How would you Rate your Local Station?

[westralian]

My Local: Rutherglen

Setting: A few minutes walk from the main street of Rutherglen. Only a 6 minutes walk from my home. (9/10)

Architecture: A relatively dated looking footbridge across the WCML to access the station from the main entrance. An ok waiting room as well. (5/10)

Services: 6 tph Monday - Saturday (7 tph midweek peak times), 4 tph on Sundays.

Services westbound through Glasgow Central are to Dalmuir and Milngavie (Sunday sees Dalmuir trains continue through to Balloch). Services eastbound are to Larkhall, Cumbernauld, Whifflet and Motherwell (additional midweek peak trains to Carstairs).

Four stops and roughly 10 minutes to Central, although some peak trains and early Sunday trains skip Dalmarnock and Bridgton. (9/10)

Rolling Stock: Mostly 318s and 320s but there are some 334s.

Along the adjacent WCML there's additional good variety to see - 156s, 158s, 220s, 221s, 350s, 380s, 385s, 390s. (4/10. If including WCML 9/10 )

Facilities: Covered footbridge across WCML from main entrance, lift access, waiting room with staffed ticket office, 2 ticket machines, a few smartcard touch-ins. On the platform there is a wee shelter however the M74 directly above the northern end of the platform does a great job as well in that regard! (8/10)

Overall: Perfectly acceptable commuter station on the Glasgow suburban network. Plenty of onwards connections at Central. (7/10)

 

[matacaster]

Ha, looking at some of these posts, perhaps Barnsley Interchange is not so boring after all...

Barnsley Interchange is very practical and well situated. Availabilty of wide range of bus services without having to get wet transferring to / from train is a big plus. Indeed, Barnsley town centre is definitely looking up as is Halifax.

 

[matacaster]

Huddersfield, my local station, has excellent very frequent (12 mins) services east / west, but
-no direct London services yet (one is planned, but needs to be more)
-Other services south (eg Birmingham, Bristol, South coast, Cornwall) relatively poor and all involve changing at Manchester, Sheffield or Leeds with poor journey times
-only hourly service to Barnsley and Sheffield
7/10

-Most trains are too short and even new ones planned to replace 185's will soon be too short
What's needed generally are double-length trains compared to now, rather than more short ones.
5/10

-station has lifts, two food kiosks, waiting rooms, shop, piano, Felix and Bolt, volunteers distributing local guides and two decent pubs which sometimes do live music
-station roof centre clerestory is missing and Platform 1 was widened. so in bad weather (a feature of Huddersfield) the rain manages to drench people stood near platform edge. Insufficient parking.
8/10

Main building architecture one of best in country, grade 1 listed + even St Georges square rather nice except for the oblong squat slate water feature at the bottom of the square (locally known as the urinal) and unoccupied Hotel.
9/10

Bus station is only around 200 metres away, but visitors may struggle to find it in evening and one can't help thing that the two could be connected by an overhead walkway or underground travelator rather than going up a secluded ramp and crossing a main road. Taxis right outside front of station, reasonable prices and present 24/7, no need to book.
6/10

Hotels
Can't think of a branded one that is reasonably close that is open. Probably nearest are at Ainley Top or near Brighouse, around £7 taxi ride or take bus. There are cheaper pubs / guest houses though which many might prefer.
5/10

Town Centre
Great if you like closed shops and charity shops.
Plenty of pubs and ale s relatively cheap, some live venues.
4/10

Rolling Stock
185's (excellent) aircon works, reliable, powerful will miss them.
144's (best of pacers) except where they have high backed seats
142's (worst of pacers) rattle, extremely tired, generally unclean
150 Occasionally - arrgh high backed seats no leg room, unclean interiors
156 ok
170 Ocasionally -good

 

[Grannyjoans]

My Local: Warrington Bank Quay
Setting: Right next to the old Levers factory and a Motor Racing shed. The air is often polluted and stinks. Walk around the station and it is very busy with cars and traffic. The North end of the station is overlooking Arpley freight yard. (1/10)

Architecture: The station buildings are very drab and uninteresting. (3/10)

Services: Virgin West Coast (London to Glasgow), Arriva Trains Wales (Manchester - North Wales), Northern (Liverpool Lime Street). Quite good 7/10

Rolling Stock: 150s, 158s, 175s, 319s, 220s, 221s, 323s, 390s, 67s+LHCS on passenger. 60s, 66s, 67s, 68s, 70s, 86s, 88s, 90s & 92s on freight. New 195s & 331s are appearing on test. 325s on mail trains. MPVs and Tampers.
There is often a locomotive stabled in the bay platform to the south of the station.
A bit dull because freight is low on the ground during the day and all the passenger trains are Units except the one 67 diagram. Also there aren't any clagtastic 37s, 47s and 56s anymore, apart from the occasional one.
However, if travelling on the trains, the Virgin and ATW units are usually of reasonable quality internally.
6/10

Facilities: Lifts for wheelchair users, a ticket office which I've rarely used. Station is fully staffed. Not much in the way of food and the station shops are expensive. (4/10)

Overall: Quite a dull, drab station, in a depressing setting, at best it is worth a quick look to see what locomotives are stabled around the station and yard, then quickly move on to somewhere more "green". It gets a few bonus points because it has quite a decent service but loses more due to the dismal setting. (4/10)

 

[Iskra]

My Local: Warrington Bank Quay
Setting: Right next to the old Levers factory and a Motor Racing shed. The air is often polluted and stinks. Walk around the station and it is very busy with cars and traffic. The North end of the station is overlooking Arpley freight yard. (1/10)

Architecture: The station buildings are very drab and uninteresting. (3/10)

Services: Virgin West Coast (London to Glasgow), Arriva Trains Wales (Manchester - North Wales), Northern (Liverpool Lime Street). Quite good. 7/10

Rolling Stock: 150s, 158s, 175s, 319s, 220s, 221s, 390s, 67s+LHCS on passenger. 57s, 60s, 66s, 67s, 68s, 70s, 88s, 90s & 92s on freight. New 195s & 331s are appearing on test. 325s on mail trains. MPVs and Tampers.
There is often a locomotive stabled in the bay platform to the south of the station.
A bit dull because freight is thin on the ground during the day and all the passenger trains are Units except the one 67 diagram. Also there aren't any clagtastic 37s, 47s and 56s anymore, apart from the occasional one.
5/10

Facilities: Lifts for wheelchair users, a ticket office which I've rarely used. Station is fully staffed. Not much in the way of food and the station shops are expensive. (4/10)

Overall: Quite a dull, drab station, in a depressing setting, at best it is worth a quick look to see what locomotives are stabled around the station and yard, then quickly move on to somewhere more "green" (4/10)

You have the best rolling stock on the thread as well as a pretty good service for a relatively small town and you have given it 5/10??

 

[Grannyjoans]

You have the best rolling stock on the thread as well as a pretty good service for a relatively small town and you have given it 5/10??

Okay maybe its worth 6/10, a bonus point now that GBRF now use 60s. Most of the traction especially 92s can only be seen at night (A lot of it passes when the station is shut!) in the day it is mediocre, it gets bonus points for the services but loses just as many for it's dismal setting so overall its score ends up somewhere in the middle

 

[Whattraintoday]

My Local: Low Moor

Setting: Slap bang in the middle of an industrial estate in the south of Bradford. Even has a warning notice at the station about the evacuation siren from the nearby chemical works. +2 for being handy for the M62 as a parkway station. (4/10)

Architecture: Brand new, nothing interesting save perhaps for the inward-slanted roofs of the lift towers. However, nothing bad either. Some modern accessibility-friendly touches like tactile signage. (7/10)

Services: One train an hour each way travelling to Leeds / Huddersfield. Four direct GC services a day to Kings Cross.
Oh, and one train a day from Manchester Victoria, but not to.
(6/10)

Rolling Stock: Almost the entire repertoire of Northern's Random Unit Generator:
142, 144, 150, 153, 155, 156, 158 + GCs 180s. No LHCS so -1 (9/10)

Facilities: Lifts for wheelchair users (*), one of Northern's infamously capricious ticket machines and a car park that is (as yet) underutilised. Shelters on each platform. Good greasy spoon nearby. (4/10)

Overall: Not bad, for an unstaffed station in Northernland (6/10)

*There's a road bridge with footpath just outside the station, not sure why they didn't just use that, especially as the lifts were a major cause of cost overrun

 

[Wtloild]

My Local: Chorley

Setting: Situated in town centre, across road from Bus Station. (10/10)

Architecture: Not very pretty, but relatively functional 80s buildings (6/10)

Services: 3tph to Bolton/Manchester (annoyingly for return journeys, not all from same Manchester station), 3tph to Preston/Blackpool.

Not a bad frequency if the capacity weren't so poor (7/10)

Rolling Stock: 319s, 156s, 150s. (331s and 195s due at some point)

Poor capacity (never more than 4 coaches), badly maintained & barely cleaned. (4/10)

Facilities: No lift - wheelchair access to far (Manchester-bound) platform via a roundabout route using public subway outside of station itself.
Ticket office, 2 ticket-machines, large waiting room & small coffee kiosk on relatively well-covered Preston-bound platform. (8/10)
Small waiting room & 2 ticket-machines on the busier, mostly uncovered Manchester-bound platform (2/10)

Overall: Okay if you're heading Northward (6/10)

 

[trainmania100]

Depends whether by local you mean walking distance or geographically closest.
Newhaven harbour station is less than 100m from me but to get to it I have to walk all the way around the river, across the swing bridge, passing NEWHAveN town on the way so town is closest in walking distance.

Newhaven town has a nice signal box and footbridge to get some great shots, although looking south, the sun is always in the way. So not perfect. Architecturally it's just like any other really

Harbour is great , can get some great shots of the signal box and approaching trains from the footbridge.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Huddersfield, my local station, has excellent very frequent (12 mins) services east / west, but
-no direct London services yet (one is planned, but needs to be more)
-Other services south (eg Birmingham, Bristol, South coast, Cornwall) relatively poor and all involve changing at Manchester, Sheffield or Leeds with poor journey times
-only hourly service to Barnsley and Sheffield
7/10

-Most trains are too short and even new ones planned to replace 185's will soon be too short
What's needed generally are double-length trains compared to now, rather than more short ones.
5/10

-station has lifts, two food kiosks, waiting rooms, shop, piano, Felix and Bolt, volunteers distributing local guides and two decent pubs which sometimes do live music
-station roof centre clerestory is missing and Platform 1 was widened. so in bad weather (a feature of Huddersfield) the rain manages to drench people stood near platform edge. Insufficient parking.
8/10

Main building architecture one of best in country, grade 1 listed + even St Georges square rather nice except for the oblong squat slate water feature at the bottom of the square (locally known as the urinal) and unoccupied Hotel.
9/10

Bus station is only around 200 metres away, but visitors may struggle to find it in evening and one can't help thing that the two could be connected by an overhead walkway or underground travelator rather than going up a secluded ramp and crossing a main road. Taxis right outside front of station, reasonable prices and present 24/7, no need to book.
6/10

Hotels
Can't think of a branded one that is reasonably close that is open. Probably nearest are at Ainley Top or near Brighouse, around £7 taxi ride or take bus. There are cheaper pubs / guest houses though which many might prefer.
5/10

Town Centre
Great if you like closed shops and charity shops.
Plenty of pubs and ale s relatively cheap, some live venues.
4/10

Rolling Stock
185's (excellent) aircon works, reliable, powerful will miss them.
144's (best of pacers) except where they have high backed seats
142's (worst of pacers) rattle, extremely tired, generally unclean
150 Occasionally - arrgh high backed seats no leg room, unclean interiors
156 ok
170 Ocasionally -good

On hotels near Huddersfield station, there's Travelodges (or one of their competitors) at Aspley and on Leeds Road near the Costa drive-through. For the uninitiated both are just outside the town centre.

There's also Vinyl Tap right opposite the station, which is a decent independent record store.

 

[J-2739]

I felt exactly the same as I was reading the opening post lol. The nostalgia is unreal.

Glad you think of it like that!

Barnsley Interchange is very practical and well situated. Availabilty of wide range of bus services without having to get wet transferring to / from train is a big plus. Indeed, Barnsley town centre is definitely looking up as is Halifax.

I guess that is true.

 

[Crisps]

My local: Newton Aycliffe (NAY)

Location: Around a mile from the abomination that is the town centre, between the residential area, industrial estate, and town council run sports centre/golf course. 3/10.

Architecture: Not a lot. Typical unstaffed station, built cheaply by BR, opened 1978. 2/10

Facilities: Wooden platforms and plastic bus shelter style waiting areas. A Northern TVM was recently installed in the shelter on the Darlington-bound platform, as it’s now a penalty fare station but I’ve never seen the penalty fare scheme be enforced yet. Stepped footbridge. Step free access is via a roundabout route along public footpaths to the next public footbridge along which links the sports complex to the town. 4/10.

Rolling stock: mainly Northern 142s, the occasional 156. Recently upgraded to hourly services. Due to go to full 156 operation when the 142s are withdrawn. Too far along the line to see movements from Merchant Park (the Hitachi factory) 2/10.

Overall: Typical unstaffed station, but suffers from a poor location away from the town centre and poor quality rolling stock. 3/10.

 

[Glenn1969]

The snag with Halifax station is it's at the bottom of a steep hill at least 10mins uphill walk away from any shops although there is a taxi rank onsite and a taxi office 50 yards away on Horton Street. We do have a Cafeexpress retail unit and the station is due to be transformed in the next 5 years by a Council masterplan funding permitting

Service is 4tph to Leeds, 2 tph to Manchester of which 1 continues to Chester, 1tph to Huddersfield and 1tph to Blackpool plus 4tpd Bradford- London expresses via Doncaster and ECML

Architecture- 1855 building on disused Platform 3 but otherwise nothing to speak of

Overall I think it does its job although bus connections could be better and the access road is constrained by an ancient bridge that has a weight restriction that means Rail Replacement Buses can't go on the forecourt so have to depart from Horton Street on the other side of a busy road

 

[jamesst]

My Local: Low Moor

Setting: Slap bang in the middle of an industrial estate in the south of Bradford. Even has a warning notice at the station about the evacuation siren from the nearby chemical works. +2 for being handy for the M62 as a parkway station. (4/10)

Architecture: Brand new, nothing interesting save perhaps for the inward-slanted roofs of the lift towers. However, nothing bad either. Some modern accessibility-friendly touches like tactile signage. (7/10)

Services: One train an hour each way travelling to Leeds / Huddersfield. Four direct GC services a day to Kings Cross.
Oh, and one train a day from Manchester Victoria, but not to.
(6/10)

Rolling Stock: Almost the entire repertoire of Northern's Random Unit Generator:
142, 144, 150, 153, 155, 156, 158 + GCs 180s. No LHCS so -1 (9/10)

Facilities: Lifts for wheelchair users (*), one of Northern's infamously capricious ticket machines and a car park that is (as yet) underutilised. Shelters on each platform. Good greasy spoon nearby. (4/10)

Overall: Not bad, for an unstaffed station in Northernland (6/10)

*There's a road bridge with footpath just outside the station, not sure why they didn't just use that, especially as the lifts were a major cause of cost overrun

I think this should win for the evacuation siren alone!!!

 

[geoffk]

My Local: Littleborough

Setting: Near the centre of town, nearby pubs not great but close to canal, shops and bus stops (9/10)

Architecture: Of historical importance as one of the oldest stations on the first trans-Pennine route, opening in 1839 attended by George Stephenson. Current buildings date from 1870s and have been well looked-after but survive only on eastbound platform. (8/10)

Services: Off peak two trains an hour - west to Manchester Vic and Southport, east to Todmorden, then Leeds or Blackburn. Extra stops at peak times. Would probably support 3 tph all day. (7/10)

Rolling Stock: anything which comes out of Neville Hill/Newton Heath using Northern's random unit generator. More trains than previously are 3 or 4 cars. We were hoping for 170s but this now looks unlikely. (6/10)

Facilities: Waiting room, but on eastbound platform which is not the one most used. Large shelter and ticket machine on both platforms (which have recently been extended), ticket office next to subway, ramps as well as steps to both platforms. History Centre on the Leeds platform open on Saturdays. Free car park but too small and parking spills over into streets. Cycle parking, bus stops adjacent. Tea/coffee from trolley in morning peak. (8/10)

Overall: a well-used station, especially by Manchester-bound commuters, with an active Friends Group, and recent improvements include ramps, longer platforms and customer information screens. (8/10)

 

[AJM580]

My local Norwich

Location; On the edge of the city centre, adjacent to the new Riverside development and close to the football ground, therefore good for all the fans of Premier League teams visiting. Served by frequent buses to the very centre of town (8.5/10)

Architecture: Built in 1886 from a design by Wislon & Ashbee. Very attractive station building and a good concourse. Entrance hall is often overlooked but worth a second glance in my opinion. (10/10)

Services: 2 tph to London with additional "London in 90 services". Frequent services on branches to Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Sheringham. Hourly to Cambridge via Ely (GA) and Liverpool via Peterborough, Nottingham & Sheffield (EMT). Some overcrowding at peak times, especially on cross country routes where 2 cars are not really enough and no trolley service either. (9/10)

Facilities: 6 platforms of which 1 to 4 are full length, and are used by mainline services to London and cross country trains. 5/6 are shorter and used by local services to the coast. The goods facilities are much smaller than they once were, but there are sidings for the occasional stone trai and the yard is also used to stable charter stock and other stock as well. Plenty of retail outlets, including a Co-op, Subway, M & S local and now a real ale bar. Good ticket office with very helpful staff. (10/10)

Rolling Stock: 153, 156, 170 on Greater Anglia local services. EMT services are usually 158s although occasionally 156s substitute. Mainline services are still in the hands of 90s and MK IIIs with some services now regularly in the hands of 321 emus. Jewel in the crown for the moment is the class 37 short set which will one day disappear but for now seems to be here till at least August and maybe beyond. DBS 66s appear on the stone train from Peterborough, and the North Walsham - Harwich oil train that bypasses the station on the Wensum Curve is in the hands of GBRf 66s. Test trains and stock moves often feature Colas 37s and DRS 37s or 57s, while charter services see WCRC 47s/57s or DRS 68s visit. Since 1996 there have been regular steam charters with everything from a GWR pannier tank to LMS & LNER pacifics visit. Not forgetting the new 755s and 745s now rolling off the production line and currently on test.(10/10)


Overall: I may be biased, being local, but I reckon that Norwich is one of the best medium sized stations around. There is little I can fault about the station and what you can see although the 153s are a pain when rostered on their own on services that would be better served by two or three car units. Mind you when all the new stock is in service that may change. (9.5/10)

 

[vlad]

My local: Longport

Setting: At the end of a dead-end semi-residential road tucked in behind an industrial estate. It's within shouting distance of the A500 and just round the corner from a petrol station. Not the sort of place you'd go to willingly after dark. (2/10)

Architecture: What are I assume to be the original North Staffs Rly building still exist - but they're now derelict and the station has been unmanned for years. I'm in two minds as to whether demolition would be a better prospect. (5/10)

Services: EMT run hourly between Crewe and Derby, whilst Northern run a couple of early-morning trains to Manchester but don't allow you to come back. (3/10)

Rolling stock: If you're not a fan of 153s then you're screwed. (1/10)

Facilities: Both platforms have ramped access and a covered waiting area. Access between the platforms is via a public footbridge that I always feel apprehensive crossing. There are train departure boards and robot announcers but no facility to buy tickets. There's no official car park but feel free to park in the street. (4/10)

Overall: It's a station and trains stop there but I only use it as it's easier to get to than Stoke is. (3/10)

 

[eMeS]

I moved to Milton Keynes in 1982 before the station for the New City was opened by Prince Charles, so I used Wolverton and Bletchley until it opened.
Geographically, Milton Keynes is my "local station" and I used it frequently whilst I was of working age and with meetings in London; Back then parking wasn't a problem. Now, being retired, and travelling well after the morning commute, there's no car park space within reasonable distance of MKC, so for the last 3 years we've reverted to using Bletchley. It's OK as mentioned somewhere above, but it would be good if the lifts worked more reliably - mothers with babes in prams do need them, and both need to be working as Bletchley's services are now restricted to platforms a bridge away from the booking office.

 

[stuu]

My Local: Taunton

Setting: On the edge of the town centre, 10 minutes walk to the middle proper, with reasonable numbers of buses. Due to its slightly elevated location and mansize platforms it seems to have its own microclimate, which tends to be windy, regardless of what is happening in the outside world (7/10)

Architecture: The original B&E building is no longer part of the station, the platform buildings are 1930s GWR, not very interesting but decent weather protection for 100m of each platform (7/10)

Services: hourly locals to the delights of Bridgwater, Weston and eventually Cardiff, hourly or better fast to Bristol by Cross Country, hourly ish GWR to London via a random number of stops. 2-3 per hour to Exeter with CC/GWR(7/10)

Rolling Stock: 800/voyagers/short HSTs/150/158/165/166. 66s on NR engineering trains from nearby yard. Occasional other freight (7/10)

Facilities: Waiting rooms, toilets, lifts, Starbucks on eastbound, newer cafe/bar on westbound. Buses and taxis outside. Platforms sufficiently long to induce weeping in commuters from most places north of the M4 (8/10)

Overall: Not much to complain about. Getting a new car park and better westbound facilities. (8/10)

 

[xc170]

My local: Wilnecote

Setting: In a cutting below a main road, opposite a McDonalds, Morrisons and a Vauxhall dealership . (5/10)

Architecture: Non existnat really, two platforms both with modern metal waiting shelters. (2/10)

Services: Sporadic, two hourly ish, hourly in the peaks. (4/10)

Rolling stock: Overcrowded Cross Country 170's, that's all. (2/10)

Facilities: Two small metal shelters and a recently installed TVM, though mentioned above, it's opposite a supermarket and MdDonalds drive-thru. (4/10)

Overall: It's a 10 minute walk from my house, but it's usually more convienet to get the bus to Tamworth and go from there. It's handy if returning from Birmingham or Derby and the train you're on happens to be calling. (3/10)

 

[Cowley]

My local Norwich

Location; On the edge of the city centre, adjacent to the new Riverside development and close to the football ground, therefore good for all the fans of Premier League teams visiting. Served by frequent buses to the very centre of town (8.5/10)

Architecture: Built in 1886 from a design by Wislon & Ashbee. Very attractive station building and a good concourse. Entrance hall is often overlooked but worth a second glance in my opinion. (10/10)

Services: 2 tph to London with additional "London in 90 services". Frequent services on branches to Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Sheringham. Hourly to Cambridge via Ely (GA) and Liverpool via Peterborough, Nottingham & Sheffield (EMT). Some overcrowding at peak times, especially on cross country routes where 2 cars are not really enough and no trolley service either. (9/10)

Facilities: 6 platforms of which 1 to 4 are full length, and are used by mainline services to London and cross country trains. 5/6 are shorter and used by local services to the coast. The goods facilities are much smaller than they once were, but there are sidings for the occasional stone trai and the yard is also used to stable charter stock and other stock as well. Plenty of retail outlets, including a Co-op, Subway, M & S local and now a real ale bar. Good ticket office with very helpful staff. (10/10)

Rolling Stock: 153, 156, 170 on Greater Anglia local services. EMT services are usually 158s although occasionally 156s substitute. Mainline services are still in the hands of 90s and MK IIIs with some services now regularly in the hands of 321 emus. Jewel in the crown for the moment is the class 37 short set which will one day disappear but for now seems to be here till at least August and maybe beyond. DBS 66s appear on the stone train from Peterborough, and the North Walsham - Harwich oil train that bypasses the station on the Wensum Curve is in the hands of GBRf 66s. Test trains and stock moves often feature Colas 37s and DRS 37s or 57s, while charter services see WCRC 47s/57s or DRS 68s visit. Since 1996 there have been regular steam charters with everything from a GWR pannier tank to LMS & LNER pacifics visit. Not forgetting the new 755s and 745s now rolling off the production line and currently on test.(10/10)


Overall: I may be biased, being local, but I reckon that Norwich is one of the best medium sized stations around. There is little I can fault about the station and what you can see although the 153s are a pain when rostered on their own on services that would be better served by two or three car units. Mind you when all the new stock is in service that may change. (9.5/10)

It’s a great station that I fully intend on visiting this year.

 

[Crisps]

I think this should win for the evacuation siren alone!!!

On a Thursday at 10.45am, if you’re in Newton Aycliffe you can hear the evacuation siren for the Ineos chemical works near the station. It sounds at that time every week as a test. It sounds like an old WWII air raid siren, which is apt as the whole area was a Royal Ordnance Factory during the war.

 

[Whattraintoday]

I think this should win for the evacuation siren alone!!!

Interestingly the info poster doesn't tell you which way to go - presumably the direction of the ensuing carnage would be obvious.

 

[Cheshire Rover]

My local: Helsby

Setting: Located in the village centre. View out towards Frodsham marshes overlooking the Growhow fertilizer plant and a wind farm. (5/10)

Architecture: Pleasant Victorian buildings. Old ticket office and waiting room converted to a Beer Tap Room open Thursday to Sunday. Other buildings are closed. Covered waiting areas on P1, 2 and 3 with a small bus stop type shelter on P4. Signalbox is located on the island platform and is Grade 2 listed. All signalling in view is semaphore.(7/10)

Services: TFW run half hourly to Chester and then hourly to North Wales, Manchester Picc and Liverpool Lime St. Northern run 3 Peak services to Leeds, 1 peak service to Chester and 2 peak services to Ellesmere Port. With one change at Runcorn, Warrington or Chester you can catch trains to London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Birmingham. Not bad for a village station. (8/10)

Rolling stock: Class 142, 150, 156, 158 and 175 units. Class 67 Mark 3 TFW service. Class 66, 60, 56 and 70 on freight. Occasional steam and heritage diesel on tours. (7/10)

Facilities: All platforms have covered waiting areas. No disabled access. Refurbished footbridge to P2,3 and 4. There are train departure boards and robot announcers and a single TVM on P1Car parking limited and usually full by 0730 weekdays. Council run car park a short walk away that is currently free but will soon be chargeable. No toilets. No ticket office. (4/10)

Overall: Good enough for the area it serves. (8/10)

 

[nr758123]

My Local: Slaithwaite

Setting: Close to village centre and residential areas. (8/10)

Architecture: Two new bus shelters, both installed last summer and smaller than the ones they replaced. Plus a bus shelter in the car park even though it’s many years since any buses called there. A couple of really nice planters and a metal bench courtesy of Friends of Slaithwaite Station (3/10)

Services: 1 tph to Huddersfield and 1tph to Manchester Piccadilly. Briefly had through trains to Leeds, but trains to Huddersfield which actually run are better than trains to Leeds which kept getting cancelled.

In terms of frequency, worse than most other stations and routes around Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. The number of passengers amply justifies 2tph.

Peak frequency was previously 2tph (and had been for the previous 30 years), but this was reduced to 1tph in the May 2018 timetable “improvements”. The current timings are so inconvenient that anyone starting work in Leeds or Manchester (both just 20 miles distant) currently has to set off at 0734 or 0748.

Punctuality and reliability has improved from mind-numbingly awful to poor.

If TPE’s proposals for December 2019 (half-hourly in both directions in the peaks and sensible arrival times in Manchester/Leeds) are agreed and implemented, then it becomes fit for purpose as a commuter service once again (4/10, potentially improving to 6/10)

Rolling Stock: 185s. A step change in quality from what came before. (9/10)

Facilities: Step-free access to both platforms, but that’s a bit misleading in terms of disabled access. The only route from one platform to the other is along a steep cobbled ramp, so there’s only disabled access for people who are being picked up & dropped off by car. Car park is free, but it really ought to be possible to reorganise the layout to get 60% more parking spaces. Ticket machines on both platforms. Unstaffed. (4/10)

Other (not sure what category this falls into): The ale trail brings in a lot of passengers on Saturday afternoons, but some of them have behaviour issues. Call me a snob if you like, but I don’t much like sharing a train with a load of sweary drunks with volume control problems.

Overall: Potential to be a lot better than it currently is, particularly with regard to the frequency of service. (4/10)

 

[telstarbox]

My Local: Lewisham

Setting: Surrounded by new high-rise towers and a very busy road junction, but there are long-term plans for a boulevard to link the station with the 'old' town centre.

Architecture: Nothing special and not enough shelter on rainy days. A one-way system has been introduced to manage the crowds at peak times but it will need rebuilding especially if/when the Bakerloo line reaches here.

Services: Loads, it's a real hub for South East London routes. Well-used interchange with the DLR to Canary Wharf. More NR passengers than Sheffield but with much less space.

Rolling Stock: EMU workhorses and the occasional freight.

Facilities: Three ticket machines. Cafe/samosa shack and hipster coffee van. Buses stop right outside. Toilets better than average and usually open. No PIS at the far end of the platforms which is not great for the number of passengers.

Overall: 7.5/10.

 

[Bookd]

Nothing to do with their s thread (although mentioned above) but I remember hearing a test of the old air raid sirens in Fulham about 40 years ago. They were still meant as a warning.
At that time I went to a,meeting with the council emergency officer who explained that if the sirens went off it could be a nuclear attack (barricade yourself in the cellar) or the Thames had burst it banks (go up to the roof). Your choice but not very helpful.

 

[urbophile]

My local: Cressington

Setting:In a leafy Victorian suburban park, a couple of minutes from a busy road with much 'ordinary' terraced and semi-detached housing (8/10)

Architecture: Large Victorian 'cottage ornée' style; listed Grade II (?). The ticket office and former stationmaster's house on street level and platform buildings below. (10/10)

Services: Merseyrail: every 15 minutes to Liverpool Central and Southport in one direction; Liverpool South Parkway and Hunts Cross in the other. Only 30-minute service on Sundays however. (8/10)

Rolling stock: Class 507-508, soon to be replaced by state of the art Swiss trains. (8/10)

Facilities: Attractive glass canopies on both platforms with a pleasant enough waiting room (recently refurbished) on the northbound platform. No disabled access and rather steep and narrow stairs to southbound platform. Electronic departure boards on platforms and in waiting areas. Staffed ticket office open all day (in theory). Toilet. No ticket machine. The station car park consists of a small number of marked bays on the road outside, but probably adequate enough for the demand as most passengers live within walking distance. The whole station is looking rather grubby and could do with a clean and repaint. (6/10)

Overall: Ideal as a suburban metro station, but it could do with lifts. Service frequency could be increased (especially on Sundays). (8/10)

 

[stgls]

My Local: Bristol Parkway

Setting: Amongst the many places between Bristol and the M4 with Stoke in their name. Standard residential area, really. Freight yard to the immediate south. 8/10

Architecture: Functional, but they've made some effort. The standard lego set of Network Rail steel-frame bits with a bit of cladding here and there to add interest. 7/10

Services:
Rail: Decent range of services to long-distance destinations in almost every direction. Changing at Temple Meads gets even more. Misses out on the Cardiff-Portsmouth axis (which IMO should be a main-line 5-car 80x or 4/5 coach HST service, instead of Turbos). Less than you'd expect to Exeter or Worcester on GWR. Looking forward to the non-stop London services. 9/10
Bus: rubbish for such a major station, particularly at weekends, when they finish far too early. The new Metrobus system completely ignores it (for now). The (hourly, or worse) bus you want always seems to leave two minutes before your train gets in. 5/10

Rolling Stock:
GWR: 80x, Turbos, 150/158. Have seen short HSTs on test runs on my last few visits.
80x need a softer seat base and they'd be spot on. In my experience they don't seem to be using the wires towards London all that much. 7/10
XC: Voyager and HST. Voyagers rammed on Friday and Sunday evenings. The HSTs feel old-school, but they're comfortable. 7/10

Facilities: Lifts, ticket machines, ticket office. Lots of pricy parking, including a new multi-storey. Coffee stand in the concourse, but nothing on the platforms, which can be breezy. Could do with an entrance from the south for easier access, which would need a foot tunnel under the freight yard. 7/10

Crayonista fantasies? Putting up more wires and sorting out the rolling stock to allow everything to run through Bristol on electric power.

Overall: Pretty good. A lot better than most. 7.5/10

 

[geoffk]

My local: Cressington

Facilities: Attractive glass canopies on both platforms with a pleasant enough waiting room (recently refurbished) on the northbound platform. No disabled access and rather steep and narrow stairs to southbound platform. Electronic departure boards on platforms and in waiting areas. Staffed ticket office open all day (in theory). Toilet. No ticket machine. The station car park consists of a small number of marked bays on the road outside, but probably adequate enough for the demand as most passengers live within walking distance. The whole station is looking rather grubby and could do with a clean and repaint. (6/10)

Overall: Ideal as a suburban metro station, but it could do with lifts. Service frequency could be increased (especially on Sundays). (8/10)

Some relatives of mine live very near Cressington station and it's very handy for them but parking in the surrounding streets is difficult. Not sure if it's because of the station or lack of off-street parking for residents, maybe a bit of both.