Stations which have declined/increased in importance

[morrisobrien]

Whilst still in the Bristol area, Stapleton Road was once served by cross-country services that avoided reversal at Temple Meads. And even further back, before the Badminton line was built, South Wales expresses called there.

Also had a great Refreshment Room on the island platform.

 

[William3000]

University students do not need a service to Oxford Road. The benefit of a link to Oxford Road is mostly to the people who work down Oxford Road and the wider area, which will be mostly people who live within the region. Therefore Oxford Road should be focussed upon services from places like Liverpool, Blackpool, Leeds & Huddersfield stoppers via Victoria, Stoke, Crewe, the airport, Buxton. Not Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Middlesbrough.

Oxford Road, Deansgate, Salford Central and Salford Crescent should all be on the same level. I.e. no long distance services, but local and regional services should stop at all four.

But isn’t it really that the line through Manchester Oxford Rd is so congested that long distance trains wouldn’t be able to overtake commuter and local trains so they all stop there?

 

[Killingworth]

Manors must be an obvious contender for an additional improved service on the Asbington line.

Interesting that Manors has picked up passenger numbers in recent years thanks to a better service on trains to Morpeth but still averages less than 2 per stop.

One of the reasons the old Blyth and Ashington service was axed was because it terminated at Manors and not the Central. It wasn't the place people really wanted to go then and is probably more isolated now. But yes, the new service may stop there, although a fairly strong case could be made to run through to get a faster service into the Central where most will want to be.

 

[D6130]

No! Exmouth had 946,880 entries and exits in the last pre-covid set of figures; nearly a million passengers. And surely it's best ever timetable with trains to Exeter every half-hour seven days a week. I don't see that overall as a decline, despite the loss of the odd Summer Saturday Waterloo trains that operated in steam days.

I was thinking more along the lines of reduction in track layout, platforms and passenger facilities, but I'm very glad to hear that passenger figures are so buoyant.

 

[yorksrob]

Thats an interesting point.

There must be a lot of stations which have declined in terms of infrastructure, but which probably generate more travel in their rationalised form.

I wouldn't be surprised if Normanton was getting more passengers than its heyday.

 

[vlad]

Hampton-in-Arden (on the Birmingham-Coventry line) used to have Birmingham to London trains stop there - presumably as it was the nearest station to Birmingham Elmdon Airport - and the long platforms to allow that are still extant. That all stopped when Birmingham International opened.

 

[Bletchleyite]

With EWR, there must be more of an argument for that to serve as the InterCity stop rather than Milton Keynes Central, to allow for connections etc.?

Not really. There will be a service from MKC to Oxford, and Cambridge/Bedford can be reached via other routes or vastly more frequently (and not much slower) via London.

And given that Milton Keynes/Bletchley is very spread out, so no obvious benefits for MK Central being the main long distance stop.

You are forgetting MKC as a destination and central business district. Also it is served by all MK bus routes, Bletchley only by a few.

I wouldn't be surprised if Normanton was getting more passengers than its heyday.

I would be very, very surprised if Ormskirk did not get massively more passengers now (mostly on Merseyrail) than it got when it had Scottish expresses.

 

[willgreen]

Interesting that Manors has picked up passenger numbers in recent years thanks to a better service on trains to Morpeth but still averages less than 2 per stop.

One of the reasons the old Blyth and Ashington service was axed was because it terminated at Manors and not the Central. It wasn't the place people really wanted to go then and is probably more isolated now. But yes, the new service may stop there, although a fairly strong case could be made to run through to get a faster service into the Central where most will want to be.

ISTR Ashington services are expected to stop at Manors, which would give 2 or 3tph to Newcastle. It's unlikely to lead to a massive increase in usage but a better service could lead to better awareness. Passengers from east Newcastle might find it a faster way of getting to Ashington too rather than going round via the Coast and Northumberland Park.

 

[Senex]

As an aside, senex, you appear to know a lot about Berlin's stations. Are there any illustrated English language books that you are aware of that tell the story of their history?

Sorry, I can't think of a single decent treatment of the subject in English — though of course there's a really extensive literature in German covering all aspects. If there's anyone here who does know of a good English-language book dealing with the history of the Berlin railways and the city's stations, I too sshould be really interested to hear of it.

 

[Killingworth]

ISTR Ashington services are expected to stop at Manors, which would give 2 or 3tph to Newcastle. It's unlikely to lead to a massive increase in usage but a better service could lead to better awareness. Passengers from east Newcastle might find it a faster way of getting to Ashington too rather than going round via the Coast and Northumberland Park.

Umm, I'll believe it when it happens. There just isn't a significant rail market around Manors, and there hasn't been for very many years. Better awareness, possibly, but regular use probably not.

 

[William3000]

Not really. There will be a service from MKC to Oxford, and Cambridge/Bedford can be reached via other routes or vastly more frequently (and not much slower) via London.



You are forgetting MKC as a destination and central business district. Also it is served by all MK bus routes, Bletchley only by a few.



I would be very, very surprised if Ormskirk did not get massively more passengers now (mostly on Merseyrail) than it got when it had Scottish expresses.

 

[philjo]

Oh, I don't recall Welwyn Garden City or Stevenage 'old' having 'intercity' services! What time period was that? I do remember Huntingdon and Hitchin, I think the last time I caught one from Huntingdon was an overnight train (to Newcastle/) in 1980.

I remember around 1978 travelling from Hatfield. We had just missed the Cambridge direct (loco hauled) service. We caught a 313 to Welwyn Garden City (our first trip on a 313), then changed onto a train going I think to Newcastle, which was next stop Hitchin. At Hitchin we then caught the Cambridge train we had missed at Hatfield.

 

[William3000]

One of the major benefits of East West Rail is the opportunities for faster connections from places like Cambridge, St Neots, Bedford to the West Coast Main Line. The whole point of it is to stop Cambridge commuters have to go via London with two changes to go from Cambridge to Northampton etc. I also think it would be a much quicker route from St Neots/Cambridge to Manchester and Liverpool rather than cross country services via Nottingham and Sheffield, or a convoluted journey via London.

 

[Western Sunset]

Spondon, my old haunt when I was a lad, used to have three platforms and extensive sidings for the adjoining Celenase works and Spondon power station. Regular services on the Derby - Nottm - Lincoln line; even the occasional holiday train to Paignton and the like.

Now all that's gone; just a few peak hour trains and an occasional bus.

 

[willgreen]

Umm, I'll believe it when it happens. There just isn't a significant rail market around Manors, and there hasn't been for very many years. Better awareness, possibly, but regular use probably not.

It's a fair bit closer to the unis, and the northern half of town, than Central. It's never going to be a Manchester Victoria but with 3tph I reckon it'd do relatively well.

 

[William3000]

Umm, I'll believe it when it happens. There just isn't a significant rail market around Manors, and there hasn't been for very many years. Better awareness, possibly, but regular use probably not.

Awareness would be improved if the Metro and Rail stations were treated as a single station on maps with excellent signage between them.

Perhaps renaming it ‘Newcastle Quayside’ might attract more people?

 

[Llandudno]

But has moved it closer to the town centre, which is actually more useful.



It would be foolish not to stop them there if they run that way. It is very similar to the way ICEs serve Dammtor as well as Hbf in Hamburg.

Does Morecambe have a town centre…?

 

[telstarbox]

I do think the standout example of a station that has changed enormously is Stratford. Only the Central line is basically the same frequency from the 60's/70's/80's as today. I remember using it in the 70's and it was a very quiet station, with a tiny entrance practically hidden down a pedestrian underpass slope, which itself was a long distance down narrow passageways to the platforms ( Some would say what's changed! )

I checked an online timetable of 1963 to verify the historic BR frequencies, off peak Mon-Fri. 3 an hour to Gidea Park, 3 an hour to Southend, 1 an hour to North Woolwich and 1 every two hours to Cheshunt, and that's it! It's now the eighth busiest station (2019 figures) and if the growth rates of the last few years continue ( and with the pipeline of local development, it will), it will soon overtake Euston, Birmingham New St and Paddington, to become the fifth busiest. There isn't a comparable transformation in the UK in last 25 years.

Stratford is certainly busy these days. Did the Braintree / Clacton trains not stop there either?

 

[PTR 444]

Maybe not any less important in terms of what’s there, but stations on the Greenford branch seem to have lost their relevance ever since the direct London service was cut back to West Ealing.

 

[Killingworth]

Awareness would be improved if the Metro and Rail stations were treated as a single station on maps with excellent signage between them.

Perhaps renaming it ‘Newcastle Quayside’ might attract more people?

For those who don't know Newcastle distance on the map can be deceptive thanks to the proximity of the central motorway and the gradient down to the river. I'd agree better signage would help and Northumbria University is fairly close. Renaming it Quayside may confuse even more. I'd far rather walk from Central, along Collingwood Street, passing St Nicholas Cathedral and down the Side to the Quayside.

Written as a former trains spotter at Manors about 1957/8 and saddened to see it reduced to 2 platforms with a small bus shelter. But I'm digressing too far now.

 

[alholmes]

I remember around 1978 travelling from Hatfield. We had just missed the Cambridge direct (loco hauled) service. We caught a 313 to Welwyn Garden City (our first trip on a 313), then changed onto a train going I think to Newcastle, which was next stop Hitchin. At Hitchin we then caught the Cambridge train we had missed at Hatfield.

Hitchin didn’t have any inter-city services in 1978. They had all transferred to Stevenage when the new station opened in 1973 (apart from a newspaper train to Leeds at about 04.30 in the morning). I’ve had a look at the timetables from the 1960s and 1970s and no intercity services served Welwyn Garden City.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Does Morecambe have a town centre…?

Yes, why would it not have? It isn't up to much but there is a central shopping area of sorts, and it is nearer the present station than the former one (though a reasonable walk from either).

It is not dissimilar to your namesake in a sense - the seafront with what you'd expect along there, and a separate bit further back with the "normal" shops, though admittedly Llandudno is massively nicer!

 

[Alfonso]

Any seaside resort terminus (or through station) that you care to mention, with the possible exception of Blackpool North and Bournemouth. The rot set in with the arrival of cheap package holidays in the Med from the early 'sixties onwards....and then accelerated rapidly over the past 30 years following the launch of cheap airlines such as Ryanair and EasyJet. Southport, Great Yarmouth, Weymouth and Morecambe have already been mentioned....other such stations which come to mind which are now mere shadows of their former selves include Largs, North Berwick, Saltburn, Whitby, Scarborough, Bridlington, Cleethorpes, Skegness, Margate, Ramsgate, Hastings, Eastbourne, Worthing, Littlehampton, Bognor Regis, Exmouth, Newquay, Aberystwyth, Pwllheli, Llandudno and Rhyl.

I suppose taking this to extremes we have Dover Western Docks and Folkestone Harbour, which were pretty much made redundant and balanced out by the increased importance of St Pancas

 

[Springs Branch]

Salford Central is another station which has improved its service hours and patronage in recent years.

I'm not sure exactly when the "all day, every day" provision of trains began, but I remember Salford (as it was called then) being open only during M-F peak hours in the 1970s and early 80s, with only trains in the peak flow direction stopping there.

Today Salford Central has trains 7 days a week, from 05:30 to midnight (give or take) on weekdays, and pretty much everything between Salford Crescent and Victoria stops there.

It was always a handy station for those in the know for parts of Deansgate and Manchester's Legal Precinct, but there's been a lot of residential and commercial redevelopment in the Chapel Street and "across the water" in the Spinningfields district of Manchester in recent years.


Ardwick, on the other hand, used to have trains stopping every hour through the day, and a quite decent service in both directions in the peak. Did that all stop when the HQ of Greater Manchester PTE moved away from the office block* in Devonshire Street North in Ardwick?

* Always though that one looked remarkably like the office block exterior at the start of each episode of The Office TV series.

 

[Purple Orange]

But isn’t it really that the line through Manchester Oxford Rd is so congested that long distance trains wouldn’t be able to overtake commuter and local trains so they all stop there?

Those long diatance services from Scotland and Newcastle shouldnt be ob that line to begine with. No issue with a commuter type service that comes from Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield, that would all call at Deansgate, Oxford Road and Piccadilly, but the services that are only going along that line because there is no capacity at Victoria will eventually be removed as new infrastructure is built. E.g. if NPR frees some capacity at Victoria, why not send the TfW and Scotland services there?

 

[geoffk]

Thats an interesting point.

There must be a lot of stations which have declined in terms of infrastructure, but which probably generate more travel in their rationalised form.

I wouldn't be surprised if Normanton was getting more passengers than its heyday.

Examples would be Redditch and Corby, now one platform at each.

 

[Llandudno]

Yes, why would it not have? It isn't up to much but there is a central shopping area of sorts, and it is nearer the present station than the former one (though a reasonable walk from either).

It is not dissimilar to your namesake in a sense - the seafront with what you'd expect along there, and a separate bit further back with the "normal" shops, though admittedly Llandudno is massively nicer!

Spent a few hours in Morecambe with some pals a few weeks ago having walked along the old rail route from Lancaster Green Ayre. The former station is still looks rather splendid as a pub and a tourist information centre that was actually open!

Popped in for a pint of handpumped Wainwright beer (£5.50 ouch!) at the fabulously restored Midland Hotel and walked along a bright and breezy prom to the Eric Morecambe statue with its great views across Morecambe Bay to the Lakeland Fells.

The town centre was desolate with numerous boarded up shops and down at heel pubs, most only selling keg beer so didn’t venture in many!

Continued a walk along the posh end of the prom to Bare, there are four excellent, and quite posh pubs here serving the excellent local Cross Bay brewery beers and a micropub before catching the train at Bare back to Lancaster for a curry and the train home.

Damn good day out, aided by Northern’s £1 ticket offer!

 

[davetheguard]

I was thinking more along the lines of reduction in track layout, platforms and passenger facilities, but I'm very glad to hear that passenger figures are so buoyant.

Yes, the line is booming despite -as you correctly say- Exmouth station sadly being reduced to a shadow of its former self.

 

[YorksLad12]

Interestingly over the past 30 or so years we have season the rise of the ‘airport’ station: Manchester, Stansted, Luton, Heathrow etc (Gatwick and Birmingham were always on mainlines) and the decline or in some cases closure of ‘port’ stations like Harwich International, Dover Western Docks, Folkestone Harbour. I guess reflecting the rise in flying and decline in ferries.

Good point, which I hadn't thought of. My first solo holiday was in 1990 and I took the boat from Harwich Parkstone Quay (now Harwich International). Ten years later I was on the Eurostar. I don't know what the patronage was at HPQ back then but it's been varying wildly between 90k and 110k the last 15 years.

 

[Stephen1001]

A few success stories that haven't yet been mentioned:

Bromsgrove was served peak hours only in the 1980s; now resited, electrified and with three trains an hour to Birmingham plus hourly Worcester/Hereford (although no direct link to neighbouring Worcestershire Parkway and the Cheltenham direction).

Ockendon was once served by infrequent Upminster-Grays shuttles only, but now enjoys half-hourly services to Fenchurch Street and Southend Central - this is partly a knock-on effect of the opening of Lakeside shopping centre and Chafford Hundred station in the 1990s.

Shepherd's Bush and West Brompton have gone from relatively minor tube stations to relatively major interchanges with the revival of the West London Line.

Coatbridge Central was called at by only two trains a day (albeit London-Inverness ones) for most of the 1970s and early 1980s before services to Motherwell began in 1987, and while it's still only hourly today it's as part of a much larger Cumbernauld-Glasgow-Dalmuir service run with 6-car EMUs which isn't bad by comparison.

If passenger numbers and service frequency are the main criteria then the entire Falmouth branch arguably qualifies, but Penryn is the standout as it's also had a major infrastructure improvement.

More of an edge case but regular London services and full restaffing at Eaglescliffe would have seemed pretty unlikely 25 years ago.