Smartest and shabbiest stations

[GatwickDepress]

Nah, needed to be repaired and maintained.

That's all.

Not rocket science - after all, as you mentioned, they managed it at Ramsgate and Margate.

Bus stands and car park, these could have easily been accommodated in some other configuration.

Sorry. The destruction of the Southern Railway booking hall was an act of vandalism that I cannot condone.

It sickens me every time I travel through Hastings.

Nope, it needed a hell of a lot more than a simple repair job and maintenance. I was speaking to someone at the town hall who worked in the planning department (and dealt with applications from parties such as Railtrack etc) at the time, and repairing the old station was considered as an option, but the costs were absolutely prohibitive. The roof in the booking hall needed immense investment and the toilets and plumbing would have had to be ripped out and rebuilt to suit the 21st century. The money just wasn't there to invest in restoring it.

There was no other way to accommodate the bus stands in a way that satisfied the planners; nor the car park. At some point, there were plans to shift the car park over to where the goods yard used to be permanently, but the regeneration scheme put paid to it.

Everyone I know agrees the old building was aesthetically nicer, but they all prefer the current building when it comes to actually travelling.

EDIT: Not the dropoff point though. Whoever designed that has never driven a bloody car.

EDIT2: I really do miss the building at times though. A proper buffet would be an absolute lifesaver in the winter, not that horrible outlet by the ticket machine which lets the wind in all the time. Speaking of old buildings, do you ever think the old Observer building will be restored?

 

[yorksrob]

Nope, it needed a hell of a lot more than a simple repair job and maintenance. I was speaking to someone at the town hall who worked in the planning department (and dealt with applications from parties such as Railtrack etc) at the time, and repairing the old station was considered as an option, but the costs were absolutely prohibitive. The roof in the booking hall needed immense investment and the toilets and plumbing would have had to be ripped out and rebuilt to suit the 21st century. The money just wasn't there to invest in restoring it.

Tell me a large station that hasn't had it's toilets ripped out and replaced !

This is all academic, as if someone had had the foresight to have listed the place, it would have been repaired anyway - roof and all.

I disagree about the point about bus stands. The forecourt could have easily been extended into the goods yard area (as has happened with the current building) and this would have provided plenty of space for cars and buses.

I'm not aware of the observer building, however, if it's of architectural merit, make sure it's listed !

 

[clc]

Smartest- Glasgow Central High Level must be one of Europe's best.
Hillhead subway looks great after it's refurb; Alasdair Gray's ceramic mural of Hillhead is a nice addition.

Shabbiest - Glasgow Central low level is a bit of a let down.

 

[PHILIPE]

At Glasgow Central (High) the announcement acoustics are terrible.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

Lincoln's in quite good nick IMO. However, I find that York is rather worn down and beginning to show age, similarly I'm not too fond of Leeds and all 4 stations in Burnley (If I had to pick one Burnley station that's the nicest though, Rose Grove hands down)
The smartest station is Manchester Airport for me. It all appears to be in top quality nick, I was there less than a month ago and it doesn't look like it's falling apart and once the station is fully done up, it will be even better.

 

[onyxcrowle]

Smartest are a lot of Scottish stations ive been to.
Waverley is great.
And I think St Pancras despite being too far south for me is incredible.
As for shabby the disgusting and national scandal almost of the line from Scunthorpe to Doncaster.
My local Station Crowle (south aka Ealand). Is beyond terrible.
No proper shelter to info signs.
You have to walk over the busy frieght line.
And to cap it off the most disgusting eye watering most clapped out beyond life expectancy by 20 years in the form of an old Leyland National bus. With what seems to be pumps that are designed to pump the engine fumes into the what is lovely described as a cabin. Bolted to what amounts to a third class decrepit victorian era cattle truck body.
Where train staff are mildly ok. But to get to Doncaster is longer almost than the east coast run to say Northallerton.
These foul smelling slow horrendous bumpy menaces should be gone without delay.
Our station needs decent shelters a bridge.
Toilets. And to Be served by Transpennine. Crowle would well use such a service .
Or if they would do it Grand Central or Hull trains to London and Edinburgh.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

And as for Newport, well that's just a vile heap of metal that looks inspired from LSD-induced trip to Ikea.

Hey, that's a £22 million LSD-induced trip to Ikea if you don't mind ...... !! But I agree, I use it every day, and "we wuz robbed!"

A few nice stations: Glasgow Central, Edinburgh Waverley, Swansea, Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street, Bristol Temple Meads;

and a few shabby stations: Pontypool & New Inn, Severn Tunnel Junction, Shrewsbury, Crewe, Llanelli, Manchester Victoria (although this will chnage when the work is finished, I hope).

 

[Parallel]

I forget about Pontypool & New Inn. Very run down indeed!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Treforest Estate on the line to Pontypridd is, if anything, worse than any of the Welsh stations I've mentioned previously.

A couple of years ago, my (then) office moved from the centre of Cardiff to the Treforest Industrial Estate. We had the right to say "no" and find another place to work but, before I decided, I paid a visit to the office by train.

Put simply, it was a disgrace! The access on foot is poor, being via a pathway across a river bridge which is poorly lit. After joining a track and getting to the station, the access is through a dark, damp tunnel and then up a flight of stairs onto a very bleak platform with minimal shelter.

I really had the feeling that I wouldn't have been safe waiting for the half hourly service to and from Cardiff. Without trying to be sexist, I certainly wouldn't have recommended the journey to any of my female colleagues, so my decision not to go there was easy!

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

Being in the subway at Preston station today, half of it's modern looking whereas the other half looks run down and smells of god knows what.