Trivia: populous settlements without frequent direct seaside services

[A S Leib]

I don't understand all this talk of linking Sheffield with Blackpool. One market that has been steadily declining all my life is domestic beach traffic. See the thread about EMR feeling that Skegness demand no longer justifies the traditional extras. IME most such demand from Sheffield is for Bridlington and Cleethorpes, both of which have direct services. Things right now may be far from perfect but trying to turn the clock back and reintroducing old through services is not going to help.

What are the most populous towns or cities which don't have any semi-frequent (at least every two hours) direct train services to a town with a beach?

Sheffield, the inspiration of the question, isn't the answer, because of the Bridlington / Scarborough and Cleethorpes services. Slightly further south, Leicester's only seaside service I can find is one train per day to Cleethorpes, and Northampton doesn't have anything at all.

Almost anything which could reasonably be called a service calling at a beach town either doesn't go as far as Worcester or passes through Worcestershire Parkway without stopping (the northbound Cardiff to Edinburgh being the exception, with a Berwick call).

I think a lot of places with links to the nearest large city and little else, such as Aylesbury and High Wycombe, count as well (edit: and, as far as I know, Mansfield). Watford and Milton Keynes have Blackpool services, but I wouldn't count them as frequent.

 

[satisnek]

Looking at the Wikipedia list of towns and cities by population, I would go with Northampton. Next, perhaps, Slough, and definitely Oldham!

 

[stadler]

I can think of all of the following which are all decent sized towns.

Aldershot
Alton
Aylesbury
Bedford
Bicester
Bishops Stortford
Bracknell
Corby
Crowborough
Dorking
East Grinstead
Edenbridge
Epsom
Farnham
High Wycombe
Kettering
Leatherhead
Luton
Market Harborough
Northampton
Oxted
Slough
Staines
Stratford Upon Avon
Uckfield
Wellingborough
Wokingham

There must be dozens of other towns without direct seaside services.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I can think of all of the following which are all decent sized towns.

Aldershot
Alton
Aylesbury
Bedford
Bicester
Bishops Stortford
Bracknell
Corby
Crowborough
Dorking
East Grinstead
Edenbridge
Epsom
Farnham
High Wycombe
Kettering
Leatherhead
Luton
Market Harborough
Northampton
Oxted
Slough
Staines
Stratford Upon Avon
Uckfield
Wellingborough
Wokingham

There must be dozens of other towns without direct seaside services.

Luton has many trains per day to Brighton!

A few examples from up north:
Barnsley
Pontefract
Penistone
Batley
Morley
Ilkley
Harrogate
Slaithwaite (I'd call it a village but it claims to be a town!)

 

[stadler]

Luton has many trains per day to Brighton!

A few examples from up north:
Barnsley
Pontefract
Penistone
Batley
Morley
Ilkley
Harrogate
Slaithwaite (I'd call it a village but it claims to be a town!)

Oh yes i completely overlooked those and was only thinking of EMR services. Brighton services run every thirty minutes. Bedford and Luton can be removed from the list.

 

[NSE]

Weybridge, Walton on Thames and Esher? Unless an early morning/last knockings service to Portsmouth or Southampton has a call. They’re decent sized towns.

Kidderminster would also be another thought. I don’t know the service patterns around that part of the network too well.

 

[A S Leib]

Kidderminster would also be another thought. I don’t know the service patterns around that part of the network too well.

Only served by West Midlands Railway, which doesn't come particularly close to the coast anywhere on its network. Redditch and, without CrossCountry services, Bromsgrove and Walsall as well. I don't know off the top of my head if Nuneaton has any Holyhead services, but Rugeley definitely doesn't.

 

[NSE]

Only served by West Midlands Railway, which doesn't come particularly close to the coast anywhere on its network. Redditch and, without CrossCountry services, Bromsgrove and Walsall as well. I don't know off the top of my head if Nuneaton has any Holyhead services, but Rugeley definitely doesn't.

Yeh good shout with Rugeley. I’d imagine there’s a few Midland-y towns due to naturally being far from the sea.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Weybridge, Walton on Thames and Esher? Unless an early morning/last knockings service to Portsmouth or Southampton has a call. They’re decent sized towns.

The first Portsmouth of the day, 2P05 0508 off Waterloo, calls at both Weybridge and Walton-on-Thames.

 

[Kite159]

The first Portsmouth of the day, 2P05 0508 off Waterloo, calls at both Weybridge and Walton-on-Thames.

Also has the 2T45 1512 London Waterloo to Portsmouth & a Southampton train an hour or so later.

Both extensions of the usual Basingstoke stopping services

 

[Zomboid]

I personally wouldn't call Exeter a "seaside destination", so the likes of Andover, Sherborne, Honiton and everywhere that that's only on that line would count.

 

[Revilo]

Yeh good shout with Rugeley. I’d imagine there’s a few Midland-y towns due to naturally being far from the sea.

The closest seaside resort to Birmingham in Weston-super-Mare, which has precisely one direct XC train each way per day. Weston is a favourite of Brummies and has its own Bournville estate (very different from the Cadbury one though).

 

[GatwickDepress]

The closest seaside resort to Birmingham in Weston-super-Mare, which has precisely one direct XC train each way per day. Weston is a favourite of Brummies and has its own Bournville estate (very different from the Cadbury one though).

My Brummie grandmother always referred to Weston as 'Birmingham-by-the-Sea' for that reason. They were quite a poor family but made it out to the beach every year, so I suppose there must have been quite a few cheap seaside excursions over the years.

 

[scrapy]

A few examples from up north:
Barnsley
Pontefract
Penistone
Batley
Morley
Ilkley
Harrogate
Slaithwaite (I'd call it a village but it claims to be a town!)

If were counting Penistone and Slaithwaite as populous settlements, I'd add
Northwich
Knutsford
Altrincham
Congleton
Wilmslow
Rochdale (except Sundays)
Clitheroe
Darwen
Denton
Eccles
Hyde
Glossop
Kendal
Penrith
Ormskirk
Kirkby
Widnes
Winsford
Skipton
Keighley
Bingley
Brighouse
Buxton

I'm not counting Liverpool as being a seaside town, as no beach within a reasonable walking distance of the four central stations, and it being technically on a river.

 

[pompeyfan]

I wouldn’t count Southampton as a seaside town either, as there’s no beach. However a lot of services that call at Southampton also call at Bournemouth, Portsmouth or Brighton.

 

[scotrail158713]

East Kilbride seems a decent shout in Scotland. According to Wikipedias list of Scottish places by population only the big cities and Paisley are larger.

List of towns and cities in Scotland by population - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Trainfan2019]

How about Stoke and the Potteries?

 

[Zomboid]

How about Stoke and the Potteries?

Has an hourly train to Bournemouth

 

[FlyingPotato]

If were counting Penistone and Slaithwaite as populous settlements, I'd add
Northwich
Knutsford
Altrincham
Congleton
Wilmslow
Rochdale (except Sundays)
Clitheroe
Darwen
Denton
Eccles
Hyde
Glossop
Kendal
Penrith
Ormskirk
Kirkby
Widnes
Winsford
Skipton
Keighley
Bingley
Brighouse
Buxton

I'm not counting Liverpool as being a seaside town, as no beach within a reasonable walking distance of the four central stations, and it being technically on a river.

Skipton, Keighley and Bingley all have trains to Morecambe a seaside town.
Wilmslow has trains to Tenby and Milford Haven

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

The closest seaside resort to Birmingham in Weston-super-Mare, which has precisely one direct XC train each way per day. Weston is a favourite of Brummies and has its own Bournville estate (very different from the Cadbury one though).

Using the straight line measurement tool in GoogleMaps, and taking the rotunda as ‘Birmingham’, distances to seaside resorts as follows:
- Aberystwyth 92 miles
- Prestatyn 86 miles
- Weston-super-Mare 90 miles

So technically the north-eastern corner of North Wales coast is closer, but there’s not much in it. I would never have thought Weston was closer than Aberystwyth!

 

[scrapy]

Skipton, Keighley and Bingley all have trains to Morecambe a seaside town.
Wilmslow has trains to Tenby and Milford Haven

Im fully aware of the above, but the original post on this thread specifies that there must be a minimum 2 hourly frequency.

Skipton, Keighley and Bingley to Morecambe and Wilmslow to Milford Haven or Tenby are all less frequent than 2 hourly, so do not qualify as a semi-frequent service under the original posters definition.

 

[sk688]

Rugby
Loughborough
Aylesbury
Hemel Hempstead
Milton Keynes
Watford
Solihull
Stratford Upon Avon

 

[yorksrob]

I can think of all of the following which are all decent sized towns.

Aldershot
Alton
Aylesbury
Bedford
Bicester
Bishops Stortford
Bracknell
Corby
Crowborough
Dorking
East Grinstead
Edenbridge
Epsom
Farnham
High Wycombe
Kettering
Leatherhead
Luton
Market Harborough
Northampton
Oxted
Slough
Staines
Stratford Upon Avon
Uckfield
Wellingborough
Wokingham

There must be dozens of other towns without direct seaside services.

With regard to Oxted, Edenbridge and Uckfield, don't get me started !

Presumably, at least with Farnham, you can get to the seaside directly with a change of train !

Skipton, Keighley and Bingley all have trains to Morecambe a seaside town.
Wilmslow has trains to Tenby and Milford Haven

Indeed - the Morecambe train is very popular these days - always plenty getting on at those stops.

 

[zwk500]

With regard to Oxted, Edenbridge and Uckfield, don't get me started !

Presumably, at least with Farnham, you can get to the seaside directly with a change of train !

Tbf you can get to multiple seaside resorts from any of the first 3 with one change of train - although I will agree it isn't very direct, and the fact they don't have direct services is incredibly frustrating!