Towns with more than one station?

JHMEG

Inspired by a post from Victor.

Outside of Dublin the only towns I know of that have more that one station are Bangor (Bangor and Bangor West) and Leixlip (Leixlip and Leixlip Confey).

Are Leixlip and Bangor unique?

lord lucan

JHMEG wrote: »

Inspired by a post from Victor.

Outside of Dublin the only towns I know of that have more that one station are Bangor (Bangor and Bangor West) and Leixlip (Leixlip and Leixlip Confey).

Are Leixlip and Bangor unique?

Athlone used to have 2,the Athlone midland station has been closed for ages though.

Not forgetting Limerick and Limerick junction.:pac:

Rosslare and Rosslare strand.

Athlone Midland has been closed since 1985 or thereabouts. There were a good few others in the past, Cork had at least four and Waterford had two (one for the isolated Waterford-Tramore line). Listowel also had two but they were pretty much beside each other.

Run_to_da_hills

lord lucan wrote: »

Not forgetting Limerick and Limerick junction.:pac:

.

Limk Junct is in Tipp.

(Lots don't know that)

Dunlaoghaire had two, Mailboat terminal which was foolishly cut off with the introduction of the dart, (It would have made a far greater rail museum than Moyasta)

vektarman

Lucan had the distinction of being one of the only villages with two stations, Lucan North and Lucan South.
Edit: According to Wikipedia the Dublin-Lucan tramway was legally a railway so maybe a case could be made for Lucan having three railway stations.

Stroke Politics

Navan used to have two train stations, Navan central and Navan Junction. All that remains of Navan Junction today is a storage shed.....

ardmacha

In the heydays of Irish railways many bigger towns and cities had several stations. Cork had 5. Newry had 3 (not including the Bessbrook Station now called Newry) and Dundalk 2.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/Map_Rail_Ireland_Viceregal_Commission_1906.jpg

JHMEG

ardmacha wrote: »

In the heydays of Irish railways many bigger towns and cities had several stations. Cork had 5. Newry had 3 (not including the Bessbrook Station now called Newry) and Dundalk 2.

Am aware of that. Collooney had 3 I think, as did Waterford.

Are there towns now with 2 or more working stations aside from Bangor and Leixlip tho.

corktina

Cork had 7 actually....CB&P had two at different times, Cork and macroom, CB&SCR Cork and Muskerry,Glanmire Rd, Summerhill

joolsveer

Wexford used to have two stations.

opinion guy

Drogheda used to have two also as far as I know - one each side of the viaduct

Terrontress

JHMEG wrote: »

Am aware of that. Collooney had 3 I think, as did Waterford.

Are there towns now with 2 or more working stations aside from Bangor and Leixlip tho.

Yes, both on the same branch line, Coleraine has Coleraine and University and Portrush has Portrush and Dhu Varren.

Hungerford

opinion guy wrote: »

Drogheda used to have two also as far as I know - one each side of the viaduct

That was before the viaduct was built though - the Northern one was then closed.

The other closed pairing that springs to mind is Wicklow (still open) and Wicklow Morragh. There was also a Wexford North (still open) and Wexford South at one time.

In terms of still open, what about Larne Town and Larne Harbour?

Terrontress

Hungerford wrote: »

That was before the viaduct was built though - the Northern one was then closed.

The other closed pairing that springs to mind is Wicklow (still open) and Wicklow Morragh. There was also a Wexford North (still open) and Wexford South at one time.

In terms of still open, what about Larne Town and Larne Harbour?

Yeah, those two are still open.

How about Rosslare and Rosslare Europort?

JHMEG

Terrontress wrote: »

How about Rosslare and Rosslare Europort?

Like Limerick Junction, Rosslare Europort isn't actually in Rosslare tho?

GM071class

JHMEG wrote: »

Like Limerick Junction, Rosslare Europort isn't actually in Rosslare tho?

Also I'm not sure if Rosslare even is a town....:rolleyes:

Limerick Jcn is in Tipperary,
The second station in Athlone can't really count (its broken),

I'll call the IRRS in on this one... I'm sure they've a list around here somewhere....:D

Judgement Day

JHMEG wrote: »

Like Limerick Junction, Rosslare Europort isn't actually in Rosslare tho?

It's not near the port either these days. :rolleyes:

Vic_08

JHMEG wrote: »

Like Limerick Junction, Rosslare Europort isn't actually in Rosslare tho?

Rosslare and Rosslare Harbour are seperate villages about 5km apart by rail, almost double that by road.

Hungerford

There's a rather obvious one that we've forgotten: Belfast - Belfast Central, Victoria Street, Yorkgate, City Hospital and Botanic.

There's another pairing from the North too: Whitehead and Whitehead Excursion - one NIR station and the other the RPSI base.

Bluetonic

Hungerford wrote: »

There's a rather obvious one that we've forgotten: Belfast - Belfast Central, Victoria Street, Yorkgate, City Hospital and Botanic.

The thread is about towns with two stations. Its a long time since Belfast was a town.

JHMEG

I think Belfast is a valid answer.

I've never been in Larne... is the port station (or the port) in the town itself or is it like Rosslare?

Terrontress

JHMEG wrote: »

I think Belfast is a valid answer.

I've never been in Larne... is the port station (or the port) in the town itself or is it like Rosslare?

Well, if we include Belfast there are so many stations and halts. Bridge End, Sydenham, Whiteabbey, Jordanstown etc. It's more of a commuter system than a town with more than one station.

Larne Harbour is a bit away from the town centre but it is built up between the two so I'd say they are in the same town.

Lisburn and Hilden could be seen as in the same town although I think Lisburn is officially a city now.

JHMEG

Terrontress wrote: »

Well, if we include Belfast there are so many stations and halts. Bridge End, Sydenham, Whiteabbey, Jordanstown etc. It's more of a commuter system than a town with more than one station.

Fair point.

Terrontress wrote: »

Lisburn and Hilden could be seen as in the same town although I think Lisburn is officially a city now.

Hilden... beer...

Seems to be valid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilden_railway_station

Terrontress

JHMEG wrote: »

Fair point.



Hilden... beer...

Seems to be valid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilden_railway_station

So it seems to be a lot more common on NIR than IÉ anyway.

JHMEG

Terrontress wrote: »

So it seems to be a lot more common on NIR than IÉ anyway.

Is it true to say so that Leixlip is the only town in RoI with two stations?

Southsider1

Limerick Junction is about two miles from Tipperary Town centre and will, shortly I believe, be within the new Tipp town boundary.

Victor

JHMEG wrote: »

Is it true to say so that Leixlip is the only town in RoI with two stations?

Well, what does one consider a town? Leixlip is within the Dublin continuous urban area and the railway is suburban in style. Of note the town is split in two by the park along the Rye Water, with poor access between the two halves and from the northern half to Louisa Bridge. Compare this to Maynooth, where there is reasonable access tot he station where ever you are in the town, even though the railway originally formed the southern boundary of the town.

In building a station, a railway company has to ask things like:
Are surrounding stations over-subscribed?
Is there sufficient population to support a station?
Is that population adequately served by existing stations?
How close are stations, will building a station cannibalise demand for another station?

For Leixlip, Louisa Bridge was hardly over-subscribed. However, there was population enough to support a second station, Louisa Bridge didn't serve the north of the town and Confey would have a low level of cannibalisation for the pedestrian market, although a higher level for the park and ride market.

JHMEG

Victor wrote: »

Well, what does one consider a town? Leixlip is within the Dublin continuous urban area and the railway is suburban in style.

Are you suggesting Leixlip is not a town?

I'm not sure the relevance but many Irish towns are divided by a river. The main road in the River Forest estate is long and straight as it was originally intended to be a ring road of sorts, linking Confey with Collinstown or thereabouts. It was never followed through tho.

The style of the stations in not really relevant either. As a result of history Bangor Station is quite substantial but it doesn't handle any more traffic than Leixlip Confey.

Louisa Bridge is quite well subscribed, has been for at least 10 years, and even moreso since the large car park was built nearby. In the context of the original village of Leixlip it's location was brutal, granted.

Victor

JHMEG wrote: »

Are you suggesting Leixlip is not a town?

No its not a separate town any more. Its a suburb of Dublin.

I'm not sure the relevance but many Irish towns are divided by a river.

Not in quite the same way. In other towns, they have expanded out from a settlement that centred on a bridge. With Leixlip, the majority of development was to the west and north of the town centre.

The style of the stations in not really relevant either. As a result of history Bangor Station is quite substantial but it doesn't handle any more traffic than Leixlip Confey.

I said the railway, not the stations. It makes more sense to have two stations in Leixlip, than say Longford or Castlebar. Its 3.9km from Louisa Bridge to deepest River Forest. This means it makes little sense to go from River Forest to Louisa Bridge to get a train to Blanchardstown or Dublin, but it does make sense to go from River Forest to Confey to get a train to Blanchardstown or Dublin.

However, to travel similar distances in Castlebar would be a problem as there are only 4 trains a day.

Victor

Oh, Cobh has two stations and might get a third to connect to the cross-harbour ferry.

Several of the old Dublin townships had several stations, e.g. Blackrock had Booterstown, Williamstown (closed), Blackrock, Seapoint and Salthill & Monkstown.

Terrontress

What about towns which have or had separate stations on separate networks or systems?

Kind of like as operates in Dublin at present. Connolly and Heuston. Two stations that serve completely different places so are not interchangeable.

I can get to the same place from either Confey or Louisa Bridge.

Does or did any situation like this exist in Ireland. I think I am aware of one or two areas in London with this, such as Brixton.

JHMEG

Victor wrote: »

No its not a separate town any more. Its a suburb of Dublin.

I can tell you it very definitely is not a suburb of Dublin. There are acres of green fields between Leixlip and the next closest town. That's at a simplest level. There is a long list of other reasons too.

Victor wrote: »

Not in quite the same way. In other towns, they have expanded out from a settlement that centred on a bridge. With Leixlip, the majority of development was to the west and north of the town centre.

Different towns develop in different ways (not sure the relevance), and Leixlip's shape has been decided by county development plans and natural constraints like the Liffey and the Royal Canal.

JHMEG

Terrontress wrote: »

What about towns which have or had separate stations on separate networks or systems?

All over the country due to rivalries between rail companies.

Collooney, population less than 900, had 3 separate and unconnected stations, for example.

Hungerford

Terrontress wrote: »

Does or did any situation like this exist in Ireland. I think I am aware of one or two areas in London with this, such as Brixton.

Here's a few examples:

Dublin - Harcourt Street and Broadstone also served quite distinct routes and it would be impossible to directly connect from them to the other Dublin stations by rail.

Cork - Glanmire Road (now the sole remaining station) and Albert Quay (West Cork railways).

Waterford - Waterford and Waterford on the Tramore line, which wasn't even connected with the rest of the state's railway system.

Tralee - two stations originally - one for North Kerry line and one for the route to Dublin.

Athlone - Athlone Southern and Athlone Midland (now closed).

Newry - Goraghwood (now called Newry); Newry Edward Street and Newry Dublin Bridge.

JHMEG

Hungerford wrote: »

Waterford - Waterford and Waterford on the Tramore line, which wasn't even connected with the rest of the state's railway system.

Waterford had 3 stations: Waterford North (current station), Waterford South (straight across the river) and of course the Tramore line which had its terminus at Railway Square on the other side of the city.

Stonewolf

Derry once upon a time had 4 main stations serving the NCC, GNR(I), CDR and L&LSR.

Strabane had two right beside each other where the CDR and GNR met.

Letterkenny had two narrow gauge stations beside each other serving the CDR and L&LSR

Victor

JHMEG wrote: »

I can tell you it very definitely is not a suburb of Dublin. There are acres of green fields between Leixlip and the next closest town. That's at a simplest level. There is a long list of other reasons too.

The test for "continuous urban area" is whether there are buildings within 250m of each other and Leixlip is joined to Lucan and Lucan is joined to Dublin.

Stark

I wouldn't go counting a few one off houses dotted between Leixlip and Dublin as making Leixlip into a suburb of Dublin unless you were being really pedantic.

Victor

Stark wrote: »

I wouldn't go counting a few one off houses dotted between Leixlip and Dublin as making Leixlip into a suburb of Dublin unless you were being really pedantic.

More than a few houses. http://ims0.osiemaps.ie/website/publicviewer/main.aspx#V1,701165,735567,6

Regardless, my point stands. The railway service is of a suburban, not intercity, character.

JHMEG

Victor, you're the only person who maintains Leixlip is not a town.

Regardless of what type of rail service it has, it has 2 stations.

That 250m thing. Never heard that before. That means that thanks to chronic ribbon developments it could be argued that Claregalway is a suburb of Galway and so on.

icdg

JHMEG wrote: »

Victor, you're the only person who maintains Leixlip is not a town.

Regardless of what type of rail service it has, it has 2 stations.

That 250m thing. Never heard that before. That means that thanks to chronic ribbon developments it could be argued that Claregalway is a suburb of Galway and so on.

There are other reasons why Leixlip could be regarded as a suburb of Dublin. Its telephone numbers begin with 01, not 04. It is served by Dublin Bus, not Bus Éireann. It was always part of the Cableink/NTL Dublin franchise rather than Irish Multichannel/Chorus as far as cable TV is concerned. Counting the number of blue shirts in the town on the day of a Dublin GAA game shows you where a good chunk of the inhabitants think they live, regardless of the local authority it falls under...

But that is all besides the point.

Leixlip needs two railway stations due to the geography of the town and the way the population is distributed. Briefly, there are two major population centres - one centred on the estates off the R148 and R404 (Our Lady's Nativity parish), and one centred on the estates off the R149 (Confey). The town centre is in the middle of the two. These are two seperate parishes with seperate GAA clubs, football clubs, etc. The distance of both areas from the opposite railway station (they are not within walking distance by public road) means that if either station were closed, the population taking that station would be largely lost to the railway and would revert to either bus or car.

And that is why Leixlip needs two railway stations. Its very much down to local factors very perculiar to the town.

JHMEG

icdg wrote: »

There are other reasons why Leixlip could be regarded as a suburb of Dublin. Its telephone numbers begin with 01, not 04. It is served by Dublin Bus, not Bus Éireann. It was always part of the Cableink/NTL Dublin franchise rather than Irish Multichannel/Chorus as far as cable TV is concerned. Counting the number of blue shirts in the town on the day of a Dublin GAA game shows you where a good chunk of the inhabitants think they live, regardless of the local authority it falls under...

All those equally apply to Balbriggan, Bray, Maynooth (bar ntl), Celbridge, and so on...

icdg wrote:

And that is why Leixlip needs two railway stations. Its very much down to local factors very perculiar to the town.

Yes.

icdg

icdg wrote: »

Leixlip needs two railway stations due to the geography of the town and the way the population is distributed. Briefly, there are two major population centres - one centred on the estates off the R148 and R404 (Our Lady's Nativity parish), and one centred on the estates off the R149 (Confey). The town centre is in the middle of the two. These are two seperate parishes with seperate GAA clubs, football clubs, etc. The distance of both areas from the opposite railway station (they are not within walking distance by public road) means that if either station were closed, the population taking that station would be largely lost to the railway and would revert to either bus or car.

And that is why Leixlip needs two railway stations. Its very much down to local factors very perculiar to the town.

There was even talk at one stage of setting up a third to serve the Intel plant.

Judgement Day

This excellent publication is all embracing and if there's a station missing it never existed.

JHMEG

Karsini wrote: »

There was even talk at one stage of setting up a third to serve the Intel plant.

Louisa Bridge (the original Leixlip Station) is but a short walk from Intel.

JHMEG

JHMEG wrote: »

Louisa Bridge (the original Leixlip Station) is but a short walk from Intel.

Yeah I looked it up again here. Apparently Intel wanted a station to serve the plant but IE weren't too keen as it would affect the viability of Louisa Bridge.

GerardKeating

JHMEG wrote: »

All those equally apply to Balbriggan, Bray, Maynooth (bar ntl), Celbridge, and so on...


Yes.

Bray used to have a second station. Naylor's cove, might have just been a halt.. Where is my Johnson atlas when i need it, never mind, found it on wikipedia

Judgement Day

GerardKeating wrote: »

Bray used to have a second station. Naylor's cove, might have just been a halt.. Where is my Johnson atlas when i need it, never mind, found it on wikipedia

The platform at Naylor's Cove was on the Down side and was extant until relatively recently. Would Woodbrook Halt count as a Bray station too?

Judgement Day

Omagh had a half mile branch from the town to the Markets - not sure if there was a station as such. Bandon, Co.Cork had two stations one for goods traffic. Tralee was mentioned earlier as having two stations whereas it actually had three - the Tralee & Dingle Railway had their own separate station.

GerardKeating

Judgement Day wrote: »

The platform at Naylor's Cove was on the Down side and was extant until relatively recently. Would Woodbrook Halt count as a Bray station too?

The is some open spaces between it and Bray, and the whole in a different county..

Shankill has two stations are different times, they was a station on the Harcourt
Street line as well..

df1985

Living in leixlip i can tell you it definately is a town by itself, not just a dublin suburb. There's a definate seperation from Lucan, the town has its own identity. All of leixlip is in Kildare, despite what a few fools in Confey like to believe, the bridge at the salmon leap is the border.

As regards a 3rd station in the town, i believe it was suggested for the new areas like glen easton and also there are plans for a major retail centre at collinstown. hard to see it ever going ahead these days, but every now and again you hear of the twon council discussing it and a 3rd station would serve it.