Bleakest UK Station (Trivia)

[Dave W]

Interested to hear stories from the Overground lines around North London - especially from the ever-enlightening @ChiefPlanner !

I did a bit of photography in my "youth" and spent some time at the south end of North Wembley on what felt like a decent vantage point. Waving an SLR around there maybe not the best shout ever... as for Harlesden... I was recently at Garden Studios, which was very pleasant. Around it, however... Goodness me it was rough (and I live in a part of North London that actually IS on fire a lot of the time)

I've only ever known the lines as "Overground", but even in my 13 years the reputation and "bleakness" has ebbed and flowed. The Goblin could be a bit bleak in the evenings - I hate to think what Leyton Midland Road was like pre-Overground, for example. But even as North London has changed, the stations themselves have never felt particularly bad, in my view.

 

[sad1e]

- I hate to think what Leyton Midland Road was like pre-Overground, for example.

Thinking about it the Eastern end of the GOBLIN must have been quite grim in the Late 80's - Early 90's before the silverlink 150's came in. Having a 115 ( or was it a 117) only run a infrequent service from Kentish town must have been grim if you had just missed your train knowing you would have to wait almost an hour for the next one in some quite unsavoury areas of East London.

Although I do wish the Goblin still went to Kentish Town and the Highgate incline was never lifted, having platforms 3 and 4 at Kentish town basically sit permanently empty is quite a sad sight.

I don't even remember the last time I saw a passenger carrying service use platform 4 , Any ideas when that would have been , Platform 4 at Kentish town is definitely quite bleak.

 

[bramling]

Thinking about it the Eastern end of the GOBLIN must have been quite grim in the Late 80's - Early 90's before the silverlink 150's came in. Having a 115 ( or was it a 117) only run a infrequent service from Kentish town must have been grim if you had just missed your train knowing you would have to wait almost an hour for the next one in some quite unsavoury areas of East London.

Although I do wish the Goblin still went to Kentish Town and the Highgate incline was never lifted, having platforms 3 and 4 at Kentish town basically sit permanently empty is quite a sad sight.

I don't even remember the last time I saw a passenger carrying service use platform 4 , Any ideas when that would have been , Platform 4 at Kentish town is definitely quite bleak.

Bleak quite probably, however I don’t remember Gospel Oak-Barking ever having the threatening atmosphere of Queen’s Park - Wembley Central. It may have helped that the class 117s had a guard, who due to the design of the trains tended to be fairly visible.

The problem with the DC line in those days was that the only staff routinely seen were drivers and booking office, the latter of whom were pretty well secured away for obvious reasons. What this meant in practice was someone intent on trouble could do their thing and quite easily just leave the station. Likewise anyone on the receiving end didn’t really have anywhere or anyone to seek help.

 

[WesternLancer]

I propose Longton station on the Crewe-Derby line as a strong contender for Bleakest station. The station itself is quite bleak, and the surroundings are also very miserable.

It sits on a viaduct above the remains of the ailing town centre. The platform-level station buildings have been demolished, and the platforms blocked off part way along, making them too short for the occasional 4-car 158 or 170 services along the line (these only ever appear on quiet services, for reasons best known to EMR). Beyond the fences, the platforms are covered in brambles and litter. The station's elevated position means it is usually very windy, with just a small bus shelter on each platform for protection. At night, the lighting is quite ineffective. On the platforms, you feel simultaneously very exposed, yet also trapped. Platforms are accessed via dingy staircases, which loop back in on themselves, so you can't see the bottom of the staircase from the street, or from the platform, making them feel quite secluded and threatening. There are no lifts to platform level. Services are hourly, making it quite useless for local travel.

From the platforms, the view is spectacular. On one side, the decaying remains of the phoenix pottery works, a small patch of wasteland serving as a car park, a closed-down adult entertainment shop (good for catching things other than trains), a fire-gutted house, one of the worst-rated hotels in the country, and an empty churchyard (church long since demolished). On the other, the back of a Tesco Extra, an overgrown part-demolished bus station, a car wash run from a shipping container, a collapsing row of empty shops, the faded grandeur of the old town hall, and a very busy road junction. You will often find a group of addicts lurking under the bridge, or occasionally sleeping under the stairs to the platforms.

Positives: volunteers clean the station and tend to some flower boxes (many thanks for your efforts). These don't do much for the overall ambiance, especially at this time of year when everything is dead. There's some fading artwork on the viaduct walls. The in-use parts of the platforms are usually kept free of litter. Heading east from the station, the line crosses a fairly interesting old bridge.

This is eloquently put!

But isn’t it the station for the pottery museum? I’ve enjoyed several visits there and found it impressive tho a few years since I last went. I did go by train.

 

[450.emu]

Angel Road. It was replaced by Meridian Water but was a pig to get to when it was open as few trains ever stopped there. I used to go there to fix the old Atos Tribute and Swecoin ticket machines (some of the cleanest machines as barely used ) on a filthy link road off the A1055 serving a busy industrial area, it's grim Up North London...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Nov 2025 ==

Thorp-Le-Soken always feels bleak, especially in winter when it gets dark at 4pm, the huge abandoned building next door and the general feeling of isolation doesn't make for a pleasant place to wait.

At least you've got a nice bit of jointed track to Kirby Cross (doesn't sound as good on the 720s due to bogie placement compared to the 321s)... I'm surprised that building is still there.

White Hart Lane used to be bleak but at least their now new OHLE catenery performs better than the current squad down the road in the Stadium... though like Xavi at Spurs, it doesn't fit in with the rest of all the old stuff no longer fit for purpose

 

[Strathclyder]

11 pages in and not one mention of Coatbridge Central! It's one of the few stations I've used that I've felt a little uneasy waiting for a train, not helped by the (in)frequency of the service. That underpass wouldn't look too out of place in a Fallout-esque game. Wouldn't want to have to use it at night unless I absolutely had to.

The only other station I've felt a bit uneasy waiting for a train is Paisley St. James.

Stations on the Argyle Line - particularly the city centre stops between Partick & Rutherglen - have come up multiple times and as a frequent user of the line as it's one of my locals, most of those would definitely fit the 'grim and grotty' label - Anderston in particular has long been a problem child in this respect, being right underneath a motorway overpass/junction - but not necessarily 'bleak' per-se, though it depends on how you personally define these things.

Exhibition Centre felt a bit bleak to me when I visited in August, odd layout overshadowed by a motorway flyover.

I've used that one and it is a bit! Freezing cold in winter too. And the bridge over from the SEC feels a bit unsafe, fully enclosed and with blind corners.

Never felt uneasy when using it myself, though I've always considered that red footbridge crossing the Clydeside Expressway & Stobcross Rd from the station to the SEC to be a eyesore, apart from any safety issues it may have.

With that in mind, @Djgr is correct in saying that pedestrian access in that particular part of the city is woeful at best (to say nothing of public transport access) and needs a complete overhaul. One would at least hope the aforementioned footbridge is due for replacement soon-ish, as it'll be 45 years old by the end of the decade, having it has been very heavily used in that time.

 

[Dave W]

Angel Road. It was replaced by Meridian Water but was a pig to get to when it was open as few trains ever stopped there. I used to go there to fix the old Atos Tribute and Swecoin ticket machines (some of the cleanest machines as barely used ) on a filthy link road off the A1055 serving a busy industrial area, it's grim Up North London...

Would love to get on the defensive and parrot lines about it not being that bad and everyone exaggerates etc etc... but round there... Good grief... If anything you've made it sound better than it is

 

[yorksrob]

Sounds grim down South !

 

[Ridgeblog]

I'm too young to remember the pre-Overground days, but I have seen some late 1980s cab ride footage of the NLL in those days. Do you think that back then some of those stations might have qualified for "most bleak station"? Especially the ones down towards the North Woolwich end of the line (though I remember Kentish Town West looking particularly grim in the footage too).

Geez, yeah sounds like they were quite bleak! I read about North Woolich quite recently and its final days up to closure and feeling haunted about the closure of the little museum they used to have. They must have had very few users. No wonder they closed.

 

[Falcon1200]

11 pages in and not one mention of Coatbridge Central!

I used Coatbridge Central in May and agree it should be high on the list! Thankfully I was only there in daylight.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

The interest in North London back in the day has certainly yielded some interest.

501 removal was all to do with getting out of the costs of Croxley Depot (before my time) , and there was plenty of slack in the 313 fleet , as the Great Northern never needed the whole of the fleet as built. Acute vandalism on the compartment vehicles of the 501 fleet was very common way back into the 1970's , with a particular emphasis on seat slashing , lighting destruction and kicking in the ceiling panels ! -they were largely spared the curse of felt pen . modified marker and spray cans. Ironically the Met Line suffered extremely badly with that for a while. I brought in a heavy cleaning regime for the 313's and a zero tolerance of graffiti with NYC style of instant removal or withdrawal from service if bad - and that worked. Window wedges reduced the yobs penchant of posting them trackside - so they replaced that by ripping them out and booting them out the sliding doors. You just had to keep on top of it - that and not berthing invulnerable spots such as Camden Yard over long seasonal holidays at Christmas in particular. (Euston was filled up with them , as apart from safety , they were under the station "roof". We did get some arrests , and I pushed for proper use of the law. Often middle class kids !

Changes in suburban population and work / commuting patterns affected all the lines. As someone said elsewhere , the bright young things who bought into the 1930's suburban dream aged , retired or moved away. Older Victorian / Edwardian areas often became more desirable with time and refurbishmed , and the scandal of the GLC "social integration dream - rolls eyes" of building brutalist estates in often "good" areas - clearly failed and they were rightly reduced to rubble and rebuilt on a more human scale. Stonebridge Park , Chalk Hill (Wembley) etc You can see how my 2 Human Geography degrees were applied in practical ways !
A bit of timetable "tweaking" helped - I discovered that the OPRAF train service spec for the DC mandated a late depature down the DC of 2310 southbound - there was a later one day as inherited which was without doubt the service from hell for ordinary , law abiding passengers as it was a free service home for the drunken etc from Watford . (even the BTP were concerned about that as I got them to ride it surreptitously) - so I retimed it earlier and it certainly helped. (always semi-wrecked with every fire extinguisher discharged) - and we removed the emergency tools into the driving cabs , as apart from nicking them - the scrotes could cause damage with handy axes and crowbars. Likewise , I removed the very last service from North Woolwich for the same reasons and it ran ECS.

North London Line was challenged from Highbury to North Woolwich in terms of clientel at times , with mobile class A drug dealing for a while (BTP stamped on that , particularly when they used Stratford based officers) - the Gospel Oak service was generally OK -2 car 117 DMU's (not the best of course - but that is all we had) - and a bit more of a better feel to it.

Areas and train users , can change over times - vandals can grow up and move away as much as "commuters" do - I used to try and get out as much as I could at evenings and weekends , and engaged with some of the user groups - often feared but they were actually OK if you went and spoke honestly to them. One bit of fun was to get on the PA and announce a "full ticket check" leaving Camden Road say -to witness a mass evacuation at the next station. !.........a very challenging job , but one I look back on with some satisfaction. Even "The Times" commended us for making a difference in a challenging area , - and despite much of the then not very good infrastructure (one driver had 2 broken rails on a single round trip on the DC !) , we got overall punctuality to over 90% for many weeks. Attention to detail and "interest in the job " ........

 

[sh24]

Places like Queens Park have massively gentrified, and Harlesden and Kensal Green are on the same path. They feel significantly less sketchy than the 80's/90's, despite what certain sections of the median (US and UK) might suggest.

 

[Recessio]

The interest in North London back in the day has certainly yielded some interest.

501 removal was all to do with getting out of the costs of Croxley Depot (before my time) , and there was plenty of slack in the 313 fleet , as the Great Northern never needed the whole of the fleet as built. Acute vandalism on the compartment vehicles of the 501 fleet was very common way back into the 1970's , with a particular emphasis on seat slashing , lighting destruction and kicking in the ceiling panels ! -they were largely spared the curse of felt pen . modified marker and spray cans. Ironically the Met Line suffered extremely badly with that for a while. I brought in a heavy cleaning regime for the 313's and a zero tolerance of graffiti with NYC style of instant removal or withdrawal from service if bad - and that worked. Window wedges reduced the yobs penchant of posting them trackside - so they replaced that by ripping them out and booting them out the sliding doors. You just had to keep on top of it - that and not berthing invulnerable spots such as Camden Yard over long seasonal holidays at Christmas in particular. (Euston was filled up with them , as apart from safety , they were under the station "roof". We did get some arrests , and I pushed for proper use of the law. Often middle class kids !

Changes in suburban population and work / commuting patterns affected all the lines. As someone said elsewhere , the bright young things who bought into the 1930's suburban dream aged , retired or moved away. Older Victorian / Edwardian areas often became more desirable with time and refurbishmed , and the scandal of the GLC "social integration dream - rolls eyes" of building brutalist estates in often "good" areas - clearly failed and they were rightly reduced to rubble and rebuilt on a more human scale. Stonebridge Park , Chalk Hill (Wembley) etc You can see how my 2 Human Geography degrees were applied in practical ways !
A bit of timetable "tweaking" helped - I discovered that the OPRAF train service spec for the DC mandated a late depature down the DC of 2310 southbound - there was a later one day as inherited which was without doubt the service from hell for ordinary , law abiding passengers as it was a free service home for the drunken etc from Watford . (even the BTP were concerned about that as I got them to ride it surreptitously) - so I retimed it earlier and it certainly helped. (always semi-wrecked with every fire extinguisher discharged) - and we removed the emergency tools into the driving cabs , as apart from nicking them - the scrotes could cause damage with handy axes and crowbars. Likewise , I removed the very last service from North Woolwich for the same reasons and it ran ECS.

North London Line was challenged from Highbury to North Woolwich in terms of clientel at times , with mobile class A drug dealing for a while (BTP stamped on that , particularly when they used Stratford based officers) - the Gospel Oak service was generally OK -2 car 117 DMU's (not the best of course - but that is all we had) - and a bit more of a better feel to it.

Areas and train users , can change over times - vandals can grow up and move away as much as "commuters" do - I used to try and get out as much as I could at evenings and weekends , and engaged with some of the user groups - often feared but they were actually OK if you went and spoke honestly to them. One bit of fun was to get on the PA and announce a "full ticket check" leaving Camden Road say -to witness a mass evacuation at the next station. !.........a very challenging job , but one I look back on with some satisfaction. Even "The Times" commended us for making a difference in a challenging area , - and despite much of the then not very good infrastructure (one driver had 2 broken rails on a single round trip on the DC !) , we got overall punctuality to over 90% for many weeks. Attention to detail and "interest in the job " ........

Very interesting to hear the inside story from what I guess most passerbys would have written off as a "bleak" railway!

You know, you really should write a book or a blog of this stuff @ChiefPlanner - "It's grim up North London Railways" perhaps?

 

[Sprinter107]

Well interesting @chiefplanner, I agree, you should put all this in a book.

 

[bramling]

Places like Queens Park have massively gentrified, and Harlesden and Kensal Green are on the same path. They feel significantly less sketchy than the 80's/90's, despite what certain sections of the median (US and UK) might suggest.

It’s all a bit of a revolving door. For Harlesden and Kensal Green in the 1990s, you could probably now read Edgware and Burnt Oak. Both are now absolutely dire places. Edgware in particular is quite shocking as only 15 years ago or so it was a smart semi-detached suburb.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Very interesting to hear the inside story from what I guess most passerbys would have written off as a "bleak" railway!

You know, you really should write a book or a blog of this stuff @ChiefPlanner - "It's grim up North London Railways" perhaps?

Thanks ! - an interesting 3 years ! - when I left I was presented with a destination blind box from a withdrawn 117 unit - so I can relive my working past by going down the shed and scrolling through it to get a suitable destination. I ought to get it down on paper , along with freight experiences and the scrapping of Crossrail1 , and much else.

Best thing , as ever , was the human interfaces !

 

[LowLevel]

Thanks ! - an interesting 3 years ! - when I left I was presented with a destination blind box from a withdrawn 117 unit - so I can relive my working past by going down the shed and scrolling through it to get a suitable destination. I ought to get it down on paper , along with freight experiences and the scrapping of Crossrail1 , and much else.

Best thing , as ever , was the human interfaces !

I'd buy it! You are superb value as a contributor on here and I always look forward to reading your posts when your username appears!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

It’s all a bit of a revolving door. For Harlesden and Kensal Green in the 1990s, you could probably now read Edgware and Burnt Oak. Both are now absolutely dire places. Edgware in particular is quite shocking as only 15 years ago or so it was a smart semi-detached suburb.

Lived in Queens Park for a couple of weeks circa 1982 - it was OK then , by no means sketchy, just fairly ordinary Edwardian housing , some subdivided , no pubs , and a handy Met Police station. Since then much of the housing stock has been smartened up.

Surprised about the falling status of Edgeware though , and of course Burnt Oak has been well covered by Robert Elms who was of course brought up there.

Final comment on "suburbia" - a great interest of mine - (once a Geographer !) - mentioned to me that Carpenders Park (and St Meryls) was built post war and populated by ex West London residents , who apparently - several generations on , are still there - or their descendants are. Like many other developments - 2 halves - one public housing (or was) , one side of the tracks - and private housing on the other.

 

[Djgr]

Places like Queens Park have massively gentrified, and Harlesden and Kensal Green are on the same path. They feel significantly less sketchy than the 80's/90's, despite what certain sections of the median (US and UK) might suggest.

It’s all a bit of a revolving door. For Harlesden and Kensal Green in the 1990s, you could probably now read Edgware and Burnt Oak. Both are now absolutely dire places. Edgware in particular is quite shocking as only 15 years ago or so it was a smart semi-detached suburb.

And who would have thought that "the Stow" would transition from hellhole to "too cool for school" , albeit without the dogs, which were always its greatest asset.

 

[bramling]

Lived in Queens Park for a couple of weeks circa 1982 - it was OK then , by no means sketchy, just fairly ordinary Edwardian housing , some subdivided , no pubs , and a handy Met Police station. Since then much of the housing stock has been smartened up.

Surprised about the falling status of Edgeware though , and of course Burnt Oak has been well covered by Robert Elms who was of course brought up there.

Final comment on "suburbia" - a great interest of mine - (once a Geographer !) - mentioned to me that Carpenders Park (and St Meryls) was built post war and populated by ex West London residents , who apparently - several generations on , are still there - or their descendants are. Like many other developments - 2 halves - one public housing (or was) , one side of the tracks - and private housing on the other.

Edgware is horrific now. It’s quite incredible how the area has declined so much in a very short time. On the subject of bleakness, Edgware platform 1 on a winter evening is a very bleak place. It’s the local location of choice for anything dodgy, which doesn’t help the atmosphere.

 

[sh24]

And who would have thought that "the Stow" would transition from hellhole to "too cool for school" , albeit without the dogs, which were always its greatest asset.

It's amazing. My other half kept suggesting we move there. I still struggle conceptually.

Edgware is horrific now. It’s quite incredible how the area has declined so much in a very short time. On the subject of bleakness, Edgware platform 1 on a winter evening is a very bleak place. It’s the local location of choice for anything dodgy, which doesn’t help the atmosphere.

I don't really know Edgware at all, but am really surprised to hear. Had always assume it was just a generic Metroland style suburb.

 

[bramling]

I don't really know Edgware at all, but am really surprised to hear. Had always assume it was just a generic Metroland style suburb.

It was until the last 10-15 years. Not really sure what’s gone wrong. Proximity to Burnt Oak won’t have helped, but I don’t think that’s the full story.

 

[Strathclyder]

I used Coatbridge Central in May and agree it should be high on the list! Thankfully I was only there in daylight.

Blows the metaphorical doors off the core Argyle/North Clyde Line stations in terms of bleakness, grottiness and grimness.

Nearly every time I've been there myself - my main reasons for ever stopping in after 2014 were to catch the 68-hauled Mk2 sets heading back to their Motherwell base from Edinburgh after their morning peak Fife runs and I did manage to photograph both ScR-livered 68s on one of these visits; that just shows how long it's been since I've actually used it! - it was either pouring of rain when I arrived or the weather gradually deteriorated into persistent heavy rain over the course of my visit, either way it didn't help shift my pre-existing perception of the station as anything other than looking like it had been ripped out of STALKER: Chornobyl or Fallout.

 

[sh24]

I must get to Coatbridge Central early next year. It sounds fabulous

 

[Ridgeblog]

I remember spotting at South Kenton in the early 2000s as a teenager in the Silverlink days, I don't recall it feeling unsafe, but looking back now, it probably wasn't the best place to be...

I guess anywhere feels safe when you're in the early teens

 

[Russel]

I guess anywhere feels safe when you're in the early teens

Very true! The naivety of youth.

 

[Sprinter107]

Blows the metaphorical doors off the core Argyle/North Clyde Line stations in terms of bleakness, grottiness and grimness.

Nearly every time I've been there myself - my main reasons for ever stopping in after 2014 were to catch the 68-hauled Mk2 sets heading back to their Motherwell base from Edinburgh after their morning peak Fife runs and I did manage to photograph both ScR-livered 68s on one of these visits; that just shows how long it's been since I've actually used it! - it was either pouring of rain when I arrived or the weather gradually deteriorated into persistent heavy rain over the course of my visit, either way it didn't help shift my pre-existing perception of the station as anything other than looking like it had been ripped out of STALKER: Chornobyl or Fallout.

Must have a look next time I'm in Glasgow. Was on the Glasgow suburban network a few months ago for a couple of days, but didn't really see anywhere that looked that bleak.

 

[bigmanaiq]

Outwood. Creaky wooden platforms as was pretty much every 80s station in the area. Probably didn’t help that is was freezing cold and the only thing i could hear was the obligatory with any northern station buzz of the ticket machine

 

[Falcon1200]

I must get to Coatbridge Central early next year.

It is handy for Summerlee Museum, which is well worth a visit.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Coatbridge Central has been dire for decades. I remember introducing Strathclyde electric units by extending a Motherwell terminator via the Hamilton Circle. (It had only seen very infrequent InterCity services previously.) It was a hastily contrived scheme to persuade people that better things were coming after bus deregulation. I was the only passenger on the very first service, straight off the sleeper at Motherwell.

A subsequent check in the middle of the day a few weeks later saw no ordinary passengers but the subway had become a handy refuge for a handful of desperate Lanarkshire-ties, completely out of it, surrounded by empty Buckfast bottles.