70014IronDuke
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- 13 Jun 2015
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Thinking about a post on the Settle and Carlisle line just now, I remembered being on the up Thames-Clyde in 1965 and stopping at Hellifield - scheduled stop, that is. Since said location is really a village (even if an important railway centre back in the day), this got me thinking that this might be some sort of record "smallest population" stop for a named express train.
It's popn in 2011 was 1,426 - source Wiki - I would assume it was about 1,000 in the late 60s - BICBW.
But I quickly realised the Southern (for sure) would be one to beat this, with a portion of the Atlantic Coast Express stopping at places like Halwill Jcn, which I suspect had a population of less than 10 at the time (? Not an area I know).
And even today, the up Highland Chieftan on Sundays stops at most of the tiny Highland Main Line stations (well, it did until recently, not checked the very latest TT). It used to stop everywhere except
So, I think we can split this up into a number of specifics:
Q1 Smallest communities served by named express trains in England, Wales and Scotland (and Ireland if you like) - but only by the full train, not one-coach oddities/splits, such as the ACE in summer;
Q1a in steam days, ie up to summer 1968?
Q1b post-steam, ie after summer 1968?
Q2 Smallest communities served by named express trains in England, Wales and Scotland (and Ireland if you like) - including through carriages, ie including short fomations of through coaches, such as summer bits n pieces, as the ACE to the north Devon resorts.
Q2a in steam days, ie up to summer 1968?
Q2b in post-steam days, ie after summer 1968?
Note, the trains have to be 'officially' named - so we can't cite, eg the "Tutbury Flyer" single-carriage push-pull 'cos it wasn't officially named. (Unless it was? I'm pretty sure it wasn't. )
Heh heh! This should get some memory banks into top gear
I think the Thames-Clyde stopping at Hellifield should be a good candidate for the England, still steam-age Q1a correct answer.
It's popn in 2011 was 1,426 - source Wiki - I would assume it was about 1,000 in the late 60s - BICBW.
But I quickly realised the Southern (for sure) would be one to beat this, with a portion of the Atlantic Coast Express stopping at places like Halwill Jcn, which I suspect had a population of less than 10 at the time (? Not an area I know).
And even today, the up Highland Chieftan on Sundays stops at most of the tiny Highland Main Line stations (well, it did until recently, not checked the very latest TT). It used to stop everywhere except
So, I think we can split this up into a number of specifics:
Q1 Smallest communities served by named express trains in England, Wales and Scotland (and Ireland if you like) - but only by the full train, not one-coach oddities/splits, such as the ACE in summer;
Q1a in steam days, ie up to summer 1968?
Q1b post-steam, ie after summer 1968?
Q2 Smallest communities served by named express trains in England, Wales and Scotland (and Ireland if you like) - including through carriages, ie including short fomations of through coaches, such as summer bits n pieces, as the ACE to the north Devon resorts.
Q2a in steam days, ie up to summer 1968?
Q2b in post-steam days, ie after summer 1968?
Note, the trains have to be 'officially' named - so we can't cite, eg the "Tutbury Flyer" single-carriage push-pull 'cos it wasn't officially named. (Unless it was? I'm pretty sure it wasn't. )
Heh heh! This should get some memory banks into top gear
I think the Thames-Clyde stopping at Hellifield should be a good candidate for the England, still steam-age Q1a correct answer.