[Trivia] Smallest Stations in the Biggest Towns (or Cities)?

[Zomboid]

Ipswich has 4 platforms and a population of 145k in the town (2011 census via Wikipedia) or 178k for the built up area.

 

[Shred Metal]

Ipswich has 4 platforms and a population of 145k in the town (2011 census via Wikipedia) or 178k for the built up area.

I get 151,500 for the 21/22 census, so into fours that would be 37,875 people per platform. Not bad!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jun 2025 ==

Burnley Central has 1 platform. Population of Burnley Borough is 94,435. (It does have two other stations of course).

Manchester Road seems to be the main station by passenger numbers, but still only has two platforms. I’m getting 78,000 for just the town though.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jun 2025 ==

Stockport population 295,000
Platforms 4.5 (4 regular platforms and platform 0 which is only open at busy times)
Ratio 1:59000 or 1:73750

I’ve just checked this one, but unfortunately the population was for the Stockport Borough and not just the town on its own - which is apparently 118,000 from the 2021 census. That would make it 1 to 29,500 with 4 platforms, or 1 to 23,600.

 

[Zomboid]

I'm going to game the rules here...

London.
Liverpool Street is the busiest station, so that's the "main" station in the city. It has 19 main line platforms, 2 on Crossrail, 2 Central line and 2 on the Neopolitan line, so 25.

For a population of 8.9 million that's 356k per platform.

 

[Shred Metal]

Gateshead
Population 200,000
No "BR" station with >2 platforms
Ratio 1:100,000

(OK, so Heworth has 4 platforms in total, but we are getting back into the Sunderland scenario, and Gateshead Metro station, serving the town centre only has 2)

Back in the day, Gateshead East and Gateshead West had a total of 4.

Well, if Sunderland can get a place on this list with an asterisk, and a ‘main’ station also served by the Metro, then maybe Gateshead can as well. But then again, if we allow Metro, we then allow Merseyrail, Overground and so on.. Birkenhead might be worth looking into!

 

[JamesRowden]

Barnstaple station has 1 platform and acts as the local station with bus links for various towns including:

• Barnstaple (31275)
• Braunton (10217)
• Ilfracombe (11184)
• Combe Martin (2784)
• Lynton and Lynmouth (1405)
• Fremington (5321)
• Bideford (18260)

So at least 80446 for 1 platform.

 

[Shred Metal]

I’ve been using this site for the statistics, if anyone was interested.. https://citypopulation.de/en/uk/cities/england/

However, going back on previous entries I’ve found that some populations don’t seem as true. For example, Sunderland is listed here with 245,000 (I believe) however the statistics site has a Sunderland BUA (Built Up Area) at 168,000, and nearby Gateshead at 115,000.

It’s frustrating, and so pointless in this moment, but I feel the need to go back and cite all populations from the same source!

 

[duffield]

Stockport population 295,000
Platforms 4.5 (4 regular platforms and platform 0 which is only open at busy times)
Ratio 1:59000 or 1:73750

Being a bit picky, platform 0 is used all day, e.g. nearly all the Norwich trains, most of the Buxton trains and most of the Hazel Grove trains use it.

 

[Jakko542]

Salford, maybe? Population 270,000 or thereabouts and only two platforms at Crescent, albeit soon to be three.
Edit - Just under 130,000 for Salford itself apparently if you shave off Eccles, Walkden, Pendlebury, et al. I stand (self) corrected!

 

[Magdalia]

he statistics site has a Sunderland BUA (Built Up Area) at 168,000, and nearby Gateshead at 115,000.

I have a spreadsheet downloaded from the ONS website that lists 2021 census population numbers for all built up areas with a population more than 5000.

It agrees with these numbers for Sunderland and Gateshead.

 

[QBall21]

Dundee has four for 148,000. That is one per 37,000

 

[Scotty]

I'm going to game the rules here...

London.
Liverpool Street is the busiest station, so that's the "main" station in the city. It has 19 main line platforms, 2 on Crossrail, 2 Central line and 2 on the Neopolitan line, so 25.

For a population of 8.9 million that's 356k per platform.

The City of London has about 10k population....

 

[Llandudno]

Being a bit picky, platform 0 is used all day, e.g. nearly all the Norwich trains, most of the Buxton trains and most of the Hazel Grove trains use it.

I don’t think platform 0 is used very often these days by any stopping trains including Norwich and Buxton lines.

Access to platform 0 is separate from the normal ticket barriered gate line to the other platforms, consequently ticket checking at platform 0 is rare

 

[swt_passenger]

I’ve been using this site for the statistics, if anyone was interested.. https://citypopulation.de/en/uk/cities/england/

However, going back on previous entries I’ve found that some populations don’t seem as true. For example, Sunderland is listed here with 245,000 (I believe) however the statistics site has a Sunderland BUA (Built Up Area) at 168,000, and nearby Gateshead at 115,000.

It’s frustrating, and so pointless in this moment, but I feel the need to go back and cite all populations from the same source!

I always consider Sunderland’s population as completely arbitrary. If the dice had landed differently in the 1974 reorganisation Washington could just as easily have been linked with Gateshead. As a Newcastle resident in the 60s, I saw Sunderland as a relatively unimportant small town in Durham, and it still seems like that to my mind.

 

[dcbwhaley]

Being a bit picky, platform 0 is used all day, e.g. nearly all the Norwich trains, most of the Buxton trains and most of the Hazel Grove trains use it.

That was pre-covid
Now it is often closed ,even at peak times, and Buxton and 'Grove trains now usually arrive at platform 4 and leave from platform 1. Often proceeded by a Nottingham/Norwich EMR

 

[duffield]

I don’t think platform 0 is used very often these days by any stopping trains including Norwich and Buxton lines.

Access to platform 0 is separate from the normal ticket barriered gate line to the other platforms, consequently ticket checking at platform 0 is rare

Actually looking at RTT for the last week shows that it varies wildly from day to day, with anything from zero to eight of the Norwich bound services using P0 on any given day, but the most common number of services stopping there was five. Nothing appears to have used it yesterday, but on Monday there were more than 20 Buxton services and last Friday more than 15.

 

[vic-rijrode]

I always consider Sunderland’s population as completely arbitrary. If the dice had landed differently in the 1974 reorganisation Washington could just as easily have been linked with Gateshead. As a Newcastle resident in the 60s, I saw Sunderland as a relatively unimportant small town in Durham, and it still seems like that to my mind.

As a recent immigrant to Sunderland, I usually don't see Newcastle at all.....where is it?

 

[ian1944]

I've long since decided that it's impossible to make meaningful population comparisons by place because of the difference between historical local authority boundaries, current ditto, and surrounding built-up area. For example, Bolton is now a metropolitan borough with the grab of such as Farnworth and Horwich, it used to be a rather smaller county borough, and its current built-up area is contiguous with Salford MBC's via Farnworth/Walkden and by extension all other parts of Greater Manchester.

Another example nearby - Sale had a population of c55000 in its final days as a municipal borough last century, it's not much more now within that historical boundary. At least until recently, some sources* quoted a figure of 134000 for "Sale", implying within that same boundary but totally ludicrous given how little of it was not already developed at the Trafford takeover. It transpired that that was the population of the part of Greater Manchester's built-up area running from Sale south-eastwards along the Mersey valley and lazily given just its name, despite including a chunk of Manchester city comprising Northenden and Wythenshawe.

* One being self-satisfied, bureaucratic and acronym-ridden Wikipedia, who took an inordinate amount of time to grasp the point.

 

[transmanche]

1. Sunderland
Population: 277,000
Platforms 2 (for this debate)
Ratio: 1 to 138,500

But what is Sunderland?

The 'City of Sunderland' has a population of approx 277,000, but that is the population for the whole Metropolitan Borough, which includes lots of individual towns which are separate from Sunderland itself; e.g. Washington, Houghton-le-Spring, Hetton-le-Hole.

The ONS figures (based on the 2011 census) say the population of the Sunderland Urban Area is approx 175,000. So the ratio is more like 1:87,500

Source

 

[davidknibb]

The number of platforms isn't really a good measure. The trains that stop might have 1 coach or 8 or more coaches. There may be 1 tph or perhaps 8 tph. (In each direction if it isn't a terminus.) Not sure how to properly make this useful, but I don't think platforms is the right measure. Maybe no of seats/hour for the population, but then the train has picked up elsewhere.
Anyone got a better measure of a station's activity than no of platforms ?

 

[davehsug]

I don't really think you should be counting platform 3 at Stoke? A bay platform, northbound only and restricted to 3 car trains.

 

[D6130]

Paisley Canal? The smallest of the three stations in the biggest town in Scotland.

 

[A S Leib]

Paisley Canal? The smallest of the three stations in the biggest town in Scotland.

say that the ‘main’ station is the one that ‘counts’.

So Paisley Gilmour Street with four platforms.

 

[JKF]

Oldham (pop. 110,718 for urban area) just has trams, presumably stops with max two platforms.

 

[frankmoh]

Anerley, Bromley. Whole ward has a population of 12,000. Birkbeck station has one (heavy rail) platform.

Only including because it's probably one of the few DfT F2 stations in London. Zone 4 still.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Oldham (pop. 110,718 for urban area) just has trams, presumably stops with max two platforms.

Shaw and Crompton tram station, located in the slightly wider Metropolitan Borough of Oldham area, does have three platforms.

 

[PTR 444]

Surely the fairest way of doing this would be to take all main stations of a town/city and divide it by the total number of platforms across those stations.

For places like Worcester, Warrington and Wakefield, I would include both main stations, but exclude any smaller stations on the periphery.

For London, I would take all the mainline termini platforms, but it might be fairer to only divide them between the population of the most central boroughs (City of London, Westminster, Lambeth, Camden, Islington, Southwark).

For other London boroughs, treat them as if they are an individual town/city.

 

[Greetlander]

Halifax has 2 platforms for about 90'000 people, so by the strictest definition not well served for platforms.

However, whilst I know that Northerners are fiercely independent but anyone that claims Sowerby Bridge isn't in South West Halifax is having an urban joke with themselves. Therefore you could argue that Halifax has a population of over 100'000 and 4 platforms.

This feeds into my frequent rant about realistic urban boundaries. Halifax is a significantly larger urban area than it's given credit for and should have a larger font size on the map. And more platforms!

 

[D6130]

Halifax has 2 platforms for about 90'000 people, so by the strictest definition not well served for platforms.

However, whilst I know that Northerners are fiercely independent but anyone that claims Sowerby Bridge isn't in South West Halifax is having an urban joke with themselves. Therefore you could argue that Halifax has a population of over 100'000 and 4 platforms.

This feeds into my frequent rant about realistic urban boundaries. Halifax is a significantly larger urban area than it's given credit for and should have a larger font size on the map. And more platforms!

Halifax station once had seven platforms and Sowerby Bridge five....plus another two at Halifax St Paul's terminus and two at North Bridge. How are the mighty fallen!

 

[Greetlander]

Halifax station once had seven platforms and Sowerby Bridge five....plus another two at Halifax St Paul's terminus and two at North Bridge. How are the mighty fallen!

plus two at Ovenden, three at Holmfield, two at Pellon, and if you're acccepting the Sowerby Bridge extension of the boundaries then chuck in two at Copley and probably Watson's Crossing Halt as well. Anymore would be pushing the friendship but you could put up a contiguous urban argument for Greetland, Rochdale Road and West Vale (2 each).

 

[frankmoh]

Completely opposite to the question asked, Beckenham probably holds the trophy for the smallest town to have many railway stations (and therefore platforms), with 6.

Beckenham Junction, New Beckenham, Clock House, Kent House, Ravensbourne and Beckenham Hill (although this one's not in Bromley).

Adding the tram stops gives us Beckenham Road and Avenue Road for a total of 8 stations.

21 heavy rail and tram platforms for 47,000 people, the ratio is 1 to 2,238.


Anyways back on topic, Middlesbrough only has 2 railway stations, totalling up to 3 platforms.
Platforms to people ratio would be 1 to 49,428, which is larger than the population of Beckenham as previously mentioned.