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How would you Rate your Local Station?

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bhb

Member
Joined
13 Nov 2018
Messages
35
Finsbury Park:
Location is ideal, 10/10
Architecture wise, 0/10
Service wise: 10/10. If you are not getting a national rail train, the underground, with a combined service of about 45 (I'd say Victoria Line every 2 mins and Piccadilly line every 3 mins?) trains per hour will get you where you need to be.
 
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satisnek

Member
Joined
5 Sep 2014
Messages
886
Location
Kidderminster/Mercia Marina
My local: Kidderminster

Setting: 10-15 minutes walk from town centre, up a hill. But that's because it's where the railway is and not where the town is (see Dent for a more extreme example!). There is, however, a good selection of pubs, fast food outlets and convenience stores in the vicinity. (In days gone by, there were also sub-branches of all four major banks!) (6/10)

Architecture: what architecture? It's two platforms with a little cuboid brick building and bus shelters. The footbridge is a bit fancy, though, so (2/10).

Services: 4tph (evenings now beefed up to 2tph) to Birmingham Snow Hill/Moor Street and beyond, peak time services to London (now, usefully, there and back, 7 days a week), 2tph (1tph evenings) to Worcester. HOWEVER, the service density on the Stourbridge-Birmingham section is TOO intense, so fast services are not possible - and it's also an awkward route. Thus the average speed to Birmingham is little better than a heritage railway, hence only (7/10).

Rolling stock: mainly Class 172 (not my favourite, but they're less than 10 years old and seem to be highly rated on this forum) plus 168, 170, 153 (the latter 2 often seen together) and of course the mighty Class 68s with Mk3a stock. (8/10)

Facilities: booking office with excellent staff, should be open from early morning to 7pm but became somewhat intermittent and unreliable during the final years of the London Midland franchise. Hopefully we're past the worst of it now. No station supervisor (formerly chargeman, a post which was abolished in the early 1990s here), so it's an unstaffed halt when the booking office is closed. Kiosk (actually the old chargeman's office) serving drinks and snacks. Toilets available by asking at ticket window for key. Disabled access to both platforms. Customary orange dot-matrix displays and Anne. TVM (which works most of the time, but the coin mech is a bit over-sensitive) and a buggy ATM (try entering your PIN at anything faster than snail's pace). (4/10)

Overall: (5/10)

It would be interesting to repeat this exercise next year, since 'architecture' and 'facilities' are set to change. But all we've had to show for it during the last couple of months is a whacking great hole in the forecourt.
 

AntoniC

Member
Joined
28 Dec 2011
Messages
862
Location
Southport
My Local : Southport (SOP)
Setting : In the town centre , 5 minutes walk from Lord Street where the majority of buses stop and more importantly 5 minutes walk from my flat ! (also has a 24 hr Asda within a 5 minute walk) 10/10 as its so close for me !
Architecture : Stalinist brutal concrete structure that faces onto Chapel St - built in the 1970`s and its horrendous 1/10
Facilities : Has a MTOGO shop in which to buy your tickets (I dont as I have a season ticket) and has a fully accessible toilet, 6 platforms of which 3 (the Merseyrail platforms) are step free access but the trains arent (yet) and the other 3 platforms are used by Northern Rail and arent step free. 8/10
Rolling Stock : Merseyrail 507 & 508`s (older than the hills) and Northern Rail Pacers, 150`s 1/10
Services : Merseyrail - full access to whole the Merseyrail network and Northen Rail - access to Manchester Victoria, Leeds etc 5/10
Overall : 6/10 The advantages of being in the town centre are brought down by the ugliness of the front of the building.
 

railjock

Member
Joined
30 Jun 2012
Messages
373
My Local : Eskbank
Setting : not near either Bonnyrigg or Dalkeith town centres but halfway between them. 30 minute walK from my house but only a 5 minute drive with lots of parking. Next door to the local college and Tescos with its bus stop. 6/10
Architecture : Modern bus shelter type thing. 2/10
Facilities : Fully accessible and has a ticket machine. A wee coffee van thing operates peak hours. 4/10
Rolling Stock : 158s or 170s. 3/10
Services
Waverley in 19 minutes or Tweedbank in 40 the other way. Some Peak hour services to/from Edinburgh go to or come from Fife or South Gyle giving a cross city service. 2tph during the day with 1 tph evenings and all day Sunday 7/10
Overall : 10/10 Just glad it’s there after a near 50 year break.
 

bicbasher

Established Member
Joined
14 May 2010
Messages
1,748
Location
London
My local Forest Hill (FOH)

Location;
Right in the centre of Forest Hill town centre. Bus routes are a short walk away.

Architecture: Ghastly 1970's portakabin style building which replaced a glorious building which was damaged during WWII.

Services: Metro style services with 8tph on London Overground to Highbury and Islington, 4tph to London Bridge, 2tph to London Victoria via Crystal Palace, 2tph to Coulsdon Town via East Croydon (off-peak only), 4tph to West Croydon and 4th to Crystal Palace. There are additional peak services to Sutton during the peaks.

Facilities: Two 10 car platforms with a ticket office open until at least 21.10 daily. An enclosed waiting room on Platform 1, shelters on both platforms, an enclosed footbridge, lifts providing step free access to Platform 1. Side entrance on Platform 2 with an underground subway owned by Network Rail which is also used for public access between Devonshire Road and Perry Vale.

Rolling Stock: 377, 378 and 455 call here. 171, 377, 455 and 710s pass on the fast lines.

Overall: For a station where you're likely to be here for less than 7 mins if going to London or 30 mins for a southbound service, it does what it says as a functional turn-up and go railway station.
 
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AndyHudds

Member
Joined
17 Jun 2012
Messages
530
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)

You're forgetting Hollingworth Lake!!!
 

LUYMun

Member
Joined
15 Jul 2018
Messages
776
Location
Somewhere
My local: Farnborough North
Setting:
It's in the surbubs sandwiched between Farnborough and Frimley Green. The station is not far from a large lake and it's next to a warehouse. It's also near to the A331, so passing road traffic is clearly heard there. It's about a 20 minute walk from both Farnborough Main station and the town centre. An under-used bus service passes by to/from Ash. 5/10

Architecture:
No station building, and two dreadful grey shelters. They used to be blue for First Great Western, but recently it was repainted. The only interesting thing is a small hut for staff to look over the crossing, used for getting to the lake. 2/10

Facilities:
Once again, no station building. Instead, a ticket machine that only accept card payments. There are dot-matrix displays, some lovely information posters about the history of the station, as well as local societies, a help point that doesn't work, and bicycle racks on the platforms that aren't used often. In the summer, some residents hang flowers off the shelters. At least the station tries. 6/10

Services:
A range of stopping, semifast and fast Great Western Railway trains pass through. Once a day in each direction, a CrossCountry service also passes through. All GWR services are about every hour on Monday to Saturdays and every two hours on Sundays. They all terminate at Reading, Reigate and Gatwick Airport. It is possible to get to Alton or Aldershot by changing at Ash, or to London from Guildford. 8/10

Rolling stock:
Class 165/166s most of the time. In the near future, Class 769 'Flex' are proposed to run on the North Downs line. CrossCountry has Class 220/221s. 5/10

Overall:
I think this station needs some love, care and attention as most passengers flock to Farnborough Main for fast trains to London. It may not certainly be in the best location, but the range of destinations you can go to should boost its usage. And the ticket machine should accept cash. 6/10

(I might do my other local station, Farnborough Main, if anyone wants)
 
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Joined
24 Sep 2017
Messages
264
I have two local stations depending on whether I’m at home (Theale) or uni (Moulsecoomb), so I’ll do both.
Theale
Setting:
for me personally, it is an annoying 15 minute drive away, but for the town, it is probably an average of 5-10 minutes walk for the houses. The surrounding area itself isn’t very nice though, mainly industrial warehouses etc. 7/10
Architecture:
Fits in with the surrounding industrial warehouses, i.e. not very nice. Grey platforms with cheap, plasticky shelters, although some of these have recently been replaced by slightly better ones. 3/10
Services:
Hourly Bedwyn to Paddington semifast, hourly Newbury to Reading stopper to make up a half hourly service overall. Could benefit from half hourly stopper between Reading and Newbury to match other stoppers out of Reading (Didcot, Basingstoke) but very useful fast link to London. 7/10
Rolling stock:
new electric 387s and IETs, which are a vast improvement over the turbos that ran before. Much faster and quieter, although I do miss the peak time HSTs. 9/10
Facilities:
has the basics (information system, benches, shelters, bins, tickets machines, platforms, a railway line) but nothing more than that (no food shops, toilets, helicopter landing patch, etc). 5/10
Overall:
Very much a functional station. Has the necessities (provided you aren’t disabled) but makes no effort to go beyond them. I believe there are plans to improve it in the future. For the place it serves, though, it provides a very useful link into Newbury, Reading and London. 31/50

Moulsecoomb
Setting:
Exactly 6 minutes from where I live, and I’m certainly not the only one so close. It is very close to a large housing estate, and to a University of Brighton campus. 9/10
Architecture:
Nothing to write home about. Fairly basic shelter and small ticket office, although certainly prettier than Theale. The cream and green Southern colour scheme works wells 5/10
Services:
a clockface service every 10 minutes with one 20 minute gap each off peak hour. These comprise of local services from Brighton to Lewes and Seaford, and semifasts to Hastings. Although they don’t go to London or beyond Brighton, they link Sussex and Brighton university campuses to housing and the city centre very well, which is where most of the demand seems to be. I’ve travelled between Moulsecoomb and Falmer almost everyday for a year, and don’t think I’ve ever had a train more than 4 late (other than one signalling failure), and very few cancellations. 9/10
Rolling stock:
313 and 377. Nothing really exciting although both classes seem very well suited to their roles. I wouldn’t want to spend all day on a 313, but for a short journey they work just fine. 7/10
Facilities:
could do with a few more benches, and there seems to be an issue with the information systems (both the announcements and dot matrix) on the eastbound platform in that everything is delayed by about two minutes (which seems a lot longer when you’re there). Has shelters, ticket machines, etc though. 4/10
Overall:
again, nothing too fancy, but then the place it serves is no great city. It’s main redeeming feature is it’s service: very frequent trains taking people to exactly where they want to go, so it’s easy to see why it’s well used. 34/50
 

61653 HTAFC

Veteran Member
Joined
18 Dec 2012
Messages
17,623
Location
Another planet...
I'll do my "second" station too: Denby Dale (DBD):
Setting:
up a small hill from the village. Two access points, one technically step-free but rather steep. Adjacent to the rather magnificent Denby Dale viaduct, with views up and down the upper Dearne valley from trains passing over. Only really spoiled by the builder's yard next door which occupies the surviving goods shed and the site of former sidings. 8/10

Architecture:
The station itself is nothing special. A single platform with a typical WYPTE shelter. The aforementioned goods shed is quite a survivor but it isn't particularly pretty. The subway from two-track days survives as one of the access points, only a few traces are visible of the former down platform. 4/10

Services:
Hourly service southbound to Sheffield via Barnsley and northbound to Huddersfield (mon-sat). One extra southbound runs in the evening peak (mon-fri). Sunday is bi-hourly with some gaps filled, daytime services extend to Lincoln.
A second service per hour would grow usage but would also need a new loop somewhere between Huddersfield and Stocksmoor. Served by buses to Huddersfield (84,233), Wakefield, Holmfirth (435/436/437) and surrounding villages, which unfortunately don't often connect with trains despite both companies being part of DB. Also one bus a day to Barnsley at 0910 mon-fri. 6/10

Rolling Stock:
Mostly Pacers, specifically mostly 3-car 144s. Often a 2-car or a 142 will crop up, and I've noticed a few 153s recently. 150s seem more common at weekends and occasionally a 158 will run. 150s are the future, possibly as 3-car sets if that is still happening- though this will require several platforms to be extended including the dedicated bay at Huddersfield. I'll actually miss the 144s on this route, their large windows give great views of the countryside, something 150s are particularly poor for. 3/10

Facilities:
Standard Northern fare: A shelter, a few benches, a card-only ticket machine, a few bike racks and an information screen that's been on the blink since it was installed: everything is one line lower than it should be, so the 2nd/3rd train is where the clock should be.
A few nice touches like planters and an information board provided by the Community Rail Partnership (if they're still called that) which lists local walks. 5/10

Overall:
it's functional and does the job, and whilst the line did well to survive Beeching it's now held back by 1980s rationalisation. Being roughly around the halfway point between HUD and SHF, it will never be "busy" but it is covered by both WYPTE and SYPTE multi-modal tickets. 5/10.
 
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AndyHudds

Member
Joined
17 Jun 2012
Messages
530
I'll do my "second" station too: Denby Dale (DBD):
Setting:
up a small hill from the village. Two access points, one technically step-free but rather steep. Adjacent to the rather magnificent Denby Dale viaduct, with views up and down the upper Dearne valley from trains passing over. Only really spoiled by the builder's yard next door which occupies the surviving goods shed and the site of former sidings. 8/10
Architecture:
The station itself is nothing special. A single platform with a typical WYPTE shelter. The aforementioned goods shed is quite a survivor but it isn't particularly pretty. The subway from two-track days survives as one of the access points, only a few traces are visible of the former down platform. 4/10
Services:
Hourly service southbound to Sheffield via Barnsley and northbound to Huddersfield (mon-sat). One extra southbound runs in the evening peak (mon-fri). Sunday is bi-hourly with some gaps filled, daytime services extend to Lincoln.
A second service per hour would grow usage but would also need a new loop somewhere between Huddersfield and Stocksmoor. Served by buses to Huddersfield (84,233), Wakefield, Holmfirth (435/436/437) and surrounding villages, which unfortunately don't often connect with trains despite both companies being part of DB. 6/10
Rolling Stock:
Mostly Pacers, specifically mostly 3-car 144s. Often a 2-car or a 142 will crop up, and I've noticed a few 153s recently. 150s seem more common at weekends and occasionally a 158 will run. 150s are the future, possibly as 3-car sets if that is still happening- though this will require several platforms to be extended including the dedicated bay at Huddersfield. I'll actually miss the 144s on this route, their large windows give great views of the countryside, something 150s are particularly poor for. 3/10
Facilities:
Standard Northern fare: A shelter, a few benches, a card-only ticket machine, a few bike racks and an information screen that's been on the blink since it was installed: everything is one line lower than it should be, so the 2nd/3rd train is where the clock should be.
A few nice touches like planters and an information board provided by the Community Rail Partnership (if they're still called that) which lists local walks. 5/10

Overall:
it's functional and does the job, and whilst the line did well to survive Beeching it's now held back by 1980s rationalisation. Being roughly around the halfway point between HUD and SHF, it will never be "busy" but it is covered by both WYPTE and SYPTE multi-modal tickets. 5/10.

My mum and dad live in Skelmanthorpe and it really rankles with me that the buses don't connect with the trains,it really does.
 

61653 HTAFC

Veteran Member
Joined
18 Dec 2012
Messages
17,623
Location
Another planet...
My mum and dad live in Skelmanthorpe and it really rankles with me that the buses don't connect with the trains,it really does.
My folks also live in "Shat"- small world! It's not so bad going into Huddersfield or Sheffield in the hours that the 435 runs, as you get a good 10 minutes to walk up from the main road (takes about 2mins) before the Huddersfield train, with the Sheffield 10mins later. It's getting back from the station that's the problem!
 

Lytham Local

Member
Joined
5 May 2017
Messages
80
My Local: Lytham (LTM

Setting: 5 Minutes from my house, 3 minutes from the town centre. (10/10)

Architecture: Station building is now a nicely refusbished pub. (6/10).

Services: 1 TPH to Blackpool South and 1 to Preston, which carries on to Colne. That's when the run that is. (1/10)

Rolling Stock: 142's and 150's. We have seen 158's in the past 12 months, but that must have been a mistake. (7/10)

Facilities: 2 shelters, ticket machine, tannoy and a nice wildlife garden on the unused platform. Local railway friends group maintain the station plants and make the place look really nice. (6/10)

Overall: 3/10 - would be higher, but the service on the South Fylde line is abysmal.
 

3rd rail land

Member
Joined
30 Jan 2019
Messages
623
Location
Where the 3rd rail powers the trains
My Local: Clapham High Street

Setting:
Just off the high street of the same name. Plenty of bus routes that go along the high street and about 90 seconds walk to the nearest Underground station. (10/10)

Architecture:
Functional but bland. (3/10)

Services: 4tph to Clapham Junction and 4tph towards Highbury & Islington. Reasonable for London but seems to have endless weekend engineering works that means you have to use a bus instead.(7/10)

Rolling Stock: Class 378 (3/10)

Facilities: 2 platforms with shelters that have seating and DMIs. No ticket office and no retail units. 2 regular TVMs and 1 Oyster only TVM which are just outside the entrance to the station. No gateline just Oyster readers. There is an area outside the station to secure bicycles. No step free access. (3/10)

Overall:
Functional but bland. At least there is a member of staff at the station during opening hours but this person is always standing around looking bored whenever I use the station. Could easily be an unmanned station except that LO promised that all their stations would be staffed at all times. (4/10)
 

D5645

Member
Joined
1 Oct 2016
Messages
57
Location
Ripley, Derbyshire
My Local : Alfreton (ALF)

Setting : About a mile North of the town centre with Trent Barton buses every 15 minutes plus an hourly local service. (7/10)

Architecture : 1970's chic with modular buildings which have flat roofs. Looking tired now. Due to be replaced. (5/10)

Services: 1 tph Norwich - Liverpool and vv with East Midlands Trains and 1tph Nottingham - Leeds and vv with Northern plus daily HST to/from London St Pancras with East Midlands Trains. (7/10)

Rolling Stock: Class 158's, Class 156's, Class 43's and the occasional Class 150. Anything provided by Northern is grotty. (5/10)

Facilities: Booking hall / waiting room with ticket office and TVM. Still has toilets and is open for most of the day. Decent sized car park. (7/10)

Overall : No disabled access to southbound platform until lifts are installed. Long platforms are a legacy from it's former Alfreton and Mansfield Parkway days. Far better service frequency now than back in the 70's / 80's. (6/10).
 

urbophile

Established Member
Joined
26 Nov 2015
Messages
2,059
Location
Liverpool
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.
It's because it's in a private park where the oiks from outside are tolerated but not encouraged. However South Parkway has a massive (if often full) car park and it would be as near or nearer for most people not within walking distance of Cressington.
 

387gwr

Member
Joined
6 Jan 2019
Messages
28
Location
Surrey
Station: Epsom Downs

Setting: Few hundred meters from Epsom Downs race course. (3/10)

Architecture: 1960s roof and a small shelter. (2/10)

Services: Southern 2tph to London Victoria via Norwood junction. (7/10)

Rolling stock: Class 455/8 and occasionally class 377/6 (3/10)

Facilities:No booking hall, no ticket office, ticket machines, oyster card reader, no toilets. (1/10)

overall: 1 platform and ATOS Anna announcements (4/10)
 

John Boy

Member
Joined
23 Jan 2016
Messages
22
My Local: Hall I' TH' Wood (10/10 for the name and it was a winner on Pointless)

Setting:
Set above the ring road around Bolton, very exposed to the elements

Architecture:
Wood

Services: 2tph was just 1 until recently, a big improvement
Rolling Stock: Class 156/150/142 plus a 153 if we are lucky (1/10). The 7:43 is often short formed, either doesn't stop or you just can't get on. Dread to think what will happen if/when the 153's are no longer available

Facilities: Facilities my arse, we're lucky we have a platform and a shelter for 10 people. The locals use the car park as their own personal parking spot and don't use the train. That's it (1 for the platform). The access is up a steep-ish stepped ramp (30-40 metres). Saw one women lug her young wheel chair bound son up the ramp with such determination on a daily basis (respect)

Overall:
Apart from being a 10 minute drive from my house it doesn't really have much going for it. But I do have to say the view of a snow covered Winter Hill gets 10/10
 

northken

Member
Joined
23 Apr 2016
Messages
106
My Local: Montpelier

Setting:
Around 4 minutes away from Gloucester Road. Whilst it is in a very urban seeting, it doesn't feel like it. (8/10)

Architecture:
Surpisingly beautiful vegetation (when the other locals haven't cut the trees down to make it all barren) and the former station buildings have been decorated rather interestingly. Some may not like it, but I do. (8/10)

Services: A train every 40-ish minutes. It really should be improved to half-hourly. Impressively, there is a very late evening train at 23.42! (5/10)

Rolling Stock: Normally it's a 165/166 Turbo. Occasionally a 158 or a 150. (7/10)

Facilities: 1 platform with a dingy bus shelter. No ticket facilities at all and the passenger information is annoyingly incorporated into the help point, which is at the opposite end of the station to where I enter it. There is some bicycle storage and step-free access is available. (4/10)

Overall:
Functional and 'cool'. A lot more pleasant greenery than you'd expect. The footbridge is rather nice as it's so low down that it feels like you're almost directly atop a train. (7/10)
 

camflyer

Member
Joined
13 Feb 2018
Messages
876
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)

Yes, it's hard to think of any significant way in which Norwich could be improved (other than the introduction of EastWest rail). Probably the best station in East Anglia.

My local station is Newmarket which got a bit of a tart up recently but is still just a basic platform with a couple of shelters and a single ticket machine which only works half of the time. There are only two stops an hour which are within 10 minutes of each other but once we finally get the half hours service to Cambridge better facilities would be warranted. Car parking really needs to be improved.
 

bearhugger

Member
Joined
17 Mar 2015
Messages
575
Location
Middlesbrough
I'm roughly halfway between two stations so I’ll do both.
James Cook [JCH]
Setting: Out the back of the hospital, accessed via a public footpath, either from the main road with access to the hospital, or from the estate over a footbridge. The station was opened in 2014 with access to the hospital in mind. 6/10
Architecture: 1 platform built on concrete blocks. 4/10
Services: Hourly service to Nunthorpe, with 3 1/2 hourly service to Whitby. Occasional services to Danby & Battersby. Hourly to Hexham / Newcastle / Carlisle depending on time of day. Now has year round service (services didn't run on a Sunday until a couple of years ago). 7/10
Rolling stock: 142's (although these seem to be slowly dissapearing, 156's and increasingly 158's 8/10
Facilities: An enclosed shelter and a PIS screen. Usual timetable boards, bin & CCTV. A information point that has never really worked despite repeated reports. 5/10
Overall: Does what it says on the tin, a typical Northern shack. For the hospital it serves, with the added bonus of the local estate, it does fairly well. 30/50

Marton [MTO]
Setting: Close to Stewart Park (birthplace of Captain Cook) & Ormesby Hall (National Trust property) 7/10
Architecture: Basic one-sided & roof shelter on a single platform. 3/10
Services: As for James Cook. 7/10
Rolling stock: 142's, 156's & 158's 8/10
Facilities: A very small carpark and disabled access ramp up to the platform. A TVM, PIS, bin, benches, and CCTV. 5/10
Overall: Again a typical shack on the Northern network. Good access to a couple of local "attractions". 29/50
 

satisnek

Member
Joined
5 Sep 2014
Messages
886
Location
Kidderminster/Mercia Marina
Second stations? OK, for a laugh...

Willington

Setting: slap bang in the middle of the village - the road is called 'The Green', suggesting that it was the village green before the railway was built across it in the 19th century. Three pubs, a chippy and a little general store/post office are clustered around the station. Co-op store is a short walk away under the line (which leads to 'the rest of the village'). Trent & Mersey canal runs nearby and the entrance to Mercia Marina is 15 minutes walk away - but the perimeter road is a mile long. Fortunately my berth is near the entrance :D In concusion, hard to beat, real model railway inspiration kind of stuff (10/10).

Architecture: absolutely nothing. Prefabricated platforms with bus shelters. But the murals by the local primary school add a splash of colour, so worth a point (1/10).

Services: 7 trains per day in each direction, Monday-Saturday. No doubt Trent Barton would kick up a stink if this was increased (buses to Derby and Burton are hourly, all day, 7 days a week). As things stand, though, EMT couldn't care less because their trains don't serve it, and XC couldn't care less because it's someone else's station. But the trains are useful medium-to-long distance services, so (4/10).

Rolling stock: Class 170 - my favourite current DMU class - but they are the XC miserytravel variety, where only the 'priority seats' have any decent legroom and reservation cards grow wild. (6/10)

Facilities: customary orange dot-matrix displays and Anne. And that's it. No disabled access. (1/10)

Overall: (4/10). Actually, that's better than I thought, but as the estate agents say, it's 'location' location, location'!
 

Typhoon

Established Member
Joined
2 Nov 2017
Messages
3,486
Location
Kent
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??
That's a bit mean. Largest town/city in Cheshire by some way!
 

37254

Member
Joined
27 Dec 2018
Messages
131
Location
Portsmouth
My Local: Havant

Setting: Bus station and parade of shops right outside the entrance. However most buses don't link with trains(6/10)

Architecture: The Station itself looks horrid. Not the greatest place to spend time.

6/10

Services: Plenty of services heading to Portsmouth and also the occasional trains going to littlehampton. Quite frequent service to London and a decent service to Brighton.

Not at all bad! :D (8/10)

Rolling Stock: Class 158, 313, 377, 442 (soon), 444 and 450.

A Bit dull. (7/10)

Facilities: Lifts for wheelchair users which obviously don't work, ticket machines with touchscreens to make ticket purchase easier than ever, and still a ticket office. A pumpkin is available. (6/10)

Overall: 7/10
 

Killingworth

Established Member
Joined
30 May 2018
Messages
4,806
Location
Sheffield
My Local : Southport (SOP)
Setting : In the town centre , 5 minutes walk from Lord Street where the majority of buses stop and more importantly 5 minutes walk from my flat ! (also has a 24 hr Asda within a 5 minute walk) 10/10 as its so close for me !
Architecture : Stalinist brutal concrete structure that faces onto Chapel St - built in the 1970`s and its horrendous 1/10
Facilities : Has a MTOGO shop in which to buy your tickets (I dont as I have a season ticket) and has a fully accessible toilet, 6 platforms of which 3 (the Merseyrail platforms) are step free access but the trains arent (yet) and the other 3 platforms are used by Northern Rail and arent step free. 8/10
Rolling Stock : Merseyrail 507 & 508`s (older than the hills) and Northern Rail Pacers, 150`s 1/10
Services : Merseyrail - full access to whole the Merseyrail network and Northen Rail - access to Manchester Victoria, Leeds etc 5/10
Overall : 6/10 The advantages of being in the town centre are brought down by the ugliness of the front of the building.

By coincidence visited Southport yesterday. Confirm architectural impressions.

Arrived from Salford Crescent (a busy 2 track island platform) aboard a Northern 150 from Rochdale (twinned with Pacer) and left on an externally repainted 156 twinned with refurbished 150 for Leeds so rolling stock could have been worse.

The toilets may be fully accessible but we saw no signs to say where they were. The nearby, and very smart, Library and Museum have very clean toilets signed near the entrance.
 

Alex62319

Member
Joined
13 Oct 2017
Messages
31
My local: Northampton (NMP)

Location: about a 5-10 minute walk from the bus station with frequent bus services to and from the station and about a 20-30 minute walk from my house. Pretty good location so I give it 8/10

Architecture: the station got refurbished about a couple of years ago and I do like the new design of the station, better than it used to be. 7/10

Services: usually 3tph both ways to Birmingham and London with 1 going to Liverpool, 2tph for Rugeley and 1 for Crewe via Stoke. There are also additional peak time services to and from London. The trains can be late or cancelled because of the recent timetable change so I give this 5/10

Facilities: all 5 platforms on the station accommodate for 12 car EMUs, which is useful. There are toilets on the station but I wished that there were some on the platforms because the only toilets are at the entrance. There are also shops on the concourse at the station as well as vending machines on the platforms. I give this 6/10

Rolling stock: usually 350s and 66s with the odd occasional 319s during peak hours and random freight/light loco moves when it runs. A nice bit of variety if you go at the right time. 7/10

Overall: A decent station that does the job gone with me, really the only problem for me is the reliability of the services to and from the station recently. 33/50
 

Joseph_Locke

Established Member
Joined
14 Apr 2012
Messages
1,878
Location
Within earshot of trains passing the one and half
My Local: Chorley
Facilities:
No lift - wheelchair access to far (Manchester-bound) platform via a roundabout route using public subway outside of station itself.

You may or not be pleased to know that, now the Northern Hub has just completely rebuilt about 50% of your station for all sorts of deeply technical clearance issues, the Access for All works that could have been done at the same time (but were deferred) will probably happen next year, meaning NR dig some of the rest of the station up ...
 

mervyn72

Member
Joined
23 Jul 2015
Messages
187
My local: Meldreth (MEL)

Location: Right in the village close by to the school, pub and industries as well as a well used pathway over to the bigger village of Melbourn. 8/10

Architecture: Old station building now used partially as ticket office and Indian takeaway. All other railway buildings now demolished. There are pictures in the waiting room showing what used to be. 7/10

Services: Improved recently with 2tph to Cambridge, one extending to Cambridge North. 2tph to London Kings Cross but all are stopping services. In the peaks you can change at Royston for services non stop that overtake for an earlier arrival. Still only 1tph each way on Saturday and Sunday which is a shame. Also recently the last train from Cambridge is later which is better if at an event in the city. 7/10

Facilities: Waiting room on the Cambridge platform open in the morning peak with book swap and manned ticket office by the knowledgeable Bernie. Toilets also only open when office is. Shelters on both platforms but the biggest fault of the station is the last of step access to the London bound platform. 4/10

Rolling stock: 99% of services are class 700. Very roomy and much quicker that the class 317's of a couple years back. To be honest I was sick of the nonsense chat about the seats as for commuter journeys they are fine now that seat back tables and WiFi is being fitted. Minimum of 8 carriages is now a godsend on the 0806 to Cambridge. 9/10

Overall: A decent station that does the job for rural Cambridgeshire. Saturday and Sunday improvements and accessibility to both platforms needed. 35/50
 

zuriblue

Member
Joined
12 Oct 2014
Messages
533
Location
Baden Switzerland
My local: Baden Bahnhof

TOC: SBB CFF FFS

Location: In the middle of the city, the Bahnhofstrasse is the main shopping street. The exit at the Zürich end of the platforms is convenient for many of the bars and restaurants, The bus stations are right next to the station. (there are 3; 2 for the municipal buses and one for the postbuses under the Post Office.)

Architecture: a fairly typical Swiss station, at ground level it still has the original 1870s station buildings. At the lower level it is a concrete shopping centre.

Services: Pretty good. There are inter regios from Basel and Bern. The Bern and one of the Basel interregios stop at Zürich HB, the other Basel interregio goes to the Sihlstrasse lower level station at the HB then continues through the Durchmesserlinie to Oerlikon and the Airport.
There are 3 Zürich S-Bahn services - the S12 runs along the main line to Winterthur through the Museumstrasse lower level platforms at Zürich HB then to either Schaffhausen or Wil. The Wil leg terminates at Winterthur at the weekend. The S6 runs along the Furttal line on the north bank of the Limmat to the Museumstrasse platforms then along the Gold Coast northern bank of the lake to Uetikon. The S19 is a peak hours strengther that runs from Koblenz on the German border to the Sihlstrasse platforms then on to Pfaffikon ZH over Oerlikon. There are also Aargau S-Bahn services, the S27 is a half hourly service to Koblenz which then alternates to Waldshut in Germany or Bad Zurzach. The S23 runs to Aarau over Lenzburg then on to Olten and Langenthal. Finally there is an hourly Regional Express from Wettingen to Olten. At weekends the S12 runs all night between Winterthur and Aarau over Lenzburg with a surcharge.

Rolling Stock: The IRs can vary, the Bern IR is always a push-pull rake with additional coaches coupled onto the front at peak hours. It is normally made of EWIV stock powered by a RE460 but sometimes IC2000s make an appearance. The Basel - Zürich HB is normally LHCS with a mix of EWIV and refurbished German slam-door coaches. Power is provided by a RE460 or a RE420. Occasionally there are changes, for instance in the evening after 21:00 a RabE511 is used, last thing at night an ETR610 (normally used as an EC on the Gotthard route to Italy) does the run (presumably it is starting from Basel in the morning and it is to save an ECS move). The Basel - Airport run is always push-pull of some description (the Airport train runs through to the next station after the Airport and sits in a siding there for 50 minutes so there is nowhere to change locos), normally a EWIV set but during the day or weekends a RabE511 (511-0 or 511-1) is used or an ICN. If it is a 511-1 (4 coaches) then it gets a little intimate. Recently during the day RabE501 Giruno sets have been running on test.

The S6 uses 4 coach RabE514 sets, the S12 uses a mix of 6 coach RabE511-0 sets and 3 car plus loco RE450/DPZ double decker sets. In the peaks the Rabe511 and Rabe514 are doubled up, the DPZs are tripled to give 12 car double deckers, these still get a bit busy. The S19 uses either DPZs or redundant 6 car DPZ sets (the DPZ cars displaced when low entrance cars were put onto the DPZs) topped and tailed with Re420s.

The Aargau S-Bahn trains use NPZ-Domino rakes,again doubled in the peak on the S27.

The S6 and S27 split and join at Baden, the S6 uses powered couplings (I think Scharfenburg), the older NPZ sets are old-school with a shunter getting down to uncouple them.

Facilities: a number of TVMs, ticket office which can also ship luggage on and a travel centre. Two sets of WCs, both run by the council. Several food outlets and both a Migros and Coop supermarket. The Coop opens late and on Sunday which is useful. There are ramps to the 2 island platforms, Platform 1 is served by stairs and a lift. The station has free WiFi.

Overall: A pretty good station with a fairly dense service.
 
Last edited:

tomwills98

Member
Joined
18 Feb 2018
Messages
292
Location
Bridgend
My Local: Pencoed PCD

Setting: On the main road through the town near all the shops and pubs. Plenty of greenery with allotments and the Co-op shielded by a row of trees. 9/10

Architecture: "modern" platform, essentially two strips of tarmac at the right height for a train and an Arriva green shelter. No station building or anything fancy (5/10)
Services: Two trains per hour in the peak, one from Carmarthen terminating at Cardiff and one from Maesteg terminating at Ebbw Vale. In the off peak it drops to one train per hour with only the Maesteg-Cheltenham Spa services calling. Other way towards Bridgend services mainly go to Maesteg with the odd service to Carmarthen. 8/10

Rolling Stock: Mainly 150's, but can be anything from pacers to 175's. Crowding's not bad from Pencoed, full from Llanharan and rammed from Pontyclun.

Facilities: Two platforms staggered the wrong way to accommodate a level crossing, and a footbridge for when the barriers are down. Wooden fence and railings at the back of the platform and a good covered shelter on both platforms. Modern but not obtrusive Shelter can get crowded if it rains. Even has free parking around the back. Whilst there's no hot brown facilities or waiting room there Greggs, Tesco and other non-chain shops nearby. 7/10

Overall: Highly functional station that offers good links to the capital and Bridgend which offers connections towards Swansea. However needs a clean and possible a 2tph service off peak 7/10
 
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