Most deserving town to be reconnected to Rail Network

[Roverman]

You work for Network Rail, you have a big pot of money and you can reconnect 1 town to the National Rail Network. Which one would you choose and why?

I vote for Leek in Staffordshire, I've been working there for the last 12 months and it really annoys me that the only straightforward way of getting there is by car. Buses only seem to go West, East or North and as I live in Stafford thats no good. I could catch a train from Stafford to Stoke and then catch a bus but I'd never get there on time! Coming home I'd be lucky to see my house before 7.30pm!

I am not the only one who would benefit, the 2 roads from Stoke on Trent into Leek are busy all day long and in rush hour it barely crawls along. If a reliable and affordable train service existed a lot of this traffic would disappear.

I would look into making Leek a through station rather than a terminus,continuing East towards Derby with perhaps a line North towards Macclesfield to encourage greater use of the train by other commuters. There surely would be some benefit to having a service from Manchester to Derby (and beyond) that cut out the Stoke 'corner', although I have never travelled it I am told the Stoke>Derby line is not exactly high speed!

Thoughts?

 

[YorkshireBear]

Ripon in North Yorkshire is the only one that springs to mind. Mainly as a Harrogate Northallerton line.

 

[Swirlz]

Mold, in North Wales would be handy for my family...

 

[Ivo]

Do we have to compulsorily choose a location to be reconnected? Is the choice of somewhere that has never had a link not permitted?

Assuming this is the case, and notwithstanding previously-considered future developments, I would have to go for the obvious one - not just from my geographical perspective, but on a national scale - and vote for Portishead. However, the Greater Bristol Metro scheme should see passenger-carrying services return to the town. Therefore, my suggestion would be the next town to the south of Portishead, Clevedon. Its national connections are flimsy at best (it does have a link with the M5, but only via a 'B'-road), and it does have a sizeable population. Yes, its tourism potential is a shadow of its former self, but this is more in relation to commuting into Bristol than it is to tourism.

 

[Temple Meads]

Tiverton, Devon :P

But purely for selfish reasons.

 

[Eagle]

Suggested reading.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Suggested reading.

I was about to suggest Ossett in West Yorkshire (station closed in 1964) having a population of over 21,000.....and I am pleased to find it mentioned in the list of six stations in this report.

Even the Romans saw how useful it was to have good transport connections to there, when they ruled most of Britain...

 

[Kali]

Tiverton, Devon :P

But purely for selfish reasons.

When I lived there I always wondered why the main line never went through there and down the Exe valley, given the amount of time the existing route spends flooded...

I would probably vote for Ilfracombe. That'd have to be quite a pot though.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I vote for Leek in Staffordshire

I am old enough to remember the line you refer to, which saw the final services from Stoke-on-Trent cease in 1956, as a result of competition from road services transport. Morrisons supermarket has taken over much of the old station site at Leek. Leek has a population of just over 18,000.

 

[MK Tom]

Skelmersdale in Lancashire gets my vote.

The most obvious ones in my own local area are probably Buckingham or Daventry.

 

[cuccir]

Fairly dull answer - Washington. With a diversion-creating, capacity-improving opening of the Leamside Line

 

[Essexman]

Maldon, Essex.
Population about 15,000, plus more in surrounding villages.
Other than the occasional bus to Hatfield Peverel, you have to go to Chelmsford where they struggle through the traffic.
It once had two lines.

 

[Roverman]

Fairly dull answer - Washington. With a diversion-creating, capacity-improving opening of the Leamside Line

A good suggestion a friend of mine actually lives next to the old line in Fatfield the cycle path is used by criminals so electrifying it might teach them a lesson.

Yes by all means consider location that have never had a station but deserve one.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Dudley? The largest town without a rail station since the good Doctor closed it

 

[OuterDistant]

Leek will be reconnected to the rail network in the near future, all being well.

That'll be it, though - the old routes to North Rode and Uttoxeter were built on at various points years ago, most notably by JCB at Rocester.

 

[jopsuk]

Haverhill. A small town when it was disconnected, now has a population of 25,000 of mainly commuters.

 

[sheff'd victoria]

Louth

Its bang in the middle of Lincolnshire miles from any railway station, and as we all know Lincolnshire is not the best place for rail travel at the best of times

 

[Robert Taggart]

Ripon in North Yorkshire is the only one that springs to mind. Mainly as a Harrogate Northallerton line.

Agreed, but, methinks the recently upgraded A1M now cuts through the trackbed at Sinderby - on the level. The old A1 crossed over on a bridge - affording coach passengers interesting views of Sinderby Station / yard in recent times - rusting hulks of Duffs and other wreckage. Also, the same upgrade works appear to have demolished the Northbound carriageway bridge over the Ripon to Thirsk line - this too now being crossed on the level.
:-x

 

[Realfish]

I'd go for Dudley also, from Walsall and Stourbridge Jct.

Which leads me to go go on suggest that two railway connected towns (city) now severed, should also be joined up, i.e. Walsall and Lichfield. The morning road journey into Walsall from the Lichfield direction is an absolute nightmare (stretching the question slightly, I know).

 

[Cliveblackpool]

Fleetwood will hopefully be reconnected soon - within the next 10 years!
Siting of the new terminus station will be an important consideration.

The closing of the original terminus station probably helped its demise.
With Fleetwood being a port, to me, it seems unbelievable it was allowed to close.

Looking at an old passenger density map, line closures were not logical based on that information!
http://www.joyce.whitchurch.btinternet.co.uk/maps/density.jpg

 

[martinsh]

Leek will be reconnected to the rail network in the near future, all being well.

Interesting to see that Adrian Shooter is now the chairman of the project ...

 

[DavidBrown]

I would probably vote for Ilfracombe. That'd have to be quite a pot though.

For purely selfish reasons, I'd agree, though there is also a good business case with the town's profile and visitor numbers increasing by the day, poor existing transport links, and stations at Woolacombe and Braunton would be very well used. Even the vast majority of the trackbed is intact - the only problems being crossing the river at Barnstaple (a new bridge adjacent to the new A361 bridge would be best here), developments meaning that half of Braunton would need to be demolished, and the PALL factory in Ilfracombe, although relocating that wouldn't be too much of a problem, I would have thought.

Agreed, but, methinks the recently upgraded A1M now cuts through the trackbed at Sinderby - on the level. The old A1 crossed over on a bridge - affording coach passengers interesting views of Sinderby Station / yard in recent times - rusting hulks of Duffs and other wreckage. Also, the same upgrade works appear to have demolished the Northbound carriageway bridge over the Ripon to Thirsk line - this too now being crossed on the level.

Plus there's the A61 Ripon bypass which was mostly built on the trackbed, so reopening that line would mean that the railway would have to take a new route anyway.

 

[Buttsy]

Witney - population close on 25K and the 2 roads into Oxford are rammed in the mornings and evenings. Also offers park & ride potential at Eynsham if a new route mainly to the north of the A40 were built (much of the old route has been built over in Eynsham).

 

[Robert Taggart]

Witney - population close on 25K and the 2 roads into Oxford are rammed in the mornings and evenings. Also offers park & ride potential at Eynsham if a new route mainly to the north of the A40 were built (much of the old route has been built over in Eynsham).

If the MP / PM cannot 'swing it' for Witney - no one can !

 

[Buttsy]

He lives out in Dean, near Chadlington, not far from Chippy so he doen't worry about 'plebs' in the largest town in his constituency, just about whether Clarkson will bring a flash car around...

 

[RPM]

Caernarfon. How great would it be to be able to do the whole North Wales Coast/Conway Valley Line/Ffestiniog/Welsh Highland circular tour?!

 

[brianthegiant]

There is a list of closed stations on wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_closed_railway_stations_in_Britain

I'm thinking something which would make an interesting wikipedia project would be a list of towns (of over 10,000 population) without a railways station.
Would have the following fields:
Town Name, Population, Nearest station, Distance to nearest station.

would be a fun little database project..maybe if I get bored one day...

 

[Buttsy]

Keswick - easy access to the North Lakes...

 

[JohnB57]

Oldham.

 

[d5509]

Maldon, Essex.
Population about 15,000, plus more in surrounding villages.
Other than the occasional bus to Hatfield Peverel, you have to go to Chelmsford where they struggle through the traffic.
It once had two lines.

Maldon was the place that came into my mind when I saw the thread. Cut off from Witham in the 60s, I believe, because of the condition of the, now preserved, Wickham Bishops timber viaduct.
For a short time at the end of the late 19th century you could catch a direct Colchester - Southend train via Maldon West.
A realigned Woodham Ferrers - Maldon - Witham rail link gets my vote.