TRIVIA: Lines with no closed stations

[bramling]

I don't think the old SER mainline between Redhill and Ashford's had one either

Tonbridge station is not on its original site, the first station being the other side of the road bridge. However if one deems this a resiting rather than closure then yes this line would qualify.

Some London suburban branches would count. Hither Green to Dartford via Sidcup springs to mind.

How about Tyseley to Stratford-upon-Avon?

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I had thought of the GEML beween Stratford and Colchester but that depends if you count the ECR temporary terminus west of the present Romford Station.

Also Margareting Halt, between Ingatestone and Chelmsford, plus Ingatestone station has been resited.

 

[steamybrian]

Wimbledon-Epsom-Dorking-Horsham-Littlehampton
no closed stations although the first Wimbledon station was slightly west of the present station

 

[yorksrob]

Tonbridge station is not on its original site, the first station being the other side of the road bridge. However if one deems this a resiting rather than closure then yes this line would qualify.

Some London suburban branches would count. Hither Green to Dartford via Sidcup springs to mind.

How about Tyseley to Stratford-upon-Avon?

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Also Margareting Halt, between Ingatestone and Chelmsford, plus Ingatestone station has been resited.

Ooh, that's a good point about Tonbridge.

Regarding suburban lines, I don't think anything's closed between Lewisham and Hayes.

 

[londonteacher]

Stourbridge Town branch line?

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Stourbridge Town branch line?

It has a closed section north of the current station site, does that count? I mean the current station is the third site.

 

[bramling]

Ooh, that's a good point about Tonbridge.

Regarding suburban lines, I don't think anything's closed between Lewisham and Hayes.

That one sprung to mind … however both Lower Sydenham and New Beckenham have been resited. So again depends on what the “rules” are.

Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog has nothing closed until one reaches Ffestiniog itself.

Wirral Railway to West Kirby is another one - everything between Birkenhead and West Kirby is as built (though West Kirby itself has been very fractionally re-sited). There’s a closed station on the New Brighton branch though.

Basingstoke-Reading would seem to quality too.

 

[Grecian 1998]

I don't think there are any closed stations between Dorchester South and Bournemouth.

Between Waterloo and Bournemouth closed stations are-
Clapham Common - closed 1863 (between Clapham Jn and Earlsfield)
Kingston- first station closed 1845 (Between Berrylands and Surbiton)
Bramshott Halt- closed 1940s (Farnborough area)
Atlantic Park Hostel Halt- closed in the 1940s rebuilt and reopened as Southampton Airport
Blechynden- closed 1895 (replaced By Southampton Central)

Also Boscombe. Not sure why that one closed.

 

[Gloster]

I don't think there are any closed stations between Dorchester South and Bournemouth.

Meyrick Park Halt West of Bournemouth Central and Woodsford Halt near Moreton.

 

[topydre]

I don't think the Heart of Wales Line had any stations closed

 

[geordieblue]

Crossrail central section.

 

[Springs Branch]

Wigan NW to Liverpool Lime St via St Helens still has all its original stations, as far as I'm aware.


Pushing the envelope and allowing a relocated & modernised city centre station, then the Wigan Wallgate to Liverpool Exchange / Moorfields line also retains all its intermediate stations, as does Ormskirk to Liverpool Exchange / Moorfields.
(The Southport to Liverpool line doesn't quite make it, since Altcar Rifle Range station closed in 1921)

 

[Watershed]

Crossrail central section.

...also a candidate for "lines with no open stations"

 

[Captain Bigwig]

The Great Western Mainline from Paddington to Didcot (53 miles), the only closed stations I can think of are those that were directly resited/ replaced (Hanwell was rebuilt 250m east of its original location, the original Maidenhead Riverside east of the Thames was replaced with the current Maidenhead and Taplow stations, Cholsey replaced Moulsford) and Westbourne Park closed on the Great Western main line but stayed open as an Underground station. Depends on the "rules" of this game.

 

[birchesgreen]

On a related note, I've wondered about the WCML either side of Birmingham New Street. Between Brum and Cov, no stations have closed - in fact with the opening of International - the number of stations has increased. But on the Wolverhampton side, lots of stations have closed over the years - Monument Lane, Winson Green, Soho, Albion, Monmore Green, etc. (Of course Galton Bridge is a new station). Other than just a simple coincidence, I'm not sure why this is!

I think you may be right though a couple of stations (Tile Hill and Berskwell) have been re-sited (technically they would have been closed for a time i suppose).

 

[Parallel]

Have any stations on the Conwy Valley between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog closed? I only ask as some lightly used stations are still open such as Dolgarrog and Roman Bridge.

 

[Djgr]

Have any stations on the Conwy Valley between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog closed? I only ask as some lightly used stations are still open such as Dolgarrog and Roman Bridge.

Glan Conwy was closed for a time (1964 to 1970?)

 

[pdeaves]

The GWR's Windsor branch once had a very short-lived station called Chalvey Halt, so doesn't fit the criteria unfortunately.

Slightly further upstream along the Thames, the Henley branch opened with just the one intermediate station at Shiplake, but this was later joined by Wargrave. Both stations remain in use.

If looking at shorter routes, you could argue that today's Marlow line meets the criteria; there are no closed stations on the remaining route. Marlow itself is debatable, though, as it was resited. On the current route, there is no closed station as the original was a little further north and further west.

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How about Reading to Tonbridge - not currently a through service but there used to be one for many years. AFAIK all of the stations are still open. That'd be 66mi2ch.

Westcott Range, between Dorking and Gomshall, closed c.1925 so that doesn't quite work.

 

[mike57]

I would have thought quite a few South of London routes would fall into this category, Victoria - Horsham via Sutton and Epsom, have there been any closures?. Also what about Coastway, from Brighton westwards?

 

[Class800]

Any on the North Kent line? I.e. Dartford to Deptford

 

[norbitonflyer]

Are there any tube lines or London overground routes which would comply with the criteria?

None of them are very long by the standards of some of the other lines discussed. The longest is the Central Line, but that has closed stations at British Museum and Wood Lane.

 

[Mat17]

Huddersfield to Penistone had Berry Brow closed under Beeching, but then reopened in 1989 on a slightly different site. All other stations have stayed open throughout (barring wartime cuts).
Running through to Barnsley* both Silkstone and Dodworth closed in 1959, but reopened in 1989 (the former as Silkstone Common).
All good through to Meadowhall with Chapeltown only moving without being closed, but then there's Meadowhall itself which serves as a replacement for Brightside but alas not Attercliffe Road.

Funny I thought about Penistone to Huddersfield.

Between Barnsley and Dodworth there was Summer Lane station, so there's one gone there.

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Manchester to Hadfield, I know one station was relocated and a few opened new, but I don't think there's been any closures (at least as far as Hadfield... We'll not talk about the bit beyond the buffer stops).

 

[gg1]

On a related note, I've wondered about the WCML either side of Birmingham New Street. Between Brum and Cov, no stations have closed - in fact with the opening of International - the number of stations has increased. But on the Wolverhampton side, lots of stations have closed over the years - Monument Lane, Winson Green, Soho, Albion, Monmore Green, etc. (Of course Galton Bridge is a new station). Other than just a simple coincidence, I'm not sure why this is!

It’s down to different courses of development either side of the Birmingham.

This map illustrates it quite well, by the late 19th century much of the Black County was built up (though nowhere near as densely as is the case now), including along the full length of the Stour Valley line, hence the large number of relatively closely spaced stations, too closely spaced to be practical on a busy mid 20th century twin track mainline. Additionally I can't imagine the likes of Albion, being surrounded by factories rather than houses, had particularly high passenger numbers in the 20th century.

To the East however urban development only occurred as the Birmingham conurbation expanded, on the map Adderley Park is close to the eastern edge of the conurbation with all other stations between there and Coventry effectively being rural, and due to the much lower population density far more widely spaced.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14&lat=52.48245&lon=-1.91524&layers=6&b=1

 

[bramling]

I would have thought quite a few South of London routes would fall into this category, Victoria - Horsham via Sutton and Epsom, have there been any closures?. Also what about Coastway, from Brighton westwards?

West Coastway has had a few closures in various places. East Coastway less so - between Brighton and Eastbourne the only closures IIRC are the original Falmer and the resited Polegate.

 

[nw12398]

I don't think the Heart of Wales Line had any stations closed

As far as I can tell, no closures between Llangadog and Craven Arms, but 4 between Llanelli and Llangadog.

 

[bramling]

I don't think the Heart of Wales Line had any stations closed

Nothing closed between Llandovery and Craven Arms, so that most certainly counts. There’s two closed stations between Llandeilo and Llangadog.

As the Central Wales line proper was constructed from Craven Arms to Llandovery, this means this does very much qualify - the line is completely as built. Though with the caveat that the various LNWR routes to Swansea Victoria and Carmarthen are of course no longer with us.

West of Llandovery was constructed from the Llanelli end, and is historically a separate railway. This section is fared slightly less well in terms of closures, though still hasn't done too badly. Ironically the Craven Arms to Llandovery section includes some basket cases, whilst the Llandovery to Swansea / Llanelli / Carmarthen section is more populated.

 

[Farningham]

I would have thought quite a few South of London routes would fall into this category, Victoria - Horsham via Sutton and Epsom, have there been any closures?. Also what about Coastway, from Brighton westwards?

Epsom (LBSCR), closed after the 1923 grouping, services extended to the LSWR station the other side of the junction

 

[bramling]

Epsom (LBSCR), closed after the 1923 grouping, services extended to the LSWR station the other side of the junction

Guildford New line qualifies - all as built between Surbiton and Guildford via Cobham.

 

[Efini92]

Wigan NW to Liverpool Lime St via St Helens still has all its original stations, as far as I'm aware.


Pushing the envelope and allowing a relocated & modernised city centre station, then the Wigan Wallgate to Liverpool Exchange / Moorfields line also retains all its intermediate stations, as does Ormskirk to Liverpool Exchange / Moorfields.
(The Southport to Liverpool line doesn't quite make it, since Altcar Rifle Range station closed in 1921)

Wasn’t there a station between garswood and St. Helens central?

 

[pdeaves]

Manchester to Hadfield, I know one station was relocated and a few opened new, but I don't think there's been any closures (at least as far as Hadfield... We'll not talk about the bit beyond the buffer stops).

As far as I can tell:
Gorton resited;
Fairfield resited;
couple of Dukinfield stations gone;
Hyde North platforms gone;
Godley East gone;
Mottram staff halt gone (cheating maybe with that!);
Dinting resited.

So a surprising amount of change.

 

[Watershed]

Manchester to Hadfield, I know one station was relocated and a few opened new, but I don't think there's been any closures (at least as far as Hadfield... We'll not talk about the bit beyond the buffer stops).

As far as I can tell:
Gorton resited;
Fairfield resited;
couple of Dukinfield stations gone;
Hyde North platforms gone;
Godley East gone;
Mottram staff halt gone (cheating maybe with that!);
Dinting resited.

So a surprising amount of change.

Yes, I was about to say, Godley East and Godley co-existed for nearly 9 years (albeit with the former only having a "Parliamentary" service level), so it's difficult to say that it was merely a resiting.