Looking for a railway line for time travel story.

[JennyB]

This is bothering me. I have an idea for the start of a story, but I need a real-life setting, and how the story develops will depend on that setting.

Here's what I'm looking for: a modern, functioning, rail line that runs through some sparsely-populated countryside, and at that point has an older line running alongside it. That line is now abandoned, but was once also connected to a larger network.

The story opens when a railway worker thinks he sees a train passing on the track that isn't there. He walks across to investigate, and finds the track in good repair, and the train disappearing into the distance. He goes back and walks a little way down the track he was on. Ther other track is clearly abandoned. He walks across to check. There are no rails. After further checking, he finds that there is only one stretch, about 50 yards long, where the older intact track can be reached.

Yes, it's that old standby, The Portal. The old on the other side is the same world (or possibly a replica) but earlier, so he can look up an old timetable and see when the next train might be due to pass. Of course, he has no idea how long the portal will remain open.

There's going to be some important historical event that drives him to build a connection between the two tracks and bring a train across, but I don't know the details until I find a suitable place and time.

Any ideas?

[Martin]

Redgate Mill South of Eridge

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.0702316,0.2126904,3a,75y,62.32h,90.25t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjc9QUYMWjEFpU2uh9WpjzA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

the bridge on the old line is even still there. There is also a preserved line north of the current station (which doesn't connect up but used to be the down line and becomes the disused line south of the station) which will help with the old theme, the station at Eridge even has an "old" and a "new" platform although pretty much the only difference is the station signs.

https://www.spavalleyrailway.co.uk/

[JennyB]

Redgate Mill South of Eridge

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.0702316,0.2126904,3a,75y,62.32h,90.25t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjc9QUYMWjEFpU2uh9WpjzA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

the bridge on the old line is even still there. There is also a preserved line north of the current station (which doesn't connect up but used to be the down line and becomes the disused line south of the station) which will help with the old theme, the station even has an "old" and a "new" platform

https://www.spavalleyrailway.co.uk/

That is interesting. The wooded patch just half a k south of the station looks a good spot for the portal.
 
The first thing our hero might do could be to walk back to Eridge and find himself somewhere between 1880 and 1960. 
Maybe somewhere between 1900 and 1935.
Does that nice Mr Kipling ever catch the train at Heathfield?

[Martin]

if you are looking for a disused station on a line nearby maybe Hartfield or Withyham (or even Hellingly which is on the Cuckoo Trail part of the old line)? and of course the Bluebell Railway has the very best preserved stations for ticket offices etc

is this for a film? I like the concept

[ian]

I would have suggested the same. Also south of East Grinstead, there's a steam line (Bluebell Railway) that runs to the north of Haywards Heath (Sheffield Park). The track beds are still there (and I believe they want to extend Bluebell down to Ardingly and beyond).

[Martin]

Copyhold Junction still has a short length of track that goes to Ardingly and is right next to the main line (and will be how the Bluebell might eventually reach HH) but very little chance of using that for a film location it's used 24 / 7 for freight trains

[nikki]

Not really what you're looking for this time around (although one could possible argue the case for Digbeth being a sparsely populated wilderness), but mentioning the Duddeston Viaduct in the hope you write something creative about it another time

It's an intriguing length^[1] of infrastructure resulting from deviousness between railway companies, now an overgrown green stripe above post-apocalyptic Digbeth streets:
http://warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbg1329.htm

It's the more North-South of the two lines shown here: https://goo.gl/maps/svdXh9hYPfs


^{[1] Lengths: a few arch spans are gone, leaving a few orphaned islands of viaduct.}

[ian]

Copyhold Junction still has a short length of track that goes to Ardingly and is right next to the main line (and will be how the Bluebell might eventually reach HH) but very little chance of using that for a film location it's used 24 / 7 for freight trains

I think it peters out between Bluebell Holt and the Ardingly depot though. Or I was lost. Which is probable.

[Martin]

Copyhold Junction still has a short length of track that goes to Ardingly and is right next to the main line (and will be how the Bluebell might eventually reach HH) but very little chance of using that for a film location it's used 24 / 7 for freight trains

I think it peters out between Bluebell Holt and the Ardingly depot though. Or I was lost. Which is probable.

yes the whole line was shut between where they demolished the viaduct near Horsted Keynes and Ardingly; and still is

it has a nice tunnel! (as does Heathfield although it might be closed now having been opened as a walkway / cycle route)

[fuaran]

Strathpeffer branch line. The old station is still there. Most of the old line is visible including a few small bridges, though maybe overgrown in places. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5413722
Strathpeffer has some interesting history - it was a popular Victorian spa resort, when the railway was built. And also a lot of military activity in World War 2.
And there's also the prophecies of the Brahan Seer, who may have lived nearby.

[Deano]

Ferryhill. Maybe a bit urban, but loads of lines met there and it's well hidden away between the town and the works.

[JennyB]

if you are looking for a disused station on a line nearby maybe Hartfield or Withyham? and of course the Bluebell Railway has the very best preserved stations for ticket offices etc

is this for a film? I like the concept

No. I  write short stories and novels, and this is just one of the many ideas that I get that may or may not ever get written, so if any of you want to run with it and take it somewhere else  please feel free to do so. Just let me know first.

I was looking for actual locations because  a real place has real constraints  (how do you get there, where does the line go, what happened nearby and how might a time traveller change it)

I'm really starting to like the idea of basing round a Railway Preservation Society, because I was thinking  of the longer-term  effects of  low-key contact between time zones, where travel is as mundane as hopping on a train. There's an obvious incentive to keep the portal both open and secret: what preservationists wouldn't want a 1930's train in 1930's condition, and to pick the brains of  people who really know how to work it?

And, since the whole enterprise would involve some much  more than could be seen from the outside 'The Cuckoo Line' would be a perfect title) 

[Wascally Weasel]

This might be helpful, as well as a great way to lose time:

http://www.systemed.net/carto/New_Adlestrop_Railway_Atlas.pdf

[JennyB]

This might be helpful, as well as a great way to lose time:

http://www.systemed.net/carto/New_Adlestrop_Railway_Atlas.pdf

Yes, I remember Adlestrop   

[bikepacker]

Two possibilities in really nice countryside are:

First the old Mid Wales Railway line that left the Heart of Wales line at Builth Wells and went up through Rhyader. The old tunnel there is still useable.

Second the old Cambrian railway line that leaves the main line at Gobowen and heads down past Oswestry to Welshpool. This line is still in place as far as the quarry at Llynclys and is partly preserved by the Cambrian railway society.

[Efrogwr]

Two possibilities in really nice countryside are:

First the old Mid Wales Railway line that left the Heart of Wales line at Builth Wells and went up through Rhyader. The old tunnel there is still useable.

Second the old Cambrian railway line that leaves the main line at Gobowen and heads down past Oswestry to Welshpool. This line is still in place as far as the quarry at Llynclys and is partly preserved by the Cambrian railway society.

Is that the one that crosses the A5 at a level crossing?

[Quisling]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinnor_and_Princes_Risborough_Railway#Princes_Risborough_extension

At the Chinnor end is now a housing estate, replacing the old cement works which was demolished a decade or so ago.  At the Risborough end, the line has been recently re-connected to the main line, opening up the possibility that the observed ghost train/portal phenomena has only recently been observable.

The old Chinnor cement works still has lakes, alongside which the Ridgeway ancient trail/long distance walk passes.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Chinnor/@51.6942449,-0.912578,2652m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x48768ccd98c59d31:0xaa7257c098eccfac!8m2!3d51.701181!4d-0.908629

There are some very curious marks in the adjacent fields (looks like trial pits, or archaeological works ahead of planned new housing.)

All manner of opportunities there for the creation of a disturbance in the force.

[clarion]

Keighley has both preserved and modern lines in the same station.  Kidderminster has them running pretty close.

[bikepacker]

Two possibilities in really nice countryside are:

First the old Mid Wales Railway line that left the Heart of Wales line at Builth Wells and went up through Rhyader. The old tunnel there is still useable.

Second the old Cambrian railway line that leaves the main line at Gobowen and heads down past Oswestry to Welshpool. This line is still in place as far as the quarry at Llynclys and is partly preserved by the Cambrian railway society.

Yes it does.

Is that the one that crosses the A5 at a level crossing?