London Banter - View Single Post - What is the oldest object or construction in the world...

Peter Heather · November 3rd 04, 01:44 PM posted to uk.transport.london,uk.railway

(Matthew Church) wrote in message . com...
"MartinM" wrote in message ...
"Henry Law" wrote in message
.. .
Chris Cook wrote:
"Matthew Church" wrote in message
om...

...built for a public railway which is still in-situ and still
performing the service for which it was built?

Clue: it lies within the M25.

Beddington Lane level crossing - age about 200 years
(Surrey Iron Rly/LBSCR/SR/BR/Tramlink)

Chris Cook
Beckenham, Kent

Isn't the main line north of Redhill on the line of the Surrey Iron
Railway? But is it the original line or the Quarry line?

The Surrey Iron Railway served the stone quarries (underground) at Quarry
Dean, Merstham; remains of one of the bridges may be seen by the Happy Eater
cafe at Hooley just N of the M23, above the old main line tunnel (not the
Quarry line). There is some original SIR rail on the corner of the A23 by
the Feathers pub in Merstham.

Thanks for that I have never found that bit of line, I will try and do
so today, but I drive past the bridge every afternoon, as do 10,000
other people, and I bet no more than 10 of us recognise it for what it
is.

Starting on the east side of Youngs Brewery on the Thames (east of The
Crane pub), The Surrey Iron Railroad followed (roughly) Garratt Lane,
passed Colliers Wood at perpendicular to the current underground track
and slightly to the west of the LU station, then meandered down to
Carshalton terminating near the ponds.

Later it was extended to link with the Croydon Canal:

MORE TRIVIA:

WTF has the Croydon Canal got to do with uk.railway ???

And then - as you say - follows roughly the existing line past Stoats
Nest Station (alight here for the Derby in Epsom when it was first
built).

The bridge by the Happy Eater is intact and is the original AFAIK,
there is another bridge very close which has been partially demolished
to allow access to a field. No other remnant of the line exists but
you can "walk it" - start at The Goat in Mitcham and follow Tramway
Passage until you reach the London to Wimbledon tram line, then the
tram follows the old railroad for some distance.

Far from there being no other remnant of the Surrey iron Railway and
its extension, the Croydon Merstham & Godstone Railway, there are
several traces if you look hard enough. There are many stone sleepers
from the line built into the wall of Youngs Brewery in Wandsworth; The
LSWR Windsor line bridge over the SIR still stands; There is a length
of track (not on its original line) in Rotary Field, Purley; the
embankment is still evident at the back of the Lion Green Road car
park in Coulsdon; and the underground mine workings in Merstham still
exist (although not very accessible). This is apart from the various
roads and passageways that have been formed on the old trackbed along
the route. That said, I can't think of any that are still performing
there original purpose. The bridge by the Happy Eater at Merstham no
longer spans a railway as the Brighton line is some distance away at
this point as it did not follow the old line exactly.

Also, there are two very obvious remanants of the Croydon Canal in the
form of the original reservoir (now South Norwood Lake) and the length
of canal now preserved in a park just off Anerley Hill (I think that's
its name)

Peter Heather