1960s cuts and loss of local services - very trivial indeed

[a_c_skinner]

Passing through Brampton this morning (by car!) Mrs S remarked that she was surprised local stations had survived. I replied that actually the area we know (Erewash Valley) was the exception as it had kept its line (obvs.) but lost all its local stations - nothing between Trent Junction and Chesterfield after 1967. Stapleford, Stanton Gate, Trowell, Ilkeston Jn, Alfreton all gone, though Ilkeston and Alfreton are back.

Anyhow I got to wondering if Erewash Valley was unusual in the lines remaining in passenger service (mostly!) but losing all the local stations. So I told Mrs S I knew people who would know.

 

[hexagon789]

Passing through Brampton this morning (by car!) Mrs S remarked that she was surprised local stations had survived. I replied that actually the area we know (Erewash Valley) was the exception as it had kept its line (obvs.) but lost all its local stations - nothing between Trent Junction and Chesterfield after 1967. Stapleford, Stanton Gate, Trowell, Ilkeston Jn, Alfreton all gone, though Ilkeston and Alfreton are back.

Anyhow I got to wondering if Erewash Valley was unusual in the lines remaining in passenger service (mostly!) but losing all the local stations. So I told Mrs S I knew people who would know.

Many local stations along the more spasely poulated sections WCML (particularly Carlisle-Lockerbie and Lockerbie-Carstairs) went.

You had the GSW Nith Valley line losing all stations Kilmarnock-Carlisle except Kirkconnel, Dumfries and Annan.

 

[Magdalia]

Many local stations along the more spasely poulated sections WCML (particularly Carlisle-Lockerbie and Lockerbie-Carstairs) went.

Similarly on the ECML north of Huntingdon, the Joint Line from March to Doncaster, and Ipswich to Norwich.

 

[DerekC]

GWML west of Reading has lost most of its intermediate stations as well. It's kind of ironic that the successful long distance routes have lost their intermediate stations because of the demands for capacity and journey time. The less successful secondary and rural routes have kept them.

 

[Springs Branch]

I got to wondering if Erewash Valley was unusual in the lines remaining in passenger service (mostly!) but losing all the local stations.

I suspect that closure of so many local stations along the arterial main lines was partly a result of the Beeching-era philosophy to focus on a future railway based on Inter-City trains speeding between main centres, together with fast Freightliners, block freight trains and the like. There would be no room on the futuristic main lines for local trains ambling between local stations (at least away from the London commuter belt).

So, as was the case on the Midland Main Line, ECML and GWML, on the WCML many smaller, but not insignificant settlements like Coppull, Garstang and Carnforth lost their (main line) services. Stations serving similarly-sized settlements on secondary routes like, say, the Barrow-in-Furness, or Newcastle - Carlisle lines tended to survive long enough for BR's / Government's thinking on rationalisation to change.

 

[jupiter]

I read your post and thought of this:

https://www.systemed.net/carto/New_Adlestrop_Railway_Atlas.pdf

which I think shows exactly what you need.

 

[70014IronDuke]

The LNER did this north of Peterboro on the ECML in the 1930s (?) or at least started to. I don't think BR closed any stations between Peterboro and York on the main line after 1960. Not sure if any went 1948-60.

 

[nw1]

GWML west of Reading has lost most of its intermediate stations as well. It's kind of ironic that the successful long distance routes have lost their intermediate stations because of the demands for capacity and journey time. The less successful secondary and rural routes have kept them.

Indeed, I can see that - stopping services along 2-track IC routes would have slowed the fasts. In fact it's normal along the main IC routes (WCML, ECML and GWML) for there to be no local stations once you're a certain distance from London and not close enough to the destination city.

However I do wonder whether they could have kept open some of the more important stations serving small or medium-sized towns.

With the GWML I could imagine they could have kept open the Wantage station (Wantage Road? Would now be Wantage Parkway, I guess), Wootton Bassett and Corsham.

Maybe it would have been possible to slot in a local service of some kind (Didcot-Bristol or, easier, Swindon-Bristol) to serve a limited number of smaller stations? Particularly when it was just 2tph IC west of Didcot (as it was until at least the mid-90s).

On the continent I do note that Germany seems to have much more in the way of local services away from large cities on the classic IC lines. It's rare on a classic line (IMX) to go any distance without passing through local stations. But they do seem to have more quadrupling than we do, so the local trains don't get in the way of the ICs.

 

[Magdalia]

The LNER did this north of Peterboro on the ECML in the 1930s (?) or at least started to. I don't think BR closed any stations between Peterboro and York on the main line after 1960. Not sure if any went 1948-60.

I have lots of ER public timetables. Most of the small stations between Huntingdon and York were closed in 1959.

In contrast the small stations between Ipswich and Norwich lasted until 1965/66.

 

[Taunton]

It depends on the sort of service provided in former times. If the only service was an intermediate one, the small stations seem much more likely to survive. In fact, they were probably more used all along.

As the WR main lines are discussed above, take the lines from Taunton. The worst case, and the earliest closure, was in fact the main line to London. This closed all its intermediate stations to Castle Cary, including in the small towns of Langport and Somerton, in no small part because it was just served by a random five stopping services a day only between those points, and not beyond. Castle Cary was a pretty useless destination anyway (sorry my old friend Mike!) because there were no onward connections to London. But the Weymouth line joining there still serves Cary, Bruton, Frome and Westbury in short sequence, in part because it has that sort of service.

A few miles to the south (and it is not far away) the old LSWR Exeter line was treated differently. Although in old days its expresses also ran nonstop from Salisbury to Exeter, or only served middle-of-nowhere Yeovil Junction, when the expresses were withdrawn, along with the lesser basketcase intermediate halts, a useful intermediate service on the line, serving the nowadays 12 intermediate points, sprang up.

 

[MisterSheeps]

Beeching & Modernisation did have 'withdrawal of stopping passenger services', but this was nothing new, the NER closed the Scarborough - York intermediate stations in the 1930s. The French kept local services into the 1980s on the grande lignes, running a few stopping services at odd times, and looping them, can remember catching a mixed (marchandise - voyageurs) from Gourdon to Brive, admirably leisurely.
I do think places such as Essendine (Stamford) and Bawtry were particularly short changed, ditto Garstang & Shap, these could easily have reinstated service. The result of partial modernisation was keeping anomalies (e.g. Braystones, Berney Arms) and depriving sizeable settlements (e.g. Mansfield, Alfreton) with the result that the railway is useful in some aspects & useless in others.

 

[Taunton]

Beeching & Modernisation did have 'withdrawal of stopping passenger services', but this was nothing new, the NER closed the Scarborough - York intermediate stations in the 1930s. The French kept local services into the 1980s on the grande lignes, running a few stopping services at odd times, and looping them, can remember catching a mixed (marchandise - voyageurs) from Gourdon to Brive, admirably leisurely.
I do think places such as Essendine (Stamford) and Bawtry were particularly short changed, ditto Garstang & Shap, these could easily have reinstated service. The result of partial modernisation was keeping anomalies (e.g. Braystones, Berney Arms) and depriving sizeable settlements (e.g. Mansfield, Alfreton) with the result that the railway is useful in some aspects & useless in others.

But a lot also has to do with how the station is situated. Garstang is indeed a small town, halfway between Preston and Lancaster, but (in best GWR fashion) the station was nowhere near the place it is named after, beyond sensible walking distance and along unlit country roads without pavements.

Regarding France, not wholly as described. The French "Beeching moment" was all on one day - in 1938!! - when the realised that cars and buses had taken what local traffic there might have been, and all on one day swept away half the wayside stations and minor branch lines in the country. It became normal for local trains, if you looked closely at the rail timetable, to actually be a bus on the adjacent roads.

 

[30907]

The Scarborough line was definitely done to clear the route for excursion traffic. Most of the others were more to do with withdrawing infrequent stopping services - though a classic survival was the once-daily Moreton-in-Marsh-Oxford and return stopper to serve the halts, and similarly the Newcastle-Chathill (cut back from Berwick).

 

[Snow1964]

It was also to do with alternative provision bus services

As an example Bath-Chippenham lost all its intermediate stations (but there is a bus, X31 serving Bathampton, Box, Corsham etc), but Bath -Westbury kept nearly all of its stations, buses had never served Freshford or Avoncliffe (although nowadays an infrequent minibus type bus serves Freshford, but Halt has remained open).

However south of Westbury, only Warminster survived on Salisbury line (but most of the other stations served villages, so no point keeping them open). This shows different parts of some lines treated differently

 

[nw1]

But a lot also has to do with how the station is situated. Garstang is indeed a small town, halfway between Preston and Lancaster, but (in best GWR fashion) the station was nowhere near the place it is named after, beyond sensible walking distance and along unlit country roads without pavements.

Regarding France, not wholly as described. The French "Beeching moment" was all on one day - in 1938!! - when the realised that cars and buses had taken what local traffic there might have been, and all on one day swept away half the wayside stations and minor branch lines in the country. It became normal for local trains, if you looked closely at the rail timetable, to actually be a bus on the adjacent roads.

Admittedly OT but I get the impression that there was a later French Beeching sometime between 1983 and 2013.

When I visited the Massif Central in summer 1983 I travelled on a French classic DMU (Caravelle, I think) from Aurillac to the small town (with junction) of Neussargues, and the train made several stops at halts serving moderate sized villages: Arpajon, Polminhac, Thiezac and St Jacques (yes, I can still remember the names now!)

In 2013 out of curiosity I looked at the timetable for this route (Aurillac-Clermont-Ferrand) and found that the smaller stops no longer existed. Furthermore, they were absent from maps.

Additionally, a branch from Aurillac to Bort-les-Orgues to the NW existed in 1983 and that too had gone by 2013.

So if this part of the Massif Central was typical, it looks like a modern French Beeching may have taken place sometime in the very late 20th century or very early 21st.

 

[LowLevel]

Admittedly OT but I get the impression that there was a later French Beeching sometime between 1983 and 2013.

When I visited the Massif Central in summer 1983 I travelled on a French classic DMU (Caravelle, I think) from Aurillac to the small town (with junction) of Neussargues, and the train made several stops at halts serving moderate sized villages: Arpajon, Polminhac, Thiezac and St Jacques (yes, I can still remember the names now!)

In 2013 out of curiosity I looked at the timetable for this route (Aurillac-Clermont-Ferrand) and found that the smaller stops no longer existed. Furthermore, they were absent from maps.

Additionally, a branch from Aurillac to Bort-les-Orgues to the NW existed in 1983 and that too had gone by 2013.

So if this part of the Massif Central was typical, it looks like a modern French Beeching may have taken place sometime in the very late 20th century or very early 21st.

To this day the French closing branch lines is far from a rare occurrence. The funding system is a bit arcane and there are regularly battles between SNCF and the Regional governments over it which see lines shut or bustituted.

 

[DanNCL]

A clear out of local stations north of York on the ECML happened in the 1960s as part of the Beeching cuts, but amazingly Pegswood, Widdrington, Acklington and Chathill survived. I believe at the time it was because of a lack of alternative bus service, but today all of those apart from Chathill have an hourly bus service in the form of Arriva’s X18.

Similarly the Alston branch survived the Beeching Cuts as it provided the only year round access to the town. The line shut when the roads to Alston were made suitable for year round use in the 1970s.

 

[Falcon1200]

With the GWML I could imagine they could have kept open the Wantage station (Wantage Road? Would now be Wantage Parkway, I guess)

Interesting idea, but instead Didcot Parkway now performs a similar function for Wantage (and Abingdon) with a better train service than Wantage Road/Parkway would ever have had.

Maybe it would have been possible to slot in a local service of some kind (Didcot-Bristol or, easier, Swindon-Bristol) to serve a limited number of smaller stations? Particularly when it was just 2tph IC west of Didcot (as it was until at least the mid-90s).

IIRC the IC services west of Didcot were at least 3ph from the HST timetable of 1976, with hourly Bristol and Swansea fasts plus a stopper alternating to Bristol and Cardiff, and the occasional Cheltenham too.

 

[70014IronDuke]

I have lots of ER public timetables. Most of the small stations between Huntingdon and York were closed in 1959.

OK, thanks for the info. I was under the impression the LNER had done the hard work.

 

[The exile]

Maybe it would have been possible to slot in a local service of some kind (Didcot-Bristol or, easier, Swindon-Bristol) to serve a limited number of smaller stations? Particularly when it was just 2tph IC west of Didcot (as it was until at least the mid-90s).

For much of the 1990s (and into this century?) there was a Bristol - Oxford service operated by Turbos which reversed at Didcot. Not being a full length intercity train, this would have formed the ideal base for the reinstatement of some of the local stations (indeed, I think some momentum for Corsham and Grove Parkway got going) -but the service fell victim to an SRA (?) review of line capacity and the doubling of the Bristol - Bath - London service.

 

[HS2isgood]

I have lots of ER public timetables. Most of the small stations between Huntingdon and York were closed in 1959.

In contrast the small stations between Ipswich and Norwich lasted until 1965/66.

How where in these two cases the smaller stations served? Local stopping services connecting with long distance trains?

 

[Magdalia]

How where in these two cases the smaller stations served? Local stopping services connecting with long distance trains?

On the ECML in the 1950s Grantham was a more important intermediate station than Peterborough. Many of the parliamentary trains to/from Kings Cross started or terminated at Grantham not Peterborough. There were also a few parliamentary trains between Grantham and Doncaster.

Ipswich-Norwich had a half decent DMU service with 6-8 trains each way on weekdays. The 0430 from Liverpool Street stopped at the small stations, and there was a Norwich-Ipswich hauled train at 19xx, which I suspect was the mail train.

 

[nw1]

Interesting idea, but instead Didcot Parkway now performs a similar function for Wantage (and Abingdon) with a better train service than Wantage Road/Parkway would ever have had.

But further away of course. In an ideal world you'd want the parkway station at the point at which the railway and the road to the town intersect.

IIRC the IC services west of Didcot were at least 3ph from the HST timetable of 1976, with hourly Bristol and Swansea fasts plus a stopper alternating to Bristol and Cardiff, and the occasional Cheltenham too.

OK, I was basing my comment on the pattern from around 1985 to 1995 (maybe a bit after) which seemed to be 1tph to each. Yes, I remember seeing that 3tph timetable from earlier (1981) though, admittedly.

For much of the 1990s (and into this century?) there was a Bristol - Oxford service operated by Turbos which reversed at Didcot. Not being a full length intercity train, this would have formed the ideal base for the reinstatement of some of the local stations (indeed, I think some momentum for Corsham and Grove Parkway got going) -but the service fell victim to an SRA (?) review of line capacity and the doubling of the Bristol - Bath - London service.

Yes, I remember that one, but obviously that came much later than closure. That was quite a nice service, and was useful as both a through service from Oxford and (potentially) a way to serve a limited number of re-opened stations. Maybe Wales and West running it as a (higher top speed?) 158 would have made more operational sense?

 

[Pinza-C55]

A clear out of local stations north of York on the ECML happened in the 1960s as part of the Beeching cuts, but amazingly Pegswood, Widdrington, Acklington and Chathill survived. I believe at the time it was because of a lack of alternative bus service, but today all of those apart from Chathill have an hourly bus service in the form of Arriva’s X18.

Similarly the Alston branch survived the Beeching Cuts as it provided the only year round access to the town. The line shut when the roads to Alston were made suitable for year round use in the 1970s.

The York - Darlington intermediate stations were closed (except Croft Spa which remained open for Richmond trains, and Tollerton) in 1958 which was ironic because many had been rebuilt by the LNER for quadrupling and the bright shiny stations saw 15 years or less service before the axe swung. When Tollerton was closed in 1965 it has just one train, northbound, on weekdays.

 

[Clarence Yard]

Yes, I remember that one, but obviously that came much later than closure. That was quite a nice service, and was useful as both a through service from Oxford and (potentially) a way to serve a limited number of re-opened stations. Maybe Wales and West running it as a (higher top speed?) 158 would have made more operational sense?

No, that would have defeated the object of the exercise. Bristol to Oxford was also a GW/Thames path blocking move, to ensure that Cross Country and Wales and West could not insert any trains on any of the relevant sections.

A 158 wouldn’t have been any quicker than a Turbo anyway.

Although the service did lead to speculation about new stations, the Bowker led SRA were like the BR of old, wanting more Intercity style services on the main lines with less emphasis on the minor stations.

 

[Falcon1200]

But further away of course. In an ideal world you'd want the parkway station at the point at which the railway and the road to the town intersect.

I agree to some extent, Didcot is certainly further away from Wantage than Wantage Road was; But Didcot already had a station, with now a huge (and very ugly) car park, and also serves Abingdon and other areas. If people have to drive to a station anyway, they might well choose the place with the more frequent, and probably faster, services.

 

[RT4038]

A clear out of local stations north of York on the ECML happened in the 1960s as part of the Beeching cuts, but amazingly Pegswood, Widdrington, Acklington and Chathill survived. I believe at the time it was because of a lack of alternative bus service, but today all of those apart from Chathill have an hourly bus service in the form of Arriva’s X18.

This explanation seems unlikely to be right, as the X18 predecessor (418) together with other routes (429-32) provided much the same or better service then as now.

Most of the others were more to do with withdrawing infrequent stopping services - though a classic survival was the once-daily Moreton-in-Marsh-Oxford and return stopper to serve the halts, and similarly the Newcastle-Chathill (cut back from Berwick).

Chathill Station was the focal point in the surrounding area for GPO traffic. After closure of the other local stations, it was served by two loco hauled Newcastle-Berwick-Edinburgh intermediate trains, the am northbound and pm southbound conveying through parcels cars (possibly also passenger cars) to and from King's Cross. In 1978 I holidayed in the district and one day took the morning train from Chathill to Edinburgh, returning on the pm, hauled by class 40s. Chathill Station was manned and a number of PO vans were waiting for the train to arrive. I also recall large numbers of parcels around the station too.

All that traffic has now gone and continued existence is a misnomer.

 

[Taunton]

On the ECML in the 1950s Grantham was a more important intermediate station than Peterborough. Many of the parliamentary trains to/from Kings Cross started or terminated at Grantham not Peterborough.

This went back a long way, but Grantham in steam days was a more significant crew and loco changing depot for passenger services, which typically was Kings Cross-Grantham-York-Newcastle-Edinburgh, each being (roughly) 100 miles, and thus a significant day's round trip for the crews. It was likewise halfway from Kings Cross to Leeds. Peterborough New England and Doncaster were more freight loco depots on the ECML. Mallard itself was in BR days long a Grantham loco, they had A4s which Peterborough didn't.

 

[RT4038]

This went back a long way, but Grantham in steam days was a more significant crew and loco changing depot for passenger services, which typically was Kings Cross-Grantham-York-Newcastle-Edinburgh, each being (roughly) 100 miles, and thus a significant day's round trip for the crews. It was likewise halfway from Kings Cross to Leeds. Peterborough New England and Doncaster were more freight loco depots on the ECML. Mallard itself was in BR days long a Grantham loco, they had A4s which Peterborough didn't.

However, services at the intermediate stations between Hitchin and Grantham were pretty sparse, reflecting that few people used them - often because the line of rail (north-south) was not the local traffic pattern.

 

[181]

GWML west of Reading has lost most of its intermediate stations as well. It's kind of ironic that the successful long distance routes have lost their intermediate stations because of the demands for capacity and journey time. The less successful secondary and rural routes have kept them.

West of Didcot (and Bedwyn on that route) rather than west of Reading, but I think the point you're making is correct.

I agree to some extent, Didcot is certainly further away from Wantage than Wantage Road was; But Didcot already had a station, with now a huge (and very ugly) car park, and also serves Abingdon and other areas. If people have to drive to a station anyway, they might well choose the place with the more frequent, and probably faster, services.

I don't think everyone would have to drive to a reopened Wantage Road. As I understand it, when the station closed, Wantage was a small town a couple of miles from its station on the other side of the village of Grove, but development since then has turned Wantage/Grove into a substantial and growing mini-conurbation (about 2/3 the size of Didcot, going by 2011 figures from Wikipedia) with the railway almost adjacent to one end of it. Provision of a station would probably encourage more development at that end. There's been talk of reopening the station for many years, but nothing has yet happened, and I presume that the question of which trains would stop there is part of the reason for this.