List of British towns with no railway station

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This is a list of towns and cities in Great Britain with no railway station. Despite closures in the 1960s, most of which during the Beeching Axe, Great Britain has an extensive railway network, and most towns have railway stations. Some of the few larger towns without railway stations have proposals for new stations, which are noted below.

Defining whether or not a town has a railway station can be problematic. Some of the largest towns in the list such as Dudley, Gosport, Oldham and Newcastle-under-Lyme are defined by the Office for National Statistics as being within larger conurbations, together with smaller towns such as Dunstable, Leigh, Skelmersdale and Ilkeston. In those cases, the conurbation as a whole has rail access.

On the other hand, it may be argued that inclusion in a list of non-rail linked towns should be based not on a technical or administrative link but on the town's being an identifiable distinct community lacking proximity or practical accessibility to a railway station. This latter criterion seems to be used by Network Rail in its Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) documents, as in the 2009 North West Route Utilisation Strategy, which identifies Skelmersdale as a large separate "community" (even if administratively part of a larger conurbation) lacking rail access, suggesting ways of linking it to the rail network.

Similarly, campaigners cite Dunstable as a distinct separate community for its lack of administrative links to Luton. Also, Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive views Leigh as a separate entity for transport planning purposes from, even if it is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan.

If one excludes towns located within conurbations, the largest British towns without direct access to a railway station are Blyth (36,000), Rushden (35,500), Peterlee (30,000) and Coalville (30,000). If towns within conurbations are included, Oldham (following the closure of the Oldham Loop Line) is the largest.

As well as Oldham, other large towns including Bury and South Shields have no railway station but are served by metro/light rail services. Fleetwood is served by the Blackpool tramway. Other towns are served only by a "parkway" some distance from the town; for example, Tiverton is served by the distant Tiverton Parkway.

Inclusion in the list below relates to population but also regional importance: the town may be small but remains the commercial and political centre of its area.

Contents

[edit] England

[edit] East of England

[edit] East Midlands

[edit] North East England

[edit] North West England

[edit] South East England

[edit] Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight has its own rail line, the Island Line, but it is not connected to the rest of the national network. The following towns are not on the Island Line:

[edit] South West England

[edit] West Midlands

[edit] Yorkshire and the Humber

[edit] Scotland

[edit] North of Scotland

[edit] Central Scotland (including Argyll)

[edit] South of Scotland

[edit] Towns on islands with no railway service

[edit] Wales

[edit] Channel Islands and Isle of Man

These islands are geographically and culturally British, but legally and constitutionally, they are not part of the United Kingdom. Tourist railways remain on the Isle of Man and Alderney, but Jersey lost its two railway systems in the 1930s, and Guernsey never had a regular passenger rail service.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

 This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2009)


[edit] References

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