Big discrepancies between importance/service and marking on the BR Passenger Network Maps

[BeijingDave]

Bill Bryson alluded to this when he went to Retford, thinking it was a significant place, due to it being marked in large bold letters on the old passenger network map.

Recently discovered Fishguard is a town of only 3,000 people (much smaller than I imagined) and a 1-platform station that receives very few services a day, despite being marked as a principal station on the old network maps (1960s onwards).

At the other end, one could argue that Luton should usually have been given more prominence, given the number of services and its population (over 200,000), although space considerations in the south east part of the map probably played a part.

Besides Retford, Fishguard and Luton, what are the other glaring examples?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Fishguard possibly had prominence due to it being an "international" ferry town.

Would query Hartlepool and Worthing being "principal" rail places, if that's what you are looking for.

Maybe Newhaven as well (but see "explanation" for Fishguard).

 

[SargeNpton]

On the BR network map, stations and routes within the London & South East area were less detailed than in the rest of the country as they were shown in full on the LSE schematic. Similarly with the other schematics for other conurbations.

 

[alistairlees]

Bill Bryson alluded to this when he went to Retford, thinking it was a significant place, due to it being marked in large bold letters on the old passenger network map.

Recently discovered Fishguard is a town of only 3,000 people (much smaller than I imagined) and a 1-platform station that receives very few services a day, despite being marked as a principal station on the old network maps (1960s onwards).

At the other end, one could argue that Luton should usually have been given more prominence, given the number of services and its population (over 200,000), although space considerations in the south east part of the map probably played a part.

Besides Retford, Fishguard and Luton, what are the other glaring examples?

Grimsby, Kings Lynn, Worthing, Dumfries, Berwick, Barrow (as well as more port / ferry examples like Newhaven and Folkestone). This is from a 1967 map, but it didn't change much.

 

[Revaulx]

Grimsby, Kings Lynn, Worthing, Dumfries, Berwick, Barrow (as well as more port / ferry examples like Newhaven and Folkestone). This is from a 1967 map, but it didn't change much.

Grimsby and Barrow might be dumps (takes cover...) but they are substantial places.

King's Lynn, Berwick and Dumfries aren't large, but they are important local centres with large hinterlands.

Worthing has rather been lost in the Greater Brighton conurbation these days. I imagine that when the bold letters first appeared it had greater importance as a stand-alone place.

The passenger ports were all massively important at one time. A whole host of things have conspired to change that over the decades; the first being the creation of the Irish Free State in the early 1920s.

 

[32475]

The National rail map has a history of stations changing their status over the years and not just by BR but by the Big Four before it.
I show as examples:
The Southern Railway map from c1934 shows Newhaven in a box as a prominent ferry port. On this map, Wivelsfield merits capital letters on a par with Brighton
The BR 1949 map has Newhaven relegated to lower case. Luton and Fishguard Harbour I note are in bold lower case.
By 1967, Luton has lost prominence whereas Fishguard has gained prominence with capital letters.
These are just a very few examples and I can imagine town councillors years ago getting hot under the collar or celebrating according to how their location was depicted in terms of their graphic national importance!