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Inspired by a post in the thread about Bourne End ... which lines / stations that were lost toward the end of the Beeching era (or more recently) would still be with us if they had only survived a further 10 years?   Unscientific, seeking opinions / views ...


"If it had survived to [column 1] would the station at [column 2] still be served by main network trains to this day?"

1986 Alston
2029 Angel Road
1996 Balloch Pier
1975 Black Dog Halt
1986 Black Rock Halt
1985 Bridport
1980 Caerau
1993 Clayton West
1994 Gogarth
1979 Hunstanton
1980 Ilfracombe
1979 Leven
1980 Loudwater
1981 Minehead
1982 Okehampton
2004 Ongar
1977 Padstow
2003 Sinfin
2006 Watford West
1978 Winslow

In each case, I have added ten years to the date of the last BR/LT passenger train

Edit to add a few more ideas - nothing on the TV tonight! ...
2000 Holborn Viaduct
1996 Broad Street
2004 Dover Marine
1978 Sully
1993 Kilmacolm
1980 Gorleston-on-Sea
1974 Portishead
1978 Tavistock North
1979 Isfield
1976 Devizes

I definitely think the Bridport branch would have survived, although clearly trains would have had to continue beyond Maiden Newton to Weymouth.

2006 Croxley Green

Indeed - with Watford West  ;)

Could add one of the Marlborough's 1971. Is it possible the Bedwyn train could have ended it's journey here?

..and Abingdon and Wallingford which closed to passengers in 1959 and 1963, but the track was not lifted for many years (1984 in the case of Abingdon). Both might now be viable destinations or feeders into Thames Valley services into Reading and London.

I suppose I'm looking to the era of the Speller Act (1981) which allowed for experimental re-openings in my initial question - so to late closures in the decade before that.  Had earlier closures not happened - I'm noting lines to places like Westerham, Hawkhurst, Buntingford and Maldon as well as Wallingford, Marlborough and Abingdon - the places served would very likely have grown as commuter towns due to the continued presence of passenger trains, and I suspect many of them may be with us today.  But I can't see lines like Staines West, 2nd & 3rd Uxbridge, 2nd Maldon,  2nd Marlborough or Gravesend West having survived to the modern age.   I am, of course, being a dangerous armchair commentator on each of those listed - no risk in my opinion as they're all long gone and today would be a new case rather than a historic speculation

Looking to the current and next era ;D - don't forget Meet the Manager at 17:00 today (5.11.2019) - http://www.passenger.chat/b48

Don't forget Radstock (possibly one of the two only) and (perhaps) East Brixton.
I rather think Broad St and Holborn Viaduct would not have survived,fortunately now replaced by better facilities.

In effect, Holborn Viaduct did survive - it lasted until the Snow Hill re-opening, and St Paul's Thameslink (aka City Thameslink) replaced it.

How about the Waverley Route, benefiting from electrification to Carlisle?

I came up with these extra ones after I posted my initial 30 - with "*" alongside those that, with an extra 10 years, would have survived until the time of the Speller act - which as I understand it was something of an admission that perhaps closures had gone too far.
* 1982 Swanage
* 1983 Itchen Abbas
1976 Marchwood
1979 Melrose
* 2002 Tilbury Riverside

Straying onto VERY dangerous territory, I have taken my initial 30 and I suggest that this half of them would be the most likely still to be with us today had they made another 10 years in the first place:
* 1986 Black Rock Halt * 1985 Bridport 1979 Hunstanton 1980 Ilfracombe 1979 Leven 1980 Loudwater * 1981 Minehead * 1982 Okehampton * 2004 Ongar 1978 Winslow 1980 Gorleston-on-Sea 1974 Portishead 1978 Tavistock North 1979 Isfield Station 1976 Devizes

Unlikely:
1975 Black Dog Halt * 1994 Gogarth 1977 Padstow 1978 Sully 1980 Caerau * 2006 Watford West

Improbable, perhaps to put it mildly
* 1993 Kilmacolm * 1986 Alston * 1993 Clayton West * 2029 Angel Road 1996 Broad Street * 2000 Holborn Viaduct * 1996 Balloch Pier * 2003 Sinfin * 2004 Dover Marine

From my armchair, educated in some cases guesses in others - happy to chat about individual cases. Whether specific ones of these would have survived given 10 more years is (IMHO) absolutely no indication of a case for reopening or not these days.

I'm not sure Kilmacolm is "unlikely", if you think of it as the service that was withdrawn along the Paisley Canal loop.  Most of the line reopened some years later, and is now electrified, with only a short part of the loop and the short branch itself lost.  So I reckon another 10 years and it would have been saved and all been electrified.

Perhaps I'm coloured by a single visit during the period it was the end of the line (boat trains to Greenock having ceased) - coming out from Glasgow in the a.m. peak, quiet as one would expect - but the same on the way back in too, still in the peak, as far as the main line.   Kilmacolm has a population of around 4,000 ... but perhaps if it had blossomed because of the commute opportunities, it would still be with us - who knows?

Populations and catchements are odd things.  Gunnislake is only a bit bigger than Kilmacolm, Pilining only a bit smaller.

From Essex Live (https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/lost-essex-town-left-behind-3520130)


Whatever the immediate finances of the line, the social and wider economic effects are still felt 25 years later. 

But always remember that had there been enough bums on seats then LT wouldn't have withdrawm the service in the first place.

Also remember that the M11 and M25 had been built by 1994 so these too may have had a detrimental affect on passenger numbers.

Reading ‘ The Regional Railways Story’ by Gordon Pettit and Nicholas Comfort, I came across this table relating to proposed closures in 1979. The source came from ‘Holding the Line’ by Faulkner and Austin. The report drawn up by the BRB was leaked to the press and involved closure of 900 route miles of line.

Regarding the Bridport Branch, I am not sure that it might have survived.

Newly posted video - last day of trains at Sully.