Bleakest / loneliest mainline station

[yorksrob]

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.

Yes, it does depend a bit. I'm usually going out of my way to find somewhere bleak, so it's usually leisure.

 

[Roast Veg]

The word "bleak" to me pertains specficically to featureless moors or other flat land. I'd wager the most bleak station to be one with little to no station buildings on some dead flat plain, somewhere like Thorpe Culvert or Haddiscoe.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

I think the coldest I’ve ever been on a railway station was three quarters of an hour waiting on the down main platform at Grantham. A really windswept station in the winterl

 

[Purple Orange]

Bleak to me has a couple of different meanings.

Waiting for a train: An elevated or exposed station, raining, windy, dark, grey skies, very few facilities other than a bus shelter, 20+ minutes to wait until the train arrives.​

​

Arriving at a station: Euston or New Street. Sitting in the tunnels below Birmingham for ages, people stood in the aisles waiting for the train to start moving again, impatience sets in and it begins to feel claustrophobic. Then you are greeted by the New Street platforms. Euston is similar, but that feeling of bleak comes mostly when looking at the back of some of the properties that are along the line. Then there is the station itself. Like an industrial estate unit, converted to a railway station, sat in the middle of London. Leeds station has sometimes given me that feeling too.​

 

[Journeyman]

If I ever get around to building a model railway, bleak is totally the vibe I'll be going for. I fancy building a formerly grand main line station in the death throes of its existence, with occasional DMUs running through slowly crumbling buildings under a leaking overall roof, with half the glass missing.

*drools*

 

[Purple Orange]

If I ever get around to building a model railway, bleak is totally the vibe I'll be going for. I fancy building a formerly grand main line station in the death throes of its existence, with occasional DMUs running through slowly crumbling buildings under a leaking overall roof, with half the glass missing.

*drools*

Manchester Victoria in the 1980s. Proper bleak.

 

[urbophile]

Doesn't that allegedly refer to a different Widnes station which was on the now disused (for passengers) line from Ditton Junction, and not the current Widnes station which was originally called Farnworth (Widnes)?

Maybe, but the present station has commemorated it with a plaque. Though I wonder if the other Widnes stations were still open at the time Simon was there? Didn't they close pre-Beeching?

 

[Sprinter107]

Am surprised Smethwick Rolfe Street has not been mentioned as a changing point.

Why would anyone have any need to change at Smethwick Rolfe Street ? Its most certainly not bleak either. Its in a shallow cutting in an urban area.

 

[Journeyman]

Manchester Victoria in the 1980s. Proper bleak.

Yeah, that's the sort of vibe I'm going for, with honourable mentions to Broad Street and Tunbridge Wells West.

 

[Gloster]

Maybe, but the present station has commemorated it with a plaque. Though I wonder if the other Widnes stations were still open at the time Simon was there? Didn't they close pre-Beeching?

I have followed the background story of Homeward Bound for sometime in the hope of getting an article out of it: I have always been amused by some aspects of the situation, and not just the fact that the plaque is almost certainly on the wrong station. Paul Simon is recorded as saying, “If you know Widnes, then you’ll understand how I was desperately trying to get back to London as quickly as possible.” This is hardly the most ringing endorsement of the town.

 

[yorksrob]

If I ever get around to building a model railway, bleak is totally the vibe I'll be going for. I fancy building a formerly grand main line station in the death throes of its existence, with occasional DMUs running through slowly crumbling buildings under a leaking overall roof, with half the glass missing.

*drools*

Ooh, very Bradford Exchange !

 

[Sprinter107]

If I ever get around to building a model railway, bleak is totally the vibe I'll be going for. I fancy building a formerly grand main line station in the death throes of its existence, with occasional DMUs running through slowly crumbling buildings under a leaking overall roof, with half the glass missing.

*drools*

I love the sound of that. I've thought about building a run down station too, its something you rarely see modelled.

 

[ABB125]

Apologies if it's already been mentioned, but I would nominate Kings Norton station - I was there about a week ago, and in the very overcast weather it was rather depressing, despite being in the middle of a busy suburban area. There weren't very many people about, the station buildings are rather bleak, and the abandoned island platform just enhances the feeling.
And there was also a rather overpowering smell of "strong herbs" in the vicinity of the ramp down to the northbound platform...

 

[Hardcastle]

Why would anyone have any need to change at Smethwick Rolfe Street ? Its most certainly not bleak either. Its in a shallow cutting in an urban area.

Got that wrong should have said Smethwick Galton Bridge which is where you would change if you where travelling Wolverhampton to Worcester for example ive corrected the original post.

 

[Journeyman]

I love the sound of that. I've thought about building a run down station too, its something you rarely see modelled.

I think it's because many modellers want to recreate the glory days of the railway, rather than the absolute nadir of their existence, but I've always loved a bit of decay and faded grandeur. My earliest memories of the railway were in the seventies, when everything was grubby and down-at-heel, and I'm very nostalgic about the atmosphere that created.

 

[lord rathmore]

Diss has at least 2tph GEML stopping each way throughout the day. It’s also up on an embankment, offers little shelter from the wind and rain, and is a long walk from the town centre. A truly miserable station.

 

[Western Sunset]

Sheffield Victoria, on top of those arches, always seemed cold and draughty.

 

[Sprinter107]

Id

Got that wrong should have said Smethwick Galton Bridge which is where you would change if you where travelling Wolverhampton to Worcester for example ive corrected the original post.

I'd agree with that. Never keen on changing trains there, avoided when I can.

I think it's because many modellers want to recreate the glory days of the railway, rather than the absolute nadir of their existence, but I've always loved a bit of decay and faded grandeur. My earliest memories of the railway were in the seventies, when everything was grubby and down-at-heel, and I'm very nostalgic about the atmosphere that created.

Its a great idea for a project I reckon, something I'd love to do myself. Mine would probably be to do one of the Snow Hill line stations, which were very bleak after unstaffing, and demolition, with a single car dmu. Too early for me to remember, but seen pics.

 

[iainbhx]

Bristol Parkway has always struck me as bleak.

However, if you really want bleak, a couple of years ago I changed trains at Zeitz in Sachsen-Anhalt - now that's bleak.

 

[route101]

Blackridge fits the bill for me.

Not sure on this but the staff at Edinburgh Park may come from elsewhere.

 

[matacaster]

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!

A very fair appraisal.

 

[CHAPS2034]

At the start of this thread, there were several nominations for Warrington Bank Quay. You may like to re-appraise these now in view of the fact that the soap works closed on 15th October

Unilever's Warrington factory closes after more than 130 years

UNILEVER’s Warrington factory will permanently close this evening after 130 years in business.

www.warringtonguardian.co.uk

.

Actually the Trent Valley reminds me - Rugeley TV must surely be up there. Had to wait half an hour for a connection there in early July. I wasn't feeling well which didn't help (no, not COVID), it was cold and wet despite being July, there's a run-down factory in the background, a poxy windswept bus shelter, an open footbridge, no booking office and nothing of any consequence nearby enough to be worth popping out (I seem to recall a Tesco Express/Sainsbury's Local not *that* far away, but there, round and back would have been more than half an hour). Like Bletchley, but ten times grimmer - like a whole station made up with repeats of Bletchley platform 6.

You obviously missed this place at the end of the station road on the east side about 3 minutes walk from the up platform

Yorkshireman, Rugeley

Close to Rugeley Trent Valley railway station, just north of the River Trent, this classic pub re-opened as a free-house in 2007 after a short period of closure, and has flourished ever since. While much of the pub is set aside for dining,...

whatpub.com

And speaking of Yorkshiremen

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

Were you ever in the Four Yorkshireman sketch by any chance??

My nomination is for the up platform at the rebuilt Market Harborough. I spent a very cold half hour there on my way to Wellingborough having done the HST from Leicester. Hardly any shelter and no facilities overlooking a car park.

 

[Bletchleyite]

You obviously missed this place at the end of the station road on the east side about 3 minutes walk from the up platform

Yorkshireman, Rugeley

Close to Rugeley Trent Valley railway station, just north of the River Trent, this classic pub re-opened as a free-house in 2007 after a short period of closure, and has flourished ever since. While much of the pub is set aside for dining,...

whatpub.com

Pretty sure pubs weren't back open for drink-in by then, were they?

 

[Statto]

Bidston, waiting for a Borderlands connection from Merseyrail

Definitely agree, nothing in the vicinity of Bidston station to look at either, surounded by the motorway & by-passes, at least it's not a long wait for a train, unless you've missed a Borderlines train that is.

 

[CHAPS2034]

Pretty sure pubs weren't back open for drink-in by then, were they?

4th July was the date pubs were allowed to reopen. But that's not to say that the Yorkshireman did and it may well have still been closed.

 

[Bucephalus]

Ladies and gentlemen: I give you Ashburys!

It overlooks a dual carriageway and an industrial site, it's near Gorton, it's not remotely step-free. This is the Angel Road of the North.

 

[pieguyrob]

I find Wigan North Western bleak.

 

[yorksrob]

At the start of this thread, there were several nominations for Warrington Bank Quay. You may like to re-appraise these now in view of the fact that the soap works closed on 15th October

Unilever's Warrington factory closes after more than 130 years

UNILEVER’s Warrington factory will permanently close this evening after 130 years in business.

www.warringtonguardian.co.uk

.

You obviously missed this place at the end of the station road on the east side about 3 minutes walk from the up platform

Yorkshireman, Rugeley

Close to Rugeley Trent Valley railway station, just north of the River Trent, this classic pub re-opened as a free-house in 2007 after a short period of closure, and has flourished ever since. While much of the pub is set aside for dining,...

whatpub.com

And speaking of Yorkshiremen



Were you ever in the Four Yorkshireman sketch by any chance??

My nomination is for the up platform at the rebuilt Market Harborough. I spent a very cold half hour there on my way to Wellingborough having done the HST from Leicester. Hardly any shelter and no facilities overlooking a car park.

"When I were a lad, you 'ad te jump from road bridge on te refuse wagon passin at hundred miles an hour, in the middle of 'owlin blizzard just te catch train"

 

[birchesgreen]

4th July was the date pubs were allowed to reopen. But that's not to say that the Yorkshireman did and it may well have still been closed.

I was at RGL a few weeks ago, the pub was having work done on it so not sure if it was open or not.

 

[Western Sunset]

Upper Halliford, stuck beside the M3 and below the A244, isn't the most inspiring station in the south-east.