Railway Geography: Winners and Losers

[Mikey C]

Another example of a small place being on the right line is Haddenham which is on the Chiltern Main Line, and thus has Haddenham and Thame Parkway which serves the wider area. Thame has a larger population, but was on the closed Princes Risborough to Oxford line so people have to travel to Haddenham

 

[stuu]

As a loser I give you Abingdon. With a population just shy of 40,000, it used to have a branch line from Radley, but that closed under Beeching. Now the good folks of Abingdon tend to drive to Didcot Parkway if they are going anywhere long-distance.
A lesser candidate I give you Wantage and its satellite of Grove. Their joint population would be around 15,000, but the closure of Wantage Road station (in the parish of Grove) - also under Beeching - has deprived this area of rail transport - other than by going first to Didcot Parkway.

Most of Abingdon is no more than 3 miles from Radley Station though, there's plenty of urban areas where the station is a couple of miles away in the same town

 

[YorksLad12]

Wakefield is a winner. It's a large council area - but served well enough by stations, Castleford, Pontefract etc). Other than the city proper is around the same size as Halifax/Rochdale/Lincoln etc. It benefits from being in the way between Leeds and Doncaster and being just big enough to matter. In isolation it would never justify the levels of service or the multiplicity of routes.

Just up the line, Normanton was a winner but could now be considered a post-railway loser.

 

[Graham H]

As a loser I give you Abingdon. With a population just shy of 40,000, it used to have a branch line from Radley, but that closed under Beeching. Now the good folks of Abingdon tend to drive to Didcot Parkway if they are going anywhere long-distance.
A lesser candidate I give you Wantage and its satellite of Grove. Their joint population would be around 15,000, but the closure of Wantage Road station (in the parish of Grove) - also under Beeching - has deprived this area of rail transport - other than by going first to Didcot Parkway.

I always felt BR missed a trick when they reopened the line from Oxford to Bicester. That was about the same time as the Abingdon branch finally succumbed and I am sure an Abingdon to Bicester shuttle would have been a really useful way of effectively providing two services and avoiding terminal space at Oxford.

 

[The Planner]

Another example of a small place being on the right line is Haddenham which is on the Chiltern Main Line, and thus has Haddenham and Thame Parkway which serves the wider area. Thame has a larger population, but was on the closed Princes Risborough to Oxford line so people have to travel to Haddenham

Haddenham was a re-opening though, even if its slightly north of the original.

 

[satisnek]

I'm surprised that Aylesbury - which loses out big time - hasn't been mentioned, even though surrounding lines have been. It appears to be the largest town in the area between London and the Midlands which isn't on a main line and therefore has no service going north.