• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Where is your local station?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Schnellzug

Established Member
Joined
22 Aug 2011
Messages
2,926
Location
Evercreech Junction
15 mins walk from Bristol Temple Meads. Bendy platforms. Looking forward to seeing the wires go up. .

Not altpgether sure that i am, since that would only mean new stock on the Paddington line, and the best they're talking about for anywhere else is cascading Turbos from London. Well, yay.
 
Last edited:
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

matchmaker

Established Member
Joined
8 Mar 2009
Messages
1,880
Location
Central Scotland
Stirling. Beautiful Edwardian buildings, semaphore signalling, two big mechanical signal boxes, plenty of traffic including freight.
 

Hydro

Established Member
Joined
5 Mar 2007
Messages
2,204
At my present location: Deal.

An odd station, serving the town of Deal, about halfway between Dover and Ramsgate. Two roads, up and down, with a large gap between the two in the platform where a third road used to run; this wasn't a through road but referred to as the "middle siding". It was lifted in the 1970's I believe.

A pair of crossovers either side of the station allows trains to terminate and turn back in either platform during engineering works. I haven't seen this done recently (not sure if the crossovers are used all that often) but once caught a down service to Sandwich from P1, the up side, years ago during engineering works between Deal and Dover. An engineering train of (what I now know to be) Salmons loaded with track panels sat in P2, with a pair of 33's at the head at the same time.

Anything other than CEP/VEP's was a rarity on that coast line. Engineering works produced 33's, 73's, 37's, 47's and 58's, the Willesden-Dover TPO used to run through each weeknight at around 1800, with an ED at the helm - it was pot luck which one, Dutch liveried ones, the Pullman liveried "Royal Alex", NSE, Mainline. Nice bit of variety, but it was re-routed with top and tailed ED's towards the end of it's life and subsequently got completely axed with the death of TPO's. The odd EPB sandite, 47 hauled test train, steam specials made appearances too.

Still retains semaphores, and will do for a few years after the East Kent Re-signalling is completed. I believe these will be the only remaining semaphores in East Kent. The up starter is unusual in that it sits on a very short signal post as it abuts the London Road bridge. Deal has it's own signal box, termed the Glasshouse IIRC - 1930's SR vintage, with a rather art deco look about it. It was in the news a few years ago after two signalmen had a fight over milk. There's a level crossing to the downside of the station, Albert Road, adjacent to the box. An engineering siding goes behind Platform 2, which is probably OOU now, but I used to see the odd 07 tamper in there from time to time. I think this was part of the old goods yard.

Portillo made a visit in one of his Great Railway Journeys series. I remember a coal yard on the Up side, on the site of the current Sainsburys, which no doubt was rail served back in the black and white days.
 

charlie873

Member
Joined
31 Dec 2009
Messages
71
Location
Mansfield
At home my local Station is Sutton Parkway on the EMT Robin Hood Line between Shirebrook and Nottingham, But here in Kuwait there is no railway at all :(
 

AlexS

Established Member
Joined
7 Jun 2005
Messages
2,886
Location
Just outside the Black Country
Local at my parents is Codsall between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury. Hourly service with LM 170s between Birmingham and Shrewsbury with ATW running the service with 153/150/158/175 on a Sunday with reduced frequencies. Not much you can say about the place beyond the fact it's in decent nick, the down platform buildings are an award winning real ale pub and the remaining up platform building is kept in good order by the station preservationg group who open it on weekdays for commuters. Unstaffed since the 1960s, has a PIS/voice system that made regional headlines recently when it was set rather too loud by the contractors who installed it and kept the local worthies awake.

New local is Loughborough, I'm a daily commuter between Loughborough and Derby. Nice little independent shop that does good (and cheap) coffee/tea and has been in the same family for decades. Bit chaotic at the moment as the station has been rebuilt and recently lost it's Midland Railway footbridge in favour of a Network Rail modular standard design that's a bit of a carbuncle looks wise but is far better from a usage perspective, being much wider (room to cross people without colliding) and shortly to have lifts, which will lead to the closure of a barrow crossing on a 100 mph railway. Short platforms are a pain but again to be resolved very shortly.
 

Peter Gl

Member
Joined
11 Aug 2007
Messages
41
Location
Eccles, near Manchester
Patricroft, a very historic station on the original Manchester - Liverpool line, next to the Queens Arms, the first railway pub. Was next to a large loco shed.

Now unmanned, and looking very sorry for itself. You can see the historic makings of booking halls and waiting rooms from half demolished walls. You can perceive the ex 4 line track, showing the importance of the line, now bus stop type shelters on each platform.

As someone with a sense of history, it just looks sad, very very sad.

Pete
 
Last edited:
Joined
6 Sep 2011
Messages
989
Location
Blackpool south Shore
My local station is Blackpool South.
It has one platform and single track to Kirkham Junc where it joins the line from North.
One service per hour to Colne, via Pleasure Beach, St Annes on Sea, Lytham and Preston etc.
Unmanned, bus type shelter, plenty of parking. Served mainly by Nodding Donkeys.
 

43167

Member
Joined
18 Jan 2010
Messages
1,021
Location
Keighley
My local station is Steeton & Silsden which reopened in 1990.

The platforms are wooden & are staggered across the site where the level crossing was.

It is served by Skipton-Leeds/Bradford services which are mostly operated by 333's, with a handful of Leeds-Carlisle that pass in the peaktimes calling which are 158/153 worked.

When the station reopened, it was a mix of 142's, 144's & 156's and back then the S&C services were loco-hauled and some called, so it was possible to have trains from there with a 31 or a 47 on the front.
 

Robinson

Member
Joined
1 Aug 2010
Messages
623
Location
Helensburgh
At uni, I generally use Southampton Central, although my house is probably nearer to the tiny Swaythling station. I've only used Swaythling once as it's no real use to get anywhere except on the "Figure 6" route. Southampton Central is decent enough, although not the most interesting architecture-wise. Aside from a one-off steam train I happened to see once, it's generally 158s, 159s, Voyagers, 444s, 450s and quite a lot of freight as well. Occasionally FGW have chucked 153s our way as well, particularly on Great Malvern runs...
 

Toots

Member
Joined
24 Oct 2009
Messages
275
Patricroft, a very historic station on the original Manchester - Liverpool line, next to the Queens Arms, the first railway pub. Was next to a large loco shed.

Now unmanned, and looking very sorry for itself. You can see the historic makings of booking halls and waiting rooms from half demolished walls. You can perceive the ex 4 line track, showing the importance of the line, now bus stop type shelters on each platform.

As someone with a sense of history, it just looks sad, very very sad.

Pete

Mine too for many years!,I've since moved but I still stray into the Queens (Top House) when I can.The station was manned until about 1975,when it had a wooden ticket office built at ground level next to the steps.If you walk to the end of the platform overlooking the pub,the remains of platforms 4&5 are still there,but as you say it's not a patch of its former self..
 

323Matt

Member
Joined
29 Nov 2011
Messages
23
Mine is Heaton Chapel on the Manchester branch of the WCML, staffed early morning until around 1:30pm.
It's the stop after Stockport heading towards Manchester which is just another 2 stops to the north. There are 4 trains per hour to Manchester, 1 to Crewe, 1 to Alderley Edge, 1 to Hazel Grove and 1 to Buxton with a single early morning service to Stoke on Trent.
In terms of rolling stock, the Class 323 dominates most services with Buxton and Hazel Grove services being Class 150 and 156 but these also substitute on Crewe runs along with the infamous 142 Pacers. Unusually, services that call on the way to Hazel Grove don't call on the return to Preston, but instead the train from Stoke on Trent calls at xx45. For example, this gives 2 trains per hour to Cheadle Hulme but 3 returning to Heaton Chapel ( I use these services daily)
We used to be served at least 1x daily by Class 180's of Northern but that service was withdrawn with the type in December 2011.
I also forgot to mention that all services are operated by Northern Rail but you probably worked that out :) Services that pass through without stopping between Manchester Piccadilly and Stockport include 3x hourly Virgin Trains to London Euston, 2x Crosscountry services to Bristol Temple Meads and Bournemouth, 1x Arriva Trains Wales service to Camarthen and Milford Haven on alternate hours, 1x First Transpennine Express services to Cleethorpes and 1x East Midlands Trains services to Norwich! Thats just about all you need to know about my local station.

I am however geographically closer to Reddish South station, famous as the least used station in Britain with 1 service per week in 1 direction down the Stockpot to Stalybridge Line! But that's another story ;)
 

Temple Meads

Established Member
Joined
2 Sep 2010
Messages
2,283
Location
Devon
At uni, I generally use Southampton Central, although my house is probably nearer to the tiny Swaythling station. I've only used Swaythling once as it's no real use to get anywhere except on the "Figure 6" route. Southampton Central is decent enough, although not the most interesting architecture-wise. Aside from a one-off steam train I happened to see once, it's generally 158s, 159s, Voyagers, 444s, 450s and quite a lot of freight as well. Occasionally FGW have chucked 153s our way as well, particularly on Great Malvern runs...

Don't forget the reasonably regular Class 377's either ;)
 

Buffer68

Member
Joined
3 Jun 2009
Messages
272
Location
Bournemouth
Don't forget the reasonably regular Class 377's either ;)

Yes, good to see a bit of Southern - makes a change from SWT.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Patricroft, a very historic station on the original Manchester - Liverpool line, next to the Queens Arms, the first railway pub. Was next to a large loco shed.

Now unmanned, and looking very sorry for itself. You can see the historic makings of booking halls and waiting rooms from half demolished walls. You can perceive the ex 4 line track, showing the importance of the line, now bus stop type shelters on each platform.

As someone with a sense of history, it just looks sad, very very sad.

Pete

Such a shame when stations are left like this. If there are enough people wanting to make a difference, you could get in touch with ACORP www.acorp.uk.com and maybe you could get a project going to restore your station!
 

Hydro

Established Member
Joined
5 Mar 2007
Messages
2,204
I've now made a little jump inland, and am now closest to Canterbury West. Very pleasing station building, and has now gained the modern style of footbridge/lift quite recently. It's most recognisable by it's signalbox, a large structure that bridges the tracks to the country end of the station.

Two roads, up and down through the station, with a short OOU loop running behind P2. A tamper siding exists country end of P1, and another short loop for ECS sits just under and behind the signalbox. This is another old BR (S) station with a large gap between platforms, indicating long lifted through roads. Services are local SET to London Charing Cross, and to Ramsgate/Margate and SET HS1 domestic to STP and Margate.

There used to be an oil siding between St Dunstans Road L/C and P2, serving a small oil terminal (from the distant memories, run by Shell, I remember their Leyland tankers), but this is long gone. The siding itself is still kind of there, but well overgrown and in poor condition.
 

dvboy

Established Member
Joined
6 Sep 2011
Messages
2,039
Location
Birmingham
Already done my home station of Wolverhampton.

My nearest station to work is Birmingham Snow Hill but I rarely use it, except to buy tickets as they are generally better than at Birmingham New Street, where I almost always use the back entrance anyway.
 

Cletus

Established Member
Joined
11 Dec 2010
Messages
2,397
Location
Dover
Dover Priory is mine - 1.04 miles away according to Bing Maps. Kearsney not too far (1.22 miles).
Services to Charing Cross, St Pancras (HS1) and Cannon Street. Victoria also in the opposite direction. Also services ex-Charing Cross to Ramsgate (some via Minster).


Quite an unusual station building, is it unique?

Dover_Priory_Station_01.jpg



Panarama view inside station:-
http://www.panoramicearth.com/4764/Dover/Dover_Priory_Station
 

Drsatan

Established Member
Joined
24 Aug 2009
Messages
1,887
Location
Land of the Sprinters
At home, my local station is Romsey.

There's now a cafe in what used to be the station mess room. It's run by two cheeful middle aged ladies and a cup of tea from there is only £1 - cheaper than a small cup of tea for £1.24 (with a BITE card 20% discount) from the Pumpkin buffet on platform 4 at Southampton Central. In March the CIS screens were replaced with new ones, and as part of the DfT's 'access for all' station accessibility program, a path was laid from the bridleway passing underneath the station, across the site of the former Civil Engineers sidings, onto platform 2. Previously access for wheelchair-bound individuals to platform 2 was impossible since the only access route was via a subway. The station garden, having lain overgrown for about 15 years since the stationmaster's widow died, has now been turned into a car park and there's now a flight of steps from there up to the ticket office, which is open from 0650 to 1330 Monday to Saturday.

Unfortunately, the station building has seen much better days. Having been derelict for over 15 years, the windows were boarded up: the boards were painted to look like windows which is not convincing at all. There were plans in 2005 to turn the station building into a youth hostel, but they fell through.

As for train services, there's an hourly service to Portsmouth Harbour and to Cardiff Central seven days a week, usually worked by three car 158s. A three car 158 is usually enough, but on Friday afternoons and Sunday evenings they can become very overcrowded. A couple of services a day continue to Brighton, formed of two car 158s or 150s. There are also a few services starting at Southampton Central which carry on to Worcester Foregate Street, Gloucester or Great Malvern, usually formed of 150s, 153s or the 158 on loan from SWT. Finally, there's the 'figure of 6' SWT service which departs every hour.
 

Ivo

Established Member
Joined
8 Jan 2010
Messages
7,307
Location
Bath (or Southend)
Here, my geographical local is Oldfield Park, but I will invariably use Bath Spa because it is easier to get to and has a far better service. At home, my local is Thorpe Bay, which I will usually use for all journeys except leaving Southend for Bath when I will tend to go for Southend Victoria (which is of course on a completely different route).
 

lancastrian

Member
Joined
2 Jan 2010
Messages
537
Location
Bolton, Lancashire
End of t'road is Bolton, new toilets that are already wrecked (on Pt4 at least), so many electrical cable trays it would confuse someone who used to do MoD cabling, PIS that works properly only on days with a Y in them or when there's a full moon (Thanks Thales), on the upside, very good and helpful staff, on and off platform, just a shame about some of the older G4S staff that think they can get way with murder and are passing it onto the new staff, and all the faredodgers that use the Orlando Bridge entrance to fare dodge and shout abuse at a conductor when asked to buy a ticket.

T'other end of t'road, Lostock, nice guy from G4S, and a car park that for some reason, still fills up by 10am, better than Bolton that fills up by 6:50am though, and you get to see amusing scenes of idiots in 7.5 and 18 tonne vehicles trying to get between the bollards...

Lostock has no toilets, 2 shelters, and usually a scally sat on platform two cupping himself...

Thats interesting Nym, they are my local stations as well. Used Bolton this week to Manchester, very good service there and back, because of this didn't use any of the facilities. Although I am at a loss where they spent the £4,000,000 in improvements! Yes there is a new ticket hall, but spacer than before and NO SHOP. They have improved the canopies between the footbridge and where the trains actually stop, but I cannot see what else.

I would use Lostock more, IF they had platforms on the Wigan line, it is about a 5 minute drive from where I live and I go to Wigan & Southport often, but need to go into Bolton to catch the train there. Crappy expensive parking in Bolton and I really begrudge paying £2.50 single bus fare to the centre, I can walk it in about 20 minutes and often do.

Actually my true local station is Rumworth & Daubhill, on the old Bolton & Leigh line closed in 1952. If that was still open, about 2 minutes from where I live, life would be a lot easier, I could catch the train to work, down to Great Moor Street, 2 minutes from where I work now. Dreams sadly about when railways were KING.
 
Last edited:

ushawk

Established Member
Joined
5 Nov 2010
Messages
1,965
Location
Eastbourne
Mine is Hampden Park, has a good level of service (2tph to London, 2tph to Hastings/Ore, 1tph to Brighton and 4tph to Eastbourne [often then back out to other stations]). Its often used for changing for stoppers from Hastings onto the London bound train and vice versa.

Station is quite run down, though Southern are putting work into making it look better by giving it a paint, installing a waiting room (which is rarely open) and now a toilet is being added. Always thought it could do with a new building myself as it is heavily used.

Level Crossing at the station is one of the busiest in the country i believe too.
 

Buffer68

Member
Joined
3 Jun 2009
Messages
272
Location
Bournemouth
Dover Priory is mine - 1.04 miles away according to Bing Maps. Kearsney not too far (1.22 miles).
Services to Charing Cross, St Pancras (HS1) and Cannon Street. Victoria also in the opposite direction. Also services ex-Charing Cross to Ramsgate (some via Minster).


Quite an unusual station building, is it unique?

Dover_Priory_Station_01.jpg



Panarama view inside station:-
http://www.panoramicearth.com/4764/Dover/Dover_Priory_Station

Not sure if the building is unique but it certainly is different - very 1930s Art Deco in appearance!
 

Schnellzug

Established Member
Joined
22 Aug 2011
Messages
2,926
Location
Evercreech Junction
Dover Priory is mine - 1.04 miles away according to Bing Maps. Kearsney not too far (1.22 miles).
Services to Charing Cross, St Pancras (HS1) and Cannon Street. Victoria also in the opposite direction. Also services ex-Charing Cross to Ramsgate (some via Minster).


Quite an unusual station building, is it unique?

Dover_Priory_Station_01.jpg



Panarama view inside station:-
http://www.panoramicearth.com/4764/Dover/Dover_Priory_Station

That's classic Southern Railway Art Deco, Surbiton is a fine one, you can discern hints as well on the down side at Southampton Central, although it's been altered muchly over the years. There are some nice signalboxes of similar style as well.
 

M60lad

Established Member
Joined
31 May 2011
Messages
1,567
I'm not a regular poster but my local station used to be Hollinwood on Oldham loop line but this will be changed to South Chadderton when the new Metrolink opens.

My actual local railway station is Moston Station on Caldervale Line which sees a variety of traction using it
 

stuart100100

Member
Joined
13 Dec 2009
Messages
186
Location
Liverpool
Maghull on the Ormskirk to Liverpool Central Merseyrail line.

4 tph each way weekdays up to 7.30pm, then 2 tph evenings and Sundays.

It is a very busy commuting station and the huge car park is regularly full by 8.30am.

The ticket office on the Liverpool platform closed 6 Months ago and was replaced by an 'M to go' shop/ticket office on the Ormskirk platform, which was built within the original listed building

If the planned Maghull North ever gets built then that would become my local station
 
Last edited:

johnnyp_360

Member
Joined
23 Aug 2011
Messages
108
Location
Soham, Ely
Ely is my local station which has very regular trains to and from London King's Cross, London Liverpool Street, Birmingham New Street, Cambridge, King's Lynn, Stansted Airport, Peterborough and Norwich. We also see a 2 hourly service to Ipswich calling at Bury St. Edmunds and the infamous Norwich to Liverpool Lime Street calls at Ely which changes direction!
We are served by Cross Country, First Capital Connect, East Midlands Trains and National Express East Anglia. Passenger trains calling are 158s, 170s, 317s, 365s and shiny new 379s!
The station has 3 long platforms, all easily enough space for 12 carriage sets. We also see various locomotives hauling freight (don't ask my which ones, I'm still a newbie!) as Ely happens to be on the Felixstowe to Nuneaton line so we can expect to start seeing many more in the next few years. We also see the occasional steam special which attracts a lot of local attention.
The station itself is quite pleasant and always kept clean. It is staffed with a ticket office and a train dispatcher and they are always really polite and helpful. The station has a place to buy coffee and it has a news agents. There is also a large Tesco close with a Costa concession. Parking is an issue at the station as the current car park is far to small and often fills up early in the morning.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top