Trivia: Your least desirable station to wait at

[123*]

Let’s say you’ve just missed your train, it’s late at night and the next one isn’t for 60 minutes.

Which station would you least like to wait at and why?

 

[mm333]

Leeds on a Friday or Saturday nights, as the Drunkwarts Expresses take people home.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Hope (Derbyshire). All the other stations on the Hope Valley line have a nice warm pub within reasonable walking distance. Hope doesn't.

 

[thejuggler]

In the late 80s, well before the huge redevelopment, I missed a last train from St Pancras and had to wait 6 hours. That was an interesting exeprience.

 

[Kite159]

Sunderland
Assuming you don't leave the subterranean platforms.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Hope (Derbyshire). All the other stations on the Hope Valley line have a nice warm pub within reasonable walking distance. Hope doesn't.

You can get into Hope Village, have a quick drink at one of a choice of pubs and be back at the station in under an hour easily. Hardly worse than trekking up the hill to the Anglers Rest at Bamford. (The closer old Marquess of Granby at Sicklehome went years ago.)

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Was initially going to nominate South Bermondsey, but, on second thoughts, how about any number of the rural stations on the West Highland line in Scotland, this on a summer evening, when all the midges in the locality are out and about in great profusion?!

 

[WirralLine]

Hope (Derbyshire). All the other stations on the Hope Valley line have a nice warm pub within reasonable walking distance. Hope doesn't.

Hope (Flintshire) because its a soulless station with a notable antisocial behaviour problem!

 

[Ashley Hill]

Bristol Parkway. Even after rebuilding it’s still a cold and windy place.
Talking of which can I be the first to mention Altnabreac, it’s no good asking anyone nearby for a hot drink!

 

[Ben.A.98]

Perth, never been to a colder station!

 

[CaptainHaddock]

You can get into Hope Village, have a quick drink at one of a choice of pubs and be back at the station in under an hour easily. Hardly worse than trekking up the hill to the Anglers Rest at Bamford. (The closer old Marquess of Granby at Sicklehome went years ago.)

I'm assuming from the OP's post that it's dark and wintry so the trek to the Old Hall Hotel would not be a pleasant one!

 

[higthomas]

Essex Road. Obviously you could leave the station and then it's quite nice Islington, but if you wait inside it's really creepy and deserted and obviously underground.

 

[SeanG]

Sunderland
Assuming you don't leave the subterranean platforms.

Or, coming from a local, even if you do!

 

[brad465]

Strood; the waiting room is poor and the general atmosphere elsewhere isn't very nice, especially at night. If you were starting or finishing a journey here you can avoid it, but changing trains often comes with an unavoidable wait. Can be more interesting when a shunting move is taking place, but these only occur in the morning peak and on Sundays where Southeastern services have to terminate here.

 

[D1511]

Canning Town, but before all the fancy housing was built on Silvertown Way.
Really perishing cold on the upper platform, and a plethora of threatening looking types heading for deepest Beckton and pre-Crossrail Woolwich.
Very different now, except it's still freezing in the winter.

 

[Trainlog]

Strood; the waiting room is poor and the general atmosphere elsewhere isn't very nice, especially at night. If you were starting or finishing a journey here you can avoid it, but changing trains often comes with an unavoidable wait. Can be more interesting when a shunting move is taking place, but these only occur in the morning peak and on Sundays where Southeastern services have to terminate here.

Ha ha, you beat me to it on that one.

But yes, I totally agree, it has to be up there as one of the most tedious stations in Kent for its poor connections, especially prior to the December 2022 timetable change. At least that made the wait a little shorter with 2tph on the Medway Valley, but the connections are still often poor.

It doesn't help that when the Thameslink (typically the culprit) goes down or is delayed, and it isn't uncommon for me to ask to walk to Rochester station at Strood ticket barriers instead of waiting around for 40 minutes or an hour at worst when it gets bad with cancellations. Other problems are that if you do decide to go out to the shops, especially the retail park, it's a massive detour around the station to get to them, and you will have 3 minutes at most to look around them before heading back if you aren't a fast walker, so it's not worth getting out for.

At least with Paddock Wood and Maidstone (Medway valley) stations, you can easily kill the time in the local shops whilst waiting for the next train, as the stations are right on the high street, especially Paddock Woods case (Maidstone West and Barracks are a little bit of a walk to the main highstreet, but at least West has a Mcdonalds next door to it to kill time at).

As you say, the waiting areas/shelters aren't great at Strood, especially on a rainy winter's day, but I guess the occasional freight and the fact that the toilets are well maintained and regularly open, compared to Maidstone West or Paddock Wood, are another bonus.

 

[HighlandStorm]

Perth, never been to a colder station!

This! Why does the ScotRail journey planner still default to changing at Perth for Inverness to Glasgow / Edinburgh?

Much better to change at Stirling, where you can pick up local electric services if there’s a delay to a longer distance train or it’s rammed! Very nice new waiting room with decent WiFi, with charging points and toilets in the waiting room.

 

[urbophile]

Bidston. Even on a sunny summer's day it's a desolate place to wait for a train.

 

[Mugby]

With regard to main line stations, I'd say Stoke-on-Trent. Platform 1 seems eternally cold, miserable, dark and damp. There is a very small waiting room which becomes very off-putting if more than six people are in it. I used to wait in the entrance hall until barriers were installed and took up most of the space.

 

[darkstar78]

Severn Tunnel Junction looks bad enough on a summers day. Can only imagine how cold and bleak an hour there in winter darkness would be.

 

[Russel]

Essex Road. Obviously you could leave the station and then it's quite nice Islington, but if you wait inside it's really creepy and deserted and obviously underground.

I've mentioned it on here before, it take a lot to unnerve me, but sitting on the platform at Essex Road, alone, the silence really is deafening, it really put me on edge.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

A lot of the Overground stations on the East London Line aren’t very pleasant. Canada Water is a drab, windswept place late at night when waiting for the night Overground. With little seats. And Rotherhite, albeit atmospheric, has a very narrow and uncomfortable platform.

 

[Russel]

Ribblehead on a dark, cold, wet Saturday evening in November when Northern decide to cancel the Leeds bound train you were planning to get so have an extra 2 hours there, it's rather earie in the dark.

The Station Inn is lovely though!

 

[rmHawk765]

I've mentioned it on here before, it take a lot to unnerve me, but sitting on the platform at Essex Road, alone, the silence really is deafening, it really put me on edge.

Interestingly enough I'd say the station has recently gained a noticeable amount of usage. It's still the quietest other than Drayton Park on the NCL for sure, but it's not quite as eerie as it once was.

Oh, and speaking of, Drayton Park is a good contender in pitch black fog.

 

[Russel]

Interestingly enough I'd say the station has recently gained a noticeable amount of usage. It's still the quietest other than Drayton Park on the NCL for sure, but it's not quite as eerie as it once was.

Oh, and speaking of, Drayton Park is a good contender in pitch black fog.

Off peak, I find all of the in-tunnel part of the NCL to have quite a strange feeling to it, even with other people around, it all just feels a bit odd.

 

[brad465]

Bridgwater, especially in poor weather: no waiting rooms, the only indoor space is usually only open a few hours a day up to lunch, and not much in the way of seating. There are canopies, but they're still somewhat exposed when windy, while the frequent platform announcements add insult to injury (though this of course is not unique to here). When it's dry one can sit on the short wall on the down platform, but it's low down. An exception can be made when a nuclear flask train is doing manoeuvres in the area, but that's once in a blue moon.

 

[sad1e]

Definitely wouldn't want to be waiting at either Barlaston or Wedgwood even though they technically are "Open".

 

[PLY2AYS]

Exton in winter wind and rain.

 

[TwinTurbostar]

I'd imagine Bordesley would be quite unpleasant, and you'd likely be waiting a good while.

As for stations that get a regular service near me, I'd say Dudley Port is quite unpleasant, having a fairly thin island platform and a pretty old shelter.

 

[boiledbeans2]

Brixton.
The staircase is a toilet - the smell of wee.