The most decrepit, derelict station photo challenge

[eastwestdivide]

Bedford St Johns, Jan 1984. Peeling paint, rusty bits, uneven paving, grotty DMU - what's not to like:

[keefer]

remembered seeing a pretty decrepit North London station in one of those compilation videos - found it, posted by Lewisham Bill on Vimeo : 

 

Around the 1:10 mark, Dalston Junction looking in the midst of partial demolition - thought it was just the Eastern Junction lines, but the footbridge over the 'Steam' and Electric lines looks pretty ropey . Next station shown is Canonbury and it's just as bad! Repeat until 2:35

Basically all very run down NLL stations, windows/stairways broken with roofs and canopies missing - while still in use, it seems, and only a bit of wood nailed across a stairway to stop you using it.

Travellers from the early '80s would struggle to recognise the NLL today, never mind the '60s - also the ELL and GOBLIN - new stock, clean stations and a service that would've been unbelievable not that long ago. Really quite important Cross-London railways that always seemed to forgotten about, with only a skeleton service to match

Edited May 7, 2020 by keefer

[Steamport Southport]

Green Lane in Birkenhead is still a bit of a dump. It used to be terrible a few years ago. This is it after cleaning.

 

 

 

Jason

[Northmoor]

On 06/05/2020 at 21:37, eastwestdivide said:

And Manchester Victoria always used to look pretty grotty, even when the sun was out. It wasn't helped by blue smokescreens, such as here in 1985:

 

While not particularly grotty, it certainly looked basic in the early 90s before the rebuild:

 

 

There is something morbidly fascinating about run-down railways.

[The Johnster]

Snow Hill went through a period when derelict would have been aspirational...  

[Johann Marsbar]

Not in the UK, but built by a British owned company and certainly all the ironwork was built here, as well as the signals, and most definitely to a British design.....

 

 

 

 

.........Empalme Lobos (Lobos Junction) in Argentina. The station is still in use as well.

 

[ikks]

11 hours ago, eastwestdivide said:

Derby's old concrete canopies (now replaced) always seemed fairly dull and decrepit, especially when the sun wasn't out.

Here at various times in the 80s:

I was around when these were erected, I always thought they were pretty horrible then, looking at this thread though, it seems to indicate that those in authority really don't give a sh1t about these things. Snow Hill, when I was spotting was a great station........... another shame.

Mike

[Joseph_Pestell]

52 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said:

Not in the UK, but built by a British owned company and certainly all the ironwork was built here, as well as the signals, and most definitely to a British design.....

 

 

 

 

.........Empalme Lobos (Lobos Junction) in Argentina. The station is still in use as well.

 

 

Could do with a lick of paint. But looks fairly good otherwise.

[flapland]

2 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

Not in the UK, but built by a British owned company and certainly all the ironwork was built here, as well as the signals, and most definitely to a British design.....

 

 

 

 

.........Empalme Lobos (Lobos Junction) in Argentina. The station is still in use as well.

 

Retiro station one of the main stations in Buenos Aires used to be very run down when I visited in 2009. Sadly can't find pictures from then. However visited again last October and it now looks great.

 

 

[tomparryharry]

No  photos here, but Queenstown Road between Clapham & Waterloo always looks a bit ramshackle

[Johann Marsbar]

 

5 hours ago, flapland said:

Retiro station one of the main stations in Buenos Aires used to be very run down when I visited in 2009. Sadly can't find pictures from then. However visited again last October and it now looks great.

 

 

The trainshed at Buenos Aires Constitucion was fairly decrepit in 2007...

 

 

but they had started to clean it up two years later, as can be seen by the fresh green paint.....

 

 

But the wood & tin "temporary" station (1911-2018) on the Belgrano Sur narrow gauge line still looked like a temporary tin shed.....

 

 

[Reorte]

19 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Green Lane in Birkenhead is still a bit of a dump. It used to be terrible a few years ago.

Just needs a bit of tidying...

Quote

This is it after cleaning.

Oh.

[John M Upton]

For me, any station where a perfectly decent building which just needed a bit of updating was instead swept away for a minimal facility concrete carbuncle that constantly smells of stale urine and weed and is dominated by a concrete cancer infested office block over the top usually called Overline House has to be be top of the list.

 

My personal hatred is reserved for Crawley:

[Chris116]

29 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

My personal hatred is reserved for Crawley:

The building is dreadful and the footbridge is a danger to life. Half the steps are different heights and make it very difficult to walk over with any confidence.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

A fascinating thread.  Afraid I don’t have a photo to add - but I did notice I have personal connections to 5 of the stations mentioned, having had two of them as my local station, and three more on my local line!  Maybe it’s me...

[TheQ]

No pictures but Ludgershall station, signal box,  foot bridge and lighting  had been demolished   Just leaving the water tower,  and water Towers.  But it was still being used for military passenger  trains to disembark.. 

 

 

[flapland]

22 minutes ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

A fascinating thread.  Afraid I don’t have a photo to add - but I did notice I have personal connections to 5 of the stations mentioned, having had two of them as my local station, and three more on my local line!  Maybe it’s me...

If you're where I think lets chuck Moston into the mix. 

 

[Tim V]

11 minutes ago, TheQ said:

No pictures but Ludgershall station, signal box,  foot bridge and lighting  had been demolished   Just leaving the water tower,  and water Towers.  But it was still being used for military passenger  trains to disembark.. 

 

 

When did that stop? Seen here in 1979.

 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

4 minutes ago, flapland said:

If you're where I think lets chuck Moston into the mix. 

Hi flapland.  Moston isn’t one I know, sorry - but having watched the video, perhaps a candidate in its own right, as you say.

[montyburns56]

23 hours ago, eastwestdivide said:

Bedford St Johns, Jan 1984. Peeling paint, rusty bits, uneven paving, grotty DMU - what's not to like:

 

I stumbled across some pictures of BSJ last night and I was going to mention it, but you've obviously beaten me to it.

 

 

 

 

 

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, Tim V said:

When did that stop? Seen here in 1979.

 

I left the area in 71 it was still in use then. The fencing in your picture  was in place by 76, ( I've seen it in other dated pictures)  the main station platform was on the left,  on the right was just a shelter and the signal box was roughly where the signs are.  Both sides are now housing estates. 

The main platform face had long since been removed and the ground sloped back.  So the troops used to unload on the right of picture,  into vehicles that drove up the access  road behind  the signal box site onto Astor Crescent.

The bush immediately on the left  was the back of my families coal yard, closed on that site in the late 50s.. 

[Darius43]

Belfast York Road station was somewhat grim from the late 1970s up to its closure in the 1990s.  The original station had been blown up a few times so what was left was somewhat utilitarian.

 

Belfast York Road

 

Belfast York Road

 

i remember trips to Larne with my Grandad - you had to wait in the booking area until the train was ready to leave, then you were allowed onto the platform.  A bit like how they do it at Euston today only less stressful...

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Edited May 9, 2020 by Darius43

[Enterprisingwestern]

15 hours ago, John M Upton said:

For me, any station where a perfectly decent building which just needed a bit of updating was instead swept away for a minimal facility concrete carbuncle that constantly smells of stale urine and weed and is dominated by a concrete cancer infested office block over the top usually called Overline House has to be be top of the list.

 

My personal hatred is reserved for Crawley:

 

Well, I was keeping my powder dry, but seeing as you have mentioned such things, Birmingham New Street wins my vote for the most decrepit station. If you peer through the stygian gloom into its nether regions it really is ropey.

 

Mike.

[tomparryharry]

19 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

 

The trainshed at Buenos Aires Constitucion was fairly decrepit in 2007...

 

 

It look like Waterloo has had a visit from the  "Millwall Travelling Executive".

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caradoc]

16 hours ago, Chris116 said:

The building is dreadful and the footbridge is a danger to life. Half the steps are different heights and make it very difficult to walk over with any confidence.

 

At least at Crawley the platforms are in the open ! Earlier this year I had the misfortune of changing trains at Sunderland, and I have never been to a darker, more depressing station, ever. It is worse than Birmingham New St, even there the platform ends are outside. 

 

Edited May 9, 2020 by caradoc
Clarification