Trivia: Stations that should be rebuilt on a different site

[DesignerMatt]

Similar to Lostock Parkway, Ravensthorpe could be served by Wakefield services if either there were 2 platforms built on that side, or the whole station was relocated the other side of the road bridge. There'd need to be some movement of pointwork for Leeds-Huddersfield services to still call though in that case. Arguably the station as a whole though isn't convenient for the village, as shown by usage statistics it's far and away the least-used station on the route.

Agreed on that one, especially moving it over the bridge. Might be something to do with the LNE/LNW boundary though (as far as I'm aware/can remember the station is in LNE but the relay room there is named Thornhill LNW).

 

[RichmondCommu]

Or Dent Parkway

Have you seen the size of the car park at Dent?

 

[thenorthern]

Dent - move the line 4.5 miles closer to the village
Kirkby Stephen - move the line 1.5 miles closer to the town

Most the Settle and Carlisle stations are in locations that are quite far away from the location they serve although the hills prevent them being closer.

Windermere Station was in a similar situation as Windermere wasn't a town until the railway came. Originally the Kendal and Windermere Railway wanted to run into Bowness-on-Windermere but the steep gradient prevented and a new town was eventually built around the station at the top of the hill.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Cambridge's current station is actually really well placed for the bulk of the population kiving in Cambridge. It's a bit rubbish for tourists visiting, and for Cambridge University students, but for ARU, locals and existing/future major employers it's well placed- indeed, the city grew east because of the station; the "centre" is quite to the west.

Out of interest, can you explain how it's convenient for locals? I've only been there as a visitor, and the impression I've had is that the station appears to be is at the end of a long cul-de-sac road, which everyone therefore needs to travel along to get the station, and that there doesn't appear to be much of significance along this road. I find it hard to see how that can be particularly convenient for anyone - visitor or local - but obviously, as a visitor who doesn't know the area very well, it's quite possible that I've missed something important.
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Have you seen the size of the car park at Dent?

How about calling it 'Dent Walkway'?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Agreed on that one, especially moving it over the bridge. Might be something to do with the LNE/LNW boundary though (as far as I'm aware/can remember the station is in LNE but the relay room there is named Thornhill LNW).

"Thornhill LNW" I think refers to the junction between the LNWR route via Dewsbury/Huddersfield and the L&Y route via Wakefield/Brighouse: the two routes come together at Ravensthorpe and diverge again at Heaton Lodge, the other side of Mirfield.

 

[RichmondCommu]

How about calling it 'Dent Walkway'?

This I like! Dent to Garsdale is an excellent entry level!

 

[backontrack]

Or Dent Parkway

How about Dent International? There's certainly more there than at Ebbsfleet!

 

[johnnychips]

Out of interest, can you explain how it's convenient for locals?

I heard, and this may be a myth, that the railway companies wanted to build a station much nearer the middle of Cambridge, but the colleges did not want this because of the noise and smoke; and because they were so rich they were able to turn down a fortune offered. Anybody know if this is true?

 

[RichmondCommu]

How about Dent International? There's certainly more there than at Ebbsfleet!

Assuming that Ebbsfleet has at least one through service to France I think I might have spotted the flaw in your suggestion. Even if it doesn't at least Ebbsfleet has a remote chance of seeing international services!

 

[Kite159]

Assuming that Ebbsfleet has at least one through service to France I think I might have spotted the flaw in your suggestion. Even if it doesn't at least Ebbsfleet has a remote chance of seeing international services!

Ebbsfleet has the international services, it's Stratford International which doesn't see anything international calling.

Dent Road would be a good name for Dent

 

[adrock1976]

I don't know if it's been suggested yet, but how about resiting both Warrington stations so as to have it as all the one complex?

The Grand Junction Railway platforms could provide an interchange with the Cheshire Lines Committee route, without having to traipse across town.

 

[Howardh]

Antwerp station's in the wrong location. Should be in Manchester where Victoria is!

 

[jopsuk]

Out of interest, can you explain how it's convenient for locals? I've only been there as a visitor, and the impression I've had is that the station appears to be is at the end of a long cul-de-sac road, which everyone therefore needs to travel along to get the station, and that there doesn't appear to be much of significance along this road. I find it hard to see how that can be particularly convenient for anyone - visitor or local - but obviously, as a visitor who doesn't know the area very well, it's quite possible that I've missed something important.

It could be better connected. Mainly by having an entrance to the east of the station*. But, ignoring building site mess that there currently is:

From the north, there's a foot and cycle connection through the carpark
From the south, there's connections through the new developments and via the busway path
From the east, the north and south connections link to the station cycle bridge and Hills Road bridge.

The council wards are roughly similar on population. The wards near the station, such as Petersfield, Romsey & Coleridge, are some of the smallest by area. Most of the population in the city centre and in the areas due west of the centre is student or university connected.

Meanwhile along the far end of that culdesac (Station Road), and along Hills Road that it connects to are large office blocks. Along nearby Brooklands avenue are various bit of government departments and agencies. The developments at the station are mainly offices and residential, with huge residential developments already completed. Along the south busway are vast housing estates being built

*a long running political saga.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Ebbsfleet has the international services, it's Stratford International which doesn't see anything international calling.

Dent Road would be a good name for Dent

If we're going to take the name of the nearest road there can't be too many stations called Coal Road in the railway world!

 

[Argosy]

Would the relocation of the ferry terminal to Cairnryan have anything to do with Stranraer station retaining its status-quo location?

There is a large myth associated with this project, that by moving the station one gets nearer the town and some wish to spend some £7-10m to achieve something that doesn't particularly solve the problem.

As those who've been to Stranraer will know the railway line sits somewhat like an arc of a circle in relation to its centre. It doesn't really matter how long one makes the arc you don't get nearer the centre!

To really solve the problem, one has to solve the arc by moving it (add another £20m to the cost as this would involve re-aligning a road and construction of a new bridge and swinging the railway nearer Port Rodie by pivoting about a point somewhere near Cairnryan Road bridge) or as some of us have been consistently saying move the centre, by removing the barriers that exist between the centre and the arc, namely a fence and ideally infilling part of the muddy harbour.

At last the latter has finally been seized upon by marina developers and some sense might be beginning to prevail.

Stranraer station, formerly Stranraer Harbour, has the potential to be a beacon station in terms of its historical heritage. Sadly there isn't an easy pot of money to delve into to make this happen. As Britain's oldest Pier station after Folkestone on its original site it seems a shame to let this opportunity wither.

However the local authority, an excellent example of a particularly apathetic and useless one, is not that supportive (what a surprise). Those with a long memory will recall that in the 1960's what is now D&G Council were incredibly silent over the loss of both routes to Stranraer. Most of the grief came from the rail unions who successfully saved one of the two lines.

 

[47271]

I don't know if it's been suggested yet, but how about resiting both Warrington stations so as to have it as all the one complex?

The Grand Junction Railway platforms could provide an interchange with the Cheshire Lines Committee route, without having to traipse across town.

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=113875

Ample discussion of this one here

 

[AndyW33]

BTW why is Teesside Airport station "a complete farce" ?

To start with, there isn't an airport called Teeside any more for it to serve - it was renamed Durham Tees Valley in an unsuccessful attempt to halt the decline in airport usage. Nobody has bothered to rename the station. Why?
Well as I'm sure you know quite well, the airport terminal is nowhere near the Airport station. For those that have never been there, at the time the station was opened it was reasonably close to the terminal. Then the airport company moved the terminal to a new position which is a good 15 minutes walk from the station.
So people who don't know the area won't even consider using the station to access the airport as it isn't obviously intended to serve it, and people who do know the area won't consider using the station because they know it is too far away to be any use.
That's before you consider the two trains a week service, or the fact that the airport itself sees only around 6000 departing passengers (or arriving passengers) a MONTH.

 

[Buttsy]

I heard, and this may be a myth, that the railway companies wanted to build a station much nearer the middle of Cambridge, but the colleges did not want this because of the noise and smoke; and because they were so rich they were able to turn down a fortune offered. Anybody know if this is true?

The same sort of reasoning applied to Oxford's station. I understand that the route to the west was supposed to run through Wallingford, go through Oxford to the south east and the station was to end up in the Folly Bridge area (bottom of St Aldates) and head towards Badminton & Bristol from there. The University were not happy with this and, because they had the cash and the clout, the main route went further south through Didcot and Oxford ended up on a branch from there.

 

[clc]

This isn't particularly realistic given the likely cost but I'd like to see Anderston station moved eastwards, closer to the CBD and away from it's grim surroundings beneath the Kingston Bridge.

 

[adrock1976]

This isn't particularly realistic given the likely cost but I'd like to see Anderston station moved eastwards, closer to the CBD and away from it's grim surroundings beneath the Kingston Bridge.

I believe that it would not really be worthwhile moving Anderston eastwards due to the close proximity of Glasgow Central (low level Glasgow Central Railway platform).

Perhaps if (a very big if) Glasgow Central low level platform were to be extended, it could be extended westwards with Anderston station closing instead.

 

[12CSVT]

How about Dent International? There's certainly more there than at Ebbsfleet!

Assuming that Ebbsfleet has at least one through service to France I think I might have spotted the flaw in your suggestion. Even if it doesn't at least Ebbsfleet has a remote chance of seeing international services!

It's a pity the SuO 15:20 Carlisle - Nottingham doesn't call at Dent, then it would have a direct service to the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire.

 

[HowardGWR]

Just about every Bristol suburban station is poorly situated - or the service from them does not goes to where people want to go. The Bristol suburban lines need to branch off into Broadmead and the Centre, IMO, using tram trains. The bus station could then stay where it is.

As an aside, it was pointed out on the thread about de-training, that Stapleton Road (well-situated for its catchment area) was a great distance from the pop event at Eastville Park, which goes to shew how keen our young people are to use trains nowadays. Of course, had the line from Clifton to Kingswood Junction and Bath not been literally blown up in the 60s, they could have gone direct to a station there.

 

[Railsigns]

In Scotland I'm aware of 3 current / recent plans to move stations.

There has been talk of relocating Breich station further east when the line is electrified, prompted by the present footbridge being incompatible with electrification.