Railway request stops in Britain / myLot

Manchester, England

March 8, 2016 5:03am CST

Despite living all my life in England, I had no idea that these rail stations still existed. Yesterday I took a trip over to my home town of Bolton, which involved catching the Clitheroe train from Manchester. As the train was slowing down at Bolton the guard announced that we were now entering Bolton and continued to list the forthcoming stops. The part that caught me by surprise was the mention Entwistle along with referring to it as “by request”. I actually asked a woman sitting nearby to ensure that I had not misheard. I do know where Entwistle is and I am aware that it is a small community, but had no idea that the system of request railway stations was still in existence. To alight from the train there you need to inform the guard of the fact and to catch a train from there you have to signal to the driver as the train approaches. Apparently there are still about 150 such small stations scattered across Britain, although I thought that this concept had ceased almost a century ago.

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8 responses

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (381931)

• Rockingham, Australia

8 Mar 16

That's interesting - and that's a lot of small stations still on the system. I guess stops at these aren't required very often.

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Koalemos

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

8 Mar 16

It still surprises me because I would expect such a station to either have a minimum service or be totally closed.

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Anna

@LadyDuck (502251)

• Italy

8 Mar 16

This is incredible, but I like those old British traditions. It would be wonderful to have the same services also in the other countries.

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Koalemos

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

8 Mar 16

If someone had asked me a few days ago about such stations I would have most likely said that they had not existed for a century or so. I even know the area quite well since it is very local to my home town, but have never had cause to use the train to go there.

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Koalemos

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

8 Mar 16

@LadyDuck The tram and the bus stop locally for me and the tram runs into the railway station, which males all services convenient.

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Anna

@LadyDuck (502251)

• Italy

8 Mar 16

@Asylum I almost never use the train here, I prefer the bus, it stops a few steps from our home.

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celticeagle

@celticeagle (189820)

• Boise, Idaho

9 Mar 16

Glad to hear that the railway is still acknowledging this practice. So many good things have been lost in life. Good to know a few still remain.

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Koalemos

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

9 Mar 16

Yes, it is rather quaint and old fashioned system that reminds of us of the past.

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Koalemos

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

9 Mar 16

@celticeagle If the system is still alive today then it is not likely to disappear soon.

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celticeagle

@celticeagle (189820)

• Boise, Idaho

9 Mar 16

@Asylum ...Hope it continues a while.

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Always smiling

@allknowing (153544)

• India

8 Mar 16

I remember this used to be a practice here years ago specially for bus travellers. We would sit in a bus thinking that it was an express bus but those halts in between were annoying.

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Koalemos

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

8 Mar 16

It is still commonplace on many bus services here, but the concept of a train stopping by request is something I have not heard about even when I was a child.

Always smiling

@allknowing (153544)

• India

8 Mar 16

@Asylum You are right there. Yes. A train stopping on request even I have not heard of.

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Koalemos

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

8 Mar 16

@allknowing Since this si taking place at around 150 stations across the country it is logical to assume that it has always applied, yet somehow I never encountered it before.

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Gudheart

@gudheart (12659)

•

8 Mar 16

That is interesting. I had not heard of that area despite not living far from Bolton myself!

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Koalemos

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

8 Mar 16

If you are living close to Bolton then you should have heard of Entwistle. It is on the route towards Clitheroe.

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Koalemos

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

8 Mar 16

@gudheart It is about 5 miles North of Bolton, close to Edgworth or Turton.

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Gudheart

@gudheart (12659)

•

8 Mar 16

@Asylum It is bad that I don't! How far is it from Bolton?

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ElizabethWallace

@ElizabethWallace (12069)

• United States

8 Mar 16

Very cool. Once my students and I were able to board a train in Germany we had missed (we caught up racing in three taxis) at an abandoned station. It was a great deal of fun.

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Koalemos

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

8 Mar 16

This is a surprise because I would expect the train to travel far too fast to be caught via road.

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Koalemos

@Asylum (47893)

• Manchester, England

9 Mar 16

@ElizabethWallace Oh now I understand, the railway had to circumvent the mountain as opposed to a straight line.

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ElizabethWallace

@ElizabethWallace (12069)

• United States

9 Mar 16

@Asylum The train had to stick to the railway, of course. The taxis took a different route through the mountain terrain. It was great fun when the three taxis skidded to a stop in the gravel by the side of the rails as the train came around the bend. Da kommt der Zug!

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