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 community leader has criticised a "short-sighted" and "bureaucratic" decision to recommend a housing development for refusal despite the fact it could help bring a railway station back to a Shropshire village for the first time since the 1960s.
A transport chief insists now is the "absolutely the right time" to push on with the Tyne and Wear Metro's £745m extension along the disused railway to Washington, despite the economic crisis.
National Highways has been told it must reverse its burial of another Victorian railway bridge, or seek permission for it, as the extent of the agency's "cultural vandalism" has emerged.
Disused and now little-known transport routes in Hereford could be brought back as walking and cycle paths or as corridors for nature under new proposals.
Plans to bring back disused rail services and stations in the South Yorkshire region are moving forward as bids for levelling up funding have been submitted.
North East transport bosses have been told to press ahead with huge plans to extend the Tyne and Wear Metro to Washington, including the partial restoration of the Leamside line.
A disused railway swing bridge in Oxford - one of only two moving bridges on the Thames - has been removed from the 'Heritage at Risk' register after it was fully restored.
A long-disused railway turntable, dating back to the 19th Century, has been discovered in Huddersfield as the Transpennine Route Upgrade gains traction.
The future of a project to turn a disused railway through the heart of Brislington into a cycle way appears in doubt with campaigners claiming that planners' demands have made it unviable.
National Highways has abandoned its plans to infill a 156-year-old disused railway bridge in the South Downs National Park which is needed for an extension of the Watercress Way.
Residents have met East-West Rail representatives at an event regarding the £5bn project to link Oxford and Cambridge which would involve reopening sections of disused railway.
Bolton Council will consider a proposal to designate the historic Bolton and Leigh Railway as a 'Heritage Action Zone', opening opportunities to make it more attractive for visitors and promote economic growth.
An extension to the Mid Norfolk Railway might play a key role in the development of a new 5,000-home town north of Dereham, dubbed a 'railway village'.
Eden District Council has issued an enforcement notice compelling National Highways to remove the infill from Cumbria's Great Musgrave bridge by next October.
Gelli Tunnel in South Wales, which has been disused since the 1960s, will remain closed for the foreseeable future following concerns over its condition.
The future of Stowfield Viaduct - a disused railway structure over the River Wye near Lydbrook - has been secured with the local council confirming its intention to register it as a public right of way.
Part of the High Peak Trail and the road beneath it are to be temporarily closed as work to replace a 200-year-old bridge, destroyed by an HGV, gets under way.
Swansea Council has completed its latest addition to the city's growing network of walking and cycling routes " this time, making use of a disused railway line stretching between Grovesend and Pontarddulais.
Restoration of the former Granton Station is nearing completion as it prepares to become a creative space and enterprise hub for up and coming businesses.
Ambitious attempts to reopen the King's Lynn to Hunstanton railway have been handed a boost after the project was included in a document outlining the region's long-term transport strategy.
A new survey has revealed that a project to bring the disused Worcester-Bromyard-Leominster railway back to life as a cycle route would bring an economic boost.
One of Britain's largest early bridges for a horse-drawn railway - which stands as one of the few surviving reminders of Gwent's former iron and steelmaking past - has been restored.
Plans are emerging to improve Glasgow's East End area, with a new train station for Parkhead and a nearby disused railway being transformed into a cycle path.
Edge Hill Engine Station, the starting place of the world's first inter-urban locomotive-hauled railway, has been selected for protection as a nationally-important archaeological site.
A project to convert a disused railway linking Falkirk to Denny and Bonnybridge into an active travel route has received a further £392,000 in funding from the Sustrans Places for Everyone fund.
Millions of pounds in additional Government cash has been secured to reopen the Portishead railway after rising costs and delays left a significant shortfall.
A section of the Thames with few bridges could become a lot easier for pedestrians and cyclists to cross if plans to convert a disused railway bridge for pedestrian use go ahead.
National Highways' policy of filling in historic railway bridges with aggregate and concrete cost taxpayers £8M over eight years before it was scrapped.
The transformation of Manchester's disused Castlefield Viaduct into an urban sky park is almost complete after five months' work to become a green oasis with trees, plants and flowers.
The longest traffic-free greenway in Warwickshire has opened to walkers, cyclists and horse riders as part of a project to transform a disused railway.
Long-awaited plans for a new cycling and walking route along a former Plymouth railway seem set to move forward as the City Council appoints a principal contractor for the scheme.
Plans to create a new countryside walking and cycling route near Coventry city centre - partly along a disused railway - have taken another step forwards.
Bradford Council has been challenged over its failure to take enforcement action after Queensbury Tunnel - which is earmarked for a cycle path - was partially infilled using development powers which campaigners claim have been applied unlawfully.
The second section of a £5bn rail link is on time and on budget after work began on the 21-mile Bicester-Bletchley stretch of the Oxford to Cambridge project in 2020.
Jenny Gilruth, Scotland's transport minister, has said that reopening rail links to Peterhead and Fraserburgh would be a "great idea" whilst visiting campaigners in the area.
An industry expert has slammed the idea of reinstating the Island Line connections to Newport and Ventnor as 'a hopeless fantasy' as it is revealed that the plans have been scrapped by the Department for Transport.
Plans to restore the railway between Stratford and Honeybourne look to have been shelved for good after the government announced the proposals would not be taken forward.
Rail minister Wendy Morton has announced a further £15M in funding to develop nine railway schemes across England to reopen disused railway lines, services and stations.
The founder of the Mierystock Tunnel Society has reignited a project he began in 2006 to create a cycleway through the 19th century disused railway tunnel near Brierley in the Forest of Dean.
There is strong public support for developing a multi-user route along the former Hawes-Garsdale railway in Wensleydale, according to National Park officials.
National Highways will be forced to remove 1,644 tonnes of stone and concrete used to infill Cumbria's Great Musgrave bridge after councillors rejected the company's planning application.
A landowner has said that access to a disused West Yorkshire railway tunnel could be lost because council officials are taking "a ridiculous length of time" to develop plans for reopening it as a foot and cycle path.
Walking and cycling charity Sustrans, working with Monmouthshire Council, has outlined plans to develop a shared-use path along the disused railway connecting Caldicot town centre, Portskewett, the Castle and Country Park and other existing routes.
Northumberland's Aln Valley Railway has launched its 'Bricks & Pieces' appeal which will support them in maintaining the 172-year-old Cawledge Viaduct.
A proposed new metro line between Llantrisant and Cardiff - that would partly run along a disused railway - could cost more than £500m, it has been revealed.
The Prime Minister has given a boost to the chance of resurrecting the mothballed Leamside line after confirming that transport bosses are looking into the merits of both.
Planning officials have recommended that National Highways' planning application to retain the infill at Cumbria's Great Musgrave bridge should be rejected.
Work has ground to a halt on HS2's Curzon Street station restoration in Birmingham as contractors working on the project have "identified serious unforeseen structural issues with the Grade 1 listed building".
Proposals to regenerate a disused railway viaduct to create an elevated park that links Camden Town and King's Cross have been submitted for planning permission.
Baroness Vere has been urged to instruct National Highways to pull its planning application for the retention of the infill at Great Musgrave bridge in Cumbria after an engineering study found that the structure presented no threat to public safety.
A senior project manager on the £116 million Levenmouth rail project has told of the team's 'pleasant surprise' at the condition of 19th century bridges on the route.
Campaigners in Cumbria are urging Eden District Council to refuse National Highways' retrospective planning application to infill Great Musgrave bridge with concrete and aggregate.
A campaign group is asking supporters to object to a planning application that seeks to permanently retain the controversial infill under Great Musgrave bridge.
National Highways has drawn up a new method of determining the value of disused railway bridges and tunnels following anger over its programme of infillings and demolitions.
Plans have been submitted to restore a former Doncaster village railway station and change the waiting room into a three-bed home with real tracks as an outdoor centrepiece.
Rural communities in County Durham could soon benefit from the reopening of a historic railway line after the 'transformative' scheme received a significant financial boost from the government.
Following closure during the winter for bat hibernation, Tidenham Tunnel is once again open for use by walkers and cyclists as part of a greenway connecting Chepstow to Tintern.
Enthusiasts and volunteers from Cambrian Heritage Railways have completed a 10-year project to restore two miles of the track between Oswestry and Weston Wharf at a cost of £600,000.
Plans to secure the future of a Grade II-listed disused railway bridge over the Wye between Brockweir and Tintern have been submitted to Monmouthshire Council.
A disused viaduct in Leeds is to be transformed into a community facility, with improved connectivity into the city centre, as part of a west end redevelopment at Wellington Place.
The removal of a short stretch of rusting railway track on the Isle of Sheppey has split a community in two, with residents and cyclists celebrating but heritage campaigners unhappy.
The future of the disused Hawes-Garsdale line is to be discussed by members of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, with rail instatement or a greenway on the agenda.
Network Rail has hailed a milestone moment for the Levenmouth Rail Link after the first new rails were laid on the project which will reconnect the town to the mainline passenger network for the first time in more than half a century.
A disused railway viaduct in Manchester will transform into an urban 'sky park' this summer, providing much needed green space to one of Britain's least verdant city centres.
Birkenhead is set to undergo the biggest transformation it has seen in 75 years, including a travel corridor along the disused Dock Branch Railway would link Wirral Waters, the town centre and Hind Street.
Authorities in Hertfordshire could spend £300,000 trying to work out how to revive the disused Croxley-Watford Junction rail link after councillors agreed to bring in consultants to discuss the plans.
Enthusiasts who thought they had lost a battle to reopen the disused Horsham-Guildford railway have been given new hope after a proposal to create a canal along part of the route was called in for planning permission.
A feasibility study is to be carried out into long-held plans to extend a cycle trail through North Somerset to Clevedon, following the route of the former Cheddar Valley Railway Line.
Bennerley Viaduct, which recently reopened after more than five decades of dereliction, has been awarded £250,000 of lottery funding for a community project.
A row of mid-Victorian brick railway arches - sealed off from the public for more than 150 years - are to be the centrepiece of a new £2.5bn office, residential, hotel and cultural development on London's South Bank.
A pledge to reopen the disused railway line between Fleetwood and Poulton is still on track according to the Prime Minister, despite work yet to begin more than two years after he visited the site.
Revolutionary plans to reopen a long-closed Yorkshire railway for walkers and cyclists could be scuppered by road bosses in what campaigners are calling an act of "cultural vandalism".
The Pattern Shop - a derelict building that once formed part of Robert Stephenson's Newcastle locomotive works - is set for restoration as the next step in the transformation of the key Stephenson Quarter development site.
There are fears that access to the iconic Smardale Gill Viaduct in Cumbria could be withdrawn if funding estimated at £100,000 is not raised to carry out vital repair work.
The campaign to reopen Stroudwater Station is making progress, with the aim of the site becoming one of Gloucestershire's key transport hubs, reinforcing the region's links to Bristol.
Residents are being invited to have their say on proposals for improvements to the local walking and cycling network between Caldicot, Portskewett and Caerwent/Crick, including a route along a disused railway.
An MSP has called for the abandoned Botanic Gardens Station and adjacent tunnels to be opened as an attraction after the site is cleared by crew using it for a feature film.
Volunteers are pushing ahead with plans to restore part of a historic tramway at Chirk which was used to haul stone, slate, coal and passengers through a picturesque Welsh valley until it closed in 1935.
Through the Heritage Action Zone, Swindon's Mechanics' Institute - which has been standing derelict for more than 20 years - is being surveyed to see whether there is potential to restore the building.
Almost 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for tours of disused railway tunnels beneath Nottingham to be restarted after the local council branded them as "simply not safe".
Bennerley Viaduct, which runs between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, has reopened to the public as a walking route after more than five decades of neglect.
Work is currently being carried out on the disused railway tunnel that runs between Kelvin Bridge and the Botanic Gardens, reportedly in preparation for shooting the HBO Max film.
North East transport chiefs are pressing ahead with £700m dreams of bringing new Tyne and Wear Metro stations to Washington and beyond by reopening the disused Leamside line.
Pressure is mounting on Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to look at an alternative proposal to the restoration of the Portishead line near Bristol, including construction of a busway.
A petition signed by more than 3,000 people has been presented to Preston City Council, calling on the authority to make a pitch for government funding to save the Old Tram Bridge.
Trespassers on the north-east's historic Victoria Viaduct have been warned of possible 'life changing and even fatal consequences' if they continue to break the law and access the structure.
Rhondda Tunnel is set to become Europe's longest underground cycle path after government officials cleared the way for its transfer to Welsh authorities.
