Trivia - Largest town to have NEVER had a railway service?

[edwin_m]

I've just found through fares from Liverpool to Ambleside quoted in the July 1946 edition of the Liverpool ABC Railway Guide. They were 24s 10d 1st class, 14s 11d 2nd class for 84 miles via Windermere (apparently by bus from there); and oddly cheaper fares of 23s 6d 1st, 14s 8d 2nd for a longer 94 mile route to Ambleside Pier via Lakeside (all singles). These fares are about 4s and 2s more than the fares quoted in the September 1935 edition of the same guide (and a lot more than the Ribble coach which in 1935 was 7s 9d single, 11s 9d return). The Sep-Oct 1963 edition just refers you to trains for Windermere, and buses from there.

Wasn't the steamship in railway ownership at the time, therefore perhaps subject to a more standard tariff per mile?

 

[Par]

I’m going to suggest Chadderton in Greater Manchester population circa 35,000. Now part of Oldham Metropolitan Borough. Mills Hill station is literally on the border with Rochdale Metropolitan Borough (but is in Rochdale). It did have a goods / coal line / depot. It currently has a Metrolink stop and did have two heavy railway lines passing through the town including the line of the notorious Werneth Incline. Despite this the town never had a centrally positioned station. The point I’m not sure on is Middleton Junction station that might technically have been literally a few yards inside the town boundary, but certainly wouldn’t have been much use use to the majority of Chadderton residents.

 

[DanBlanchflowe]

I have a copy of Bartholomew's Survey Gazetteer 9th Edition which has Great Britain 1931 Census/official estimate populations. It lists what then was county boroughs, municipal boroughs, metropolitan boroughs and urban districts in England & Wales and cities & burghs in Scotland. This was (probably?) at the peak of the passenger railway network.

Canvey Island 7,000,
West Bridgford 23,000
Chadderton 30,270
Shaftesbury 3,093
Arnold 19,000
Only these were boroughs/urban districts at that time, of those discussed above.

Of these Middleton Junction was within Chadderton UD, its western boundary being about 0.1 mile to the west.
Arnold UD's western boundary appears to follow the centre of the double track line where it passes Daybrook!! SO ITS NORTHERN PLATFORM WINS.
Edwalton Station was easily in West Bridgford UD.

 

[edwin_m]

I have a copy of Bartholomew's Survey Gazetteer 9th Edition which has Great Britain 1931 Census/official estimate populations.
...
Edwalton Station was easily in West Bridgford UD.

Edwalton was still a separate borough in 1931. But they were merged later on, before the closure of Edwalton.

West Bridgford Timeline

1935 Edwalton and Wilford incorporated into West Bridgford Urban District.

 

[Western Sunset]

I'd plump for West Bridgford Urban District Council too. A very distinct borough from Nottingham; it even had its own fleet of buses that lasted well into the 1960s.

 

[edwin_m]

I'd plump for West Bridgford Urban District Council too. A very distinct borough from Nottingham; it even had its own fleet of buses that lasted well into the 1960s.

And as I've already explained at least twice on this thread, including in the post above yours, Edwalton station was within the boundary of West Bridgford from when the boundary changed in 1935 until the station closed in 1941. So it doesn't fit the OP's criteria of never having had a station.

 

[DanBlanchflowe]

Edwalton was still a separate borough in 1931. But they were merged later on, before the closure of Edwalton.

West Bridgford Timeline

Thanks for this historical fact Edwin. West Bridgford seems to be the largest town.
However I'm ploughing through my Barthlowmews looking at authorities with larger populations.

 

[John Griffiths]

Houghton-le-Spring (pop 36,746) has never had a railway station, though it has a Station Road, named in hope and misplaced expectation.

 

[DanBlanchflowe]

Houghton-le-Spring (pop 36,746) has never had a railway station, though it has a Station Road, named in hope and misplaced expectation.

I agree. In 1931 Houghton-le-Spring had a population of 30,241.
However I think the Station Road you mention is part of the A182 in the former Hetton Urban District which had a station and a population of 20,720 in 1931?

 

[John Griffiths]

There is Station Road in Hetton, as you say, but there is also Station Road in Houghton, a short street off the west side of Newbottle St, just south of the roundabout where Newbottle Street joins Hillside Way.

 

[Eyersey468]

Would Malton count? As although there is a station called Malton it's actually across the river in Norton

 

[Ken H]

As evidenced by a different thread earlier this week, BR maps used to feature the passenger ferry service on Lake Windermere which did strike me as a little odd, on that basis maybe there was some form of integrated ticketing??

They were sealink in 1976 when I last went on them. Originally furness railway.

 

[eoff]

I was going to suggest St Andrews, but it seems it had a railway connection built on-the-cheap at one point but this was closed.