2011/12	7.982 million
2012/13	7.957 million