Great Western Coffee Shop

Revisiting that story

https://www.scottishconstructionnow.com/articles/new-rail-link-would-bring-huge-economic-social-health-and-safety-benefits-to-buchan-study-finds


As a statistician, I find the "largest" combined with "furthest" enumerator confusing.  The largest town without a railway station is Gosport, the furthest from a railway station is perhaps Stornoway or Kirkwall

Now, on the subject of minor Scottish railways to the west coast (and beyond), there are a couple of deceptive web sites out there, but... Stornoway *very nearly* gained a railway - and in its place it *did* gain a road that crossed to the west coast, said road largely built in the style of a railway. Perhaps its builders simply picked up the work of railway surveyors from years earlier.

On the approaches to the town there is even a  railway-style bridge to cross a watercourse there. Odd. The link below is to a 2009 Google streetview image of the bridge, somewhat obscured by vegetation. From there you're able to drop back to the satellite view and track the road on its course across the island. On the way it throws off a branch to a pier at Braesclete, and then continues to Carloway (where you'll find a road-over-road bridge on its final approach to the pier there). Wind permitting, it must be the best cycling route on Harris and Lewis.

Mark

https://tinyurl.com/bddkb49n (https://tinyurl.com/bddkb49n)

Although it's not that large, I'd guess Lerwick is a good candidate for "furthest".

There's an interesting article at
https://hlrco.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/railways-of-lewis-harris/

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/harris1.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/harris2.jpg)

I presume your list is National Rail GB only. Were it for the UK then Newwtownards, Northern Ireland would be sixth with a population of 30,000. Dungannon and Enniskillen would also make a +10,000 UK list.

I have heard it rumoured that when RAF personnel were stationed at the Saxa Vord radar station at the Shetland Islands' northernmost tip, that on forms needing to know their nearest railway station wrote 'Bergen'.  :)

My Mum's first WRAF posting after passing out was at RRH Saxa Vord.

Then she went to RAF Gütersloh, Germany. I came along soon after and that was the end of her military career.

Certainly in England, I believe that the English town furthest from a railway station is Bude in Cornwall - 30 miles, with Holdsworthy in Devon 20 miles from Okehampton.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1853254/beautiful-english-town-30-miles-train-station (https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1853254/beautiful-english-town-30-miles-train-station)

There must be places further than 30 miles from a station in England, surely?

Places maybe, if you pick a random point on a map. But for towns it is indeed Bude.

Yes, I believe that too.  Here's a scatter map of all the stations in England.  If there's a town halfway between Carlisle and Berwick-upon-Tweed that could be almost as far as Bude, and I look at the Kings Lynn to Sheringham gap.   Stations at Chathill, Malton and Bishop Aukland are the nearest stations to lots of places, even if they are not always practical to use.  And is Freshwater IOW a Town? Over 30 miles from the tube line at the other end of the island?  Ah, but it's less that 30 miles from Lymington.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/stnscatter.jpg)

Well, just try it! Starting with Bude, it's about 25 miles to Bodmin, Gunnislake, and (now) Okehampton. So maybe that 30 miles has got a bit misremebered.

If you do want to fit a circle of 60 miles diameter between the points marking stations, it certainly helps if half of it is full of sea. Otherwise, away from the spindly bits of land like Cornwall, there are always at least two lines near the two sides but leaving less than 60 miles between them. Carlisle to Newcastle - neither that near the coast - is well under this limit. Where a line moves inland, there are branch lines to the coast less than 60 miles apart.

Even looking at Great Britain only offers one place that does fit: the obvious one in the to left-hand corner. That tempting space full not much except a load of Grampians isn't quite big enough - its "waist" from Aviemore to Laurencekirk is les than 60 miles. The Borders did I think qualify,  before the Waverley line rebuild. Now Tweedbank is only 50 miles from Carlisle.

At fifty miles, like Bude is, I suspect most of these example would qualify. It would take more careful checking, e.g. using station positions rather than just towns, to be sure what order that rank in.

Distance alone is of course not a meaningful criterion. As with “Bergen”, until last week there were settlements in the East Neuk of Fife whose nearest station was Nirth Berwick. Fat lot of use that was to them.

Waterlooville rang a bell in my memory. It was on the Portsdown and Horndean Light Railway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsdown_and_Horndean_Light_Railway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsdown_and_Horndean_Light_Railway) which closed in 1935. Despite this closure date it is included on a detailed Russan army map of the 1960s. So maybe the Russians didn't know everything.

In which case, there are one or two that appear to be 26-27 miles....but now I have to find them again as I didn't note them as they were definitely sub-30 miles....when I have time again :-\

Is that "as the crow flies" mileage, or via road mileage?

According to Google Maps, Okehampton Station to approximate location of Bude Station is 29.2 miles via Halwill, 30.1 miles via Hatherleigh - not quick either, both are 45 minutes-ish by car.

If you want to catch a train, Google maps has given me:
(18.6 miles to Launceston Station)
29.6 miles to Okehampton Station
(30.7 miles to Bodmin General)
32.5 miles to Gunnislake
33.9 miles to Bodmin Parkway
34.5 miles to Barnstaple Station
38.4 miles to Copplestone

So the opening of Okehampton HAS closed the gap and it's no longer "over 30 miles".    And I note that if you had preciously been going from Bude to anywhere east of Devon, you would hardly have been efficient if you used your nearest stations national network stations of Gunnislake or Bodmin Parkway!

A read on Levenmouth's newly opened passenger link, from Rail Engineer.

Mark

https://www.railengineer.co.uk/levenmouth-reconnected/ (https://www.railengineer.co.uk/levenmouth-reconnected/)