The Railway Touring Club

Down in Hampshire there's the Meon Valley trail, which is pleasant, if a little unexciting!

https://www.hants.gov.uk/rh/cycling/meon-valley.pdf

@mashton I think it's Parkland Walk. I used to enjoy taking it back to Crouch End when I didn't want to ride Hornsey rise.

That's it, of course.

Parkland Walk. It actually carries on to Ally Pally (it's not direct as the tunnel is blocked off as a bat sanctuary).

Amazing

The Guy Martin of Railway Urbex

Which reminds me of this about Camden Rat Hole

https://www.bcd-urbex.com/camden-rat-hole-london-underground-tunnel/

@PhilDAS asked about this a few pages back

I think it was posted up, a good resource

(Still can believe this thread has gone beyond page 1 tbh 😂)

Nice

You get loads of these little local history books produced and they are really valuble I think

I have a few local job from The Watermill in Aberfeldy

The Author has quite the back catalogue

On leaving school I trained as a graphic designer at the infamous Hornsey College of Art in the late 1960s and went on to work as a designer and art director at several well known London publishing companies. In more recent years I have contributed to many bestselling books on railways and have more recently written Amazing & Extraordinary Railway Facts (David & Charles, 2008), Discovering Britain's Little Trains (AA Publishing, 2008), Great Railways of the World (AA Publishing, 2008), The Lost Joy of Railways (David & Charles, 2009), Discovering Scotland's Lost Railways (Waverley Books, 2009), More Amazing & Extraordinary Railway Facts (David & Charles, 2010), Discovering Scotland's Lost Local Lines (Waverley Books, 2010), The Lost Lines of Britain (AA Publishing, 2010), Steaming Across Britain (AA Publishing, 2011), Amazing & Extraordinary Facts: Trains & Railways (David & Charles, 2011), The Times: Mapping the Railways (co-written with David Spaven - Times Books, 2011), Railway Days Out (AA Publishing, 2012), Amazing & Extraordinary Facts: Steam Age (David & Charles, 2012), Britain's Scenic Railways (Times Books, 2012), Dr Beeching: 50 Years On (David & Charles, 2013), An A-Z of Famous Express Trains (David & Charles, 2013), Exploring Britain's Lost Railways (Times Books, 2013), Railway Day Trips (Collins, 2014), Great Railway Journeys of the World (Times Books, 2014), History of Britain's Railways (Times Books, 2015), Lost Railway Walks (Collins, 2016), Railway Day Trips 2nd edition (Collins, 2017).

This programme is great

So far the Railway Ramblers have been a highlight.

Got home to these two beauties

Need to find more out about the pin badge

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I know this is probably mostly aimed at UK routes but the French are great at converting disused railway lines to cycle routes. Voie Verte des Gaves in the Pyrenees is my favourite and the Avenue Verte makes getting to Paris Pretty easy too.

Yeah, I rode part of the Transubayenne mtb route in the Ubaye valley on a road bike this summer, liked it a lot. I heard it was built once upon a time for a railway, but never finished. Nice gravel, mountain views, dark tunnels, small new bridges. Rough stuff on a roadbike, but ridable. There was water streaming on the ground for the whole width of the tunnel for a few hundred meters in one of them, but it's usually dry, I've heard.

Ciclovia Alpe-Adria Radweg/ Via Treviso / Fvg 1 or what ever you should call from Italy to Austria was interesting too. Smooth asphalt, old abandoned small buildings, villages, an old bridge made of steel. The tunnels have lights in them. Many of us used this in TCR last year.

There's a nice quiet one in Finland too, mosty gravel, from Hyvinkää to Karkkila .

Don't anything about the ones in UK though, but interesting thread.

Shocking assumption and clear failure to read the initial post, have you considered a careeer on track? :)

The railway parts of Avenue Verte are a lovely example of an old line converted very well, the small halt buildings being changed to toilets and water fountains are very handy and as a lot of it is on embankment, you get great views.

At night the rabbits and under tarmac tree routes cause a touch of concern though...,

clear failure to read the initial post

:) I see it now!
Here's another favorite close to where I grew up.
The Rimutaka Incline was a steam railway up to 1:15 in parts using a fell system (3 ft 6 in 1,067 mm). Its now a walking and cycling track but the railway is being restored now in a railway brings tourism to an area shocker.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimutaka_Incline

https://www.nzcycletrail.com/trails/rimutaka-cycle-trail/

https://www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz

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I have been thinking about setting a date for this ride.

Now Strathpuffer is done and the Easter Arrow looms, it would be nice to get in an ‘early spring’ run about down south.

It would probably be a midday/early afternoon start on a Wednesday in late March and run in the spirit of HDIJ and South Hills.

Provision dates are the 20th and 27th

I have a few route tweaks
to continue making, to take in as much former Track bed as possible. But what do people reckon?

@cagimaha has ‘expressed’ an interest whilst having a light ale so far...

Hell of a photo that second one. I like that you can see the second locos stack as the only indication it’s there working the rear

Even after the effects of the light ale have worn off I'm still in for this. Is that route the famed "Glasgow Express"?

Ha

Yes it’s an adaptation taking in a lot more trackbed, the original ‘Glasgow Express’ route was formed by Gordon from old skool BCC who is from Glasgow and is bloody strong.

It just so happened that the original route passed close to a few Beeching lines

Bit late to this, but I grew up in Kenton, and went to primary school at St Johns in Stanmore. Had no idea at all this was there!

Ha! a Google-maps route from Finchley to Pinner took me along part of that. It was rather muddy & slippery back in December.

Only just stumbled across this thread. A good read indeed.

Like the look of this. Subbed.

but the French are great at converting disused railway lines to cycle routes.

That they are, the one in the vallespir were very decent despite the obvious shortcut made due to recent development.

Sadly the old metre gauge railways disappear after being converted from single lane to double lane road.

I will endeavour to set a date and get the ride up tomorrow

After much chiding in the pub

Right A date for the Beeching Cuts ride is set

27/03/2019

0630 - 0700 meet at Cafe St Germain for breakfast for the early express to Three Bridges.

Fixed/SS encouraged, but obvs all welcome wth a 'run wot u brung' vibe.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28980463

A Wednesday?! Bloody part timers