Devon's ghost railway stations revealed in new UK list

From the hustle and bustle of the busiest main line stations to the tumbleweeds of rural backwaters, the 50 most used and least used railway stations in Britain have been revealed for 2023/24. The figures are based on the number of passenger entries and exits and were compiled by the Office of Rail and Road.

It will come as no surprise that Devon features nowhere in the 50 busiest stations with Bristol's Temple Meads being the nearest station in the Top 50. At the other end of the scale, Devon has two of the least used stations in the country - Portsmouth Arms near Umberleigh which had just 802 passengers in a year followed by Chapelton between Umberleigh and Barnstaple which had just 186 passengers.

The list appears in full below, and reads, from left to right: name of station and location; total number of passenger entries and exits in 2023/24; (in brackets) total number of entries and exits in 2022/23 plus ranking in 2022/23.

Top 50 most used

1 London Liverpool Street: 94,499,824 (2022/23: 80,448,194; 1st)

2 London Paddington: 66,859,098 (59,182,926; 2nd)

3 Tottenham Court Road, London: 64,219,040 (34,877,768; 7th)

4 London Waterloo: 62,525,274 (57,789,780; 3rd)

5 Stratford, London: 56,570,866 (44,136,784; 6th)

6 London Victoria: 50,829,676 (45,563,972; 5th)

7 London Bridge: 50,045,010 (47,657,264; 4th)

8 Farringdon, London: 46,049,862 (31,459,904; 9th)

9 Bond Street, London: 38,307,986 (19,400,416; 19th)

10 London Euston: 36,185,290 (31,318,408; 10th)

11 London St Pancras International: 35,959,980 (33,296,120; 8th)

12 Whitechapel, London: 35,246,924 (23,307,210; 14th)

13 Birmingham New Street: 33,335,376 (30,726,280; 11th)

14 Manchester Piccadilly: 25,776,162 (23,558,364; 13th)

15 Glasgow Central: 24,964,246 (20,767,954; 17th)

16 Leeds: 24,891,386 (23,964,156; 12th)

17 London Kings Cross: 24,483,826 (23,287,414; 15th)

18 Clapham Junction, London: 22,858,198 (20,790,150; 16th)

19 Highbury & Islington, London: 21,827,580 (20,601,096; 18th)

20 Edinburgh: 21,307,916 (18,212,628; 21st)

21 East Croydon, London: 19,605,338 (18,514,458; 20th)

22 Gatwick Airport: 19,489,656 (16,507,980; 22nd)

23 London Charing Cross: 17,701,302 (16,191,196; 24th)

24 Canada Water, London: 17,517,222 (16,226,090; 23rd)

25 Romford, London: 14,820,206 (11,603,078; 32nd)

26 Canary Wharf, London: 14,787,440 (9,924,606; 38th)

27 Brighton: 14,547,650 (14,052,890; 25th)

28 Glasgow Queen Street: 14,503,312 (12,283,736; 30th)

29 London Blackfriars: 13,945,996 (12,904,992; 27th)

30 Vauxhall, London: 13,931,936 (13,012,334; 26th)

31 Ealing Broadway, London: 13,699,654 (8,237,356; 48th)

32 Reading: 13,490,220 (12,400,988; 29th)

33 Woolwich, London: 13,237,072 (8,339,576; 47th)

34 Barking, London: 13,236,252 (12,730,212; 28th)

35 Ilford, London: 13,162,522 (8,750,562; 43rd)

36 Liverpool Central: 12,610,748 (11,401,980; 33rd)

37 Wimbledon, London: 12,581,430 (11,693,876; 31st)

38 Liverpool Lime Street: 12,278,888 (11,101,930; 34th)

39 Cardiff Central: 11,499,126 (10,185,022; 37th)

40 London Marylebone: 10,966,304 (10,307,792; 35th)

41 Abbey Wood, London: 10,655,006 (7,118,664; 52nd)

42 London Fenchurch Street: 10,446,678 (10,207,634; 36th)

43 Bristol Temple Meads: 10,227,188 (9,291,680; 40th)

44 Cambridge: 10,033,088 (9,341,600; 39th)

45 West Ham, London: 9,647,284 (9,051,654; 41st)

46 Sheffield: 9,449,310 (8,677,012; 44th)

47 Finsbury Park, London: 9,363,598 (8,559,032; 45th)

48 Stansted Airport: 9,280,540 (7,906,474; 50th)

49 Custom House, London: 9,238,076 (5,272,498; 80th)

50 York: 9,185,236 (8,862,978; 42nd)

Top 50 least used

1 Denton, Greater Manchester: 54 (2022/23: 34; 2nd)

2 Shippea Hill, Cambridgeshire: 70 (142; 9th)

3 Ince & Elton, Cheshire: 86 (130; 8th)

4 Polesworth, Warwickshire: 118 (188; 13th)

5 Reddish South, Greater Manchester: 128 (100; 5th)

6 Coombe Junction Halt, Cornwall: 140 (120; 6th)

7 Chapelton, Devon: 186 (194; 14th)

8 Clifton, Greater Manchester: 202 (208; 15th)

9 Elton & Orston, Nottinghamshire: 212 (56; 3rd)

10 Kildonan, Highland: 240 (148; 10th)

11 Scotscalder, Highland: 242 (124; 7th)

12 Altnabreac, Highland: 250 (280; 17th)

13 Beasdale, Highland: 260 (170; 11th)

14 Kirton Lindsey, Lincolnshire: 294 (94; 4th)

15 Culrain, Highland: 300 (304; 20th)

16 Pilning, Gloucestershire: 330 (338; 22nd)

17 Buckenham, Norfolk: 360 (354; 23rd)

18 Thorpe Culvert, Lincolnshire: 364 (396; 26th)

19 Lochluichart, Highland: 374 (182; 12th)

20 Ardwick, Greater Manchester: 396 (324; 21st)

21 Locheilside, Highland: 418 (462; 32nd)

22 Invershin, Highland: 440 (232; 16th)

23 Duncraig, Highland: 448 (462; 33rd)

24 Lakenheath, West Suffolk: 480 (562; 38th)

25 Rawcliffe, East Riding of Yorkshire: 498 (442; 30th)

26 Achanalt, Highland: 506 (282; 18th)

27 Acklington, Northumberland: 550 (434; 28th)

28 Kinbrace, Highland: 606 (436; 29th)

29 Lelant Saltings, Cornwall: 630 (652; 45th)

30 Barry Links, Angus: 666 (470; 34th)

31 Roman Bridge, Conwy: 680 (450; 31st)

32 Havenhouse, Lincolnshire: 698 (1,200; 77th)

32= Spooner Row, Norfolk: 698 (382; 25th)

34 Llangynllo, Powys: 780 (684; 47th)

35 Berney Arms, Norfolk: 800 (950; 64th)

35= Hoscar, Lancashire: 800 (914; 61st)

37 Hensall, North Yorkshire: 802 (376; 24th)

37= Portsmouth Arms, Devon: 802 (798; 54th)

39 Hubberts Bridge, Lincolnshire: 806 (896; 58th)

40 Duirinish, Highland: 812 (614; 42nd)

41 Pont-y-Pant, Conwy: 814 (776; 52nd)

42 Dolau, Powys: 828 (680; 46th)

43 Llandecwyn, Gwynedd: 834 (1,010; 68th)

44 Garth, Powys: 838 (586; 39th)

45 Cilmeri, Powys: 874 (760; 51st)

46 Broomfleet, East Riding of Yorkshire: 894 (790; 53rd)

46= Swineshead, Lincolnshire: 894 (1,226; 79th)

48 Thornton Abbey, Lincolnshire: 946 (1,134; 73rd)

49 Wressle, East Riding of Yorkshire: 948 (494; 36th)

50 Tygwyn, Gwynedd: 986 (1,052; 70th)