Grim British Railway Journeys

[driver_m]

I really don't understand why caring for the environment, either on a local or global scale, has to be framed as a political identity issue. Environmental responsibility is a good idea, full stop, since irresponsibility in this area results in us all suffering one way or another. Why wouldn't anyone want to live in a world where fresh air and clean water are abundant, and our surroundings are not tarnished with waste? Drop the primitive tribal mentality and try using logical rational thinking.

B&I is right though. Right wing politicians may care for the environment but they tend to care more for the Pounds that need to be used to keep the environment good.

 

[B&I]

B&I is right though. Right wing politicians may care for the environment but they tend to care more for the Pounds that need to be used to keep the environment good.

True, and in particular what I was trying to get at, in the context of the earlier posts, is that part of the reason for the degradation of our local environment is the 'austerity' con and it's effect on local authority (in particular) spending. This means that services which should maintain the local environment (waste collection, street cleaning, environmental health, planning enforcement, trading standards etc etc) do not work properly, and the results then become appaeebr in the state of our local environment.

Of course, that's not the sole cause, as littering, fly-tipping and pollution all arise from the acts of individual people in the first place. However, as we have had a state-imposed ideology of total selfishness, and disregard for community, since 1979, it is maybe not surprising that so many people behave that way.

 

[uww11x]

Cumbrian Coast is grim as well. Workington and Barrow are dumps and it takes forever lol.

 

[goblinuser]

I really don't understand why caring for the environment, either on a local or global scale, has to be framed as a political identity issue. Environmental responsibility is a good idea, full stop, since irresponsibility in this area results in us all suffering one way or another. Why wouldn't anyone want to live in a world where fresh air and clean water are abundant, and our surroundings are not tarnished with waste? Drop the primitive tribal mentality and try using logical rational thinking.

Because the conservative approach is to damage the environment as it is unprofitable to care for it. Only now when it has reached dangerous levels (75% of all insects wiped out in 20 years, all soil in Britain becoming infertile, plastics polluting the food chain and disrupting hormones) do they even show any sort of care for the environment.

 

[HowardGWR]

Railways go past back yards in an urban environment, whereas the roads go past the front gardens. Originally. nearly all freight went by rail, so that factories were next to the railway, but their front offices would face the road. That type of freight has nearly gone, but the mouldering lineside scene remains. The lineside tree and shrub explosion has hidden much of the tat, but has of course had hugely expensive consequences for the railway.

 

[yorksrob]

Cumbrian Coast is grim as well. Workington and Barrow are dumps and it takes forever lol.

Funnily enough, that's one of my favourite journeys.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

I once boarded a train at Otopeni Airport station in the pitch dark. No lighting and no white line at the edge of the platform - a complete death trap.

...or maybe we have become too dumb to find our way around without having our bottoms wiped for us.

 

[johnnychips]

...or maybe we have become too dumb to find our way around without having our bottoms wiped for us.

Please could this be a new franchise requirement?

 

[AlterEgo]

...or maybe we have become too dumb to find our way around without having our bottoms wiped for us.

No, it was a death trap. You literally couldn’t see the platform edge. I had to turn on the torch light on my phone to discover where the platform edge was.

Nothing to do with having bottoms wiped.

 

[IanD]

No, it was a death trap. You literally couldn’t see the platform edge. I had to turn on the torch light on my phone to discover where the platform edge was.

Nothing to do with having bottoms wiped.

Not that scary then!

 

[Urban-Savage]

The Northern Line from Charing Cross to Euston.... not much of a view if you ask me ......

 

[Trackman]

Cumbrian Coast is grim as well. Workington and Barrow are dumps and it takes forever lol.

Funnily enough, that's one of my favourite journeys.

I quite enjoy it too!

 

[bastien]

The sheer quantity of fly tipped stuff revealed when they cut back the bushes on the approach to Cardiff was astonishing. Tyres, furniture, white goods, you name it. Get Portillo in high viz cleaning up some of that.

 

[bastien]

Oh, and why is it that farmers in Austria and Switzerland can keep their land looking as tidy as a snooker table? So many of ours look like scrap metal yards, even in beauty spots.

 

[anti-pacer]

The sheer quantity of fly tipped stuff revealed when they cut back the bushes on the approach to Cardiff was astonishing. Tyres, furniture, white goods, you name it. Get Portillo in high viz cleaning up some of that.

Get Portillo highlighting the issue by all means, but why should he have to clean it up? He doesn't strike me as being guilty of fly-tipping.

 

[bastien]

Get Portillo highlighting the issue by all means, but why should he have to clean it up? He doesn't strike me as being guilty of fly-tipping.

Well... That whole Enfield thing was a bit of a mess.

 

[anti-pacer]

Well... That whole Enfield thing was a bit of a mess.

Can't really comment as to his political qualities, but having met the guy in Doncaster station, he seems a nice guy. I love his programmes, and he'd be in my top 10 well-known people to enjoy a few beers with.

 

[MonsooN]

I have to agree that the section between Bristol Parkway and Temple Meads is quite grim. Bristol is a lovely city but the line cuts through the brutalist outskirts.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There was an American guy and another with a Southern accent on my train, travelling to Manchester Airport, and they were commenting on it. What an impression to what some people laughingly call "God's Own Country".

I'm not disagreeing with you, but I have been in several areas of America, and "the south", which are at least as bad as south Manchester.
Around Detroit for instance, or near an Indian reservation; anywhere about 5 miles out of a London terminus (Ealing, Willesden, Stratford...).

On my first visit to Dublin, I realised that litter got progressively worse the further west you got - clean in Amsterdam, messy in London and unspeakable in Dublin.
But I think Dublin has improved in the last 30 years.

Grimmest rail outlook?
Paris (CDG to Gare du Nord) - what in introduction to La Belle France
Big Italian cities
Slovenia; Romania. They've just given up cleaning the outside of trains.
Poland - completely run down stations with tin roofs, the only similar one in the UK is Salford Central (which is fine below the platforms).
We have very clean trains and stations by comparison.
But NR leaves a bad impression with abandoned rolling stock and overgrown infrastructure.

 

[anti-pacer]

I have to agree that the section between Bristol Parkway and Temple Meads is quite grim. Bristol is a lovely city but the line cuts through the brutalist outskirts.

I do remember a lot of embankment litter/fly-tipping in that area.

 

[Grannyjoans]

Salford to Bolton
Manchester to Kirkby
Wigan to Liverpool all stops via Bryn
Piccadilly to Rose Hill / New Mills / Hadfield
Piccadilly to Chester via Altrincham

 

[Ianno87]

Salford to Bolton
Manchester to Kirkby
Wigan to Liverpool all stops via Bryn
Piccadilly to Rose Hill / New Mills / Hadfield
Piccadilly to Chester via Altrincham

Salford to Bolton at least has the section through Clifton Country Park to keep the spirits up!

But the industrial dereliction through Agecroft and backs of houses through Moses Gate are pretty grim.

 

[muddythefish]

I just get frustrated seeing it, especially from the backs of peoples properties. It looks awful. I'm not talking about a few cans or whatever, I'm talking mattresses, white goods, cupboards, clothes, and even kid's toys.

I understand NR don't have the resources to clean it all, and I think I acknowledged that in my OP.

As for litter picks, yes I do get involved. I proactively clear litter in my area and have joined many a litter pick locally. I've even been in the local paper for it. Nice to see you do too, good work.

Well done for taking action against litter.

It's not just your area though - the whole country is a disgrace. Drive on any motorway or main road and the sheer scale of the casual littering is appalling.

I recently drove on about 100 miles of autobahn in Germany and Austria and the number of pieces of litter on the whole journey was minsicule compared to here. Goodness knows what tourists say when they come here because littering gives a terrible impression of this country.

It angers and grieves me to see it but there seems to be no national recognition of the problem or will at government or local level to do anything about it. Does anyone care?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Salford to Bolton at least has the section through Clifton Country Park to keep the spirits up!

But the industrial dereliction through Agecroft and backs of houses through Moses Gate are pretty grim.

I was going to say I really quite enjoy that route, particularly when high up around Clifton.

 

[anti-pacer]

Well done for taking action against litter.

It's not just your area though - the whole country is a disgrace. Drive on any motorway or main road and the sheer scale of the casual littering is appalling.

I recently drove on about 100 miles of autobahn in Germany and Austria and the number of pieces of litter on the whole journey was minsicule compared to here. Goodness knows what tourists say when they come here because littering gives a terrible impression of this country.

It angers and grieves me to see it but there seems to be no national recognition of the problem or will at government or local level to do anything about it. Does anyone care?

I agree about roadside litter, but I haven't seen trackside litter and fly-tipping as much in other regions. I travel to Nottingham and Derby a lot, and after Sheffield it looks a LOT cleaner.

I totally agree with your last comment too. We must have an awful reputation abroad.

 

[Mikey C]

The gentrification of much of inner London has definitely improved many of the vistas as you leave the terminii. For example the lines out of London Bridge towards New Cross and Deptford are definitely less shabby than they used to be.

 

[yorksrob]

The gentrification of much of inner London has definitely improved many of the vistas as you leave the terminii. For example the lines out of London Bridge towards New Cross and Deptford are definitely less shabby than they used to be.

Yes, they used to film a lot of episodes of programmes such as 'The Sweeney' and 'Dempsey and Makepiece' in those areas. Perhaps the gentrification is why all the detective thrillers have moved to Midsomer.

 

[al78]

B&I is right though. Right wing politicians may care for the environment but they tend to care more for the Pounds that need to be used to keep the environment good.

That may be true but I was more questioning why some have to throw out the loony liberal lefte nonsense accusation whenever someone advocates environmental responsibility. It is as if they arfe trying to say that caring for our environment is something to be ashamed of. This is highly irrational.

 

[B&I]

Yes, they used to film a lot of episodes of programmes such as 'The Sweeney' and 'Dempsey and Makepiece' in those areas. Perhaps the gentrification is why all the detective thrillers have moved to Midsomer.

Willesden Junction still looks like the sort of place where some slaaaaaaaag would get handcuffed face down on the bonnet of a mk 1 Granada.

Incidentally, filming locations for 'The Sweeney' were chosen largely on the basis of distance from Euston Films' Hammersmith studios, to keep petrol costs down.

 

[MK Tom]

May have been mentioned already but New Street to Wolverhampton is like a tour of decay, dereliction and all the wonderful things that go on under the M6 flyover.

The Smethwick-Stourbridge section also has a post-apocalyptic feel to it in places, and the section from New Street towards Water Orton is almost completely featureless.