Grim British Railway Journeys

[Bletchleyite]

May have been mentioned already but New Street to Wolverhampton is like a tour of decay, dereliction and all the wonderful things that go on under the M6 flyover.

The Smethwick-Stourbridge section also has a post-apocalyptic feel to it in places, and the section from New Street towards Water Orton is almost completely featureless.

If you want that, the route via Bescot is better still. It's all a bit Rhein-Ruhr without the nice bit along the river

 

[yorksrob]

Willesden Junction still looks like the sort of place where some slaaaaaaaag would get handcuffed face down on the bonnet of a mk 1 Granada.

Incidentally, filming locations for 'The Sweeney' were chosen largely on the basis of distance from Euston Films' Hammersmith studios, to keep petrol costs down.

Indeed, although they made it to Peckham Rye in one notable episode with lots of 4SUB units.

 

[Grannyjoans]

Willesden Junction - I went there once because it was recommended to be as the best place in the UK to go freight spotting. I got to that bridge and it and the area were so unpleasant I only saw one freight before I couldn't put up with it any longer and moved on. Definitely not as good as Barnetby I thought !

 

[anti-pacer]

I've travelled to and from Liverpool a lot recently, and what a state the tracksides and embankments are. Between Broad Green and WTP the line is just one big dumping ground. Personally I think it's getting worse up here as I don't see much of a problem elsewhere in the UK except Central Scotland.

Looking out of the window at what a filthy places parts of the country have become is depressing.

 

[387star]

London bridge to gravesend via greenwich is one of the most ugly routes I've travelled on

There's a council estate near woolwich that's especially grim although it's earmarked for demolition

Continuous drab housing and ugly roads around Abbey wood which is near the dire thamesmead estate

 

[387star]

I was there today, interchanging between Thameslink and Tube. I went into the shopping centre and was shocked at how deprived the area is.

It's weird as it's a stone's throw from London bridge

Its improved a lot although the buildings are far too high density for my liking with no breathing space

 

[mailbyrail]

Some interesting politics and social theories on this thread, scattered in all directions like the litter.
I agree there's a lot more than there should be, even allowing for the wind, but rail isn't alone. There's a regular outrage each spring when the A38 approaching the M1 shows its leafless verges under layers of rubbish and other trunk road routes are little different.
Another observation in one or two of the earlier comments was about the general lack of litter in Germany which seems to be true - but there's so much graffiti compared to most of the UK, and the same even applies in well-ordered Switzerland. Belgium has strangely promoted its graffiti culture having issued stamps showing it - hardly something to celebrate in my yes.

 

[deltic]

In Athens at present - place is covered in grafitti including the metro trains and all along the track sides

 

[Robertj21a]

In Athens at present - place is covered in grafitti including the metro trains and all along the track sides

Has been for years - about as bad as Italy ?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

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!

The 1966 Euston was designed and built by the same team who built Heathrow Terminal 1, which opened in 1969, and had many similarities.
They both had spacious airy concourses initially, but were steadily ruined by all the fiddling extra kiosks and other obstacles.
They both became confused and overcrowded, even seedy, as the traffic grew, especially from the 1990s onwards.
But Heathrow Terminal 1 was closed in 2015 for complete redevelopment (Terminal 2 having already been rebuilt and expanded to accommodate T1's traffic).
Meanwhile the older Euston soldiers on, now 53 years old.
The HS2 masterplan has already cut the proposed redevelopment of the existing terminal.

 

[Master29]

On the subject of European Railways I though Gare de L`est in Paris was very grubby last year. Trains were fine though. The stretch between Dockyard and Devonport in Plymouth is grubby where people have thrown all sorts of household crap as well as numerous shopping trolleys down the embankments and between the tunnels. In fact Plymouth looks grubby wherever you view it on the railways.

 

[Mogster]

142 on the Atherton line.

 

[deltic]

Has been for years - about as bad as Italy ?

The rolling stock was not as bad as the line from Naples to Pompei when I did it a few years back

 

[Eric]

Blackpool North - Leeds on a 150. Awful experience.

 

[mpthomson]

The very same. I remember it from 1991, when it was a pleasant experience. Did the trip from Sorrento to Herculaneum a couple of years ago - graffiti everywhere, rubbish piled up, dodgy characters hanging around the stations in broad daylight... Herculaneum was close enough to the centre of Naples for me - and we were all warned not to go into Naples itself unless we wanted to be mugged or worse

There's been an on/off Mafia related rubbish collection strike in Naples for years. When I went to Herculaneum (we were staying in Positano for three weeks) we went on a coach and a security guard walked us through some of the nearby streets, basically a slum, back to the coach. Very grim indeed.

 

[Andyh82]

Any approach into London into the likes of Blackfriars, Victoria, Charing Cross are particularly grim. The intertwining viaducts looking down at dodgy lock up railway arches, scrap yards, places trading in old tyres, heavy graffiti, places you’d expect Phil Mitchell to be doing business.

Blackpool North - Leeds on a 150. Awful experience.

I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. I’d hardly call the route down the Calder Valley, the countryside up through to Burnley, and even on the way to Blackpool as grim.

 

[Train Maniac]

Do love me some grotty suburbia, me
Willesden Junction: Literally right next to a dump
Angel Road: As above + Slightly forboding entrance off North Circular road
Up until recently the Northern City Line: Dystopian tube line operated by NSE
Dalmuir to Whifflet: More the surrounding area than anything else (lots of 1960's brutalist architecture)
Elephant and Castle: Entrance is through run down shopping centre
Bakerloo Line: 1976 stock is great fun!
Sheerness Line: Ever since Sheerness steelworks closed its been downhill ever since

 

[johntea]

Many weekend Blackpool North - Leeds services are a grim experience with the amount of booze flowing on board! Surprised they haven't introduced a ban on certain services!

 

[MassDiscussion]

There's been an on/off Mafia related rubbish collection strike in Naples for years. When I went to Herculaneum (we were staying in Positano for three weeks) we went on a coach and a security guard walked us through some of the nearby streets, basically a slum, back to the coach. Very grim indeed.

I travelled from Sorrento to Rome when I was 8 years old. I'd rarely been on a British train (Godalming station was my nearest- 20 minute drive away). I've never been so terrified in my life. Graffiti everywhere, very old train that sounded like it was falling apart. I think I was 17 when I eventually got the train again.

 

[Glen M]

What about the Northern City Line, particularly Essex Road and Old Street which feel like they actually haven't been touched since about 1989

 

[Dumpton Park]

Most of the Madrid suburban network is a horror story of graffiti, concrete trenches and/or industry and/or retail parks. There's not that much railway-based flytipping though, as the countryside is used for that. Only the bits heading out towards El Escorial are in any way pleasant and that's because they goes through a royal park and a fairly affluent area. Lines to Alcala and Alcorcon are up there with large chunks of SE London for urban grimness (albeit interesting grimness). The avoiding line that connects Chamartin to the Alcala line is another one (and a bit harder to ride) for the grot connoseur.

Saving grace, Renfe do at least keep the trains and stations almost completely graffitii free and, for Spain, impressively tidy.

DP

 

[TRAX]

Do love me some grotty suburbia, me

Same here !

Up until recently the Northern City Line: Dystopian tube line operated by NSE

Your views on this interest me. What on this section of the NCL makes you think of dystopia ?

Bakerloo Line: 1976 stock is great fun!

It’s 1972 TS on the Bakerloo.

 

[Parallel]

I agree with Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads being grim. I wouldn't even rate it highly as a city. Some love the Severn Beach line but I don't, it just feels uncared for and forgotten. Other than the nice bit near the Clifton Bridge, there's a lot of industry and scrap yards and warehouses at the Severn Beach/Avonmouth end, and large residential areas towards Stapleton Road.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Most of the Madrid suburban network is a horror story of graffiti, concrete trenches and/or industry and/or retail parks. There's not that much railway-based flytipping though, as the countryside is used for that. Only the bits heading out towards El Escorial are in any way pleasant and that's because they goes through a royal park and a fairly affluent area. Lines to Alcala and Alcorcon are up there with large chunks of SE London for urban grimness (albeit interesting grimness). The avoiding line that connects Chamartin to the Alcala line is another one (and a bit harder to ride) for the grot connoseur.

Saving grace, Renfe do at least keep the trains and stations almost completely graffitii free and, for Spain, impressively tidy.

DP

Barcelona is similar. Notably although the outside of the trains (along with many walls/buildings) is covered in graffiti the insides are kept pretty much spotless and with all windows kept clear of graffiti or etching (or rather, replaced/cleaned promptly when it happens).

That said, the first half-hour of a journey from Sants to high in the Pyrenees is not much to write home about. The first 15mins or so are underground, then you're treated to views of decrepit-looking housing/industry, monolithic modern warehouses, and big concrete highways. Also as you climb away from the city, ghost villages due to the property crash.

 

[sprunt]

Your views on this interest me. What on this section of the NCL makes you think of dystopia ?

Not my OP but the tunnels, the endless grim tunnels.

 

[Clayton]

I travelled from Sorrento to Rome when I was 8 years old. I'd rarely been on a British train (Godalming station was my nearest- 20 minute drive away). I've never been so terrified in my life. Graffiti everywhere, very old train that sounded like it was falling apart. I think I was 17 when I eventually got the train again.

It’s still like that! I discovered they have ‘chavs’ in Italy as well. Herculaneum is set in the Italian equivalent of New Cross

 

[Bletchleyite]

I agree with Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads being grim. I wouldn't even rate it highly as a city. Some love the Severn Beach line but I don't, it just feels uncared for and forgotten. Other than the nice bit near the Clifton Bridge, there's a lot of industry and scrap yards and warehouses at the Severn Beach/Avonmouth end, and large residential areas towards Stapleton Road.

I do quite like Bristol though it does have some grim bits, but what city doesn't? The line I'm less fond of, if only because it is a constant reminder of how we don't use things like that to their proper potential in the UK - its "loop line" nature would to me justify it being doubled (assuming it'd fit, if not some loops), electrified and having a Merseyrail style high frequency service as far as Avonmouth, though it'd be difficult to justify more than hourly past that.

That said, one issue is that Temple Meads is nowhere near the city centre, which gives the buses somewhat of an advantage. Perhaps it needs tramifying, with some street running into the actual city centre.

 

[sprunt]

Also as you climb away from the city, ghost villages due to the property crash.

Isn't there a huge ghost station somewhere in the Pyrenees? That was built but never opened or something?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Isn't there a huge ghost station somewhere in the Pyrenees? That was built but never opened or something?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canfranc_International_railway_station

 

[TRAX]

Not my OP but the tunnels, the endless grim tunnels.

Well yes but they aren’t that different from any other tube tunnels like the ones around the NCL ones.

Isn't there a huge ghost station somewhere in the Pyrenees? That was built but never opened or something?

Yes, Canfranc. It’s in use, though, albeit on a very small scale (one platform used by trains to Zaragoza).