https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/2...l-benefit/

Another line to re-open?

(16 Apr 2022, 11:29 am)Andreos1 wrote https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/2...l-benefit/

Another line to re-open?

Can't see the Crook extension happening, to be honest, as the A689 would have to be re-routed away from the railway viaduct it currently uses in Bishop Auckland. Without building another viaduct to cross the wear, traffic would have to use the old route through Toronto.

The rest of the plan is feasible but the Wearhead/Eastgate extension is wheeled out just as much as the the Leamside Line is when the local rags have ran out of things to report about  I would argue it's more likely to happen, certainly between Stanhope and Darlington, but whether it does or not is another thing entirely.

(16 Apr 2022, 11:46 am)MurdnunoC wrote Can't see the Crook extension happening, to be honest, as the A689 would have to be re-routed away from the railway viaduct it currently uses in Bishop Auckland. Without building another viaduct to cross the wear, traffic would have to use the old route through Toronto.

The rest of the plan is feasible but the Wearhead/Eastgate extension is wheeled out just as much as the the Leamside Line is when the local rags have ran out of things to report about  I would argue it's more likely to happen, certainly between Stanhope and Darlington, but whether it does or not is another thing entirely.

Of course the Weardale line closed to passengers in 1953, well before the Beeching report and it seems very unlikely to reopen in my view.
The Crook line didn’t use the viaduct, it diverged at Wear Valley Junction and was closed in 1965 following the “Reshaping Britain’s Railways” report.

(16 Apr 2022, 11:46 am)MurdnunoC wrote Can't see the Crook extension happening, to be honest, as the A689 would have to be re-routed away from the railway viaduct it currently uses in Bishop Auckland. Without building another viaduct to cross the wear, traffic would have to use the old route through Toronto.

The rest of the plan is feasible but the Wearhead/Eastgate extension is wheeled out just as much as the the Leamside Line is when the local rags have ran out of things to report about  I would argue it's more likely to happen, certainly between Stanhope and Darlington, but whether it does or not is another thing entirely.

It was the Durham via Hunwick line that used the viaduct, =Crook line went off not far from Etherley Tip, Wear Valley Jn

Realistically, what would be the benefit of reopening the line to Crook?

It's already faster and more convenient (unless you live opposite the train station), and cheaper to use the Arriva X1 between Bishop and Darlington, so I can't imagine the situation being any different if they extended it to Crook.

(19 Apr 2022, 5:19 am)streetdeckfan wrote Realistically, what would be the benefit of reopening the line to Crook?

It's already faster and more convenient (unless you live opposite the train station), and cheaper to use the Arriva X1 between Bishop and Darlington, so I can't imagine the situation being any different if they extended it to Crook.

Politics to put it simply.

By doing cheap feasibility studies on fantasy lines see Consett aswell it makes it out like the two MP's which are conveniently Tory are doing stuff when reality they're doing nothing at all on stuff which both areas actually need.