Trivia: Stations in Villages which serve nearby Towns

[paul1609]

Working many years ago with the RAF, I was told of a new recruit who, when asked to nominate the nearest rail station to his home for a rail warrant to be issued, said 'Bergen' (Norway)

He lived in Shetland.

It was obviously the normal RAF scam for 5 star hotel accommodation. Anybody in the Navy could tell you that Shetland is a lot closer to Thurso than Bergen

 

[DeeGee]

Is Barnetby also the station for Humberside Airport?

It is, although it's a good old hike to the terminal from there, either a yomp across country or along a trunk road with no pavements, there's no bus from there to the airport, and there's no train arrives in time to serve the first of the three regular flights out, and there's a long old wait to get to Cleethorpes if you get the last flight in.

But yes, it's the closest station to Humberside Airport, and advertises itself as such on the station name boards.

I know the grand total of no people who have ever taken a train to get a flight from there.

 

[Ken H]

You could probably say Alnmouth isn’t actually in Alnmouth either…

Lesbury.

 

[Parallel]

I think Bedwyn gets some use by those travelling to/from Marlborough.

 

[D6130]

Foxfield for Broughton-in-Furness

Cark for Cartmel

Auchinleck for Muirkirk

 

[swt_passenger]

Lesbury.

Hipsburn, or Bilton (the original name)…

 

[wellhouse]

Christ's Hospital was originally Christ's Hospital (West Horsham)

 

[zwk500]

Christ's Hospital was originally Christ's Hospital (West Horsham)

But it was never really intended to serve Horsham itself, that job being much more effectively done by the main Horsham station. Christ's Hospital was always intended for the school (famously mistaken) and as a junction interchange.

 

[rower40]

Willington for Repton. Or it could now be renamed "Willington for Toyota".

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Cark for Cartmel

Both "villages"?

 

[Acfb]

Chinley is used by some people from Chapel en Le Frith instead of Chapel en le Frith station and is also used by people from around Whaley Bridge who want to travel to Sheffield.

 

[Ken H]

Both "villages"?

Cark stn serves Flookburgh too.

Excellent bakery in Flookburgh BTW. In the square.

 

[oddiesjack]

Chinley station is quite a popular railhead for residents of the nearby town of Chapel-en-le-Frith. Obviously for anyone heading towards Sheffield it makes sense, but quite a lot of people go for the two morning EMR fasts to Manchester. Also, for parts of Chapel, Chinley station is closer than the somewhat remote Chapel-en-le-Frith station.

 

[59CosG95]

If closed stations on open lines are permitted...Semley (for Shaftesbury). This is despite the closed station site being a good 1 & 3/4 miles from Semley proper, and actually closer to Sedgehill!

 

[DorkingMain]

Micheldever in Micheldever Station for Micheldever

 

[Bletchleyite]

Micheldever in Micheldever Station for Micheldever

Rainford in Rainford Junction for Rainford itself, though I don't know if the latter is legally a large village or a small town.

 

[chefchenko]

Templecombe station is the nearest to Wincanton.

Overton station is actually in the much smaller Quidhampton.

Dosent castle Cary serve wincanton or is my geography not very good

 

[swt_passenger]

Micheldever in Micheldever Station for Micheldever

Micheldever itself isn’t a town though…

 

[sjm77]

Ulleskelf for Tadcaster

Church Fenton for Tadcaster (Ulleskelf is actually slightly closer, but very few trains stop there)

Are there really many residents of Tadcaster using either of these stations as a railhead?
Surely the top two destinations for Tadcaster residents to visit would be York and Leeds, both of which are served by the decent Yorkshire Coastliner bus service. It even has a scheduled stop at York railway station and would be my choice if I ever needed to travel from Tadcaster by public transport to London/Birmingham/Newcastle etc as an example!
To which destination would somebody travel the 6 or 7 miles on country roads from Tadcaster to Church Fenton to take the train too? Surely not Leeds or York! Possibly the 3 times a day service to Sheffield maybe.

 

[Grecian 1998]

Dosent castle Cary serve wincanton or is my geography not very good

There's a direct road from Wincanton to both Templecombe and Castle Cary - 5 miles v 7 miles, but Google Maps indicates both are only about 15 minutes' drive. The bus service to both is about 2 hourly but much faster to Templecombe - 15 minutes v 30 minutes.

Templecombe's rail service to London is around 25 - 30 minutes slower than via Castle Cary, but more frequent - hourly v two hourly. However Castle Cary also has a roughly 2 hourly service (with exceptions) to Bath or Bristol.

I think you can say both stations serve Wincanton depending on what your requirements are.

 

[gg1]

Do terminals like Kyle of Lochalsh for Broadford, or Wemyss Bay for Rothesay “count”? I guess it’s stretching the point.

Kyle of Lochalsh is bigger than Broadford. Kyle for Portree might work in terms of population but definitely wouldn't qualify as a 'nearby town'.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Kyle of Lochalsh is bigger than Broadford.

Not much in it, but, slightly surprisingly, yes. Both have populations in the high hundreds. And both villages?

 

[mirodo]

Hipsburn, or Bilton (the original name)…

“Bilton for Hipsburn/Ledbury/Alnmouth”.

There can’t be many stations whose given name is actually the fourthmost settlement from it.

 

[gg1]

Not much in it, but, slightly surprisingly, yes. Both have populations in the high hundreds.

Just checked their relative populations, I'm surprised how similar they are in size. I've visited both locations a number of times, Broadford's population of 620 is close to what I would have expected (I'd have guessed in the 5-600 range) but I'd have guessed around 1,000 for Kyle rather than it's true figure of 739.

 

[swt_passenger]

“Bilton for Hipsburn/Ledbury/Alnmouth”.

There can’t be many stations whose given name is actually the fourthmost settlement from it.

Interestingly, the direct route to Alnmouth over the Duchess Bridge dates from only 1864. Bilton to Alnmouth via Lesbury is almost as far from the station as the outskirts of Alnwick…

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Low Moor could conceivably be used as a railhead for Cleckheaton, but I'm not sure it actually gets much of that potential market. The Arriva Yorkshire 268 bus links the two, but as it runs to Bradford Interchange anyway there's probably not much point changing to the train once you've boarded the bus. Maybe for the Grand Central to/from London it could be worth it.

 

[mmh]

Llanfairpwll for pretty much every town on Anglesey bar Holyhead. Of course, in the main everyone goes to Bangor.

 

[Galvanize]

Not sure if this counts but I’ll say it anyway!
Princes Risborough on the Chiltern Mainline…the station is not located in Princes Risborough…but just outside it in Horsenden!

Next to NO amenities either, certainly not on a Sunday when I was there recently!

 

[Dai Corner]

How about Yeovil Junction Station which is in Sherborne Stoford? Whilst Yeovil has Pen Mill station, it serves a completely different route.

 

[gg1]

Carstairs for Carnwath?

Also (in the case of Edinburgh bound services), Carstairs for Lanark.