Stations which could/should be closed

[Bletchleyite]

Is there anything or anybody there to serve?

Not an awful lot. Looks like a few houses on the map. But equally if the train needs reversing why not reverse it in the platform? 50 yards will make half of no practical difference to the timetable.

 

[jochta]

South Wigston

I was a regular user of this station when I was commuting to Nottingham for a while. It was very popular.

 

[Gathursty]

Why? It's very popular with walkers.

It's a 30 minute walk to Grange-Over-Sands.

 

[richard1976]

Newhaven marine, hasn't seen a passenger train for 11 years and only a short walk from Newhaven Harbour

 

[GW43125]

Newhaven marine, hasn't seen a passenger train for 11 years and only a short walk from Newhaven Harbour

Handy as a reversing siding and to stable demic units.

 

[Ianno87]

This is going to be rather controversial, and by far the busiest nomination, but I think Colchester Town station should be axed. Although seeing three quarters of a million passengers annually, along with its own direct link to Liverpool Street, the allocation and service would be better used from Walton-on-the-Naze. The route from North Station to the town centre is well-served by buses - seven routes by four operators operate services on the mile separating the two stations.

From Hythe, there is a 6 bus per hour service connecting it to the town centre too.

Colchester Town is effectively a turnback siding for Liverpool Street services to Colchester, using the grade separation to avoid having to turn back across the Main Lines at North station. Still useful in that respect.

 

[richard1976]

North Llanrwst, if it wasn't the site of the passing loop for the line

 

[Ianno87]

North Llanrwst, if it wasn't the site of the passing loop for the line

Is anything actually ever planned to pass there, given I believe that the Blaenau passenger service is just provided by one unit shuttling back and forth?

 

[Antman]

Waddon. I've always hated Waddon. No other reason.

Not a particularly nice area but I'm not sure that justifies closing the station?

 

[[.n]]

This is going to be rather controversial, and by far the busiest nomination, but I think Colchester Town station should be axed. Although seeing three quarters of a million passengers annually, along with its own direct link to Liverpool Street, the allocation and service would be better used from Walton-on-the-Naze. The route from North Station to the town centre is well-served by buses - seven routes by four operators operate services on the mile separating the two stations.

From Hythe, there is a 6 bus per hour service connecting it to the town centre too.

It used to have a much better service when it was still called St Boltophs. I actually think it would be better to have more services from here, the route from the Town Centre to North station is horrendously busy and can take ages!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Not an awful lot. Looks like a few houses on the map. But equally if the train needs reversing why not reverse it in the platform? 50 yards will make half of no practical difference to the timetable.

When the service reverses away from the platform, do the driver/guard walk through the unit or down the trackside? If the latter, doing so at the platform would be a quicker process. The extra distance travelled would surely be negligible for a service which has very little other traffic interacting with it.

 

[Ianno87]

Don't think Lakenheath would be missed if it closed

Birdwatchers and the RSPB might miss it.

 

[LAX54]

This is going to be rather controversial, and by far the busiest nomination, but I think Colchester Town station should be axed. Although seeing three quarters of a million passengers annually, along with its own direct link to Liverpool Street, the allocation and service would be better used from Walton-on-the-Naze. The route from North Station to the town centre is well-served by buses - seven routes by four operators operate services on the mile separating the two stations.

From Hythe, there is a 6 bus per hour service connecting it to the town centre too.

Colchester Town is the closest station to the Town Centre, people do not want to get off a train at the North, negotiate two sets of stairs, and then wait and pay for a bus to the Town Centre.

As you say 770,000 use the Town, 120,000 use Walton.

However outside peak times the Colchester Town services could be cut back to half hourly maybe, with the London's and Waltons only, cut out the 'trips' that go North - Town - North.

And...rather than close, open the Town on a Sunday and extend the Walton - Thorpe shuttle to either North (via C.T) or Town and terminate hourly 0900 to 1800

 

[Colly405]

When the service reverses away from the platform, do the driver/guard walk through the unit or down the trackside? If the latter, doing so at the platform would be a quicker process. The extra distance travelled would surely be negligible for a service which has very little other traffic interacting with it.

Doesn't the train have to stop at the junction (rather than the station) for the guard to change the points?

 

[PHILIPE]

Is anything actually ever planned to pass there, given I believe that the Blaenau passenger service is just provided by one unit shuttling back and forth?

Very often Charters can be seen on this popular line. There's one from Euston to morrow as it happens booked to cross at Llanrwst North

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's a 30 minute walk to Grange-Over-Sands.

You could close half the local stations on the network with that line. Gathurst is a bit close to Appley Bridge and in the middle of nowhere?

Mind you, along there, Hoscar, New Lane and Bescar Lane are barely worth having. That said, I wonder if it is actually a selling point to have stations that most trains sail through, making them feel like expresses.

Rufford is also fairly quiet but does at least serve a village, and of course is the site of the passing loop which will once again be used once Northern get enough stock to put the Ormskirk line back to hourly as it was in the early 1990s, which is a (very surprising) franchise commitment. It's also a nice example of where fragmentation means passengers are not served as well as they could be - were the railway more integrated, the signaller (whose box is on the platform) could also do tickets and passenger information/assistance.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

When the service reverses away from the platform, do the driver/guard walk through the unit or down the trackside? If the latter, doing so at the platform would be a quicker process. The extra distance travelled would surely be negligible for a service which has very little other traffic interacting with it.

Yet, if you do look at the timetable, the services that do stop there do seem to take somewhat longer. Southbound between Liskeard and St. Keyne seems to typically take 12-13 minutes without stopping at Coombe Junction, and 15-16 minutes with the stop. I'm not sure what accounts for the difference though - that would probably need someone with some local knowledge to answer.

 

[Colly405]

Yet, if you do look at the timetable, the services that do stop there do seem to take somewhat longer. Southbound between Liskeard and St. Keyne seems to typically take 12-13 minutes without stopping at Coombe Junction, and 15-16 minutes with the stop. I'm not sure what accounts for the difference though - that would probably need someone with some local knowledge to answer.

From memory, trains that call at the station have to stop twice, once at the junction and then once at the platform.

 

[stut]

IIRC... The Looe Valley Line has a curious timetable, primarily designed so it can be operated by a single unit. But it takes 31 minutes (33 with the stop at Coombe, 28 non-stop) with a 3-5 minute turnaround at Looe, and a 10-or-so one at Liskeard, so keeping it clock-face, with decent mainline connections, isn't quite possible, and it needs a decent balancing act. So those 2 minutes to reverse into Coombe can make quite a difference.

The train has to stop at Coombe junction for the guard to operate the points (and pass the token),

 

[East74]

It used to have a much better service when it was still called St Boltophs. I actually think it would be better to have more services from here, the route from the Town Centre to North station is horrendously busy and can take ages!

It should be getting a direct service to the Sudbury branch stations when Abellio get new rolling stock in a few years time.

 

[tsr]

IIRC... The Looe Valley Line has a curious timetable, primarily designed so it can be operated by a single unit. But it takes 31 minutes (33 with the stop at Coombe, 28 non-stop) with a 3-5 minute turnaround at Looe, and a 10-or-so one at Liskeard, so keeping it clock-face, with decent mainline connections, isn't quite possible, and it needs a decent balancing act. So those 2 minutes to reverse into Coombe can make quite a difference.

The train has to stop at Coombe junction for the guard to operate the points (and pass the token),

I seem to remember people on these forums commenting in times past on just how hard it is to recover delays on the Looe route.

It certainly always seems to be the case that in the event of any incident, GWR (previously FGW) are well-versed in dropping train services and implementing buses or taxis until a stable service can resume. In this specific instance I don't think I can really blame them. This is probably more reliable than faffing about with early terminations or awkward alterations which could need to be covered by rail replacements / compensation / amendments to the next services etc.

 

[ainsworth74]

Handy as a reversing siding and to stable demic units.

Don't need a station there for that though! Close it, sell of any spare land and then just keep the track as a siding. Sorted.

I think we've got to be wary of picking stations because they necessarily get a bad service. My understanding is the Chathill stopper is well loaded and an important way to get people to and from work in the morning and evening. I get stations that are mostly parliamentary losing their services, but working on the premise of closing stations because their current level of service isn't up to some minimum standard is a bit tail wagging the dog.

I used the evening service from Newcastle not so many weeks ago and it was certainly busy as a far as Alnmouth (though no one was standing) but it was quite lightly loaded beyond there.

That being said I'd rather see at least an attempt at developing the service first before giving up and closing the stations. An hourly stopper to Almnouth with two hourly extension to Chathill for a start perhaps? Though what with all the new services being introduced between Newcastle and Edinburgh over the coming years it'd be fun trying to find a path I'm sure.

Then again if you ran it as an extension of the roughly hourly Metrocentre - Morpeth stopper (and made that hourly through the day just between Metrocentre and Alnmouth instead) and stuck a 100mph EMU/DMU on it (bi-mode 319 anyone?) rather than a 75mph Pacer I guess it'd be a bit easier to path.

 

[LAX54]

It used to have a much better service when it was still called St Boltophs. I actually think it would be better to have more services from here, the route from the Town Centre to North station is horrendously busy and can take ages!

Colchester Town can't take much more traffic, the current service is about as much as the system will allow, in fact its not uncommon to have one waiting outside for a slightly late one to depart

 

[swt_passenger]

Then again if you ran it as an extension of the roughly hourly Metrocentre - Morpeth stopper (and made that hourly through the day just between Metrocentre and Alnmouth instead) and stuck a 100mph EMU/DMU on it (bi-mode 319 anyone?) rather than a 75mph Pacer I guess it'd be a bit easier to path.

Seems to me the obvious problem for Chathill and other local stations (possibly apart from Alnmouth and Morpeth), is whether their services are possible at all in view of the future timetable, with extra fast services by the ECML operator, the TPEx Edinburgh extensions, and a few First Group open access Edinburgh to London.

I'm amazed that they expect to fit all that in anyway, and that's before they try and run an Ashington service as far as Benton Jn...

 

[30907]

IIRC... The Looe Valley Line has a curious timetable, primarily designed so it can be operated by a single unit. But it takes 31 minutes (33 with the stop at Coombe, 28 non-stop) with a 3-5 minute turnaround at Looe, and a 10-or-so one at Liskeard, so keeping it clock-face, with decent mainline connections, isn't quite possible, and it needs a decent balancing act. So those 2 minutes to reverse into Coombe can make quite a difference.

The train has to stop at Coombe junction for the guard to operate the points (and pass the token),

This also explains why random trains omit the other halts - and why the stopping pattern seems to change every year (it certainly used to!).

 

[edwin_m]

When the service reverses away from the platform, do the driver/guard walk through the unit or down the trackside? If the latter, doing so at the platform would be a quicker process. The extra distance travelled would surely be negligible for a service which has very little other traffic interacting with it.

I looked at this and even stopwatched it for a feasibility study some years ago (but I don't think it's changed).

It's complicated by the guard having to operate the ground frames and token equipment, which are next to the set of points. A train that doesn't call at the station has to stop twice, to set the points towards Looe and then to restore them after passing over, with token activity in both cases. I imagine the guard alights from whichever end is nearest, and the driver probably walks through the train while the guard is changing the points.

I haven't seen it done by a train that calls at the station but I imagine it needs either a third stop or for the guard to walk at least once between the station and the frames. All in all it would be better to move the platform to next to the points!

And incidentally there's a little bit of DOO, as the driver moves the train over the points while the guard waits next to the frame.

 

[PHILIPE]

How many stations have closed and then, out of the blue, some quite large housing development has been announced there, although perhaps many years later.

 

[ainsworth74]

Seems to me the obvious problem for Chathill and other local stations (possibly apart from Alnmouth and Morpeth), is whether their services are possible at all in view of the future timetable, with extra fast services by the ECML operator, the TPEx Edinburgh extensions, and a few First Group open access Edinburgh to London.

I'm amazed that they expect to fit all that in anyway, and that's before they try and run an Ashington service as far as Benton Jn...

Yes I quite agree and that's what I was trying to drive at. An enhanced local service would be lovely but with all the extra services already expected it'll be a miracle if there was any room to shoe horn them in!

 

[Gathursty]

Gathurst is a bit close to Appley Bridge and in the middle of nowhere?

I would argue that Gathurst serves the nearby Sixth Form College up the hill.

 

[222ben]

Have Reddish South/ Denton been mentioned yet?