Snow1964
Established Member
Fetcham in Surrey (population about 8000) has a railway, but has never had a station (although Bookham and Leatherhead either side have stations).
Only Croydon - you needed your own transport for Bromley until the 314 was introduced relatively recently.New Addington wasn't a New Town, it was London overspill and purely residential... a distant suburb of Croydon and Bromley.
Nottingham station is a good couple of miles away, and on the other side of the Trent, so West Bridgford (being a separate town) is reasonable shout, I would have thought.
An interesting one is Ballantrae on the South Ayrshire coast, it has a small population of 800 and has never had a railway or station, but it is the unlikely location of the head office of one of the largest rail maintenance companies, McCulloch Rail!
I have long entertained a fantasy of a narrow-gauge line linking Ballantrae with the Ayr -- Stranraer line at Pinwherry; have always thought it a shame that Scotland virtually never had public narrow-gauge railways of the classic kind.
Right through Sawney Beans Cave!
Earley Station was built in the 1860's when Woodley was a tiny village, it did not start to expand until Miles Aviation built an aircraft factory and aerodrome there on a greenfield site in c1935. It did not become a town until 1974, so perhaps not surprising it doesn't have a station of its own since Earley Station serves both towns perfectly well
I have long entertained a fantasy of a narrow-gauge line linking Ballantrae with the Ayr -- Stranraer line at Pinwherry; have always thought it a shame that Scotland virtually never had public narrow-gauge railways of the classic kind.
Maybe not a large town as the thread title suggests, but Tomintoul might be a potential candidate. The roads are fairly horrendous, so it'd probably make an interesting railway projectAfter visiting the Harz mountain railways a few years ago, I had some interesting fantasies about building something similar in Scotland - you'd be on to a winner with something like that taking a corkscrew route up the side of a mountain somewhere in the Highlands.
After visiting the Harz mountain railways a few years ago, I had some interesting fantasies about building something similar in Scotland - you'd be on to a winner with something like that taking a corkscrew route up the side of a mountain somewhere in the Highlands.
If there was a time when Tomintoul might have had a railway then it would have been in the 1860s-there was iron ore fever in them thar hills (the Ladder Hills to be exact) but neither the lairds nor the railway companies wanted to make the first move. A trial shipment of iron ore was carted from the Lecht to Ballindalloch station on the Speyside Line but there was no further development- in any case it is doubtful if any passenger railway would ever have got to TT as the only very remote prospect was a tramway (goods only line) from either Alford via Strathdon or north from Bridge of Gairn on the Deeside Line neither of which were practicable let alone economically viable but there was speculation at the time.Maybe not a large town as the thread title suggests, but Tomintoul might be a potential candidate. The roads are fairly horrendous, so it'd probably make an interesting railway project
(*Not to be confused with Norden in Ostfriesland, famed for its role in "The Riddle of the Sands" as the junction where Carruthers of thr foreign office interrupted his shack-scratching on the Esens line in order to thwart the baddies )
Easy walking distance to Nottingham station, so I’m not sure that counts.
That was me, in a post close to the one you quoted. The tram runs along the western boundary of West Bridgford but from its centre the nearest tramstop isn't much nearer than Nottingham station.Doesn't the tram go to its fringes too? Someone has mentioned something about the tram up thread.
It, and Hornsea both had stations, closed by Marples/Beeching policy.Withernsea in East Yorks/Humberside could be a candidate - I am thinking!!
Roehampton in London has never had a tube or rail station - population of 16000 according to Wikipedia. It must be one of the biggest distinct districts of London in this regard.
A very good point and one which TfL has completely ignored. Roehampton has a university and a major hospital - plus a small, very expensive private hospital - but no railway. In my very rare crayonist moments, I fantasize about the Hammersmith & City Line being extended through Barnes and Roehampton to Wimbledon.Roehampton in London has never had a tube or rail station - population of 16000 according to Wikipedia. It must be one of the biggest distinct districts of London in this regard.
True: but it was only a tiny village until the mid-1950s, when the big housing estate was built. It's also on the top of a pretty steep hill.
Roehampton is one of the few settlements around London that has never had a station named after it. I'm working on a list of Greater London settlements that never had a station, and will hopefully be starting a 'Trivia' thread on this when it's ready. So far, I've not found that many.
The geography of the area is difficult clearly, and nowhere obvious for any line to go afterwards. I’ve often pondered whether Kingston should have a more direct line into central London but the obvious route for this would be via the university and then via Roehampton Vale towards Wandsworth /Clapham Junction (apologies for the crayonista view and clearly this is not a real suggestion!)
At the peak of the railway system the largest towns without a station were said to be Ambleside, Clun (Shropshire) and Painswick (Gloucestershire). I'm not sure if the steamer pier at Ambleside was considered a station in the same sense as Dartmouth, but I think not; I suppose the test would be, could you buy a ticket to it?