Where's Britain's BEST railway station?

[ether]

BRIGHTON is pretty cool. Nice as you come over the viaduct. Nice and curvy roof inside.

 

[fen_boy]

Here's the other side

 

[easy g]

St Erth, Cornwall - like a 1950s branch line junction preserved intact, the station sports old fashioned GWR semaphore signals, attractive station buildings (staffed), a covered footbridge, a signal box and a bay platform offering the alluring promise of a glorious trip along the coast to St Ives.

Beat that!

Sway station in the New Forest is a similar place...the station master actually lives on site and has worked there for over 35 years. It always has fresh flowers everywhere, home-made cushions on the seats, always spotless. It definitely looks like a picture postcard image of yesteryear

 

[tollbar]

Another vote for Glasgow Central. Bristol TM, runner up.

 

[davesgcr]

One for New York ....

How about Grand Central - where else has an Oyster Bar and commuter trains.

 

[chooch]

Paddington Station.
The exterior of Huddersfield station

Both corkers. None of the other London termini are up to much though- St Pancras included.
Always liked Horton in Ribblesdale for general setting and cuteness:

 

[Harold Hill]

Marylebone. Might not be the prettiest but the contrast from the 80s (check the shit thread) is something. A local style London termini if thats not a paradox.

 

[Ich bin ein Mod]

J

NORTH QUEENSFERRY. The Forth rail bridge is a fantastic structure. The scots have every reason to be proud of it. Its got a station right at the beginning of it. it serves no town or village to the best of my memory. its simply there for people to get off and look along the structure to see whereabouts the painter is today.

Other than, err, North Queensferry

Why all the votes for Glasgow Central, never seems particularly brilliant to me, perhaps I'm inured to it though.

 

[laptop]

I'm sorry, you're all wrong. It's still



York


Just the right mix of engineering and architectural bravado, a Proper Station with bustle outside...

On the other hand, if we're allowing British stations that happen to have been built elsewhere, Howrah is it:

(night view - you need to remember that on arrival you cross

this to get into the city.)

 

[Ground Elder]

I'll use my vote for St.Erth as it's my local station. Got off the Paddington train there a few hours ago, took a deep breath of Cornish air again and I can report that both air and station are indeed lovely. When I was waiting for the train up country earlier this week, a chap came along the platform with tea trolley and cheerful demeanour. Another railway man* was whistling a Cole Porter tune as he swept leaves away from the platform edge. It was like an old Ealing film

*that, I think, is the key; the station is staffed by railway men and not customer service operatives

 

[editor]

How about Great Malvern station?

Featuring elaborate and richly decorated columns based on plants and leaves, the station boasts an authentic old-style cafe serving home made cakes and tea which can be enjoyed on a table on the platform!

 

[bfg]

Always liked Horton in Ribblesdale for general setting and cuteness:

I remember taking shelter from the elements in that building 15 years ago or so whilst walking aroundthe Dales. It was totally abandoned, the windows were all put through, but it was the perfect place to brew a cuppa on me camping stove! Seems to have had quite a revamp since then, I think all the stations on the Settle/Carlisle have been smartened up over the last few years, but some of them are nicely turned out on one platform but still in their abandoned state on the other. Has the southbound platform been similarly worked on?

 

[Rocket Romano]

Newcastle Central Station

You can google the station to see the curved inside. Its booootiful. And GNER have been pretty good. Everything is original inside apart from a not too large small glass ticket office which is hidden behind a lovely archway anyway

 

[Donna Ferentes]

That photo does however give a rather less cluttered and traffic-strewn impression of the area in front of the station than is actually the reality.

 

[Rocket Romano]

That photo does however give a rather less cluttered and traffic-strewn impression of the area in front of the station than is actually the reality.

Probably but since the indefinite closure of the High Level Bridge the road is pretty dead for most of the day

 

[Dr. Furface]

Here I like Paddington, for the mix of the modrernism and the roof, and Marylebone for its, er, cuteness.

But the best anywhere for me is the beautiful Atocha station in Madrid - fantastic architecturally, it even has a botanical gardens on the inside!

Go here for lots more pics - http://www.multimadrid.com/sites/atocha/atocha.htm

 

[J77]

Some people have a strange definition of 'Britain'...

 

[Brixton Hatter]

My vote goes to KEMBLE station in Gloucestershire - an old fashioned cotswold stone GWR station... a bit like St Erth or Great Malvern. You can't see it on the pics here but the station has its very own garden stuffed full of beautiful plants and flowers, as well as hanging baskets on the platform. There's wrought iron benches painted red with 'GWR' woven into the design, the original iron pillars on the platform and the original wood and iron footbridge across the tracks. When you're at Kemble on the train from/to London you sometimes have to wait for a few minutes for the next train to go past the other way because the unique Glos geography means that only a single-track line is available to Swindon.

(Whoops - can;t work out how to compress the photo - picture is here

 

[editor]

My vote goes to KEMBLE station in Gloucestershire - an old fashioned cotswold stone GWR station...

Looks a good 'un - and it was given an award in the Best Kept Station Awards this year too!

Until 1964, passenger services branched off to Cirencester and Tetbury from Kemble.

Here's a nice venture giving gardeners with learning difficulties the chance to tart up stations: http://www.ruralstationsproject.org.uk/

 

[marty21]

How about Great Malvern station?

Featuring elaborate and richly decorated columns based on plants and leaves, the station boasts an authentic old-style cafe serving home made cakes and tea which can be enjoyed on a table on the platform!

that looks great, i was in malvern this summer, but drove there so didn't get to see the station

 

[E.J.]

Bristol Temple Meads.

Indeed Jtuug - now that's a lovely station, good ornated architecture. I'm only mentioning it with reference to my visit to the Ashton Court Festie in the summer. Also Manchester's Piccadilly is a good one, and so is Liverpool Lime St (agreed on that office block to be demolished!)

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Manchester Piccadilly is a nice station in my book - lovely, new and sparkly. Nice ironwork roof, airy and spacious. Manchester Oxford Road is interesting - not that big, but a very interesting roof. Manchester Victoria is lovely from the outside - all nice stonework, and looks gorgeous in the dusk light.

York is a lovely station too, but then York is a beautiful city in lots of ways

Worst mainline staions have to be Birmingham New Street, and even worse (if that is possible) Darlington - a complete dive...

 

[MysteryGuest]

Manchester Piccadilly is a nice station in my book - lovely, new and sparkly. Nice ironwork roof, airy and spacious. Manchester Oxford Road is interesting - not that big, but a very interesting roof. Manchester Victoria is lovely from the outside - all nice stonework, and looks gorgeous in the dusk light.

York is a lovely station too, but then York is a beautiful city in lots of ways

Worst mainline staions have to be Birmingham New Street, and even worse (if that is possible) Darlington - a complete dive...

Yaaaaaayy!!!!!!


*is very pleased to see fbm again*

 

[Hollis]

Kingswear Railway Station

 

[PacificOcean]

It's got to be the view of Paddington's roof as you come up the esclator from the underground. This huge vista of a massive iron roof as you ascend is incredible.

Manchester Picadilly is very shiny but lacks soul and whatever station the Gmex was (was it Manchester Exchange?) must have been a sight!

And I think by looking at the old pictures Euston, it would have won hands down if it wasn't for the unbelevible bit of vandalism in the 60's which resulted in the dull box we have now.

Also, the restored Crystal Palace station is stunning. They spent £4 million returning it to it's Victorian heyday and it really is incredible (if you ingnore the perspex ticket office tacked onto the front)

 

[chio]

Peartree.

I've no idea where it is, or what it's like, but it appears on the departures board at Stoke and it's got a pretty name.

 

[Poi E]

Also, the restored Crystal Palace station is stunning. They spent £4 million returning it to it's Victorian heyday and it really is incredible (if you ingnore the perspex ticket office tacked onto the front)

Still waiting for all those trains that stopped arriving. Splendid, but a little sad.

 

[SubComandante]

Manchester Victoria...

 

[tangerinedream]

Manchester Victoria...

Fleetwood!!!!
Fleetwood Station

Manchester Victoria is much shitter now, since they turned half of it into a concrete box.
Round here I like Preston and Manchester Picadilly. Huddersfield is nice too. Parbold is a lovely old fashionedy little station.

Preston:

I like Preston because it is a pleasant open space to wait for a train and looks very similar to how it looked many years ago and has suitable grandiosity to be a mainline station. Unlike the concrete horrors of places like Wigan or Stafford.

 

[laptop]

Peartree.

Spot the station:

​

Now that Etruria has closed, Peartree is probably England's third-least-served station, with departures to Derby at 06:55, 16:19 and 17:10 and the same pattern of arrivals.

(The least-served appears to be Denton: there's the 11:23 from Stockport on Saturday, arr 11:32 and going on to Guide Bridge, and as far as I can see that's it: one train per week. Brigg has three trains each way on Saturdays only.)

* Gets Duffel coat *

Weak lemonade, anyone?