Blackpool North
Given its size, I was surprised by the lack of amenities there. A shop and a Pumpkin cafe.
Cleethorpes on the other side of the country seems to have more choice at its buffer ends.
Blackpool North
The shop has been closed for the last few years so it's just the Pumpkin cafe now. If you want something for on the way, just go to the Wilko's next door or if you want to eat before getting on your train, the Sainsburys cafe.Given its size, I was surprised by the lack of amenities there. A shop and a Pumpkin cafe.
I'm surprised noone has mentioned Walsall. Horrible bloody place and then there's the train station....
Is it Walsall where the railway station goes right from / to the shopping centre...? If so I was surprised by that when I went! (I went to a few new-to-me places in that area in a short space of time recently)But at least the station is right in the centre of town and from May they will get a service to London
Stafford. Drab, concrete and bleak.
Is it Walsall where the railway station goes right from / to the shopping centre...? If so I was surprised by that when I went! (I went to a few new-to-me places in that area in a short space of time recently)
Some local rail worthy mentioned some years ago , that about 20% of the Walsall populace were unaware they had a station (with about 4 tph to the Second City !)
That's surprising given how many just want to get out of the place as quickly as possible !! Presumably, the car owners are well aware that the nearby M6 can get you away pretty fast.
I was there last week and there were a couple of puzzled-looking oriental girls at the west end of pfm 14 who kept looking at the nearest departure board. They said they were looking for the airport train (shown as departing from 14!) so I suggested they leg it to the far end. Their train overtook them after they had gone about 100 yards.
With a platform that long on a curve (and which is signed as split a and b) it is outrageous that the departure boards can't show 13b or 14a.
I like Stafford; it's a brutalist masterpiece. There are far more dismal stations than Stafford on the WCML eg: Rugby.
The boards only designate A and B ends when the opposite to normal platform is used, for example when the 07:50 to the Airport leaves from 14B, with the 07:50 Holyhead leaving from 13B.
So how is an occasional or first time traveller supposed to know then? This is a very good example of "the railway" not thinking about its customers' needs.The boards only designate A and B ends when the opposite to normal platform is used, for example when the 07:50 to the Airport leaves from 14B, with the 07:50 Holyhead leaving from 13B.
+1 for Waverley. It's a complete and utter nightmare to navigate as a regular commuter so I can't imagine how it is for visitors. Let's hope the new masterplan drags it kicking and screaming into the 21st century.Edinburgh Waverley. A clogged up mess of a station
+1 for Waverley. It's a complete and utter nightmare to navigate as a regular commuter so I can't imagine how it is for visitors. Let's hope the new masterplan drags it kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
Conversely it might be a sign of local satisfaction with immediate facilities !
To be fair , I played with the idea of a Silverlink 321 service to Walsall in and around 1997 - via Stechford of course , - a couple of return services a day. It might have had potential , but the extra paths into New Street were granted which kicked the idea into touch. It might have been a contender , to quote "On the Waterfront" ....
Some local rail worthy mentioned some years ago , that about 20% of the Walsall populace were unaware they had a station (with about 4 tph to the Second City !)
+1 for Waverley. It's a complete and utter nightmare to navigate as a regular commuter so I can't imagine how it is for visitors. Let's hope the new masterplan drags it kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
I'm surprised noone has mentioned Walsall. Horrible bloody place and then there's the train station....
They must be newcomers to Walsall then as the station used to have a big canopy over the forecourt in one of the main shopping streets of the town centre. Walsall used to have three line into the station from the south and three lines in from the north making it a significant interchange in the past. However the routes to the north are through tunnel under the town centre and to the south through an industrial area so unless you worked there the railway might not be obvious.
The Platform 7 waiting room is the worst on a cold day because everyone keeps coming in and out with the automatic doors constantly letting cold air in. The toilets are nice at Reading though and one benefit is that you don't usually have to spend that long there waiting for a late HST or Turbo since the electrification.I am going to say Reading.
In winter its an inhospitable place
The bridge over the tracks is cold - I really feel for the the poor people who have to man the catering outlets up there. No attempt to make it even slightly weatherproof.
and the canopy sweeps up to cover the escalators so unless there is no wind, the platforms there are wet, as are the escalators.
Last time I went there was on a class 304 just before they were withdrawn! The grottiness was strong on that trip. I've got a lovely black and white photo of the 304's nose poking out of the gloom, though.
Glad to hear another vote in favour: I like Coventry too....whoever criticised Stafford is wrong - yes a modernist station, but well tended and staffed. Decent enough facilities.
Glad to hear another vote in favour: I like Coventry too.
I think the big cuboid buildings reflect the attractive original concourse at Euston (empty and uncluttered) and I like the simple materials (basically wood and concrete) as well.
Big thumbs up for Coventry ! - again well tended and impressive array of Larkin etc plaques. Modernism can be very fitting.
Newport South Wales excepted !
Think could be well to do with the more frequent express bus service[now X51], the express bus Walsall-Brum is only a few minutes longer than the stopper, the X51 bus has 6 an hour, for me the bus now that's got regular platinum deckers on is far more appealing, than waiting for the train
Talking of the West Midlands I quite like the BR frieze on the footbridge at Wolves. I wonder is it listed?