Which are the best and worst stations I've found on my travels so far?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ต.ค. 2024
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Waiting for everyone to tell me I’m wrong 😂
You're not wrong, those are beautiful stations. And the worst are definitely grim!
My personal favourites are the big ones incredible architecture. Or the ones with all the history. the ones with jam packed timetables that feel like you could jump on a train at any moment and go literally anywhere.
My personal favourite is Worksop. Its my local station, it has an alright service pattern, and you can park your car easily and cheaply practically on the platform making it perfect for my commute (if I get to the right door on the train at Leeds, I can be 15 steps from my car!) and has the best little cafe on platform 2!
I would love to say you are wrong.
But you aren't.🤔🤔
@@JenOnTheMove it’s you channel your rules and screw what anyone else says
You're not wrong. the top 5 best are safe, the other 5 though.... you just haven't visited Fareham yet :)
You're not wrong at the moment, but with 2100 stations to go I think there's plenty of scope to find even better places.
Sounds like you haven't been to Wemyss Bay yet. There's a treat waiting for you.
"Take some time to just.. exist". Now that is advice.
You're absolutely right about New Street but I'd say that St Pancras suffers the same issues but it's even worse. Putting the international platforms between two lots of domestic platforms making it harder to connect between them. Having the main Underground entrance and Thameslink platform entrance at opposite ends of the station. Only 4 MML platforms which isn't only but enough platforms but those there are aren't long enough, are a huge walk from the underground entrance, have a shortage of escalators to get to and from them, don't have enough waiting/circulating space and all in all is just a complete and utter mess.
It looks amazing but it's failing at the primary purpose of a train station - to allow people to get on, off, and connect between trains.
As somebody who has the misfortune to use New Street station I think it is one of the worst stations conceivable. There was a stall set up on the grand opening day, and I went up and asked when the improvements to the station would begin; they were not amused.
They have done virtually nothing to improve the station, apart from clearing some of the platforms. It is still the dark, dingy, diesel-polluted bag of shite it has been for the 40 years I have lived in Brum. All they have done is fancified the shopping centre above the station, created more entrances and exists to guarantee that those new to the station get lost, and moved the taxi rank to an unsigned location through a maze of twisty passages all the same.
Also in Brum is one of the nicest stations: Moor Street. It may not have the views of Glan Conwy, but it has nicer buildings.
And it really only looks amazing when you are on the Eurostar platforms, and have practically no time to look around you because you have to catch/leave a train.
I think New Street is better upstairs than it was in the early 1980s
@@cerysfrost3215 That is not the station - that's the shopping centre, and I agree that that is improved. The station is the grotty downstair bit where the trains are. Might I suggest the concept that a railway station is the bit where the trains stop, not the but where M&S or W H Smiths is.
@@frogandspanner That is a reasonable concept tbh
Whitehaven, my local station, must be one of the cheapest and nastiest stations in England. The original Victorian station had a waiting room with a coal fire, canopies over the platforms, a tiled subway between the platforms and a large ticket hall, It was replaced 42 years ago by a much smaller station that resembles a brick box, the subway was filled in during the nineties when the number of platforms were cut and the waiting room is a bus shelter. Also where once it overlooked the Solway Firth, Whitehaven now overlooks a call centre and a supermarket.
Absolutely spot on with Glan Conwy being the best.
I remember when GLovesTrains visitrd Glan Conwy in her Exploring North Wales series a couple of years ago, she said the same thing about the wonderful view there
For me - station without toilets is a stop not a station.
Station must have at least:
1. Waiting room
2. Ticket machine
3. Toilets
Yeah, Polsloe Bridge! My soul departs my body every time.
Thanks for that interesting video, Jen
out of all the stations that ive been to which is featured in the charts i def agree about Birmingham New St as im not a fan of the station myself & i find it too nosy on the platforms & its def a faff to get from one end of the station to the other & awesome choices for the best stations brilliant vlog
Agree about Folkestone - I did enjoy the curvy rails on the slope to the way out though
Some good ones there, but I'd say one nice station I'd put up for contender is Grange-Over-Sands on the way to Barrow-in-Furness, despite there not being much for touring, you get a fantastic view when you exit the station and go under the bridge... views sort of like Glan Conwy
I’d have put Pilning near the bottom. Abandoned platform, over bridge removed, backed by a scrapyard and about two trains per week. Talsarnau,on the other hand has views which include, as well as the sea, salt marshes and mountains, Portmerion, Harlech Castle and Cricieth castle.
Lots of North Wales stations in there Jen! I'd lke to put Deganwy as an honourable mention as well, first time I went to Llandudno on the train from Manchester Deganwy station took my breath away on the views. And I always love passing through Hedben Bridge on the Calderdale line (pretty much all the Calderdale line apart from Halifax...). If it's views your looking for, I would suggest the East Lancashire line between Burnley Manchester Road and Todmorden...
0:27 As a former Morrisons employee I get that feeling.
Great video, Jen. As someone who used to live in Exeter and briefly commuted down part of the avocet line, I concur entirely about Polsole bridge and exton (although I’ve not actually got off at either…)
I was at Newquay Station last week and the station master invited me in for a cup of tea while he called for a porter to help me with my luggage. Oh no! Sorry that was just a dream! Brilliant 😢 video Jen, as usual.
Interesting list. I think Birmingham New Street is the only one I've been to. I actually remember going there as a child on the day of the Omagh bombing 26 years ago when we had a layover at Birmingham Airport. I left my jacket on the train but luckily we were able to retrieve it in time as the next station was Runcorn.
Strongly agree about the disgusting state of Newquay these days Jen.
However might be worse
Have you been to Pilning !..
Not yet by train!
Birmingham New Street!
As mentioned it was refurbished/improved in recent years.
It was also rebuilt in the 1960s, for West coast mainline electrification. Modern Railways had a report on its reopening ceremony.
At the time I had never heard of New Street station but my father who had used it in WW2 agreed that it needed to be rebuilt.
So, it was unfit for purpose even eighty years ago, probably always was and always will be.
Love Birmingham New Street, It's a huge station for a huge city. And yes if you go down the wrong end you will need to check out to check back in.. Show me a through station with a more central location..
Couldn't agree more, it's perfect for the city size!
Great video Jen 😊
A visit to Birmingham New Street is somewhat educational. It gives you feel of what those poor souls in years gone by experienced being thrown in to a medieval dungeon. I hate the place.
Strange to see the LED screen at New Street working in your clips. I lived in Birmingham for a full year and I don't think I ever saw it do anything more exciting than half-heartedly flicker. Really added to the miserable, decaying atmosphere of the place.
Great video Jen! Recommend you visit the Harrogate line between Leeds and York! Lots of lovely towns and Scenery! Especially Knaresborough! Just make sure you avoid the few 150s that run on the line most days as usually 170s and 158s run it so it woukd be awful if a 150 ruined it lol.
Great video, nailed it. I’m going to be very close to a couple of your top 5 stations when I move out of Manchester soon 😢. Keep up the great work
Such a difficult choice at both ends of the range! However an honourable mention for Bridlington with its beautiful hanging baskets, and Northern wanted to remove the ticket office staff responsible for that. The beautiful buffet may be closed and Platforms 1 to 3 replaced by housing, and Platforms 7 to 10 no longer thronged by seaside special expresses, but it's still a seaside gem.
I'd love to join you for one of your explorations in a couple years' time- it's a BRILLIANT series, I find it so interesting that you make a stop at every single station and make some (honest) observations. Can't wait to see how the series unfolds :)
For some reason when I visited Newquay last year I was expecting it to be like Scarborough station, but you are greated with something you'd expect in some industrial Northern town. I'm sure if they invested in some of these places not only would it take ars off the road but attract additional tourism to the area.
Excellent choices Jen, good & bad ones !
I agree with Hyde Central railway station. It does need a massive upgrade including step-free accessible. But it’s not just Hyde Central that is in a bad state. Other railway stations are in a bad state no matter where you go to.
Great video! Glad New Street wasn't in your top 5 best stations 😂.
I'm not. New St is perfectly fine
@@georgedowns4034 unless you happen to be a passenger
@Rail_Focus oki maybe it's cus I'm so used to it at this point but like as long as u get the right platform at the right side of the station, it's rly not that bad
I would highly recommend ticking Wemyss Bay station off in Scotland. One of the best stations in the UK 😁
I used Newquay and Polsloe Bridge long ago. They have been sabotaged.
Really enjoyed it.
It is FAB and 5 by 5 when Jen uploads a new video
Went to sandling a few days ago, it is truely a gem! Especially with freight, HS1 javelins and Electrostars it is amazing
Ummmm… Wemyss Bay.
Pretty much anything on the West Highland Line although how you're going to manage that getting off at every station I don't know. Might take a while.
This is only based on the stations I’ve visited in the series so far… Wemyss Bay isn’t one of them!
@@JenOnTheMove GLoves Trains went a week or so back, she liked it. Geoff likes it too. Of course he hasn't tried the Isle of Wight.
There is nothing wrong with voyagers Jen they are the work horse of cross country and they have taken over from the HSTs.
SOON TO BE REPLACED!!!
I have to agree on Birmingham New Street as a local.
Dear Jen, clearly you like "views", stations seem to be a secondary consideration. None of your top 5 would be in my top stations. But we are all different, thank goodness hey?
I can see, however, that with your top two stations, weather plays a crucial role. An hour there during a storm would be quite a different experience!
Glan Conwy is the new Mornington Crescent \m/
Newquay so depressing. Even the cabbage trees looked sad. How many more stations do you have left to visit? Glan Conway ❤
For me, Oxford is a pretty rubbish station. One of the biggest disconnects between how nice the station and the city is. It's an ugly 1980s building that's always overcrowded, and doesn't feel very permanent and the ticket barriers are such chokepoints. The information is also terrible. They only tell you your train is cancelled at the very last second and trains are often cancelled and suddenly uncancelled 2 minutes before they're scheduled to leave, and then it's chaos when 200 people squeeze through 5 ticket barriers and all run for the train (extra points if the train leaves from over the bridge. The toilets are also tiny and rank. I think my local station, Bath Spa is a rather nice station compared to others (although it can be a bit of a jam when 200 people pour down the Victorian stairs). Kemble and Stroud are pretty as well. Reading is a better station than it used to be, it's more open and airy, but it's so confusing, every platform is the wrong platform (Bristol Temple Meads has the same problem, beautiful façade and roof, but the subway is pretty grim)
I have a love/hate relationship with New Street, since I moved to the West Mids 17 years ago it is now unrecognisable (apart from the Navigation Street bridge). It performs a difficult job on a difficult site, and yet the dismal hole feel of the platforms combined with the noise and confusion upstairs mean the place is not fun especially when busy. I use it every week so hating on it too much just would feel counterproductive.
To me though the worst station in Birmingham is Snow Hill. A multi storey car park, an office block and a rail station combined into a dismal mess.
Also Luton town station is awful, and as far as I know still has no lift access to the platforms which is inexcusable.
You should go to New hythe in on the medway valley line in kent if you already haven't done so.. might change your mind about new Quay 😂
Should have guess a small station in Cymru would top your list. The country is like my friends happy places.
I'm thinking of setting up a Go Fund Me page so Jen can be the official sponsor if Hyde Central Station lol
Was in Hebden Bridge the other weekend and always love the station there, as well as the views from Edale
Totally agree with everyone's comments in B'Ham New Street, they have the funds to do something amazing, but just built a shopping centre on top
I agree Birmingham New Street is terrible. If I’m changing trains and want to grab lunch, right royal pain to get around.
May not have picked all the same stations but can't fault this list. Newquay is very depressing, definitely up there with the worst. I like a lot of Northern's stations, some of them are really well looked after and kept the heritage features. I really like Irlam and Handforth. Also every route between Manchester and Yorkshire seems slow but the views are so spot on, it makes up for it. I think favourite station has to go to Okehampton in Devon though, it's such a pretty station with all the green signs and it feels like there's hope for the future there, just needs commitment to reextend it west. For now, it has the very scenic 118 bus across Dartmoor to Tavistock which I'd really recommend to everyone.
I was expecting to find Bordesley on the awful list.
Modern New Street is WORSE than the old one to me, at least the old one was easy to navigate
I have to totally agree Newquay is the worst station I’ve ever had to use.
I disagree with the Birmingham New St one, sorry not sorry lol. It's miles above what it used to be which was a proper sh*thole. I guess though it's not to everyone's taste. It makes London Euston look like a bin yard imo. I find it completely easy to navigate. People mainly complain because they don't use the signage properly. I never hear much hate for it, I live in the Midlands and use it a lot so feel I know if it's gonna be bad more so haha (Not to invalidate your opinion ofc). Hyde Central was more accurate being called Dull 100%. I don't disagree often with you Jen, but oh well each to there own hahaha. Great video as always!! ☺
I much prefer the old New Street. Its layout was simple and easy to understand: a single bridge on the rail side of the ticket barriers, making it easy to change between platforms. The new version is complicated and a mess.
You seem to have made your choices based on the view from the station rather than the station itself. Even if it wasn't in the beautiful Calder Gorge, Hebden Bridge is by far the prettiest station of those you showed.
Newquay least it's not Reading lol. :D
I don't disagree about New Station - Kevin McCloud described it tawdry, dull and dirty - I'm sure I read somewhere he called it a polished turd at some point, it often smells like one as well.
What would be your favourite big station? I think mine would be Paddington.
there is a big difference between a station /platform in the middle of nowhere and one in a named town/city/ I would not expect the station at Outer Nowhere to be anything, but a named station of a seaside destination even I know the name of , half way round the world , its unacceptable to be SO dismal. I knew it was going to be Glan Conwy at number 1
Birmingham New Street has the formidable "Ozzy the Bull".
Annnnd....
That's about it.
Yours,
Miserable Brummie.
I've not been there in quite a few years and it's a apparently been improved but I'd say Redditch is a candidate for worst station 😂
You can go further with Minus Numbers.
Sandling is walking distance from Hythe. Hint; hint!
RH&DR! 😜
The pendant in me says it's not necessarily about the station but about the location as well. BNS I am so with you on but to miss some of the greats such as York, Paddington and Lime Street from the best list...hmmm. I might be a tad biased on the last one. Also Buxton missed from the best and Southport from the worst? Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.
This is based on the ones I’ve been to as part of the series so far 🙂
The acoustics at Paddington are amazing. When the Westerns and then HSTs were the motive power the station hummed. So it's not just the look of the place.
Bolton
Couldn’t agree more with Newquay. It’s so damn dull
Birmingham New Street isn't that bad. Better now than what it used to be.
Two Cornwall stations in the Top 5.
Shame on you Cornwall! Mind you this was one of the biggest Brexit hotspots in the UK. Just think about all that funding that both stations COULD have received from the EU, were we still a member.
Oh well, it's Cornwall's loss. 'You get what you deserve' as they say. And in Cornwall's case, this is very much true.
Yes your so right definitely best no 1 stasion loved it
What? You’re joking, right? It doesn’t even have a buffet!
Worst station? I'm guessing you haven't made it to Dalmarnock yet. Look at the platform level on Google Images and I think you'll see what I mean! 🙈 Not even visible in the photos you'll find, there's some kind of industrial orange gunge that oozes out of several holes/pipes in the wall of the cutting just beyond the platform. And to think the station was refurbished in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games 😳
I hate the complexity of Birmingham New street
They need to remove the barriers at that station, it would be like a normal station then. Nearly all trains seem to check on board anyway.
@@aaronsmith9209 They cannot do that as it is a major station and I am sure that large stations like BNS are required to have them. Even during the massive reconstruction days of BNS they had ticket attendants on the space where the barriers are now to check tickets periodically. The amount of fare dodgers would be too high.
@@mrjoshdeakin What about York and Sheffield stations then which have no barriers at all? Or stations like Nottingham, Edinburgh Waverley, Euston and Paddington where some platforms are open with no barriers? Many stations on both the ECML and WCML manage fine as open stations too. Man Pic manages fine with inspectors at the entrance to Platforms 13 and 14 too. Maybe regionally fare dodging would be a problem but is literally impossible on the long distance services. The stations without barriers are just better and more customer friendly and as someone who likes to travel on rover tickets is a much better experience as barriers are very rare to accept them!
You wait until you get to Cheddington station. It has alright views but a waste of a station
No pretty Cheshire stations?
No Scottish Highland station in the top 5?
Newquay is a complete shithole anyway train station suits it anyway
Trains Station 🚉