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Most faded grandeur (trivia)

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tonysk14

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I loved it before the rebuild. Had fantastic atmosphere, and I just loved the decay and grubbiness for some reason. I'd sometimes go there just for a mooch about. The massive roof use to make me in awe, they effect has certainly been hugely diminished by the glass screens, clutter of champagne bars etc and the shed tacked onto the country end.

Rubbish. It was a total dump.
 
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trebor79

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Rubbish. It was a total dump.
It was indeed a complete and utter dump. But it just had that je ne sais quoi. And the roof with an unobstructed view of both the interior and the great big opening at the country end was awe inspiring. I hate that stupid shed over the end of it. It's unnecessary as the Eurostar passengers all wait downstairs.
 

yorksrob

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Rubbish. It was a total dump.

Having waited for trains there before the refurb, I found it to be a magnificent station. The passenger facilities were a bit basic for what I would have expected of a London terminal (basically a shop and a sort of holding pen on the concourse where passengers could sit) but the magnificence of the trainshed and building was plain to see. "Faded grandeur" summed it up nicely.

I regret not trying the bar as was, but I probably drank less in those days.
 

matacaster

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Not quite sure about this as I can't find any old pictures., but pontefract baghill has a decaying station building in private hands. It also has what appears to be a pretty long pair of platforms and may have had better times and facilities in the past. Anyone have any info / pictures / opinions.
 

vlad

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Saltburn: an impressive building that you find is just an entrance to a supermarket, whilst the platforms are tucked away to the side.
 

adamedwards

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Kendal formerly a staffed 2 platform station with through express to London. Now a one platform unstaffed halt. (But at least the building is still there. Windermere is faded and has no grandeur left as too modern.)
 

30907

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It was indeed a complete and utter dump. But it just had that je ne sais quoi. And the roof with an unobstructed view of both the interior and the great big opening at the country end was awe inspiring. I hate that stupid shed over the end of it. It's unnecessary as the Eurostar passengers all wait downstairs.
It would look peculiar if only the EM and SE platforms were covered. Or are you saying individual canopies would have been better?
 

Llandudno

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Not so much a dump as terminally dull. The up side buffet is actually quite welcoming.

The 1960 entrance canopy was incongruously elegant. A shame it wasn't very robust; its replacement is awful.
Crewe could do with a micropub on one of the platforms like York, Sheffield...
 

trebor79

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It would look peculiar if only the EM and SE platforms were covered. Or are you saying individual canopies would have been better?
I'm sure they could have come up with something better than they did. Maybe 2 smaller vaulted roofs, scaled down versions of the Barlow roof? Or two sloping roofs, with the lower end towards the middle of the site, so the visual impact from inside the Barlow shed was minimised?
Or yes, just some canopies down the domestic platforms.
I just think the extension as is sort of chops off the visual impact that used to be apparent.
Almost anything would have been better than what they actually did. The cost saving from not roofing the whole area would have helped fund something a bit more architecturally ambitious.
 

WesternLancer

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Having waited for trains there before the refurb, I found it to be a magnificent station. The passenger facilities were a bit basic for what I would have expected of a London terminal (basically a shop and a sort of holding pen on the concourse where passengers could sit) but the magnificence of the trainshed and building was plain to see. "Faded grandeur" summed it up nicely.

I regret not trying the bar as was, but I probably drank less in those days.
Yes, glad you mentioned The Shires. Def had a pint of Directors in there occasionally!
https://boakandbailey.com/2015/08/the-age-of-rail-ale-1975-1980/
 
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Helvellyn

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I'll go for one that might be controversial - Carlisle Citadel. Now that was a unique and impressive overall roof we lost in the 1950s.

blogentry-9175-0-05402700-1542677629_thumb.jpg

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/21609-carlisle-citadel-north-screen/

1928 - https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW025042
2019 - https://www.alamy.com/aerial-view-o...=1&vd=0&lb=&fi=2&edrf=&ispremium=1&flip=0&pl=
 

Meerkat

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I'm sure they could have come up with something better than they did. Maybe 2 smaller vaulted roofs, scaled down versions of the Barlow roof? Or two sloping roofs, with the lower end towards the middle of the site, so the visual impact from inside the Barlow shed was minimised?
Or yes, just some canopies down the domestic platforms.
I just think the extension as is sort of chops off the visual impact that used to be apparent.
Almost anything would have been better than what they actually did. The cost saving from not roofing the whole area would have helped fund something a bit more architecturally ambitious.

Weren’t they forced to have a low flat extension roof as they weren’t allowed to block the view of the Barlow roof
 

Brush 4

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Crewe is great, it still has a bustling railway station feel, at busy times. The new Reading is more like an airport up on the huge bridge, just the hum of escalators. Soulless, devoid of atmosphere.
 

Royston Vasey

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Sunderland station was a dump 35 years ago, when was it not a dump of a station? Technically I’d say it has never suffered from faded grandeur.
Try comparison with 1935 not 1985... Luftwaffe Renovations destroyed the LNER station's grandeur, then BR and the local authorities half-arsed the rebuild and let the resultantly unremarkable subterranean station rot, as opposed to it fading more "organically".

In fact it was better in the early 1960s with three platforms and the original clock tower and station building before construction/destruction made it subterranean with the brutalist superstructure, then the modern rebuild for Metro made it truly a black hole.
 
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trebor79

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Weren’t they forced to have a low flat extension roof as they weren’t allowed to block the view of the Barlow roof

Correct. Part of the Grade 1 listing includes protecting views of the station from locations like Primrose Hill.
On that case they should have omitted the middle section over the Eurostar platforms entirely, given Eurostar passengers spend all of 2 minutes on the platform, if that.
I know I'm like a broken record, but although the interior is brighter and cleaner, it's somehow ruined.
 

iknowyeah

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Dinting. Never saw it in it's heyday but it's target practice for the local scallies these days
 

B&I

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Many of the great old relics now seem to have been demolished completely, or renovated with varying degrees of success. The concept of faded grandeur has itself largely faded away.

Best example I've seen of it was the derelict interior of Snow Hill when it featured in a 1976 TV series called 'Gangsters'. Sadly all the clips have been taken down from YouTube
 

HSP 2

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Isn't the former station building a tourist information centre with the station moved to a new site?
Yes , but the new station is a bus shelter. Not the station that it once was. IIRC all you have left is the station building not the station.
 
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