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Closed Stations Journey quiz

Xenophon PCDGS

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From the days of the opening of the railways, closures of stations have soon followed in the Victorian era onwards through the 1930's closure period and the post 1948 grouping, then the "Beeching" period up to the present day. I wonder if it is possible to create journeys, either as a group of travelling passengers or as an actual train in service, from a closed mainline station that ignore any stations currently open on the outward route, but name any closed station that once existed en route from there on the English/Scottish/Welsh mainland only. On each named leg of a journey, it is acceptable to post the name of a closed station even if these were in existence at different time periods when the said line was still open for use.

For the sake of good order, both the starting and finishing station names should be stated at the start of each new leg in a preamble. For example, if I was to say Manchester Exchange station to start a leg to Huddersfield, the first closed station on a line outwards would be Miles Platting, then the following ones would be Park, Clayton Bridge and Droylsden...but not Ashton-under-Lyne as that is an open station.

Please bear in mind that this quiz is not a degree level knowledge test on the minutiae of closed stations but that of a general knowledge based quiz that will be enjoyable to all contestants.


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Newly updated rules effective from March 2024.

(1)....All posting submissions should be made in BOLD type as this assists other contributors, especially when a posting discussion has taken place on the thread ........ All new legs must both start and finish at a closed railway station.

(2).... Reversals en route are allowed. Such reversals can be made at any station, open or closed, with the proviso that no mention is made in posting submissions of any OPEN station.. There are instances where direct train services from one station to another require an operational reversal in order to facilitate this. It will be useful to note that there can be legs of a journey that pass through only OPEN stations, which are mentioned in the preamble to each new journey, but in cases such as this, the preamble will carry the rider..."Link line only, no closed stations"

(3 A)....Stations that were closed....but then re-opened as a heritage railway facility are NOT allowed to be used on this quiz IF THEY WERE SITUATED OR CONSTRUCTED ON THE SAME SITE..... OSWESTRY, HORSEHAY AND DAWLEY, WHITWELL & REEPHAM, HAYES KNOLL, BLUNDON, LEEK BROOK, RAWTENSTALL, RAMSBOTTOM, HEYWOOD, FINMERE, QUAINTON ROAD, SHILLINGSTONE, MIDSOMER NORTON, PLYM BRIDGE PLATFORM, DIXTER HALT, INSTOW, BIDEFORD, TORRINGTON, WAREHAM, KEITH TOWN, DRUMMUIR, DUFFTOWN and KIRKBY STEPHEN EAST are just some examples to have been deemed to be reopened heritage stations for the purposes of this quiz and as such, cannot be used in posting submissions and any subsequent station closure will make no difference to this ruling.

(3 B)....ORTON WATERVILLE on the Northampton and Peterborough Railway is an example of a closed railway station that a heritage railway chose to build their new station reasonably close by, so that station and any others in such a situation cannot be used in posting submissions.

(3 C).... In addition to that that definition of "heritage stations NOT allowed", we also include closed stations such as FENCOTE and ROWDEN MILL where private individuals have purchased a closed station on at their own expense and have subsequently "upgraded" the station area and provided items of rolling stock, tea rooms, etc, on the former running line.

(3 D)....Stations that were opened then closed by a heritage railway, such as EARDINGTON HALT, HOLYWELL (WATERWORKS) HALT, FRESHFIELD HALT, KETCHES FARM HALT, CORWEN EAST, AVIEMORE (SPEYSIDE) and STRATHISLA MILLS are NOT allowed on this quiz.

(3 E)....Any very small reopened narrow-gauge heritage railway operation such as the Rudyard Lake Railway with stations are to be ignored and the original standard gauge station(s) are deemed to be allowable on this quiz, but this is not the case where such reopened narrow-gauge railways on former standard gauge lines are of a good mileage, such as those of both the Festiniog and Blaenau Railway and of the Bala Lake Railway, where the original stations are not allowed to be named on this quiz.


(4)....Stations that were closed and had their replacement station built in nearby proximity or on part or all of the original station site are NOT allowed to be used as a valid posting entry on this quiz (examples being that of the situation of the first station sites:- at Whifflet (see below), Carnoustie, Dyce, Skewen, Harker, Cobbinshaw, Felling, Ferryhill (1st station), Keighley, Steeton and Silsden, Heckmondwike Central (1st), Wyke and Norwood Green, Brighouse, Horbury and Ossett, Walsden, Burnley Manchester Road, Blue Pits (Castleton, Manchester), Coppull, Lostock Hall, Latchford, Warrington Bank Quay (1st), Kirk Sandall, Uttoxeter Bridge Street, Great Barr, Monument Lane, Tollerton, Syston, Bramford, Ynyswen and at Church Stretton. Where a doubt exists as to the knowledge of an actual distance that existed between the two station sites in such a situation, as in the case of Conway Marsh that was opened to serve an Army camp, it is hereby decreed that it is better to err on the side of caution and NOT to use the replacement station as a posting submission and only to show the ORIGINAL station name in posting submissions. (The example of the situation existing at Whifflet (both the 1st station and the Low Level one) being a good example to cite here).

(5)....Stations that have been on different sites, but not in nearby proximity as detailed in rule (4) above, can be named provided the actual geographical order / order of opening is shown in brackets after the name of the station. NO SET DISTANCE IS INTENDED TO BE USED AS A BENCHMARK DISTANCE FIGURE. Examples being both Merry Lees (1st site) and Merry Lees (2nd site) and Desford (1st site) and Desford (2nd site) on the line of the Midland Railway Leicester to Burton upon Trent line, Chatburn (1st site) and Chatburn (2nd site) on the line of the Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe and West Yorkshire Railway, Elland (2nd site) and Elland (1st site) on the line of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, both Royston and Notton (1st site) and Royston and Notton (2nd site) and Darlfield (2nd site) and Darlfield (1st site) on the line of the North Midland Railway, Waverton (1st site) and Waverton (2nd site) on the line of the Chester and Crewe Railway, both Flax Bourton (1st site) and Flax Bourton (2nd site) and Stoke Canon (1st site) and Stoke Canon (2nd site) on the line of the Bristol and Exeter Railway and Abergavenny Junction (1st site) and Abergavenny Junction (2nd site) on the line of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway..... This quiz is not one where pedantry dictates that all such examples are shown in postings, but if the occasion arises where such matters can be shown out of general interest to other contestants, then this is perfectly acceptable. Please refer to the Guide Note section at the foot of these rules.

(6)....If two fairly adjacent but totally autonomous stations were opened by railway companies as two distinct stations albeit close to each other such as in the two Scottish cases of Motherwell Bridge (Lesmahagow Railway) and Motherwell Junction (W&CR) and the case of Batley (LNWR)(still open) and Batley (GNR)(now closed) station (also noting the station time differentials of the closed station of Windsor Bridge, Pendleton and the much later opened station of Salford Crescent), then these must be viewed as separate entities. (With regards to temporary stations from the very early days of the railways, which are now closed, the ruling is if there is a definite known site location, any such stations are deemed to be acceptable. However, if there is any vagueness or lack of exact knowledge as to the existing station site location which may well be near to another station, then such stations are NOT acceptable on the quiz).


(7)....With the re-opening of the Borders Railway in September 2015, clarification of the seven stations as regards to their usage on the quiz is as follows:-
Brand new stations that obviously cannot be used on this quiz.....Shawfair and Tweedbank
Stations re-built on the original station site that cannot be used on this quiz....Gorebridge and Stow
Stations which were built in a different location from the NEW station site and CAN still be used on this quiz....Eskbank and Dalkeith, Newtongrange (1st site) and Galashiels (1st site)

(8) ....Any station either opened or closed after the termination of its use as a heavy rail station by any rail transport organisation such as the Tyne and Wear Metro system, the Manchester Metrolink system, the Croydon Tramlink system, the Nottingham Express Transit system, the West Midlands Metro system, the Edinburgh Trams system and the Blackpool Tramway system is also NOT allowed to be used as a valid posting entry on this quiz. Any station that was opened by a heritage railway and then closed by them is NOT allowed on this quiz. However, any line that was converted to a Guided Busway will be allowed, as that is not a rail-based mode of travel.

(9)....A name of a station is acceptable if that name was carried as the officially known name of the station during any part of its existence

(10)...Goods stations that have NEVER had any passenger services are not allowed to be used on this quiz. However, stations such as Liverpool Road (Liverpool and Manchester Railway) and Oldham Road (Manchester and Leeds Railway) that have handled both passenger trains and goods trains in their early days are allowed to be used on this quiz.

(11)...Stations that were fully constructed but then never opened to a regular passenger service (example being the five stations on the Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway) will not be deemed acceptable as posting submissions on this quiz. However, any stations that were opened specially for special events are allowed to be used.

(12)....Private stations, workmens stations (excluding ROF and any military rail facility) and/or unadvertised stations (whether or not actually carried estate staffs or fare-paying passengers of the general public) are allowed to be used on this quiz

(13)....Railway staff platform halts such as Shap Summit Staff Halt, Slochd Summit Staff Halt, Ashington Colliery Junction Staff Halt and Hoo Junction Staff Halt or any of the many ROF factory halts of any description, are NOT allowed to be used on this quiz.

(14)....Any station name submitted that is not known cannot be accepted as a valid posting unless documentary proof of its existence can be submitted that proves passenger trains actually stopped these and the name of the railway who is said to have opened it, together with both the opening and the closing dates. In the early days of the quiz, some submitted stations were found to have only ever been goods stations which were never used by passenger services.

(15)...On any journey, it is acceptable for the posting of the same closed station for a second time if a convoluted route is being made on the journey.

(16)...For the sake of good order and to assist in carrying out past reviews, it is asked that any incorrectly named station posting, noticed either by the contestant actually making the incorrect posting or when being notified by other contestants of this, that the incorrect posting is then struck-through. A following new posting should then be made with a correct station entered thereon.

(17)...The two stations of Barlaston and Wedgwood are not served by rail services, but neither have received official notices of closure, so neither of those two stations are allowed as posting submissions on this quiz.

(18)...Any station that has been newly opened on a new site by a heritage Railway, as part of their operations, where none existed before, are NOT ALLOWED as a posting submission.

(19)...When a station has different closure dates for both passengers and for goods, this quiz always takes the date of passenger closure.

(20)...Each contestant is only to make one posting of a station at a time (exception being guide notes) and to wait for another contestant to make a follow-on posting. In the very early days of this quiz, it was known where one person took it upon himself to name no less than 14 consecutive stations in a single posting.....However, should a posting impasse occur, the next closed station after the position of the impasse can be named, in order that the quiz can continue, with information about the matter in hand.

***********************************************************************************************************
GUIDE NOTE SECTION.

Section 1.....RULE 5 CLARIFICATION

In response to recent PM received by me with regards to Rule 5 shown above, the matter of the more deep and learned railway station historical knowledge of railway stations, where different sites were involved, NOTING THE COMMENT CONCERNING DISTANCES, it is hereby agreed that postings made with the knowledge of such matters, as per the examples shown in Rule 5, will be allowed as valid postings on the quiz.

Section 2
In the past, even though agreement that the 1st station sites of both Llandudno Junction and of Prestatyn on the Chester and Holyhead Railway and the 2nd and 1st station sites of Elland and the 1st station sites of both Sowerby Bridge and of Rochdale on the Manchester and Leeds Railway were acceptable as posting submissions, it is noted that hardly anyone now makes postings of those station sites.

Section 3
A query, raised more than once, concerns a different railway company opening a station on a shared line, near to the original station, which still functioned nonetheless. In cases such as this, then BOTH the stations are deemed to be acceptable as posting submissions on this quiz.

Section 4
With regards to the associated matter of where more than one station site have been in existence, noting the very large numbers of these, it is up to each individual contestant to make a decision as to whether they wish to make such a posting.

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I shall start the very first journey on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway from the closed station of Ordsall Lane to the closed station at Huyton Quarry, so see how you go on from there. Best of luck.
 
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Xenophon PCDGS

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This will be hard, lets start with Pendleton

Quite a good one to choose as both Pendleton (on the Bolton line) and Pendleton Broad Street (on the Walkden line) are both closed stations, but we have appeared to have reached an impasse. Let us therefore look at the closed stations that once were on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, starting again from the Salford direction....there are fourteen of these.


--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


I shall start with Ordsall Lane
 
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steamybrian

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Closed stations of the Manchester to Liverpool line starting from Manchester my entry woul be-
Ordsall Lane, Cross Lane, Seedley,Weaste,Barton Moss, Lambs Cottage,Flow Moss, Astley,Glazebury,Kenyon Jn, Parkside,Collins Green, Lea Green, Huyton Quarry
Yes--- there is 14 but Flow Moss and Lambs Cottages closed in the mid- 19th century.
 
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Xenophon PCDGS

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Closed stations of the Manchester to Liverpool line starting from Manchester my entry woul be-
Ordsall Lane, Cross Lane, Seedley,Weaste,Barton Moss, Lambs Cottage,Flow Moss, Astley,Glazebury,Kenyon Jn, Parkside,Collins Green, Lea Green, Huyton Quarry
Yes--- there is 14 but Flow Moss and Lambs Cottages closed in the mid- 19th cottage.

Thank you for your list. I had intended for different posters to follow my first posting....one at a time:roll:

I must state that any closed station can be named, irrespective of its closing date,
 
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steamybrian

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OK I will go next but rather than name one but to name all stations or halts-
Name all four closed stations or halts between Folkestone Central and Dover Priory- three of them were public passenger stations (or halts) plus one non-advertised railway staff halt.
All were in use within the last 100 years.

(I shall be going out this evening between 1900 and 2100 hrs but should look again afterwards)
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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I have been interested in what you say, but the reason why I started this quiz, was it may have appealed to railway historians, of which there are quite a few on the forum, but for only one station at a time to be named along the line of the starting station. I think that I mentioned this in the rules.

You did well to say 14 (not 12) stations on the line outwards from Salford on the Manchester to Liverpool railway...and were correct with the two extra "halts" that you named.

With regard to yours, I have come up with the following:-

Dover Area
Dover Harbour
Dover Admiralty Pier
Dover Marine
Dover Town

Folkestone Area
Folkestone East...was this the one formerly known as Folkestone Junction?
Folkestone Harbour
Folkestone Warren Halt....covered by a landslide in 1915

I am not sure if this quiz should continue in its present form as I had intended. I would appreciate any postings with ideas. adtrainz had a similar problem with his original quiz "Sugar Loaf", but this was withdrawn for further clarifications which led to the most successful quiz known as "The Next Station Is...." being launched, with the now famous "Posting Thursday" seeing an amazing total of 531 postings on this quiz.
 

ole man

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The first idea was the best, like many other quizzes each OP has to carry on with a seperate answer.

Lets try again as i like this sort of thing...... Crewe, dont forget the answer must be a disused/ closed station and 1 ANSWER ONLY!!
 

steamybrian

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I have been interested in what you say, but the reason why I started this quiz, was it may have appealed to railway historians, of which there are quite a few on the forum, but for only one station at a time to be named along the line of the starting station. I think that I mentioned this in the rules.

You did well to say 14 (not 12) stations on the line outwards from Salford on the Manchester to Liverpool railway...and were correct with the two extra "halts" that you named.

With regard to yours, I have come up with the following:-

Dover Area
Dover Harbour
Dover Admiralty Pier
Dover Marine
Dover Town

Folkestone Area
Folkestone East...was this the one formerly known as Folkestone Junction?
Folkestone Harbour
Folkestone Warren Halt....covered by a landslide in 1915

I am not sure if this quiz should continue in its present form as I had intended. I would appreciate any postings with ideas. adtrainz had a similar problem with his original quiz "Sugar Loaf", but this was withdrawn for further clarifications which led to the most successful quiz known as "The Next Station Is...." being launched, with the now famous "Posting Thursday" seeing an amazing total of 531 postings on this quiz.

Between Folkestone Central and Dover Priory the closed stations are-
Folkestone East (formerly Folkestone Junction) closed 1965
Folkestone Warren Halt- closed 1915 by a landslide but reopened 1919 before finally closed 1939
Shakespeare Cliff Halt- unadvertised railway staff halt but last used in 1990s during construction of the Channel Tunnel
Dover Harbour closed 1927
The other stations you mentioned were closed stations but off the line of route.

The reason I listed all the stations in one "hit" was so that one route was covered quickly. If we take say the next route Crewe-Chester and readers who know nothing about that route then they would lose interest and have to wait days (or weeks) for that route to be completed by other readers with "route knowledge". With my suggestion it gives a rapid turnover so if someone who cant answer the question they will know that say within 24 hours the next question will appear.
Anyway it is just my opinion to keep all readers interested.
 
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Xenophon PCDGS

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Rules clarification as requested

Any method is allowed in that respect, but bear in mind, not every small halt that was infrequently used may be shown in some of the very old publications.

I will now go for Draycott and Breaston....leaving the final station still to name.
 
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Xenophon PCDGS

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Chatterley - not sure if this was on the closed line through the old tunnel or not

Sorry...not so
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Mow Cop maybe?

Sorry...not so
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Try to use Hanley as the next station...this will give you an idea now of the loop line we are using.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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you didn't say which line you were taking - therefore I took the main line (didn't know we were allowed to take closed lines), so I think Chatterley was correct.<D....PS after Hanley, Waterloo Road ?

Waterloo Road is correct ..............If you look at my earlier posting when I said Etruria, I did say there was more than one route north.... I thought that might have helped. (There are more likely to be a greater number of closed stations on such a loop line).

Cobridge
 

ole man

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If you branch off at New Fields Junc it could be Newfields City, if not then Pitts Hill
 

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