How would you Rate your Local Station?

[Amlag]

My Local : Okehampton.

Setting: Situated at the top of this expanding edge of Dartmoor historic town, with good views.

Architecture: Main station buildings of impressive 1930's Southern Rly origin. Owned now for several years by Devon County Council and overhauled and repainted in Southern colours. Well cared for by local volunteers who can't wait to see this once significant Waterloo to Plymouth main line station again have regular daily trains and serve as the railhead for the rail desert of West Devon and North Cornwall. Bude is over a 100 miles round road jouney to its Exeter railhead ! (8/10)

Services: GWR provide increasingly well used Summer Sunday only service from and to the bustling and vibrant City of Exeter. Also volunteer run Heritage shuttle service on weekends ( Mch to Sept) between Okehampton and Meldon Viaduct. (9/10)

Rolling Stock: 150s and very occasionally 143 substitutes (9/10)

Facilities: Lavatories incl for the disabled, excellent station buffet ( open throughout the year ), lots of seating on the large covered platform area. Volunteer maintained flowers and gardens, and volunteer run small local railway museum and sales shop, ticket and enquiry office.
Large FREE car park, public bus service on Summer Sundays to Lydford, Brentor, Tavistock and Gunnislake connecting with Plymouth trains and vice versa (8/10)

Overall: Very good with potential to be excellent and outstanding (8/10)

 

[Wtloild]

Cwmbran
Setting -just off the town centre about a four minute walk away.9/10
Modern ticket office and waiting room on the northbound platform (with a cafe)and a shelter with seats on the southbound.9/10
Large car park but despite being called a passenger interchange no buses pull into the station.

Services-Hourly to Manchester,two hourly to North Wales.West to Cardiff,Carmarthen,Milford Haven and the odd Maesteg ,Fishguard and Tenby.
Needs a northbound service from Cardiff around 11pm to facilitate attending theatre/Concerts in Cardiff.And a Sunday southbound that gets to Cardiff by 10 am would be very handy.9/10
Rolling stock-Mainly 175s now but the odd 158 or 150.A 150 ran from Cardiff to Holyhead last week.8/10
Overall -very good!

Got kicked off a Newport-Manchester train once in Cwmbran (had finished work earlier than planned & had chanced getting home early using a later advance ticket).
The adjacent taxi/kebab establishment does a good kebab - if you're ever stuck there for an hour.

 

[jb108822]

My Local: Congleton

Setting: 1 mile south-south-east of the town centre. Buses operate between the station and the town centre at about 2 per hour. It's walkable, but going to the station from the town centre does involve a fairly long hill almost the entire way. 4/10

Architecture: What architecture? It feels as though it hasn't been updated in decades. It's functional at an absolute push, but there's nothing redeeming about it when it feels as though hardly anything's been done to it for years. Nothing of interested whatsoever. 1/10

Services: 1 per hour Monday-Saturday in either direction between Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester Piccadilly (occasional extras during the week and a limited service on Sundays), with the occasional XC service to Manchester in the mornings and Bournemouth in the evenings. I'd like there to be trains stopping every 30 minutes, but I'm aware this may require a fair amount of work to fit it in. Just sorting out the Sunday service to an hourly one would be a good start, given it's been promised under the current franchise. As it stands, a 4/10 from me.

Rolling stock: 323s for pretty much the whole day, save for the occasional XC 220/221. 3/10

Facilities: Step-free access to both platforms, though it's not easy to access one from the other. Ticket office is open until 13:50 from Monday to Saturday, and there's a small waiting room by the ticket office on the Manchester-bound platform, but I don't see this used very often. Ticket machines on both platforms. No toilets. Passenger information screens were FINALLY installed last year, but the one on the Manchester-bound platform doesn't appear to have been working for the past few months. No food is available at the station itself, but there are two pubs on the other side of the road bridge to the south-west of the station (I personally prefer the Railway Inn, though the Queen's Head is still good), and there's a small corner shop close by as well, which I find to be very handy. 5/10

Overall - 4/10. It's nice to live near a station with half-decent transport links to major cities - being able to get to London in about two hours with a connection at Stoke is fantastic - but I just wish it looked better, had more frequent services, and that the facilities could be improved on what they are at the moment. There's nothing on the southbound platform at all. Just something selling drinks and snacks would be nice, but I do understand that it may not be commercially viable. To be honest, whenever I go to London, I take an earlier train from Congleton and spend the extra time having a drink at Stoke station. Much more interesting place, way more trains, wider variety of rolling stock, and the facilities are way better.

 

[Terry Tait]

Not mine but my Auntie's
Ponders End 0
Used to be fine but due to penny pinching they have closed the ticket office so now there's never any staff, the regular Ponders End station master was a good bloke who was always helpful and friendly, sadly replaced by a couple of unreliable machines.

 

[Quakers Yard]

Quakers Yard

Setting: in quiet resedential area of Edwardsville near its name and Treharris. Easy to get to and find but access via steep yet short right angle unlit slope. 6/10

Architecture: curved platform which used to be an island. Opposite old up platform disused. You can see where the banking engines used to set down back in the day. Formerly a busy junction and used to be low level before Taff Vale housing estate was built. Old steps from upper road to old high level platform still there opposite the Great Western pub. They now lead to Taff Vale estate. Foundation of old footbridge still discernible by road entrance. Look in the right direction at Cefn Glas mountain opposite and you can make out where the line to the tunnel went. Brunels viaduct at Abercynon end still there of course. Bus shelter doesn't give much protection from the howling wind and rain. 5/10

Rolling stock: 142/143/150 which seem to want a breather after the incline from Abercynon. 3/10

Services: direct to Merthyr, Pontypridd, Cardiff and the airport en route to Bridgend. Nice trip via Rhoose. Other tph to Barry Island. Could do with a tph on Sundays and more 4 car trains in the peak. Also earlier Saturday southbound train . People often can't get a seat from next station down - Abercynon - most of the time in peak. 6/10

Facilities: shelter, bin which flutters in the breeze, help point that seldom works, dot matrix display, timetable and poster board. Map too not that there is much nearby. Station served by local taxis too. 5/10

Overall: easy to get to, quiet street parking in resedential area. Nearest public phone in Edwardsville in the sole pub in the village - at the top if the old higher level steps- as the one by the nearby school doesn't work. Bus replacement services use main road which is good 5 mins away. Where the village shop is. Station used by walkers with foot crossing at Merthyr Vale end leads to Taff Trail underneath where the two Edwardsville viaducts were en route to Neath and Merthyr.

Overall 5/10 for its size and location.

 

[HowardGWR]

My Local: Axminster

Setting: Nestles below the small town with a Tesco and Mole Avon (a rural farmers' emporium) yards away. Town shops just a short walk up the hill. Only a short stay car park (max. all day). 7/10
Architecture: Listed LSWR building (Tite) recently spoilt by carbuncle of a nevertheless much appreciated lift-incorporated footbridge. 7/10

Services: One per hour each way, to Waterloo and Exeter (extra commuter in peak) to Exeter St Davids. Could easily be upped to half hourly if Salisbury to Exeter line re-doubled. . 7/10

Rolling stock: Class 159s 7/10

Facilities: Retention of the old building on down platform after 'Beeching' means general facilities are good. Small cosy wooden cafe alongside the bus stops is also well used. Recently reinstated up platform just has a 'bus shelter' and the station seats are the cold metal ones.. Buses (local villages, Taunton via Chard, Lyme Regis, Bridport, Dorchester and Weymouth) just outside but services do not meet evening trains. Car park only short stay, but meet and greet and taxis heavily in use by reasonably wealthy population 7/10

Overall - 7/10. This station has gone from a 'Beeching' survivor to a well-used facility at the heart of the wide area community it serves.

 

[EssexGonzo]

My Local: Shenfield

Setting: bag in the middle of Shenfield which is, lets face it, a commuter town, part of Brentwood Borough. 2 or 3 bus routes and two car parks although the vast majority will walk to the station. The Taxi rank is pathetic. Room for about 15 cars and 50+ queue along the road in the peak evening, causing a hazard. 8/10

Architecture: Terrible from the front. Awful to look at. The platforms are partly still traditional brick but someone in the 60s or 70s built a nasty frontage. The Crossrail groundworks for P6 didn't improve the look from the outside either. 1/10

Services: Not a lot else matters - the service is excellent. The Southend and Norwich lines meet. You can choose the brand new Crossrail stoppers if you wish. Most London-bound trains are one-stop (Stratford - excellent connections) then Liverpool St. Early peak trains can make Liverpool St in 21 minutes. By about 8.30, they're up to about 28 mins. Most peak services are 12-coaches and there is a 5 minute window just after 8am at my preferred time where three 12-coach trains arrive and I can normally get a seat. Genuine turn-up-and-go in the peak. 10/10

Rolling Stock: 315, the odd 317, 321, 345, 360. Score reflects that fact that the majority are 321s with the 360s being rare and the 345s taking twice as long to London. 3/10

Facilities: A cafe on P1/2 and P3/4 but as it's turn up and go then very underused. No loo facilities on P1/2. But mostly what you'd need in a commutor station. 7/10

Overall: 9.5/10 - it's all about the peak commuter services and the journey only average 25 mins - so we can put up with the 321s. The class 720 trains might even get this past 10!

 

[LdnNiko]

My Local: Elephant and Castle

Setting: Situated behind a run-down shopping centre (that should have already been in the process of being demolished and re-built) and onto a poorly-lit street at night that has crime issues.
The awkward, angular station concourse is beneath the platforms at street level, is lit by fluorescent lighting and frequently suffers from water seepage during inclement weather.
The majority of peak passenger use is for access to the Tube station, located about 180 yds through the shopping centre, or to the plethora of nearby bus services, both necessitating three changes of levels. (1/10)

Architecture: Built on top of a brick viaduct, the entrance on Elephant Road (the poorly-lit street as mentioned above), is actually the nicest part of the station, with a similar brick construction that appears to be well-maintained.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Elephant_&_Castle_railway_stn_entrance.JPG
However, everything else feels like a bodge job without any style in order to make it somewhat functional. From the platform overhangs that don't extend more than 50 yds along any platform, to the afterthought narrow pedestrian bridge, which works as the main entrance to give access to the shopping centre and beyond.
https://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/04/33/86/4338662_bac1aafa.jpg
https://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/imageuploads/1172078129_80.177.117.97.jpg
(1/10)

Services: 16 tph during off-peak, with most running through the Thameslink core to either Kentish Town or St Albans City to the north. Sutton (4 tph via Wimbledon loop), Orpington 2 tph and Sevenoaks 2 tph to the south.

A one-change journey to access MML intercity services, ECML intercity services, Eurostar international services, LTN and GTW airport stations, and wider South-East commuter stops on both the ECML and BML. (9/10)*
*One mark deducted for northbound services being timed to arrive at BFR one minute after any of my desired connecting northbound ECML TL service leaves. [Joke]

Rolling Stock: Overwhelmingly 700s with occasional 465s. Dull. (2/10)

Facilities: 2 ticket machines, a ticket office and Oyster readers without gateline barriers.
No lifts for accessibility. I've not seen the food outlet open, only vending machines. Waiting rooms that have been out of use for years.
https://www.southeasternrailway.co..../station-information/stations/elephant-castle (2/10)

Overall: For a London Zone 1 station, it's grim.
I've included links to pictures just to demonstrate that I don't believe I'm being overly-pessimistic about how poor this station is for its central location.

The occasional last-minute platform alteration is complicated further by the awkward stairs layout.
The lack of lifts or escalators, full platform coverage against the elements, just facilities in general, make this an awful version of my next closest station of Vauxhall.

It's only redeeming feature is the excellent connectivity to get anywhere better and to do so quickly.

If ever a film production needed a location for another end-of-the-world / dystopian thriller, Elephant and Castle railway station would be a very good shout. (3/10)

 

[Furryanimal]

Got kicked off a Newport-Manchester train once in Cwmbran (had finished work earlier than planned & had chanced getting home early using a later advance ticket).
The adjacent taxi/kebab establishment does a good kebab - if you're ever stuck there for an hour.

Used that many times.Do a great bacon roll

 

[Statto]

My Local: Moreton Merseyside

Setting:
On a main road, about 10 minute walk to the shops, typical local station, 4/10

Architecture:
Typical suburban station, not much to look at, 4/10

Services:
4 tph both directions, reduces to 2tph evening & Sunday, services start from 6am[8.10am Sundays]until last train around 23.10 to Liverpool, around 23.55 to West Kirby, 7/10

Rolling stock:
Merseyrail EMUs 507/508 soon to be replaced by new trains 5/10

Facilities:
Ticket office open just before first train, until last train, couple of waiting rooms on each platforms, real time info displays 7/10

Overall:
Typical local metro suburban type of station, direct trains to Liverpool, with only one connection to most other places 7/10

 

[stut]

My Local: Biggleswade

Setting: Smack bang in the town centre. Insufficient parking for a station with a large rural and suburban catchment (and practically no local public transport) leading to further problems in the town, but great accessibility on foot and bike.

Architecture: Low-key, Great Northern style with light bricks and an attractive canopy on the up platforms. Unsympathetic 80s updates, and some illegal demolition haven't helped matters, though. But it's a minor station on a major line, so roughly fitting to its surroundings, and nice to have original features that were renovated in the FCC era.

Services: 2 tph semi-fast to Horsham via Thameslink, and 2 tph semi-fast to Peterborough all day. Peak hour and evening fast (one or no-stop) Great Northern services 2 tph or 1 tph later evening to King's Cross and likewise to Peterborough. It's a good frequency, but the trains do fill up, as this is a rapidly growing region.

Rolling Stock: 700s, 365s and 387s.

Facilities: No step-free access to platforms, despite repeated campaigns and promises. This is a major omission. There is a staffed ticket office morning to mid-afternoon, but it is often a single person operation so can be unpredictably left closed. Two ticket machines that break frequently and a smartcard reader that's great at false positive taps. Small coffee shop on the up platform and in the main building. Waiting room on the up platform, but only open while station is staffed. No toilets. Unsecured cycle parking that is a great place to get your bike stolen. Basically, the bare minimum for a 1 million passenger/pa railway station.

Overall: A very decent service when it runs to plan (which it often doesn't), but the absolute bare minimum for a station of its age and passenger numbers. Feels rather unloved. Ungated platforms and zero police presence, so can be a bit Wild West in the evenings. It's effectively outer suburban in the nature of its service, meaning that non-London passengers often get a raw deal in terms of connections and service recovery.

 

[Andrew*Debbie]

How would you rate the station you are most familiar with (meaning, your hometown station, or perhaps the station you most commonly use for work)?

My Local: Llanfairpwll (LPG) also known as Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrngogogoch.

Setting: In the lower village along the A5. 15 minute walk from home. Carpark shared with tourist shops. (7/10)

Architecture: Recently refurbished period footbridge connecting two very short but otherwise unremarkable platforms. The attractive station building along platform 1 used to be an art gallery but that closed years ago. A crossing keeper signal box nearby is still in use. (7/10)

Services: 12 trains per day. Request stop. 2 points for service and 1 bonus point for the opportunity to flag down a train. (3/10)

Rolling Stock: 158, 175 and perhaps the odd 150. 221s and locomotive hauled Nuclear flasks pass by without stopping. (5/10)

Facilities: Two small bus shelters. Automated departure sign (1/10)

Overall: The novelty wears off quickly (6/10)

 

[Grumpy Git]

Cressington

Grade II listed station building staffed full time with 4 TPH Mo-Sa in each direction (Southport / Hunts Cross) and 2 TPH Sundays.

A 12 minute journey time to Liverpool Central means I haven't taken the car into town more than half a dozen times since I moved within 2 minutes walk of the station over 10 years ago.

New 777 due imminently, and if I live long enough (and the council doesn't run out of cash), I'll get my free travel card in a couple of years.

As a country boy who's local LMS line was closed to regular passenger traffic before I was born, I count myself lucky.

 

[Bevan Price]

I need to use several local stations, depending on where I wish to travel.
St. Helens Central (previously called St. Helens Shaw Street) (Journeys to/beyond Liverpool / Wigan)

Architecture. Modern, rebuilt a few years ago. Wigan-bound platform has large waiting room; two rather basic waiting areas for the busier Liverpool-bound platform. Could do with some seats on the platforms.

Location. About 2 - 3 minutes walk from bus station and a popular shopping area.

Trains. Mostly Class 319 (in theory, but with numerous dmu substitutions.) Class 331 also now appear on some services.

Services. 2 tph all stations Liverpool Lime St. - Wigan NW; 1 tph semi-fast Liverpool - Blackpool North.

Facilities. Good car park, but could be a bit bigger; charge for non-rail users. Toilets available (key from Booking office).
No shop or refreshments - various people have tried, but failed to prosper. Some food shops in nearby shopping areas.

-----------------------------------------
St. Helens Junction (Journeys towards Manchester)

Architecture. Original elderly (mainly) brick building on Manchester-bound platform, but "concrete ?" window frames starting to crumble in places; -- reasonable waiting room; two basic "bus-shelters" on Liverpool bound platform.

Location. About 2 miles from St. Helens Town Centre. Local area has adopted name St. Helens Junction, but is effectively part of what was Sutton Village. Poor bus service to town centre - very sparse in evenings or on Sundays.

Trains. Mostly a mixture of Class 319 or 323, (or dmu substitutes)

Services. Got much worse after the May 2018 timetable change. 1 tph all stations Liverpool Lime Street - Manchester Airport - Crewe (or Wilmslow at certain times); 1 tph (not evenings or Su) all stations Liverpool Lime Street - Warrington Bank Quay. Handful of peak hour extras, all stations between Liverpool Lime Street & Manchester Victoria; that makes life complicated when they cancel trains (all too often) and you are at the "wrong" station in Manchester.

Facilities. Good car park, recently enlarged - just as they withdrew the fast services to Manchester. Former station house, adjacent to station used as a small cafe. No toilets.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lea Green (For Trans Pennine trips to Yorkshire or beyond)

Location: Misnomer, it is actually in the Marshalls Cross district of Sutton, St. Helens. Several minutes walk from nearest houses. Reasonable daytime bus service to St. Helens town centre, and to Widnes; evening / Sunday bus services very sparse

Architecture. Basic modern small station. Road-level ticket office; basic bus shelters at platform level.

Trains. Classes 319, 323 (Northern); 185, and Class 68/loco hauled on TPE.

Services. Northern - same as St. Helens Junction. Plus, TPE 1 tph Liverpool - Scarborough (unreliable, all too frequent cancellations.)

Facilities. Car park too small, made worse by stopping TPE services here. No toilets. No shops nearby. Not sure if adjacent pub is still open.

 

[adamt958]

My Local:
Bridgend

Setting:
Right in the middle of town, loses points for the mammoth hill up to the station from the town though. 5-10 minute walk from bus station. would be much better if this could be made in to a transport interchange like Port Talbot down the line. 7/10

Architecture:
Old style station buildings in situ. modern glass structures stuck to the sides of them. 6/10

Services:
1TPH: Maesteg (via all branch stations)
3TPH: to Cardiff Central (Some services continue to Cheltenham Spa/Ebbw Vale Town/Newport)
1TPH to Manchester Piccadilly (not incl in CDF services above)
1TPH to London Paddington via Cardiff Central/Newport/Bristol Parkway/Swindon/Didcot & Reading.
4TPH to Swansea (some continue to Pembroke Dock/Tenby/Milford Haven/Haverfordwest/Carmarthen/Fishguard Harbour) - not incl in cardiff central services
1TPH to Aberdare via Llantwit Major / Rhoose (Cardiff Intl Airport) / Barry / Barry Docks / Cadoxton / Eastbrook / Cogan / Grangetown into cardiff then up the valley lines. 10/10

Rolling stock:
800/142/143/150/158/175/153 7/10

Facilities:
Tcket office, Cafe, Toilets, Waiting Room 7/10

Overall:
8/10

 

[chefchenko]

My Local: Congleton

Setting: 1 mile south-south-east of the town centre. Buses operate between the station and the town centre at about 2 per hour. It's walkable, but going to the station from the town centre does involve a fairly long hill almost the entire way. 4/10

Architecture: What architecture? It feels as though it hasn't been updated in decades. It's functional at an absolute push, but there's nothing redeeming about it when it feels as though hardly anything's been done to it for years. Nothing of interested whatsoever. 1/10

Services: 1 per hour Monday-Saturday in either direction between Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester Piccadilly (occasional extras during the week and a limited service on Sundays), with the occasional XC service to Manchester in the mornings and Bournemouth in the evenings. I'd like there to be trains stopping every 30 minutes, but I'm aware this may require a fair amount of work to fit it in. Just sorting out the Sunday service to an hourly one would be a good start, given it's been promised under the current franchise. As it stands, a 4/10 from me.

Rolling stock: 323s for pretty much the whole day, save for the occasional XC 220/221. 3/10

Facilities: Step-free access to both platforms, though it's not easy to access one from the other. Ticket office is open until 13:50 from Monday to Saturday, and there's a small waiting room by the ticket office on the Manchester-bound platform, but I don't see this used very often. Ticket machines on both platforms. No toilets. Passenger information screens were FINALLY installed last year, but the one on the Manchester-bound platform doesn't appear to have been working for the past few months. No food is available at the station itself, but there are two pubs on the other side of the road bridge to the south-west of the station (I personally prefer the Railway Inn, though the Queen's Head is still good), and there's a small corner shop close by as well, which I find to be very handy. 5/10

Overall - 4/10. It's nice to live near a station with half-decent transport links to major cities - being able to get to London in about two hours with a connection at Stoke is fantastic - but I just wish it looked better, had more frequent services, and that the facilities could be improved on what they are at the moment. There's nothing on the southbound platform at all. Just something selling drinks and snacks would be nice, but I do understand that it may not be commercially viable. To be honest, whenever I go to London, I take an earlier train from Congleton and spend the extra time having a drink at Stoke station. Much more interesting place, way more trains, wider variety of rolling stock, and the facilities are way better.

Very fair , I’d have given 0/10 for the way it looks as it’s unloved 1960s dross same as kidsgrove

 

[Llandudno]

My Local: Moreton Merseyside

Setting:
On a main road, about 10 minute walk to the shops, typical local station, 4/10

Architecture:
Typical suburban station, not much to look at, 4/10

Services:
4 tph both directions, reduces to 2tph evening & Sunday, services start from 6am[8.10am Sundays]until last train around 23.10 to Liverpool, around 23.55 to West Kirby, 7/10

Rolling stock:
Merseyrail EMUs 507/508 soon to be replaced by new trains 5/10

Facilities:
Ticket office open just before first train, until last train, couple of waiting rooms on each platforms, real time info displays 7/10

Overall:
Typical local metro suburban type of station, direct trains to Liverpool, with only one connection to most other places 7/10

Crikey, you must be hard to please, only 7/10 for a local station with frequent/clock face trains for 18 hours a day and with a staffed ticket office open from first to last trains.

Compare that to the South Wales Valley Line ‘services’

 

[BasedinLondon]

My local station: Feltham( FEL)
Services: South Western Railway Average 6tph can be more but not a lot delayed or cancelled 8/10

 

[50039]

Tring
Setting - car/bus ride out of town (or cycle). Congestion on the road every night when a train from Euston arrives

Architecture
Small 1960s ticket office with an open footbridge leading to the platforms.

Services
4ph(?) to Euston, 2(ph) going north, plus a Southern service to East Croydon

Rolling Stock
350s (excellent) and 377s on Southern (never tried them)

Facilities
None... bus shelter style waiting rooms on the platforms, independent coffee and taxi office outside operating from and old container...

 

[Anonymous10]

My local station Pembroke Dock

Setting in the middle of the town near the high street

Architecture
Unknown as not an expert

Services 9 trains a day 7 I think only go to Swansea other 2 are to Cardiff

Rolling stock 142 143 150 153 158 175 hst or class 800

Waiting room not available

Toilets not available