But how many of those were simply the closure of one of the two (or more) companies’ facilities in the same town?
(Having been away from my reference books for a few days...)
It does seem to have been general attrition of marginal locations rather than any obvious rationalisations within the same town. There had been a few cases - Whitstable Harbour from Canterbury West had gone in the early 1950s as one such case.
The Handbook of Stations (1956 edition) is very interesting as it was broadly coincident with the Modernisation Plan getting under way and before any substantial fallout from the 1955 ASLEF footplate strike had been factored into decision making. From looking at it you get the impression that the model of 'anything (no matter how small) from anywhere to anywhere else (regardless of distance) for anybody' was still in vogue. New mechanised marshalling yards and a new fleet of low-powered diesel locomotive suitable for short-distance pickup trips would make this more 'efficient'.
It is staggering to see how many places retained duplicated (or multiplicated) facilities in close proximity. For example:
Wolverhampton retained full depots from the GWR, L&NWR and Midland in close proximity;
Leicester retained depots around both the Midland and GC lines together with Belgrave Road GN and West Bridge, both reached by convoluted branch lines;
Norwich retained City, Thorpe and Victoria, with Trowse as a bonus;
Tyndrum Upper and Lower - yes;
Crianlarich Upper and Lower - yes;
Staines Central LSW and West GWR - yes;
Tavistock North LSW and South GWR - yes;
You get the picture?
The small town of Wisbech not only boasted two goods depots at East GE and North M&GN but also further public 'truck load' facilities at each of the two harbour branches and several further wayside facilities at various points along the Wisbech & Upwell Tramway!
All of these references are to public goods facilities,
not private sidings or purely coal depots.