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Stations which have declined/increased in importance

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Senex

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Off topic, but there was a very useful (in English) book published by Thomas Cook in 1986 specifically about rail travel through Berlin, giving history of the lines and details of their operation past and present (up to then). "Berlin Transit", written by John Price, the long term editor of Cooks Continental Timetable, as well as a serial tram buff, for which he sneaked a section in. Covers main line, S-Bahn and U-Bahn. Written primarily for travel trade staff to answer the innumerable questions they got about rail travel through the city. The "Transit" in the title is reference to passing through into the DDR, rather than the USA term for urban rail systems. I still take mine when I go there.

Here it is. You get an odd secondhand one turn up

berlin transit book 1980 thomas cook - Google Search
Also OT. The booklet ran to a second edition at the end of 1987. For what it sets out to do, it's really excellent—as you'd expect from John Price. But it really doesn't deal with the history and development of Berlin's railway system, either from the beginnings through to the mad Hitler/Speer plans that were still being developed during WW2 or for the time when the Deutsche Reichsbahn der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik was busily keeping its own trains cler of the wicked west and (in railway terms) isolating the island of West Berlin whilst still trying to get whatever hard currency it could from traffic to and from the west.
 
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S&CLER

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You may find some of what you are looking for in Brian Hardy's book The Berlin S-Bahn, published by Capital Transport in 1996. I think it was remaindered, as I recall buying my copy, with his other book on the U-Bahn, from a remainder bookshop. Good map on p. 28.
 

cle

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The outer railheads are interesting. As suburban services have gotten better (Thameslink, Crossrail, WCML Slows) their inter-city credentials have been lost due to the need to flight many more tph out of London.

So Watford Junction came up, but Slough and Luton are also 'victims' of this, even though in other regards their services have never been more frequent. Luton has been diluted by Luton Airport Parkway, which has boomed as a railhead for the area, way beyond airport traffic (it has over 4m users vs 3.6m at Luton Town).

Interesting here is Stevenage. Smallest of these towns (which are major employment hubs as well as retail/awful nightlife) - but conversely it has never had a better long distance service. As well as better local/regional ones too. Is this because the long distance frequency out of KX is so low that on the fasts, there is more room for them to call? The Lutons must surely be demand/journey-time based, as this is a much busier railway on the slows at this point, after St Albans - with just 4-5tph on the fasts here.
 

William3000

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The outer railheads are interesting. As suburban services have gotten better (Thameslink, Crossrail, WCML Slows) their inter-city credentials have been lost due to the need to flight many more tph out of London.

So Watford Junction came up, but Slough and Luton are also 'victims' of this, even though in other regards their services have never been more frequent. Luton has been diluted by Luton Airport Parkway, which has boomed as a railhead for the area, way beyond airport traffic (it has over 4m users vs 3.6m at Luton Town).

Interesting here is Stevenage. Smallest of these towns (which are major employment hubs as well as retail/awful nightlife) - but conversely it has never had a better long distance service. As well as better local/regional ones too. Is this because the long distance frequency out of KX is so low that on the fasts, there is more room for them to call? The Lutons must surely be demand/journey-time based, as this is a much busier railway on the slows at this point, after St Albans - with just 4-5tph on the fasts here.
Stevenage is often used as an interchange for passengers from Cambridge, Royston, Letchworth etc heading north, though in the former’s case, it’s usually quicker to go via Peterborough.
 

HullRailMan

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In BR day’s, Howden was only served by the infrequent service between Hull and York. Today it is served hourly by the much improved Hull/York service in addition to seven trains per day to/from London by Hull Trains. There are also peak time trains to/from Leeds and Manchester.
Passenger numbers have increased greatly, possibly helped by it being the best place to split fares between Hull and York/Leeds.
 

yorksrob

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In BR day’s, Howden was only served by the infrequent service between Hull and York. Today it is served hourly by the much improved Hull/York service in addition to seven trains per day to/from London by Hull Trains. There are also peak time trains to/from Leeds and Manchester.
Passenger numbers have increased greatly, possibly helped by it being the best place to split fares between Hull and York/Leeds.

It still has surprisingly few services to Leeds though, especially considering it has a Northern "stopper" now.
 

RPI

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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 would say St Ives is probably an exception to that, proposed for closure in 1966, dwindled in the late 60's early 70's then hugely took off with the opening of Lelant Saltings Park and Ride, which leads on to that specific station, until around two years ago was incredibly busy until the park and ride was relocated to St Erth, Lelant Saltings now only has a parliamentary service.

Digby & Sowton is another, when built it failed to attract anywhere near the forecast passenger numbers, but now serves both a large housing area, two industrial parks and is adjacent to Sandy Park has led it to be one of the busiest unstaffed stations in the country.
 

james60059

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I'd say stations like Atherstone on the Trent Valley has improved which has enjoyed an hourly service since 2007, when prior to that only a handful of trains called. Even then many were bustituted when the WCML upgrade was taking place.
 

Stephen1001

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I'd say stations like Atherstone on the Trent Valley has improved which has enjoyed an hourly service since 2007, when prior to that only a handful of trains called. Even then many were bustituted when the WCML upgrade was taking place.
This is true, and Rugeley Trent Valley is perhaps even more impressive as it also had the Chase Line added in 1998 which is currently twice as frequent as its WCML service.
 

james60059

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This is true, and Rugeley Trent Valley is perhaps even more impressive as it also had the Chase Line added in 1998 which is currently twice as frequent as its WCML service.

Ah yes I forgot that one. Rugeley has faired better than Atherstone then in that respect.
 

MadMac

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Few Scottish examples:

Rutherglen, Lochwinnoch (formerly Lochside) & Bishopbriggs had only a few trains a day and now have regular interval services.

Kilmarnock, serving a sizeable population, had only one Glasgow-bound commuter service at 8:09 with the corresponding return at 17:30 and a sparse service during the day. It now enjoys two trains an hour.
 

FenMan

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The main intermediate stations on the North Downs - Blackwater, North Camp, Dorking Deepdene and Reigate - increased in importance when the Thames Turbos were introduced in the early 90s. What had been a sleepy backwater is now a well-used service, particularly between Reading and Guildford and, pre-COVID, to Gatwick Airport.
 
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