Worst station improvements/modernisations 1950s to today

[melmerby]

Hasn't anybody mentioned Euston?

 

Today's Birmingham New Street is miles better (and that's saying something!)

 

For the premier station on the WCML it is the pits.

 

Keith

[Bon Accord]

Any thoughts on the fall of once-grand stations and their utilitarian replacements:

 

Manchester Victoria, Blackburn, Rugby, Fenchurch St...add your own?

 

Oban as a definite, nothing more than vandalism.

Ironically the larger old station would probably prove quite useful today what with the huge boom in tourism.

[QuoitsPlayer]

Sunderland is like a mini New Street but worse at platform level if that was even possible!

[hmrspaul]

Absolutely; The 1970s on-the-cheap rebuild of Oxford was so poor that BR had to do it all again 20 years later ! (and it's still not fit to be the gateway to one of Britain's major tourist centres).

 

The 1970s is well recorded by Morse and Endeavour on the box. Mundane, but not hideous.

 

Paul

[RJS1977]

Endeavour used Rewley Road station (now at Quainton Road).

[Zomboid]

I like Coventry and Stafford. Euston isn't bad either, unless you choose to hang around on the platforms. Wolverhampton is a mess though.

 

New Street is a lost cause I think. The clasp buildings are far from architectural marvels, but they've generally been fit for purpose when I've used them. Being cheap buildings from 40 years ago I expect they're mostly falling down now.

 

Stratford (London) is pretty bad. And I'll vote for Oxford as well. I think that's another one where it'll be near impossible to get it right.

[John M Upton]

Crawley. Perfectly good station that just needed the platforms lengthening towards the relocated Town Centre (itself built, rebuilt and rebuilt again since) but instead swept away in favour of a minimalist concrete carbuncle with a tiny ticket office shoved underneath a hideous concrete Overline House office block which has been empty and disintegrating for most of its life whilst the opposite platform has just a tatty wooden shed that constantly smells of wee and cannabis.

 

Access to this misery inducing craphole is fit only for the very able thanks to lots and lots of stairs and a dreadful concrete footbridge.

 

Wheelchairs, prams, etc who want to head towards Horsham or the coast have a approximately one mile round trip on foot to access the platform.

 

And then there is Euston...

[eastwestdivide]

Sunderland is like a mini New Street but worse at platform level if that was even possible!

I cycled into Sunderland at the end of the C2C route around 10 years ago, and tried following signs to the station. Nearly missed my train, as I kept missing the station. And yes, my impression was a worse underground environment than New Street.

[caradoc]

I have to say that personally I don't find Euston that bad; The main concourse is certainly often crowded nowadays but that is due to the increase in services and passenger numbers in recent years. Agree that the platforms are not that great but with it being a terminus, people are either leaving or joining a train, not usually hanging around there !

Rugby certainly was a grand station, but the new layout is operationally far better than the old, and the same applies to Reading; The old station there had character but was hopelessly inadequate for today's traffic.

Patterton, the last stop before the end of the line at Neilston, is another example of minimalism; Permanently unstaffed and the only buildings are bus shelters. The car park has been extended and it is now a busy place, but the facilities have not been upgraded accordingly.

[Fat Controller]

I have to say that personally I don't find Euston that bad; The main concourse is certainly often crowded nowadays but that is due to the increase in services and passenger numbers in recent years. Agree that the platforms are not that great but with it being a terminus, people are either leaving or joining a train, not usually hanging around there !

Rugby certainly was a grand station, but the new layout is operationally far better than the old, and the same applies to Reading; The old station there had character but was hopelessly inadequate for today's traffic.

Patterton, the last stop before the end of the line at Neilston, is another example of minimalism; Permanently unstaffed and the only buildings are bus shelters. The car park has been extended and it is now a busy place, but the facilities have not been upgraded accordingly.

If one thing spoils Euston, it is the way the concourse is littered with 'retail opportunities'. It makes it seem like an airport..

[jonny777]

Nailsea and Backwell.

 

From this

 

 

To this

 

 

 

Although I daresay the same could be repeated for hundreds of small stations across the UK.

 

A better challenge would be to find a rural station which has been improved over the last 60 years (not including heritage sites).  

[Bernard Lamb]

+1 for Wembley Central.

 

When someone decides to build a shopping center where once there was no more than a bridge it’s doomed to failure. See the medeieval London Bridge for example.

 

These days you have to wait at the barriers for the faster trains until the train is almost due.

Is there another station that is so depressing that the staff have to resort to such measures?

Bernard

[Oldddudders]

 

A better challenge would be to find a rural station which has been improved over the last 60 years (not including heritage sites).

 

I would suggest that when NSE was at its zenith in the late ‘80s, the stations that received what became known as VSB 90 (Vernacular Station Building) structures designed by John Fellows, were a genuine improvement. Many replaced CLASP buildings, but these had themselves replaced ancient, cold, damp and unfriendly structures which looked a lot nicer than they were to work in.

 

And in the BR era, when money was forever short, how could you justify improving local stations when also required to build trains and ships, and maintain a chain of prestige hotels? At the same time, of course, being required to cut staff and improve operations with expensive resignalling schemes.

 

And now, if you have a finite franchise, are you going to invest big bucks in an asset that will still have a capital value long after you have lost your interest in that bit of railway? Probably not.

[The Stationmaster]

Absolutely; The 1970s on-the-cheap rebuild of Oxford was so poor that BR had to do it all again 20 years later ! (and it's still not fit to be the gateway to one of Britain's major tourist centres).

 

For what was definitely meant as a temporary building the 1970s Up side building at Oxford was considerably worse that the original, by then very old, temporary building it replaced.  I think the present building on the Up side was meant to be permanent but it was clearly built down (in size) to a price which means it's totally inadequate for what it is presumably meant to do.

[luckymucklebackit]

Glasgow Queen Street, the exterior of the beautiful trainshed at the George Square end was for years hidden behind a hideous extension to the Hotel, with similar 1970s buildings stuck on each side, the developers photographs suggest a more sympathetic blending of new and old, we need to await completion before making judgement though.

 

Jim 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Thameslink platforms at St Pancras International. Clean and functional. Not a clue to help bemused visitors understand that this is in fact NOT international, but actually the suburban services only platforms. All signage in English, so that those from abroad have very little information about how to reach the actual International element of St Pancras.

If one thing spoils Euston, it is the way the concourse is littered with 'retail opportunities'. It makes it seem like an airport..

Your comparative assessment with St Pancras International Shopping Mall will be welcomed.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Unintended encore.

Edited January 24, 2019 by 34theletterbetweenB&D

[roythebus]

Ditton Junction.  60s concrete sh1thole that closed for good back in 1994 as so few people were using it.  Cr@p station with cr@p trains (Pacers, even though it was on an electrified route).

 

Ditton Junction was featured in a 1962 (I think) edition of the Railway modeller, the one where the late Cyril Freezer coined the phrase "Modern Image" as his front page headline banner "modelling the modern image" with a picture of an AL-somehting and Ditton junction. It looked quite nice and new in those days. In fact my friend John Hewitt made a model of it for the MRC's New Annington and renamed Sandalmouth. 

 

Playcraft made a kit for Macclesfield Station, not quite to scale but again it looked good for that era.

[Pete the Elaner]

All signage in English, so that those from abroad have very little information about how to reach the actual International element of St Pancras.

 

English signage has an issue here. What 2nd language would we use?

 

English is the most common 2nd language by a long way, so wherever you go, English will be understood.

I was in Thailand a couple of years ago & the locals were speaking English to some Chinese visitors...because this is a language they both understood.

 

French - Our nearest neighbours.

Spanish - the most widely spoken 1st language in the world, largely in South America.

Polish - the 2nd most widely spoken language in the local area.

Dutch/Flemish - Eurostar services are available direct to St Pancras from Netherlands & Belgium.

 

My own personal dislikes for a station rebuild is London Bridge. Signs directed me outside along a rainy street to get to the Northern Line & the 'key' destinations screens are still not what you get guided to when arriving by Underground.

 

Euston takes a lot of flak for its characterless building but it actually works. The platforms are all in a line & access to the tube lines are in the middle of the concourse unlike the split platforms of Paddington or King's Cross which were both 2 stations half-heartedly merged into

1.

Euston's biggest flaw rarely gets criticised: its poor interchange with Euston Square. Why should travellers have to walk the entire length of the platform at street level? There was an excellent chance to include an east end entrance in the 1960s rebuild & make this a proper interchange with the rest of Euston.

Edited January 24, 2019 by Pete the Elaner

[Joseph_Pestell]

Ditton Junction was featured in a 1962 (I think) edition of the Railway modeller, the one where the late Cyril Freezer coined the phrase "Modern Image" as his front page headline banner "modelling the modern image" with a picture of an AL-somehting and Ditton junction. It looked quite nice and new in those days. In fact my friend John Hewitt made a model of it for the MRC's New Annington and renamed Sandalmouth. 

 

Playcraft made a kit for Macclesfield Station, not quite to scale but again it looked good for that era.

 

It was available in more than one size and with other WCML names IIRC.

 

I have often wondered if the tooling is still around somewhere. It would be a useful kit for Hornby to reissue.

[eastwestdivide]

Thameslink platforms at St Pancras International. Clean and functional. Not a clue to help bemused visitors understand that this is in fact NOT international, but actually the suburban services only platforms. All signage in English, so that those from abroad have very little information about how to reach the actual International element of St Pancras.

...

...English signage has an issue here. What 2nd language would we use? ...

All you need really is a sign with the word "Eurostar" and an arrow.

Perhaps with "international services", as those words are pretty much the same in many European languages.

 

In fact, a google images search for 

eurostar signage st pancras

reveals plenty of signs pointing to Eurostar once you're at ground level.

 

Are there really none any on the TL platforms? Perhaps the thinking is that

a) there's only one way out of those platforms anyway, and

b) if a bemused visitor has navigated the suburban system that far, they probably realise they need to change platforms.

[phil-b259]

 

Are there really none any on the TL platforms? Perhaps the thinking is that

a) there's only one way out of those platforms anyway, and

b) if a bemused visitor has navigated the suburban system that far, they probably realise they need to change platforms.

 

Given the Thameslink platforms have their own separate gateline its not as if a potential Eurostar passengers can get down to them anyway.

 

If you arrive on a Thameslink service then as you say there is only one way out so even the most confused international traveller cannot get lost - and when you get through the barriers there is plenty of signage to tell you where to go (plus if you are returning home via Eurostar you will have probably already been through St Pancras once before....)

[Joseph_Pestell]

I am just about old enough to recall the old Euston. It was a fairly awful station that had grown in a disorganised way. The new one is really much better if a little dull architecturally.

 

I agree with other posters that Sunderland is probably the worst on the network relative to amount of use/importance. But to be fair, the old station was not a thing of great beauty either.

[jonny777]

I would suggest that when NSE was at its zenith in the late ‘80s, the stations that received what became known as VSB 90 (Vernacular Station Building) structures designed by John Fellows, were a genuine improvement. Many replaced CLASP buildings, but these had themselves replaced ancient, cold, damp and unfriendly structures which looked a lot nicer than they were to work in.

 

And in the BR era, when money was forever short, how could you justify improving local stations when also required to build trains and ships, and maintain a chain of prestige hotels? At the same time, of course, being required to cut staff and improve operations with expensive resignalling schemes.

 

And now, if you have a finite franchise, are you going to invest big bucks in an asset that will still have a capital value long after you have lost your interest in that bit of railway? Probably not.

 

 

 

It is strange how, when money was supposed to be in short supply and they could not afford a simple refurbishment, they could always find the funds for demolition. 

[pete_mcfarlane]

Are there really none any on the TL platforms? Perhaps the thinking is that

a) there's only one way out of those platforms anyway, and

b) if a bemused visitor has navigated the suburban system that far, they probably realise they need to change platforms.

In my experience, the bemused visitor is probably still standing on the platform at Luton Airport Parkway wondering why there are no Thameslink trains for London, but loads going to Sutton or Brighton.