What is the oldest object or construction in the world...
 

kevin smith wrote:
"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)

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.

if you are talking in the country then i Believe causey arch is the
oldest surviving "raiL" bridge in the world

But surely it's not "still performing the service for which it was
built", i.e. as a railway bridge?
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

What is the oldest object or construction in the world...
 

"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.

What is the oldest object or construction in the world...
 

--- Matthew Church said:


MORE TRIVIA:

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


IIRC it was filled in and became the trackbed on the line via Forest
Hill and Sydenham.

What is the oldest object or construction in the world...
 

In article , Richard J.
writes
if you are talking in the country then i Believe causey arch is the
oldest surviving "raiL" bridge in the world
But surely it's not "still performing the service for which it was
built", i.e. as a railway bridge?

The arch might not be, but much of the embankment that the Tansfield (?)
Railway runs on is artificial construction from the same period, and
still performing the service of "railway embankment".

--
Clive D.W. Feather | Home:
Tel: +44 20 8495 6138 (work) | Web: http://www.davros.org
Fax: +44 870 051 9937 | Work:
Please reply to the Reply-To address, which is:

What is the oldest object or construction in the world...
 

"Peter Masson" wrote in message ...
"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?

The Greenwich viaduct?

Peter.

I believe that includes the only ever railway swing bridge. But that
isn't in use in that function any more.

What is the oldest object or construction in the world...
 

Richard J. wrote:
kevin smith wrote:
"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)

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.

if you are talking in the country then i Believe causey arch is the
oldest surviving "raiL" bridge in the world

But surely it's not "still performing the service for which it was
built", i.e. as a railway bridge?

I was responding to Henry's question about the SIR. BTW I don't think
the stone quarries were ever served by the SIR, it was lime works,
which were still served by a branch from the Northbound Redhill line
over the Quarry line just S of the tunnel (track is still there
between the two sets of lines but the bridge has gone.

What is the oldest object or construction in the world...
 

"Clive D. W. Feather" wrote in message
...
In article , Richard J.
writes
if you are talking in the country then i Believe causey arch is the
oldest surviving "raiL" bridge in the world
But surely it's not "still performing the service for which it was
built", i.e. as a railway bridge?

The arch might not be, but much of the embankment that the Tansfield (?)
Railway runs on is artificial construction from the same period, and still
performing the service of "railway embankment".

Tanfield. And yes, they do claim to be the oldest 'operating' railway in the
world

What is the oldest object or construction in the world...
 

"Matthew Church" wrote in message
om...

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:

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.

The Surrey Iron Railway ran from Wandsworth to Croydon, with branches to
Hackbridge and the Croydon Canal Basin. After the London & Croydon and
London & Brighton Railways opened (by 1841), the Surrey Iron Railway was
effectively defunct, and was closed, and the company dissolved, in August
1846. Part of the trackbed was subsequently used for the Wimbledon & Croydon
Railway (and recently converted for Tramlink).

The nominally separate Croydon, Merstham & Godstone Railway extended the
Croydon Iron Railway to the Greystone Lime Works. Its trackbed was not used
by the London & Brighton, except incidentally, but the Brighton's route did
intersect it and obliterate its route, and the London & Brighton purchased
the earlier company in 1838.

Peter

What is the oldest object or construction in the world...
 

I believe that includes the only ever railway swing bridge.

Nope. The Oxford Companion to British Railway History says:

# Opening bridges were built across some navigable waterways,
# allowing shipping to pass. They were usually swing bridges,
# like Thowse Bridge, Norwich (one of the earliest), Selby over
# the Yorkshire Ouse, Hawarden across the Dee near Chester, and
# one at each end of the Caledonian Canal. Scherzer rolling-lift
# bascule bridges replaced earlier swing bridges at Carmarthen
# and across the Trent at Keadby ...

Incidentally, remember the Amtrak disaster around 10-15 years ago
where a barge went off course and collided with a bridge, which
then collapsed under the next train to come along? According to a
TV show I watched recently, that bridge was built as a swing bridge,
but the railway eventually decided not to install the motor, and
used it as an ordinary bridge. However, the show said, they
neglected to rigidly attach the moving span to the abutments, and
that's why the barge collision knocked it out of position so easily.
--
Mark Brader "It is hard to be brave," said Piglet, sniffing
Toronto slightly, when you're only a Very Small Animal".
-- A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

My text in this article is in the public domain.

What is the oldest object or construction in the world...
 

"MIG" wrote in message
m...

The Greenwich viaduct?

I believe that includes the only ever railway swing bridge.

I presume you mean the one in Deptford... but there was another a few miles
away, carrying a now-disused railway over the now-disused Surrey Canal.

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes