Bleakest / loneliest mainline station

[Gathursty]

Tamworth, Spondon and East Midlands Parkway feel pretty lonely when I've used them.

 

[Journeyman]

We'll have to disagree on this one then. I've never seen any staff when I've been getting on or off trains at Edinburgh Park. There's no shops or toilets there, it just seems a rather windy, bleak and soulless place.

The Hermiston Gait retail park is just across the road.

 

[Sprinter107]

Grangetown, Cardiff was bleak when I had to wait for a train there earlier on this year. The wind was whistling around it and the rain was driving. Its very exposed perched on that embankment, and the shelters offer zero protection. Never been so glad to see a train.

 

[DustyBin]

It may be borderline in terms of the criteria set out by the OP, but Billingham is pretty grim. You have the Northern stoppers, Grand Central services passing through and fairly regular freight workings so it may just get 3tph but I stand to be corrected.

I found Ashburys rather bleak on my one and only visit, I think that one qualifies?

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Birmingham International is extremely well served and multiple Intercity, Suburban and commuter services call, but it feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere.

 

[MargaretNoodle]

I vote for East Midlands Parkway. The large cooling towers in the background certainly don't convey the most appealing atmosphere. Nor do the relative lack of passengers, remote location and big grey platforms give off a sense of warmth.

I was certainly feeling a bit isolated on a recent trip, waiting 40 minutes for a late evening train. Not a soul to be seen on the station.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Morley is quite bleak. Stuck in a deep cutting, bare platforms and the gaping mouth of Morley tunnel.

Morley isn't great, but I'd argue that on the same route Ravensthorpe, Deighton and arguably Mirfield are more bleak. RVN is literally in the middle of nowhere; MIR is horribly exposed for somewhere relatively affluent; and DHN is somewhere you don't really want to be after dark. At Morley at least if a mad axeman turns up there's a reasonable chance of an eyewitness from the nearby block of flats!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

We'll have to disagree on this one then. I've never seen any staff when I've been getting on or off trains at Edinburgh Park. There's no shops or toilets there, it just seems a rather windy, bleak and soulless place.

The Hermiston Gait retail park is just across the road.

Indeed it is, and quite handy if you want to visit TK Maxx or Halfords in between trains during store trading hours, but had thought that the thread was about stations.

 

[yorksrob]

Morley isn't great, but I'd argue that on the same route Ravensthorpe, Deighton and arguably Mirfield are more bleak. RVN is literally in the middle of nowhere; MIR is horribly exposed for somewhere relatively affluent; and DHN is somewhere you don't really want to be after dark. At Morley at least if a mad axeman turns up there's a reasonable chance of an eyewitness from the nearby block of flats!

I agree with Ravensthorpe. There's pretty much nothing.

At least with Mirfield one can nip into The Navigation for a swift one.

 

[alangla]

Indeed it is, and quite handy if you want to visit TK Maxx or Halfords in between trains during store trading hours, but had thought that the thread was about stations.

Edinburgh Park is basically a peak time only station Mon-Fri. You could probably stop making calls there after 7pm and at weekends and few people would notice. At rush hours it is (or was) mobbed, though it’s heavily dependent on RBS and Lloyds Banking Group staff for business & who knows when or if they’ll be back in the office.

 

[jamesst]

Chester. Always cold and away from the concourse the facilities are really limited.

 

[peteb]

Worcester Parkway Cotswold line platform very bleak as raised high above station buildings and only a bus shelter to shiver in! The Birmingham to Gloucester line platforms below are similarly bleak but have more passing trains.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

My vote is for London Bridge High Level platforms. Despite the shelters, it's still a wind tunnel if the wind is blowing in the right direction; the infrastructure is bland and I've seen more amicable staff in HMP Belmarsh! I find it very oppressive

However, downstairs is a complete (and welcome) contrast... I wait there until my train is due.

 

[Western Sunset]

Although it’s not that remote as Bruton is only 4 minutes away by train, Castle Cary feels quite bleak and isolated to me. Not sure it gets 3tph passing through all day though, although it can’t be far off.

I get the complete opposite feeling there. I find it cosy and it's like going back in time to a GWR country junction. It's one of my favourite stations.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Newark Northgate, especially the island platform. I have spent far too many hours there when East Midland and whoever-was-running-the -London-service -that-week had once again failed to honour a connection - the frequent trains whistling past and failing to pick up the waiting passengers just ramming home how unimportant the operators saw the service. The facilities on platforms 2 and 3 are completely inadequate for the number of people needing them and the length of time they have to spend there.

 

[higthomas]

My vote would be for Essex Road. Above ground it's in a bustling area, near trendy Islington. But once you enter the station, it feels like it was abandoned in the second world war, with no one about, prison like tunnels and dark and dingy platforms (although unlike the 313s, the 717s feel very out of place once they turn up).

 

[Gloster]

I get the complete opposite feeling there. I find it cosy and it's like going back in time to a GWR country junction. It's one of my favourite stations.

Although there isn’t much left of the old station except the main building: the old waiting-shelter on the Down side was demolished and replaced by the current one at the time of resignalling in 1984/85.

 

[Llandudno]

Bidston, waiting for a Borderlands connection from Merseyrail

 

[Western Sunset]

Pokesdown is rather scary...

 

[Old Waverley]

Dalwhinnie. It's the very definition of bleak and isolated.

 

[Julia]

East Midlands Parkway

One wag of a guard a year or so ago summed it up: "We're now approaching East Midlands Parkway. Nothing to see here, ladies and gentlemen, unless concrete chimneys are your thing"

 

[Andrew S]

Agreed about Essex Road, although I do like it's quirkiness below ground. Odd to go down in a lift then walk up stairs.

South Bermondsey has a deserted feel, in spite of being in a built up area and a frequent service. The station appears to have been built as cheapley as possible, and barely updated since. Is the platform still wooden timbers?

 

[james60059]

Tamworth.

Funny you mention that, as I was thinking Tamworth too, especially if you're at the Derby end of the high level platforms.

 

[Hardcastle]

Am surprised Smethwick Galton Bridge has not been mentioned as a changing point.

 

[birchesgreen]

Although not particularly bleak (well maybe this time of year) but Danzey is a pretty lonely station. Apart from a handful of the old railway worker houses next to the station there isn't a great deal around the station apart from fields and sheep.

 

[55002]

Newark Northgate, especially the island platform. I have spent far too many hours there when East Midland and whoever-was-running-the -London-service -that-week had once again failed to honour a connection - the frequent trains whistling past and failing to pick up the waiting passengers just ramming home how unimportant the operators saw the service. The facilities on platforms 2 and 3 are completely inadequate for the number of people needing them and the length of time they have to spend there.

the decision to hold the connection is down to East Midlands railway, and they don’t wait..one of the “benefits“ of a truncated privatised rail system. If you coming off an EMR train, and it’s late, they won’t stop a fast express to compensate for missed connection

 

[HowardGWR]

Having flipped through the entries on this thread, it seems to me that practically the majority of Network Rail is a place to avoid if you are depressed!

 

[cle]

Having flipped through the entries on this thread, it seems to me that practically the majority of Network Rail is a place to avoid if you are depressed!

Was just going to say.... so the UK is a bleak, depressing place. Yup, basically.

 

[yorksrob]

Having flipped through the entries on this thread, it seems to me that practically the majority of Network Rail is a place to avoid if you are depressed!

Was just going to say.... so the UK is a bleak, depressing place. Yup, basically.

I love bleak. It really cheers me up for some reason.

 

[higthomas]

I love bleak. It really cheers me up for some reason.

I often agree with you. When I'm out riding trains for interest/to see Britain I love it.
But, when it's cold and late and I just want to get home that's a very different matter.