Karl
On Moderation
Remember, even a clock that doesn't work at all is right twice a day. Which is more than I achieve, according to 'er indoors.
I must have been lucky to turn up at that exact time of the day
Remember, even a clock that doesn't work at all is right twice a day. Which is more than I achieve, according to 'er indoors.
On a similar note, the new St Pancras may well become a (already is) is classic, but Euston won't be.
I like Faversham, solid LCDR buildings, two island platforms with full canopies, lots of decorative features.
Was coming here to post these exact stations, Gilmour Street in particular. Second only to Wemyss Bay in terms of architectural splendor.Dumbarton Central and Paisley Gilmour Street might fit with what the OP is thinking about.
Edit - probably Helensburgh Central as well
Pity there isn't anywhere to spend a penny! But we do have a narrowboat on the station...Bingley. Nice canopies, and front entrance. Largely complete compared to Keighley and Shipley.
What?!! Tell us more. I'm sure the last time I passed Carnforth the clock told the correct time.
Standing above the station platform where they first met it was the timepiece which, with an iron hand, governed Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson’s short-lived affair and determined when they should part.
But the clock which played such a symbolic role in the 1945 British cinema classic Brief Encounter has been stilled - the victim of a very modern row over allegedly racist comments made by the man who until now kept it working.
Jim Walker has been banned from key parts of the station at Carnforth, in Lancashire, after he was overheard by a member of the public talking about comments about child migrants and refugees.
As a result the clock - which in the film signals when Johnson’s character Laura must leave Alec, played by Howard, and catch the train back to her husband - stands permanently stuck at 9.46.
The row exploded after a family visiting the station last October overheard Mr Walker making what they said were racist comments about child refugees, in response to a column he was reading in a national newspaper
The article questioned whether the migrants and refugees arriving from Calais were children and whether they were in any real danger.
Peter Crowther, chairman of the Carnforth Station Trust, which runs the heritage centre at the station, told The Telegraph: “A visitor to the station who was with his family complained about insulting and racist comments made by Mr Walker.
“He said that if action wasn’t taken he would report the matter as a hate crime to the police.”
Members of the trust interviewed a number of witnesses about the incident and decided to ban Mr Walker from those parts of the station it operates and rents from Network Rail.
The trust said Mr Walker, who the trust claims refused to attend the meeting at which his fate was decided, has since refused to wind the clock up.
“Mr Walker has been given the right to go into the station to get the tools to maintain the clock without having to go into trust buildings and he is not doing it,” said Mr Crowther. “The clock not being wound up is his personal decision and nothing to do with the trust.”
But Mr Walker, 71, hit back at the ban, saying: “It’s a matter of free speech. I was talking to a friend, discussing a newspaper article which questioned the comparison being made between the Calais migrants and the Jewish kindertransport children who fled to Britain in 1939.
“I said it was a ridiculous comparison because the kindertransport children were being rescued from the jaws of death. I didn’t say anything I’d consider offensive or deserving of what's happened to me.
“No wonder people nowadays are scared to say what they think. They are scared of being labelled racist. Where has the right to free speech gone? It is not as if I was Hitler addressing a rally.
Mr Walker denies he was invited to attend the trust’ meeting which decided on the ban and also denies that he still has access to the equipment needed to wind the clock up.
“I can’t get to the ladder without going on trust property and even if I could I wouldn’t do it anymore,” he said. “I don’t want to associate with that nest of vipers.”
Whatever the circumstances, Alex and Laura might well have welcomed a similar respite from the relentless tick-tock which brought an end to their fleeting affair.
THE hands of Carnforth's iconic railway station clock are moving once again after nearly a year-long standstill.
Cllr Peter Yates, custodian of the timepiece made famous by David Lean's classic 1945 black-and-white film Brief Encounter, said he had decided to start winding the platform clock "in the interests of goodwill and the people of Carnforth".
The Joyce of Whitchurch mechanism had been unwound since retired railwayman Jim Walker was banned from Carnforth Station Heritage Centre last year.
The volunteer clock-winder was barred by Carnforth Station Trust after a visitor complained about allegedly "racist" language overheard when Mr Walker was discussing a Daily Mail newspaper article.
Custodian Mr Yates said "the impasse" of Mr Walker refusing to wind the clock continued, because the trust would not apologise to him for banning him without first asking for his version of events.
Mr Yates said he had consulted with fellow custodian Terry Boxford "and some other interested parties" before deciding to restart the late-Victorian clock.
Mr Walker had wound the clock voluntarily twice a week for 15 years.
A new ratchet mechanism has now been introduced so the clock can be wound from the platform, without a stepladder.
This was the story about the clock
On a similar note, the new St Pancras may well become a (already is) is classic, but Euston won't be.
I'm not sure it's "medium" enough for the OP, however I'd like to mention Margate. Probably the finest station the Southern Railway built. Superb booking hall, buildings and platform canopies.
Tunbridge Wells Central is a fine example of a Victorian station with attractive buildings and extensive platform canopies (with the pretty South Eastern Railway valance).
Bexhill Central is also a fine and complete station (Edwardian) with booking hall, platform buildings and excellent London, Brighton and South Coast Railway scalloped canopies (I'm a sucker for a good platform canopy).
If Margate gets a mention then so should Ramsgate. Some of the detailing in the booking hall there is superb.
Not so many years ago Hastings might have been mentioned, especially with its semaphore signals and DEMUs, however the station was ruined when the SR booking hall was demolished. To this day I fail to understand why that was done, especially replacing it with a sheer monstrosity.
Stirling? Or would that be too big (or ugly - still waiting for the old footbridge to platform 9 to be put back)?
Bradford on Avon is a pleasant medium sized station. It has original station buildings (that are in use) made from bathstone, and canopies, a footbridge and gardens.
Stoke-on-trent including Winton Square
It seems fully used which is always a good start though the look in more London Underground than Northern Englandwill anyone consider this a classic? (Its Bentham, on Settle Jct - carnforth line)
no idea why it was replaced 1955 by BR. Its used by volunteers now.It seems fully used which is always a good start though the look in more London Underground than Northern England