Stations you don't want to go to/be at

[MatthewTurner]

For me its any of the following (that I've been to or through) in no particular order:

Blackpool North
Bolton
Penrith
London Euston
Sunderland
Birmingham New Street

 

[Whistler40145]

The area around Wakefield Kirkgate isn't very pleasant, especially at night, it's a bit of a sh*thole!

I have to admit, even coming from Blackpool that North station isn't very nice.

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[samogers]

Ore and Severn Tunnel Junction at night

 

[RichmondCommu]

There are two major problems with Leeds station. Firstly, it's in Leeds.

That’s a rather sweeping statement! I've always thought it to be a friendly city (as most northern cities are) with lots going for it.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

Brockholes, it brings back memories that I want to go away.

 

[bewildered]

There are two major problems with Leeds station. Firstly, it's in Leeds.

Secondly, it's least welcoming station I have ever been at (and that includes Wakefield Kirkgate), with a dark, artificial horribleness in the endless, soulless grey panelling and dingy, dank, poorly lit confusing array of platforms.

However, the real underlying problem is that whenever I'm at Leeds I really don't actually want to be there and I'm invariably either there late because of a late running Northern Fail Service, waiting for a late running Northern Fail connection, or both.

Sounds like another narrow minded bradfordian

 

[infobleep]

Any station late at night or during the day when there are no announcement and trains are being disrupted.

It's worse at night because during the day you can ask on Twitter. Well Monday to Saturday at least.

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[TheEdge]

If its not already been mention, Lowestoft.

"Lowestoft station: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."

 

[class303]

I have to say London Euston, as someone normally used to arriving in London at the modernised splendour of Kings Cross St P, arriving into Euston the other week at the very dull 1960's built Euston was a bit of a shock, it doesn't seem to have changed much since the last time I was there which is probably about 20 years ago. Add to which the vastly superior range of connections offered at KX with Thameslink, High Speed Kent services and Eurostar, one wonders how many passengers like myself from Leeds would prefer the East Coast service than the HS2 destination of Euston.

Could not agree more. Really is a big difference arriving in the modern St Pancras than there is the grotty Euston.

Now the novelty of St Pancras has worn off for me I actually prefer arriving at the conventional Euston. Getting from the MML platforms to the tube at St Pancras is a joke, especially with luggage.

 

[infobleep]

Now the novelty of St Pancras has worn off for me I actually prefer arriving at the conventional Euston. Getting from the MML platforms to the tube at St Pancras is a joke, especially with luggage.

It is. I once had a luggage trolly and got so far before being told it couldn't be used any further and there no no where to leave it. A few signs wouldn't go a miss.

In fact at Kings Cross there are signs for the tube and suddenly they stop and you can easily walk passed it.

When the rebuilding works was happening at Kings Cross and St Pancreas, there was a short route between stations but no the signs directed you to take a long route.

We are not always good at signs in this country. Not that I know if other countries are any better.

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[Tracked]

most of the usual suspects; Hatfield & Stainforth, Kirkgate, Euston, Birmingham NS


Meadowhall Interchange - nice station, ruined by the people
Coventry - ugly place
Darnall - Ewwwwww
Bidston - spent about 10 minutes waiting to change trains, felt like an eternity
Fitzwilliam - break out the banjo's

 

[PHILIPE]

Any station which does not have CIS or Help Point and your train doesn't turn up.

 

[dewsnapsliding]

Hyde North - the most forsaken hovel in the North, with a public footpath through it connecting a rough council estate to an industrial area, with very few people ever around, and a longish track to the station from the road.

Hole.

 

[David Goddard]

Any station fitted with Automatic Ticket Barriers...

 

[RichmondCommu]

Any station fitted with Automatic Ticket Barriers...

Why? I'm sorry but I don't understand this. Providing that your ticket is to hand what is the problem?

 

[David Goddard]

Well where do I start:
They turn our beautiful stations into guarded fortresses that are more difficult to get into than the average RAF base, meaning I can not get to the platforms to persue my hobby, or to meet and greet or see of my family, friends and guests.
I object to being processed every time I wish to travel. I have experienced personal injury from them closing on me, they are not friendly to passengers with luggage or carrying drinks and they hold up my journey.
They do not accept perfectly valid tickets and when I wish to retain my ticket (such as when my employer needs it for an expenses claim, or when I wish to make a complaint) I experience great difficulty in getting someone to let me have it as opposed to the wretched machine snatching it away from me.
And as for the so called "security" they provide, they didn't stop the London bombers now did they?
I would much rather rip them all out and put RPIs on every train.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Well where do I start:
They turn our beautiful stations into guarded fortresses that are more difficult to get into than the average RAF base, meaning I can not get to the platforms to persue my hobby, or to meet and greet or see of my family, friends and guests.
I object to being processed every time I wish to travel. I have experienced personal injury from them closing on me, they are not friendly to passengers with luggage or carrying drinks and they hold up my journey.
They do not accept perfectly valid tickets and when I wish to retain my ticket (such as when my employer needs it for an expenses claim, or when I wish to make a complaint) I experience great difficulty in getting someone to let me have it as opposed to the wretched machine snatching it away from me.
And as for the so called "security" they provide, they didn't stop the London bombers now did they?
I would much rather rip them all out and put RPIs on every train.

Ok but they don't prevent you from meeting people off the train or indeed wishing people a farewell, something which I manage to do on many occasions at St Pancras / Euston and Kings Cross. Not only that but why should TOC's / Network Rail get rid of their barriers simply to please rail enthusiasts?

As for guarded fortresses oh please! Nine times out of ten providing you have a valid ticket they are not a problem. And if you wish to retain you ticket in order to claim expenses why not just ask for a company credit card? Or failing that speak to a member of staff positioned by the gates?

 

[Tetchytyke]

a dark, artificial horribleness in the endless, soulless grey panelling and dingy, dank, poorly lit confusing array of platforms.

Dingy, dank and badly lit?

Clearly you don't remember the old version of Leeds station.

 

[CalderRail]

Dingy, dank and badly lit?

Clearly you don't remember the old version of Leeds station.

I do, but I don't consider 3 and a half year of building works to end up with the current soulless monstrosity a good deal.

 

[yorksrob]

The trainshed at Leeds. Not the prettiest thing, but it works, and it's better than the cattle shed that went before.

 

[Starmill]

The trainshed at Leeds. Not the prettiest thing, but it works, and it's better than the cattle shed that went before.

A simple (very) deep clean would improve the lot no end...

 

[alwaystouchout]

On the basis of my latest rail trip, Cheadle Hulme - drunken ticket evaders working their way into Manchester

 

[yorksrob]

A simple (very) deep clean would improve the lot no end...

Yes, I think you're always going to get a bit of grime, particularly given the number of diesel services using it. However, cleaning the glass sections would certainly be a good thing.

Incidentally, I notice they've been resurfacing the floor over the past few days.

 

[nicobobinus]

Maryland. Sprawling, unstaffed, ungated, hovers somewhere between undermaintained and filthy, and in the middle of the roughest part of Stratford. Surprised nobody else has mentioned it!

Mill Hill Broadway. Brick bunkers abutting a motorway. No life, just the din of cars (Hendon has this to an extent, but the environment is a bit nicer)

Bruce Grove, White Hart Lane, Silver Street, Southbury - neglected by several successive operators, understaffed, in pretty hairy areas.. I think I can look after myself but if I have a 15 minute wait at one of these of a late evening I'll consider a bus to get me home. They're just unpleasant places to be.

Ponders End is grim - not dangerous, but often quite bleak with the lack of life and the traffic roaring past on the parallel road. The 25 storey tower blocks looming over give a forbidding air too (they're being decanted for demolition in the next few years).

 

[306024]

Yes all of those. And don't expect AGA to spend a penny more than necessary on the ones that transfer to TfL in May 2015, so they can only get worse before they get better. While on the Southbury line not a fan of Stoke Newington either.

 

[nicobobinus]

Yes all of those. And don't expect AGA to spend a penny more than necessary on the ones that transfer to TfL in May 2015, so they can only get worse before they get better. While on the Southbury line not a fan of Stoke Newington either.

Oh yes, didn't even think of south of Seven Sisters. London Fields/Cambridge Heath/Bethnal Green can go on the list as well. Hackney Downs was a pretty sketchy station for a long time but some money has actually gone in there to improve the place. The area has gentrified a lot in the last few years as well (though the troublemakers have just moved up the line to Edmonton etc in a lot of cases). Stoke Newington has seen the gentrification but nothing in station improvements so.. yes, it is an ininviting place.

Honestly, anyone reading this and thinking I'm just having a go at my local operator needs to come and see it to believe it. That whole line is pretty much the last one in the south east to bear the double brunt of years of shoestring/near zero investment and 'tough' operating conditions. Reminiscent of Connex South Central inner south London in the late 90s.

 

[fowler9]

Seaforth and Litherland, not the nicest area, not the nicest station, some interesting characters and very exposed to the elements.

 

[315804]

:grin:

Maryland. Sprawling, unstaffed, ungated, hovers somewhere between undermaintained and filthy, and in the middle of the roughest part of Stratford. Surprised nobody else has mentioned it!


Bruce Grove, White Hart Lane, Silver Street, Southbury - neglected by several successive operators, understaffed, in pretty hairy areas.. I think I can look after myself but if I have a 15 minute wait at one of these of a late evening I'll consider a bus to get me home. They're just unpleasant places to be.

Ponders End is grim - not dangerous, but often quite bleak with the lack of life and the traffic roaring past on the parallel road. The 25 storey tower blocks looming over give a forbidding air too (they're being decanted for demolition in the next few years).

That forbidding air is just a mixture of aggression and arrogance from the locals... I lived and worked around Edmonton / Tottenham - all you say is true :roll: At least there's loads of Revenue Protection staff and plain clothes police to look after you at Edmonton Green, to outnumber the hordes of fare-dodging youths... I was going to mention Maryland - I was sent to fix their sole Tribute ticket machine... but the worst station is Bethnal Green, which is surrounded by London black cabs in various stages of repair, thanks to a nearby workshop, after walking up a Dickensian cobbled side street

For those of you who like wild-life, I'm sure Greater Anglia have a pamphlet for those interested at seeing the rats at Walthamstow Central

 

[Darren R]

Yes, I think you're always going to get a bit of grime, particularly given the number of diesel services using it. However, cleaning the glass sections would certainly be a good thing.

There are glass sections in Leeds station roof? hock:

 

[infobleep]

For those of you who like wild-life, I'm sure Greater Anglia have a pamphlet for those interested at seeing the rats at Walthamstow Central

The other week I saw at rat at Victoria underground station o the North bound Victoria line. It took one look at my large suitcase and ran off. Clearly not impressed with it.

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