Trivia: Minor stations on the approach to major stations

[Mikey C]

Maryland Station, just after Stratford is a bit like this, once you pass the glamour of Westfield and the Olympic Village housing complex

Stratford itself...

 

[53703]

Edge Hill (Liverpool Lime Street)
Manors (Newcastle)
Ardwick & Ashburys (Manchester)

 

[Killingworth]

Were the down east coast expresses accelerating through Manors back in the day - must have been a grand sight and sound if so? - or was there a permanent speed restriction that spoiled all that?

We're talking of a long time ago, but they were accelerating as they came round the curve below the castle and another curve the other way towards Heaton. By modern standards they weren't too fast but a change from the 3rd rail electrics. There were a lot of empty coaching stock movements to and from Heaton pulled by 2-6-2 V1/V3 tank engines.

Not a very good spotting station compared with the Central where all the same locos could be seen and more. I might have had to buy a platform ticket at Central as coast electric platforms were separate from the mainline platforms. By travelling on the electric train I could spot as long as I liked at Manors, viewing from the bridge as well as the platform. Killingworth was better as there they were at speed - see avatar

 

[thenorthern]

Peartree (Derby) and Trafford Park (Deansgate).

 

[Dren Ahmeti]

Reading West (Reading)

 

[superalbs]

One would think the tiny station outside Exeter Central, St James's. But I think it does see some use apart from for the football.

In fact, it's a very useful station at that!

 

[superalbs]

Stratford itself...

Stratford isn't exactly a minor station.

 

[Statto]

Mixed-traffic railways aren't really suited to journeys between city centres and their inner suburbs. A passenger between Lime Street and Edge Hill is taking a space that could be occupied by someone travelling much further, so a train is not an efficient way of moving that person (and station capacity probably prevents running of more short-distance trains). A bus may be slower but the time difference is small for a short journey, but the bus is probably more frequent and may stop in a more convenient place so is the better choice for most people on this journey.

For all these reasons most inner-city stations, along with the entire suburban services of smaller cities, tended to close or become very lightly used with the advent of tram competition in the early 20th century. Sometimes urban growth and traffic congestion makes their revival attractive, but there is probably not the capacity to do it with heavy rail. Metros, trams or quasi-Metro networks such as in Merseyside and Strathclyde are more appropriate than extra stops on suburban rail.

Most passengers using Edge Hill, tend to be heading the other direction from Liverpool, very rarely you'll see passengers going Edge Hill-Lime Street, those that do will mostly be conecting with another service at Lime Street, whether Underground or another service that doesn't stop at Edge Hill.

 

[trash80]

Duddeston perhaps?

 

[ccityplanner12]

An example from Belgium would be Chapelchurch (Kapellekerk/Chapelle) station in Brussels.

 

[RichJF]

South Croydon = 1.2 million passengers
East Croydon = 22.3 million passengers

Within 1 mile of each other. Trains start slowing down for East Croydon from the south before they reach South Croydon & majority pass through without stopping now.

Falmer on the approach to Brighton.

 

[Mikey C]

Stratford isn't exactly a minor station.

That reply wasn't to the original question, but rather to the comment about run down inner city areas, as Stratford used to be just as bad as Maryland!

I think it’s a legacy of the fact that Inner-City areas historically tended to be not the locations that were ever high traffic generators. It wasn’t that long ago that these locations (and still are in cities like Birmingham) are not particularly pleasant places, with numerous derelict industrial units dispersed with low quality housing and high crime.

 

[InOban]

IIRC they were speeding up through Manors but I think there must have been a low speed through Heaton where the down main took quite a curved path around the island platform. Heaton was a location where the pair of tracks in the middle were straight (up main and down Tynemouth) and the outer pair dealt with providing the space for the islands.

I think there was a 20mph speed limit until after the Edinburgh trains had cleared Manors.

 

[daodao]

Leeds (Marsh Lane) & Osmondthorpe, both now closed.

 

[B&I]

Leeds (Marsh Lane) & Osmondthorpe, both now closed.

Marsh Lane would be Leeds' equivalent of Deansgate today - useful location on edge of city centre, operational constraint without substantial re-building.

 

[xotGD]

Ramsline Halt, Derby

 

[Panceltic]

There is a prime example in Paris, Pont-Cardinet station. First stop out of Saint-Lazare and the only heavy rail station in Paris that is not a terminus. It does get a frequent and regular service though.

 

[chefchenko]

Etruria used to be on the approach to Stoke-on-Trent but closed in the 1990s, typically lots of housing has gone up around the old site but alas no station

 

[DanNCL]

Manors, Dunston, Chester-le-Street and Heworth - all small stations with a service of 1tph or less, and all are on the approach to Newcastle (ECML from Scotland, Tyne Valley, ECML from London and Durham Coast respectively.)

 

[Esker-pades]

Clifton (Manchester). In fact, all the stations between Salford Crescent and Bolton.

 

[Asterix2012]

Dundee riverside on the approach to the Tay bridge, platforms still in situ.

 

[Altfish]

• Ardwick (Manchester Piccadilly)

I think that Oxford Road is nearer than Ardwick; but is that a Major Station?? In which case Deansgate on the approach to Oxford Road is very close.

 

[Vinnym]

Botanic (Belfast Central) which isn’t very central.
City Hospital (Belfast Great Victoria Street)

 

[PeterC]

Maryland Station, just after Stratford is a bit like this, once you pass the glamour of Westfield and the Olympic Village housing complex

I used to find Maryland far more convenient for most of the Stratford area before the Olympic redevelopment. I have no idea what the stats for passengers entering or leaving at both stations were like back then.

 

[SSp]

Two other examples close to Manchester:-

• Salford Central, in its original guise as just "Salford", used to fit the OP's criteria, but has improved in recent years with regeneration in nearby parts of Manchester & Salford.
  It probably wouldn't be described as a "minor station", but for a long time Salford was only open during Monday to Friday peak hours and was in a very run-down state. Trains now stop all day, every day (electrification bustitution aside) and a lot of the station has been refurbished and improved.

It's been a while since I heard the idea that should be renamed Salford Spinningfields...

 

[transmanche]

I think it’s a legacy of the fact that Inner-City areas historically tended to be not the locations that were ever high traffic generators.

And as suggested by others, many of these inner-city stations suffered from competition from trams in the early 20th century. Quite a lot of them closed during WW1 as an economy measure and simply never re-opened: e.g. in London; Holloway Road, Walworth Road, Old Kent Road, Camberwell, Haverstock Hill. In many cases the tram (or other) alternative was deemed sufficiently good that the station did not need to be re-opened. And specifically in London, the tube provided a parallel service; e.g. Holloway Road, Highgate Road.

 

[700007]

Millbrook and Redbridge Hants before Southampton Central

Cambridge Heath and London Fields before London Liverpool Street

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Manningham (near Bradford Forster Square), closed 1965

 

[greyman42]

Two other examples close to Manchester:-

• Salford Central, in its original guise as just "Salford", used to fit the OP's criteria, but has improved in recent years with regeneration in nearby parts of Manchester & Salford.
  It probably wouldn't be described as a "minor station", but for a long time Salford was only open during Monday to Friday peak hours and was in a very run-down state. Trains now stop all day, every day (electrification bustitution aside) and a lot of the station has been refurbished and improved.
• Miles Platting, 1¼ miles east of Manchester Victoria, was another of those smaller stations on the approach to a big city which was hardly used.
  Miles Platting closed in 1995 in the last days of BR and IIRC had limited trains stopping there in the period up to closure. There's now a tram stop nearby on the Metrolink Rochdale line (not the same railway lines that Miles Platting station was on), but Metrolink was not the reason for closure, more likely 1970s / 80s inner-city blight and depopulation in the local area.

Did Park station go at the same time as Miles Platting and for the same reasons? Does it have an equivalent Metrolink station?

 

[johnnychips]

Did Park station go at the same time as Miles Platting and for the same reasons? Does it have an equivalent Metrolink station?

Park station used to primarily serve the Co-op jam factory, I think, and when it closed - don’t know when - it lost most of its purpose.