Do Railways Have a Freight Route?

Hi All,

I have two main line routes going round the layout, and also a goods yard/TMD. I want to have some upper levels and wondered if the real thing has freight routes?

Thanks, George

"George Hims" wrote

Yes and no is the simple answer to your question.

Firstly most main lines are used by both freight and passenger traffic, but busy ones may have more than one running track in each direction one of which may be predominantly freight.

There are certainly some freight only lines, here in Hull for instance the line from Hessle Road Junction to Hull King George Dock does not carry any passenger traffic on a regular basis, and to all intents and purposes can be classed as freight only.

There are also specialist freight avoiding lines which detour freight traffic from busy stations - York has one for instance.

John.

Would have thought it depends on how long you mean by "route", and assuming you are talking about the UK.

Presumably the lines to and from major marshalling facilities, industrial sites, power stations, docks etc are freight only, but is this long enough for what you had in mind? Perhaps someone on this group knows what was or is the longest freight service line in the UK.

And wasn't the route through the Woodhead tunnel freight only in its later years?

Just some thoughts.

Cheers, Steve

There are also some routes from which passenger traffic has been withdrawn, but the tracks remain in situ solely for freight traffic. The ex-Midland route from Chinley to Peak Forest and Great Rocks is now freight only - it used to be part of the Manchester Central - Derby - London St Pancras line.

Hope this helps, David Costigan

"George Hims" wrote

A significant proportion of the UK rail network still seems to be marked as "freight only" on the detail network maps such as the SK Baker atlas. The line from Kettering to Manton Junction through Corby is one that comes to mind, despite years of campaigning to get passenger services put back on it with a restored station at Corby. The line north of Aylesbury (surviving stub of the Great Central London Extension) is also freight only to a big landfill site at Calvert - "Binliner" trains belt through Quainton Road station which is the home of Buckinghamshire Railway Centre.

There are also numerous cut-off lines through the West Midlands, especially to the north and west of Birmingham, that see only freight movements intended to avoid going through New Street station - you see them on the map but no stations. The Camp Hill line, formerly a passenger line, is all-freight since the stations closed for good in 1946 as it allows freight from the Bristol direction to cut through to Derby via Saltley, and to the northwest via another freight-only line that goes through Sutton Park in Sutton Coldfield, though once in a while passenger trains go through there (I did Camp Hill one Sunday in a DMU in about 1981, to my surprise - I had a hangover coming back from a party near Droitwich) when there are track works on the main approaches through Selly Oak etc.

Model a "long-closed" station (canopies removed, platform fenced off or bulldozed, etc) to get the full effect, and you have the advantage of needing little or no signalling on real minor lines - the crossing gates are driver-operated too with warning boards on the rail approaches, and sidings/loops are operated by padlocked ground frames. Some of the Ian Allan loco profile books (the ones with A4 landscape pages) show a lot of trains on non-passenger routes in all their shabby glory - the ones covering the Class 37s are especially atmospheric. You might want to justify a freight-only line by modelling a big scrapyard or cement/roadstone depot.

Tony Clarke