Interesting thread and the reason I registered.
The oldest building that is still in existence but was built to serve as a railway station is Heighington station, it is no longer used as a station, its now a pub called Locomotive one. (It was at this level crossing that the locomotive named Locomotion was first put on the S&DR)
This title does not belong to Manchester's Liverpool Road station while that building survives as the Heighington station building is older and neither are still used as railway stations.
If Heighington station is knocked down then it defaults to the original station site of Edge hill as its station buildings were and still are the Edge hill cutting itself. It never had station buildings as we think of them today because it was in its own cutting. if we brought a man forward in time from then to now he would still recognise it as Edge hill station.
The oldest station that is still used as a railway station and still uses the original buildings it had when it was built is Edge hill station in Liverpool (the resited, 2nd version), those buildings on those platforms date from 1936 and were commissioned on 15 August 1836 and have been in use ever since.
The oldest station that is still used as a railway station that does occupy the original site but with new buildings is Broad green station in Liverpool.
The oldest station that is still used as a railway station that does not occupy the original site but is still largely in the same location is Heighington station in Newton Aycliffe.
The worlds oldest grand terminus was Crown street in Liverpool. It has now been completely obliterated. Nothing remains.
The worlds oldest grand terminus that still survives and used as a railway station is Liverpool Lime street station. 15 August 1836. It predates anything else anywhere else anywhere else in the world inspite of the fact it wasnt the original terminus
While it has been developed over its 183 years and 7 days of continues use its still the same station and predates Curzon street station building by 1 year 10 months 10 days. AND even if Curzon street is brought back into use with HS2 it still has no claim to fame as Edge hill station is the original station building and predates it too and then you have the Liverpool Road in Manchester to deal with too.
The worlds oldest grand terminus that still survives but is not used as a railway station is Liverpool Road station in Manchester. This is its only claim to fame as Crown Street is gone and Edge hill wasnt the terminus.
The reason why they held the Rainhill trials at Rainhill was due to the flatness of the track and openness of the track at that location, it does not show that Rainhill predates anything else. The Duke of Wellington opened Crown Street station first which makes it the oldest on the line, then Edge hill in the Edge hill cutting, then Broad green and so on along the line, they were opened as the train he was on passed them on its way to Manchester Liverpool Road.
Swansea & Mumbles doesnt get a look in as it was a wagon way. It used horse drawn carts on that run of their own rails, it was not a railway.
The Middleton Railway opened as a wagon way. It converted to a railway, modern writing has conveniently forgotten that fact to help promote it. It was a mineral railway at best, an industrial railway, and there are plenty in Wales that would dispute their claim to fame.
The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway. Most of it was cable hauled wagons. It wasnt a railway inspite of its name.
The Stockton & Darlington was a railway of sorts. It used had motive power for some of its services, but its passenger services were all horse drawn. If a person of today, an average person I mean, went back in time and saw the S&DR then they would I think not recognise it as what we think of today as a railway as it was more a mineral wagon way than a railway.
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway changed all that, you would look at it and see a modern railway in its infrastructure. Rails on sleepers, station platforms and buildings, men in uniforms helping passengers onto purpose built railway coaches, booking offices and facilities at stations such as waiting rooms and toilets.
The L&MR was the first and it was the first InterCity railway. It connected two of the great cities of the day together and it proved that railways were a viable method of moving large portions of people and freight over a vast distance with speed and efficiency.
But as DarloRich keeps saying the S&DR is the oldest, it was printed on the back of the £5 note, there is pictures of the time pronouncing it as a railway so it must be so.
Its rather like the question of the worlds first computer. Charles Babbage invented it, but his invention isnt what you would call a computer today. Not in any way shape or form. The S&DR and the L&MR are like this.
None of Londons stations count as the oldest anything railway wise. There is always something in Liverpool that is older apart from electrification, London Underground did manage to do that