Trivia: places where another line runs through without a station

[C J Snarzell]

Three places that spring to mind in my neck of the woods - Culcheth, Golborne & Standish.

Standish would definitely benefit from a local station on the WCML given the volume of houses being thrown up. As a village it has literally trebled in size in the last 20 years. The same could be said for Lowton which is literally next door to Golborne. I believe Andy Burnham the Manchester Mayor lives in Golborne and has been campaigning for a station at Golborne for many years. If it did get the green light it would probably only be serviced by Northern and not Avanti.

As for Culcheth - it has become something on an expensive commuter village just tucked inside Cheshire, but with many of it’s residents flocking there for the motorway network and the East Lancs Road that provide vital links to Liverpool & Manchester. Unfortunately, the nearest station is Glazebrook that only has very limited Northern services throughout the day. The Chat Moss line has no stops between Newton-Le-Willows and Patricroft which is brilliant for those who don’t want to be stopping at every lamp post on the way to work.

I’m sure all these places once had stations that disappeared under the Beeching cuts of the 1960s.

CJ

 

[jfowkes]

Shelford, south of Cambridge could qualify. The WAML and the King's Cross line meet just north of the station, which is only on the WAML.

That means there's no stop on the Kings Cross line between Cambridge and Foxton, and Shelford residents can't easily access trains to Royston, Stevenage etc.

Not that big a deal honestly, and Cambridge South will ameliorate this soon anyway.

 

[TUC]

Surely any settlement in the country, where a railway line passes through but there isn't a station, would fit into this category. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

I was trying to puzzle that out too.

 

[jfowkes]

I was trying to puzzle that out too.

The thread title makes it clearer: "places where another line runs through without a station".

 

[Sad Sprinter]

The thread title makes it clearer: "places where another line runs through without a station".

Yes this is what I meant, so an earlier poster’s contribution of the Richmond branch of the district line, passing through the Chiswick Park area without a station, would count. Whereas tracks on the same line, like the Piccadilly line through Chiswick Park, would not count.

Some other more subterranean examples for me in the Central Line which passes right under Bow Road District Line station, but doesn’t have its own stop. And the Piccadilly line passing underneath West Kensington

 

[Magdalia]

Shelford, south of Cambridge could qualify. The WAML and the King's Cross line meet just north of the station, which is only on the WAML.

That means there's no stop on the Kings Cross line between Cambridge and Foxton, and Shelford residents can't easily access trains to Royston, Stevenage etc.

Not that big a deal honestly, and Cambridge South will ameliorate this soon anyway.

This one is an accident of railway history. There is a clue in the name of the junction where the two lines meet.

The Liverpool Street line came first, built by the Eastern Counties Railway and opened in 1845. The line to Shepreth, opened in 1852, was also built by the Eastern Counties Railway, hence the name Shepreth Branch Junction. The Eastern Counties Railway already had a station on the Liverpool Street line and would have seen no need for another on the branch.

Foxton wasn't always the first station on the branch, there was a station at Harston until 1963.

You are right that Cambridge South will make it easier for people to travel between Shelford and stations on the Kings Cross line.

Finally, strictly speaking there is no place called Shelford, though it is in common local usage. Great Shelford and Little Shelford are the proper names of what were originally two separate villages. If ever there was a station on the Kings Cross line, then that could be Little Shelford. I don't know why the existing station wasn't named Great Shelford, after all the Eastern Counties Railway had no trouble with having a station called Great Chesterford not far away.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Does Queens Park in London count? The platforms on the up and down slow lines are there but nothing stops. Platform 6 currently looks derelict.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Re: the mention of Ravensthorpe, when I saw the thread I was trying to think of bigger places than that. Dewsbury is a reasonably sized town which has a station on the Leeds line which runs close to the town centre, but no station on the Wakefield line which skirts the edge of the town. This despite the town historically having much stronger ties to Wakefield, having a WF postcode and 01924 area code.

 

[cjw714]

How about New Mills? Despite being a fairly small town it has three lines running through it but only 2 have stations.

 

[Royston Vasey]

This one is an accident of railway history. There is a clue in the name of the junction where the two lines meet.

The Liverpool Street line came first, built by the Eastern Counties Railway and opened in 1845. The line to Shepreth, opened in 1852, was also built by the Eastern Counties Railway, hence the name Shepreth Branch Junction. The Eastern Counties Railway already had a station on the Liverpool Street line and would have seen no need for another on the branch.

Foxton wasn't always the first station on the branch, there was a station at Harston until 1963.

You are right that Cambridge South will make it easier for people to travel between Shelford and stations on the Kings Cross line.

Finally, strictly speaking there is no place called Shelford, though it is in common local usage. Great Shelford and Little Shelford are the proper names of what were originally two separate villages. If ever there was a station on the Kings Cross line, then that could be Little Shelford. I don't know why the existing station wasn't named Great Shelford, after all the Eastern Counties Railway had no trouble with having a station called Great Chesterford not far away.

Poor old Harston will soon have the Kings Cross line, the Liverpool St line and a whacking great EWR curve bypassing it without a stop!

 

[Taunton]

The Castle Cary to Dorchester line proposed shutting all the intermediate stations apart from the key Yeovil and Maiden Newton. However appeals led to trivial wayside places in the middle of nowhere like Thornford or Chetnole being retained. But Sparkford, the most significant place around between Castle Cary and Yeovil, was closed and remains so, despite the line passing right through the centre and running under the High Street.

 

[contrex]

A notorious one is the Overground at Brixton, where the line passes almost directly above the Southeastern station. It also goes just south of Loughborough Junction station without any stops.

When I was a little boy at Tulse Hill, my mother used to take me to our dentist's surgery in Gresham Road in Brixton. To make me more wllling to go, the journey home was by (newish green 2 EPB!) train from the nearby East Brixton station, changing at Peckham Rye. There have been suggestions in recent years to reinstate the station, which closed in 1976, but I gather cost might be a factor.

 

[Elecman]

The Chiltern Main Line follows the Jubilee and Metropolitan lines for much of its route through suburban London, passing Finchley Road, West Hampstead (missed opportunity for major interchange), Kilburn, Wembley Park etc.

Silvertown/City Airport/North Woolwich has the Elizabeth Line run near it without a station.

A notorious one is the Overground at Brixton, where the line passes almost directly above the Southeastern station. It also goes just south of Loughborough Junction station without any stops.

Lostock has no platforms on the Manchester-Preston line.

Carnforth has lost its platforms on the WCML.

Lostock does have platforms on the Preston Manchester line but NOT on Manchester to Wigan lines

 

[sharpener]

Foxton wasn't always the first station on the branch, there was a station at Harston until 1963.

You are right that Cambridge South will make it easier for people to travel between Shelford and stations on the Kings Cross line.

Seems a great pity that with all the proposed work around Harston they did not include re-instating the station.

Cambridge South is all very well, but with essentially no parking it is not a P & R station, although as you have pointed out before it has a large catchment within cycling distance.

 

[PLY2AYS]

Chiltern run over (and adjacent to) the Metropolitan line past/through Northwood, Northwood Hills, Pinner, North Harrow, Northwick Park, Preston Road, Wembley Park, Neasden, Dollis Hill, Willesden Green, Kilburn and West Hampstead with no platform access.

 

[Magdalia]

Seems a great pity that with all the proposed work around Harston they did not include re-instating the station.

Cambridge South is all very well, but with essentially no parking it is not a P & R station, although as you have pointed out before it has a large catchment within cycling distance.

The main park and ride stations on the south side of Cambridge are Royston, Whittlesford and Audley End.

People will be able to use Cambridge South if they park at Trumpington then use the guided bus or a folding bike from the boot of their car.

 

[DeeJay205]

In Carterhatch, North London, the Southbury Loop runs right through the area without stopping. This is on the section between Southbury and Turkey Street. Also on the WAML between Meridian Water and Ponders End (there is no stop in Edmonton at ALL)

There is also a similar (albeit larger) between Depford/New Cross/New Cross Gate and London Bridge on the SEML/CML/BML routes. But I guess the London Overground route and the Jubilee Line at Bermondsey serve this area.

 

[Omnidekkalover]

Forgot about Dove Holes and Buxton if they have not been mentioned

 

[Dave W]

In Carterhatch, North London, the Southbury Loop runs right through the area without stopping. This is on the section between Southbury and Turkey Street. Also on the WAML between Meridian Water and Ponders End (there is no stop in Edmonton at ALL)

I don't think you can count these - Carterhatch isn't really a settlement like some of the other London examples. The distance between Southbury and Turkey Street is about the same as Southbury and Edmonton, so not like there's a big gap.

... All this of course ignoring the fact there WAS a Carterhatch Lane Station - but I still think this one is a stretch.

 

[artemic]

I have often thought it odd that Fenton and Meir stations closed but Blythe Bridge kept its - I appreciate you can't stop everywhere though!
For a conurbation with so much historic rail, quite a few other parts of Stoke-on-Trent & Newcastle are poorly connected by rail today.
Only two of the six towns have stations (I'll give Burslem half a point for Longport... and it's Hanley with the bus station to frustrate any attempt to leave!)

see also: Trentham and Barlaston!

 

[Lloyds siding]

Another one from the London area: Ruislip Gardens (There are many of these, as previously mentioned, where there is a TFL station with adjacent NR tracks but no station).

 

[Travelmonkey]

Sutton Coldfield has the freight line run round the east side through Aldrdge connecting North of Walsal,

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Friday at 02:35 ==

Long Eaton, the station is nowhere near the town centre but there is another line used for freight and diverts passes right behind the Tesco and beside the Asda,

 

[robert thomas]

The Swansea District line passes through Briton Ferry and it would be possible for trains to stop in the down direction but in the up direction the track passes to the rear of the platform and trains cannot serve the station.

 

[NaZzAtAzEr]

A bit of a cheat answer, but the brighton mainline, from Coulsdon to Earlswood, splits into two geographically, skipping Coulsdon south, Merstham, Redhill and rejoining at Earlswood.
Quarry line and redhill line

 

[Mcr Warrior]

A bit of a cheat answer, but the brighton mainline, from Coulsdon to Earlswood, splits into two geographically, skipping Coulsdon south, Merstham, Redhill and rejoining at Earlswood.
Quarry line and redhill line

Got to be up to 400 metres separation between the two lines though, in more than one place, hasn't there? What's the distance that Coulsdon South and Merstham are, from the 'Quarry Line'?