Worst line side view from train or station?

[Journeyman]

I once did a rail run from Charleroi to Liege in Belgium, along the river Meuse/Maas, and it's at least as bad for derelict industry as our old industrial areas.

Charleroi is on my must-see list for the completed but never opened bits of the Metro. Looks amazing.

 

[Bedpan]

Apologies...Haven't a clue what's going on here but it's not allowing me to post what I wanted to say as it says its less than 5 characters, and won't delete, so i have replaced with this and will try again!

 

[Bedpan]

That's better.........

Hailing from London, where industry has always been of a relatively light nature, I would have found a rail journey through the industrial parts of Britain absolutely fascinating. However smoky it was, I would have thoroughly enjoyed such a trip. When I look at the 25" OS maps of industrial areas on the National Library of Scotland website, I am amazed at the amount of factories, sidings, depots and other features that would have been visible from a train window. But then, of course, most of it has gone now...

I agree entirely. I was working in Liverpool for a short while in the early 70s and always tried to travel to and from home via Wolverhampton and Birmingham if I could, just to be able to marvel at the heavy industry, industrial wasteland and canal(s) beside the line. The canal is still there of course but with the passage of time the route has become sanitised the landscape having been replaced either by woodland or modern housing for much of the way. .

 

[unlevel42]

The approaches to London are by far the most depressing in the country.
Miles and miles of tiny housing, tatty shops, warehouses and unused parks repeated over and over again without the possibility of escape.
People might comment on Burnley, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, etc. but at least the views are ever changing, interesting and you can leave in minutes.

 

[frodshamfella]

London Bridge to New Cross is pretty grim

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Charleroi is on my must-see list for the completed but never opened bits of the Metro. Looks amazing.

In 2016, I had a footballing weekend in Belgium to use up my last Eurostar loyalty points before they expired. After watching KV Mechelen v KAS Eupen on the Friday and AFC Tubize v OH Leuven on the Saturday, I headed to Charleroi to see the Walloon derby against Standard Liege. Not the prettiest of runs but an opportunity to ride the Charleroi metro - one of the smaller cities to boast such a system.

The game was abandoned after about 70 mins due to persistent crowd trouble from both sets of fans with Standard 3-1 up. It was not replayed and no points were awarded. I was very surprised to see no queue at the metro station afterwards, indeed it was almost deserted. Then I found out why - the trams only run till about 8 pm on Sunday nights. Fortunately I just managed to get the last working back to Charleroi Sud. Are there any other metro systems which close as early as this?

 

[Timrud]

Leeds is grim

 

[Old Yard Dog]

As a Bradfordian, I hate to say it, but the lines into Bradford Interchange and Forster Square are both still pretty grim. Indeed I remember when our technical drawing master had to substitute for our maths teacher one day, he gave us an ad hoc lesson on Yorkshire and how wonderful a county it was. But he said what an awful impression the county's railways must give visitors arriving by train as the railway corridors went through heavy industrial and coal mining areas.

 

[Ken H]

One problem generally is that from the train we see the back of properties. So we see the yards and backs of housing, and the rear of commercial properties, with all the bins, people shreddied on the line, skips and piles of junk. The road side will be a lot tidier.

 

[Tracked]

Sheffield, from the North end, a lovely big sewage works, meadowhall, and the abandoned looking industrial units of Attercliffe

Doncaster, coming in from York, with the lovely big concrete vat of brown water bubbling away at PDM

Burton on Trent from the north end

Warrington BQ

 

[Parallel]

Trowbridge is pretty grim coming from Northbound. You have a scrap yard followed by a derelict car park, temporary fencing (graffitied, of course!) around the old pork factory that stood torched for many years before being flattened. Platform 1 is marginally better. A skate park...

 

[GoneSouth]

I'm not sure what it's like these days but the stretch from Shipley to Bradford FS used to be soul destroying. Scrap yards, run down residential and then wasteland where the old Forster Square station had been demolished.

Come to think of it the run down the hill into the Interchange isn't much better!

Both a sad reflection of post industrial Bradford. ☹️

 

[lewisf]

Wakefield Westgate has a grim approach from the south. Industrial parks and a storage facility made of abandoned shipping containers.

 

[jayah]

This interesting tweet popped up. Can anyone top it? I remember the Eurostar coming into Waterloo and there is a huge scrap yard at Wandsworth on the right hand side as the track turns towards Vauxhall. Often overheard gasps from people seeing their first view of London.

View attachment 56721

There are numerous pieces of legislation designed to tackle this sort of behaviour, even on private land.

Long overdue for enforcement.

 

[TheSeeker]

There are numerous pieces of legislation designed to tackle this sort of behaviour, even on private land.

Just what I was thinking. Imagine living opposite that mess.

 

[HowardGWR]

This interesting tweet popped up. Can anyone top it? I remember the Eurostar coming into Waterloo and there is a huge scrap yard at Wandsworth on the right hand side as the track turns towards Vauxhall. Often overheard gasps from people seeing their first view of London.

View attachment 56721

Just put up a big sign on it saying 'Film Set for Steptoe and Son' and folk will take shots of it!

 

[185143]

In 2016, I had a footballing weekend in Belgium to use up my last Eurostar loyalty points before they expired. After watching KV Mechelen v KAS Eupen on the Friday and AFC Tubize v OH Leuven on the Saturday, I headed to Charleroi to see the Walloon derby against Standard Liege. Not the prettiest of runs but an opportunity to ride the Charleroi metro - one of the smaller cities to boast such a system.

The game was abandoned after about 70 mins due to persistent crowd trouble from both sets of fans with Standard 3-1 up. It was not replayed and no points were awarded. I was very surprised to see no queue at the metro station afterwards, indeed it was almost deserted. Then I found out why - the trams only run till about 8 pm on Sunday nights. Fortunately I just managed to get the last working back to Charleroi Sud. Are there any other metro systems which close as early as this?

Glasgow Subway closes at around 18:30 on Sundays

 

[Clansman]

Wakefield is the worst I've seen. Strangly the area where way more England flags fly and where there's giant writing on numerous house rooftops.

 

[randyrippley]

the view of ̶W̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶C̶o̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶R̶a̶i̶l̶ the scrapyard as you leave Carnforth heading to Barrow is pretty grim

 

[Fearless]

It's long gone now, but Manvers Main colliery (on what used to be the cross-country run between Rotherham and York) was like a vision of hell. Not just the grimy industrial buildings on both sides of the track, but the flames that used to burst out of the walls. The whole place was demolished in the late 1980s and part of the site is now a nature reserve managed by the RSPB.

was that on the old cross country route via Grimethorpe?

I was a bit on the young side to be fully aware of routes (and it wasn't my part of the country), but I seem to remember it went through Normanton and/or Pontefract. Others will doubtless correct me!

 

[Fearless]

Sheffield, from the North end, a lovely big sewage works, meadowhall, and the abandoned looking industrial units of Attercliffe

Back when Virgin were running CrossCountry, they had excellent 'Window Gazer Guides' that told you what to look out for on a journey. For the northern approach to Sheffield, it actually recommended closing your eyes...

 

[GoneSouth]

Back when Virgin were running CrossCountry, they had excellent 'Window Gazer Guides' that told you what to look out for on a journey. For the northern approach to Sheffield, it actually recommended closing your eyes...

I don't suppose you have a copy? A friend from Sheffield would find that very amusing!

 

[Gathursty]

East Midlands Parkway for the power station
The bit of the WCML passing Rylands Park in Lancaster - when travelling on a slower Northern service, you see the detritus people have thrown on to the line side.
Wigan from any of the 5 approaches.
St Helens from Thatto Heath.

 

[bionic]

Slade Green to Dartford... permanent traveller sites, a huge rubbish tip, a falling down farm full of scrap (although they did have some ostriches recently), new build flats, warehouses, parcel depot, unloved-looking terraced houses, the back of B&Q.

 

[Esker-pades]

Slade Green to Dartford... permanent traveller sites, a huge rubbish tip, a falling down farm full of scrap (although they did have some ostriches recently), new build flats, warehouses, parcel depot, unloved-looking terraced houses, the back of B&Q.

The view in the other direction over marshes and allotments is rather nice though. As is the span of the QE2 bridge.

 

[Fearless]

Back when Virgin were running CrossCountry, they had excellent 'Window Gazer Guides' that told you what to look out for on a journey. For the northern approach to Sheffield, it actually recommended closing your eyes...

I don't suppose you have a copy? A friend from Sheffield would find that very amusing!

I'm sure I still have it somewhere - I'll dig it out and take a photo for you!

 

[Marton]

The glass wall at Sunderland station is dire.

 

[GoneSouth]

I'm sure I still have it somewhere - I'll dig it out and take a photo for you!

Thank you so much!

Wow this forum has some very helpful members

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Back when Virgin were running CrossCountry, they had excellent 'Window Gazer Guides' that told you what to look out for on a journey. For the northern approach to Sheffield, it actually recommended closing your eyes...

That takes me back! I am certain that they did one for the West Coast too. I will have both somewhere but as it's getting on 15 years since they were about I have no idea where sadly!

 

[Ken H]

That takes me back! I am certain that they did one for the West Coast too. I will have both somewhere but as it's getting on 15 years since they were about I have no idea where sadly!

British Library may have one. bl.uk