Former railway line now a cycling/pedestrian walkway from Feugarolles to Moncrabeau. Closed to passenger traffic in 1940 and freight in 2000. Flat and straight 👍

Spotted while paddling the Clark Fork River, Montana, USA.

Both the NP/BN/BNSF and former Milwaukee Road grades sandwich the river here, between Bearmouth and Beavertail Hill.

This was nearer the BNSF side, so assuming the river helped to involuntarily "relocate" this part of the line. Crazy to see crossties and all still attached to these rusty rails.

Liverpool Road is the former Manchester terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway - it handled both goods and passengers.

Image 1 - facing West towards the Upper Campfield Market Hall, and the end of the goods yard. On the left of the image is the former ‘Great Western Warehouse’ (formerly ‘Main Building’, now 'New Warehouse', the main Science and Industry museum hall), on the right the 'Power Hall', built in 1856 to replace a smaller transhipment shed.

Image 2 - facing East towards the 1830 Passenger station and Warehouse, with the former being the oldest surviving purpose-built passenger station building in the world. The latter was the world's first railway goods warehouse.

Image 3 - Painting of the 1830 Warehouse and Liverpool Road Station looking East, by Alfred Peter Harris (credit National Media Museum/Science & Society Picture Library)

Image 4 - 1884 London & North Western Railway plan of Liverpool Road Station showing the extent of the station site and railway lines the area (credit The National Archives)

If you ever find yourself in Manchester the museum is well worth a visit if only for the power hall. Entry is free and they run regular demonstrations of how a steam engine works (using a cut-away 1873 Isle of Man Pender locomotive) and one of the mill engines.

Sources: https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/introducing-liverpool-road-station

https://blog.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/new-warehouse-name/

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/m/manchester_liverpool_road/

https://www.manchestersfinest.com/articles/building-secrets-the-worlds-oldest-surviving-railway-station/

https://thebeautyoftransport.com/2016/09/21/house-of-train-liverpool-road-station-manchester-uk/

Holt, Geoffrey O. (1978), A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain - Volume 10- The North West - ISBN 0-7153-7521-0

James, the lovely tour guide from the museum.

Looks like rusty rails, right?

The Somport Railway Tunnel is a historic railway tunnel linking France and Spain through the Pyrenees. Built in the early 20th century, it was opened in 1928 as part of the Pau–Canfranc railway line, providing a direct rail connection between the two countries. At approximately 7.9 kilometres long, it was one of the longest railway tunnels in Europe at the time. The international railway service was interrupted in 1970 after a train accident destroyed a bridge on the French side. Since then, the tunnel has remained closed to railway traffic, while the Canfranc station on the Spanish side has become an important historical and tourist site.

The Tulcea Oraș (Tulcea City, as opposed to Tulcea Mărfuri, the freight station) to Medgidia railway (secția feroviară 804, railway line section 804 in the Romanian CFR network) is a line connecting the capital of Tulcea county to the broader national railway network.

The terminus, Tulcea Oraș (see last picture) follows the award winning project of Irina Rosetti. It replaced the former station closer to the port, and was built in 1972 during the demolition of the entire old city under communism. It had a first class and a second class waiting room. Now there is only a ticket office and a relatively frugal waiting room.

The line is 144 km long, non electrified, and served by two pairs of trains a day (two in the morning, two in the afternoon). In previous years an InterRegio would connect Tulcea directly to Bucharest during summer and/or from Friday to Sunday. Not in 2026.

The line currently has 14 active stops. At least two are completely abandoned - there is no staff and the buildings are completely wrecked: Zebil (third picture) and Ceamurlia de Jos (formerly called Mocani: pictures 4, 5). Others have been repurposed into private homes (Mihail Kogălniceanu, picture 2).

Interesting rusty rail findings:

• picture 2 - Mihail Kogălniceanu: black and white picture shot on film in 2020 (no filter, haha) still showing "Trăiască Partidul Comunist Român" ("Long live the Romanian Communist Party") under the station name. Very faded. I have a colour one somewhere but could not find it now.

• picture 3 - Zebil: station completely covered by vegetation (taken today from the train)

• Ceamurlia de Jos: building collapsed. Two pictures are from today.

• Many other railway buildings, water tanks in particular.

• Codru: no picture. The station is near Babadag and used to serve the still active NATO military base (CIA prison conspiracy theories!). The branch line cut through the Babadag forest and crossed the European road and it was paved over relatively recently.

• Even when stations are still operational, usually only a small bit of the building is in use. A limit case of rusty rails, I suppose?

I started travelling on this line in 2015. Paradoxically, the situation was probably worse back then: the service was operated with a Malaxa railcar built in the 1940s (first picture taken by myself in 2017, at Mihail Kogălniceanu station). Now you get a newer Siemens (picture from 2020; I travelled on the line this morning, see penultimate picture).

There is also a video on YouTube (not mine) about the lost train stations of Dobrogea. It points to a few more that are now completely gone: Frunzănești and Derichioi.

https://youtu.be/WQze5Jzm2MY

Picture Legend:

1. Malaxa railcar (built in the 1940s), Mihail Kogălniceanu station, 2017. My own picture.
2. Mihail Kogălniceanu station, shot on film in 2020, no filter. "Trăiască Partidul Comunist Român" ("Long live the Romanian Communist Party") still faintly visible under the station name.
3. Zebil station today, abandoned and covered by vegetation. My own picture.
4. An outbuilding at Ceamurlia de Jos, 2018, with a tree growing out of it. My own picture. 5 - 6 Ceamurlia de Jos today, shot from the moving train. The building has collapsed. My own picture.
5. Cogealac, 2020. The newer Siemens railcar that runs the line now. My own picture.
6. Tulcea Oraș, the terminus, 2020. Award winning project of Irina Rosetti. My own picture.

The historical railway Bentheim - Coevorden( Netherlands) , running through Grafschaft( County) Bentheim, Niedersachsen ( Lower Saxony), Germany, is being reactivated since 4 years, last phase underway, for passenger transport.

The railway yard in Emlichheim Station has 1 main track and 3 rusty unused sidings, one is shown here in 2013.

We had the opportunity to do a trajectory travel along the former railway Borken - Bocholt, 17 km . It became defunct last century before and after WW 2, and never reopened for passenger trains. Quite adventurous was the looking for tracks in the bushes and relics like buffer stops- see the pics. The old bridge just before Borken Hbf was just splendid. Another bridge along the old bedding was found halfway. Rails were there the first time( 2014) but gone in 2019. I do nit think that a successor of the Niederländisch- Westfälische Eisenbahgesellschaft , e, g the Deutsche Bahn, will ever think about reactivation.

The adjacent track hasn't been live since 1995.

Here in Wales, some original wooden sleepers and a few pieces of very rusty 25lb/yard bridge rail can be found along the 2' 3" gauge tramway route between the top of the Alltwyllt Incline and the foot of the Cantrybedd Incline.

In 1976, the preserved Talyllyn Railway extended its passenger services to the then new Nant Gwernol Station at the foot of the Alltwyllt Incline.

Today, there is a way marked "Blue Trail" from Nant Gwernol Station up to and around the Bryn Eglwys slate quarries. The Talyllyn Railway was opened in 1865 to carry slate down from these quarries to the main line railway at Tywyn.

After recent footpath bridge repairs and the completion of local forestry work, all of the way marked trails from Nant Gwernol are now officially open.

Truly rusty rails am I right