Grubbiest or most dilapidated station on the network in 2023

[bramling]

On a positive note , and I can't say I'm familiar with all of these candidates but of the ones I do know there is nothing to match the state that in the past eg Manchester Victoria pre rebuild, Wakefield Kirkgate or going a bit further back Broad Street got into.

Manchester Victoria is still a tip IMO, the recent works seemed really to be more a case of papering over cracks. They went from a decent station but in poor repair, to an awful station also in poor repair, thanks to the arena, then more recently they’ve tried to tidy it up by putting a tent awning up, which strangely enough has just made the place worse.

I’m not sure what can really be done as the whole thing has been messed around with too many times now, so whatever is done is going to end up looking a mess. Such a shame as it was clearly a fine station once.

I remember paying a visit to Kirkgate a decade or so ago with a friend. He was shocked at the state of the place and genuinely thought it was a derelict station until a train appeared.

 

[John Luxton]

Have to say I don’t get the dislike for Green Lane. I find it quite spectacular in its own way. Agree about Conway Park though, quite depressing to use.

I suppose Green Lane has a certain heritage historical charm.

I often wonder what Green Lane was like when it was the terminal of the Mersey Railway in its original form as the extension to Rock Ferry didn't take place until 1891. Was there just a blank wall at the Rock Ferry end?

 

[johntea]

Wakefield Kirkgate station they probably did the best they could...the problem is they're taking their time at sorting out the actual 'Kirkgate' area surrounding it! (at least there is a useful free city bus service to shuttle you away as quickly as possible!)

Suffers the same as Bradford really in that they've built a fancy new shopping area which has had the knock on effect of leaving other once thriving areas of the city to just slowly rot away

Castleford station is a good example on how you can transform a grubby station into something much, much better! (Just a shame the highlights of the town itself include a derelict Poundstretcher which is likely to become another 'home for the vulnerable', a Marks and Spencers about to start their closing down sale and a new bookies opening in the former Fultons store!)

 

[Basil Jet]

Most of the stations mentioned in this thread so far are just fine. I got thrown out of Bletchley by a security guard for not having a ticket, but what I saw of it looked okay, and I have no idea why anyone would mention it in this thread.

Here's a grubby station... New Hythe. Give the camera a spin for the full grimness of it.

https://goo.gl/maps/Ms1PydeWxAFpAH176

 

[yorksrob]

The Kirkgate surrounds are better than they used to be. The derelict pub has been converted into something. Some of the monstrous carbunckle, derelict office blocks have been flattened. The reality is that the station's in the middle of a housing estate, so you're quite a way from any destination areas of Wakie.

 

[sprinterguy]

Stafford’s got to be up there surely? The miserable 60s brutalist style makes it pretty grim

Not at all: It's clean, airy and well maintained: In my view, one of the best representations of the brutalist style of station design we have in this country, and a pleasant place to change trains during the summer when the open platforms catch a good amount of the available sunlight.

I love the design of Stafford station. My second favourite west coast station after Coventry (although I’ve not been there since the redevelopment).

I understand ‘grubbiest and dilapidated ’ to mean run down and dirty, not simply a style that I dislike.

Agreed on both counts.

Stoke-on-Trent ?

Always feels bleak, unwelcoming and run down, entrance hall is very cramped since barriers were installed.
Hopelessly inadequate subway at busy times, always seems cold and not a nice place to hang around for long.

I'd consider "bleak, unwelcoming and run down" plus "not a nice place to hang around for long" to be accurate descriptions of Stoke itself, but not criticisms that can be levelled at the station: It always seems clean and well maintained from a passengers perspective at platform level, though I would agree about it being noticeably cold at all times, and the barriers and subway are a bottleneck, as graphically illustrated yesterday evening during the disruption caused by the overhead line problems at Cheadle Hulme which found a scrum of prospective passengers for Macclesfield queueing up the stairs from the subway to get through the ticket barriers towards replacement buses. The structural issues with the finials on the roof last year do admittedly suggest some degree of dilapidation outside of the passengers view.

Personally, of the stations I've used I'd agree with views expressed above that Crewe station has been demonstrating a state of gradual but unrelenting deterioration and dilapidation for at least the last twenty years.

 

[yorksrob]

Yes, Stafford's very well kept and stylish in a 1960's sort of way. Always half expect Cliff and the Shadows to pop out from somewhere.

 

[William3000]

Yes, so bad that Network Rail have security staff to make sure that no-one is able to photograph the squalor (but quite happy to allow people to smoke dubious substances next to them.)

Pokesdown could do with a massive upgrade - it’s essentially the main station for Boscombe and eastern parts of Bournemouth and could do with better facilities.

As much as I love Crewe station, it's definitely a contender for grubbiest dilapidated station.

Once you get on platform 12 and get to see all the long abandoned overgrown bay platforms looking unwanted and wasting away. Between the main platforms there are weeds and bits just left from however long ago.

If arriving at Crewe platforms 1-4 in heavy rain you have to use an umbrella under the roof where there is no roof, just empty roof girders. I have a video of rain pouring in on platform 1 like water out of a neverending water jug.

Then there is the horses landing area which no-one really knows exactly what it is. Part staff car park, rail replacement buses area, deliveries, viewpoint over the freight avoiding lines, entrance to station if gates unlocked (via the long term temporary wooden tunnel onto platform 12) and even a waiting room although I've never been in. All looks so very tired as if time has stood still for a few decades.

However, all the above is part of the charm of Crewe for me. It just doesn't make a great first impression to visitors.

Indeed - Crewe is vast but very rundown. Surely needs massive investment

 

[sprinterguy]

Indeed - Crewe is vast but very rundown. Surely needs massive investment

I assume at this point it's waiting on the redevelopment for HS2, assuming it ever gets there.

 

[John Luxton]

The Kirkgate surrounds are better than they used to be. The derelict pub has been converted into something. Some of the monstrous carbunckle, derelict office blocks have been flattened. The reality is that the station's in the middle of a housing estate, so you're quite a way from any destination areas of Wakie.

If we are including station surroundings unless it has improved since I last used the train to visit the Inland Waterways Museum at Easter 2022 Ellesmere Port Station forecourt is grim. The station building is architecturally interesting but as one comes out opposite is the long closed Station Hotel which obviously was a fairly smart affair. Then the wander down to the boat Museum passing a couple of former bank buildings and quite a few run down / closed shops.

Really is a miserable environment walking down the road I thought all that was missing was some tumble weed!

Its not just the stations that can be a let down but the environment around them which the first time visitor to a town encounters. Though outside of the railway boundaries there should be some joined up thinking between Network Rail and local councils. It is obvious in some places this has happened either by accident or design but others are woeful.

 

[bramling]

If we are including station surroundings unless it has improved since I last used the train to visit the Inland Waterways Museum at Easter 2022 Ellesmere Port Station forecourt is grim. The station building is architecturally interesting but as one comes out opposite is the long closed Station Hotel which obviously was a fairly smart affair. Then the wander down to the boat Museum passing a couple of former bank buildings and quite a few run down / closed shops.

Really is a miserable environment walking down the road I thought all that was missing was some tumble weed!

Its not just the stations that can be a let down but the environment around them which the first time visitor to a town encounters. Though outside of the railway boundaries there should be some joined up thinking between Network Rail and local councils. It is obvious in some places this has happened either by accident or design but others are woeful.

If one considers the wider environment, Stevenage has become rather dire in recent years.

The station is very much showing its age now (despite not actually being that old) and the immediate environs seem to have fallen into the rut where anything the local council do seems to make the area seem *more* tatty than it already was. Add in the increasing number of down & outs hanging around to complete the picture. Stevenage town centre is absolutely horrific these days.

The similarly designed stations like Harlow Town and Broxbourne don’t seem to have aged quite as poorly.

Luton is awful too.

 

[urbophile]

If we are including station surroundings unless it has improved since I last used the train to visit the Inland Waterways Museum at Easter 2022 Ellesmere Port Station forecourt is grim. The station building is architecturally interesting but as one comes out opposite is the long closed Station Hotel which obviously was a fairly smart affair. Then the wander down to the boat Museum passing a couple of former bank buildings and quite a few run down / closed shops.

Really is a miserable environment walking down the road I thought all that was missing was some tumble weed!

Its not just the stations that can be a let down but the environment around them which the first time visitor to a town encounters. Though outside of the railway boundaries there should be some joined up thinking between Network Rail and local councils. It is obvious in some places this has happened either by accident or design but others are woeful.

There is a long tradition, not just in this country, of major town stations being surrounded by the sort of run-down shops and disreputable pubs that are far from welcoming to a first-time visitor. It's partly down to Victorian railway lines not being allowed to encroach on city centres. I suppose this should really be another thread, but the combination of a scruffy station with a semi-derelict environment really needs to be tackled by a joint initiative of the railway and planning authority. It is more of a shock when the station is quite nice but you're confronted with horrors as soon as you step outside.

 

[Mikey C]

If one considers the wider environment, Stevenage has become rather dire in recent years.

The station is very much showing its age now (despite not actually being that old) and the immediate environs seem to have fallen into the rut where anything the local council do seems to make the area seem *more* tatty than it already was. Add in the increasing number of down & outs hanging around to complete the picture. Stevenage town centre is absolutely horrific these days.

The similarly designed stations like Harlow Town and Broxbourne don’t seem to have aged quite as poorly.

Luton is awful too.

Both Stevenage and Luton stations are inadequate and unattractive - they are of an era architecturally - but both seem in reasonably good condition, needing a major rebuild, rather than just a lick of paint.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The Kirkgate surrounds are better than they used to be. The derelict pub has been converted into something. Some of the monstrous carbunckle, derelict office blocks have been flattened. The reality is that the station's in the middle of a housing estate, so you're quite a way from any destination areas of Wakie.

It's well located for the Hepworth museum to be fair, apart from the several lanes of traffic you still need to cross!

 

[yorksrob]

It's well located for the Hepworth museum to be fair, apart from the several lanes of traffic you still need to cross!

Yes, the urban motorway is a pain, but that could be said of most of urban Britain.

Both Stevenage and Luton stations are inadequate and unattractive - they are of an era architecturally - but both seem in reasonably good condition, needing a major rebuild, rather than just a lick of paint.

I've changed trains at Stevenage a few times, and apart from being functional, I've not noticed any problems with it.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Yes, the urban motorway is a pain, but that could be said of most of urban Britain.

When did Wakefield get an "urban motorway"?

If it actually was an urban motorway, at least there'd be a safe grade-separated pedestrian route!

 

[yorksrob]

When did Wakefield get an "urban motorway"?

If it actually was an urban motorway, at least there'd be a safe grade-separated pedestrian route!

I use the term for all urban roads with too many carriageways and which require about sixteen pedestrian crossings to cross

 

[faltskog36abba]

Manchester Victoria is still a tip IMO, the recent works seemed really to be more a case of papering over cracks. They went from a decent station but in poor repair, to an awful station also in poor repair, thanks to the arena, then more recently they’ve tried to tidy it up by putting a tent awning up, which strangely enough has just made the place worse.

I’m not sure what can really be done as the whole thing has been messed around with too many times now, so whatever is done is going to end up looking a mess. Such a shame as it was clearly a fine station once.

I remember paying a visit to Kirkgate a decade or so ago with a friend. He was shocked at the state of the place and genuinely thought it was a derelict station until a train appeared.

Manchester Victoria station is fine for me, The concourse area is bright and dry. Platforms 1-4 are bright enough, 5/6 are a bit dark though- It smells of diesel on the Overbridge . It needs a fan to extract the fumes[Not the one under the arena- Too expensive to use], Toilets behind the barrier and a couple of outlets. Victoria may of been a fine station say in the 1920/30s - But when I used it in the 70s as a teenager going on my jollies it was a dump. OK it had 17 platforms and 31s 47s chugging through, The platforms were old and neglected the roof was cut short due to world war 2 damage, And it still stank of diesel fumes.

 

[yorksrob]

Manchester Victoria station is fine for me, The concourse area is bright and dry. Platforms 1-4 are bright enough, 5/6 are a bit dark though- It smells of diesel on the Overbridge . It needs a fan to extract the fumes[Not the one under the arena- Too expensive to use], Toilets behind the barrier and a couple of outlets. Victoria may of been a fine station say in the 1920/30s - But when I used it in the 70s as a teenager going on my jollies it was a dump. OK it had 17 platforms and 31s 47s chugging through, The platforms were old and neglected the roof was cut short due to world war 2 damage, And it still stank of diesel fumes.

I must admit, I've only seen pictures of the old Victoria station, however two things that stand out - the island platform nearest the main building appears to have had a buffet and toilet facilities, and the subway looks to have been less exposed to fumes than the current set up. For those reasons, I'd take the old.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I must admit, I've only seen pictures of the old Victoria station, however two things that stand out - the island platform nearest the main building appears to have had a buffet and toilet facilities, and the subway looks to have been less exposed to fumes than the current set up. For those reasons, I'd take the old.

I doubt the old one was much good, but the new one isn't up to scratch either, certainly as the InterCity station it now is - it was probably adequate when it wasn't really any more than an above ground DMU version of Liverpool Central.

It's now almost as important as Piccadilly, and so needs to be of the same quality and with the same facilities offering. A mezzanine with a decent food offering wouldn't be a bad plan, for example.

 

[bramling]

Yes, the urban motorway is a pain, but that could be said of most of urban Britain.



I've changed trains at Stevenage a few times, and apart from being functional, I've not noticed any problems with it.

You haven’t been into Stevenage town centre by the sound of it!? That’s quite an experience in itself (and not in a good way).

Stevenage station wasn’t that dilapidated, but I used it a couple of weeks ago and was surprised how much of a state it’s got into of late. It was always functional, but it’s now rather tatty.

 

[Trainfan2019]

I love the design of Stafford station. My second favourite west coast station after Coventry (although I’ve not been there since the redevelopment).

I understand ‘grubbiest and dilapidated ’ to mean run down and dirty, not simply a style that I dislike.

I agree about Stafford. It's a lovely old but modern concrete (1960s/70s) station. No doubt platform buildings have changed their uses over the years and yes, it is big and open but I feel calm and content just sat on the platforms watching trains. Then there is the semi abandoned royal mail platform of interest although not accessible to the public.

Fully agree


Platform 12 is really abandoned. On the plus side, there are the nicer toilets over there, mainly because the platform is so rarely used.


I don't understand why they don't fill in the disused platforms and make that all into the bus replacement area. It could become a much higher quality facility then for those passengers rather than the horrible walk through what feels like areas of the station that the public aren't meant to be in. Especially when between the bus stop and that tunnel thing is also used as a stock room.

The waiting room isn't awful but nor is it the best. It's suitable to spend short amounts of time and don't want to stand outside watching the cat sized mice and rats running about near the bin storage.

Regarding Crewe platform 12, I'd forgotten about the toilets and yes, they are really nice. Only just realised that there isn't actually a waiting room on platform 12 yet it does have trains in service stop there although I know these are not frequent but still, I've seen lots.

Good idea about filling in the Crewe disused platforms. I seem to think the platforms facing Locomotive Services are cut off from the mainline these days as I'm sure these bay platforms have unconnected track still in situ.

Ah yes, the stockroom tunnel to platform 12! Forgotten about that unwelcoming sight also.

 

[vicbury]

Contrary to earlier posters, it feels to me most stations are better maintained than they were in the 80s, certainly here in London where what I recall historically was threatening subways and an overpowering smell of urine. The Tube is also transformed in the past 30 years too. Both the arrival of the Overground and addition of disabled access facilities have had an impact on some of the worst stations. Brixton and Elephant mainline stations remain pretty grim places with no sense of any ownership from the railway or anyone else, South Bermondsey and Essex Road as desolate as ever too.

I agree that the Tube is transformed however on a recent visit to London last Autumn I was surprised by the fall in standard. A lot more dirt and grime everywhere and Canning Town Station had the overpowering smell of urine, with a smashed up bus station outside. Horrible.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I must admit, I've only seen pictures of the old Victoria station, however two things that stand out - the island platform nearest the main building appears to have had a buffet and toilet facilities, and the subway looks to have been less exposed to fumes than the current set up. For those reasons, I'd take the old.

I have a vague childhood memory of visiting Victoria before the remodelling and the arena being built. For some reason there was a shiny new mk3 DVT parked on its own in one of the now removed bays, but everything else seemed to be covered in a thick layer of diesel soot.

 

[Ken H]

I have a vague childhood memory of visiting Victoria before the remodelling and the arena being built. For some reason there was a shiny new mk3 DVT parked on its own in one of the now removed bays, but everything else seemed to be covered in a thick layer of diesel soot.

I quite liked the old manc vic in a wierd sort of way. Semi wrecked by WW2 air raid and unloved since. But it felt alive somehow.

 

[GoneSouth]

Manchester Victoria station is fine for me, The concourse area is bright and dry. Platforms 1-4 are bright enough, 5/6 are a bit dark though- It smells of diesel on the Overbridge . It needs a fan to extract the fumes[Not the one under the arena- Too expensive to use], Toilets behind the barrier and a couple of outlets. Victoria may of been a fine station say in the 1920/30s - But when I used it in the 70s as a teenager going on my jollies it was a dump. OK it had 17 platforms and 31s 47s chugging through, The platforms were old and neglected the roof was cut short due to world war 2 damage, And it still stank of diesel fumes.

Was the Boddingtons brewery close to Victoria station? I have memories of a fairly unpleasant smell whilst waiting there, and it wasn’t diesel !

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Was the Boddingtons brewery close to Victoria station? I have memories of a fairly unpleasant smell whilst waiting there, and it wasn’t diesel !

Yes. The old Boddingtons brewery site at Strangeways in Manchester was maybe around a third of a mile away.

 

[Pinus contorta]

Yes. The old Boddingtons brewery site at Strangeways in Manchester was maybe around a third of a mile away.

There was Chesters brewery on the way in from Salford.

The old Manchester Victoria was falling to bits by the time they redeveloped it/ squashed it with the Arena. I don't get why they thought that downsizing the station to such a degree was a good idea, looking at how much redevelopment has gone on in Salford and that part of Manchester.

 

[modernrail]

Just thinking about it, had any city in Britain suffered as big a downgrade as Bradford? 2 very big and grand stations reduced to 2 tiny low key stations with zero architectural merit.

I can’t think of another as profound example off the top of my head.

 

[johntea]

You haven’t been into Stevenage town centre by the sound of it!? That’s quite an experience in itself (and not in a good way).

Stevenage station wasn’t that dilapidated, but I used it a couple of weeks ago and was surprised how much of a state it’s got into of late. It was always functional, but it’s now rather tatty.

I think part of the problem is the whole 'new town' idea hasn't aged very well at all 77 years later (concrete, concrete and oh look...more concrete!), the 'old town' area is certainly worth the 15 minute walk from Stevenage station to visit though!

Never had a problem with the actual station, just feels like every other station in the Hertfordshire area! I usually stay in the nearby Premier Inn which is one of the best I've stayed at and then can easily access many locations by train, plus the handy retail park between both provides plenty of the usual fast food outlets