Affinity for a particular station

[Mag_seven]

Carlisle - in the 80's with proper trains.

 

[BurtonM]

Marylebone is my preferred London Terminal for all-round experience.

 

[whhistle]

It's a shame as many smaller stations are becoming so industrial these days.

Gloucester Road (LUL)
Notting Hill Gate (LUL)
Earls Court (LUL)

Nothing mainline has ever stuck out to be "nice" that I've seen as yet.

 

[Greetlander]

Marylebone is my preferred London Terminal for all-round experience.

When I lived in London 20 years ago I used to go to Marylebone for a haircut at the old school barbers there. It was a lovely station, has it improved?

 

[duesselmartin]

Stranraer, the first station I set foot on in Britain and used it often since.
Worst station would be the one I first set foot on in the UK. Belfast Central.

 

[Hornet]

Taplow. Fond memories of summer evenings watching Westerns, Warships, Hymeks, Brush Type 4's, Blue Pullmans and Pressed Steel DMU's plying their trade. Also being able to mooch around the small shed on the Down Main side, complete with a small GWR Tank Engine sat, waiting to be taken away for preservation. In those days all the Station Buildings were still there, including the Down Main Platform, and the Signal Box at the London end of the Up Main. Made it my final Station to Photograph in March 1994 after completing my all BR Stations Photo Challenge.



17:23 Paddington to Oxford 30th March 1994.

 

[Dougal2345]

Might seem an odd choice, but Pokesdown (for Boscombe) is quite pleasant.

Not for any interesting rolling stock, and not because of its many chain-smoking users.

But after a hard hour or two shlepping around the Boscombe shops, the road full of bus and car fumes and endless noise, going down the steps to its peaceful valley setting is quite a relief.

And provided you stay upwind of the locals, the air can seem almost fresh, and it's cool on a hot summer day...

 

[muddythefish]

Blackburn station in the 1960s, before it was downsized and redeveloped.

Beautiful Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway station with huge overall roof, making for a fantastic atmosphere as steam and diesel-hauled freights thundered through. It was very busy then too.

 

[muddythefish]

Carlisle - in the 80's with proper trains.

Even better, Carlisle in the 1960s, with steam and diesel. Spotted 47 Britannias in the Carlisle area in one day in 1966; also saw freight going through Citadel hauled by a Metrovick Co-Bo - the only time I ever saw one working.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Canterbury East (and West) in the 1970s/1980s with its array of semaphore signalling (centre roads at West until 1977) and daily digest of Hap/Cep and Vep stock, some boat trains and some locos (e.g. Class 33, 71, the odd 74 and even the odd 47). My second home were the signalboxes. In the East box, I remember the Down Distant being a heavy pull (about 1500 yards from the box if memory serves me right) and I was told if I could ever pull it (without the signal indicator showing "Wrong"), then I was destined to become a signalman. Unfortunately, I moved out the area before I was able to complete the challenge

 

[aylesbury]

Goodmayes my first trainspotting place with my dad used to watch on Sundays plenty of shunting and expresses rushing through way back in the early ifties.

 

[ian1944]

Forres in the 50s, when the Dava line was still open. Everything a country branch station should be, including nice architecture, real signals, goods yard and shed, engine shed, not to forget the unhurried pace and the sentimental churns, porter, cat on a seat etc. All gone of course, but memories and the affinity remain.

 

[507021]

Liverpool Lime Street, because it was the first station I remember using.

 

[Minilad]

Birmingham New Street. My first haunt as an enthusiast back in the late 70s. Sitting on the brutes at the end of platform 8/9.
Now based there and work in and out of there every day so I know the place like the back of my hand

 

[Busaholic]

Eltham Park and Eltham Well Hall, so much more characterful than their sole replacement. Catford had a certain charm too, in that you could have a quiet smoke on the platform without being seen from school.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Eltham Park and Eltham Well Hall, so much more characterful than their sole replacement. Catford had a certain charm too, in that you could have a quiet smoke on the platform without being seen from school.

Reminds me of my first rides on the Central Line - and smoking legitimately before it was banned on the tube

 

[theblackwatch]

York for me. It's probably the top of the list of places that developed (or caused) my interest in railways, and also why I have the unusual combined interest of Deltics and HSTs, as they were the two things which had a 'wow' to me as a kid. I 'cabbed' my first Deltic (55013) there, aged 3, on 10th August 1974 and saw my first 56 there in 1977. I do remember around 10 years back, someone said to me that I used to spend mre times at York station than the station porters!

 

[Class 170101]

Barking with its flyovers at the London End. A mix of Class 302s, 308s (I think), 310s, 312s on LTS, C69/C77 and D78 Tube Stock, Barking to Gospel Oak Various DMUs and Freight traffic of various types. A wide selection.

 

[faltskog36abba]

Manchester Victoria- I remember as a kid running down the subway with a luggage trolley to platforms 12-17 on our holidays to Blackpool or wales. Then sitting in the café on platform 12? Watching all of the trains, I still use this station today.

 

[Alex Smith]

Hensall, Coombe Junction Halt, Kensington Olympia, Chathill, Wemyss Bay to name a few

 

[trainophile]

Hensall, Coombe Junction Halt, Kensington Olympia, Chathill, Wemyss Bay to name a few

I had to kill over an hour at Wemyss Bay last year. The book shop was closed for a refurb, and there was nothing to do in the tiny village. I think I bought chips across the road and sat on the war memorial eating them, then watched the ferries. It's a pretty station but doesn't merit spending much time there!

 

[3141]

Southgate, on the Piccadilly Line, where I lived as a child. The surface building is impressive, together with the adjacent bus roadway and shops. Down below the platform tunnels are superbly shaped and proportioned. I associate it with the distinctive Underground smell, which I've been told was the smell of asbestos from brake blocks. You don't get that any more!

 

[PeterY]

Hemel Hempstead first because I used to sneak down there are train spot has a child unbeknown to my parents and I was probably about 10 or 11 at the time and it was a 2.25 mile walk, 81's to 86's them days. (Confessed in my later years ) When I got a bit older cycled to Harpenden for peaks and semaphore signals.

Favourite London Terminus must be St Pancras, although it's like an airport departure lounge it's nicely laid out but I don't feel over crowded there.
Big Station - Exeter St Davids. There is still some variety there. (even Pacers).
IMO Most stations are OK and have their assets but there are some truly awful ones.
Underground - Uxbridge.

I had to kill over an hour at Wemyss Bay last year. The book shop was closed for a refurb, and there was nothing to do in the tiny village. I think I bought chips across the road and sat on the war memorial eating them, then watched the ferries. It's a pretty station but doesn't merit spending much time there!

It was nice to see Wemyss Bay station two weeks ago but I got the same train back I arrived on, so I had 15 minutes there. That was ample time and it was about 08.30 in the morning (No chips). I'd of struggled to make it last any longer.

 

[Busaholic]

Southgate, on the Piccadilly Line, where I lived as a child. The surface building is impressive, together with the adjacent bus roadway and shops. Down below the platform tunnels are superbly shaped and proportioned. I associate it with the distinctive Underground smell, which I've been told was the smell of asbestos from brake blocks. You don't get that any more!

Virtually my only experience of Southgate was as a small child in the 1950s and accompanying my father there from our S.E.London home in order for him to buy, from a shop located in the crescent there, some items of Trix model railway ware. This shop must have been the only outlet, because he hated the Underground with a passion, and I can't remember any other occasion when he went on it!

 

[urbophile]

Keighley is embedded in my childhood memories. It's not changed much, though perhaps a tad cleaner with brighter paintwork. I love the ramps down from the booking-hall with the Edwardian (or is it very late Victorian?) woodwork. And of course now there is the contrast between the electrified mainline (with the occasional diesel) and the beautifully restored KWVR platforms and their vintage steam trains.

 

[satisnek]

Reading always brought back memories of childhood spotting trips. All now razed

 

[Rail.Fan]

Defiantly Reading early 00s was the best time!

 

[johntea]

I always have a memory of visiting Halifax on the train with my gran back in the day and visiting Eureka!

 

[yorksrob]

My local station was Halifax as a child, which at the time was in danger of falling apart and very boring for a train lover. I did however have a love for Huddersfield - mainly because of the roaring loco hauled trans Pennines that took us on holiday in either the direction of Scarborough or Bangor. If you were there in enough time you’d get to experience at least one loco bursting out of the tunnel too, which is the same reason I retain an affinity with Haymarket. If you were to ask me to name one station that I have an everlasting love for though it would have to be York. So many reasons to fall in love with it and even in this less interesting century I still can’t hear a word against it.

So my question is - who out there has a huge crush on a particular station, and why?

Yes, it's difficult not to have an affinity with Huddersfield, what with its two good pubs and excellent buffet !

Apart from Gathurst, Fort William for the feel of it being a home away from home (showers) deep in the Highlands. I also have a fondness for Lancaster from many times waiting for the train to and from uni there. It's architecture and nearby castle really has a Hogwarts feel to it. I would say that Conwy eclipses Lancaster when it comes to stations with nearby castles however.

Lancaster is the station I have a particular affinity with. Plenty of memories of catching Mk 3's to University in the 90's and my early expeditions away from the Southern. Often go there now for a pleasant day out. Other than that, handy for the town, pleasing architecture and plenty of platform cover for the climate !

Eltham Park and Eltham Well Hall, so much more characterful than their sole replacement. Catford had a certain charm too, in that you could have a quiet smoke on the platform without being seen from school.

Caught my first ever EPB to Catford Bridge in the late 80's

 

[306024]

Liverpool Street before redevelopment.

Liverpool Street both before and after redevelopment.