Trivia; best hotels for rail views?

[Clarky]

Stayed in a pub come hotel in Arnside "Ye olde fighting cocks" that gives a nice view over the estuary

 

[Dave_Cardboard]

The Vermont Hotel in Newcastle overlooks the eastern junction and station approaches - get a high western corner room there and you won't be getting any sleep until the trains stop running. Though for full disclosure, the night I stayed there was during a 38 degree heatwave and the windows most decidedly had to remain open.

 

[qpsnapper]

Inntel Hotel in Utrecht overlooks the approaches to Centraal Station, the carpet also has a train map design:

 

[50039]

The Ibis in Avignon - my room looked straight down onto the platforms... plenty of freight rumbling through

 

[eastwestdivide]

There's a fairly new Travelodge right by Rochester station (Kent). Not tried it yet, but it looks promising. Just a pity there's not much variety in the rail traffic there now.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The Premier Inn at South Harrow's not bad!

 

[SussexLad]

Premier Inn at Portsmouth and Southsea Station. Nice view of the trains and good sound proofing so you don't hear them when trying to sleep!

 

[AlbertBeale]

The Premier Inn at South Harrow's not bad!
View attachment 82875

Hmmm - I don't know where that Premier Inn is, but that isn't South Harrow!! South Harrow was my local station back in my childhood, and I know it rather well - and that isn't it.

 

[Alfonso]

I've ended up in hotel rooms overlooking the railway in various places in France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland over the years - but I can't off-hand remember the names of any of the actual hotels. I do know the one in Menton (last town on the south coast of France before the Italian border) was in the rue Albert 1er, and the one in Hamburg was in Holzdamm. The one in Brig, in Switzerland, was - I think - in Viktoriastr, with multiple track gauges to see out of the window!

And as a kid I stayed in a B&B in Folkestone, where (if I leanded out of the window when my parents weren't keeping an eye on me) I could see the steep tracks up from the harbour station, steam engines and all.

Hotel in Viktoria strasse in Brig is the hotel Victoria, with rooms with balconies immediately opposite of the MGB platforms

 

[greyman42]

Can you see anything facing west from the Premier inn, Charing Cross, Glasgow?

 

[XAM2175]

Can you see anything facing west from the Premier inn, Charing Cross, Glasgow?

The line is only in open cutting for thirty-odd metres at the end of Charing Cross station, before being covered by Kent Road for the next 700-odd metres. Depending on the exact location of your room you'll be able to look down into the station cutting, but no more.

The satellite image from Google will give you a good idea.

 

[FQTV]

Hmmm - I don't know where that Premier Inn is, but that isn't South Harrow!! South Harrow was my local station back in my childhood, and I know it rather well - and that isn't it.

The hotel is definitely in South Harrow, although it’s titled plain Premier Inn Harrow.

Out of shot to the left beyond the Kenton Road overbridge is Kenton Station.

 

[185]

Room 204, Crewe Arms
100% trains
0% sleep

 

[6Gman]

Sleeperz, Clayton and Radisson Blu in Cardiff (seem to keep changing their names but that’s what they were last time I was there)

Is that the one on the site of the old Central Hotel? Stayed there as a little lad in the early 60s and saw a Western for the first time. Captivated!

 

[Tetchytyke]

Hmmm - I don't know where that Premier Inn is, but that isn't South Harrow!! South Harrow was my local station back in my childhood, and I know it rather well - and that isn't it.

Nope, the station is Kenton.

The photo is mine but, as @FQTV points out, I got the name slightly wrong.

 

[jfisher21]

I am in the Best Western Crianlarich, the Oban trains pass by the window!

 

[sittingnev]

The Station Inn at Ribblehead has to be up there with the best. Its gone a bit upmarket since I was last there, but I remember it having one of the best views a Gents toilets could ever have. (it used to be a selling point, and asked for donations from people just using the facilities, wanting to see the view) I prefer roughing It down at Helwith Bridge though.

 

[HBP]

The Ibis at Amsterdam Central Station in the right room. Soundproofed. (Room 551)

 

[packermac]

The hotel is definitely in South Harrow, although it’s titled plain Premier Inn Harrow.

Out of shot to the left beyond the Kenton Road overbridge is Kenton Station.

South Harrow is between Harrow on the Hill (or town centre) and Northolt (by road). The hotel you mention is as you say at Kenton (which is probably NE of Harrow, but certainly not South)

 

[AlbertBeale]

The hotel is definitely in South Harrow, although it’s titled plain Premier Inn Harrow.

Out of shot to the left beyond the Kenton Road overbridge is Kenton Station.

If it's by Kenton station, it's miles from South Harrow! Neither the bridge in the pic, nor those rail lines, are anywhere near South Harrow! Calling a hotel by Kenton Station the Premier Inn Harrow is a bit of a stretch - but to suggest it's anywhere near South Harrow is nonsense.

Hotel in Viktoria strasse in Brig is the hotel Victoria, with rooms with balconies immediately opposite of the MGB platforms

Aha - yes, that sounds right. Thanks! (And the breakfasts were good - in a Swiss way - too!)

 

[Alfonso]

If it's by Kenton station, it's miles from South Harrow! Neither the bridge in the pic, nor those rail lines, are anywhere near South Harrow! Calling a hotel by Kenton Station the Premier Inn Harrow is a bit of a stretch - but to suggest it's anywhere near South Harrow is nonsense.



Aha - yes, that sounds right. Thanks! (And the breakfasts were good - in a Swiss way - too!)

The pension postli pavement terrace is a good place for a cheap beer while watching trains going in and out of Brig. I imagine some of the rooms would have good views, too

 

[ijmad]

Room 175 (and others) at the St Pancras Renaissance

 

[ian1944]

Higher north-facing rooms at the Gateshead Hilton look along the High Level Bridge, so if anything unusual was coming south they would be good for a photo from an novel angle. I don't know what comes over routinely, but assume that it's nothing special.

 

[FQTV]

If it's by Kenton station, it's miles from South Harrow! Neither the bridge in the pic, nor those rail lines, are anywhere near South Harrow! Calling a hotel by Kenton Station the Premier Inn Harrow is a bit of a stretch - but to suggest it's anywhere near South Harrow is nonsense.



Aha - yes, that sounds right. Thanks! (And the breakfasts were good - in a Swiss way - too!)

I doubt that many folks from ‘South Harrow’ have stayed at the Premier Inn ‘Harrow’. It’s therefore probably quite reasonable for Whitbread, when naming their property, to title it Harrow, being far better known than Kenton. For a guest to describe it as South ‘Harrow’, being South of, say, Harrow & Wealdstone, seems reasonable too.

Local locational pedantry probably doesn’t trump the nuances of the English language, nor the views of Whitbread, nor those of the out of town guests who stay there.

See London Luton, Durham Tees Valley, Frankfurt Hahn etc., for non-hotel analogies.

Ultimately, however, anyone reading @Tetchytyke ’s post could identify the hotel that he mentioned within seconds, and the utility associated with that justifies the post, in my humble opinion.

 

[Ian Cunningham]

Some rooms at Leeds Central Travelodge have great views of the eastern end of Leeds station - one floor at just above track level.

Stayed there a few years ago - felt like the room was on the platform!

There's a pub (The Brewery Tap) pretty much opposite across the tracks with a roof terrace terrace that overlooks the eastern approaches. It's close enough to the station to nip out to sometimes when changing trains

 

[AlbertBeale]

I doubt that many folks from ‘South Harrow’ have stayed at the Premier Inn ‘Harrow’. It’s therefore probably quite reasonable for Whitbread, when naming their property, to title it Harrow, being far better known than Kenton. For a guest to describe it as South ‘Harrow’, being South of, say, Harrow & Wealdstone, seems reasonable too.

Local locational pedantry probably doesn’t trump the nuances of the English language, nor the views of Whitbread, nor those of the out of town guests who stay there.

See London Luton, Durham Tees Valley, Frankfurt Hahn etc., for non-hotel analogies.

Ultimately, however, anyone reading @Tetchytyke ’s post could identify the hotel that he mentioned within seconds, and the utility associated with that justifies the post, in my humble opinion.

I wasn't taking issue with the hotel calling itself "xxx Harrow". I was taking issue with the nonsense that somewhere on the other side of Harrow might be identified as being "South Harrow", which is a place, and indeed a station, miles away from Kenton where the picture showed. It's not local locational pedantry, just picking up on nonsense. South Harrow, and other parts of the borough / area might all be generally referred to as just "Harrow", which is the main name, and they're part of it. But the other way round - ie talking as though Harrow is in South Harrow, is absurd. Someone in Holborn might say that they were in London; but someone referring to a place in Brixton (also in London) would be talking nonsense if they said they were in Holborn.

 

[Kneedown]

Not a hotel as such, but back in the Mid to late 80's a group of us stayed in a camping coach situated in the middle of Landeck yard in the Tyrol. Great views of the station and yard movements. A proper Croc fest that was!

 

[Matlock Man]

Mercure Hotel at Lyon Part-Dieu. Travelodge at Twickenham

 

[Megafuss]

The Jurys Inn in Nottingham overlooks the station there if you have a room on the right side.

A few Bank Holidays ago I bagged a plum room with a view at that one and I didn't even request it . Of course the sound of a 153 or Atos Anne at 0430 are not exactly ideal though....

 

[Howardh]

Stayed in a pub come hotel in Arnside "Ye olde fighting cocks" that gives a nice view over the estuaryView attachment 82743

Yes, could literally sit there all day watching the tide go out!