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Trivia; stations with the worst view from the platform?
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Howardh
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Being able to sit and stare at other trains for hours on end might be a big plus for many!
Saying that - I don't think there are any platforms where you CAN sit and wait for your train, with those gates and all that....just a mad rush when they are opened.
Are there any platforms there you can turn up and wait - or are we all stuck with the concourse?
tsr
Established Member
Loads of places on the Southern network regrettably spring to mind.
The Sussex side platforms at London Victoria
Gatwick Airport, to the West, looking at the A23
Faygate (a random oddity of a yard)
Rye, with its massive boring car park
Even Reigate has a view much misrepresenting the town - Homebase and some office blocks
I could go on...
Other contenders:
Dorking West (scrapyard)
Lowestoft on a grey day
Barbican (if it counts)
The Sussex side platforms at London Victoria
Gatwick Airport, to the West, looking at the A23
Faygate (a random oddity of a yard)
Rye, with its massive boring car park
Even Reigate has a view much misrepresenting the town - Homebase and some office blocks
I could go on...
Other contenders:
Dorking West (scrapyard)
Lowestoft on a grey day
Barbican (if it counts)
Mansfield Woodhouse. The station itself being built out of the goods shed is quite nice. But all you can see is industrial units, a private bus/coach depot with some demics poking their rear end over the top of the cutting and some wasteland. Sutton Parkway is just car parks and a road bridge. Shirebrook is an abandoned train depot rotting away despite being in industrial use. The whole Robin Hood line is basically horrible 
I almost like East Mids Parkway - the sound of the cooling towers is very soothing.
I almost like East Mids Parkway - the sound of the cooling towers is very soothing.
Cantley, Norfolk, is literally in the shadow of the beet factory. Although fot me it does have a certain industrial beauty.
The thought of Cantley leads me to think of another possible tread, stations with the worst smell! I seem to remember that when the sugar beet plant was working there was a strong sweet sickly smell!
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TheNewNo2
Member
I always quite liked East Midlands Parkway - the power station is interesting. Admittedly the only time I went there it was snowing and barely light, but I liked it - https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbuck007/sets/72157632735262939
My nomination is, as ever, Severn Beach. It's just miserable.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Woolwich Dockyard
In a cutting between two tunnels, not the most pleasant of places to wait for trains
In a cutting between two tunnels, not the most pleasant of places to wait for trains
backontrack
Established Member
Ashford International. Always boring, always dark and always freezing. Always miserable.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Never seen "ladies of the night plying their trade" from Picc P13/14, but I suspect they are there. I do like that slightly dystopian urban decay view from Picc, though, it's sort-of exciting in a way. Though maybe that's because I associate Manchester with really good times when I was at uni.
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If you like 350s, Voyagers and Pendolinos, with the odd Electrostar
Unless the automatic gates change that (they may well set them to exit only when a train is not boarding), you can always get to any platform at Euston except during the period between 2 minutes before departure of a VT, and a short time afterwards when the gates are reopened as the platform staff leave the platform. RTT can usually be used to find out platforms before they are called, and staff never seem to care unless you cause an obstruction.
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Iskra
Established Member
To be fair, it has been a while since I've seen one.
It's not that terrible a view in all honesty, just the urban decay feel doesn't 'fit' with the otherwise sleek and modern Picc station or Manchester city centre itself.
I also find Manchester to be an exciting city, it's becoming like a Northern London where you get a bit of a buzz from being there/visiting.
bramling
Veteran Member
Can anybody better, if that's the word, the "view" at Warrington Bank Quay of the stunning Unilever works :cry:
When I was a bit younger went for an interview in Warrington and getting off the train wasn't the greatest introduction to a town I've ever had!
NB Clearly you can have a station where one platform overlooks a scrap yard and the other a view down a gorgeous valley. It's the worst view from one platform - just because the other side's nice doesn't even things out!
Also, platforms in tunnels/underground don't count.
Whilst probably not the worst, Stevenage is pretty depressing. Dual-carriageway and run-down town centre on the up side, and a horrible modern leisure park on the down side. All made worse by the whole area being frequented with more than a fair share of kids and families who would look at home on Jeremy Kyle.
On the same line, I always find the outlook at Sandy quite depressing, again reflecting the town it serves.
I love that view, nothing wrong with it!
158747
Member
Bristol Temple Meads with the derelict former Royal Mail sorting office adjacent to platform 15.
Whistler40145
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South end of Preston station isn't wonderful, you've got the car park on the left and the other side is the Royal Mail depot and former sidings where Network Rail store equipment.
RobShipway
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Newhaven Harbour Station http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/867280
cactustwirly
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Hayes & Harlington, lots of tower blocks and an industrial estate, including the Nestle factory.
Good call.
But Bank Hall is worse!
Brick walls and weeds.
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Warrington Central.
No view (unless you go to the very far end of the platform ... and you're 8' 3")
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
The entirety of the innersuburban GWML is grim. West London just isn't such a nice place, compared with south west London which really is (and has house prices to match).
Rapidash
Member
Torre, St James Park and Polsloe Bridge all spring to mind. If Marsh Barton ever gets built, it'll have the enviable view of a Unilever waste-to-energy plant, and the inviting smell of the nearby tannery.
satisnek
Member
Anywhere where there's 'tagging' graffiti. Despise it with a passion.
TheNewNo2
Member
How about we start a subthread for the prettiest? In which case, I vote Dovey Junction as by far the best in the country. Almost total silence, mountains in all directions. Beautiful.
keppoch69
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If you want to start a list of a "pretty" mainline station, can I nominate Rogart on the Far North Line please? The view is gorgeous coming in from Lairg, or Lurg as the locals pronounce it, and the station is so well looked after by a rail enthusiast
Trog
Established Member
South Hampstead. In a cutting between grubby retaining walls, views of the derelict remains of the mainline platforms, the GC over bridge, and the backs of housing so grotty looking that you probably have to wipe your feet on the mat as you leave.
Cherry_Picker
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Are you referring to Rowley way?
It's actually a listed building, it's one of those 'interesting' buildings which a lot of people seem to really care about. It's been used on TV and in movies loads and the inside of it was used as a backdrop for one of the best music videos of the year this summer. Even if you don't like the song spend a moment with the video as you can spin the camera around 360 degrees during the song without interrupting it.
davetheguard
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Ah, yes, the smell of the Nescafe factory. You'd think it would be pleasant, wouldn't you? It isn't!
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Hanwell isn't grim. Attractive Great Western station buildings, old style running -in boards, leafy valley of the River Brent, crossed by Brunel's soaring Wharnecliffe Viaduct.
Nor is much of Ealing; although I certainly agree that the station itself is nothing to get excited about. But outside, the Green is just a few yards away, and there's attractive Georgian houses and up market eateries in the area close to Ealing Studios (Titfield Thunderbolt, Lavender Hill Mob etc.), which is only two bus stops away from the station on a route 65.
Howardh
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Are you referring to Rowley way?
It's actually a listed building, it's one of those 'interesting' buildings which a lot of people seem to really care about. It's been used on TV and in movies loads and the inside of it was used as a backdrop for one of the best music videos of the year this summer. Even if you don't like the song spend a moment with the video as you can spin the camera around 360 degrees during the song without interrupting it.
Dunno what it looks like from the front, but the backside is truly horrendous, and I would bring back the stocks for people who designed that
At the very least a lick of paint might improve things, I know the railway is behind but if I lived in a house overlooking then I'd be chaining myself to the Town Hall gates demanding they pay MY council tax!!! Grrrr.
rf_ioliver
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It's amazing that Newhaven Harbour Station has been like that since the early 90's. As far as I can tell nothing has even changed there - the white house (was it part of the station ever?) has been abandoned 20+ years. How it is still standing I have no idea....
So, get's my vote
t.
Ian
Bletchleyite
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I like Blaenau Ffestiniog station, with the slate heaps in the background. Pity about the rest of the town.
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Dunno what it looks like from the front, but the backside is truly horrendous, and I would bring back the stocks for people who designed that
At the very least a lick of paint might improve things, I know the railway is behind but if I lived in a house overlooking then I'd be chaining myself to the Town Hall gates demanding they pay MY council tax!!! Grrrr.
If you look at London buildings generally, they always put the ugly side facing the railway - the frontages are often elaborate. FWIW, when I was a kid I thought that was a football stand.
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Fair point, though I think Hanwell looks bad, because they haven't kept it in a proper state of repair[1]. It looks like it is GWR style because they haven't done anything to it since it was properly like that, and have just added ugly First-branded name boards.
[1] No station on the inner GWML has been kept in a proper state of repair. The state of the paintwork, for example, is an absolute disgrace. Compared to LM stations it looks like the inner GWML has been closed and abandoned for years.
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