Where's Britain's BEST railway station?

[roryer]

All this bollocks about beauty, a good train station is where you can get a drink while sitting in a comfortable cafe while waiting for your connection.

Ashford International is where I always try to stop on the way down to the Kent coast if I have to change, drinks served 24/7.

 

[corporate whore]

Can't believe I looked at Hollis' first picture and wondered where it was. Only my home town.. There's some nice old stations on that line, this one being my fave

Crowcombe Heathfield - two miles from anywhere. Legend has it someone once walked the two miles from the station to the nearest pub and said 'couldn't you have put the station nearer the village?' to which someone replied 'we thought it'd be more use nearer the railway..'

 

[scratch339]

Elmstead woods is a nice, well kept station. It even has its own little pond!

 

[speedstar]

Manchester Victoria...

One of those nostalgic old signs says Belgium and some other obscure places you can't really get a train to (not from the North anyway)

I always thought this was pretty cool too...

Amsterdam Central Station

Like St Pancras but dutch

 

[Andy the Don]

Amsterdam Central Station

Like St Pancras but dutch

Wonderful peice of enginering ACS, not built on dry land, but on 8687 wooden pillars sunk into the wetlands.

Further reading

http://www.wcities.com/en/record/,32621/12/record.html

 

[ICB]

Bristol TM, like York (curved) but bigger and better, esp. from the outside.

The combination of the Victorian wrought iron roof to the train shed and the curve of the lines is the key to the aesthetics. Throw in the historical significance and the fact that the covered car park is amongst disused platforms and it's game over for the competition.

 

[Wolfie]

Oakworh is a very nice small station

but maybe that's cheating cos it's on The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway

Hebden Bridge Station is nice too - but there seems to be a shortage of pics of it on the web ...

 

[Hollis]

Can't believe I looked at Hollis' first picture and wondered where it was. Only my home town.. There's some nice old stations on that line, this one being my fave

Crowcombe Heathfield - two miles from anywhere. Legend has it someone once walked the two miles from the station to the nearest pub and said 'couldn't you have put the station nearer the village?' to which someone replied 'we thought it'd be more use nearer the railway..'

Yes - I originally thought Minehead station was 'nice'. The photographic evidence shows otherwise.

 

[pommie]

Carnforth was done up years ago. It has new waiting rooms, shops, cafe etc, and even a market type thing held on the platform. None of it ever seems to be open, though. No call for it. The only trains that stop there thesedays are those travelling between Barrow and Lancaster and the occassional Arriva to York.

I went to Carnforth a couple of weeks ago, specially to have a look at the station. It's quite impressive now - I'd last been there 12 years previously when it was as run-down tip that looked to be biding its time before being demolished in favour of a glorified bus shelter. Thanks to a Friends of Carnforth Station group, they've now got a museum in the revitalised platform buildings stuffed with various bits of local railwayana, and with 'Brief Encounter' being shown continuously. The station buffet has been reinstated and looks similar to what it did in the film, serving some damn fine food - cheaper and much better than your average mainline station. The slope up from the underpass has been repainted and the station clock restored, so you can also role-play being Trevor Howard if the mood takes you...

And I don't want to be a pedant, but I ought to point out that as well as Barrow - Lancaster trains, the station is also served by Morecambe - Leeds services.

 

[Echo Base]

Manningtree station, Essex.
A Beautiful view over the Essex/Suffolk countryside, and a fantastic old pub on the platform, which used to do the BEST MEAT PIES in the world EVA!!!

editred to add; and has anyone ever got the train to Aberystwyth from Shrewsbury? There is a place called Dovey (sp?) Junction on the way that looks like the surface of the moon.

 

[Dowie]

surely no one can beat:
llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch station

the name on the sign alone should win it but the station itself looks pretty good too:

http://llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk/station.php

 

[PacificOcean]

surely no one can beat:
llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch station

the name on the sign alone should win it but the station itself looks pretty good too:

http://llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk/station.php

Does that count as a station? Is it a proper station with a regular train service all year round or is it a tourist attraction?

I put it into Trainline from London and it wasn't having any of it.

 

[Dowie]

yep it is a proper station - that is the full name & the name on the sign

but I don't think they refere to it by its full name on time tables etc....

the place is often refered to as simply llanfair

I have just checked nationalrail.co.uk and they have it listed as "Llanfairpwll"

 

[moonsi til]

Another vote for Glasgow Central, love the pic of Mumbai station was there a few years back had a shower there after a 36 hour journey. also Shrewsbury is quite pretty.

 

[SubComandante]

yep it is a proper station - that is the full name & the name on the sign

but I don't think they refere to it by its full name on time tables etc....

the place is often refered to as simply llanfair

I have just checked nationalrail.co.uk and they have it listed as "Llanfairpwll"

I can confirm it is a real station, I live in Llanfairpwll out of term time and its the station I use when I travel back to Manchester!

 

[Firky]

Newcastle of course

Incidently right next to Grainger Town, which is apparently Britain's nicest Street (so say Radio 4 listeners!)

 

[Floh]

 

[lang rabbie]

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.

Other than, err, North Queensferry

While walking along Ferryhill Road from the station, I've met more than one family group looking for the Deep Sea World (Scotland's National Aquarium), who must have taken took the wrong turning out of the station and ended up walking along the Fife Coastal Path to West Ness and the quarries.

IIRC The reasonably level broader path leads out towards the braes, unlike the precipitous and poorly signed narrow path down to the village and the aquarium.

Conclusion: Nice station, shame about the signage. Definitely worth getting off the train both to see the bridge from rail level and the bridge from village level.

 

[gonetoosoon]

high wycombe

well it was in my book until the booking office caught fire last sunday week. the view from platform 3 is wonderful, however the exit outer gate was locked when the booking hall went into 'blaze' mode. gonetoosoon could have been gonetoosoon!

 

[Pingu]

for me euston has to be the best railway station

cos it means i am leaving london

i normally arrive at paddington (as i wil often come via newbury) but then go home via euston


so for me euston gets my vote

 

[PacificOcean]

for me euston has to be the best railway station

cos it means i am leaving london

i normally arrive at paddington (as i wil often come via newbury) but then go home via euston


so for me euston gets my vote

Euston Station was an incredible building with a huge entrance arch. That was until a bit of unbelevible vandalisim in the 60's when BR knocked it all down and replaced with the concrete block there is now.

Shocking.