Railway towns

[whole diary]

[froome]

I quite often hear the phrase '(name of place) is a railway town', so thought I would pick the brains of the forum to see which towns you think deserve this epithet. The phrase usually means somewhere whose development and economy has been profoundly affected by railways, and seems to me to have three elements:
a) A town which developed due to railway development, or where it had a dominant affect.
b) A town whose economy has been largely dependent on the railway industry.
c) A town whose station(s) are important hubs in the railway network.

Three towns - Crewe, Swindon and York - are the ones I most associate with the phrase, closely followed by Derby and Darlington. But I'm sure there are many others. Indeed, I have read that Barnstaple was always described as a railway town, as it was at the hub of the north Devon rail network, but sadly no more. What about Scotland and Wales, do any of their towns deserve the epithet? And interestingly the town that is perhaps most dependent on the railway, London, I've never heard thus described.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

[didcotdean]

Didcot is sometimes referred to as a railway town, but the real spurt to growth came more from the army and ordnance depots developed from the first world war onwards. Then again if it wasn't for the railway these probably wouldn't have happened - supposedly the site was identified by a high ranking army officer who was waiting for a train at Didcot station in 1914 and opened in June 1915.

[paul7575]

Eastleigh was generally considered a 'railway town' once most of the LSWR^▸ (London South Western Railway) manufacturing and repair had been consolidated there. 

I suppose one approach is to look at what came first, I'd probably ask the question "would this place exist - in its late 19th or early 20th century size - if they had not invented railways"?

I'm not sure about using the term with respect to Dicot either...

Paul

[Oxonhutch]

Not forgetting Melton Constable out in sleepy Norfolk;

and my own L&Y local:- Horwich.

[John R]

I would say a) with a little bit of b), but not c).

Really had to have a railway works of significant size to count.  If a) and b) were true then usually c) followed, though Eastleigh and Ashford could be seen to contradict this (though maybe that is because there was less scope for being an important railway hub south of the Thames in the way that they were in the rest of the country. 

[grahame]

Woolverton, Doncaster, Lancing, ....

[chrisr_75]

Carlisle and Carnforth?

[brompton rail]

Woolverton, Doncaster, Lancing, ....

Well, Doncaster was an important coaching town on the Great North Road, as well a market town for a large agricultural area including parts of Lincolnshire,Nottinghamshire and southern Yorkshire. However the decision to build the GNR railway workshops (Doncaster Plant Works) at the town instead of Boston or Peterborough resulted in a huge expansion of the town. Subsequently coal mining developed around the Doncaster area (most of it in the twentieth century) and the town's development continued. The railway was once the major employer in the town but certainly isn't any more (probably the NHS is the largest single employer), however the Plant Works is still there and busy, it seems. Meanwhile, the coal mines, in the surrounding villages have gone, replaced by housing or big sheds!

However, I would say that Swindon and Crewe are the 'true' railway towns as prior to the railway they were only very small settlements of no major significance. Derby, York, Darlington have a long history that pre-dates railways.

[bobm]

Newton Abbot - was known by some as Little Swindon.

[didcotdean]

Didcot's population in the 1841 census was 181.

[Bmblbzzz]

Certainly not London; the railways went to London because it was London, rather than the place becoming London because of the railways. Similarly not Berlin, though I'm told its shape follows the railway lines in and out of it (so I remember from school geography).

[Western Pathfinder]

Certainly not London; the railways went to London because it was London, rather than the place becoming London because of the railways. Similarly not Berlin, though I'm told its shape follows the railway lines in and out of it (so I remember from school geography).

Quite so a fact that the RAF^▸ (Royal Air Force) used to find usefull or so I'm told 

[eightf48544]

Ashford Kent with the SECR works. Still the depot for the Javalins.
Woodford Halse middle of nowhere large marshalling yard and loco shed.
March Norfolk another remote marshalling yard and loco shed.

What about all the seaside resorts like Blackpool, Scarborough Skegness etc.

Ports particularly Southampton, Immingham

[Timmer]

Westbury?

[ChrisB]

Do many in Wedtbury work on the railway then?