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'Hidden' stations

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Daniel

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Crossover

Crossover

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I would say Rugeley Town is well hidden

I have only been there via rail replacement coach (one of the many Chase Line cock ups!) and we seemed to access it a weird way.
Quick look on Google Maps suggests we entered from the Sandy Lane entrance and its behind a Welfare Centre!
Not sure on signposting but the coach driver needed some guidance from the passengers in getting there!
The other entrance looks pretty obscure too
 
tbtc

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Capybara said:
I work in the area and have always thought that, for a station of its size, Waterloo can take some finding, particularly since the Eurostar entrance closed. I have been stopped in the street on numerous occasions and asked how to get to it.
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I'd agree with that - I must have walked round 3/4s of the perimeter before I spotted an entrance :oops:

Massive site, but I realised that when I normally go to Waterloo its by train/ Underground (so hadn't tried to enter from the street before)
 
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hairyhandedfool

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Bescot Stadium is quite hidden, okay it has a sign, but from the road there is no sign of it. I don't even recall the carpark from my last visit though!
 
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Daniel said:
The secondary entrance to Brent Cross station has always interested me... it's in the middle of a residential street!
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I've been there once, and after leaving the station you can then enjoy walking though a maze of ramps, bridges and walkways to get to the shopping centre!

I bet the houses next door are quite expensive though! Even if the people who live there have to contend with lots of people walking by their house all day.
 
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Chapel en le Frith - not exactly hidden but if you didn't know the town you'd not know where to find the station! Only the occasional train hugging the hillside line high above town would give you any sort of clue.

From the north of the town, take a right off the main road into Long Line, pass Chapel High School and continue for 400 yards. Take a right onto a lane that's about 800 yards long, under the freight line and the road curves round to the top, even then the Station Building hides the platforms!

From the south of the town, take a left at the Veechia Italia and follow Rowton Grange Road round for 0.6 miles, take on Alston Road, right then first left up Station Road, a good mile from the Market Place.

Its a good 10-15 minutes walk from the centre of town, that's at a decent speed as well knowing all the shortcuts!
 
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button_boxer

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Of course what you refer to as "the freight line" was originally the main line (from Derby/Matlock to Manchester) with a station much closer to the centre of Chapel-en-le-Frith.
 
ANorthernGuard

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button_boxer said:
Of course what you refer to as "the freight line" was originally the main line (from Derby/Matlock to Manchester) with a station much closer to the centre of Chapel-en-le-Frith.
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That would be the one that joins the Sheffield line near Chinley??
 
robertclark125

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Burntisland isn't easy to find. The main station building looks grand. It isn't tho. Only part of it is sued, and the access is via a walkway in one corner of it. Access from the housing scheme behind the station is through a gap in the wall. Check out the station on Trainspots.
 
12CSVT

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142094 said:
Manors mainline, stuck between offices, a multi-storey car park and now student flats.
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It's also a challenge trying to find your way out. The one and only time I have used this station, I think it took me about 15 - 20 minutes to find the Metro station. Possible worst interchange in this country ?
 
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W-on-Sea

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Hockley (Essex) station is a bit hidden away. The (rather low) railway bridge over the main road makes the presence of the railwayline obvious, but the entrances on either side are both on obscure side streets, and neither is well signposted.

West Harrow tube has an even more "ordinary suburban residential street" location than does Brent Cross. And I suppose that West Acton does (albeit "upmarked suburban residential street" too. Woodside Park might fit this description, too, and perhaps West Finchley. And also Roding Valley. It's notable that these last three all have separate entrances to each platform (as well as a bridge between them) - perhaps highlighting that there isn't a main street or focal point on one side, but residential streets of more or less equal, and secondary, status, on each side.

Two tube stations that really hide themselves away are Dollis Hill and South Kenton - both of them have two entrances, with tunnels/subways providing the access at one entrance at Dollis Hill, and to both at South Kenton.

Although there is no denying that, in general, the quality (and quantity) of signposting to stations is very much higher where TfL, rather than NR, are responsible for it.
 
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W-on-Sea said:
Although there is no denying that, in general, the quality (and quantity) of signposting to stations is very much higher where TfL, rather than NR, are responsible for it.
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TfL are pretty good at giving information (from timetables, to signs, to ways to get information) and do show up the railway quite a bit.

It would seem that TfL considers itself as providing an essential service to people, and perhaps that's why all LO stations became manned when open, unlike equivalent railway stations in London.
 
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amcluesent

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Helensburgh Upper isn't at all obvious being in a cutting. Just an covered archway to the pedestrian ramp is visible from the road.
 
bus man

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Darnall on the sheffield to worksop line is refered to by locals as the secret railway station it is at the end of a cul de sac and its presence is little known to people .


The now closed Brightside Station (just before meadowhall) was also hidden away

img710.jpg
 
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At_traction

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Wonderfully nasty and Byzantine entrances there. "Only for those in the know." The Waterloos and their ilk are especially nasty as you can clearly see the hulking f**ker but have no idea whether you're walking to the right direction at all...

the sniper said:
Bordesley station has got to be one of the best hidden stations. There are no signs, just a whole whole in the wall behind a bus stop, under a bridge!

Admittedly, it has a very limited service (limited to Birmingham City match days only?), but it's still a station.
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Like station, like club. How appropriate. Leg-breaking thugs. <(

Waddon said:
South Bermondsey is quite hidden away, just a sign on an old disused railway bridge, at the end of a very very long footpath leading to the station
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...gqvMPl80FRMQZ3WBkr-C7w&cbp=12,33.86,,0,-10.12
or the other entrance, behind the council truck
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...id=hZ_-oLvZkdwfqDB9w9HjIw&cbp=12,0.51,,1,3.17
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Good for funneling and ambushing away fans, I guess.

amcluesent said:
Rhymes with 'bright' perhaps?
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"l" for "r"?
 
Mojo

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jonmorris0844 said:
Wow, if that's the brightside, what's the other side like?!
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Haha, I was thinking the same thing!

Also, when we did our Greater Manchester challenge last year I was surprised how dilapidated the stations there were. I wonder if any of them are "hidden."

Little Kimble station wasn't exactly hidden but it never used to have the ''double-arrows'' logo outside and I understand Chiltern got a telling off from the SRA at the time. If I recall correctly, I think forum member RPM was the station manager around the time and might have more info?
 
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W-on-Sea

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That picture of Brightside is the best advert (this side of Wakefield Kirkgate) for the bus-shelters-on-platforms (or at any rate the currently preferred slightly-larger-than-a-bus-shelter thing out of metal and glass but that doesn't entirely keep the wind out) approach. Talk about grim!
 
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