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Least Used Stations


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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have just released the statistics for the least used railway stations in Britain for 2018-2019

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-51106246

 

The previous title holder, Redcar British Steel had a boost in users from 40 to 360 during the year, but was closed in December 2019.  The current holders of the title are now Stanlow and Thornton in Cheshire and Denton in Greater Manchester with 46 users each.

 

 

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1 hour ago, JeffP said:

Denton? Isn't that near where Reddish depot was?

 

About a mile along Manchester Road/Hyde Road to the East. I'm surprised it had that many passengers, as it's only served by one train a week, the famous Stockport-Stalybridge parliamentary. There is a group dedicated to increasing services though

Edited by 62613
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6 hours ago, 62613 said:

About a mile along Manchester Road/Hyde Road to the East. I'm surprised it had that many passengers, as it's only served by one train a week, the famous Stockport-Stalybridge parliamentary. There is a group dedicated to increasing services though

I beg to differ.

There are now TWO trains a week. On a Saturday rather than a Friday. Stalybridge-Stockport & Return.

My son lives right next to Reddish South and last time we visited I made a point of catching it (it was still a Friday one way service at the time). There were around 2 dozen people on the train but the 'Friends' of both stations organise events on the train, they have also persuaded one of the Heritage companies to run steam specials along the line AND to stop and pick up passengers.

 

Regards,

 

John P

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Nice to see Coombe Junction climbing up the list!! ;)

Though in reality it was never quite deserted. not to the degree as ticket sales would imply anyway - a lot* of people broke their journey there just cos they could do so.

 

* we are talking relative numbers here, maybe a couple a week :D 

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22 hours ago, Hroth said:

 The current holders of the title are now Stanlow and Thornton in Cheshire

 

Apart from the "being marooned" risk, get off at Stanlow and Shell police will be on you as quick as a ------------------- (insert your own politically correct/incorrect comparison).

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Quote

Denton always looked a busy place on the TV detective series "Frost".............

 

Quote

that was always filmed at Wakefield Westgate

 

Apart from Ingrow Tunnel on the KWVR where a couple of scenes were filmed...

 

The poll reminds me of seeing a station on the Conwy Valley line last summer (which frankly seems to spend most of each year closed by flooding or engineering works anyway), I think it was Dolgarrog.  Having it's station rebuilt after flood damage, so working lamp-posts and telescreens, poster boards... and no platform.  Obviously closed to passengers, unless TfW wanted prospective travellers to bring their own stepladders...

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4 hours ago, Ray M said:

Retro Railtours nearly always have a call at

Denton & Reddish south, on there tours.

Denton was used quite a lot as a water stop as it was convenient to get a hose to.

1386664021_DentonPipe.JPG.f36332241d3543c97602185411e49d51.JPG

 

Don't know if still done as you would probably get a ticket for parking the tanker in the Bus Lane.

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At the other end of the scale Waterloo is again quoted as the busiest.  This is admittedly based upon entries and exits.  Waterloo is fully gated and is a terminus meaning in theory every passenger passing through will be counted though a small number will not be as they require gates opened manually for some reason or might find a gate left open because it is temporarily unattended.  

 

I beg to differ based upon local knowledge.  Clapham Junction is not a terminus other than for London Overground trains.  It doesn't make the top ten by some margin based upon entries / exits or ticket sales.  Neither would it do so based upon the touch-card interactions which account for a large number of its users.  It is thought to be the busiest interchange station (busier than Birmingham New Street) and while interchanging passengers are counted elsewhere at their points of origin and destination it has been estimated that Clapham Junction sees in the region of 1.6 billion passengers annually.   

 

I wonder how they estimate entries and exits for some places.  They do say it is based upon ticket sales which, for certain places, might be reasonably reliable.  Not many day returns to Kildonan would ever be issued for example.  

 

It is encouraging to see an upturn in the use of some stations and this is sometimes associated with local campaigns.  Nowhere near the top or bottom rankings but for very many years an extremely quiet station Longcross has, since the recent timetable change, become a full-time station.  Formerly only a handful of peak-time services called.  A year ago a lunchtime train was introduced.  Now most trains until around 21.00 daily call there.  It will be interesting to see what the uptake is given that it serves only a small collection of light industrial units and a golf course.  Though a modest residential development is apparently on the cards.  

 

 

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On 14/01/2020 at 15:02, JeffP said:

Denton? Isn't that near where Reddish depot was?

 

 

 

Not really that close, no. Reddish South was a little closer if you were coming from Guide Bridge, but I always used to go from Piccadilly on trains going to Marple and get off at Reddish North. From there the depot was just along the road, over the canal and turn right after the railway bridge. Once finished there, it was just a 20 minute walk through the wilds of Gorton in order to reach Longsight. 

 

 

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Had to smile about Longcross as I drove past it every day on the way to work. My understanding was that the 'station' was only there to serve the large MOD sites. What is now Longcross studios was originally the MOD Defence Research of which I know little and the other side of the M3 was the MOD Vehicle centre and test track. The MOD Defence Research establishment shut and Longcross Studios moved in in 2006.

 

https://discoverlongcross.co.uk/the-story-of-longcross-film-studios/

 

Travelling by train from Wokingham to Waterloo in those days, Longcross was little more that a halt and was really there to only serve the MOD, hence the very limited timetable. I suspect the increased traffic is very much down to the film studios.

 

The 'golf course' you refer to is Wentworth......;)......so a bit more than pay and play.

 

The main entrance is actually some way away from the station off the A30 opposite the entrance to Virginia Water lake.

Edited by gordon s
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12 minutes ago, gordon s said:

I suspect the increased traffic is very much down to the film studios.

Definitely.  There has been a significant upturn in the number of customers asking for "Longcross Studios" station in recent times.  Many have been frustrated to learn that the next train will not be for several hours as they failed to check the service before starting their journey.  By "significant upturn" I mean in the order of one or two a month as opposed to one a year.  It's all relative.

 

It remains one of the few stations not served by rail replacement buses during engineering works due to lack of suitable access, nor by trains during industrial action for reasons never explained. 

Edited by Gwiwer
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