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Railway houses - places you can live which were or still are part of the railway

styles

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7 Dec 2014
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Gwynedd
I stumbled upon this Zoopla listing earlier which is for a 2 bed 2 bathroom property in some Thameslink railway arches in southeast London:


Screenshot_20260924-080603.png
(Image shows a living area and kitchen built inside a railway arch with a very bright contemporary decor)

The decor is not quite to my taste, a bit too contemporary, but I thought it was a very creative use of space.

I've always quite fancied owning an old station house or signallers house, though maybe not one on a busy active line.

Are there any other good examples you've seen?
 
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DarloRich

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12 Oct 2010
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Fenny Stratford
there must be LOADS of ex station houses in private hands. If I had the money I would buy the one near me as it is in a shocking state and falling down.

It is a listed building as well: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1160203?section=overview

1846 attractive timber framed gothicised small building. 2 storeys with elaborate diagonal and curved diamond framing pattern, roughcast and brick infill. Steep pitch gable end tiled roof with grouped diagonally set stacks a ridge and fancy bargeboards with finials to gable ends facing south and on to platform
 

bavvo

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Joined
22 Nov 2014
Messages
219
Location
Henley on Thames
Eggesford Station (Devon, Tarka line) is up for sale right now. I visited it for a look around and was seriously considering it, although I have since gone elsewhere. It's got most of its historical features intact and is quite spacious inside. The station is open and gets a couple of trains per hour, usually at around the same time as it is a passing place.
It's an active station, so expect people to be hanging around the kitchen windows when you're making dinner :)



IMG_1550.jpeg
(Image shows Eggesford Station on the platform side)
Situation
As the name suggests The Station House is set on the picturesque Tarka Line that runs between Exeter and Barnstaple. Local amenities are available in the small town of Chulmleigh, which offers a good range of services including a variety of shops, places of worship, post office, health centre, primary and secondary schools, local pubs and other amenities including an 18 hole short golf course. The Fox and Hounds Country Hotel is a short walk from the Station.
The Cathedral City of Exeter is some 22 miles distant to the south east and offers all the facilities and amenities you expect from a Cathedral City with access to the M5 motorway and Exeter airport.

History
Having been built for the London and South Western Railway around 1850, primarily of stone under a slate roof, Eggesford Station was opened by the North Devon Railway on 1 August 1854, having been built on permission from the then landowner, the Earl of Portsmouth, whose country seat was situated within an estate near to the site of the station. It is said that the Earl agreed to the railway
 

styles

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Joined
7 Dec 2014
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4,966
Location
Gwynedd
Eggesford Station (Devon, Tarka line) is up for sale right now. I visited it for a look around and was seriously considering it, although I have since gone elsewhere. It's got most of its historical features intact and is quite spacious inside. The station is open and gets a couple of trains per hour, usually at around the same time as it is a passing place.
It's an active station, so expect people to be hanging around the kitchen windows when you're making dinner :)
That's actually a really good price given the location and the property I feel. And you've got your own postbox!
 

speedy1

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1 Sep 2023
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Mossley
Why live in what arguable looks like an upturned turd in the city when you can have this masterpiece in Norfolk for a fraction more..

There is no better way to spend £1.25m. That is stunning, apart from the ghastly plywood kitchen. Look at the custom beautiful timber 'throne' in pic 23. And 1.6 Gbit/s internet to boot.
 

WelshBluebird

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14 Jan 2010
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5,634
I think the station building at Eggesford in Devon on the Tarka line is still up for sale. Has been for over a year so does make me think either its way too expensive for the area or there's something up with it that hasnt been disclosed and is only made known further into the buying process.
 

simonw

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7 Dec 2009
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1,412
I think the station building at Eggesford in Devon on the Tarka line is still up for sale. Has been for over a year so does make me think either its way too expensive for the area or there's something up with it that hasnt been disclosed and is only made known further into the buying process.
As discussed above.
 

SuspectUsual

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11 Jul 2018
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6,858
There is no better way to spend £1.25m. That is stunning, apart from the ghastly plywood kitchen. Look at the custom beautiful timber 'throne' in pic 23. And 1.6 Gbit/s internet to boot.

I love how literal Rightmove is. Yes, it’s a three bedroom bungalow, but that really isn’t the correct description for it
 

styles

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7 Dec 2014
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Gwynedd

Altnabreac station house. That is a private dwelling with a disputed boundary.​

As stunning as the location is, you really need to be prepared for the isolation and difficulty of getting to work. The first trains of the day don't get to Wick or Inverness for a 9am start. In winter the line can be closed and the miles of private roads leading to the property don't get gritted by the council so it can be quite difficult to get out! On one of the couple's no-shows due to weather, the police went to check it out and said even in their off-road vehicle it wasn't safe. Would suit people in retirement or who can work remotely though, and is a genuinely beautiful set of surroundings. Lots of decent walking, cycling, fishing, hammocking to be done.
 

Three-Nine

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5 Aug 2015
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177
As far as I’m aware Whimple station building in Devon is in private hands and can be used as a residence (at least once renovated).
 

ChrisC

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7 Oct 2018
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Nottinghamshire
I spent the first 12 years of my childhood living in a railway house which was one of a row of six cottages owned by the railway. These were available to rent by current and retired railway workers. They were then in a somewhat idyllic location down a country lane, opposite fields, with the railway behind them and close to a signal box. They were a bit primitive in those days with no bathrooms and the toilet outside at the bottom of the yard. My parents managed to move and to rent and then buy a much better home in a nearby village when I was aged 12. These cottages are still there, the railway has gone, the quite lane is now a busy road and they are now surrounded my hundreds of modern houses. One of them is currently for sale and I can’t believe how much they have been updated and improved and also the price.

 
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RailwayRookie

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Joined
28 Jul 2023
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294
Location
Norfolk

Altnabreac station house. That is a private dwelling with a disputed boundary.​

Is this the one with the borderline terrorists disrupting and threatening the trains that run through the land..

The train that arguably were there before they bought it.
 

Peter Mugridge

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8 Apr 2010
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17,856
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Oakham

An old station house that is up for auction in Nottinghamshire has had unexpected attention after being dubbed the "scariest house on Rightmove".
The property in Bleasby dates back to the 1840s, when the railway station opened, and would have been home to the station masters who were responsible for opening and closing the station barriers.

Although steeped in local history, the eerie character of the house in its listing images is what seems to have gathered interest.

Area manager at Auction House Notts & Derby, Jonathan Way, said he believed it was a "creepy doll" left standing in the corner of a bedroom that had captured people's imaginations.
 

Strathclyder

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12 Jun 2013
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Clydebank
The best example of this local to me is the former Clydebank Riverside station building. The station itself closed in 1964, is now a stone's throw from the West College Scotland Clydebank campus, a 10 minute walk to Clydebank bus/train station and a 15-20 minute walk to the local shopping centre. It has been private housing for some time now after a good few years falling into ruin post-closure. It contains at least 3 seperate dwellings from what I can gather. A rather understated, but still fantastic looking building.


(linked image copyright of Flickr's Graeme aka Sea Pigeon)
 

bearhugger

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17 Mar 2015
Messages
690
Location
Middlesbrough
Battersby, Castleton Moor, Danby, Glaisdale & Ruswarp - all on the Middlesbrough to Whitby line. At Stockton the ticket office etc were converted into Railway Association flats.
 

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