Outside Greater London, what's the best maintained (a) large (b) smaller station

[Wolfie]

So many to pick, but I’ll stick my neck out. I’m including London too.

The best maintained large station would be Newcastle Central

The best maintained small station would be Knaresborough

I’ll go one further:

The worst maintained large station would be London Euston

The worst maintained small station would be Ardwick

Euston isn't badly maintained at all. It is functional and that is where it begins and ends though.

Wellington (Salop) is a decent traditional old station.

Regarding Kings Cross, I would say all of the original was left but extensions have been added.

You may well be correct. Perhaps most rather than all though.

 

[satisnek]

Birmingham Moor Street?

I agree, a wonderful station which I should have mentioned. But when I said 'big city stations' I meant 'big stations in cities' rather than 'stations in big cities'

 

[matt_world2004]

A few suggestions, considering the OP is looking for intact architectural features:

Large London station - St Pancras, Marylebone, Paddington, Kings Cross

Large Non-London - York, Newcastle, Huddersfield, Bristol Temple Meads, Glasgow Central, Norwich

Small Non-London - Wemyss Bay, Hebden Bridge, Kings Lynn, Settle & Carlisle line as mentioned above

Small London Hanwell is beautiful especially after the restoration (Shame the sign got destroyed in the storm )

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I agree, a wonderful station which I should have mentioned. But when I said 'big city stations' I meant 'big stations in cities' rather than 'stations in big cities'

Moor Street is hardly small. It's the terminus for many London services, hardly an Ardwick or Deansgate type situation.

 

[Wtloild]

Large: Glasgow Central, Norwich, Newcastle
Small: Keighley, Bath, Hebden Bridge

 

[ChrisC]

It doesn’t often get a mention but for a small station Worksop has nice architecture and is well cared for.

 

[davetheguard]

Okehampton

I paid a visit to Okehampton this afternoon.

The station now has a buffet open from 07.00 to 17.00. During the buffet's opening hours, there's access to toilets and the station waiting room too. There are now more bus routes to/from the station too: new services to Launceston & Bude; as well as the existing Tavistock route.

The station looked in very good condition.

 

[AVK17]

Insch in Aberdeenshire is very well kept.

 

[Geoff DC]

St Erth does it for me shorturl.at/epuY9

 

[Bletchleyite]

Moor Street is hardly small. It's the terminus for many London services, hardly an Ardwick or Deansgate type situation.

It's a medium station. Not much more than an above ground Liverpool Central. It is nice though.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It's a medium station. Not much more than an above ground Liverpool Central. It is nice though.

I'd say Moor Street is to Birmingham as Victoria is to Manchester... which I suppose would make Snow Hill the equivalent of Oxford Road (New Street being Piccadilly obviously). None are exact matches for the other of course.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'd say Moor Street is to Birmingham as Victoria is to Manchester... which I suppose would make Snow Hill the equivalent of Oxford Road (New Street being Piccadilly obviously). None are exact matches for the other of course.

Victoria has far more than a 4tph suburban route and a couple of incidental London trains. It's Birmingham's secondary main station, yes, but it isn't large. Definitely much more of an above ground Liverpool Central though with a fraction of the service. Or maybe a bit Oxford Road esque with Snow Hill being Deansgate or Salford Central.

I think Moor St is nicer than Vic by a longshot, but so is a bus shelter in a field, I really, really dislike the atmosphere of Vic. But that doesn't make Moor St large.

 

[hermit]

I haven’t been there for a while, but Aberdour is a fine station which has (had?) an awarding winning garden. Among larger stations, I like Inverness.

 

[leytongabriel]

Small community partnership maintained stations on the Tarka line are beautifully maintained
And Kemble, on the 'Golden Valley Line' is rather lovely. Listed I think.

 

[yorksrob]

It's really not. It's got a low roof, it stinks of fumes when DMUs are around, yet it's draughty, cold and leaky. An awful station. On a par with the old Manchester Victoria, which was worse than the new one which is itself pretty horrid.

Rip it out and build a proper, modern interchange in its place, with modern features like escalators to the footbridge (which needs to be twice the width), more lifts, quality toilet facilities etc. Something like London Bridge or Reading, or even Leeds main trainshed. It's primarily an interchange, but is utterly awful at the job, with narrow stairways, poor facilities and is generally a nasty place to wait, which people who are changing will spend more time doing than people who have gone to that place.

A decent bar would improve the ambience. I say repair, rather than plonk something that looks like an alien space craft in the middle of Cheshire. The existing structure if looked after could be reminiscent of one of the greenhouses at Kew.

In terms of my own choices, the Coastway East stations on the Sussex Coast (Lewes, Eastbourne, Bexhill central etc) are architecturally superb, and were beautifully kept a few years ago but look in need of a lick of paint currently. Similarly, someone mentioned Whitby up thread. Good architecture, but the surfeit of pigeon guano suggests it isn't looked after that much. For the smaller stations, you'd need to look hard to improve on the standard of the S&C ones.

For larger stations, York should be up there, but take a look at the iron work and you'll see it's in need of a lick of paint. Huddersfield's quite impressive and has excellent facilities but the loos need work on them.

Probably the best maintained is Manchester Piccadilly. The glass in the trainshed is clean, the paintwork's holding out and the modern areas work well.

 

[Parallel]

When I passed through a few years ago, Dolau on the Heart of Wales line looked to be very well maintained. A big effort was made with planters on the platform and the station garden.

 

[Robertj21a]

Wemyss Bay
Glasgow Central

 

[urbophile]

Large: Glasgow Central, Norwich, Newcastle
Small: Keighley, Bath, Hebden Bridge

I've a soft spot for Keighley – childhood memories. It's beautifully designed but I wouldn't say well maintained. I've not seen the ticket hall for some time, but the ramps down to the platforms, which have always fascinated me, look as if they need a good lick of paint at least. They have erected barriers inside the Edwardian wooden balustrades – maybe for reasons of health and safety – which I'd have thought could be better designed.

Bingley, just down the line, is a gem of a station, but passing through the other day I wondered if that too was due for a refurb.

 

[Ken H]

I've a soft spot for Keighley – childhood memories. It's beautifully designed but I wouldn't say well maintained. I've not seen the ticket hall for some time, but the ramps down to the platforms, which have always fascinated me, look as if they need a good lick of paint at least. They have erected barriers inside the Edwardian wooden balustrades – maybe for reasons of health and safety – which I'd have thought could be better designed.

Bingley, just down the line, is a gem of a station, but passing through the other day I wondered if that too was due for a refurb.

there is scaffolding all over the down side building. So maybe getting some TLC

 

[Bletchleyite]

Probably the best maintained is Manchester Piccadilly. The glass in the trainshed is clean, the paintwork's holding out and the modern areas work well.

Piccadilly is probably about as good as it gets, but the bird netting is filthy. I reported them to Environmental Health a while back as I saw bits of the muck which looked like they might fall into food and drink prep areas on the balcony, but sadly nothing was done about it.

 

[yorksrob]

Piccadilly is probably about as good as it gets, but the bird netting is filthy. I reported them to Environmental Health a while back as I saw bits of the muck which looked like they might fall into food and drink prep areas on the balcony, but sadly nothing was done about it.

I should have looked more carefully !

 

[ChewChewTrain]

If you like flowers then Goring & Streatley is hard to beat thanks to the Britain in Bloom effort. And there can’t be many stations that small which have lifts (again a result of the determined efforts of locals).

 

[Philip]

The front wooden facade at Oxford Road must be pretty well maintained as it still looks as good and fresh as it did 60 years ago. The island in the middle of the car park with (what looks like) the organ pipes feature is quite pleasant too. The inside needs a lot of work though, starting with a big clean up.

 

[hermit]

In terms of my own choices, the Coastway East stations on the Sussex Coast (Lewes, Eastbourne, Bexhill central etc) are architecturally superb, and were beautifully kept a few years ago but look in need of a lick of paint currently.

To which could be added Bognor Regis, further west.

 

[yorksrob]

To which could be added Bognor Regis, further west.

Ah yes, I need to visit there again some day !