On this day in 1987, 37 years ago, the last scheduled train passed over Farnley Viaduct, the tight curvature rendering it unsuitable for the overhead electrification equipment being installed between King's Cross and Leeds.
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Against the odds, the UK’s network of disused railway lines continues to make the news as the 21st Century throws up a host of transport, environmental and health challenges.This news page will provide links to relevant stories.
A railway sign that stood proudly in North Thoresby has been returned to a site close to where it was originally located until the village station closed in 1970.
A Scoping Study into the possible reopening of Rhondda Tunnel - commissioned by the Welsh Government and carried out by Sustrans - has found "many of the vital ingredients for success are in place".
The Rhondda Tunnel Society has received a £5,000 boost from a fund aimed at community groups which will be used to carry out a bat survey in the disused tunnel.
The former Cavills Engineering Works, once a part of Charnwood Forest station, could be demolished after the local council received a development application.
Investigations are continuing into a suspected arson attack at Donyatt Halt which resulted a restored wooden platform shelter being burnt to the ground.
Network Rail has awarded an alliancing contract covering the design and construction for Phase 2 of the East West Rail scheme which involves the reopening of a disused railway between Bletchley and Bicester.
Plans by the Department of Transport to turn disused railway arches below the former Waterloo Eurostar terminal into shops and restaurants have been approved by Lambeth Council.
The first stretch of track has been laid in Irchester Country Park as part of a heritage project showcasing the route of an old railway which once transported iron ore from the former Wembley Pit quarry.
A company director is poised to launch legal action after claiming his idea to open the Tube's 'ghost stations' to the public has been 'stolen' from him by Transport for London.
Transport for London will have to find £2.73m of unbudgeted funding before it can start works on the delayed Croxley rail link, using a disused railway alignment in Watford, after Hertfordshire County Council tried paying part of its share with wasteland valued at £1.
An ambitious plan to create London's first elevated green space, transforming Peckham's disused coal sidings, has moved closer with a £10,000 council grant.
Calls are being made for control of Rhondda Tunnel to be transferred to the Welsh Government so that decisions about its future can be made closer to the people it will affect.
The Wensleydale Railway's ambitious plan to extend deep into the Yorkshire Dales have taken another step forward with the purchase of a bridge currently spanning the A1.
Public consultation on plans to restore the East-West rail link through Buckinghamshire is ending in advance of an application being made for a Transport and Works order.
Plans to reopen the Bristol Road railway station in Stonehouse have been dealt a fresh blow with Network Rail refusing to consider the investment in its latest round of funding.
London Mayor Boris Johnson has thrown his weight behind a project to turn disused railways in Peckham into an 'elevated urban park' to rival New York's High Line.
Reports that an outline planning application could be submitted later this year for a new cross-city rail link under Liverpool - using the disused Wapping Tunnel - have been described by industry sources as premature.
A petition to create a cycle path on the disused line from Chepstow to Tintern is gathering momentum and the local council is looking favourably on the idea.
Supporters of the Henbury Loop, using a disused line to create an orbital line around Bristol, urge planners not to discount the idea despite its poor business case.
Braddan Commissioners have spent £42,000 repairing a pathway laid on the former Douglas-Peel railway line, saying no major work has been done on it for 20 years.
The return of train services to the Borders has given hope to other rail campaigners including those who want to see the lines to Levenmouth and St Andrews reopened.
A project will soon get under way to bring a neglected South Wales station to the Forest of Dean, as part of a heritage railway's £6million expansion.
Plans to transform Saltash's decrepit station building into a thriving community hub have been backed by the town's councillors who agree the move is long overdue.
A heritage railway trust is urging their fellow enthusiasts to buy a £425,000 house so it can relay track on a disused section of line that runs through the back garden.
The campaign to turn Queensbury's disused railway tunnel into a cycleway has been boosted after an engineer declares the project to be viable following an inspection.
Brunelian railway tunnels under Bristol's Temple Meads Station, dating back 175 years, are to be transformed into a new performance space called the Lo-co Klub.
A proposed cycle track connecting Llandeilo with Carmarthen along a disused railway could rival Llanelli's Millennium Coastal Path, according to campaigners pushing for its construction.
Arup has been appointed to undertake the outline design for the £60m first phase of Bristol's MetroWest project which will involve reopening 5km of previously disused railway by May 2019.
Hopes for a £20million project to reinstate the former line between Buckfastleigh and Ashburton have been dashed after Dartmoor planners approved a development plan which will encroach on the trackbed.
Campaigners have condemned a decision to drop plans for reinstatement of the disused Henbury loop line, needed to improve rail services around Bristol.
A disused section of the Robin Hood line that has been out of use for more than 50 years is a step closer to reopening following announcements in the Budget.
On the eve of the 125th anniversary of its opening, the society aiming to use Rhondda Tunnel as a cycle path has received confirmation that a feasibility study has been commissioned.
A six-week consultation period will allow the public to comment on the proposed siting of Portishead's new station, as part of the reopening of the town's branch line.
A subway dating from 1889 is soon to reopen at Rochdale Station, creating a shorter access route to train and tram services from the Park and Ride car park.
A final appeal is being made to planners at Dartmoor National Park to think about the long term future of the disused railway at Ashburton which campaigners want to restore.
Official pictures showing the inside of the Rhondda Tunnel have been released following the first organised inspection of the structure in more than 40 years.
The group behind plans to reopen Wales' longest disused railway tunnel have been buoyed by encouraging words following the first inspection of the tunnel in more than 40 years.
Engineers on the Thameslink Programme have discovered a south London "ghost" station which only served passengers from 1902 to 1915 before shutting for good.
Green services provider Glendale has completed a £120,000 clearance programme that will allow 3.3 miles of disused railway to reopen, connecting Portishead and Bristol.
An old railway signal box, which survived for the best part of a century at a Leicestershire colliery, has been torched by vandals at a railway museum.
Residents have won a stay of execution for the old Great Central station yard at Woodford Halse which had been put up for auction and subsequent development.
A new study has found Dundee's Law Tunnel to be in good condition, paving the way for a ventilation pipe to be installed in an effort to improve air quality.
Proposals to build a cycle loop around the Peak District have been criticised for threatening rare animal habitats, as well as long-running plans to reopen a disused railway.
After an announcement that Rhondda Tunnel would be inspected for the first time in 30 years, the Welsh Assembly Minister for Economy, Science & Transport in to meet the campaign group hoping to reopen it as a cycle path.
Torksey's historic viaduct over the River Trent is to host a permissive path after West Lindsey District Council granted the scheme planning permission.
A campaign to prevent building work from taking place on part of the old line which once linked Shropshire with Staffordshire is building a head of steam.
It was 1964 when main line services ended on the Dee Valley line as part of the Beeching cuts, but this weekend will see trains start operating again to the new terminus at Corwen.
A grassroots campaign to bring local regeneration by relinking two South Wales valleys through a disused railway tunnel has been backed by Plaid Cymru members in the Welsh Assembly.
The East West Rail scheme is a major project to promote economic growth by establishing a strategic railway that will ultimately connect East Anglia with Central, Southern and Western England.
Planning chiefs are to decide whether to install a multi"user path along sections of the Midland's former main line through the Peak District, including Haddon Tunnel.
A public inquiry is being launched into the blocking of a footpath over Tadcaster Viaduct that has been regularly used by walkers, cyclists and schoolchildren for many years.
A replica of the original Victorian sign that stood outside the top station of the Clifton Rocks Railway has been installed by the volunteers who look after it.
Work is soon to start on clearing vegetation along the disused section of the line to Portishead as part of multi-million pound plans to get trains serving the town again by 2019.
Ambitious plans are developing to reopen Wales' longest tunnel for tourism purposes as its owner prepares to inspect the structure for the first time in years.
