Bleakest UK Station (Trivia)

[bramling]

Mill Hill Broadway.
Exposed, windswept, and with the M1 whizzing by just inches away.

Could actually be the winner here. Horrible station to use.

 

[sh24]

Indeed - or even the half-underground - I’ll raise you Dalmarnock.

That's a good call. I remember a lot of dripping water in the unsettling gloom.

 

[vic-rijrode]

Watford West station seemed like one of the most grim ones to me. , Never went to it while it was open but I've had an explore through the abandoned remains of it and a poorly maintained single track station without even a bus shelter and with peak hour only service in the middle of a copy and paste 1930's housing development must have seemed pretty grim (Photos attached of the station in the early 90's and of when i visited it in may this year)

View attachment 188819

I see your Watford West (which had a decent little building on the road before demolition), and raise you Croxley Green (from the terminal thread):

Now if the OP hadn't specified "in current use" I'd have nominated Croxley Green on the erstwhile branch from Watford High Street after the original station building had been demolished and the rotting wooden platform which had been substituted on the other side. High on a windswept embankment with its handful of trains a day, absolutely no facilities and reached by a rickety staircase (accessible - hah!), it was the very definition of bleak. But of course it doesn't count now...

...and now it does! Sorry no photos.

 

[sad1e]

...and now it does! Sorry no photos.

I've seen the remains of the station myself, well not really remains as there is almost nothing left , only the stairs up to what once was the platform and a bit of rusty track , there's really nothing left to see there compared to Watford West or Watford Stadium which still are mostly intact.

If anyone here decides to walk the line , don't make my mistake and try and walk from where the motorway severs the line to Watford West, when I did it earlier this year it was very overgrown and at some points there were brambles taller than me I had to trample through to escape.

 

[matchmaker]

They must have had a refurb sometime after the end of steam , There's no way a steamer would be allowed to run though all those tunnels and into stations which look like they had no vents for steam to escape. unless the stations have been extensively rebuilt since the end of steam i would expect them to look more like the H&C platforms at Baker Street with lots of vents for steam.

They were refurbished for the reopening of the Argyle Line. In steam days there were two mechanical ventilators, one near the present Argyle Street station, and one between Central Low Level and Anderston. There's a good article here from the Caledonian Railway Association, although some of the links are dead. Even with the ventilation it must have been pretty hellish in steam days, as the majority was in tunnel, and it carried heavy goods traffic, as well as passenger.

 

[vic-rijrode]

...If anyone here decides to walk the line , don't make my mistake and try and walk from where the motorway severs the line to Watford West...

"Motorway"? Ah, that is the dual carriageway into the Croxley business park. The Croxley Rail Link had grand plans to link the Croxley Green branch to the Metropolitan line just across the A412, which would have necessitated a new bridge over that dual-carriageway.

I haven't been in that neck of the woods for over 20 years, so it's interesting that there are some remains left.

 

[Tester]

I see your Watford West (which had a decent little building on the road before demolition), and raise you Croxley Green (from the terminal thread):

Now if the OP hadn't specified "in current use" I'd have nominated Croxley Green on the erstwhile branch from Watford High Street after the original station building had been demolished and the rotting wooden platform which had been substituted on the other side. High on a windswept embankment with its handful of trains a day, absolutely no facilities and reached by a rickety staircase (accessible - hah!), it was the very definition of bleak. But of course it doesn't count now...

...and now it does! Sorry no photos.

I thought l had photos of derelict Croxley Green, but can't find them at the moment.

In the meantime, here's a couple of Watford Stadium (Hooligan Halt) taken December 2020.

 

[Ballyheigue]

I find Wester Hailes somewhat bleak, both the platforms and the access to it even if it's not necessarily the bleakest.

In terms of closed/mothballed stations ones like IBM, British Steel Redcar, Teesside Airport etc obviously come to mind.

British Steel Redcar when it was open had to be the most depressing station in the world, especially in it's latter days.

 

[Pnerick81]

Rose grove nr burnley

 

[Uk02048]

Stafford is grim. Might have some 60s aesthetics with the concrete, but, although rarely dirty it always seems cold, windy and desolate - no warmth to it even on a warm day.

 

[Megafuss]

Harwich Town or Derby Road

 

[Gourlish]

It's almost certainly not the bleakest station overall, but the office building at Swindon Station, which contains the British Rail/railway logo (making it what most people in Swindon think of as the train station even though it doesn't house much of the station itself), is more or less abandoned aside from the first two floors (one of which houses the train station entrance and a Costa, and the other houses a taxi firm I think). It was built in the early 1970s and originally housed an insurance firm.

 

[Russel]

Stafford is grim. Might have some 60s aesthetics with the concrete, but, although rarely dirty it always seems cold, windy and desolate - no warmth to it even on a warm day.

Even worse in the evening when the WCML decides to have it's weekly meltdown and you have an hour to kill before the next train may or may not turn up and the only place nearby that is open to get a drink is Tesco.

 

[Steddenm]

Blackpool South. One long platform with a bus shelter next to a car park and closed Aldi store. Cold in the winter. Not in the nicest area neither.

 

[Djgr]

Even worse in the evening when the WCML decides to have it's weekly meltdown and you have an hour to kill before the next train may or may not turn up and the only place nearby that is open to get a drink is Tesco.

Still a really nice park outside, which surprised me when I left the station for the first time

 

[Uk02048]

Still a really nice park outside, which surprised me when I left the station for the first time

Park is very nice tbf. Although this AM I was met in the P1 waiting room with some unfortunates from the nearby shelter and the smell was awful.

 

[Crawley Ben]

Dorking West (North Downs Line) Scrap Yard one side, and industrial estate on the other. Infrequent service, and nothing available in terms of facilities.

Avonmouth, been once and wouldnt rush to go back again, given how run down the immediate area seemed.

Ben

 

[cuccir]

Some of the central Glasgow ones might fall into this, Anderston, High Street. Thoguh maybe they are more 'grim' than 'bleak'.

Disappointingly, given its place in railway history, Heighington station is pretty bleak, as is its neighbour at Newton Aycliffe. South Bank on Teesside too.

 

[The exile]

That's a good call. I remember a lot of dripping water in the unsettling gloom.

Water that was best left unanalysed!

 

[JKF]

Imagine missing your train on a wet Saturday in February at Pilning....


While clearly several of the urban candidates mentioned above certainly qualify on a year round basis, there will be quite a lot of remote rural ones which would count as idyllic on a sunny summer's evening, but would suddenly seem very bleak on a wet Wednesday in the winter months as the delay minutes mount up.

I popped by there on a bike ride a couple of weeks back and it looks like it’s been resurfaced and tidied up, which seems insane given it’s barely open.



(Photo shows the up Platform at Pilning station with resurfaced platform and fresh looking paint)

The yard on the way in is still dreadful though, full of fly tipping and broken glass with a what seems to be a scrapyard operation spilling over from the adjacent premises.

 

[styles]

Suppose it depends what you mean by bleak.

Alighting at Corrour at 9am in the rain, with fog set in, the tearoom shut, probably seems bleak to some! I somewhat love this level of remoteness, and poor weather can make it feel like you're walking through the hills in a dramatic film scene.

 

[The exile]

I popped by there on a bike ride a couple of weeks back and it looks like it’s been resurfaced and tidied up, which seems insane given it’s barely open.

View attachment 189017

(Photo shows the up Platform at Pilning station with resurfaced platform and fresh looking paint)

The yard on the way in is still dreadful though, full of fly tipping and broken glass with a what seems to be a scrapyard operation spilling over from the adjacent premises.

Looks like we should expect to see closure notices pop up any day now!

 

[Russel]

Still a really nice park outside, which surprised me when I left the station for the first time

Didn't dare venture into it when I was there at about 10pm.

 

[faltskog36abba]

I nominate the closed stations of Royton Junction, Park (both Gtr Mcr), Loch Skerrow on the old Port Road & Blaenrhondda.

Park station East Manchester was a desolate place , It was my local station , I remember getting a train to Blackpool from there in 86.

 

[Sealink]

All of the Northern City Line feels bleak, but I'd argue that while Drayton Park may be above ground, the proximity to the Emirates Stadium always unnerves me (as a Spurs fan of course!)

On a more serious note, Silver Street (Edmonton) is right next to a dual carriageway, has the bare minimum on the platforms and isn't in the nicest area, to put it lightly.

Back to closed stations... Angel Road always looked bleak

 

[sk688]

duddeston is horrible with all the surrounding derelict land

 

[Recessio]

Mill Hill Broadway.
Exposed, windswept, and with the M1 whizzing by just inches away.

Could actually be the winner here. Horrible station to use.

I think this would be my winner too. The entrance, being hidden in the corner of a carpark beneath a motorway deck leading to damp grim subway under the platforms, surely has to be one of the worst in the country.

There may be rougher/worse stations, but Mill Hill Broadway truly is the bleakest.

 

[sad1e]

I think this would be my winner too. The entrance, being hidden in the corner of a carpark beneath a motorway deck leading to damp grim subway under the platforms, surely has to be one of the worst in the country.

There may be rougher/worse stations, but Mill Hill Broadway truly is the bleakest.

As a semi regular user of Mill Hill Broadway it can be a very bleak station, especially in the winter , however I wouldn't nominate it as the bleakest , at least it has a largeish platform canopy , is staffed most of the time and has a station shop on Platform 1 (which is scarcely ever open but that's better then nothing ) , if I were to nominate any station on the south MML it would be Hendon which is just Mill Hill Broadway but with all the afformentioned redeeming qualities removed.

I often wonder what Mill Hill Broadway and Hendon station's looked like Pre M1 , anyone have any photos of that ?

One of the bleakest I've been to is definitely Hawkhead station. A little single platform in a not very nice area of Glasgow right next to a gloomy oil terminal with quite a few rusty neglected sidings nearby. To be honest the whole Paisley Canal branch has a sort of run down bare feel but Hawkhead is definitely the worst of the bunch.

 

[bigmanaiq]

Anywhere on the Barton on Humber line (except maybe Goxhill)

 

[pitdiver]

My vote still goes for Berney Arms-

To reach the station it is a one mile walk from nearest road across muddy fields occupied by cows.
When you reach the station it has no shelter- just a platform and a seat.!
Not a place to be in a howling gale and heavy rain.

At least Corrour has the cafe adjacent to the station.

My wife and I have sailed on the Broads in weather like that and that would have been in a September