Last Truly Closed Station

[SargeNpton]

Norton Bridge was the last officially closed although Angel Road and Newhaven Marine are in the process of closing and it just needs some signatures from executives as far as I understand.

Wedgewood is likely to be closed soon.

Angel Road and Newhaven Marine are both formally closed.

 

[backontrack]

In 2009 Barbican station did not close-- only the Thameslink platforms (same as Moorgate)

Barbican no longer has NR services, then. (And these weren't replaced.) Moorgate does.

Also wasn't Meadowbank Stadium only a temporary station for the Commonwealth Games when held in Edinburgh? Plus it has numerous bus links from Waverley.

It remained open for several years to serve other sporting events, albeit infrequently.

Could we not say that Brightside was replaced by Meadowhall Interchange?


Leeds Whitehall was a temporary platform, not a station. You couldn't buy a ticket from Leeds Whitehall to Leeds, or anywhere I think (I can't remember last week never mind 20 years ago). A shuttle bus service took passengers from the platform to Leeds Station.

Meadowhall had already been open for five years when Brightside closed, so not really.

As for Leeds Whitehall, a temporary station is still a station. I'd call it that even despite the special circumstances you allude to.

In any case, the OP appears to be asking for the last time a GB rail station was closed, uncaveated. Just one act of closure, no bus service, no replacement station. Immediate cessation of rail services with no alternative.

This is Etruria, which closed in 2005.

 

[TheEdge]

In any case, the OP appears to be asking for the last time a GB rail station was closed, uncaveated. Just one act of closure, no bus service, no replacement station. Immediate cessation of rail services with no alternative.

This is Etruria, which closed in 2005.

Thats exactly what I was after so I'll accept Etruria. Although I'm amazed quite how many others have fallen to other fates in recent years.

 

[backontrack]

Thats exactly what I was after so I'll accept Etruria. Although I'm amazed quite how many others have fallen to other fates in recent years.

Cheers, there's a lot, isn't there? I was really surprised at the volume, going through that list. (I also have no idea how Polesworth has managed to stay open through all of that.)

Odds on the next station to close? I think Sampford Courtenay will go, and IBM may never reopen. I could imagine a couple of others going too - Coombe Junction, Pilning, Berney Arms, Achanalt, and Culrain.

 

[TheEdge]

Berney Arms won't go, its surprisingly heavily used by walkers.

 

[Mikey C]

Not a recent one, but Ongar (and North Weald) stations on the Underground were closed in 1994 - I don't count the "heritage railway" as a continuation.

 

[SargeNpton]

Cheers, there's a lot, isn't there? I was really surprised at the volume, going through that list. (I also have no idea how Polesworth has managed to stay open through all of that.)

Odds on the next station to close? I think Sampford Courtenay will go, and IBM may never reopen. I could imagine a couple of others going too - Coombe Junction, Pilning, Berney Arms, Achanalt, and Culrain.

Sampford Courtenay was on the Dartmoor Railway tracks that have been brought into the Network Rail domain. However, there is no plan for it to be served by the new service to/from Okehampton. Though it was served by the GWR Summer Sunday Dartmoor services it was not a GWR/National Rail/Network Rail station. As it is not open there is no closure process to go through (well apart from whatever was required in 1972 when BR ceased to serve it).

 

[adrock1976]

Cheers, there's a lot, isn't there? I was really surprised at the volume, going through that list. (I also have no idea how Polesworth has managed to stay open through all of that.)

Odds on the next station to close? I think Sampford Courtenay will go, and IBM may never reopen. I could imagine a couple of others going too - Coombe Junction, Pilning, Berney Arms, Achanalt, and Culrain.

One that is most likely to go in the future is Bordesley, if and when the Camp Hill curves get built.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Cheers, there's a lot, isn't there? I was really surprised at the volume, going through that list. (I also have no idea how Polesworth has managed to stay open through all of that.)

Odds on the next station to close? I think Sampford Courtenay will go, and IBM may never reopen. I could imagine a couple of others going too - Coombe Junction, Pilning, Berney Arms, Achanalt, and Culrain.

At a guess, IBM has more chance of regaining service than Redcar British Steel... subject to what happens with either site. Are there still plans for significant housebuilding at the former IBM Spango Valley site? If so there's probably a reasonable case for it, though probably with a new name. Giving Redcar British Steel a new reason to exist would be a much bigger ask.

 

[YorksLad12]

Respectfully disagree with both of these.

Brightside remained open in addition to Meadowhall Interchange for five years and I’m fairly certain that there are existing stations open today that are closer together than Meadowhall Interchange and Brightside ever were. That said, I’m prepared to be corrected on the latter point.

Respectfully, in retrospect I agree with you; Meadowhall Interchange is a revamped Wincobank (although it did cause the demise of Brightside) and both were open at the same time. I withdraw the suggestion.

As for Leeds Whitehall, a temporary station is still a station. I'd call it that even despite the special circumstances you allude to.

You might call it that, but unless you can produce a three-letter station code and some patronage statistics separate to Leeds actual station, it's a temporary platform. You couldn't change from a train from Castleford to one to London, I grant you...

 

[Ianno87]

Respectfully, in retrospect I agree with you; Meadowhall Interchange is a revamped Wincobank (although it did cause the demise of Brightside) and both were open at the same time. I withdraw the suggestion.

It would be interesting to see the closure rationale for Brightside. It was almost certainly on the grounds that Meadowhall was an alternative, even if both were open simultaneously for a few years.

 

[YorksLad12]

It would be interesting to see the closure rationale for Brightside. It was almost certainly on the grounds that Meadowhall was an alternative, even if both were open simultaneously for a few years.

The rationale was probably "we've built Meadowhall Interchange, so here are some peak-time services while you get used to the idea before we close it". See also the Cottingley-White Rose thread

 

[Taunton]

In 2019 Angel Road closed and replaced by Meriden Water

Rochester at the same time likewise, the station was relocated in a better position about a half-mile towards London, but because it kept the same name etc it was not felt initially to need a closure process until someone objected and the formal procedures had to be applied. Since the justification for the new station was supposedly to reduce dependence on arriving by car, but it was notably less convenient to bus routes than the old one, plus had a new far larger car park than before, I am surprised they got away with it.

 

[backontrack]

Rochester at the same time likewise, the station was relocated in a better position about a half-mile towards London, but because it kept the same name etc it was not felt initially to need a closure process until someone objected and the formal procedures had to be applied. Since the justification for the new station was supposedly to reduce dependence on arriving by car, but it was notably less convenient to bus routes than the old one, plus had a new far larger car park than before, I am surprised they got away with it.

The location is much better though for visitors to the former city - no long tramp down the old A2, just step out and you're at the centre of the historic town.

 

[Djgr]

Thats exactly what I was after so I'll accept Etruria. Although I'm amazed quite how many others have fallen to other fates in recent years.

Of course the irony is that this would potentially be a very useful station, unlike some that remain open.

 

[Trainfan2019]

In the final years of Brightside and Attercliffe, weren't they just left served with a near bare minimum number of trains probably for workers at the surrounding steel and engineering works? The gradual demise of these once giant Sheffield industries likely played a part (along with the opening of the new Meadowhall station) in the closure of Brightside & Attercliffe.

 

[Ianno87]

Rochester at the same time likewise, the station was relocated in a better position about a half-mile towards London, but because it kept the same name etc it was not felt initially to need a closure process until someone objected and the formal procedures had to be applied. Since the justification for the new station was supposedly to reduce dependence on arriving by car, but it was notably less convenient to bus routes than the old one, plus had a new far larger car park than before, I am surprised they got away with it.

The main justification was providing 12 car platforms.

 

[Aictos]

Correct. The club effectively closed it, nothing to do with Northern or whoever.

It wasn't just that but rather the halt couldn't deal with the amount of visitors to Old Trafford which is why Drayton Road operated by Great Northern is closed to passengers when Arsenal plays at home as the station cannot cope with the amount of visitors to the Emirates hence why they're told to circulate via Finsbury Park instead.

 

[The Quincunx]

Rochester at the same time likewise, the station was relocated in a better position about a half-mile towards London, but because it kept the same name etc it was not felt initially to need a closure process until someone objected and the formal procedures had to be applied. Since the justification for the new station was supposedly to reduce dependence on arriving by car, but it was notably less convenient to bus routes than the old one, plus had a new far larger car park than before, I am surprised they got away with it.

The relocation of Rochester was always going to require a closure consent, since there was no overlap between the location of the new station and that of the old. I have no idea who 'objected', nor to whom or on what grounds.

 

[bearhugger]

At a guess, IBM has more chance of regaining service than Redcar British Steel... subject to what happens with either site. Are there still plans for significant housebuilding at the former IBM Spango Valley site? If so there's probably a reasonable case for it, though probably with a new name. Giving Redcar British Steel a new reason to exist would be a much bigger ask.

AIUI, the site at Redcar British Steel is in the process of being cleared. But given the size of the site and how it is redeveloped, it may be a struggle to get passenger numbers up even though the trains are back to roughly every 30 minutes in each direction between Saltburn & Darlington. Also, the station is on the edge of the site so it could be a fair trek to get to a business on the far side.

 

[zwk500]

The relocation of Rochester was always going to require a closure consent, since there was no overlap between the location of the new station and that of the old. I have no idea who 'objected', nor to whom or on what grounds.

I would not be surprised if it was the same handful of people who objected to the closure of Newhaven Marine when it finally went through the formal process on the grounds that it was thin end of the wedge, or words to that effect.

 

[swt_passenger]

In 2009 Barbican station did not close-- only the Thameslink platforms (same as Moorgate)

Farringdon - Barbican - Moorgate HL would have been a line or route closure procedure AIUI, rather than a station closure. So the question of closing the platforms would automatically be included.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

AIUI, the site at Redcar British Steel is in the process of being cleared. But given the size of the site and how it is redeveloped, it may be a struggle to get passenger numbers up even though the trains are back to roughly every 30 minutes in each direction between Saltburn & Darlington. Also, the station is on the edge of the site so it could be a fair trek to get to a business on the far side.

My thinking was that the type of work undertaken at the two sites was quite different, and I would assume that site clearance and decontamination would be a much bigger job at Redcar than at IBM.

 

[bearhugger]

My thinking was that the type of work undertaken at the two sites was quite different, and I would assume that site clearance and decontamination would be a much bigger job at Redcar than at IBM.

Clearance could be reasonably quick, i think. Decontamination on the other hand could be significantly harder and longer. Is decontamination stricter if the land is to be re-used for housing rather than business? There was also talk of the land at the old Thornaby Motive Power Depot being used for housing but not heard anything more on that for for 2/3 years, but that's drifting way off thread.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Clearance could be reasonably quick, i think. Decontamination on the other hand could be significantly harder and longer. Is decontamination stricter if the land is to be re-used for housing rather than business? There was also talk of the land at the old Thornaby Motive Power Depot being used for housing but not heard anything more on that for for 2/3 years, but that's drifting way off thread.

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that the level of decontamination a site requires can vary quite significantly from place to place: depending on previous use, proposed use, ground conditions, all sorts of factors.

On face value, the Redcar Steelworks site (being larger, more complex and used for much heavier industry) would appear to be harder to prepare for redevelopment than the smaller IBM site would be.

 

[bearhugger]

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that the level of decontamination a site requires can vary quite significantly from place to place: depending on previous use, proposed use, ground conditions, all sorts of factors.

On face value, the Redcar Steelworks site (being larger, more complex and used for much heavier industry) would appear to be harder to prepare for redevelopment than the smaller IBM site would be.

Makes a lot of sense to me.
I've created a new thread btw, Redeveloping old / disued railway land, so we don't drift on this thread.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Makes a lot of sense to me.
I've created a new thread btw, Redeveloping old / disued railway land, so we don't drift on this thread.

Good idea, sorry for the drift everyone. Although our discussion is less about redeveloping ex-railway land, more about redeveloping industrial land that happens to be served by a railway.

 

[Taunton]

Clearance could be reasonably quick, i think. Decontamination on the other hand could be significantly harder and longer. Is decontamination stricter if the land is to be re-used for housing rather than business? There was also talk of the land at the old Thornaby Motive Power Depot being used for housing but not heard anything more on that for for 2/3 years, but that's drifting way off thread.

The real issue with "Brownfield" sites is the complete decontamination, because the new occupiers, particularly housing, can come back on the developer if any contamination issue subsequently arises. The developer has to give bonded guarantees for this, if they don't you can never get a mortgage on the properties. The costs of total decontamination (there are specialist contractors for this) can be much more than the land might be worth for housing, which is known as "negative land value", and one of the reasons why such land often remains just unused.

It's just so much easier to build on a green field where only cows have munched the grass. Even dealing with things like unexpected tree roots all has to come out of the developers' profit margin.

 

[lincolnshire]

Could we not say that Brightside was replaced by Meadowhall Interchange?


Leeds Whitehall was a temporary platform, not a station. You couldn't buy a ticket from Leeds Whitehall to Leeds, or anywhere I think (I can't remember last week never mind 20 years ago). A shuttle bus service took passengers from the platform to Leeds Station.

I remember stopping at Leeds Whitehall on a train heading from York to Manchester Airport in the early hours. Am I correct in remembering that it was only mostly used in the early hours when the Leeds First Project was on for re-building the present station which was closed for the night so the Manchester airport trains from York was re-routed by Castleford and stopped at Whitehall Roads single platform and any passengers was transported by mini-bus between there and the main Leeds Station.

 

[Ianno87]

I remember stopping at Leeds Whitehall on a train heading from York to Manchester Airport in the early hours. Am I correct in remembering that it was only mostly used in the early hours when the Leeds First Project was on for re-building the present station which was closed for the night so the Manchester airport trains from York was re-routed by Castleford and stopped at Whitehall Roads single platform and any passengers was transported by mini-bus between there and the main Leeds Station.

I recall it was also used by a limited service during other blockades (e.g..GNER)