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Inconveniently Sited Stations

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pemma

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But it can't be any nearer. The line crosses London Road (the nearest it gets to the town centre) and the Weaver and Dane rivers on a viaduct. It is convenient for Tesco. :!:

It could still be more convenient by being the other side of Middlewich Road. Currently you have to cross both Middlewich Rd and either Victoria Rd or Manchester Rd to get to the town centre and the crossings all go to the green man at the same time and don't stay on green long enough to cross both roads in a single turn unless you cross in the wrong place or start crossing before the green man comes up.
 
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davehsug

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I can't believe Stoke-on-Trent hasn't got a mention. Nowhere near the commercial city centre (Hanley) and a 10 mimute walk to the town of Stoke. At least there's a frequent bus service these days, thanks to the university, it used to be every 30 minutes!
 

BluePenguin

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Ramsgate station is not close to the high street at all. It is in a very annoying place and makes getting anywhere quickly difficult. Westwood Cross shopping centre is a long walk away but close than from Broadstairs.
 

Mikey C

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Slightly unfair, as the station existed well before the shopping centre was built, but Brent Cross station does a very poor job of serving the shopping centre and retail parks that dominate the area. But then in the 1970s rail provision for shopping centres was a very low priority...
 

ijmad

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Plymouth isn't as bad as some mentioned in this thread, but it's about a mile from the major shopping/restaurant/entertainment areas, although it is fairly close to the university.
 

ijmad

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Oh, and Chiswick railway station is in the middle of suburbia, about a mile from Chiswick High Road, which it nominally serves.
 

Higginsafcb

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Bournemouth isn't too close to the town centre. The Victorian gentry didn't want smelly steam engines disturbing the peace.
 

notlob.divad

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I am going to put Rice Lane on the list. In so far as if the platforms were located closer to the existing Walton platforms, it would make a single interchange station.
 

sprunt

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Inner suburban stations on the old GNR line -Harringay W, Hornsey, Alexandra Palace, New Southgate, Bounds Green are pretty nicely sited for nowhere in particular. So first the trams and then the Piccadilly line and local buses moppeded up most of the traffic. Same could be said for Stroud Green and Crouch End Stations on the Northern Heights branch.

I don't know about New Southgate or Bounds Green, but the others are ideally situated for the places/building that they're named after. Hornsey is 5 minutes walk from the high street, Harringay about the same distance from the main shopping street, and Alexandra Palace is as near as the railway goes to the People's Palace. And theres plenty of well used traffic serving them, never mind the Piccadilly line.
 

pitdiver

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New Southgate is not too had as there is a lot of new housing going up in the neighborhood Although the shopping centre for that area is next door to Arnos Grove Underground STN.
 

button_boxer

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Platforms 13 and 14 at Manchester Piccadilly are a long walk from the concourse. Almost as if they were a separate station :)
Does my memory fail me but ISTR that you used to be able to access these platforms directly from under the bridge on Travis Street.

Indeed, I did some work experience in the building that is now the Macdonald Hotel (it used to be a BT office building) and the Travis St entrance was far more convenient than the alternatives at the time.
 

Midnight Sun

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Bournemouth isn't too close to the town centre. The Victorian gentry didn't want smelly steam engines disturbing the peace.
More a case of the geology around Bounemouth which set the route and location of the stations. There was a plan for a station on the site of the town hall which would have had a fairly steep climb upto the junction with the mainline.
 

DynamicSpirit

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I think it might be worth a reminder of the rules for this thread - as stated in the first post. Quite a few recent posts are citing stations that are (arguably) inconveniently sited because the place they serve isn't near the railway line. Unfortunately, that's off-topic for this thread. I'm interested in hearing about stations that could have been more conveniently placed or the entrance more conveniently sited, given the constraints of where the railway line is.

Original text from post #1 - with relevant bit bolded (you may need to click to expand to see the bolded bit):

To satisfy pedants, these are the rules for valid suggestions:
  • You can move the entrance of a station, or provide a new entrance.
  • You can move the platforms, or move the entire station any distance along the tracks, provided that makes it better serve substantially the same community it is intended to serve. You can't move a station so far that it ends up serving a completely community instead.
And out of scope for this thread:
  • Awkward design or circulation spaces within a station
  • The benefit needs to be substantial. Moving the entrance to save people 5 metres of walking is not substantial. Moving it so that most passengers are saved 200 metres of walking is fine
  • You can't change where the railway line runs. Yes, I know that Bournemouth, for example, would be a lot better sited for the town centre if it was about 500 metres further South-West. But that's not where the railway is, so it's not a valid suggestion.

Also, history of how places near a station evolved in response to the station is interesting. But this thread is about stations that are inconveniently sited today. Think of it like - if you had a budget to modify or rebuild some stations to make them more convenient to passengers/local residents/local businesses etc.... which stations would you pick and why?
 

DynamicSpirit

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As an example of the kind of thing this thread is intended to be about...

A few days ago someone mentioned Bexleyheath because it's a long way from Bexleyheath Town Centre. That's true, but that's because Bexleyheath Town Centre is nowhere near the railway line. But what does strike me as inconvenient - even given the constraints of where the railway line is - is that most passengers will come from Pickford Lane. That's where the local centre is, with shops, bus stops and the most important local road. The station platforms run right under Pickford Lane, yet despite that, the two station entrances are both about 50m away down side roads. You could argue that a small additional entrance with steps down to the platforms from Pickford Lane could make the station significantly more convenient to use for the majority of passengers.
 

matthewluck

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Gainsborough Lea Road is a good 20 - 25 minute walk from the town centre and has an infrequent bus service. If the station were moved back down the line a few hundred metres it would shave a bit off the walk, but perhaps get in the way of a junction.

Must be that Gainsborough Central used to be served more often than Saturday Only - being a low priority to Northern it hasn't had a service for 41 weeks now.
 

DynamicSpirit

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Gainsborough Lea Road is a good 20 - 25 minute walk from the town centre and has an infrequent bus service. If the station were moved back down the line a few hundred metres it would shave a bit off the walk, but perhaps get in the way of a junction.

Must be that Gainsborough Central used to be served more often than Saturday Only - being a low priority to Northern it hasn't had a service for 41 weeks now.

That's a great example of the kind of thing I was thinking of when I started the thread, since you're looking at moving the station along the line.

But... to play Devil's advocate... Just north of Gainsborough Lea Road, the line curves sharply to the West and away from the Town Centre, to meet the junction. So wouldn't moving the station as you suggest leave it just as far from the town centre, just, in a different direction? (On the other hand, theoretically, it could allow platforms on BOTH the lines through Gainsborough, which means perhaps it could become an interchange station, in the event that at some point in the future a regular daily service on the line through Gainsborough Central is introduced).
 

matthewluck

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That's a great example of the kind of thing I was thinking of when I started the thread, since you're looking at moving the station along the line.

But... to play Devil's advocate... Just north of Gainsborough Lea Road, the line curves sharply to the West and away from the Town Centre, to meet the junction. So wouldn't moving the station as you suggest leave it just as far from the town centre, just, in a different direction? (On the other hand, theoretically, it could allow platforms on BOTH the lines through Gainsborough, which means perhaps it could become an interchange station, in the event that at some point in the future a regular daily service on the line through Gainsborough Central is introduced).

Now that I've had a look on a map, you are quite right it would be just as far off the town centre. I hadn't realised the line curves so significantly on the approach to Lea Road station!

Was going to suggest Crewe but I think it is more important as a major junction and interchange station than just serving the town centre of Crewe. Edit: I see Mutant Lemming has beaten me to that one :)
 

daodao

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Now that I've had a look on a map, you are quite right it would be just as far off the town centre. I hadn't realised the line curves so significantly on the approach to Lea Road station!

Was going to suggest Crewe but I think it is more important as a major junction and interchange station than just serving the town centre of Crewe. Edit: I see Mutant Lemming has beaten me to that one :)
Given that Crewe is a railway town created to serve the LNWR, it is odd that the town centre was created some distance from the actual station.
 

mrcheek

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Given that Crewe is a railway town created to serve the LNWR, it is odd that the town centre was created some distance from the actual station.

Bear in mind the whole railway works site used to be much much bigger. and they probably wanted a gap between the two, as nobody wants to be right next to a factory or railway works
 

daodao

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Bear in mind the whole railway works site used to be much much bigger. and they probably wanted a gap between the two, as nobody wants to be right next to a factory or railway works
Crewe railway works is sited alongside the line to Chester, northwest of the town centre, whereas the station is southeast of the town centre.
 

MarkyT

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Crewe is a place where the town center should be moved, not the station.
The area around the station and along Nantwich Road was always an important peripheral commercial area in its own right but it's likely this will develop further, along with the industrial area to the east of the station, following the establishment of the HS2 hub. It's possible this could become much denser and more commercially oriented. That need not be at the expense of the traditional town centre to the north as the settlement as a whole grows. Major towns and cities usually have multiple activity centres and its impossible to have major long distance stations next to all of them.
 
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