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

Hassocks5489 · 24 Apr 2014

infobleep said:
As for stations, what about underpasses and subways. Hassocks is run down below. I'm sure many others are too.

So true! I walked through Hassocks's subway at least twice a day for about 25 years, and still use it regularly. The gungey green substance growing between the white bricks, the bizarrely uneven concrete paving, the regular flooding, the wall-mounted lights, the odd smell...

But now, with the recent station rebuild, it has been refurbished! Now we have those white plastic panels that look easy to graffiti, a wobbly central handrail on the stairs, and a lift shaft. It's a definite improvement, anyway. Pics are June 2013, Oct 2013 and April 2014 respectively.

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infobleep · 24 Apr 2014

Hassocks5489 said:
So true! I walked through Hassocks's subway at least twice a day for about 25 years, and still use it regularly. The gungey green substance growing between the white bricks, the bizarrely uneven concrete paving, the regular flooding, the wall-mounted lights, the odd smell...

But now, with the recent station rebuild, it has been refurbished! Now we have those white plastic panels that look easy to graffiti, a wobbly central handrail on the stairs, and a lift shaft. It's a definite improvement, anyway. Pics are June 2013, Oct 2013 and April 2014 respectively.

Thanks for sharing that. Despite the condition of the subway, I actually liked the brick work design. I guess white panels cost less to maintain in terms of cleaning.

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ginge8991 · 24 Apr 2014

Newton (Lanarkshire) at night maybe? Within 1 minute of getting off a terminating Class 314 Police Sirens disturbed the evenings' quiet. the sirens continued until I caught my connection to equally shady Holytown (Don't judge a station by it's name - There is Nothing Holy about Holytown)

nathanclass323 · 24 Apr 2014

I'm going to say Colwyn Bay because of the people there mostly. Plus the ticket machine's f**ked and the ticket hall is a mess. Not to also mention the generally unhappy bloke in the ticket office. But that is personal preference to be honest.

stuartbaggs · 24 Apr 2014

Pluckley, always an uneasy feeling

yorksrob · 24 Apr 2014

stuartbaggs said:
Pluckley, always an uneasy feeling

I've rather liked Pluckley on the occasions I've used it (only surviving original SER timber building on that line now :cry

.

That said, the surrounding trees do give it a rather dark feel (might have have been a good setting for a Dennis Hopper painting

).

Oh... and Pluckley is reputedly the most haunted village in England !

Strathclyder · 24 Apr 2014

infobleep said:
As for stations, what about underpasses and subways. Hassocks is run down below. I'm sure many others are too.

Newton (Lanark) instantly springs to mind in that respect.

londiscape · 25 Apr 2014

NSE said:
Tilbury Town. 'Nuff Said

Deerfold said:
Not if you've never been there. What's wrong with it?

Been there a couple of times so far this year, the station is basic but functional, based on my experiences I would guess the reference is to the clientele.

Majority seemed to be chavs/pikeys whose expletive-laden "conversations" with one another, held at approx. 90 decibels, regarding various unsavoury criminal exploits in which they claimed to have engaged did not make for a comfortable waiting environment on the platforms.

infobleep · 25 Apr 2014

londiscape said:
Been there a couple of times so far this year, the station is basic but functional, based on my experiences I would guess the reference is to the clientele.

Majority seemed to be chavs/pikeys whose expletive-laden "conversations" with one another, held at approx. 90 decibels, regarding various unsavoury criminal exploits in which they claimed to have engaged did not make for a comfortable waiting environment on the platforms.

Something similar happened to me tonight but in reverse. I got to the platform at Surbiton and immediately thought perhaps I'd missed the train as the door was locked. It must have just been defective as I was directed to another door instead by helpful platform staff. The train left when it should have done of course.

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NorthernSpirit · 25 Apr 2014

Tracked said:
Most of the usual suspects; Hatfield & Stainforth, Kirkgate, Darnall - Ewwwwww

Stainforth & Hatfield does feel run down and I don't think the Labour run council will want spend any money too on the area surrounding thae station.

Kirkgate, improving slightly would be nice if staffed and to see some trains to Bridlington call there and Goole.

Darnall, been once never again. In my view Darnall should close or better still be treat with a parly service at either end of the day. I have never seen anyone board or alight their either.

387star · 25 Apr 2014

Nice to know I'm a conductor of a train service which stops at plenty of the stations mentioned!

theageofthetra · 25 Apr 2014

The subways at New Beckenham are regularly flooded and generally very dingy, also the station bins are those silly see through plastic bags so are ripped open each night by foxes and cats leading to rubbish all over the platfoms.

mr_jarhead · 25 Apr 2014

Deerfold said:
Not if you've never been there. What's wrong with it?

Where?

The Elephant Road entrance

Welly · 26 Apr 2014

NorthernSpirit said:
Darnall, been once never again. In my view Darnall should close or better still be treat with a parly service at either end of the day. I have never seen anyone board or alight their either.

I recently took the train to Sheffield and back, both times my train stopped at Darnall, people did board and alight! Mind you, I wouldn't want to get off there myself.

As for my least favourite station, a few years ago, I was photographing trains at Bethnal Green. I was shocked at how impoverished the station and locale appeared, all in sight of the Square Mile winking like the Emerald City!

krus_aragon · 26 Apr 2014

nathanclass323 said:
I'm going to say Colwyn Bay because of the people there mostly. Plus the ticket machine's f**ked and the ticket hall is a mess. Not to also mention the generally unhappy bloke in the ticket office. But that is personal preference to be honest.

I happen to find the staff at Colwyn Bay to be extremely agreeable. But then I tend to know exactly what tickets I'm after when I go to the station, and the staff I see at the ticket office are always happy to oblige.

On the ticket hall/waiting room aspect, I agree that the ticket barrier gate-line has pretty much borked the intended layout of the '80s rebuild. But the staff have had the waiting room heaters running every morning this winter, and the platform tannoy was recently repaired too.

nathanclass323 · 26 Apr 2014

krus_aragon said:
I happen to find the staff at Colwyn Bay to be extremely agreeable. But then I tend to know exactly what tickets I'm after when I go to the station, and the staff I see at the ticket office are always happy to oblige.

On the ticket hall/waiting room aspect, I agree that the ticket barrier gate-line has pretty much borked the intended layout of the '80s rebuild. But the staff have had the waiting room heaters running every morning this winter, and the platform tannoy was recently repaired too.

It's certainly improved since last year when I went there before my most recent adventure last week. I'll still say I'm not a big fan of the undesirables from Eirias and Rydal Penrhos schools.

Kent Spotter · 26 Apr 2014

TempleRyan said:
Swale, for how remote and isolated it is. It's very unpleasant on a foggy night, having been left there myself. You wouldn't have to worry about running into other people, it's just a bit in the middle of nowhere. (same applies for Berney Arms, for similar reasons)

Swale is actually about 1 1/2 miles east of the town/village. I live near there. I'd say Swanley for horrid stations.
Reason being it's vandalised, waiting rooms always have heating on, trains passing on Platform 1/3 (towards London) just make the waiting room doors slam open and shut. There is 1 shop and the word chav comes to mind again.

jamesst · 26 Apr 2014

Ellesmere Port. Purely due to the inbreds that pass for the local population

fowler9 · 26 Apr 2014

I am intrigued by the almost psychopathic tendency for people to view themselves as better than the other people who share their local stations. Hell I've done it myself.

LM 170 · 26 Apr 2014

These are my worst stations and the reasons why.

Hatton, Warwickshire
Because one day back in the very hot summer of 2004 I got off a train from Stratford on Avon. Then after getting off the train I saw a man in just his boxer shorts! Walk across the Footbridge and that summed it up for me.

Rhyl, North Wales
Because after just sitting down on the train. I saw a man collapse to the floor and at first now one came to help him and seem to remember seeing some blood from the mans head and then the train left.

Old Hill Bank · 26 Apr 2014

Any unstaffed station in an urban area!!

LM 170 · 26 Apr 2014

Some of the other worst stations for me are as follows.

Smethwick Galton Bridge: Absolutely Freezing! All year round on the low level platforms even in the Summer.

Droitwich Spa: A lot of chavs walking about day and night time.

Lea Hall: Just a no go at night.

Lichfield City/Trent Valley: Nice places to be in the day but not so at night.

Merseysider · 26 Apr 2014

I have to nominate Burscough Junction.

Last time I visited, the windows on the "shelter" had been kicked in, it was pitch black and an overhead light wasn't working. Add in the thick forest opposite the single platform, the excessively long wait for a train and the fact you are often the only passenger there; it inescapably becomes a waking nightmare.

Northampton, too. The entrance/concourse area is cramped, and it's absolutely freezing if you have to wait a few hours through the night/early morning for your train.

And finally, my local station, Salford Crescent. The whole station feels incomplete and jarred, as if someone took half of one station and mashed it into half of another one. Aside from the ticket office having sporadic, unpredictable opening hours in the evening (and often meaning TOD is unavailable after 6pm), the stairs down from the office to the platforms are skeletal and look as if someone designed them with a roof in mind, but couldn't be bothered actually putting the roof onto the stairs. Oh, and don't forget the pram & tracksuit wielding mother drinking blue WKD from a glass bottle at 11am on a Saturday.

Neilo09 · 26 Apr 2014

Another vote for Broombridge station in Dublin, Ireland, just google image it, enough said !

Mitch in Notts · 27 Apr 2014

LM 170 said:
Lichfield City/Trent Valley: Nice places to be in the day but not so at night.

I will agree with Lichfield City - made a visit in March. The platform toilets are closed and both the platforms & booking hall area seemed very run down. For what I thought would be quite a posh city, on a busy route into Birmingham, I would have expected a much better station.

robschopper · 27 Apr 2014

steamybrian said:
The stations I avoid are-
Brixton.....
Elephant & Castle.....
Birmingham New Street

and remote......Dovey Junction (wind swept, barren and literally isolated)
.

Dovey Junction is not one to avoid! Splendid isolation, maybe not so much in the winter, but this time of year it's great. Where else can you see breeding Ospreys, on their nest, from the station platform!

Live feed here: http://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/stream

D6975 · 28 Apr 2014

Leeds is getting a bit of a kicking.

I quite like it - much better than it was back in the 80s. The bridge is so much better than the old stinky subway.

I've had a meal and a pint in the 'spoons there a few times when doing a NE or NW rover and a few bacon rolls and coffees from the McDs when passing through there on a morning with a tight connection.

Getting from 1A to 17A is a bit of a trek though.

YorkshireBear · 28 Apr 2014

While i don't like Leeds at least the city is alright. Barnsley on the other hand, nice station but i wouldn't visit

Quakers Yard · 28 Apr 2014

Newport.

dk1 · 28 Apr 2014

Quakers Yard said:
Newport.

Take it you mean S.Wales? If so, that was a cock-up & disappointing station refurbishment & upgrade if ever i saw one. Wouldn't wan't my name associated with that effort.

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

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