Grim British Railway Journeys

[anti-pacer]

Maybe we should get Mr Portillo to travel some of the country's not so nice routes, such as the short distance from Wakefield to Huddersfield.

I travelled this route today and what a treat! This is what I saw.

* Wakefield Kirkgate - bird poo literally caked at the top of the subway on platforms 2/3.
* Thornhill area - embankments COVERED in rubbish courtesy of the residents of properties that back onto them.
* Mirfield - not a railway related issue, but a lovely view of copious amounts of rubbish in the River Calder
* Deighton station - station platforms and shelters clean, but the shrubbery behind the platforms filthy.
* Huddersfield station - the only saving grace. Lovely building and apart from the subway, well looked after.

Now looking at this from a passenger's point of view, this wouldn't entice me out of my car (if I drove). I appreciate SOME passengers and the seemingly filthy neighbours of the railway cause this, but this problem at least in my area is getting worse.

There was an American guy and another with a Southern accent on my train, travelling to Manchester Airport, and they were commenting on it. What an impression to what some people laughingly call "God's Own Country".

I appreciate Network Rail probably don't have the resources to clear everywhere, but I will email them all the same. As owners of said land, they have a duty to keep it clean. I'm sure SOME prosecutions could arise against the dirty residents who are fly-tipping behind their own properties. We just need the law to change and to stop this 'namby-pamby' approach to it all.

It's not just rolling stock that makes for some unpleasant travelling around my neck of the woods, it's the journeys themselves.

 

[anti-pacer]

It seems from other reading that Dewsbury is a bit of a hotspot for fly-tipped embankments. What a great impression.

 

[GodAtum]

Travelling from Rochdale to Manchester Victoria was miserable, both the condition of the train and the weather!

 

[Iskra]

To be fair, we have just had several days of incredibly high winds. My normally tidy street is currently messy due to high winds coinciding with wheelie bin day. Barren trees/shrubs in winter reveal a lot more litter than in the summer too.

The main problem with your journey for most passengers would be the slow speeds and the rolling stock.

You do seem to have a strange obsession with this topic, and denigrating the populace of West Yorkshire/Britain. Perhaps you could create one thread for your litter ramblings, in the interest of err, tidiness. Do you get a response from Network Rail when you inform them about this litter situation? Is there a community rail partnership you could join to help keep the stations tidy?

 

[al78]

I wouldn't say we have had incredibly high winds, more like normal windy winter weather you would expect to get at least once every year, but parts of the Southern network are well stocked with rubbish, usually where it passes through the major urban areas.

 

[Clip]

* Wakefield Kirkgate - bird poo literally caked at the top of the subway on platforms 2/3.
filthy.


.

How does that work?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Travelling from Rochdale to Manchester Victoria was miserable, both the condition of the train and the weather!

A bit grim that way, though the Oldham Loop northern section is really quite scenic.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I wouldn't say we have had incredibly high winds, more like normal windy winter weather you would expect to get at least once every year, but parts of the Southern network are well stocked with rubbish, usually where it passes through the major urban areas.

It was enough to take a brick wall down at the end of my road that had been there for 30 years.

 

[Crossover]

It seems from other reading that Dewsbury is a bit of a hotspot for fly-tipped embankments. What a great impression.

Quite a few embankments around Dewsbury have undergone some serious tidying over the last week or so, with all undergrowth removed.

 

[shredder1]

You should try some of the Romanian railways.

 

[gazthomas]

This would make a great book, it would complement the “Crap Towns” series!

 

[AlterEgo]

You should try some of the Romanian railways.

I once boarded a train at Otopeni Airport station in the pitch dark. No lighting and no white line at the edge of the platform - a complete death trap.

 

[shredder1]

I volunteered for the ELR PW for a number of years and we often did clean ups around the Heywood area, everytime we did it, we removed bags and bags of rubbish, dumped builders and garden waste, the odd broken childs toy and washing machines, TV sets, lager cans and needles left by the druggies, bless, and the ELR is far from unique in this, and its not just railways that pass through local authority housing areas either.

 

[shredder1]

I once boarded a train at Otopeni Airport station in the pitch dark. No lighting and no white line at the edge of the platform - a complete death trap.

I know, there are some really dodgy ones around the world, with a total lack of health and safety, I suppose its getting the balance right.

 

[anti-pacer]

You do seem to have a strange obsession with this topic, and denigrating the populace of West Yorkshire/Britain. Perhaps you could create one thread for your litter ramblings, in the interest of err, tidiness. Do you get a response from Network Rail when you inform them about this litter situation? Is there a community rail partnership you could join to help keep the stations tidy?

I suggest you travel along this route and THEN comment. As for me having a "strange obsession" for this topic, well enlighten me as to what is strange about wanting to live in a clean country? Do you think it's acceptable for people to fly-tip from their back gardens down railway embankments, or for people to litter generally?

I am not denigrating the populace of West Yorkshire at all. I was born and live here, although I've lived all over the country. I'm denigrating the scruffy people who can't dispose of their waste properly. Yorkshire, according to a government report I read is the second dirtiest English region (after the North West, and before the North East). I see you're from Sheffield, and you think being "anti-litter" is somehow strange. Is this mindset commonplace in your area? Maybe this explains why we as a region fare so badly. Maybe litter isn't something people in our region care about. Maybe I'm wrong, because according to my local council it's the most complained about issue, so maybe not everyone is like you and people recognise it as a problem.

You mention that most people would be more interested in the stock they are travelling on. Probably true, although as stated in my post the businessmen near me on the train, both not local from their accents, also commented. Is this the impression we want to give?

I have only just contacted Network Rail so haven't had a reply yet.

I will say this though. If the state of our railways doesn't concern/bother/interest you, maybe concentrate on threads that interest you instead of trying to denigrate the ones that don't.

 

[anti-pacer]

How does that work?

How does what work?

 

[anti-pacer]

Quite a few embankments around Dewsbury have undergone some serious tidying over the last week or so, with all undergrowth removed.

They've probably done the North TP Line, but not the line to Wakefield.

I've not seen the work around Dewsbury, but if it's been massively cleaned up, fair play and well done to NR for their work. It can't be an easy task.

 

[ArchieWoodbine]

I know, there are some really dodgy ones around the world, with a total lack of health and safety, I suppose its getting the balance right.

You should see RZD - Russian Railways. Many times the train would come to a stop in a station with a platform several hundred metres too short for the train. As a result, you'd quickly find yourself standing in the 6-foot around the station throat, with several lines and a lot of ballast between you and the platform. Nobody seemed to care, mind.

My vote for the grimmest UK journey would have to be anything out of Euston. It's such a depressingly dark, smelly, crowded and poorly designed station. Especially so given the beautiful, if not overly practical station that preceeded it. I'm sure there are grimier parts of the country, but at least those are usually bad out of decay, age and lack of attention; Euston was improved and what we've got is the best they could come up with, which is depressing if nothing else.

 

[DelW]

* Wakefield Kirkgate - bird poo literally caked at the top of the subway on platforms 2/3.

How does that work?

Quite a few years ago I was involved in the replacement of the overall roof at Crystal Palace station. The old roof had become so unsafe that BR had erected a scaffold crash-deck just below to protect pax from bits falling off it, which had been in place for about 18 years at that time (IIRC). When we got up to that level to inspect it at tender stage, the pigeon poo was everywhere on the scaffold deck - I think about 6" - 9" thick though for obvious reasons we weren't keen to measure it. When we got the job it took a specialist subcontractor some considerable time to clear it all so we could dismantle the scaffold.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Central Line to West Ruislip from White City has to be up there .

Charleroi in Belgium takes my accolade for grim !

 

[Bletchleyite]

My vote for the grimmest UK journey would have to be anything out of Euston. It's such a depressingly dark, smelly, crowded and poorly designed station. Especially so given the beautiful, if not overly practical station that preceeded it. I'm sure there are grimier parts of the country, but at least those are usually bad out of decay, age and lack of attention; Euston was improved and what we've got is the best they could come up with, which is depressing if nothing else.

Really? Euston has an impressive Brutalist "Great Hall", it's well-lit, bright and airy, it has a good range of retail, it's warm in winter and cool in summer and it has a proper bustling "big city" feel about it. The platforms are a bit drab, but like airports the concept is that you don't spend your time waiting there. And it's the gateway to the UK's most scenic InterCity mainline, even remarkably close to London. The WCML tells the story of the UK, from bustling, busy and mucky London, past Wembley Stadium, to the rolling hills of the Chilterns (far more scenic than the actual Chiltern line), to the industrial Midlands and North West, to the beautiful Lake District, spectacular Shap (my favourite bit) and up to Scotland's two main cities, both endearing in their own right. I really don't see that there's anything to really hate about it.

OK, the new Kings Cross basically does the same thing (with a very similar layout) in a nicer building (though the ECML itself is spectacularly drab until you get to about the last 45 minutes into Edinburgh), but that doesn't make Euston bad.

Quite a few years ago I was involved in the replacement of the overall roof at Crystal Palace station. The old roof had become so unsafe that BR had erected a scaffold crash-deck just below to protect pax from bits falling off it, which had been in place for about 18 years at that time (IIRC). When we got up to that level to inspect it at tender stage, the pigeon poo was everywhere on the scaffold deck - I think about 6" - 9" thick though for obvious reasons we weren't keen to measure it. When we got the job it took a specialist subcontractor some considerable time to clear it all so we could dismantle the scaffold.

There's a canal bridge near me that I know as "birds... alley" because the towpath is about 3" thick in it.

 

[shredder1]

Central Line to West Ruislip from White City has to be up there .

Charleroi in Belgium takes my accolade for grim !

We had to go through Charleroi last years for a flight home, yes it did look a little grim, they used to stable old diesel locos for scrapping at one time, but they appear to have removed them all now

 

[ArchieWoodbine]

Really? Euston has an impressive Brutalist "Great Hall", it's well-lit, bright and airy, it has a good range of retail, it's warm in winter and cool in summer and it has a proper bustling "big city" feel about it. The platforms are a bit drab, but like airports the concept is that you don't spend your time waiting there. And it's the gateway to the UK's most scenic InterCity mainline, even remarkably close to London. The WCML tells the story of the UK, from bustling, busy and mucky London, past Wembley Stadium, to the rolling hills of the Chilterns (far more scenic than the actual Chiltern line), to the industrial Midlands and North West, to the beautiful Lake District, spectacular Shap (my favourite bit) and up to Scotland's two main cities, both endearing in their own right. I really don't see that there's anything to really hate about it.

True, the destinations and a lot of the scenery around the WCML are interesting, it's just the act of passing through Euston I find grim. It's all subjective at the end of the day, and NR have done an admirable job making it better over the last decade.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

True, the destinations and a lot of the scenery around the WCML are interesting, it's just the act of passing through Euston I find grim. It's all subjective at the end of the day, and NR have done an admirable job making it better over the last decade.

The Old Euston was a shocking dump from people I know who worked there (yes the Great Hall had attraction and the Arch) , the rest was a wooden planked shambles with poor facilties for the passengers and staff. What shows Euston up now is the superb ambience of both Kings Cross and St Pancras.....time for a rebuild of course.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

We had to go through Charleroi last years for a flight home, yes it did look a little grim, they used to stable old diesel locos for scrapping at one time, but they appear to have removed them all now

Could not complain for a one Euro flight back ! - the approaches were akin to Sheffield in the 1940's , and as for the so called Airport facilities ...it may have changed since then (I doubt it)....

 

[DaiGog]

It seems from other reading that Dewsbury is a bit of a hotspot for fly-tipped embankments. What a great impression.

The council tip is just below the railway to the west of Dewsbury station. In high winds, rubbish blows off the large open skips into the vegetation on the railway embankment.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Trust me - was worse in the 1970's , on the Calder Valley line we crunched impassively over a fridge one day - the old boy driver did not even bother to shut off power, let alone brake.

 

[pemma]

Maybe we should get Mr Portillo to travel some of the country's not so nice routes, such as the short distance from Wakefield to Huddersfield.

All of Portillo's series for the BBC have related to travelling as people would have done in the olden days. Unless the pigeon poo has been there since 1920 Portillo and the filming crew would simply ignore it.

Have you seen Chris Tarrant's series? He's happy to show things as they are at present e.g. when he tried to get a train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem he would told there were no trains due to engineering works so he had to go by taxi to some crap hole from where he could get a train to another station which had a service to Jerusalem and he didn't hold back in saying what he thought about the place he was sent to.

 

[A0wen]

Maybe we should get Mr Portillo to travel some of the country's not so nice routes, such as the short distance from Wakefield to Huddersfield.

I travelled this route today and what a treat! This is what I saw.

* Wakefield Kirkgate - bird poo literally caked at the top of the subway on platforms 2/3.
* Thornhill area - embankments COVERED in rubbish courtesy of the residents of properties that back onto them.
* Mirfield - not a railway related issue, but a lovely view of copious amounts of rubbish in the River Calder
* Deighton station - station platforms and shelters clean, but the shrubbery behind the platforms filthy.
* Huddersfield station - the only saving grace. Lovely building and apart from the subway, well looked after.

Now looking at this from a passenger's point of view, this wouldn't entice me out of my car (if I drove). I appreciate SOME passengers and the seemingly filthy neighbours of the railway cause this, but this problem at least in my area is getting worse.

There was an American guy and another with a Southern accent on my train, travelling to Manchester Airport, and they were commenting on it. What an impression to what some people laughingly call "God's Own Country".

I appreciate Network Rail probably don't have the resources to clear everywhere, but I will email them all the same. As owners of said land, they have a duty to keep it clean. I'm sure SOME prosecutions could arise against the dirty residents who are fly-tipping behind their own properties. We just need the law to change and to stop this 'namby-pamby' approach to it all.

It's not just rolling stock that makes for some unpleasant travelling around my neck of the woods, it's the journeys themselves.

Drayton Park to Moorgate has to be a contender - with some stations last redecorated when Network South East was born.....

Greenford branch perhaps another.

 

[6Gman]

You should see RZD - Russian Railways. Many times the train would come to a stop in a station with a platform several hundred metres too short for the train. As a result, you'd quickly find yourself standing in the 6-foot around the station throat, with several lines and a lot of ballast between you and the platform. Nobody seemed to care, mind.

My vote for the grimmest UK journey would have to be anything out of Euston. It's such a depressingly dark, smelly, crowded and poorly designed station. Especially so given the beautiful, if not overly practical station that preceeded it. I'm sure there are grimier parts of the country, but at least those are usually bad out of decay, age and lack of attention; Euston was improved and what we've got is the best they could come up with, which is depressing if nothing else.

The immediate post-1960s Euston was excellent. Unfortunately the increase in usage added to the messing around with the concourse with all those "huts" has resulted in it becoming a mess.

I am old enough (just) to remember the old Euston. It was awful!