Stations you don't want to go to/be at

[306024]

I wasn't too impressed with the area around Great Yarmouth station.

Don't know anyone who is. Must be so depressing if you've come for your fortnight holiday and that is your first impression of the town. Even worse than Blackpool Fortunately there is a frequent bus service to Lowestoft.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I'm sure the locals are OK, it was the amount of people visiting to go to the pubs there that were the worry. It wasn't as big a crowd on the station as on that TV program - 20-30 on there at most - and several groups wandering the town, plus all the pubs appeared quite busy though not sure how many were visitors. The words "Powder Keg" sprung to mind ...

The Real Ale Trail is certainly still popular! Weekends are likely to see a fair few 'revellers' for a good few weeks yet...

Most of the rail-ale crowd are fine, but you still get the odd stag party along despite the voluntary bans (lager, fancy dress etc.). :roll:

 

[Tracked]

The Real Ale Trail is certainly still popular! Weekends are likely to see a fair few 'revellers' for a good few weeks yet...

Most of the rail-ale crowd are fine, but you still get the odd stag party along despite the voluntary bans (lager, fancy dress etc.). :roll:

This is it, any group of people that has to have shirts printed especially for them are immediately suspect ...

I did go to Stalybridge today though, so clearly can't take my own advice ...

 

[class303]

Holytown - we made the mistake of going into the local pub - all talk stopped. We took the hint and sheltered from the rain under the footbridge.

haha. brave even going in. rough hood

 

[dk1]

Don't know anyone who is. Must be so depressing if you've come for your fortnight holiday and that is your first impression of the town.

Believe me, with Great Yarmouth it doesn't get any better as you head into town.

 

[Busaholic]

Believe me, with Great Yarmouth it doesn't get any better as you head into town.

May as well do a Reggie Perrin and keep on walking!

 

[backontrack]

Considering how nice the line it's on is, Thurso could be a bit nicer too. I've been there several times and the ticket hall has only been open once - even then, it still wasn't staffed. Which means you can't access the toilets.

It's a bit grim generally, but it's nowhere near as bad as other places. Could easily be sorted out.

Also, does anyone in the know about the FNL know why Thurso and Wick each only have one platform in use? They have two tracks into the station, there must have been two at some point.

 

[fairysdad]

Also, does anyone in the know about the FNL know why Thurso and Wick each only have one platform in use? They have two tracks into the station, there must have been two at some point.

This is just a guess, but would it be that in the days of loco-hauled trains, the engine would need the second track to run-round on?

As I said, just a guess given my limited knowledge of the line, and actually I'm not sure if it's double-track all the way from Georgemas Junction or just in the station areas...

 

[Bodiddly]

Had the 'pleasure' of visiting Swansea recently, won't be going back anytime soon!

 

[Crossover]

The Dirker Estate at Marsden (above the station) can be a bit foreboding, but I'd say none of the stations between Huddersfield and Stalybridge are that bad really. You're more likely to be robbed by a guard than by any of the locals!

My newly acquired local station, Batley, is a weird one. The area just outside the station has some lovely architecture but most of it is unoccupied. This means that alighting at quiet times makes one feel like they've stumbled into some sort of post-apocalyptic wasteland...

The seemingly abandoned station shop only adds to this impression!

Batley is an odd one - not a bad area (apart from the nightclubs) but the station does look rather run down and in some ways abandoned. I have yet to visit by train but drove up there only a few weeks ago (what with not living too far away myself)

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Batley is an odd one - not a bad area (apart from the nightclubs) but the station does look rather run down and in some ways abandoned. I have yet to visit by train but drove up there only a few weeks ago (what with not living too far away myself)

It's (other than the grotty subway and the cryogenically-frozen shop) the immediate area around the station that can be foreboding... A shame really, because as I said the buildings themselves look good. Then again, the lack of gentrification in WF17 is the only reason I can afford to live in a space bigger than a shoebox so close to a station!

 

[HowardGWR]

It's (other than the grotty subway and the cryogenically-frozen shop) the immediate area around the station that can be foreboding... A shame really, because as I said the buildings themselves look good. Then again, the lack of gentrification in WF17 is the only reason I can afford to live in a space bigger than a shoebox so close to a station!

What is the one that seems cut in two on Street View? As you write, the buildings and pave are very fine . Those horrid Sky adverts spoil the pub _ it's all so unnecessary.

 

[Emyr]

Most large American stations worked this way even during the heyday of their railways, consequently all the architectural grandeur was in the main hall and the platforms were usually pretty squalid by comparison. Grand Central is probably the most obvious example but others like Chicago Union and Los Angeles Union still have a very impressive waiting hall but very undistinguished platforms.

This is how I imagine Birmingham New Street to be, having never started or terminated my journey there, only changed trains

 

[stut]

Most large American stations worked this way even during the heyday of their railways, consequently all the architectural grandeur was in the main hall and the platforms were usually pretty squalid by comparison. Grand Central is probably the most obvious example but others like Chicago Union and Los Angeles Union still have a very impressive waiting hall but very undistinguished platforms.

However, from the pictures I've seen the old Penn station seems to have been an exception to this, being more on the European model with at least part of the platforms being relatively open and visible, vaguely reminiscent of Liverpool Street in fact.

It may well be that airport terminals copied the lounge-and-gate model from American railway stations.

Chicago Union is made all the more bizarre by retaining its original (and rather wonderful) old building as a waiting room, and having you walk through a tunnel under the road to the new, impressively confusing station.

Confusing? Yes, because, although there are through lines, the platforms are all bays facing north or south. The north-facing platforms are odd-numbered and the south-facing platforms are even-numbered. There's a cramped rabbit warren of shops and check-in desks between and above them, in an undistinguished modernish style (there's also street access to this building).

In common with most major US stations, the platforms are industrial concrete afterthoughts, reminiscent mostly of unloved underground shopping centre loading bays. If you're lucky enough to travel on Amtrak first class, you do have a lounge, and get paraded out to the train through an odd back route across a barrow crossing.

Chicago does have a lot of terminus stations - unconnected and in odd locations. Perhaps the oddest is the South Shore Line section of the Millennium Station, which is literally hidden away in an underground car park, accessible via the odd series of underground walkways designed for the harsh winters.

Some of the stations along this line are quite wonderful - barely used urban halts made almost entirely of wood.

 

[HowardGWR]

In common with most major US stations, the platforms are industrial concrete afterthoughts, reminiscent mostly of unloved underground shopping centre loading bays.

Reminds me of Brum New Street (hopefully shortly to be improved)..

 

[stut]

Reminds me of Brum New Street (hopefully shortly to be improved)..

Imagine Brum New St, but with narrow platforms, pillars in awkward places, zero information and less clearning. It's a joy to come off a packed NJ Transit train from Newark Airport, and squeeze your way along a platform barely wide enough for your suitcase!

Something like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/ALP-45DP_4509_In_New_York_Penn_Station.jpg
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
That said (if we're going international), I've ended up at a number of Indian stations in the dark where it's probably not a great idea to be. I travel a lot to Hyderabad, where they've introduced a local railway service (the MMTS) on tracks mostly shared with long-distance trains. They've done their best with very little money, but the service is extremely unreliable as a result, and a number of the stations are (by virtue of being inserted after the line was built) only accessible down dark paths from the middle of nowhere.

The platforms are normally fairly well organised though, as in most Indian stations. Having said that, Old Delhi Junction station just before the night trains leave can resemble something out of Dante. And the smell! Let's just say the "do not flush" signs get routinely ignored.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

What is the one that seems cut in two on Street View? As you write, the buildings and pave are very fine . Those horrid Sky adverts spoil the pub _ it's all so unnecessary.

Oh, one of the buildings at least is partially (mostly) demolished. Again, this just adds to the feeling that one must've survived a nuclear strike whilst passing through Morley Tunnel!

Come to think of it, that's probably a big earner for the Cellar Bar... as unprepared visitors decide they could do with a straightener!

 

[maniacmartin]

How about the ticket office at London Liverpool St?
No ventilation and warm stale air that doesn't feel healthy. I'm surprised all their clerks aren't on sick leave.

 

[3141]

Has anyone mentioned Kings Cross? (I know the former KX Thameslink has appeared here.) What puts me off going there is the new Underground labyrinth and the fact that they try to "manage" travellers by making them go the long way round, with no travellator to help shorten the trek.

 

[Kite159]

Blackpool North.

Did you know that you are not allowed to keep tickets after the journey has ended, just in case you try and re-use them?

Agreed with Kings Cross, I only found the short-way out of the Victoria line platform by mistake, probably cuts 5 minutes from the transfer time (although my record so far is 17 minutes getting off a Grand Central HST from the 3rd coach at KX, to being sat on a 159 at Waterloo)

 

[59CosG95]

Alton, Farnham,Ascot, Bagshot,Camberley,Ash Vale,Aldershot, Ash, Wanborough.
None of them have ANY redeeming qualities whatsoever. If I have by misfortune have to go to those places I drive because 1/ Its quicker. 2/ I dont have to travel on a 456!

And why is it there's an increasing number of plebs from London,who go to Alton for Alton Tower theme park? Which is in Staffs, 185 miles away. :roll:

WhoawhoawhoawhoaWHOA! Why the hate at Farnham? Agreed, a lot of chavs from my old school took the train there, but still, the station itself is quite nice. And besides, you get nothing but Desiros west of Aldershot on passenger ops!

 

[Colly405]

Pilning.
Well over a mile through country lanes to the village.
One train a week each way (gives a shopping trip in Bristol on a Saturday!)
Surrounded by shipping containers (or at least it was last time I was there - I think they have gone now?)
Mitigated only by the rotting level crossing gates at the bottom of the approach road, that used to let the Low Level line cross the lane...

 

[wheelnrail]

I can't say much as I only ventured around Anglia, ECML, and some of Thameslink. Besides the prohibitively high cost of tickets puts me off traveling more but that's another story.

With that being said, the most depressing and dissapointing station I've ever visited in Anglia is Yarmouth. For a seaside town that even Americans have heard of, the station is atrocious. Its small as heck, has nothing of an architectural nature to be proud of, the prison bars to lock the station are so inviting, its far from the beach, and the dissused sections are extremely overgrown. I mean damn even Shippea Hill is nicer than Yarmouth and it sees a once weekly train! And its in the middle of nowhere! Yarmouth's saving grace however is the abundance of semaphores. That I like. I have to agree with the previous poster who commented on how Yarmouth presents itself to visitors. Perception is everything. What a shame really.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

Blackpool North.

Did you know that you are not allowed to keep tickets after the journey has ended, just in case you try and re-use them?

Agreed with Kings Cross, I only found the short-way out of the Victoria line platform by mistake, probably cuts 5 minutes from the transfer time (although my record so far is 17 minutes getting off a Grand Central HST from the 3rd coach at KX, to being sat on a 159 at Waterloo)

I claim my rail fairs back through the company I work for and I've explained this to the clown on the gate when I'm passing through Blackpool North. Who grudingly allows me to keep my tickets in oder for me to claim. Did say to them that If I weren't allowed to claim them back I would take the pillock to court.

 

[strowger]

I claim my rail fairs back through the company I work for and I've explained this to the clown on the gate when I'm passing through Blackpool North. Who grudingly allows me to keep my tickets in oder for me to claim. Did say to them that If I weren't allowed to claim them back I would take the pillock to court.

They are entitled to collect them. Your company's procedures are incorrect if they require original tickets. IME most companies will accept either photographs of tickets, or a receipt from a ticket retailer.

 

[bangor-toad]

They are entitled to collect them. Your company's procedures are incorrect if they require original tickets. IME most companies will accept either photographs of tickets, or a receipt from a ticket retailer.

Risking topic drift somewhat...

Whilst it is not in dispute that the railway companies are entitled to collect them, my experience of claiming train expenses is simple: No ticket - no claim. A receipt won't do.

As for getting the policy changed this would be challenging as the rules are set from Brussels as I'm currently claiming against an EU funded project.

Consistency? Joined up thinking?
Cheers,
Mr Toad

 

[Deerfold]

I claim my rail fairs back through the company I work for and I've explained this to the clown on the gate when I'm passing through Blackpool North. Who grudingly allows me to keep my tickets in oder for me to claim. Did say to them that If I weren't allowed to claim them back I would take the pillock to court.

Before calling people clowns and pillocks it might be worth learning how to spell "fare".

Have you tried asking your company why they require a ticket that the company is entitled to keep as proof of your spending?

 

[Strathclyder]

I'd give Sunnyside a wide berth as well at night. I wouldn't venture to Bellgrove or Shettleston at night either...

Didn't notice anything off about Sunnyside, personally. Is it the station itself or the area it's in?

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Before calling people clowns and pillocks it might be worth learning how to spell "fare".

Have you tried asking your company why they require a ticket that the company is entitled to keep as proof of your spending?

Rather harsh, isn't it? Most companies require you to submit the used tickets to claim back any expenses you've occurred on business; mine certainly does.

And having been to Blackpool North myself and had the gate staff try to keep hold of my Northern Day Ranger ticket I can perfectly understand why NorthernSpirit refers to them as clowns and pillocks!

 

[GatwickDepress]

Rather harsh, isn't it? Most companies require you to submit the used tickets to claim back any expenses you've occurred on business; mine certainly does.

And having been to Blackpool North myself and had the gate staff try to keep hold of my Northern Day Ranger ticket I can perfectly understand why NorthernSpirit refers to them as clowns and pillocks!

Indeed, it's not just exclusive to companies either as the last time I was referred to a hospital in London, my local NHS Trust required I sent off used tickets to assist with the travel costs scheme.