Mcr Warrior
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 8 Jan 2009
- Messages
- 12,091
Reminds me of the old story of the intending passenger asking a member of railway staff as to why Dent station (on the Settle & Carlisle line) was quite so far from the village that it purported to serve.As a general principle, siting the station as near as possible to each town or village’s main thoroughfare or High Street.
"Happen they wanted the station to be built next to the railway line" came the reply.
Believe that was the case at the village / spa town of Strathpeffer in North West Scotland, one of the few locations of any substance on the route of the Kyle of Lochalsh line when originally planned. The most direct route for the line was that through Strathpeffer, but disagreements with local landowners initially prevented the railway from crossing their land.One of the problems with many lines and stations was (still is in some cases) that they were too far away from the populations they purported to serve, often because landowners insisted on their re-routing so as to stop the line spoiling the view.
Strathpeffer did subsequently get a connecting branch line a couple of decades later, but this subsequently closed in 1946. If the station at had been on the through route, likely it would have remained open a little longer.