Trivia: most underwhelming end to a main route?

[willgreen]

A couple of good Turkish food shops and a bakery that does amazing fresh nans to take away though - and the station is bang in the middle of the shopping street.

Granny traffickers?!

 

[route101]

East Kilbride, second biggest town in Scotland and a single platform terminus.

 

[swt_passenger]

Passing Pokesdown and the cutting just before Bournemouth station are both very drab and gloomy.

But they aren't at the end of a route? I guess you misread the question...

 

[Cletus]

Of the Kent Coast stations I think Margate is perhaps the nicest 'main' one. Ramsgate does have a feel of an important railway hub though, but Dover Priory could certainly do with some work, as it sort of just feels like an intermediate stopping point.


I have also thought this about Weymouth, especially if you contrast with other main-line ends nearby such as Exeter or Brighton (even Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour feel a little bit more important). However the atmosphere is pleasant on a sunny day.

Dover Priory has recently had improvement works. Not that £3.5m buys much.

Railway station transformation

A key Kent station's footbridge and canopy have been given a brand new look after being upgraded following a £3.5 million investment.

www.kentonline.co.uk

 

[Bletchleyite]

Weymouth's station building always gives me the feeling of a 1970s leisure centre. If they're still there, the platform canopies with the glass roofs are quite nice, although they could do with a clean and a repaint.

Canopies were still there last time I went there, though it was a couple of years ago. Yes, I'd agree on the station building. It's just not fit for purpose and needs knocking down and replacing.

 

[Andrew S]

Epsom Downs is quite odd and underwhelming. Given that it's just within the oyster zones, and bears the name of a fairly significant town, it's a single track unstaffed platform tucked behind a housing estate.

 

[yorksrob]

Epsom Downs is quite odd and underwhelming. Given that it's just within the oyster zones, and bears the name of a fairly significant town, it's a single track unstaffed platform tucked behind a housing estate.

Especially considering it used to have nine platforms !

 

[Trainfan344]

Portsmouth Harbour. A high level station where you can't see anything from the station, It's exposed and feels empty.

 

[Nottingham59]

Never been to either, but what are Abbey Wood and Shenfield like as destinations for Crossrail?

 

[D6130]

Portsmouth Harbour. A high level station where you can't see anything from the station, It's exposed and feels empty.

While Portsmouth Harbour station itself may be somewhat underwhelming, I wouldn't agree that you can't see anything from it. Straight across from the entrance is the magnificent sailing vessel HMS Warrior.... and from the bufferstop ends of the platforms you can watch the hustle and bustle of the Gosport and Isle of Wight ferries and the never-ending maritime traffic entering and leaving the harbour - everything from major warships, submarines and car ferries to yachts, motor launches and fishing boats.

 

[birchesgreen]

Aylesbury Vale Parkway

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Littlehampton has three routes focused on it, but seems quite pedestrian.

But the ends of the platforms are interesting boasting semaphore signals and a working signal box

But I expect the average person doesn't notice these

 

[edwin_m]

While Portsmouth Harbour station itself may be somewhat underwhelming, I wouldn't agree that you can't see anything from it. Straight across from the entrance is the magnificent sailing vessel HMS Warrior.... and from the bufferstop ends of the platforms you can watch the hustle and bustle of the Gosport and Isle of Wight ferries and the never-ending maritime traffic entering and leaving the harbour - everything from major warships, submarines and car ferries to yachts, motor launches and fishing boats.

There used to be a sign outside for "The Hard Interchange". Which I thought didn't say much for local transport integration.

 

[southern442]

But the ends of the platforms are interesting boasting semaphore signals and a working signal box

But I expect the average person doesn't notice these

I've always found Bognor Regis to be more of an impressive station down that way, but Littlehampton to be a bit under-facilitated considering it is of equal importance.

West Croydon is certainly not as impressive as the other main Croydon station but it never feels lonely or isolated, and is right near a (worryingly) cheap chicken shop and the bus station cafe which sells some impressive cake, and back in sixth form that was a heavenly combination for me!

 

[yorksrob]

But the ends of the platforms are interesting boasting semaphore signals and a working signal box

But I expect the average person doesn't notice these

That's a good point. I'm not a big signalling enthusiast, but I do loke a good signal box.

I've always found Bognor Regis to be more of an impressive station down that way, but Littlehampton to be a bit under-facilitated considering it is of equal importance.

West Croydon is certainly not as impressive as the other main Croydon station but it never feels lonely or isolated, and is right near a (worryingly) cheap chicken shop and the bus station cafe which sells some impressive cake, and back in sixth form that was a heavenly combination for me!

Yes, I do find Bognor to be a very fine station generally which seems to be well designed for a fairly important seaside destination.

 

[trainophile]

Has no-one mentioned Morecambe yet? Another facility-less small station with a few indoor seats in the booking hall (haha), which closes around midday I think. A flower tub and a small shelter on the platform. Thankfully Morrisons is a couple of minutes walk and they do have toilets!

Edit: My apologies, yorksrob mentioned Morecambe on page 1. Wonder why it didn't come up in "search this thread". Perhaps because it was written as "Morecambe's".

 

[Western Sunset]

But they aren't at the end of a route? I guess you misread the question...

It's at the end of the Cross-Country Trains route from Manchester...

 

[swt_passenger]

It's at the end of the Cross-Country Trains route from Manchester...

I still don’t think there’s much wrong with Bournemouth station itself, which seemed to be the original question...

 

[Paul Jones 88]

Enfield Town, boring station, boring town.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Enfield Town, boring station, boring town.

Redditch very similar.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

How about Braintree?

 

[southern442]

Has no-one mentioned Morecambe yet? Another facility-less small station with a few indoor seats in the booking hall (haha), which closes around midday I think. A flower tub and a small shelter on the platform. Thankfully Morrisons is a couple of minutes walk and they do have toilets!

Edit: My apologies, yorksrob mentioned Morecambe on page 1. Wonder why it didn't come up in "search this thread". Perhaps because it was written as "Morecambe's".

The old Promenade station looks as though it would've been slightly more fitting. What's even more interesting for me to find out is the line used to be electrified! Certainly a fall from grace if there ever was one.

 

[Parallel]

Exmouth isn't that great, no facilities except a small waiting area with not very many seats, and the toilets down the passage by M&S were closed in the summer (possibly due to the pandemic, hopefully not permanently).

Talking of toilets, are there any nearby Weymouth station if they haven't re-opened the station ones? I haven't been over to the retail park so hopefully there's suitable conveniences there if need be.

Exmouth is better than it used to be a couple of years ago. Some money has been spent tidying up the station building. The toilets adjacent to the station were open when I visited in December. It is the terminus of a branch line though, albeit a well used one.

Weymouth - The island platforms aren’t too bad and have a fairly grand canopy. The platform GWR use is a bit underwhelming. The station building does feel a bit cheap and run down. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t fit for purpose, but could do with a bit of money spent on it.

Newquay - Yes, it does get some main line trains in summer, but it’s effectively now a terminus of a branch line. In comparison, Barnstaple has done very well to retain its station buildings, ticket office and cafe, though it’s a little further away from the town centre.

 

[BayPaul]

Paignton station always feels fairly depressing, compared to the attractive stations at Torquay, Newton Abbott and Exeter St D. I also really don't understand its track layout - a terminus station with two platforms, but one only able to accommodate arrivals feels like an awful loss of flexibility for a saving of a couple of sets of points. It's also fairly odd being a terminus station without buffers, as the track carries on to the sidings

 

[JRT]

Paignton station always feels fairly depressing, compared to the attractive stations at Torquay, Newton Abbott and Exeter St D. I also really don't understand its track layout - a terminus station with two platforms, but one only able to accommodate arrivals feels like an awful loss of flexibility for a saving of a couple of sets of points. It's also fairly odd being a terminus station without buffers, as the track carries on to the sidings

It was a through station, sounds like they've not altered the track layout since.

The old Promenade station looks as though it would've been slightly more fitting. What's even more interesting for me to find out is the line used to be electrified! Certainly a fall from grace if there ever was one.

It was actually the direct line from Lancaster Green Ayre that was electrified in an early experimental setup.

 

[Andrew S]

Never been to either, but what are Abbey Wood and Shenfield like as destinations for Crossrail?

Abbey Wood is pretty good to be honest. It was completely rebuilt for Crossrail, has two island platforms, quite long canopies, several staircases, escalators and footbridges connecting them. The ticket hall area is spacious and light, with a huge light wood finished overall roof. There's a convenience store, although it seems to be closed at the moment.

The only minor irritation for me is that prior to March last year, during the morning peak time, people would stand in groups just inside the ticket barriers, looking up at the departure board until their train was due. It seems pointless, as trains always go from the same platform.

 

[BayPaul]

It was a through station, sounds like they've not altered the track layout since.

True, though there have presumably been a lot of track alterations to allow the steam railway to run on (mainly?) segregated tracks, and for them to have their own platform, so presumably there were also changes needed on the BR side as well.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Bedwyn, which is a terminus for Turbo services from Paddington, is pretty underwhelming, just a wayside station and two stops back from where they could do with continuing to (Westbury).

 

[Thebaz]

Outside of the UK Canberra takes some beating. As the only station that serves Australia's capital city, it's a single deserted platform with a brutalist station building two miles from the city centre in the middle of pretty much nowhere. It's not even served by bus services to connect with arriving trains, so if you have no onward transport arranged when you get there you have to call a cab.

 

[WestRiding]

Dover, not a terminus, but its the end point for a lot of traffic from London. Its simply tatty and depressing.