Trivia: which railway station is furthest from the town it serves?

[Statto]

Another one of these is Wallasey, which despite (once) being a substantial borough in its own right, has no obvious centre, but a series of focus points spread around. The two railway stations named Wallasey are peripheral to the area, with the terminus, New Brighton, more central to one of those focus points.

Being from Wallasey myself, i'd argue Liscard is the Town Centre for Wallasey, that's were the main shops were back in the day, in fact Liscard still has a precinct bit of an indoor market, most local buses serve Liscard, New Brighton more the resort & has a bit of renaissance recently with new developments built.

 

[E100]

Rogart is 2 miles walk from the station. I suspect the village/hamlet around the station [Pittentrail] largely arrived after. Coincidentally some lovely wild camping nearby.

 

[transmanche]

It doesn't include 'Town' or 'Central', but for distantly-located *and* erroneously-named station, could we have a mention for Welwyn North?
1.6 mile walk from, and located south-east of, the village it is named after.

The station was originally named Welwyn after the village. But it was renamed in 1926 when a) Welwyn Garden City station opened and b) the area was absorbed into Welwyn Garden City. So the name is perfectly correct.

 

[bearhugger]

Thirsk's is in a village quite a far way from the town itself.

Approximately 1.3 miles from station to market place.

 

[LdnNiko]

The station was originally named Welwyn after the village. But it was renamed in 1926 when a) Welwyn Garden City station opened and b) the area was absorbed into Welwyn Garden City. So the name is perfectly correct.

Except that it is not perfectly correct.

The area (Digswell) isn't absorbed into Welwyn Garden City at all.
The river Mimram creates a natural barrier and the Digswell viaduct is one of only a handful of crossing points (not that it is the Severn or anything).

North of WGC, yes. But still far from either settlement from which it takes its name.

 

[transmanche]

Except that it is not perfectly correct.

The area (Digswell) isn't absorbed into Welwyn Garden City at all.
The river Mimram creates a natural barrier and the Digswell viaduct is one of only a handful of crossing points (not that it is the Severn or anything).

Apologies, the WGCDC 'designated area' boundary ran along Hertford Road, some 350-400 metres short of Welwyn North station. But the WGCDC area included Digswell and almost all of the viaduct.

North of WGC, yes. But still far from either settlement from which it takes its name.

Well, we can split hairs about how far away it is. But it is clearly not 'distantly-located' or 'erroneously-named'.

 

[jfollows]

Bromsgrove seems a long way from the station, apparently it's only around 1.5 miles, first time I went I ended up walking more like 2.5 miles thanks to a lack of signposts. The station is dedicated to the car commuter.

 

[LdnNiko]

Apologies, the WGCDC 'designated area' boundary ran along Hertford Road, some 350-400 metres short of Welwyn North station. But the WGCDC area included Digswell and almost all of the viaduct.

Well, we can split hairs about how far away it is. But it is clearly not 'distantly-located' or 'erroneously-named'.

Again, except that ~4/5 of the original Digswell parish is *not* part of the WGCDC area, even by the excellent map that you provided. The bit that is, is Green Belt recreational use and open fields and the district council shows them as distinct areas, as separated by Green Belt boundary delineation.
https://www.whtimes.co.uk/polopoly_...e.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/image.jpg
http://consult.welhat.gov.uk/events/34232/images/web/5370401_0_1.jpg

The geography surrounding the station means despite some WGC housing being as close as "350-400m short of Welwyn North" the catchment area for the station is not the northern part of the new town, but is almost universally from Digswell, Welwyn and other nearby villages and hamlets. Plus, people are measuring from settlement centres in this thread.
Anyway, that's my reasoning on why I believe the station is a contender for this thread.

Rannoch Station has no identifiable centre of population relating to the name, other than Kinloch Rannoch, which is 16 miles away. Even the top end of Loch Rannoch is five miles from the station

Excellent! I was thinking the same.
I believe it refers to Rannoch Moor, the moorland to the west of the loch.

 

[Djgr]

Being from Wallasey myself, i'd argue Liscard is the Town Centre for Wallasey, that's were the main shops were back in the day, in fact Liscard still has a precinct bit of an indoor market, most local buses serve Liscard, New Brighton more the resort & has a bit of renaissance recently with new developments built.

Being from near Wallasey, where do you start to explain it?

(An island within an island? Wallasey is surrounded by water on three sides from the rest of the Wirral, which is in turn surrounded by water on three sides!)

The best way is to think of it as a number of villages that grew and eventually joined together. One of these villages was Wallasey Village and the so named railway station is very handy for it.

 

[thenorthern]

Seamer, Grindleford and Dinsdale are outside the places they are named after although are located within/near other places.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I was going to nominate East Kilbride, but it's probably more accurate to say East Kilbride town centre is a long way from the town it is named after.

Google says 2.2 miles from Brampton (Cumbria) station to the market place in Brampton, but as the station was originally Brampton Junction I'm not sue it counts.

 

[chefchenko]

View attachment 69251

Saunderton seems an obvious one. The village is tiny and nearer to Princes Risborough then the station by quiet some distance. The station is the one in the middle yet the village is just south of Princes Risborough

Ridgmont

Rugeley Trent Valley is on the otherside of the motorway to the town

Motorway ??? I think not , it’s a 20 minute walk across the bypass but no motorway

 

[GLC]

If you stretch the definition of “town it serves”, IBM Halt is currently 5 miles from the nearest IBM office.

Lairg railway station is 1.6 miles from Lairg itself

 

[Scotrail84]

Glenrothes with Thornton is some 3.5 miles from the centre of Glenrothes town by the road. 3.1 miles by foot.

Glenrothes town is actually much closer to Markinch station that it is Glenrothes. Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes with Thornton and Markinch are part of the fife triangle, if you buy a return to a Edinburgh from any of the 3 stations you're generally allowed to alight at either of them on your return.

Thornton village is literally 200yds away from the station.

 

[LewFinnis]

The old centre Pluckley in Kent is around a mile north of the station, though the village has grown towards the railway. Penshurst Station is in the village of Chiddingstone Causeway nearly 2 miles from Penshurst itself. Also in Kent, Yalding is nearly 2 miles by road, and across the Medway, from the village. Barming 1 and a half miles north of the village. Higham also well over a mile from the village.
On the former Hawkhurst branch most of the stations were some distance from the places they purported to serve. Clearly the SER and (in the case of Barming) LCDR weren't too fussed about station naming.

 

[2HAP]

As we're allowing Road in station names, Hadlow Road station is in Cheshire, Hadlow is in Kent. Must be 250 miles at least.

 

[Snow1964]

Walton on Thames station is about 1.9 miles from the Town Centre, and station is over 2 miles to the Thames (so probably furthest from the river included in station name)

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Godstone station in Surrey is about three miles from Godstone village. A settlement called South Godstone has grown up around the station but that's a completely separate place from Godstone itself.

 

[Temple Meads]

If including Parkway stations then Tiverton Parkway may be the winner, at 7.3 miles by road from the town centre. The station it replaced, Tiverton Junction, was slightly closer at 6.4 miles.

 

[edwin_m]

The station formerly known as Alfreton and Mansfield Parkway is over 8 miles from Mansfield. Bodmin Parkway is about 3.5 miles from Bodmin, these towns incidentally being at opposite ends of the A38.

 

[Ianno87]

In Northern Ireland, Newry railway station is 1.5 miles from the centre of town.

 

[Dr Hoo]

As we're allowing Road in station names, Hadlow Road station is in Cheshire, Hadlow is in Kent. Must be 250 miles at least.

An interesting one.

Hadlow Road in Cheshire was named as such because its nearby village of Willaston had a smaller namesake in Cheshire, near Crewe, which already had a station.

Unfortunately Hadlow was one of the 'lost villages' of the Domesday Book (strictly "Edelaue") and it only survived in the road name.

Nothing to do with Kent! By a strange coincidence I have lived and worked fairly near both Hadlows.

At risk of veering too far off thread but also spanning the centuries, imagine the landowner, Robert de Wick (who had substantial property interests in the Scilly Isles (strictly just "Scilly")) coming back in a time machine and discovering that 'his' station was somehow in virtually the furthest corner of Scotland. Hard to beat on this thread.

 

[Glenn1969]

I wonder if the people clamouring to see Elland station open are forgetting that the proposed site at Lowfields is 1.5 miles from the town centre which surely would put some people off using it?

 

[Bevan Price]

Widnes station in the north west is 1.5 miles from the station to the centre of town. The station should really be called Farnworth as the town/village is a lot closer to the station than it is to Widnes.

"Farnworth (For Widnes)" is just one of several names that Widnes used to be called.
Other names included "Farnworth for Appleton", and "Widnes North".
I suppose that calling it Widnes avoids confusion with Farnworth (near Bolton).

There was a separate Farnworth (later Farnworth & Bold) station on the St. Helens - Widnes line.
Widnes Central & Widnes South, both closed, were nearer to the town centre, but had poor (irregular / infrequent) services.

 

[ElectroSoldier]

The population center of Winsford has changed over the years which means the center is now about 1.5 miles from the station. The longest distance is about 2.5 miles away from the station.

The town of Hawarden has a station, but 3.3 miles away is the station of Hawarden Bridge...

Another curious one is Speke. If you want to go to Speke by train you would be directed to Liverpool South station not Hunts cross station (which is closer) and LPY is about 2.5 miles away from the center of Speke district. even more if you live the other end of Hale road

 

[DJ_K666]

I don't know about kilometres but Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway is 2 miles from the village of Horsted Keynes. There's a great pub there (in the village)

 

[keith1879]

The population center of Winsford has changed over the years which means the center is now about 1.5 miles from the station. The longest distance is about 2.5 miles away from the station.

The town of Hawarden has a station, but 3.3 miles away is the station of Hawarden Bridge...

Another curious one is Speke. If you want to go to Speke by train you would be directed to Liverpool South station not Hunts cross station (which is closer) and LPY is about 2.5 miles away from the center of Speke district. even more if you live the other end of Hale road

...but Hawarden has it's own station (called Hawarden) right in the town...and Hawarden Bridge station is right next to Hawarden Bridge.

 

[Djgr]

The population center of Winsford has changed over the years which means the center is now about 1.5 miles from the station. The longest distance is about 2.5 miles away from the station.

The town of Hawarden has a station, but 3.3 miles away is the station of Hawarden Bridge...

Another curious one is Speke. If you want to go to Speke by train you would be directed to Liverpool South station not Hunts cross station (which is closer) and LPY is about 2.5 miles away from the center of Speke district. even more if you live the other end of Hale road

I wouldn't call Speke a town! It's a suburb or satellite estate

 

[ElectroSoldier]

Its a district in the city of Liverpool.
If I follow your thinking correctly it doesnt count because its not a town, which means its part of a city and the city station is Liverpool Lime street... Right?

 

[Bullfield WEst]

Well, if we have Closed Stations, how about Proposed new stations? I include the new prospective "Leigh (Lancs) Station" which will be at least 4.5 miles away in Golbourne.