All nighters on stations.

[greyman42]

I have done Darlington, not through choice, but due to sleeping through my stop at York. A long night.

 

[HOOVER29]

Crewe had a 24 hour refreshment room for many years.

Remember the microwave with the slide up door?
Anything cooked in it you ate at your own risk. I think the term “nuke it in the microwave” came from using that exact microwave.

 

[HOOVER29]

Just looked at Tamworth for last night (29/6/2018).
There were 45 movements between 9pm & 6am.
Shame the doors are locked for the high level now.
There was however a way of getting on last time I went but as I’ve not been to Tamworth for a session for at least a year it’s probably all overgrown now.
If you are considering an overnight session now would be the time to do it what with the current warm weather.
I’ve done over nighters at Stafford (before the car park barriers went in) when it was about 2c & soon retired to the warmth of the car for the night.

 

[Pete_uk]

My uncle Tom spent a night on Swindon station once. But that was because he missed the last train home

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I got stuck on Eastleigh in the 1970s

 

[DarloRich]

I have done Darlington, not through choice, but due to sleeping through my stop at York. A long night.

Nver done darlo basically as I lived over the road

I did miss the last train home and had to sleep in the waiting room at Newcastle. Might have had a drink or 17...........

(Only overnighter i have done. Better things to do at night tbh )

 

[yorksrob]

Spent a night at Sheffield once in the very early noughties. Had tried waiting in the coach station, which had too many people coming and going, so I found a peaceful waiting room on one of the platforms.

(Was in work for the next day, as a consciencious youth).

 

[Freightmaster]

Just looked at Tamworth for last night (29/6/2018).
There were 45 movements between 9pm & 6am.
Shame the doors are locked for the high level now

I expect that you would see a similar number of 'movements' between 9am and 6pm,
so why bother with the hassle/inconvenience of doing an overnight, other than for the
novelty value??




MARK

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

I expect that you would see a similar number of 'movements' between 9am and 6pm,
so why bother with the hassle/inconvenience of doing an overnight, other than for the
novelty value??




MARK

Quite. An obvious pattern to WCML freight in recent years is the decline in overnight movements, mostly due to the ending of Anglo-Scottish coal trains which were very difficult to path during the day. Where I am the obvious places to watch WCML trains are Warrington Bank Quay or Wigan North Western, both locked overnight. So that leaves Acton Bridge or Leyland though even then you can't be sure the station lights will stay on. No wonder Preston is so popular for nocturnal freight watching.

 

[nineteenninety]

You are either a real enthusiast, crazy or both!

I like to think both. Lol

 

[Leo1961]

I recall an adventure I had during the summer of '76 that whilst not actually counting as an all-nighter in the strictest definition it seems to cover most of the bases.

It started at Nottingham on a Sunday night as I was waiting to catch the last train to Leicester. The train trundled into the platform and was packed. I got on and stood in the empty guards coach. As the train crossed the River Trent I noticed that unlike normal the train slowed and started to cross over towards a line I had never travelled on. This turned out to be a freight only line, and whilst I tried in vain to recognise any of the scenery that we were passing I saw nothing until we arrived at a fully lit Walsall station.

I had accidentally boarded the delayed return leg of a Walsall - Skegness excursion train!

Now those who can remember back to those halcyon days of the seventies will now understand my dilemma.

Walsall didn't have a Sunday service! How was I to get home?

I approached the train guard and explained my situation, and amazingly he said that the only option was to sit alongside the driver as it and the ECS returned to the depot at Oxley. They made an unofficial stop at Wolverhampton to allow me to alight, much to the surprise of station staff and the few passengers loitering at that time on what was now a very late August Sunday night.

Once at Wolverhampton I had a short wait until the last train north (00:12 departure) took me to Stafford (00:30 arrival).

Here I stayed, in what my memory seems to recollect was a warm night, until the Liverpool - Euston sleeper service arrived to take me to the final destination on this adventure, Nuneaton Trent Valley. The arrival was timed at 02:45.

There I was collected by my parents. Oh yes, I forget to mention that I was 15 at the time! I had been travelling on a West Midlands Rover ticket as a child, as I didn't look my age and was of small stature.

Would this happen in this modern age, I doubt it, but I can still remember it some 42 years later, as though it was yesterday, and I still have the ticket, the timetable and the memories.

 

[fowler9]

I recall an adventure I had during the summer of '76 that whilst not actually counting as an all-nighter in the strictest definition it seems to cover most of the bases.

It started at Nottingham on a Sunday night as I was waiting to catch the last train to Leicester. The train trundled into the platform and was packed. I got on and stood in the empty guards coach. As the train crossed the River Trent I noticed that unlike normal the train slowed and started to cross over towards a line I had never travelled on. This turned out to be a freight only line, and whilst I tried in vain to recognise any of the scenery that we were passing I saw nothing until we arrived at a fully lit Walsall station.

I had accidentally boarded the delayed return leg of a Walsall - Skegness excursion train!

Now those who can remember back to those halcyon days of the seventies will now understand my dilemma.

Walsall didn't have a Sunday service! How was I to get home?

I approached the train guard and explained my situation, and amazingly he said that the only option was to sit alongside the driver as it and the ECS returned to the depot at Oxley. They made an unofficial stop at Wolverhampton to allow me to alight, much to the surprise of station staff and the few passengers loitering at that time on what was now a very late August Sunday night.

Once at Wolverhampton I had a short wait until the last train north (00:12 departure) took me to Stafford (00:30 arrival).

Here I stayed, in what my memory seems to recollect was a warm night, until the Liverpool - Euston sleeper service arrived to take me to the final destination on this adventure, Nuneaton Trent Valley. The arrival was timed at 02:45.

There I was collected by my parents. Oh yes, I forget to mention that I was 15 at the time! I had been travelling on a West Midlands Rover ticket as a child, as I didn't look my age and was of small stature.

Would this happen in this modern age, I doubt it, but I can still remember it some 42 years later, as though it was yesterday, and I still have the ticket, the timetable and the memories.

Brilliant storey. Some 30 years ago in my early teens me and my brother missed the last train South from Glasgow Central. Pre mobile phone we used a call box to call our parents in Liverpool. They contacted Glasgow Centrals station manager, a Mr Colquhoun, who arranged for the sleeper to stop at Blackburn where my parents drove to from Liverpool to collect us. Mr Colquhoun also arranged free meals for us at the Casey Jones (Or whatever it was) at Glasgow Central. A real adventure and a brilliant station manager.

 

[DenmarkRail]

I haven’t fully overnighted before, but once I was in Helsingør in Denmark, and we joined a heritage railway service across a mainline. We got to the final station, and the heritage driver said a train should come along in 30 mins... we waited from 17:00 until 01:00 for a train. We didn’t get back to Copenhagen until about 4:00

 

[Statto]

Holyhead is open 24 hours but not much in the way of overnight traffic nowadays.

 

[tsr]

Stations I’ve overnighted at:

Barnetby
Newport (Gwent)
Crewe
Holyhead
London St Pancras
Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Airport
Gatwick Airport
Heathrow Airport
Aberdeen
Newcastle
Skegness
Cardiff Central

Some shockers there by the way!

Gatwick Airport isn't all that uncommon when it comes to people waiting for at least part of the night, although the station is rather less hospitable than one might think. The airport has a massive Costa which is very near the station and open near enough 24/7 (I've used it overnight enough times). This is far better if you want somewhere to wait, for example between trains.

St Pancras and indeed some other Thameslink stations are also fairly regular places where people end up spending the night, for whatever reason. Again, they can be surprisingly inhospitable. Blackfriars is a case in point. Stunning view but always cold overnight!

Word of warning: don't try to sneak into what is allegedly the First Class lounge at Gatwick Airport, and try to rest there. Way too many people like to try to sleep in there and, as some of them are disreputable, somebody may try to move you on.

Some odd comments in this thread - all night on a station in the middle of summer is definitely worth doing at least once in your life

Stations are often wind tunnels, including many locations at which you'll see spotters - so the winter months may well result in hypothermia!

I have been through (and stopped at) a decent number of stations during midsummer (ish) sunrises, but whether I'd voluntarily spend a whole night at one is another matter! There was one such night when I got stranded at Crowborough and it was not terribly entertaining. Not to mention the train's toilets failed.

 

[Statto]

Gatwick Airport isn't all that uncommon when it comes to people waiting for at least part of the night, although the station is rather less hospitable than one might think. The airport has a massive Costa which is very near the station and open near enough 24/7 (I've used it overnight enough times). This is far better if you want somewhere to wait, for example between trains.

St Pancras and indeed some other Thameslink stations are also fairly regular places where people end up spending the night, for whatever reason. Again, they can be surprisingly inhospitable. Blackfriars is a case in point. Stunning view but always cold overnight!

Word of warning: don't try to sneak into what is allegedly the First Class lounge at Gatwick Airport, and try to rest there. Way too many people like to try to sleep in there and, as some of them are disreputable, somebody may try to move you on.



Stations are often wind tunnels, including many locations at which you'll see spotters - so the winter months may well result in hypothermia!

I have been through (and stopped at) a decent number of stations during midsummer (ish) sunrises, but whether I'd voluntarily spend a whole night at one is another matter! There was one such night when I got stranded at Crowborough and it was not terribly entertaining. Not to mention the train's toilets failed.

It's not too bad spending overnight at a station in the middle of summer, can be good seeing sunrise around 4am, although i wouldn't fancy spending overnight in January, & February unless there's an area were you can keep warm.

 

[fowler9]

It's not too bad spending overnight at a station in the middle of summer, can be good seeing sunrise around 4am, although i wouldn't fancy spending overnight in January, & February unless there's an area were you can keep warm.

Have done it in Birmingham New Street and Holyhead unintentionally in winter with all manner of interesting people.

 

[Statto]

Have done it in Birmingham New Street and Holyhead unintentionally in winter with all manner of interesting people.

Yep Holyhead is one of those were you might have no choice but to wait overnight for the first morning train departures, especially if you've just come off the evening ferries from Dublin. Last train of the day from Holyhead which is far to early at 20.32, first one next day is 04.25 Monday to Saturday, & the evening ferry, Stena & Irish Ferries, both arrive between midnight & 00.30, there used to be a 01.30 Holyhead to Birmingham, but that's long gone.