# The end of the line!!!literally



## lutonman12 (Sep 11, 2008)

A couple of wet weekends ago myself and prendy went for some more disused railway adventures!!
Becoming a bit of a habit recently!!!!lmao
We took a wander down an old line in dunstable, bit overgrown in places!!!!







































Then after a bit of a tip off from MysteryT about some underground stuff in an old quarry
(good info mate there was something there but we could nt find a way in!!!!well be goin back soon!!!!)


KEEP LOOKING!!!!!!!!!








We had a lookabout(well a five mile hike and a few cases of ass over tit!!!eh prendy LMAO!!!)
found an old railway tunnel













Then we found a smaller line that must have been used for the quarry and followed it for a bit!!!
got a bit more overgrown(this was tough going!"!!!!)













AND THEN WE CAME TO THE END OF THE LINE!!!!!!!We were like WTF!!!???
















So again we had'nt found what we'd come looking for but you never know wots just behind the next tree!!!!!
Thanks for lookin


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## Foxylady (Sep 12, 2008)

Love seeing those rails sticking out into thin air.  Another good explore guys.


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## smileysal (Sep 12, 2008)

Excellent find, love seeing anything to do with old railways. Love the rails all overgrown, but all still in place, and the rails that just end in mid air is great lol.

Excellent pics,

Cheers,

 Sal


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## King Al (Sep 12, 2008)

Nice one lutonman12, looks like you had a great ramble, hope you didn't get to wet


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## Lightbuoy (Sep 12, 2008)

Very comical ending to your explore! 

Ta for sharing. Love old abandoned railways.

Lb:jimlad:

P.s. -you don't think this is where they filmed BTTF III -the part where the DeLorean runs out of track?!!


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## borntobemild (Sep 12, 2008)

That looks really strange.

Firstly the the tracks seem to emerge from the side of the cliff rather than run on the surface.
Second - it might just be the angle, but they look too far apart.

Wonder if they'd been used for something else?


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## Dirus_Strictus (Sep 13, 2008)

borntobemild said:


> That looks really strange.
> 
> Firstly the the tracks seem to emerge from the side of the cliff rather than run on the surface.
> Second - it might just be the angle, but they look too far apart.
> ...



The rails are obviously the main reinforcement, for a demolished cantilevered concrete tipping stage. You can still see the remaining concrete surface with bits of exposed rebar, on the edge of the drop. Many similar stages were made from wooden beams, and the only visible signs left are the foundations for the support pillars at the foot of the slope - all the wood having rotted away.


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## mystery-t (Sep 18, 2008)

Excellent report..i love the old railways..and i never followed it as far as you folk did..i need to get there and find these other things we chatted about..


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## Els (Oct 29, 2008)

I came across this thread looking for something completely different otherwise I would have completely missed it. 

Here are a few I took this summer of the same line...


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## RichardB (Oct 29, 2008)

Great pictures, I love old railways.

Do you have any idea when it was last used?

I saw a railway on TV once that just stopped in the middle of nowhere. Apparently the money ran out before it was finished so the embankment was left half done.


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## whostolemymonkey (Nov 8, 2008)

I know this railway line, it closed in the 60s when beetching shut down lines, the town had two stations one was near the blue bridge in the pics above, the rails sticking out of the bank are not actually rails but RSJ beams that were part of an old bridge that was demolished to allow large lorries to enter the town after the line closed. A plan by enthusiats to reopen the line was quashed by the local council, a diesel engine last ran on part of the track in 2000, before that it was last used in the 60s, part of its famous cargo included animals being deliverd to the nearby Whipsnade zoo, the animals got off at dunstable and then the larger animals walked the rest of the way (this is true as there are pictures of it!).
A long running debate continues about what to do with the line, the latest plan is to have a guided busway in its place but the debate has been going on for 10+ years so still loads of time to explore the line, which runs for quite some distance.


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## metal-rules (Nov 10, 2008)

Has anyone even mentioned where it is?!


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## Els (Nov 10, 2008)

It's between Dunstable and Luton (mentioned in the OP)

Plans for the busway have now been given conditional approval so work potentially could start in 2009.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=luton+guided+busway&meta=


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