Grubbiest or most dilapidated station on the network in 2023

[modernrail]

Ashburys, St Helen’s Junction, Edge Hill etc to name a few

Edge Hill is a scandal bearing in mind its history. The business case for doing that particular station up should need to go no further than …. One of the worlds very first railway stations.

 

[modernrail]

Contrary to earlier posters, it feels to me most stations are better maintained than they were in the 80s, certainly here in London where what I recall historically was threatening subways and an overpowering smell of urine. The Tube is also transformed in the past 30 years too. Both the arrival of the Overground and addition of disabled access facilities have had an impact on some of the worst stations. Brixton and Elephant mainline stations remain pretty grim places with no sense of any ownership from the railway or anyone else, South Bermondsey and Essex Road as desolate as ever too.

Brixton is super grim, although most of Crewe also is and gets my overall vote due to being a dreadful gateway to the north. The posts of the gate are literally knackered and rusty.

I dont get the lack of upgrade at Elephant and Castle that I would have expect to have been insisted upon as a planning condition of the huge new development around it. Am I missing something? Google doesn’t seem to help with any answers. It should be on the way to becoming one of the shiniest stations in London by now.

 

[modernrail]

Southport. It's horrible. Not dilapidated but a very uncomfortable place to wait for a train.

It is quite clever how they have managed to mix vast underused train shed with tiny unusable concourse at Southport.

The obvious answer would seem to be fill in the end of the Manchester bound platforms and create a better concourse but I suspect they won’t bother as they assume most Manchester services will be cancelled anyway and on the Merseyrail side people tend to just board straight away when it is a 15 minute service interval.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It is quite clever how they have managed to mix vast underused train shed with tiny unusable concourse at Southport.

The obvious answer would seem to be fill in the end of the Manchester bound platforms and create a better concourse but I suspect they won’t bother as they assume most Manchester services will be cancelled anyway and on the Merseyrail side people tend to just board straight away when it is a 15 minute service interval.

To be honest the whole nasty, Brutalist shopping centre/station building needs knocking down and replacing, it's been a dump since the day it was built, one of those horrible 1970s town centre-destroying mistakes. I'm sure the development of something like a big ticket retail/food and budget hotel offer could fund something like that with very little cost to the railway.

 

[D6130]

Stoke-on-Trent ?

Always feels bleak, unwelcoming and run down, entrance hall is very cramped since barriers were installed.
Hopelessly inadequate subway at busy times, always seems cold and not a nice place to hang around for long.

....and yet it's a beautiful station - a bit like a scaled-down version of Carlisle - and a bit of TLC would make a world of a difference. The footbridge must surely take some of the pressure off the subway. What do Stoke and several other of the tattiest stations have in common? Why, management by Avanti West Coast of course!

 

[Bletchleyite]

....and yet it's a beautiful station - a bit like a scaled-down version of Carlisle - and a bit of TLC would make a world of a difference. The footbridge must surely take some of the pressure off the subway. What do Stoke and several other of the tattiest stations have in common? Why, management by Avanti West Coast of course!

Under Virgin I thought it was actually quite a good looking station with a good looking building outside (the hotel, sadly I believe now a Britannia so no doubt badly deteriorating). You don't need to go far from the exit to see what the rest of the place is like, though.

 

[Mikey C]

Contrary to earlier posters, it feels to me most stations are better maintained than they were in the 80s, certainly here in London where what I recall historically was threatening subways and an overpowering smell of urine. The Tube is also transformed in the past 30 years too. Both the arrival of the Overground and addition of disabled access facilities have had an impact on some of the worst stations. Brixton and Elephant mainline stations remain pretty grim places with no sense of any ownership from the railway or anyone else, South Bermondsey and Essex Road as desolate as ever too.

The old Angel tube station was a cesspit. When Tim Dunn revisited the disused station building recently on Secrets of the Underground, it brought back all the memories!

 

[gazzaa2]

I find the Warrington stations quite grubby.

Edge Hill is awful. It needs a South Parkway type makeover.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I find the Warrington stations quite grubby.

Edge Hill is awful. It needs a South Parkway type makeover.

It's very much a minor local station now. It needs a tidy up, but I can't see turning it into a South Parkway-a-like as being beneficial.

 

[bramling]

Under Virgin I thought it was actually quite a good looking station with a good looking building outside (the hotel, sadly I believe now a Britannia so no doubt badly deteriorating). You don't need to go far from the exit to see what the rest of the place is like, though.

The station was certainly in good repair a few years ago, very smart actually. I’ve not been there for a few years so may well have gone down. The hotel is indeed a Britannia so enough said - I’ve stayed there a couple of times and it wasn’t *that* bad, but it’s certainly getting there. As you say, the rest of the surrounding area is a tip.

 

[Birkonian]

Green Lane (Birkenhead)

Never boarded or alighted but pass through quite often.

Its semi-underground setting probably doesn't help seems dismal and dank.

Green Lane actually had a makeover 10+ years ago. Still a dismal hole. It is neither green or adjacent to anyone's idea of a lane.

 

[stuu]

I honestly think this is true. I look back at photos from the 60s or 70s at how well maintained public parks and municipal gardens were compared to today. Now there’s no planting unless backed up with a sign saying this bunch of daffodil bulbs is sponsored by your local solicitor, garage or butcher. I think you’re right, there’s no pride left in the uk, just hunger for cash.

I’m not saying everything in the 70s was perfect, but there was still some pride on display.

There's also far less money available (as a proportion of the budget) in local authorities to spend on nice to have things like parks, they have to spend far more as a proportion on the statutory things like education and social care than historically. I suspect the same applies to the railways as well - there just isn't the budget available for things which aren't essential. The Treasury's historic dislike of opex vs capex can't help either

 

[Bletchleyite]

Green Lane actually had a makeover 10+ years ago. Still a dismal hole. It is neither green or adjacent to anyone's idea of a lane.

It's not, though it is (sort of) on Green Lane, which was probably, way back when, the lane leading to the village green. Though it'd probably more usefully be called Tranmere, renaming "local stations for local people" is largely pointless cost as anyone who uses it already knows where it is and likely pays no attention to the name at all (see a comment a while back that most local stations are just "the station" - you know where they are and know what they look like and don't necessarily pay much attention to the name).

 

[urbophile]

It's very much a minor local station now. It needs a tidy up, but I can't see turning it into a South Parkway-a-like as being beneficial.

Architecturally all Edge Hill needs is a tidy-up and lick of paint. Is there space to replace the dreary ramp from the street with a road for buses and taxis? A few parking spaces would be fine but 'park and ride' it is not: too few local car owners and you don't want to be encouraging any more. Too near the city centre anyway.
The local area is being transformed with plenty of new housing: a reliable metro service instead of temperamental Northern Rail would encourage more use.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Feb 2023 ==

Green Lane actually had a makeover 10+ years ago. Still a dismal hole. It is neither green or adjacent to anyone's idea of a lane.

Fairly green with moss the last time I saw it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The local area is being transformed with plenty of new housing: a reliable metro service instead of temperamental Northern Rail would encourage more use.

I think that will have to wait until if/when Wapping Tunnel connects the EMU routes to the Merseyrail Northern Line Central terminators, a project seriously proposed on several occasions but nowhere near any kind of actual development.

In the meantime you could have more trains stop - it used to have far more services stop including long distance ones, though in a sense I suppose South Parkway has replaced it.

 

[gazzaa2]

Architecturally all Edge Hill needs is a tidy-up and lick of paint. Is there space to replace the dreary ramp from the street with a road for buses and taxis? A few parking spaces would be fine but 'park and ride' it is not: too few local car owners and you don't want to be encouraging any more. Too near the city centre anyway.
The local area is being transformed with plenty of new housing: a reliable metro service instead of temperamental Northern Rail would encourage more use.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Feb 2023 ==


Fairly green with moss the last time I saw it.

You could build on it with new ticket office/shop, a commercial outlet (where current ticket office is), seating etc.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Are we essentially gradually returning to some BR era "policy", this across much of the GB network, of spending the absolute minimum possible on maintaining railway station infrastructure?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Are we essentially gradually returning to some BR era "policy", this across much of the GB network, of spending the absolute minimum possible on maintaining railway station infrastructure?

I think much of the railway follows that typical British disease of "do it up once in a while but don't do any meaningful basic maintenance nor proper cleaning in the meantime" and has for ages.

It's not just the railway - Travelodge is a great example of others doing it - the refurbs are OK for the first couple of years, the older ones are terrible.

It couldn't contrast more with say Germany, where you have lots of U- and S-Bahn stations and the likes which look very dated (as they were last fully refurbished in the 70s or 80s) but are in excellent condition because they are maintained and cleaned properly, and a refurb is only therefore needed to improve accessibility or because you want to lose the dated look.

 

[Dave W]

Saw Harringay mentioned above but I don't think one review is enough to reflect just how bad that place is. The bridge is now so stuffed it's been partially barriered to reduce numbers walking on it, and the entire thing needs razing to the ground and starting again.

(In comparison to Hornsey which I actually find comparably pleasant - a few flowers planted and a much more open feel, particularly on the down side).

 

[DarloRich]

I will offer up any of the 1960's horrible stations on the WCML south. A few examples:

Tamworth: horrible, awful, horrible, awful, cold, no facilities, awful, awful. awful.

Bletchley: horrible, awful, horrible, awful, cold, no facilities, awful, awful. awful. Cold. Microclimate. cold. cold. cold. Awful.

Stoke-on-Trent ?

Always feels bleak, unwelcoming and run down, entrance hall is very cramped since barriers were installed.
Hopelessly inadequate subway at busy times, always seems cold and not a nice place to hang around for long.

....and yet it's a beautiful station - a bit like a scaled-down version of Carlisle - and a bit of TLC would make a world of a difference. The footbridge must surely take some of the pressure off the subway. What do Stoke and several other of the tattiest stations have in common? Why, management by Avanti West Coast of course!

Under Virgin I thought it was actually quite a good looking station with a good looking building outside (the hotel, sadly I believe now a Britannia so no doubt badly deteriorating). You don't need to go far from the exit to see what the rest of the place is like, though.

I have to say i find Stoke station fine. It is tidy and quite simple but always freezing!

I find the Warrington stations quite grubby.

One of them is a toilet duck factory with platforms attached!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Bletchley: horrible, awful, horrible, awful, cold, no facilities, awful, awful. awful. Cold. Microclimate. cold. cold. cold. Awful.

Bletchley has a few things going for it. Lots of parking, good cycle storage with cameras all over it and undercover, and a building open all the time because there's no other entrance. As a wayside station it's much better than say Wolverton, though I guess that's no accolade.

If EWR is to turn it into a major interchange it does need improving.

I've always thought the bleakness had a certain "charm". I've not noticed the microclimate - and I do notice it in some parts of Milton Keynes, such as the fact that there's normally a temperature variation of a degree or two and a considerable difference in humidity from the bridge over Central as you go down the Redway towards the Teardrop Lakes.

 

[The exile]

It couldn't contrast more with say Germany, where you have lots of U- and S-Bahn stations and the likes which look very dated (as they were last fully refurbished in the 70s or 80s) but are in excellent condition because they are maintained and cleaned properly, and a refurb is only therefore needed to improve accessibility or because you want to lose the dated look.

Plenty which aren’t, though!

 

[DarloRich]

Bletchley has a few things going for it.

the entrance doesnt even face the town! The station is such a depressing place to have to spend time ( and using the Vale i have spent a LOT of time there!)

Why is there no waiting room on the northbound platform?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Why is there no waiting room on the northbound platform?

Down to cost presumably, but is the main passenger demand (at Bletchley) southbound towards Euston?

 

[birchesgreen]

Edge Hill is a scandal bearing in mind its history. The business case for doing that particular station up should need to go no further than …. One of the worlds very first railway stations.

Broad Green even more so.

 

[DarloRich]

Down to cost presumably, but is the main passenger demand (at Bletchley) southbound towards Euston?

perhaps - not sure they deserve 2 waiting rooms mind

 

[Bletchleyite]

the entrance doesnt even face the town!

It is a traffic source, not a traffic sink. The entrance/exit is on the correct side for the only thing that people do travel a long way for - Bletchley Park. Bletchley town centre is a run-down set of charity shops and takeaways and of no interest as a destination. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the housing that forms its commuter hinterland is on the side of the present entrance, and mostly arrives by car, bike or on foot because buses aren't timed for commuters, though the 4 does run via the frontage. If you observe where people go when they leave it, almost all the people that don't get in a car or taxi go up the Redway towards West Bletchley or turn right towards Melrose, with a smaller number heading down towards the bridge and the centre.

For the stadium you're better off walking up the road on the current side and over the "dodgy bridge" rather than via Saxon St. I *think* it's a bit shorter that way.

I'm not opposed to adding an entrance on the other side, I think it'd be a very good idea and am disappointed the East West Rail doesn't take the opportunity to do it. But if you had to pick one side, the current one is absolutely correct when you consider how the station is and is likely to be used unless there's a very major development of the centre.

Obviously Fenny loses out a bit here, but I don't doubt that a lot of people who go by rail from Fenny just pop onto the A5 by car and use MKC for its superior service, they can reach it in under 10 minutes, quite possibly about the same as going to Bletchley as the former is 70 most of the way and the latter 30 all the way.

Why is there no waiting room on the northbound platform?

Is the main passenger traffic demand (at Bletchley) southbound towards Euston?

Yes, very much so. Bletchleyites (!) don't use it to go to the city centre, other than rail enthusiasts, and Birmingham is a much smaller destination from MK. The mentality in MK is that internal travel is by car, or if you don't have one then by bus or bike. Trains are for going to London or secondarily Birmingham. Part of the reason for this is that if you're going to the shopping centre it's over a kilometre's walk uphill from the station, which eats any time saving from the speed of rail, though I'll give you that it's more useful if you work at somewhere like Network Rail or the new Santander building.

 

[DarloRich]

If you observe where people go when they leave it, almost all the people that don't get in a car or taxi go up the Redway towards West Bletchley or turn right towards Melrose, with a smaller number heading down towards the bridge and the centre.

i would say that is a symptom of the poor access from the town side. The bus situation would be better with a proper interchange and timing set up!

Also, other people use the station? It often feels like I am the only one!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

welcome to classy Cheltenham.

Off topic, but when I went to Cheltenham for a football match years ago I was surprised how rough a place it was, particularly around the Whaddon Road football ground. I guess the word "Spa" does a lot of heavy lifting!

 

[gazzaa2]

I will offer up any of the 1960's horrible stations on the WCML south. A few examples:

Tamworth: horrible, awful, horrible, awful, cold, no facilities, awful, awful. awful.

Bletchley: horrible, awful, horrible, awful, cold, no facilities, awful, awful. awful. Cold. Microclimate. cold. cold. cold. Awful.

I don't care much for Rugby as it's the constant noise of passing Pendalinos with not much actually stopping there. Facilities not great.

Rugeley Trent Valley is another one that seems particularly cold, although it's your standard no-frills, 2 platform station.