Trivia: Stations which look similar to each other or remind you of each other.

[stadler]

What stations can you think of that look very similar to each other or remind you of each other for another reason?

I always think of this whenever i am visiting or passing through Doleham and Three Oaks which have such a similar look to them.

These are the top four that that i can think of off the top of my head:

• Doleham / Three Oaks :

These stations are almost mirror images of each other. They are so similar in every way. They both have one tiny short one carriage platform. They both have disused platform opposite. They both have the same style waiting shelter. They both have a ramp going up from the platform to the main road at the same angle. They both have a road bridge right at the end of the platform. These two stations are by far the most similar looking stations i have ever seen.

• Maidstone East / Maidstone West :

These two stations both have the same unique three track layout with a through line in the middle of the two platforms. They both a short tunnel at the very end of the platforms. They look different other than this but these two things always give them a lot of similarity.

• London Road Brighton / London Road Guildford :

These two stations look very different. But the big similarity at both is that trains immediately make a sharp South West curve and terminate at the next station. Additionally at both stations the trains go over a viaduct just to the West of the stations although the Brighton one is much higher and longer than the Guildford one.

• Chessington North / Chessington South / Malden Manor / Tolworth :

These four stations all have very similar looking entrances and station buildings. They have all been built in the same style. It makes them look very similar especially at street level.

Can anyone think of any other stations that either look similar or have some significant form of similarity with another station?

 

[Peter0124]

Newcastle and York, especially under the trainshed

 

[ls2270]

Crofton Park and Ravensbourne are very similar at platform level…frequently used to confuse me if waking up from a post work nap on the train!

 

[mrcheek]

Obviously a lot of stations on the same line, or in the same region will look similar.

Clearly, Weston-super-mare and Torquay stations were (re)built at the same time.
as were Worle and Tiverton parkway

So this thread should offer bonus points for pairs of stations in completely different parts of the country
So I'm going to say Cogan (Wales), and New Mills Newtown, similar bridge, similar curves, similar car park!

 

[Magdalia]

Broxbourne and Harlow Town are similar examples of brutalist architecture, having been built as part of the same electrification scheme.

 

[perstreperous]

A "pair" from my work travels was Fleet and Ashtead, which were built in the 1970s to a defined style (CLASP) then both rebuilt about 2015 to another defined style (which appears to be a standard as, for example, Mitcham Eastfields has the same style).

Another 1970s rebuild in what looks like a prefabricated style was Camberley, but it was clearly not CLASP. Does it have a "pair"? (The main building was ... rather large for what was required).

A later, unlikely trio is Staplehurst and Falkirk High/Falkirk Grahamston. These look like a (different, non-prefabricated) standard build from the 1980s.

 

[Mikey C]

Luton and Stevenage remind me of each other, with their 70s station buildings over the tracks.

 

[adc82140]

A "pair" from my work travels was Fleet and Ashtead, which were built in the 1970s to a defined style (CLASP) then both rebuilt about 2015 to another defined style (which appears to be a standard as, for example, Mitcham Eastfields has the same style).

You can add Wokingham to that lot too. 1970s CLASP, then 2015ish rebuild.

 

[aron2smith]

A number of West Midlands stations (former GWR?), Birmingham Moor Street, Leamington Spa, Stratford Upon Avon and the heritage station at Kidderminster (Severn Valley Railway).

Love the pastel and bright colours, brickwork and the black and white signs. So much character, something more modern stations could learn from! Colour especially seems so lacking in modern design!

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Broxbourne and Harlow Town are similar examples of brutalist architecture, having been built as part of the same electrification scheme.

I swear Peterborough is just a larger version of these 2 stations.

 

[Magdalia]

I swear Peterborough is just a larger version of these 2 stations.

Then you aren't looking very carefully! The key features of Broxbourne and Harlow Town are the concrete high level walkways to and from the platforms, and the big lift towers. Peterborough has neither of those.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

The various red wooden stations that I think were built ~1980s, Hag Fold and Hall i' th' Wood come to mind, even if Hag Fold has lost it's vibrancy and could do with a new coat of red.

 

[perstreperous]

Great link on standardisation throughout the decades (actually a 148-page book).

Also British Rail Architecture and Design Environment (1989) (PDF, 32 pages).

 

[aron2smith]

Then you aren't looking very carefully!

All 3 have blocky minimal architecture, different colours or materials but otherwise similar design, not much interesting about them. Pretending to look like a typical late 20th century airport. Horrid. Same with Euston.

 

[vlad]

Wick and Thurso seem practically identical to me.

Most of the stations on the Settle-Carlisle line were built in the Midland "house style" with identical station buildings, so if you're not concentrating you could definitely confuse one for another. There must be other ex-MR stations on other lines with the same sort of architecture but I can't think of any off the top of my head.

 

[Magdalia]

All 3 have blocky minimal architecture, different colours or materials but otherwise similar design, not much interesting about them.

Broxbourne and Harlow Town are sufficiently interesting to be listed buildings. I can't imagine Peterborough ever getting listed.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Jan 2026 ==

Wick and Thurso seem practically identical to me.

I had to work out a way of telling those apart in photographs.

 

[aron2smith]

Broxbourne and Harlow Town are sufficiently interesting to be listed buildings. I can't imagine Peterborough ever getting listed.

Not a fan of that type of architecture but good to preserve buildings from different eras all the same.

 

[Russel]

Most of the Birmingham cross city rebuilt stations...

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Most of the smaller stations on the initial Manchester / Liverpool - Crewe WCML electrification scheme had their buildings replaced with modest pre-fabricated structures - although to be fair the previous LNWR ones were nothing to write home about either. Sandbach and Holmes Chapel survive, but heavily modified with brick infills replacing rotted out panels.

 

[Mag_seven]

Newcastle and York, especially under the trainshed

So this thread should offer bonus points for pairs of stations in completely different parts of the country

Photos of trains under the trainshed at Bristol Temple Meads often look similar to photos under the York/Newcastle trainsheds.

If comparisons with stations abroad are allowed then Bern often reminds me of Birmingham New St

 

[CarltonA]

An obvious pair is Uxbridge and Cockfosters. Slough and Kidderminster SVR are both French Chateaus from the front (dissimilar inside).

 

[oglord]

Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff General, but not Newport High Street!

 

[Djgr]

Leasowe, Moreton, Meols

All 1930s electrification rebuilds

 

[D6130]

Most of the stations on the West Highland Line....although, sadly some of them have had their distinctive 'Swiss Chalet'-style buildings demolished.

 

[Tetragon213]

An obvious pair is Uxbridge and Cockfosters. Slough and Kidderminster SVR are both French Chateaus from the front (dissimilar inside).

Kidderminster Town, incidentally, is based on the old Ross-on-Wye.

Whitchurh Hants and Andover quite obviously have a lot of similarities and parallels; same lines on the station building, similar canopies, and a similar layout. Not surprising, as the LSWR built them both, likely to a similar design.

 

[nilvaj395]

Reston and East Linton I've found it hard to tell apart if shown without any information, maybe because ScotRail's new stations are definitely a copy-and-paste ordeal and they're on the same mainline.

Most of the stations on the West Highland Line....although, sadly some of them have had their distinctive 'Swiss Chalet'-style buildings demolished.

Upsetting to say the least, with the amount of potential for stuff to be put in them.

 

[Dave_D]

Kenton and North Wembley are almost identical

 

[satisnek]

The Jewellery Line stations - Jewellery Quarter, The Hawthorns and Smethwick Galton Bridge - were all built from the same giant Meccano set.

 

[Pigeon]

Kidderminster Town, incidentally, is based on the old Ross-on-Wye.

...and reminds me of Winchester Chesil.

A number of West Midlands stations (former GWR?), Birmingham Moor Street, Leamington Spa, Stratford Upon Avon and the heritage station at Kidderminster (Severn Valley Railway).

Moor Street was given a super-massively-GWR-esque makeover by BR. Some call it a pastiche. I like it a lot. Moreover, as a station on the national network it provides a standard against which all more modern "refurbishments" can be measured and found wanting, often by astronomical distances.

It's a good area for the GWR's standard design for stations they rebuilt roughly around the turn of the century. Evesham, Stratford, Moreton-in-Marsh, Droitwich before they knocked it down, Honeybourne ditto... It makes me laugh to see these hagiographical passages that keep appearing in descriptions of Droitwich about how John Corbett gave the town a whole new super-duper railway station especially designed for Droitwich that was much better than anyone else's round about; it was a bog standard GWR rebuild practically identical to Evesham, that would have happened anyway sooner or later, and all he actually did was pay something rather less than half the cost of it.

 

[Farigiraf]

Kintore, Robroyston and Inverness Airport are all very similar. All three use the ScotRail 'cookie cutter*' design for new stations.

* not an official name

 

[LowLevel]

...and reminds me of Winchester Chesil.



Moor Street was given a super-massively-GWR-esque makeover by BR. Some call it a pastiche. I like it a lot. Moreover, as a station on the national network it provides a standard against which all more modern "refurbishments" can be measured and found wanting, often by astronomical distances.

It's a good area for the GWR's standard design for stations they rebuilt roughly around the turn of the century. Evesham, Stratford, Moreton-in-Marsh, Droitwich before they knocked it down, Honeybourne ditto... It makes me laugh to see these hagiographical passages that keep appearing in descriptions of Droitwich about how John Corbett gave the town a whole new super-duper railway station especially designed for Droitwich that was much better than anyone else's round about; it was a bog standard GWR rebuild practically identical to Evesham, that would have happened anyway sooner or later, and all he actually did was pay something rather less than half the cost of it.

Moor Street rebuild with the reopened terminal platforms was done by Chiltern Railways in the 2000s. The original rebuild using new through platforms only in a modern standard style shared by things like the rebuilt Cross City line stations was completed in 1987 by BR.

Two that really are nearly identical are Mossley Hill and West Allerton, both being rather grim modernisation plan rebuilds.