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Trivia: Stations used by passengers after closure to scheduled services

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MadMac

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Someone mentioned on another thread a station which was closed but still used by excursions organised by an outside party. With that in mind, I’ll get the ball rolling with

Ashton Gate - used some 20 years after closure for specials to a Billy Graham appearance

Wadsley Bridge - used for football specials long after closure
 
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Jorge Da Silva

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Someone mentioned on another thread a station which was closed but still used by excursions organised by an outside party. With that in mind, I’ll get the ball rolling with

Ashton Gate - used some 20 years after closure for specials to a Billy Graham appearance

Wadsley Bridge - used for football specials long after closure

Were they officially closed or just to regular traffic and only used for the occasional excursion if so could you change the title to Trivia: Stations used by passengers after closure.

Doing some research Ashton Gate Closed in 1964 and reopened in 1970 before closing by 1984.

Wadsley Bridge Closed to regular traffic in 1959, occasional passenger use until 1965, , but used for football special until as late as 1996.
 
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Harpers Tate

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I alighted from and then an hour or so later re boarded a train at Ollerton in North Notts in ?1994 along with a few hundred others.

And also a good few years ago (I forget when, exactly) I boarded a Piccadilly Line train at Down Street.
 

AY1975

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Weymouth Quay - used by occasional specials from the end of regular boat trains in 1987 until the last railtour in 1999.

Folkestone Harbour - last used by regular boat trains in about 2000, but still used by the VSOE and other occasional charter trains until a few years ago.

Blake Hall, on the Epping-Ongar branch of the Central Line - I believe that for a short time after official closure on 31st October 1981 trains would still call there if a passenger asked the driver, until London Underground found out that this was happening so they removed the platform edge.

Sheffield Victoria - officially closed on 5th January 1970 but temporarily reopened on at least one occasion while Sheffield Midland was closed for resignalling in about 1973/74.
 
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pdeaves

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My favourite is Etruria. Services were withdrawn 24th September 2005 but the platforms saw further use on 20th July 2006. It was necessary to evacuate a down direction train stranded there. It is an interesting coincidence that one of the evacuated passengers was on her way home having been evacuated from Beirut earlier in the day.
 

Julia

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After closure, but before Cambs County Council got their hands on the trackbed, there were some RDS-organised specials which picked up and dropped off at Histon, Oakington, Longstanton and Swavesey on the former St Ives line...
 

Tio Terry

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I can remember Trowse being used when there was a problem with Trowse Swing Bridge many years ago in BR days.
 

InOban

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There used to be a station at Achnacloich between Taynuilt and Connel Ferry. It closed in 1965. But in the late seventies I recall the train stopping there to pick up a party of Scouts (Sea Scouts I think). There was a field nearby which was for many years used by various Troops for their summer camp.
 

Foxcote

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When Great Longstone station (Derby - Manchester Cen. line) closed in September 1962, a condition of the closure was that a local nurse would still be allowed to travel to work in a Buxton hospital.

Mrs.A.Boardman, a family friend, was given a key to the station and had to telephone the SM at Bakewell station the evening before to inform him of her intention to travel. A Special Stop Order was then issued for the first down train. In the reverse direction, the SSO was issued by Millers Dale.

The line closed to regular passenger trains in March 1962, but as my railway career had taken me away, I do not if Mrs.Boardman was still travelling to work at closure.
 

Richard Scott

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I believe Cheltenham Race Course station was used during races right up to line closure in 1976. I'm not sure it ever had a regular scheduled service so may not fit in here?
 

dk1

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I can remember Trowse being used when there was a problem with Trowse Swing Bridge many years ago in BR days.
Are you thinking of the 'Clearing the Throat' operation in 1986 as Norwich was remodelled for electrification & resignalling?
 

martinsh

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Derby Friargate station closed in 1964, but I managed to travel from it a couple of years later when it was used for Sunday diversion of trains to Stoke / Crewe. Not sure of exact date but since I alighted at Tutbury, it would have been before that station closed in November 1966 [ NB Friargate - Egginton Junction closed to passengers in 1939 ]
 

DH1Commuter

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Spa Lane, Bermondsey - closed in 1915 (IIRC) and used to evacuate passengers a few years ago.

Durham Elvet - closed 1930, but saw an annual special for Miners' Gala day until the 1950s.
 

306024

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I can remember Trowse being used when there was a problem with Trowse Swing Bridge many years ago in BR days.

Trowse was indeed used for planned engineering work at Norwich.

Chettisham was similarly used for Ely N Jn remodelling, although in that case temporary platforms had to be built if memory serves as the originals were long gone.
 
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Springs Branch

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What about Aintree?

The Disused Stations website page for Aintree Central has a comprehensive description with photos of its use for excursions to Aintree Racecourse after closure to regular services.
For those not in the know, Aintree Central was a separate ex-CLC station, very close to the ex-L&Y station at Aintree Sefton Arms (today's Aintree on Merseyrail's Northern Line).
  • Last date for regular passenger services 7 November 1960.
  • Last date for racecourse excursion traffic 26 March 1966.

Another "racecourse" station in the north-west was Ashton-in-Makerfield on the ex-GC line from Lowton St Mary's to St Helens Central.
  • Closed to regular passenger services 3 March 1952.
  • Used by race specials to Haydock Park until 4 January 1965.
  • A handful of other race specials also ran to Ashton-in-Makerfield during 1975 on a not-to-be-repeated trial basis.

Does one VIP passenger count? Not at a racecourse but with a tenuous horsey connection, Lowton station on the section between the WCML at Golborne Jn and Parkside Junction closed on 26 September 1949, but was used sporadically by the royal family to alight from the Royal Train before continuing by car to engagements in the region.
I read that Lowton station was last used for this during The Queen's Silver Jubilee tour in 1977 and was chosen as an inconspicuous and easily-guarded location for the royals to slip into or out of South Lancashire and to park the Royal Train off the main lines for a while.
 
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Revilo

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North Filton Platform was used by unadvertised workman's trains until the early 1990s.

Wasn't there a station in Scotland that officially closed but train crew refused to recognise the closure, continued to stop, and it reopened after a few years?
 

bramling

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Someone mentioned on another thread a station which was closed but still used by excursions organised by an outside party. With that in mind, I’ll get the ball rolling with

Ashton Gate - used some 20 years after closure for specials to a Billy Graham appearance

Wadsley Bridge - used for football specials long after closure

Charing Cross Jubilee Line saw a few passenger trains in service with passengers being allowed to exit soon after closure when problems resulted in trains being diverted there lieu of the extension. This practice didn’t catch on however, and such services are now always empty.
 

Trackman

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A special train to Bedlington was a recent one (closed 1964), Grayling and some councillors visited it earlier this year.
 

Old Yard Dog

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I believe Horton Park was used for occasional football specials to Park Avenue between its closure to passengers in 1952 and the closure of the passenger line through the station in May 1955. Goods trains continued until 1972. Although Bradford were in D3N at the time, gates of 15,000+ were not uncommon. However I have been unable to establish which matches they operated for or indeed whether this was the case. One possibility was the 1954 FA Cup tie against Manchester City (which City won 5-2 thus partially avenging Bradford's famous 8-2 victory at Maine Road in 1946 [agg 9-5]).

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch closed in in 1966 but reopened in 1970 due to the fire on the Britannia Bridge as the terminus for trains from Holyhead, with a single wooden platform.

I also believe Swinton (South Yorkshire) may have been served by excursion trains after its closure in 1968. I am not sure whether the new station, re-opened in 1990, is in the same location.

Finally I was on a special to Amlwch in 1991 which terminated at a temporary platform. I went on another BR working in the 80s or 90s which terminated at a temporary platform at Maentwrog Road. Again I am unsure as to whether these were in the same locations as the original stations.
 
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Shimbleshanks

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I vaguely remember travelling on a DMU to Ironbridge near Telford on a weekend special, in the late 1970s or early 1980s. I think a series of services was run one year to allow people to visit the museum.

I suppose Okehampton could also come into this category and of course is still with us.
 

Kite159

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North Filton Platform was used by unadvertised workman's trains until the early 1990s.

Wasn't there a station in Scotland that officially closed but train crew refused to recognise the closure, continued to stop, and it reopened after a few years?

Duncraig IIRC.
 

Gwenllian2001

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Aberdare and Mountain Ash were used for Mystery Excursions and Saturday Shoppers to Cardiff many times before reopening to regular traffic. Maesteg (Castle Street) saw a handful of locally organized excursions before regular services began from the new platform a few yards away.
 

Gwenllian2001

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Llanberis, closed to passengers in 1930, was used for excursion traffic until the early sixties until the line was lifted.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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I travelled to a couple of stations without regular passenger services in the 1960s.
Llanberis (summer tourist traffic from Caernarfon)
Ashbourne (line from Buxton open for excursions)
Also plenty of other lines without stations by then (eg Chester-Whitchurch, Mouldsworth-Helsby, Sheffield Vic-Swinton via Wath, Stoke-Leek/Oakamoor/Caldon Low)
These were either engineering diversions or excursions.
 

Ianno87

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Charing Cross Jubilee Line saw a few passenger trains in service with passengers being allowed to exit soon after closure when problems resulted in trains being diverted there lieu of the extension. This practice didn’t catch on however, and such services are now always empty.

Aren't the escalators there stripped of parts anyway? Plus the escalator barrels have a false wall (with emergency doors) across them.
 
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