Britain's Quietest Railway Stations

since the privatization of british rail in 1994 the uk rail network has sported among the most frequent train services in the world with some stations at major regional centres seeing up to a dozen trains per hour providing widespread connections for both commuters and long distance travellers in contrast though the network also hosts among the quietest not only in britain but in the world and thus in this video we will be examining the history and reason why some of the uk's least used railway stations came to be this listing being based on stations which have had an average annual passenger number of less than 200 passengers per year over the last five-year period barry links is situated on the main line between dundee and aberdeen in scotland and was opened on july 31st 1851 by the dundee and our growth railway to serve the nearby village of barrie a settlement with a parish population of 2124 people opened originally as barry the station was renamed barry lynx in 1919 in recognition of the adjacent karnusti links golf course and comprised three platforms two main line platforms and a third platform which also doubled as a loop as well as a small siding complex barry station's primary use was to serve the barry budden training camp a rifle range and training area opened in 1850 and was used by the for farshire rifle volunteers the fife and fulfill yeomanry the panmura battery of the fortharshear artillery brigade and the royal naval reserve battery in world war one the station served a vital role in providing connections to the camp as soldiers undertook basic training before being sent to the front lines of northern france the aegean and arabia but once the war ended the use of this station gradually decreased throughout the remainder of the century the main achilles heel for barry links is that it's too far from any regional center to be of efficient service with the nearby town of karnusti being served by two stations gulf street and carnoustie which are much more centrally located although gulf street itself is among the uk's quietest stations with a five-year average of 181 passengers per annum aside from the occasional use by military personnel visiting the barrie camp the only other traffic are golfers at the panmuir and karnusti links golf courses with scottrail providing four trains per day monday to saturday the 0617 are brought to dundee the 0.754 are both to glasgow queen street the 1809 glasgow queen street to our growth and the 1847 edinburgh to our bro situated on the line between norwich and great yarmouth buckingham station was opened on may 1 1844 by the yarmouth and norwich railway and served the nearby village of buckingham as the fastest means to get to norwich and other onward destinations however buckingham only sports a population of 460 people and while the station is the closest to the larger town of claxton 1.5 miles to the south west access is impaired by the presence of the river year requiring a dog-like diversion of 16 miles to reach it while other nearby regional centers such as brundle and cantley are served by their own train stations the midyear national nature reserve is located immediately west of the station and the services are only advertised to stop at the station on weekends these being through passenger request located in the highlands of scotland kildonan station sits on the far north line between inverness thurso and wick and was opened originally by the sutherland and keith ness railway on july 28 1874. cited on the banks of the river helmsdale kildonan serves the nearby kildonan lodge and was originally built with two platforms that served as a passing loop as well as a siding and two signal boxes the reason for building the station came due to a sudden but short-lived gold rush in 1869 when gold was found in the river helmsdale but not enough to sustain a protracted mining industry similar to that of the american west however the station did gain notoriety when only 10 years after its opening a southbound fish train from wick derailed on the curve at the station and was left in a mangled heap killing the firemen and injuring the driver regardless the station continued in its role as a transport connection for the lodge and visiting hikers exploring the local highland countryside although it has now been stripped down to just a single platform and a shelter today scotrail advertises that all trains on the far north line to wicken thurso stop at kildonan on request including 8 trains per day during the week and 2 trains on sundays situated on the loo branch in cornwall coombe junction was opened in 1896 and forms the end of a long looping curve that descends from the town of liskard at the top of the hill to comb at the valley floor before reversing and following the course of the east lou river until it reaches the english channel at the eponymous harbour town of lou combe while a reversing point for passenger trains isn't the end of the line going north as a short spur connects with the former clay processing facilities at moores water which were later converted into a cement works but as of late 2020 the potential for future services to the site is in question as it was reported the once weekly cement trains that ran to the site have been withdrawn although every train traveling between lisgaard and lu is required to stop at coomb junction in order to reverse only four trains per day are scheduled to pick up and drop off passengers during weekdays the 0819 and the 1531 to liskard and the 0839 and 1549 to lou in terms of connections it's much easier for local residents living near coombe junction to undertake the half-mile walk to liskard station at the top of the hill where there are more frequent trains south centrostel toro and penzance and north to plymouth exeter bristol and london opened on july 15 1850 elton an austin station is located on the main line between nottingham and grantham and was originally built by the ambergate nottingham boston and easton junction railway sited just under a mile south of austin and less than a mile north of elton the cumulative population of the two villages is around 530 people and both settlements are served by an hourly bus operation running along the a52 trunk road between nottingham and grantham therefore the station sees only two trains per day mondays to saturdays the 0626 grant them to nottingham and the 1710 nottingham to skegness while one may consider that a station serving an airport would naturally have a healthy flow of passenger numbers t-side airport prior to the suspension of services to the station in september 2020 was only served once a week in one direction on the tees valley line between darlington and middlesborough the station opened on october 3rd 1971 was built to connect with the nearby t-side international airport which was formerly known as raf middleton st george and converted for use as a civil airport in april 1964. while due to the proximity of the airport from the railway it seemed logical for there to be a train connection the terminal was over half a mile from the station and could only be accessed on foot thereby making it a somewhat unattractive alternative to car travel this combined with a sharp decline in passenger numbers at the airport following the 2008 financial crisis as well as the loss of the popular british midland service to london heathrow in march 2009 meant that by 2019 the station's attendance what little there was had plummeted from the hourly service it once received under british rail subsequent private franchises have cut down the number of trains operating to the station year on year until eventually it only had one service a week operating on a sunday the 1205 hardly pulled to darlington haven house is located on the former first beat escape nest branch of the wider east lincolnshire railway and was opened on july 28 1873 to serve the various farms that were peppered across the surrounding region being used more as a good station in order to transport local produce including potatoes hay corn and straw to markets in boston grantham nottingham skegness and london while also bringing in supplies such as seeds and manure originally named croft bank the station always demonstrated low passenger numbers with the nearest large settlement being waynflete all saints which is served by its own train station today the station mainly provides connections for passengers visiting the nearby gibraltar point national nature reserve on the lincolnshire coast and is served by four trains per day mondays to saturdays the 715 in 1736 skegness to nottingham services and the 755 and 1751 nottingham to skegness services located at the heart of the industrial mersey estuary stanlow and thornton was opened on december 23 1940 by the great western railway and london midland and scottish railway on the birkenhead joint line between birkenhead and warrington bank key and was hatefully created to serve the shell thornton aero engine laboratory during world war ii this facility being a main developer of fuels and oils being used by the royal air force aside from the still present oil refineries both north and south of the line the station has no other form of traffic to serve with the nearby town of elton having its own dedicated station while the larger ellesmere port is the terminus of the mersey rail commuter network with direct connections to the centre of liverpool despite calls for the station to be closed under the beaching axe though stanlow and thornton continues to be served by northern trains travelling between elsmere port warrington and manchester victoria with two trains stopping every weekday the 1803 leads to ellesmere port and the 1829 elsmore port to liverpool lime street via warrington regis south station is located in the suburbs of stockport near manchester and was opened in october 1845 by the manchester and birmingham railway and originally sported four platforms as part of the quadruple track main line between stockport and huddersfield being once one of the main stations serving the manchester area prior to the expansion of the london and northwestern railways terminal at store street later london road and now manchester piccadilly housing an engine shed and a wider yard complex with several goods tracks in may 1882 the facilities at london road were expanded greatly and with the provision of a direct main line between stockport and manchester via levinson and longsite express services at reddish south quickly diminished but the line and station remained open for use by commuter trains under the beaching acts of the 1960s the line through reddish south was slated for closure but saw a reprieve as other routes avoiding the manchester area were removed instead although passenger numbers continued to drop while the line has become a vital freight link between crew and leeds the intermediate stations on the route reddish south and the nearby denton were given a token service of just one train per week on a saturday morning the 0 950 to staley bridge meanwhile denton station opened in 1882 and located approximately 2 miles north of reddish south based on its five-year average usership is now the quietest station on the uk rail network with an average of 85 passengers using the station between 2015 and 2020 while being served by only one train per week the 0.956 on a saturday morning between stockport and staley bridge for the future it's currently unclear whether these low usage stations will continue to see passengers in the aftermath of the 2020 outbreak and resultant rail market slump as is the case of t side airport which has had its service suspended with no news as to a possible reinstatement for the time being though the presence of these many quirky stops and halts ones which often slip by unnoticed serve to create an interesting little novelty in the makeup for britain's railway network you

Channel: Ruairidh MacVeigh

Views: 52,183

Keywords: emu, diesel, express, multiple unit, rail, train, electric locomotive, passenger, shunter, trains, dmu, branch, diesel locomotive, class, engine, mainline, railways, steam locomotive, locomotive, freight, railway, track, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Least Used Stations, Quietest Stations, Havenhouse, Elton and Orston, Teesside Airport, Reddish South, Denton, Coombe Junction, Barry Links, Buckenham, Kildonan, Stanlow and Thornton, UK, Britain, Manchester, Scotland, Liverpool, Conrwall

Id: 27pAtUJ_2dc

Length: 12min 48sec (768 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 19 2020