Until, like Stratford, a whole load of development springs up and people do want to go there!
Well a lot of development will be going up there if the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC, because that was a mouthful) plans progress.
Until, like Stratford, a whole load of development springs up and people do want to go there!
Indeed, MK's birth came just after Beeching, and the idea was for individual hypermobility with the private car.
Galling to think both the Varsity line to Cambridge and Oxford, and the Newport Pagnell branch closed just *after* Milton Keynes broke ground!
Hmm. In terms of destinations, maybe. But it is lamentably served frequency-wise even pre-Covid considering it is in Liverpool City Region and its Merseyrail-branded (but not operated) station has effectively one train an hour to/from Liverpool. One slow and one express, but only running a few minutes apart so that unless you want one of the intermediate stations you're better off waiting for the fast train. The hourly TfW train is handy for the destinations you mention but (at least in one direction) is only a few minutes apart from the others, hence for the best part of an hour there are no trains.Newton Le Willows a winner, only a small Town but with direct services to Liverpool-Manchester-Manchester Airport-Leeds-York-Newcastle-Chester & North Wales
I think Westbury is reasonably lucky in the way that its a junction station so gets about half the London Paddington - Devon/Cornwall trains. It’s also a train crew depot.
The other towns near it are larger but get a worse service. Frome is an example of very unfortunate geography/station location.
HS2 won't be stopping there to serve the local developments though. If the station was just about the local area it would be a simple 2 platform station on CrossrailUntil, like Stratford, a whole load of development springs up and people do want to go there!
There are exceptions.Anywhere on the route of one of the original mainlines = winner. Elsewhere = loser.
Rugby v Northampton is the example
Long Buckby - Winner. (Still open)
Hastings does quite well in terms of railway geography with multiple routes to London, which is very useful in the event of disruption.
Quite possibly because it retained its railway station ???Long Buckby is growing. Lots of building work.
Quite!Quite possibly because it retained its railway station ???
I don't think that is quite right - Bletchley-Cambridge was worked as a through service, with additional 'short' workings between Bletchley & Bedford. Through passengers from Bletchley to Cambridge (or vice-versa) never had to change at Bedford.I'll give you the Oxford - Cambridge line, but bear in mind it never had much of a through timetable in the 60s really being run as Oxford - Bletchley, Bletchley - Bedford and Bedford - Cambridge.
Only Weedon comes close to being a small town like Long Buckby. Not sure about the comparison of Welford, whose station was some miles away in North Kilworth, and on a completely different line (Rugby-Market Harborough)?There are exceptions.
Blisworth, Weedon, Welford = Losers (Closed)
Long Buckby - Winner. (Still open)
All are small to medium size "villages" (or very small towns).
It's the classic Southern Railway way!Although all painfully slow for the relative distance.
There are exceptions.
Blisworth, Weedon, Welford = Losers (Closed)
Long Buckby - Winner. (Still open)
All are small to medium size "villages" (or very small towns).
Quite possibly because it retained its railway station ???
It's as much the service the railway is able to provide as the local population. The main line through Blisworth has no local stopping trains, so there's not the ability to provide a service. Long Buckby is the reverse, local services only, and thus able to be readily served.There are exceptions.
Blisworth, Weedon, Welford = Losers (Closed)
Long Buckby - Winner. (Still open)
All are small to medium size "villages" (or very small towns).
That seems to be true to a large extent in the SE. Getting to some places from Horsham that requires a change at Three Bridges or Gatwick is almost as slow as cycling door-to-door when the time taken getting to and from stations is taken into consideration, especially on Sunday. It all depends on whether or not you get lucky with the connection times.Although all painfully slow for the relative distance.
On the roads it heavily depends on which direction you are travelling and when. Routes radiating into and out of London are usually well served by fast roads (dual carriageways). Travelling EW can be very slow, especially if you get stuck behind the 40 mph club for miles.It's the classic Southern Railway way!
The roads are equally as slow though, so I suppose it evens out in the end.
It’s laughable that the rail journey from Littlehampton to London is about the same as from Warrington.It's the classic Southern Railway way!
The roads are equally as slow though, so I suppose it evens out in the end.
Workington and Whitehaven are hard to reach partly because of the closure of the line between Workington and Penrith, also meaning Cockermouth has no service as well as Keswick.Other losers in the northwest & north Wales ...
Fleetwood
Leigh
Skelmersdale
Leek
Caernarfon
Ruthin, Denbigh & Mold
Oldham
Bury
Wythenshawe
Ashton under Lyne
Northwich
Ellesmere Port
Wrexham
Nantwich
Newcastle under Lyme
Barrow
Buxton
Rawtenstall & Rossendale
Keswick
...
I could go on and on
In the particular case of East Coastway settlements like Eastbourne and Hastings, (whilst Littlehampton and Bognor both take a while, I wouldn't say it's too bad depending on what train you get), the main roads down to either are the A21 and A22, which both have long single carriageway sections and can be quite awful to drive along if you're in a hurry, despite the lovely scenery.On the roads it heavily depends on which direction you are travelling and when. Routes radiating into and out of London are usually well served by fast roads (dual carriageways). Travelling EW can be very slow, especially if you get stuck behind the 40 mph club for miles.
Bradford is a funny one.
It's generally got six trains per hour to Leeds, two trains per hour to Manchester, hourly services to York /Hull/ Huddersfield/ Chester and Blackpool via Burnley/ Preston, as well as a few London services (the LNER one was going up to bi-hourly, the GC one was a few a day). Plus frequent local links to Skipton/ Keighley/ Ilkley etc.
So even if there was a central station, I don't know what significant improvements it'd get. If anything the Huddersfield service is the one I'd throw an extra train per hour at (locals may argue though).
I can appreciate that people in Bradford look at Leeds getting a significantly better service (in the way that people in Sunderland are envious of Newcastle, I'm sure people in Rotherham think similarly about Sheffield, the grass is always greener), but I think Bradford has a good collection of services and I don't think that linking Forster Square to the Interchange would make much of a difference to Bradford itself.
Moreover, AIUI, orgininally, Milton Keynes was planned deliberately not to have a railway station so as to avoid it becoming another commuter town for London.As well as places largely created by the railways, like Crewe and Swindon (and I'd suggest Doncaster), there are places where two routes happened to cross, like Newark and Retford.
I'm not convinced that the WCML was much of a factor in the creation of Milton Keynes. At the time it was being planned, railways were largely considered old fashioned and even obsolete, while the car was king. This was shown by the early construction of the grid system of main roads, while for years the only railway stations were on the fringes at Bletchley and Wolverton. I think the nearness of the M1 would have been a much bigger influence.
My error - I meant Welton, not Welford.Only Weedon comes close to being a small town like Long Buckby. Not sure about the comparison of Welford, whose station was some miles away in North Kilworth, and on a completely different line (Rugby-Market Harborough)?
There used to be a (sparse) stopping service through Blisworth, but local stations between Rugby & Wolverton were all closed.It's as much the service the railway is able to provide as the local population. The main line through Blisworth has no local stopping trains, so there's not the ability to provide a service. Long Buckby is the reverse, local services only, and thus able to be readily served.
It's something commonly not realised by proponents of new stations to serve small places on main lines. You need a relevant service, and an existing one (because the smaller demand will not justify an additional one) as well.
Warrington historically benefitted from being the lowest road/rail crossing of the Mersey, until the direct rail route to Liverpool via Runcorn was opened in 1869.
It's not quite the same in Yorkshire, but it's why Doncaster got its prime place on the ECML
Bradford still has no through trains to major northern/midlands cities like Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle or Birmingham, nor to Manchester Airport or even Manchester Piccadilly. And most of its London trains take almost two hours to get to Doncaster.
A central station would make Bradford more of a hub - and Leeds to Carlisle & Lancaster trains would almost certainly be rerouted via Bradford.
Another poster has raised the issue of population. Excluding Keighley and Ilkley, the city of Bradford as most people would regard it is still very large. Have a look at an OS or other map and compare Bradford's urban area (Thackley to Wyke, Thornton to areas wrongly ruled by Leeds) with other major cities. The official population figures exclude suburbs like Tyersal, parts of Thornbury, western parts of Pudsey and East Bierley which are far closer to Bradford than Leeds or Huddersfield.