Historical UK White Elephant stations - How about Trent?

[Gloster]

Were any race meetings ever held at Gatwick Racecourse after maybe April 1948 (i.e. before the station which had acquired that name was completely rebuilt/further renamed as Gatwick Airport in May 1958)?

I think that racing ended on the outbreak of war or after the 1939 season and it was taken over by the RAF. Gatwick had been a minor regional airport since around 1935, something that seems to have developed out some owners‘ habit of flying to race meetings.

 

[MP33]

In the late 1940s, the two biggest spectator sports did not include Football. They were Horse Racing and Speedway. The original Lea Bridge Station was next door to a Speedway stadium and once the crowds fell off a cliff, it had no real purpose and closed in the 1980s. To re-open with new development.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Were any race meetings ever held at Gatwick Racecourse after maybe April 1948 (i.e. before the station which had acquired that name was completely rebuilt/further renamed as Gatwick Airport in May 1958)?

I think that racing ended on the outbreak of war or after the 1939 season and it was taken over by the RAF. Gatwick had been a minor regional airport since around 1935, something that seems to have developed out some owners‘ habit of flying to race meetings.

Understand that Gatwick Racecourse was used for a National Hunt meeting on Saturday 24th April 1948 with mainline trains calling at the Gatwick Racecourse station from late morning onwards in time for the first race at 1.00 p.m. Believe this was the first time that any trains had called there for several years (= 9 years?) and that the station had had to be specially repainted ahead of the day before being shut again immediately afterwards.

Maybe this was the last meeting at Gatwick Racecourse?

 

[D6130]

For a long time I - and many others - thought that Reston would be a white elephant....but when I passed through earlier today, there were more vehicles in the car park than I have ever seen before. It was about a quarter full.... so things must finally be looking up!

 

[Gloster]

Understand that Gatwick Racecourse was used for a National Hunt meeting on Saturday 24th April 1948 with mainline trains calling at the Gatwick Racecourse station from late morning onwards in time for the first race at 1.00 p.m. Believe this was the first time that any trains had called there for several years (= 9 years?) and that the station had had to be specially repainted ahead of the day before being shut again immediately afterwards.

Maybe this was the last meeting at Gatwick Racecourse?

The SREmG page says that the last race meeting was on 15 June 1940 (after Dunkirk and while the evacuation from western France was going on: “But we don’t want to disappoint the horses.”), but the station was used for a few air pageants in 1948 and 1949.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The SREmG page says that the last race meeting was on 15 June 1940.

That's as may be, but various contemporary newspaper reports definitely do specifically mention the April 1948 National Hunt meet, with maybe 7000 in attendance, as well as the quick repaint job at the specially re-opened for the day Gatwick Racecourse station.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Could Woodford & Hinton - later Woodford Halse - count?

Being the junction for two main routes to the South as well as for a cross country line meant the need for sorting sidings and an engine shed, but it was in a very rural area. Even in the heyday of country buses there was a very sparse bus service suggesting a very low level of passenger demand. I think that most of the population, when the line was open, worked on the railway.

 

[D6130]

Could Woodford & Hinton - later Woodford Halse - count?

Being the junction for two main routes to the South as well as for a cross country line meant the need for sorting sidings and an engine shed, but it was in a very rural area. Even in the heyday of country buses there was a very sparse bus service suggesting a very low level of passenger demand. I think that most of the population, when the line was open, worked on the railway.

....and on a similar theme - not too far away - I give you Verney Junction.

 

[Magdalia]

That's as may be, but various contemporary newspaper reports definitely do specifically mention the April 1948 National Hunt meet, with maybe 7000 in attendance, as well as the quick repaint job at the specially re-opened for the day Gatwick Racecourse station.

The Railway and Canal Historical Society list has Gatwick Airport in use on 24 April 1948 but for an air pageant not a race meeting, with other air pageants on 10 July 1948 and 23 July 1949.

 

[Merle Haggard]

....and on a similar theme - not too far away - I give you Verney Junction.

Indeed. At least a lot happened at Woodford - sometimes went there trainspotting. I remember being on Oxford trains calling at Verney (obviously long after it was a junction), it made Adlestrop look lively The station porter giving the right away, must have been one of the most boring jobs out, probably never spoke to anyone apart from the train crew of passing trains. He always looked miserable and usually wet - I don't remember a canopy, lots of high weeds

 

[Rescars]

Were any race meetings ever held at Gatwick Racecourse after maybe April 1948 (i.e. before the station which had acquired that name was completely rebuilt/further renamed as Gatwick Airport in May 1958)?

AIUI, the last races took place in 1940. The station was closed with the first station for the airport being a little further south at Tinsley Green. When the airport was redeveloped and expanded (including the site of the racecourse), Tinsley Green station was closed and the Racecourse station reopened and renamed.

 

[Gloster]

Two thoughts on this. I have looked at large scale maps for 1946 (there is incomplete coverage and possibly still security restrictions) but can find no evidence of the racecourse still being there. There is also the point that the airfield was fairly busy at times during the war, and sometimes very busy, and so a lot of work would have been necessary to reinstate the racecourse. To do this for just one meeting seems the height of folly.

 

[Ianigsy]

The four platforms at Arthington seem rather generous in hindsight - especially when you consider that the station was built in the fork of the Otley and Harrogate lines, but with no platforms on the west to north side so it was useless as an interchange.

 

[Gloster]

I have found a reference in a report related to its continuing expansion saying that the last meeting was held in 1948 on a shortened course because the wartime perimeter track and the north east/south west runway had removed the south eastern end of the full course. The airfield wasn’t derequisitioned until the following year.

 

[30907]

The four platforms at Arthington seem rather generous in hindsight - especially when you consider that the station was built in the fork of the Otley and Harrogate lines, but with no platforms on the west to north side so it was useless as an interchange.

....unless you wanted to go Otley-Harrogate after the direct Bradford-Harrogate trains were withdrawn, probably pre WW2.

 

[Taunton]

The popularity of racing (principally horse, but also greyhound) was that betting was permitted, and also drinking outside normal pub hours. These were otherwise unknown at the time, and thus the only opportunity for same. Large numbers emerged at the end, inebriated and relieved of all the money they went in with. Railways provided substantial facilities for this traffic, it being divided (extremely broadly) into winter ("National Hunt", over the jumps) and summer (flat racing), for which different racecourses, and indeed horses, prevailed. But an all year excursion traffic suited the railway.

Although serving several racecourses, the GWR had a particular affinity with Newbury, hence the special station, and among several excursions on the day from Paddington the classic Ocean Saloons would be turned out for one, first class only with champagne refreshments (as if they didn't drink enough on the racecourse). The other trains were a good all-year use for the GWR 1930s Excursion Sets, very impressively built for such low-revenue services. Examples of both still at Didcot. There was also a Races Special there from Taunton, likewise regarded as a Grand Day Out, it came in with a well-polished Newton Abbot Castle, having picked up there and at Exeter, returning after the last race. I never went in it, but others in the family certainly did.

Back to White Elephant stations. Can we nominate Highbridge, where especially on the S&D side it seemed to have as many platforms as it did daily departures.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I have found a reference in a report related to its continuing expansion saying that the last meeting was held in 1948 on a shortened course because the wartime perimeter track and the north east/south west runway had removed the south eastern end of the full course. The airfield wasn’t derequisitioned until the following year.

Thanks for confirming. Might just have been the very last race meeting there and so the last time the old Gatwick Racecourse station was used, prior to its 1958 makeover.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Hammersmith and Chiswick must be a contender. Built in a fairly unpopulated area halfway between what were at the time small Middlesex settlements, the line at H+C station pointed north, and went in a semi-circle to South Acton, where it joined what's now the North London Line. More on it here.

 

[Mr. SW]

Hammersmith and Chiswick must be a contender. Built in a fairly unpopulated area halfway between what were at the time small Middlesex settlements, the line at H+C station pointed north, and went in a semi-circle to South Acton, where it joined what's now the North London Line.

I have a feeling this was a spoiler to stop the (original) GWR building more lines through West London, hence the bizarre route. I think the original LSWR Gunnersbury/Turnham Green/Hammersmith/Shepherd's Bush/Kensington (Addison Road) line was built for the same purpose.

Anyway.

Nominate Queensbury, Yorkshire. Six platforms and accessed by a steep and long lane from the village it allegedly served.

 

[Rescars]

I also nominate Central Croydon. An entire branch line built by the LBSC to make trains even more convenient for the townsfolk than either East or West Croydon. Opened to traffic in 1868 it didn't catch on and was closed in 1871. The LBSC tried again and reopened it in 1886, but again without success. It closed finally in 1890 after which Croydon Town Hall was built on the site.

 

[daodao]

Could Woodford & Hinton - later Woodford Halse - count?

Being the junction for two main routes to the South as well as for a cross country line meant the need for sorting sidings and an engine shed, but it was in a very rural area. Even in the heyday of country buses there was a very sparse bus service suggesting a very low level of passenger demand. I think that most of the population, when the line was open, worked on the railway.

While Woodford Halse is a relatively small place and had a railway station and associated facilities disproportionate to its size, it is not devoid of population compared to somewhere like Riccarton Junction.

In the 2021 Census, the population of the parish of Woodford cum Membris, which comprises principally Woodford Halse and the adjacent larger village of Hinton just on the other side of the former GCR, was 4,284. The community is currently served by Stagecoach bus route 200 (Banbury - Woodford Halse - Daventry) which runs hourly Mon-Sat.

 

[E27007]

The Northern Heights extension to the London Underground, construction of the infrastructure was either in an advanced state and even complete, construction stalled due to WW2 and post-WW2 the economy unable to fund completion of the project the extension produced a number of stations which never had passengers, eg Highgate low-level platforms.



LT Northern Heights Line

 

[edwin_m]

The Northern Heights extension to the London Underground, construction of the infrastructure was either in an advanced state and even complete, construction stalled due to WW2 and post-WW2 the economy unable to fund completion of the project the extension produced a number of stations which never had passengers, eg Highgate low-level platforms.

View attachment 165673

LT Northern Heights Line

I believe the main reason for abandoning this was that the section north of Edgware was designated as green belt so the Bushey Heath extension would have served almost nobody. Is this really Highgate "low level", considering that the surviving platforms are underground and therefore much lower?

 

[The exile]

I believe the main reason for abandoning this was that the section north of Edgware was designated as green belt so the Bushey Heath extension would have served almost nobody.

Same reason that Chessington South remained a terminus. Was its up platform ever used?

 

[Gloster]

Same reason that Chessington South remained a terminus. Was its up platform ever used?

I believe that it was only ever used for stabling.

 

[Merle Haggard]

While Woodford Halse is a relatively small place and had a railway station and associated facilities disproportionate to its size, it is not devoid of population compared to somewhere like Riccarton Junction.

In the 2021 Census, the population of the parish of Woodford cum Membris, which comprises principally Woodford Halse and the adjacent larger village of Hinton just on the other side of the former GCR, was 4,284. The community is currently served by Stagecoach bus route 200 (Banbury - Woodford Halse - Daventry) which runs hourly Mon-Sat.

It's a fair point, but it would interesting (and probably difficult!) to know what the population was before the G.C. was built in the late 1890s.
It's in what has become an affluent part of Northamptonshire with its rural nature possibly an attraction.

 

[Bradford PA]

....unless you wanted to go Otley-Harrogate after the direct Bradford-Harrogate trains were withdrawn, probably pre WW2.

There were only 3/4 trains each way per day running (between Ilkley-Leeds) via Otley. Very few trains stopped on the mainline platforms so connections would be virtually impossible. Regular direct buses were available between Otley-Harrogate or by changing at Pool Corner. Ironically, Arthington station would probably be useful nowadays for serving the considerable commuter village of Bramhope.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Sep 2024 ==

It's a fair point, but it would interesting (and probably difficult!) to know what the population was before the G.C. was built in the late 1890s.
It's in what has become an affluent part of Northamptonshire with its rural nature possibly an attraction.

Woodford grew up largely because of the presence of the railway. This is well-explained in this excellent book :

 

[70014IronDuke]

Trent was considerably used by staff going to the otherwise remote Toton loco depot and major yard. There was a BR bus linking the two.

Not really important - as soon as Trent closed they just changed the bus route to connect at Long Eaton
(presumably 95% of the staff using this service arrived by the Derby - Nottingham locals, not the north-south expresses).

As it happened I changed at Trent on many of the journeys I made in the last year or so before its closure. The services from St Pancras to both Nottingham and Derby were sparse but there was a, by comparison, more frequent service connecting Nottingham, Trent and Derby which you haven't mentioned. This meant that the quicker way to Derby at some times of the day was to catch a Nottingham and change at Trent rather than wait for the next Derby train, and vice versa. Also, there were 6 stations between Leicester and Trent (although Loughborough was the only one of them served by expresses) for which the option of changing at Leicester obviously didn't apply. Have a look at the timetable of those days, the Midland Main Line had a very thin service.

It was also the case that there were expresses which did not call at either Derby or Nottingham but only Trent - for example the Bradford which left St Pancras about mid-day - but passengers for both destinations would each have a similar service by changing there.

Of course - this was the very raison d'etre for Trent's existance (caused, of course, by the impossibility to serve both Leicester and Nottingham with a traind bound for Sheffield etc without reversal at Nottingham).
I'm not saying it was not useful at times - what I'm asking is was it worth it, building and equipping a big station just for this traffic?

By the mid-60s, BR obviously thought not.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Trent only had two platforms and lasted just over 100 years in its original form. Obviously it had waiting rooms and refreshment facilities to suit its role but it was hardly ‘big’. It also aided operational efficiency in terms of staff access to other nearby facilities.

A bit like Hellifield in a way.

 

[AY1975]

How about Norton Bridge, just north of Stafford on the West Coast Main Line? AFAIK it has no significant industrial or residential areas in its immediate vicinity, and the nearest significant settlement is Eccleshall which I think is about 3 miles away.

Norton Bridge, along with nearby Barlaston and Wedgwood stations, has been discussed in a number of threads in the past, such as this one: www.railforums.co.uk/threads/wedgwood-barlaston-and-norton-bridge-stations.197904