Famous stage close by a railway (9)

I believe the answer is:

legendary

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'famous' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'stage close by a railway' is the wordplay.
'stage close by' becomes 'legend' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'railway' becomes 'ry' (abbreviation for railway).
'legend'+'a'+'ry'='LEGENDARY'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for legendary that I've seen before include "notorious" , "Fabled, celebrated" , "Celebrated in fable" , "Romantic; fabulous" , "Fabled - green lady (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times and The Sun.

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