If crewe is the rail gateway to the north west, what stations could be considered gateways to the south-west, Southeast and Northeast?

[VItraveller]

I would say Oxford for the Southeast, especially with the east west rail Link coming up.

The Southwest is harder, maybe Reading?
And I don’t know enoughabout the Northeast to comment.

 

[A S Leib]

And I don’t know enoughabout the Northeast to comment

Enough services skip Northallerton and demand is weighted enough from the south that I'd say Darlington or possibly York.

 

[D6130]

I think this question is rather subjective. It all depends on where you are coming from.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

If Crewe is to be the "rail gateway" to the North West, I'd probably go with York as rail gateway to the North East, Reading as rail gateway to the South West and maybe London Bridge as its equivalent to the South East.

P.S. Anyone else for Balham as "Gateway to the South"?!

 

[Peter0124]

York is gateway to North East
Carlisle is gateway to Scotland
I would say Crewe is the gateway to the North West but also the Midlands if you are travelling south, or maybe that would be Stafford?

 

[A S Leib]

Carlisle is gateway to Scotland

Agreed, as even starting from Newcastle or Leeds, there's a good chance you'd be going via Carlisle if heading to Glasgow.

Is Newhaven, Portsmouth, Poole or St. Pancras the gateway to Normandy?

 

[D6130]

York is gateway to North East

....or Berwick if heading South.

Carlisle is gateway to Scotland

....or to the North West if you are coming from Scotland.

 

[Magdalia]

I think this question is rather subjective. It all depends on where you are coming from.

And how the regions are defined. The usual regions of England are shown on a map here:

Country and regional analysis: guidance

www.gov.uk

Accredited official statistics

Country and regional analysis: guidance​

3. NUTS map and regions​

The maps and data in these dashboards are based on the boundaries for the ‘Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics’ (NUTS) at Level 1, in the United Kingdom, as defined by eurostat as at January 2018. This includes the boundaries for Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the 9 statistical regions in England.

​

Any region has lots of gateways, just like any walled City had lots of gates. For example the City of London had 7 gates:

The Seven Gates of London were:​

• Aldgate – leading to Colchester and Essex
• Bishopsgate – leading to Shoreditch and up towards Cambridge along the old Ermine Street.
• Moorgate – Not an original Roman gate, it was more than likely a postern in Roman times only becoming a gate in 1415. The gate led to the Moorfields a marshy area north of the city.
• Cripplegate – Leading to the village of Islington.
• Aldersgate – leading towards St. Bartholomews Abbey, Smithfield Market and London Charterhouse. Aldersgate was thought to have replaced a previous gate to the west of the city.
• Newgate – leading towards Oxford and the west.
• Ludgate – leading towards Bath and the South West

Lots of people of a certain age will know that the gateway to the south is Balham.

Balham - Gateway to the South - The Goon Show Depository

www.thegoonshow.co.uk

Balham - Gateway to the South​

From The Goon Show Depository

"Balham, Gateway to the South" is a comedy sketch that parodies cinema travelogues

 

[yorksrob]

Exeter St Davids is the gateway to the South West.

South East is difficult as London's in the way (although I'm tempted to say Charing Cross, Victoria, Waterloo etc.

Wasn't Gateway taken over by Safeway anyway ?

 

[Pete 1981]

Swindon, Milton Keynes and Darlington.

 

[65477]

The Thames Gateway

Thames Gateway - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Seem to be a gateway without any obvious destination, unless it's the Thames.

 

[A S Leib]

South East is difficult as London's in the way (although I'm tempted to say Charing Cross, Victoria, Waterloo etc.

I'd say Clapham Junction and East Croydon have fairly strong claims to be gateway to the South East from London as well.

 

[yorksrob]

I'd say Clapham Junction and East Croydon have fairly strong claims to be gateway to the South East from London as well.

True indeed.

 

[OhNoAPacer]

Maryport must be the gateway to somewhere just not sure where

More seriously I think a gateway is one in which it opens up travel to parts of an area.

I therefore wonder if Preston fits the bill.

As has already been stated the southeast is difficult to think of a gateway for due to London, so maybe it is in fact a London station that acts as the gateway.

 

[Magdalia]

More seriously I think a gateway is one in which it opens up travel to parts of an area.

In the East of England that's Peterborough. It is the only rail way out that doesn't go via London.

 

[A S Leib]

Depending on the direction, Shrewsbury (and, possibly, Chester) for northern and central Wales.

 

[nw1]

I think this question is rather subjective. It all depends on where you are coming from.

Indeed, or going to: arguably Manchester Piccadilly could be considered the gateway to a good part of the northwest.

 

[Howardh]

Indeed, or going to: arguably Manchester Piccadilly could be considered the gateway to a good part of the northwest.

Euston, to me, is the gateway to the North West and home, on the grounds that under usual conditions it's just over 2 hrs and next time I get off the train I'm a short hop from home. Often avoiding Crewe!

But once past either Stoke or Crewe I feel home. On the M6 it's Sandbach services, and the first view of the Winter Hill lights.

Oxenholme must be the gateway to the Lakes, as it's the only way in!

 

[Topological]

Bristol Parkway plays some role.

Then I cannot see how Crewe is a gateway these days, too many trains not stopping for me.

 

[A S Leib]

too many trains not stopping for me.

Apart from the 06:04 and 06:43 Liverpool to Euston services (and Lowlander), it's just the hourly Warrington fasts which don't stop; did Crewe previously have more Manchester services vs Stoke, or with fewer services running fast to Warrington?

 

[Topological]

Apart from the 06:04 and 06:43 Liverpool to Euston services (and Lowlander), it's just the hourly Warrington fasts which don't stop; did Crewe previously have more Manchester services vs Stoke, or with fewer services running fast to Warrington?

I thought there was an hourly Liverpool path that did not stop. Maybe just the Warrington not stopping is not the end of the world and I am doing Crewe a disservice.

I think Crewe to Manchester on Avanti is the best it has ever been since VHF, when I used to travel it was all via Stoke (and only hourly) with some peaks going via Crewe. The flip side is that Cross Country do not seem to use Crewe as much as they have done in the past.

 

[A S Leib]

I thought there was an hourly Liverpool path that did not stop. Maybe just the Warrington not stopping is not the end of the world and I am doing Crewe a disservice.

I think Crewe to Manchester on Avanti is the best it has ever been since VHF, when I used to travel it was all via Stoke (and only hourly) with some peaks going via Crewe. The flip side is that Cross Country do not seem to use Crewe as much as they have done in the past.

I can't remember if the second hourly Avanti Liverpool service will call at Crewe or not; CrossCountry at Crewe's currently three trains per day without engineering works (05:11 Manchester to Bournemouth calling, 07:26 Birmingham to Manchester calling, 17:25 Manchester to Bournemouth fast from Stockport to Stafford).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Then I cannot see how Crewe is a gateway these days, too many trains not stopping for me.

Does that matter? A gateway is surely just somewhere you have to pass through to get to a particular area.

 

[OhNoAPacer]

Oxenholme must be the gateway to the Lakes, as it's the only way in!

Penrith says hello

 

[A S Leib]

Penrith says hello

And maybe Workington (e.g. buses to Keswick), but apart from the North East and Scotland, you'd probably have passed through Oxenholme and Penrith to get to Workington.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

And maybe Workington (e.g. buses to Keswick), but apart from the North East and Scotland, you'd probably have passed through Oxenholme and Penrith to get to Workington.

We are, of course, talking about rail gateways, and so, to get to Workington, the only two rail routes these days are via Carnforth/Barrow-in-Furness and via Carlisle.

 

[cle]

Does this mean rail hub? Or a symbolic first station which means ‘you are now in X region’ ?

For the hubs, I always think Crewe, Preston, Doncaster and York make an interest square / set of parallels. Southern two are more rail towns and less destinations. And for many people will be how they access the North, or leave it.

Places likes Berwick and Carlisle are tiny and less important as rail hubs, but do represent passing into a new region.

 

[Grecian 1998]

Several potential answers for the south-west, as it really depends on your starting point.

Exeter St Davids is the first point at which all lines converge and so is the first westbound station which can't be avoided. Before that you can avoid any given station depending on your starting point. However, Exeter is a long way into the peninsula, so I'm not sure it counts.

I tend to think of Temple Meads as the gateway to the SW for the north (although according to the government definition of the SW, the first station in the SW used by Voyagers is Cheltenham Spa) as it's the first major city reached which is generally identified with the SW.

Taunton is arguably the gateway for London given it's the first stop after Reading for most trains. It's also some way into the peninsula, but 30 miles short of Exeter.

Salisbury can also be seen as a gateway for anyone in south London or the Solent heading west, as the time differential in getting to the Paddington route and or more limited westbound connections from Westbury compared with Salisbury can cancels out the faster journey time over on the Waterloo line. However this is clearly a much smaller group than that using the Paddington route - there's far less end to end traffic on the Waterloo line.

Given that more people travelling to and from the SW will be heading to and from London than anywhere else, I'd say Taunton probably has the edge.

 

[rapmastaj]

Classic rail town gateways:
- NW - Crewe
- Yorkshire - Doncaster
- SW - Swindon
- E Anglia - Peterborough
- NE - Darlington

I see a gateway as a rail town (not a major destination in its own right) occupying a key junction as you approach the region, typically when coming from the London direction (East Anglia being an exception to this).

 

[Bungle158]

For the west in general, it has to be Reading, if only for the accident of geography which placed the Goring Gap just up the line. Add in the Berks & Hants and you have at least a finalist.