Great Western Coffee Shop

Opened in 1848 as the terminus of a broad gauge branch, xxxx station became (and remains) a major operational point.  It has grown, and shrunk, over the years, but still retains three active platforms from which trains head off in four directions, with two of the lines splitting again within 30 miles.

Direction 1
Next station 32 km, town population 3200
Then at 48 km, village population 1500

Direction 2
6 km to a station serving a town of 28000
at 12 km, a town of 21000
at 21 km, another town of 28000
and at 47 km, a major centre of 155000

Direction 3
6 km to a station serving a town of 28000
then at 11 km, a town of around 10000
and at 13 km, a population of around 600
At 15 km, a station serves a village of about 1000(?)
and at 24 km, a city of 80000
A suburb of that city is served about 4 km further on
and a further town of 15000 at 36 km
and at 45 km a city of half a million.

Directions 4 and 5
9 km to a station serving a town of 21000
At 30 km, a village of 3000
and at 40 km, a village of 2000
(this is where the line splits)

Direction 6
2 km to a station serving a village of about 2000
7 km to a town of 17000
and 38 km to a city of 45000

The information here lists all stations that retain services from xxxx within 50km by direct train.  Distances and populations are from various sources and are approximate in all cases. E&OE!

Where is xxxx?
Which direction has the most frequent services from xxxx?
And which the least?
Which direction was the original branch?
What is the population of the town that xxxx station itself serves?

xxxx is Westbury. It's far too early in the morning to work out the rest!

It is indeed Westbury.  And it is, indeed, early in the morning!   I see there are problems due to poor rail conditions on route 6 this morning, with some early trains terminating at the town 7km away rather than carrying on to the city at 38km and beyond.

The trouble is my GW atlas gives miles and chains so it's out with the calculator.

Direction 1 London Pewsey and Bedwyn

Direction 2  & 3 are via Trowbridge

2 is Melksham to Swindon
3 is Bradford on Avon to Bath Bristol

Which makes 4 & 5 is Frome
 
Direction 6 is Salibury Dilton Marsh Halt

Judging by milages and without getting out my other 1" to the l mile atlas Swindon Melksham/Weymouth is the original route.

I would suggest 3 is most heavily used as you have the Salisburys and Weymouths.

Poor Melksham is least.

Yes, you're right at each stage:

Route 1 - the Berks and Hants with 5k people served in the next 50 km
Route 2 - the northbound TransWilts to Swindon, with 232k people servered in 50 km
Route 3 - to Bath and Bristol, 635k people served in next 50 km
Routes 4 and 5 - to Weymouth and Taunton, 26k people served in the next 50 km
Route 6 - to Salisbury, with 64k people server in 50km
(I have not included the 11k population of Westbury in any of the above figures)

The original line was indeed the one from Swindon, branching off the Great Western main line at Thingley. The line via Frome was second, then to Salisbury, then to Bath and finally via Pewsey.

The line with the most train services is the one to Bristol (no. 3) , and the one with the least to Swindon (no. 2 / the original line to serve Westbury)


Sorry about the units ... at least I didn't use rods, poles or perches!

(http://www.takeforum.com/forum/images/smiles/oap-protest.gif) In fact that would have made it easier, as there are four rods (or poles, or perches) in a chain, and 80 chains to a mile...

Yes, it's a lot easier in miles, as I can imagine the distance without having to convert.

I assumed it must be a place like Westbury.

When you consider how overcrowded we think the UK is the most startling statistic is that there are only 5K people served by train in the 30 miles from Westbury to Bedwyn.

Indeed - Wiltshire is a county in which the majority of the population is arranged in an arc from the north (Swindon, Chippenham, Corsham) through the West (Trowbridge, Melksham, Bradford-on-Avon, Westbury and Warminster) to the south (Salisbury).  Outside the area around each of those, you only really have Devizes and Marlborough - both of which were formerly rail connected to the Westbury to Bedwyn line but closed in 1966 and 1961/1964 and lots and lots of open space and downlands.

Here's a view from The Downs, down to the rather more populous Avon valley (Trowbridge / Melksham / Chippenham direction:
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/tract3.jpg)

Looking the other way, there's not a house to be seen ....
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/tract2.jpg)

and it goes on for miles!
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/tract1.jpg)

The 1963 timetable for the area may be of interest (links below.)
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/gwpast/kvtwhowltw1963ttp1.pdf

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/gwpast/kvtwhowltw1963ttp2.pdf

Although lines and stations were axed, the 1963 timetables really do shown how slow and infrequent (& non clockface) services were!