Trivia: Uninspiring ends to a 25kv branch electrification?

[Ianno87]

Balloch needs a mention here. Alloa as a future contender

I'd say having Loch Lomond at the end of the line was pretty inspiring!

 

[edwin_m]

I think Windermere is an "uninspiring end to a 25kV branch electrification".

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Also at the end of a branchline, Harrogate station can be bleak and uninviting in winter. Even after a so-called £1m facelift, the Leeds bound platform where the majority of passengers wait for a train is totally devoid of canopy and the new footbridge between platforms is an open trough that is a canal when wet and frozen when cold and towards the end of the platforms is very much a poor relation of the old footbridge that was covered and in the middle of the station. This is reflected in below expected annual footfall for a town or 77,000 residents.

In excess of 1.5 million users is not at all a bad return for a town of 77,000. Many places with populations well above that have lower usage at their sole / main station - see Blackburn, Poole, Redditch, Rochdale, Telford...

 

[AndrewE]

Off topic!

In excess of 1.5 million users is not at all a bad return for a town of 77,000. Many places with populations well above that have lower usage at their sole / main station - see Blackburn, Poole, Redditch, Rochdale, Telford...

Of those, Redditch is the only relevant one, like Harrogate the others are neither electrified nor a terminus.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Off topic!

Of those, Redditch is the only relevant one, like Harrogate the others are neither electrified nor a terminus.

I was merely responding to what I considered a debatable assertion. I am suitably apprised of the infrastructure and features of the stations that I (and deltic08) listed, but funnily enough did not feel it worthy of starting another thread over!

 

[tsr]

Does North Pole count? (As in Willesden, not the Arctic Circle...)

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/L09525/2017/11/16/advanced

 

[Mag_seven]

Does North Pole count? (As in Willesden, not the Arctic Circle...)

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/L09525/2017/11/16/advanced

Its not at the end of a branch line though is it?

 

[tsr]

Its not at the end of a branch line though is it?

It effectively acts as a branch sometimes, although passenger services try not to terminate there, if they can help it...

 

[snowball]

I've never been to Balloch station, but I've been through it.

 

[yorksrob]

I think Windermere is an "uninspiring end to a 25kV branch electrification".

Unless you count the posh supermarket !

 

[Calthrop]

Moderator note: split from Bromsgrove new station and wiring updates

Last Sunday (13th Aug), I went all the way to Redditch for the first time ever - can anyone think of a more uninspiring end to a 25kv branch electrification?...
at Redditch it's like a neglected electrified siding in the corner of a shopping centre delivery compound/car park....

The sign on the pub wall on the far wall of the car park has to tell you you've arrived !

Responding to the OP more re things Redditch-related, than about putative uninspiring similar locations -- some years ago, I travelled for the first and only time to Redditch, just to cover the rail section between there and Barnt Green; Redditch found a very weird-feeling little place, succinctly and admirably described in the OP. I and my companion rapidly retreated back up the branch, to its one intermediate station at Alvechurch, which struck us as a "normal" and pretty little town -- convivial session in an Alvechurch pub, followed.

Some compensation involving Redditch, concerning "fiction, and past times in which it was seemingly more of a proper small town": numerous historical novels by the author with pseudonym Sara Fraser -- who I understand is actually a man, with a past in the Royal Marines and the French Foreign Legion. Said novels (various series, with different characters in each) take place in the general area of Redditch and environs, over the approximate period 1820 -- 1920. I particularly like the murder mysteries with the (anti?-) hero Thomas Potts, parish constable of Redditch in the 1830s -- Thomas is a timid, wimpish chap, in the role of constable greatly against his will -- unmarried, and living with his harridan of a mother who exerts a reign of terror over him. Nonetheless, Thomas and his ally the local Anglican curate -- a "muscular Christian" type and generally excellent guy -- manage to "get their man" more often than not.

This stuff "isn't Tolstoy or Proust" -- it's bollocks, but I find it enjoyable bollocks -- literately written, and historically accurate as far as I can tell !

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I think Windermere is an "uninspiring end to a 25kV branch electrification".

Brilliant ! (but sad at the same time!

 

[jopsuk]

I'd say having Loch Lomond at the end of the line was pretty inspiring!

can't see the Loch from the station though- the station itself is not a thing of wonder!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

St Albans Abbey. A token representation of what was quite an interesting terminus to two branch lines each providing journeys to their respective company's London terminii. There's nothing wrong with the location once the station yard has been exited.

Disagree - the station and approaches have never been as well looked after as now (try it circa 1979 if you want bleakness) - and you do have a very fine park with the odd Roman remain to see (in daylight)

 

[Bevan Price]

Redditch was never intended to be a terminus - it was just an intermediate station on a line that continued via Evesham to Ashchurch. And the original station was further south than the current station. We should be glad that the branch still exists - by the early 1970s, the service was only slightly better than Parliamentary level.

 

[30907]

Redditch was never intended to be a terminus - it was just an intermediate station on a line that continued via Evesham to Ashchurch. And the original station was further south than the current station. We should be glad that the branch still exists - by the early 1970s, the service was only slightly better than Parliamentary level.

In fact IIRC the only time you could get there and back in a day was Saturday lunchtime - there was a MR lower quadrant distant on the branch somewhere near Alvechurch (and Cadbury's at Bourneville had a disc and crossbar signal but that's totally OT https://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?030,8169975).

 

[thenorthern]

Newcraighall as its never been needed.

Walsall seemed an odd choice because the chase line carried on to Rugeley Trent Valley although when it was electrified the trains terminated there.

Corby will be one soon.

 

[tsr]

Thinking of the Corby extension, I can't actually see Bedford on this list, which is a bit surprising.

 

[thenorthern]

Until recently Deansgate (ok Trafford Park for freight) was the end of the electrified lines in Greater Manchester which seemed an odd choice to end. At the same time not having electrification from Manchester to Preston seemed odd as for many years the Virgin Cross Country trains ran Glasgow - Preston - Manchester - Stoke - Birmingham - The South was frustrating as it meant trains changed engines at Preston from Diesel to Electric.

 

[Ianno87]

Until recently Deansgate (ok Trafford Park for freight) was the end of the electrified lines in Greater Manchester which seemed an odd choice to end. At the same time not having electrification from Manchester to Preston seemed odd as for many years the Virgin Cross Country trains ran Glasgow - Preston - Manchester - Stoke - Birmingham - The South was frustrating as it meant trains changed engines at Preston from Diesel to Electric.

Deansgate/Trafford of course hasn't always been the end - wires used to continue through to Altrincham via Cornbrook Jn.

Manchester-Bolton-Preston wires have been on and off the cards for years. There was once a plan to do it with the rest of the 1973 Weaver Jn-Glasgow electrification. And when Castlefield viaduct was refurbished for Metrolink in 1991, it was raised to give clearance for the wires. Now it finally happens!

Unless you count the posh supermarket !

Ah, Booth's - the Waitrose of the north west!

 

[D365]

Thinking of the Corby extension, I can't actually see Bedford on this list, which is a bit surprising.

Bedford’s hardly a branch line is it

 

[Glenmutchkin]

Neilston gets my vote.

 

[AM9]

Disagree - the station and approaches have never been as well looked after as now (try it circa 1979 if you want bleakness) - and you do have a very fine park with the odd Roman remain to see (in daylight)

I think we are in agreement. The Station is now screened as much as possible from Sainsbury's car park and the back gardens of houses in Prospect road. The far better view is when you cross the road so that you can see past the theatre and leisure centre. I find the city, the park and it's setting wonderful, which is why I moved here in the early '90s. My comments relate purely to the station which even with trees, falls some way short of its two platform, goods yard and sidings of yesteryear from a rail interest.

 

[tsr]

Bedford’s hardly a branch line is it

It is, partly. It just so happens that the Marston Vale branch is not (properly) the electrified bit...

 

[Bletchleyite]

Ah, Booth's - the Waitrose of the north west!

Much, much better than Waitrose. The Fortnum and Mason's of the North, perhaps?

 

[gg1]

Redditch was never intended to be a terminus - it was just an intermediate station on a line that continued via Evesham to Ashchurch. And the original station was further south than the current station. We should be glad that the branch still exists - by the early 1970s, the service was only slightly better than Parliamentary level.

As indeed was the case at Bromsgrove as recently as the late 80s. At the time all the Hereford services and the New Street - Cardiff service ran via Stourbridge, it was the diversion of the latter to run via the Cross City line which finally gave Bromsgrove a regular service.

Back on topic, Hazel Grove is an odd one, being a through station at the end of an electrified section (so may count as an electrified terminus depending on your definition) but which is, or at least was until very recently, served entirely by DMUs

 

[xotGD]

Can I nominate London Euston?

Terminus? Yes
25kV? Yes
Uninspiring? Definitely yes
Branch line? Well...

 

[edwin_m]

Much, much better than Waitrose. The Fortnum and Mason's of the North, perhaps?

I thought we were talking about Booths the scrapyard...

 

[RJ21]

I'd add Lanark to the list, it's not exactly the best of stations, and I have spent plenty of time getting cold on it's platform(s) (2 is almost never used).