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Bleakest / loneliest mainline station

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reb0118

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My vote goes for Edinburgh Park, between Edinburgh and Glasgow, which always seems to be a 'Marie Celeste' of a station.

I don't know if you're aware but the station signs were put in at an angle (a very slight one tbf so not really discernible by the human eye) to ensure that they squeak & squawk in the wind just like the ghostly abandoned rigging of a phantom ship.

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Although just failing on the number of trains criterion Lochgelly & Cardenden must be in with a shout, surely?......
 
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scrapy

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Clifton must be very lonely. One train per day!
One up from Clifton, Kearsley has a regular service but seems very isolated being on the side of a hill with houses on one side of the station much higher and much lower on the other side. The road so also much lower than the station.
 

Wtloild

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Carstairs.
Also Bolton, due to the huge distance between everything in the station.
 

frodshamfella

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Warrington BQ , Crewe , Euston , Eltham ( which replaced the far more pleasant Eltham Well Hall and Eltham Park) , Slade Green. All cold and grim.
 

KC1

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Dagenham Dock is grim. As is Rainham.

In fact, you could pretty much select 50% of C2C’s stations.
 

Hey 3

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I would argue Reddish South and Denton are quite bleak, after all, it is 1tpw (Saturday only) and a return (since May 2018) with little ECS or freight moves and its service is probably cut due to C19.
 
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Jamesrob637

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I would argue Reddish South and Denton are quite bleak, after all, it is 1tpw(Saturday only) and a return (since May 2018) with little ECS or freight moves and its service is probably cut due to C19.

At least Reddish South is in the better end of Reddish and it has a big Morrisons next door!
 

Mcr Warrior

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At least Reddish South is in the better end of Reddish and it has a big Morrisons next door!
And Denton has a decent sized Sainsbury's on the other side of the M67. Normally you have exactly an hour to get your shopping in on a Saturday morning in between the train shuttling to Stockport and back.
 
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trainophile

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Has anyone mentioned Rock Ferry (see below) on the Wirral Line? In a deep dark depressing cutting with a spooky atmosphere, and that's just travelling through it, I've never actually got out there.
 
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urbophile

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Has anyone mentioned Rock Ferry on the Wirral Line? In a deep dark depressing cutting with a spooky atmosphere, and that's just travelling through it, I've never actually got out there.
Don't you mean Green Lane? Rock Ferry is hardly a joyful place but it's not in a cutting. And if we are talking Merseyrail (I thought this thread was about mainline stations) what about Bidston?
 

yorksrob

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Meols Cop definitely seems quite austere. Possibly because it's tucked away behind the houses.
 

urbophile

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You could feasibly nominate the whole Merseyrail network for the bleak-o-meter.
I beg to disagree. I can think of a few (Kirkby, Hunts Cross, Fazakerley for example) with architecturally bleak 1970s buildings, and platform level bus shelters, but they are usually (pre-Covid at least) reasonably busy most of the day which means they don't feel abandoned at least. And there are some architectural gems: Cressington, St Michaels, Hoylake, New Brighton etc. Liverpool Central is usually overwhelmed with passengers which makes it the opposite of bleak, even though it is badly designed.
 

Journeyman

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I would argue Reddish South and Denton are quite bleak, after all, it is 1tpw (Saturday only) and a return (since May 2018) with little ECS or freight moves and its service is probably cut due to C19.
Both stations have actually been refurbished recently and look surprisingly well cared for. 15 years ago they were both extremely grim, though.
 

Bletchleyite

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You could feasibly nominate the whole Merseyrail network for the bleak-o-meter.

You reckon? I think some of the smaller stations that retain buildings (e.g. Town Green and some of the Southport line stations) have a certain charm, and I find the main "trainshed" at James St (with the lit murals on the "disused" side) actually breathtakingly impressive, particularly given how old it all is.

On the other hand, the central Liverpool underground stations utterly lack character (unlike say London Underground) and the recent "tsartsing-up" (to write in a Scouse accent) has done nothing to help that, all it's done is changed beige to white. And Southport station is a Brutalist dump.
 

bramling

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You reckon? I think some of the smaller stations that retain buildings (e.g. Town Green and some of the Southport line stations) have a certain charm, and I find the main "trainshed" at James St (with the lit murals on the "disused" side) actually breathtakingly impressive, particularly given how old it all is.

On the other hand, the central Liverpool underground stations utterly lack character (unlike say London Underground) and the recent "tsartsing-up" (to write in a Scouse accent) has done nothing to help that, all it's done is changed beige to white. And Southport station is a Brutalist dump.

That analysis of Merseyrail is about right. Many of the suburban stations look reasonably smart, and even the worst of them are still perfectly functional. I found the underground stations fine in their 1970s form, but I’d agree the refurbishment has done nothing for them - seems to have been done on a shoestring with the absolute cheapest fixtures and finishes.
 

D6130

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You reckon? I think some of the smaller stations that retain buildings (e.g. Town Green and some of the Southport line stations) have a certain charm, and I find the main "trainshed" at James St (with the lit murals on the "disused" side) actually breathtakingly impressive, particularly given how old it all is.

On the other hand, the central Liverpool underground stations utterly lack character (unlike say London Underground) and the recent "tsartsing-up" (to write in a Scouse accent) has done nothing to help that, all it's done is changed beige to white. And Southport station is a Brutalist dump.
If you think Southport station is a dump, you should have seen Liverpool Exchange - originally the other end of the line - on my first visit back in 1973. OK, so it had been comprehensively remodelled by the Luftwaffe thirty years earlier, but the London Midland Region's efforts at renovation made the Southern's efforts at Cannon Street and London Bridge look as though they would qualify for an international architectural restoration award!
 

yorksrob

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If you think Southport station is a dump, you should have seen Liverpool Exchange - originally the other end of the line - on my first visit back in 1973. OK, so it had been comprehensively remodelled by the Luftwaffe thirty years earlier, but the London Midland Region's efforts at renovation made the Southern's efforts at Cannon Street and London Bridge look as though they would qualify for an international architectural restoration award!

I'm sure I read somewhere that the Southern's efforts at London Bridge did receive an architectural award. At least they managed to retain the train shed !
 

Llandudno

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Don't you mean Green Lane? Rock Ferry is hardly a joyful place but it's not in a cutting. And if we are talking Merseyrail (I thought this thread was about mainline stations) what about Bidston?
Welsh singer Duffy seemed to like Rock Ferry...!
 

trainophile

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Southport station lets itself down by not having any overhead displays on the platforms, not even a clock. Once you've passed the single departures board at the buffers end there's absolutely nothing. Very occasionally platforms are altered at short notice and if you don't hear the announcement you can find yourself having to dash back and around the end.

They have two OHDs on the pre-barrier concourse area, one of which seems a bit surplus to requirements, but once on the station you're at the mercy of your phone!
 

Mcr Warrior

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Last time I was at Southport, the Northern Rail services towards Wigan were off due to emergency engineering works being required on the line near Burscough Bridge. Trying to source accurate information as to where exactly the RRBs were picking up from outside Southport station, was, shall we say, challenging. :s
 

trainophile

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Last time I was at Southport, the Northern Rail services towards Wigan were off due to emergency engineering works being required on the line near Burscough Bridge. Trying to source accurate information as to where exactly the RRBs were picking up from outside Southport station, was, shall we say, challenging. :s

That figures. All the staff there are Merseyrail and aren't very interested in Northern's operations.
 

Mordac

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I beg to disagree. I can think of a few (Kirkby, Hunts Cross, Fazakerley for example) with architecturally bleak 1970s buildings, and platform level bus shelters, but they are usually (pre-Covid at least) reasonably busy most of the day which means they don't feel abandoned at least. And there are some architectural gems: Cressington, St Michaels, Hoylake, New Brighton etc. Liverpool Central is usually overwhelmed with passengers which makes it the opposite of bleak, even though it is badly designed.
I really like West Kirby too, feels very cosy!
 
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