Largest town never connected to railway?

[The Decapod]

There's a lot on the internet about the largest town with no station, or no rail connection, but most of these were on the network at one time but the railway closed.

What is more difficult to find is the largest town in mainland Britain that was never connected to the rail network.

Shaftesbury in Dorset never had a rail connection, on account of being a hilltop town, but its population is only 6600. The nearest station is over 4 miles away at Gillingham, and there was another at Semley, also about 4 miles away.

There must be other places that are bigger and further from any railway, past or present.

 

[tbtc]

An interesting idea. I've seen the question of "largest town without a railway", but the answer is always somewhere that used to have a line. I'm not sure what the answer would be to *never* had one.

Maybe the difficulty is when you argue about suburbs vs towns, or get hung up on whether a station in another "borough" is serving somewhere else too.

 

[Proud Salopian]

Only town in Shropshire never to have had a railway is Clun, though it is very small. A line was proposed to run Craven Arms - Clun - Montgomery, but it would have been unbelievably unprofitable!!

 

[dickdarlington]

How old do these towns need to be? Because we're probably looking at a new town like Glenrothes, Washington, or Peterlee. Washington has a disused line going through it, but never a station as far as I know. Peterlee has no station, but again the railway passes very close.

I can't think of any sizeable historic towns to have never had a railway.

Leighton Buzzard in Beds has never had a railway, nor a station as technically the station was built in Linslade. But I suppose that is a technicallity as the two places have now merged. And it does have a narrow guage line...so scrap that

 

[Eric]

I was always told it was Leigh in Greater Manchester.

 

[sprinterguy]

How old do these towns need to be? Because we're probably looking at a new town like Glenrothes, Washington, or Peterlee. Washington has a disused line going through it, but never a station as far as I know. Peterlee has no station, but again the railway passes very close.

Washington certainly did once have a station. Peterlee was served by Horden station, given that Horden is closer to the Durham coast line, with Peterlee being further inland.

 

[flymo]

. Washington has a disused line going through it, but never a station as far as I know.

Washington had a station years ago. It was located near to what is now Pattinson Industrial Estate.

No idea when it closed though

 

[cuccir]

I was always told it was Leigh in Greater Manchester.

Bolton and Leigh raiwlay, Leigh railway station. Wikipedia is your friend!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Stornoway has a population of 9000 (making it slightly larger than Kirkwall, Orkney) and has never had a station, though this seems to be cheating as an answer!

 

[dickdarlington]

Washington certainly did once have a station. Peterlee was served by Horden station, given that Horden is closer to the Durham coast line, with Peterlee being further inland.

Didn't know about Washington having a station. Assumed that Hordon had one, wasn't sure that Peterlee had engulfed the village before it shut in 1964.

 

[The Barlow Boy]

How old do these towns need to be? Because we're probably looking at a new town like Glenrothes, Washington, or Peterlee. Washington has a disused line going through it, but never a station as far as I know. Peterlee has no station, but again the railway passes very close.

I can't think of any sizeable historic towns to have never had a railway.

Leighton Buzzard in Beds has never had a railway, nor a station as technically the station was built in Linslade. But I suppose that is a technicallity as the two places have now merged. And it does have a narrow guage line...so scrap that

You could say/claim the same for Hemel Hempstead as the station is actually at Boxmoor and as for Tring station...it's not exactly handy for the town.

 

[imagination]

The only town in mainland Britain without a station that is marked on my 1948 rail atlas is Ullapool, though I doubt there are none over its population of 1300-ish

 

[Oracle]

Amesbury has 8,907 people, and a brand-new Tesco Superstore!

 

[TGV]

Hawick? Has it had one? I think it has but am offering it if i'm wrong.

 

[imagination]

Hawick was on the Waverley line

 

[GodAtum]

if the question is whats the largest town to not have a current railway line I would say Bude in Cornwall.

 

[imagination]

if the question is whats the largest town to not have a current railway line I would say Bude in Cornwall.

Gosport c. 80000
Newcastle-under-Lyme 73944
Abingdon 36626
Blyth 35818 (though I think it has a goods line?)
Dunstable 33805
Bude 9242

Then technically there's Dudley with 195k or so, but as that has several stations serving it it doesnt really count (even if they are just outside the edge of the town)

 

[WatcherZero]

Stoke stations really close to Newcastle but yep no station itself.

 

[Philip Elliott]

Earl Shilton or Markfield in Leicestershire could be candidates.

 

[142094]

Blyth 35818 (though I think it has a goods line?)

It sure does have a goods line, and wouldn't cost too much to bring in back into passenger use. Perhaps a few million for HS2 should be earmarked to bring railways back to areas such as these.

 

[stut]

For 'never connected', Cambourne, in Cambridgeshire, has a population of approximately 8000, due to grow to 10000 by completion of construction.

 

[Oracle]

Gosport of course did have a station and it needs one!

 

[NSE]

Haha yeah I'd love to see a railway station here in Cambourne mate, make going to college alot easier. I'd envisage a terminus at the end of two spurs from the ECML, just north from St. Neots, and one following the old line through Impington replacing that stupid guided bus way. Two Trains an hour to Kings X.
Sorted.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Skelmersdale has never had a railway station...

Ullapool?

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Both Dunstable and Hawick definitely had stations.
I used to walk along the line near Dunstable though don't recall ever using the station at Hawick - it deserves to be included in the re-opening of the Borders railway which has been talked about for 10 years now but which proceeds at a snails pace.
(Planning a journey between Dunstable and Hawick might have presented some difficulties)

 

[scotsman]

Stornoway has a population of 9000 (making it slightly larger than Kirkwall, Orkney) and has never had a station, though this seems to be cheating as an answer!

Steornobhagh would have condemned it as the work of the Devil!

I swear they used to carry a cross every time they went into Tesco, when it first opened!

 

[Halsebee]

Street in Somerset never had a station. The station, Glastonbury and Street was in Glastonbury, which was and still is a separate town.

Storrington in West Sussex?

 

[EM2]

What about Peacehaven in East Sussex? Population of over 13,000 and has never had a line through or near it, let alone a station.

 

[Oliver]

The only town in mainland Britain without a station that is marked on my 1948 rail atlas is Ullapool, though I doubt there are none over its population of 1300-ish

There were plans to build a branch to Ullapool, though it never happened. Bizarrely a novel was written about its construction:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/dec/09/extract

 

[4SRKT]

Has Glenrothes ever been rail connected? Unless you count Markinch it certainly isn't connected today, and as it's a new town I wonder if it ever had station on a now closed line. Thornton with Glenrothes is at Thornton, which is a Kirkcaldy village rather than Glenrothes.