Thanks guys, really good help to my thinking processes. Trouble with an orange jumpsuit is I'd look like I'd just escaped Guantanamo
There is no way I would go on the railway line unless it was SHTF Without Rule of Law - I am deeply law abiding. We're talking about the kind of fubar scenario where we'd all be bashing the airwaves regardless of whether we had a HAM licence, and boarding up our windows, and the police would be telling us to form neighbourhood militia. Prepping is all about these extreme (and hopefully extremely unlikely) situations no? There are two possible futures in my sad opinion; I'm hoping for the best and planning for the worst. And my children would probably be more at risk during their adult lives than me right now. I've spent years researching our current predicament and I've been deeply disturbed by what I've come across (and I'm not the only one). Researching some things is like going down a horrifying rabbit hole. A decent amount of my research, in case you get the wrong impression, is from talking to my Ahmadiyya friends. Don't want to get political though - that's all I'm saying about that.
Brambles - if you look on Google maps at the railway between Bradford and Leeds, for instance, there is no comparable road route, and my concern is that roads would be dangerous - I'm prepping for massive civil disturbance after all.
Take a look at Varley St in Pudsey on Google Maps street view where it crosses the line - with bolt croppers I could cut the razor wire, get through the industrial unit, up the bank and over the fence onto the line. There appear to be loads of other areas like that from a quick scout on GMaps. And after all we're talking about 8 or 9 quid for a tool which I could chuck without a second thought if I was tabbing along the road instead.