Railway Geography: Winners and Losers

[Yunchy]

York's a big winner - it must be the furthest north destination to have a regular under 2hr service to London? Most places along the flat areas of the east are winners in being served by the ECML - small towns such as Retford and Grantham having regular direct services to major cities.

Leeds is not really a winner for its geography - most lines have to run in using curvy topographical alignments. The most direct routes north and south are not matched with lines. The fastest route north to Newcastle requires a dogleg via York while the fastest route south to Sheffield/East Midlands is on the extremely slow and indirect Cross Country line.

In the same area, Harrogate's a loser for geography. A reasonably large town with high demand for long-distance travel but very much on a branch line and no longer on the Leeds - Northallerton line that would give it better connections north.

 

[Ianno87]

York's a big winner - it must be the furthest north destination to have a regular under 2hr service to London? Most places along the flat areas of the east are winners in being served by the ECML - small towns such as Retford and Grantham having regular direct services to major cities.

In a similar vein, Warrington (in normal times) does very well with an hourly non-stop Euston service! (And Wigan by extension with only 1 stop on the way).

Both towns also well-connected northwards, plus to/from Liverpool and Manchester.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Haywards Heath and Three Bridges are little known outside the locality but they enjoy more frequent services than many famous towns.

Three Bridges sounds like a little village station!

'Aywards 'Eath is quite well known in the South as being on the way to Brighton, I would suggest, although it's yet another example of a commuter town that gradually grew up surrounding the station once the (London -> Brighton) railway was built, as there really wasn't an awful lot there beforehand.

Agree your comment regarding 'Three Bridges' (!)

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

In a similar vein, Warrington (in normal times) does very well with an hourly non-stop Euston service! (And Wigan by extension with only 1 stop on the way).
Both towns also well-connected northwards, plus to/from Liverpool and Manchester.

Warrington historically benefitted from being the lowest road/rail crossing of the Mersey, until the direct rail route to Liverpool via Runcorn was opened in 1869.
It's not quite the same in Yorkshire, but it's why Doncaster got its prime place on the ECML.
Sometimes, opening a new route led to the downgrade of previously important nodes - Gloucester was in that category after the Severn Tunnel opened.
Stirling and Perth would probably have better services today if the Forth and Tay bridges had not been built.

 

[zwk500]

'Aywards 'Eath is quite well known in the South as being on the way to Brighton, I would suggest, although it's yet another example of a commuter town that gradually grew up surrounding the station once the (London -> Brighton) railway was built, as there really wasn't an awful lot there beforehand.

Well known by those who use the train as nearly everything stops there, but otherwise you'd have to live in Mid Sussex to know much more about it than be vaguely aware you've seen it on a road sign (which tbh is as much as anybody really needs to know about Haywards Heath).

A little to the Northwest and Edenbridge is a surprisingly big winner for such a small town (and bigger towns nearby), as it has stations on both the Redhill-Tonbridge and London-Uckfield routes. Historically it also had routes to Tunbridge Wells, Eastbourne and Brighton. Most suggestions on here are about single stations rather than towns with separate stations on their routes, so it's interesting to see the suggestions. Farnborough also comes to mind in this category.

 

[Grecian 1998]

Chesterfield and Mansfield, two rivals (in footballing terms anyway) in the East Midlands, have an interesting discrepancy in services. Chesterfield has hourly or better services to London, Plymouth (normally), Edinburgh (normally), Norwich and Liverpool as well as many large cities in between. Mansfield has half-hourly services to Nottingham or hourly services to Worksop. Better than the 31 year gap from 1964-95 with no services, but not quite as good as the town to the west.

Exeter has significantly better services than Plymouth given it's less than half the size, particularly local services. Exeter's commuter network extends as far as Axminster, Barnstaple, Exmouth and Paignton with at least hourly services from all those points. Plymouth has 2 hourly Gunnislake trains and somewhat sporadic services from East Cornwall and Ivybridge. Geography has also famously not favoured Plymouth - Dartmoor and the Haldon Hills have necessitated the somewhat indirect current route. Between Newton Abbot and Hemerdon this has a lower maximum speed limit (60mph) than Exeter - Axminster (85mph) and part of Exeter - Barnstaple line (70mph for a short stretch) elsewhere in Devon.

 

[Bevan Price]

St. Helens. Population over 100,000. But for the then Lord Derby not wamting a railway across his land, Stephenson's Liverpool & Manchester would have passed close to the current town centre, instead of being forced to pass almost 2 miles south of the centre.

 

[paulmch]

Thetford is undoubtedly a winner - if I have it right they have access to all but 3 of the largest 15 cities in the UK either directly or with one change (Cardiff, Bristol and Coventry being the odd ones out)

 

[dk1]

Thetford is undoubtedly a winner - if I have it right they have access to all but 3 of the largest 15 cities in the UK either directly or with one change (Cardiff, Bristol and Coventry being the odd ones out)

I’m a little confused by what you mean. Are you saying Thetford has direct access to 12 of the largest UK cities with one change?

 

[Alex365Dash]

Thetford is undoubtedly a winner - if I have it right they have access to all but 3 of the largest 15 cities in the UK either directly or with one change (Cardiff, Bristol and Coventry being the odd ones out)

While probably not permitted routes, you could get to Bristol with one change at Sheffield, Coventry with one change at Stockport, and Cardiff with one change at Nottingham!

 

[telstarbox]

Lewisham is a slight loser in that it is a hub station only served by Southeastern Metro trains, whereas Stratford or Harrow & Wealdstone also get regional ones.

 

[dk1]

While probably not permitted routes, you could get to Bristol or Coventry with one change at Sheffield, and Cardiff with one change at Nottingham!

There is a direct morning Bristol-Stansted so 1 change at Ely. If not Chesterfield can be good for a Bristol change & Stockport for Cardiff too.

 

[Recessio]

The Seaford branch, due to Seaford and Newhaven, give some really tiny villages a good 30m/hourly service to Brighton, and one direct London train each peak.

Bishopstone and Southease come to mind as stations that I'm genuinely astonished aren't cut as economy measures.

 

[infobleep]

I don't know if this counts but Ash has 3 services an hour, Wanborough 2 with an occasional 3 some hours. Whereas apart from the peaks Shalford and Farnborough North only have 1 service per hour.

 

[Tryfan]

As someone else has already said, Chesterfield a winner with its MML and NE/SW services.

Mansfield an absolute loser. Even with the introduction of the Robin Hood Line it’s poorly served. Reputed to have been one of the largest towns in England without passenger railway services. So it had Alfreton & Mansfield Parkway “given” to it, only 8 miles away

 

[AlterEgo]

Nothing went wrong - the key at the time of planning and building MK was the car so connection to the M1 was more important. Trains were old fashioned and rubbish. The car was king. People could use Bletchley or Wolverton if they had to use a slow old train.

I am not even sure there was a plan for an MK station at the start or if there was the desire to build it was low!

Indeed, MK's birth came just after Beeching, and the idea was for individual hypermobility with the private car.

Galling to think both the Varsity line to Cambridge and Oxford, and the Newport Pagnell branch closed just *after* Milton Keynes broke ground!

 

[gerryuk]

Based on population and usage, Doncaster must be one of the best served stations due to its geography, Chesterfield is not far behind. I am assuming Chesterfield does well as many people in South Sheffield use it, rather than Sheffield Midland.

 

[EssexGonzo]

If I’ve got this right, how about Shenfield (winner) vs Brentwood (loser)?

Shenfield has a population of about 10k vs Brentwood 75k.

Shenfield benefits from Ipswich/Colchester/Clacton services, Southend services and Crossrail. For some reason the lines happen to meet here and it’s four-tracked to Liverpool St. Probably due to geographical convenience at the time the railway was built?

Quickest scheduled Shenfield to LST is 25 mins vs Brentwood 42 mins.

 

[johncrossley]

If I’ve got this right, how about Shenfield (winner) vs Brentwood (loser)?

Shenfield has a population of about 10k vs Brentwood 75k.

Shenfield benefits from Ipswich/Colchester/Clacton services, Southend services and Crossrail. For some reason the lines happen to meet here and it’s four-tracked to Liverpool St. Probably due to geographical convenience at the time the railway was built?

Quickest scheduled Shenfield to LST is 25 mins vs Brentwood 42 mins.

In reality, Shenfield is the de facto station for the Brentwood urban area. Similar to how Three Bridges is the main station for Crawley (if you don't include Gatwick), even though there is also a Crawley station. Looking at the map, it is obvious that Brentwood and Shenfield can be considered as a single entity. You can also see that the amount of built up area around Shenfield station is quite substantial and comparable to that around Brentwood station.

 

[Llandudno]

Based on population and usage, Doncaster must be one of the best served stations due to its geography, Chesterfield is not far behind. I am assuming Chesterfield does well as many people in South Sheffield use it, rather than Sheffield Midland.

Chesterfield is a railhead for obviously Chesterfield itself, but also North East Derbyshire, Bolsover, parts of Derbyshire Dales and south Sheffield.

Probably a catchment well in excess of 300,000.

In a normal year, including interchanges has usage of nearly 2,000,000 passengers per annum.

And if you add in those that travel without a ticket between Chesterfield-Dronfield-Sheffield-Alfreton because all four stations don’t have ticket barriers....

 

[EssexGonzo]

In reality, Shenfield is the de facto station for the Brentwood urban area. Similar to how Three Bridges is the main station for Crawley (if you don't include Gatwick), even though there is also a Crawley station. Looking at the map, it is obvious that Brentwood and Shenfield can be considered as a single entity. You can also see that the amount of built up area around Shenfield station is quite substantial and comparable to that around Brentwood station.

View attachment 95567

Not entirely. The population density close to Shenfield station is far, far lower than that close to Brentwood station. The large swathe of land called Hutton Mount consists entirely of very large, detached housing the minimum cost of which is £1m. The average of which is possibly £2m+. It’s one of the top two highest priced housing areas in Essex. Even up to 15 minutes walk away from the station, many houses are in the £1m+ bracket. So the shaded area on the map does not relate to population density.

In addition, Brentwood station is on several major bus routes, whereas Shenfield is on one or two.

And you’ve sort of made my point: Shenfield is a parish (?) within Brentwood and has the disproportionately better rail service than the much more densely populated Brentwood. The fact that they’re “connected” wasn’t in the OP’s definition?

 

[Mikey C]

I don't think anyone's mention the place which must surely have a disproportionate number of trains, which is Clapham Junction!

Old Oak Common will become another place with an incredibly good service, due to it being a major place for connecting, rather than because people want to go there in particular.

 

[Ianno87]

Old Oak Common will become another place with an incredibly good service, due to it being a major place for connecting, rather than because people want to go there in particular.

Until, like Stratford, a whole load of development springs up and people do want to go there!

 

[306024]

Not entirely. The population density close to Shenfield station is far, far lower than that close to Brentwood station. The large swathe of land called Hutton Mount consists entirely of very large, detached housing the minimum cost of which is £1m. The average of which is possibly £2m+. It’s one of the top two highest priced housing areas in Essex. Even up to 15 minutes walk away from the station, many houses are in the £1m+ bracket. So the shaded area on the map does not relate to population density.

In addition, Brentwood station is on several major bus routes, whereas Shenfield is on one or two.

And you’ve sort of made my point: Shenfield is a parish (?) within Brentwood and has the disproportionately better rail service than the much more densely populated Brentwood. The fact that they’re “connected” wasn’t in the OP’s definition?

As first suggested way back in post #36, so I agree

Some Brentwood - London commuters do in fact travel via Shenfield, and with the new all stations peak timetable for Brentwood this could increase in a few weeks time for those still commuting.

 

[matchmaker]

Tyndrum (pop 187) has a fairly good service in relation to its size...

 

[Taunton]

Anywhere on the route of one of the original mainlines = winner. Elsewhere = loser.

Rugby v Northampton is the example

Although not always. Watford Junction until recently was an excellent railhead, well used for long distance and high value business travel, for places as far apart as Heathrow Airport or Essex, let alone the locality. Pretty much lost nowadays. Have found the most effective route can be to go up to Euston and come back through again nonstop.

 

[DarloRich]

Although not always. Watford Junction until recently was an excellent railhead, well used for long distance and high value business travel, for places as far apart as Heathrow Airport or Essex, let alone the locality. Pretty much lost nowadays. Have found the most effective route can be to go up to Euston and come back through again nonstop.

Good point - I was looking at 19th century rather than 21st century!

 

[Statto]

Newton Le Willows a winner, only a small Town but with direct services to Liverpool-Manchester-Manchester Airport-Leeds-York-Newcastle-Chester & North Wales

 

[GordonT]

Tyndrum (pop 187) has a fairly good service in relation to its size...

Presumably a candidate for smallest population to have more than one station.

 

[Deafdoggie]

It's the same with Milton Keynes and Northampton, the former only exists because of the railway, while the latter deliberately refused to be on the mainline.

This is often believed. But actually when the line was built locomotives were not powerful enough to get up the required gradient. Once locomotives were powerful enough, Northampton was quickly added to the rail network, at their request.