Trivia — Stations That Have Created a New Settlement

Dr_Paul · 29 Dec 2018

The growth of Surbiton, as we know it today, is interesting, as it might not have happened in the same way had the LSWR main line been built where the company had intended, that is, from New Malden to Long Ditton skirting the southern end of Kingston and the hill at today's Surbiton. Local interests did not want a station in or close to Kingston town centre, and so the line was built over a mile to the south, in a cutting that has had several landslips over the years.

Kingston station would have been somewhere near where the Guildhall, the Poly (now University) or Surbiton Crescent are, and subsequent station-oriented development would have been around there, not where it occurred around today's Surbiton station. Kingston would have developed differently, oriented more to the south, and it is a moot point whether the line from Teddington through Kingston to New Malden (today's Kingston loop) would have been built had the original station for Kingston been a few hundred yards from the town centre and on the LSWR main line.

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HaggisBotherer · 29 Dec 2018

Hophead said:
A station was built in 1862 (as "Sevenoaks Junction"), a mile or so from the village of Swanley, when the area around the station was undeveloped. Nine years later, it was renamed "Swanley Junction". Over time, the area around the railway grew and took the name Swanley, with the original settlement now known as "Swanley Village".

A similar thing happened at Chelsfield, not far away, where the station was a couple of miles away from the village in question. A settlement grew up around the station called, for many years, Chelsfield Station. In time that became Chelsfield and what was Chelsfield became Chelsfield Village.

It's well known that most of the London suburbs, if not all, were effectively created by the coming of the railways.

Incidentally, having worked in Swanley (Junction) for a number of years, I and everyone I knew there called it something else far more appropriate. Still beginning with letter S, but ending with 'hithole' 8-)

coppercapped · 29 Dec 2018

Swindon (Junction).

Daniel Gooch and I K Brunel decided to place a locomotive changing station and repair shops at Swindon close to the Wilts and Berks canal; the suggestion was approved by the GWR's Board of Directors in 1841. The argument was the steeper hills to the west demanded smaller wheel locomotives than the billiard table to London and it was a good point to change locomotives, over 70 miles from London was about as far as a locomotive could work without attention.

Old Swindon was on a hill and the railway passed nearly a mile away to the north. Swindon is the archetypical railway town.

Gwenllian2001 · 29 Dec 2018

Cemmaes Road on the Cambrian. A substantial settlement grew up around the station and is still there although station isn't.

pitdiver · 29 Dec 2018

I think New Southgate may qualify as it was originally Colney Hatch and was opened to serve Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylium. Around it grew the settlement of New Southgate. Which the station was eventaully renamed after various name changes.

ChiefPlanner · 30 Dec 2018

Swindon

SwindonBert · 30 Dec 2018

ChiefPlanner said:
Swindon

Could be 2 entries, Swindon New Town and subsequently Swindon

What's now Swindon used to be a number of villages (hamlet may be more accurate), it didn't exist as a single town until 1900.
Swindon New Town was created around the works where just about everyone was inside (a word with a totally different meaning here to the rest of the UK)
Old Town was the original settlement, as mentioned above was on the hill

When they joined it was due to the 2 towns merging as you really couldn't tell where one started & the other ended.

androdas · 30 Dec 2018

Bedlington Station. Interesting as the settlement was originally called Sleekburn and was much smaller and seperate from the town of Bedlington. The railway came and it was renamed Bedlington Station and grew to merge with Bedlington itself. The station closed in the 60s and the name remains. Known locally as 'The Station' even though the only trains that run through there are freight.

eisenach · 31 Dec 2018

Hellifield.

Extract from Wikipaedia:
"During the 19th century, the railway revolution reached the village, which dramatically changed the growth and population changes of the small hamlet. The original railway station was located on Haw Lane, but in 1880 a new station replaced the old one.[6] This coincided with the opening of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company's new line from Blackburn to Hellifield. This line and the Midland Railway's Settle to Carlisle Railway (opened 1876), turned Hellifield into a major passenger and freight interchange. Consequently, many houses and streets were built in the early 20th century to house a large railway population"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellifield

dazzler · 1 Jan 2019

In County Durham there is Trimdon Station, located around the (former) station for the village of Trimdon. Not too far away is the appropriately named Station Town, which I assume was the location of a station!

Dr_Paul · 1 Jan 2019

dazzler said:
In County Durham there is Trimdon Station, located around the (former) station for the village of Trimdon. Not too far away is the appropriately named Station Town, which I assume was the location of a station!

Out of curiosity, I did a Google search for Trimdon Station and it's a couple of miles north of Trimdon village. Looking at the NLS OS maps of the district, it seems that this was where the station for the village was built, adjacent to another new settlement called Trimdon Colliery. Nowadays there is neither a colliery nor a station, but the names survive (as can be seen on Google Streetview). I did the same with Station Town, and it seems that it is a settlement that grew up around Wingate station, a little way from Wingate itself. Again, the name remains although the station has long gone. Both stations were on the line from Ferryhill to Hartlepool.

This is more guesswork than proper knowledge; hopefully, someone with knowledge of this part of England can give some more detailed information.

randyrippley · 2 Jan 2019

Morecambe
Grange-over-Sands
Fleetwood
St Annes
West Bay
must be many more coastal towns

then you have the Cumbrian steel towns like Barrow and Carnforth, where the presence of the railway catalysed the town development

bearhugger · 3 Jan 2019

Dr_Paul said:
Out of curiosity, I did a Google search for Trimdon Station and it's a couple of miles north of Trimdon village. Looking at the NLS OS maps of the district, it seems that this was where the station for the village was built, adjacent to another new settlement called Trimdon Colliery. Nowadays there is neither a colliery nor a station, but the names survive (as can be seen on Google Streetview). I did the same with Station Town, and it seems that it is a settlement that grew up around Wingate station, a little way from Wingate itself. Again, the name remains although the station has long gone. Both stations were on the line from Ferryhill to Hartlepool.

This is more guesswork than proper knowledge; hopefully, someone with knowledge of this part of England can give some more detailed information.

Pretty accurate guesswork. If you go into Street view on Google Earth / Maps on the line you mention at Wingate / Station Town, you will see the large level crossing gates and a semaphore tower are still there, and the pub next door is called The Railway Crossing.

AC47461 · 3 Jan 2019

Crossways in Dorset growing up around Moreton station?

TheGrew · 3 Jan 2019

Eastleigh I think has to have a mention. Whilst the station was originally named after Bishopstoke (on the eastern side of the line) the town of Eastleigh rapidly grew around the station and the works until the station itself was renamed.

SouthSub · 3 Jan 2019

Taunton said:
There are a few settlements which have taken the name "Station". Godstone Station in Surrey is one. Godstone is a small town, a couple of miles north of station, and the separate settlement that developed around it took its name.

Livingston Station in Scotland is curious. Originally in the middle of nowhere on the Edinburgh-Bathgate line, and a long way from Livingston village, it was closed about 1950, as later the whole line was. Shortly afterwards this area was designated as Livingston New Town, and the substantial neighbourhood built around the former station was called Livingston Station. It used to appear as such in local bus timetables on the new routes, despite there being no station. Eventually the line was reopened to passengers, but the new Livingston North station was built in a different part of the town, to the east.

The former "Livingston Station" area within Livingston is now part of the wider Deans area. Some older residents of the area still refer to it as Livingston Station, and I recall being told of signs being altered by people who wanted to retain the old name.

Dai Corner · 3 Jan 2019

Sudbrook Pumping Station, built in connection with the Severn Tunnel.

gordonthemoron · 3 Jan 2019

Seascale

trebor79 · 3 Jan 2019

What about stations that creates a settlement which has since disappeared?
Eg, Roudham Junction or Riccarton Junction. The latter was quite substantial, with houses, a school, a gasworks etc all in the middle of nowhere. I believe today only the old school building is inhabited with everything else gone, and several miles from the nearest public road.

Taunton · 3 Jan 2019

A further one is Woodford Halse. Nothing when the GCR opened through there in 1900, the rail sheds and yard led to a small railway settlement, with terraced houses, still there and which could be straight out of industrial Manchester or Sheffield and dropped down in the middle of the Northants/Oxfordshire border countryside. Nowadays a bit of a commuter village for Milton Keynes.

HowardGWR · 4 Jan 2019

AC47461 said:
Crossways in Dorset growing up around Moreton station?

Not really, more to do with the RAF airfield, I think (RAF Warmwell).

bhb · 4 Jan 2019

I would imagine that there was nothing/very little at Kirby Cross until the station was built.

randyrippley · 4 Jan 2019

Tebay

alistairlees · 4 Jan 2019

Surely, in answer to the OP's original question, Middlesbrough is the best answer? It boomed from a population of 40 in 1829 (according to Wikipedia) to over a hundred thousand by the end of the century - all as a result of the arrival of the S&DR, the purchase of land on which to build a new town and the coal export docks, and phenomenal growth.

Sean Emmett · 4 Jan 2019

Sir Felix Pole said:
Two West Country examples are Halwill Junction in Devon and Grampound Road in Cornwall

Also Ottersham Station?

liam456 · 5 Jan 2019

yorksrob said:
Haywards Heath only really took off as a settlement after the LB&SCR weren't allowed to route their line via Cuckfield.

Verney Junction.

Were you insulting the town, or was that just a typo? A funny one either way!

backontrack · 5 Jan 2019

liam456 said:
Were you insulting the town, or was that just a typo? A funny one either way!

The town's called Cuckfield.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Cuc...rome..69i57.3016j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

PeterC · 5 Jan 2019

Not a station as such but there was Garnddyrys, a hamlet and small iron works on Hills Tramroad where it crossed what is now the B4246. All now gone, made redundant by railways coming up the valley from Pontypool and over the mountain from Brynmawr. Much of the tramroad still survives and is a nice walk at the edge of the Brecon Beacons.

Merciful Zeus! · 12 Jan 2019

There's a settlement which grew up around Micheldever station in Hampshire, which rather confusingly (to non-locals at least) is actually called "Micheldever Station". The actual village of Micheldever is about 2.5 miles further south.

xotGD · 12 Jan 2019

Merciful Zeus! said:
There's a settlement which grew up around Micheldever station in Hampshire, which rather confusingly (to non-locals at least) is actually called "Micheldever Station". The actual village of Micheldever is about 2.5 miles further south.

Perhaps they should rename the station 'Micheldever Station for Micheldever'?

Trivia — Stations That Have Created a New Settlement

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