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Your favourite heritage railway stations


papagolfjuliet
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Bewdley would be in my top three not least because we used to stop here when the kids were younger after visiting Santa at Arley.

 

Taken from the footbridge in the summer of 2019.

 

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ive not been to many preserved line so just for childhood memories sake, Middleton Moor Road pre 2005 rebuild.

 

Tan-y-Bwlch's S bend is a nice aesthetic

 

Keighley, when more than 1 platforms are occupied at once (including 1&2) oozes the busy commuter junction feel

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1 hour ago, PenrithBeacon said:

My favourite is Pickering, with Horsted Keynes and Bury Bolton St running it close

 

The transformation of Pickering station over the past twenty years or so has been a sight to see. In my childhood it was a fairly ramshackle spot, with horrible plywood booths in front of all the doors, vacuum cylinders and Brute trollies stored on the platforms, and an unappealling assortment of modern signage and recycled street lamps. Nowadays it's delightful.

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Castle Caereinion on the Welshpool and Llanfair is a lovely quiet spot, albeit with limited facilities.

 

Parkend on the Dean Forest Railway is in a lovely setting, as is nearby Perrygrove.

 

All the Great Central stations are good, especially Quorn. 

 

Agree with previous posters re Arley/ Highley, Tan-y-bwlch, Staverton, Weybourne, Keighley.

 

I enjoy a sit at Abergynolwyn with tea and cake next the one of the Talyllyn locos.

 

Haven Street and Horsted Keynes have atmosphere. 

 

Both termini on Groudle Glen are good, Llen Coan in the woods, and Sea Lion Rocks on the cliff top.

 

Yes, Kemsley Down is odd, and malodourous....enjoyed it!

 

Flagging a Deltic down at Newtondale Halt is a touch bizarre......

 

 

Edited by Tim Hall
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2 hours ago, PenrithBeacon said:

My favourite is Pickering, with Horsted Keynes and Bury Bolton St running it close

Mmm yes Bury Bolton Street during an ELR diesel gala is a great spot, gets close to really conjuring up the good old days (70s/early 80s for me) with all the comings and goings and buzz, it's been too long since I was last there for the July diesel gala, so really looking forward to the next time.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

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Carrog I think is my favourite heritage station. Well at least its the 1 where id like to a signalman on a summers evening with a pannier shunting the sidings then waiting for a passenger train to pass headed by a manor, before the pannier heads off with a rattle of 3 link couplings and squeals off  the wagons. 

Sorry went of in a day dream there

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13 hours ago, AY Mod said:

Highley (SVR)

 

Standing on the footbridge or the Engine House balcony.

 

An empty station on a still autumn day of golden and rusty leaves !eaves with not a train in sight, there's no need to prepare the camera yet so a few minutes of mindfulness pleases the soul. After leaving Arley the whistle of a down train echoes around the valley for seconds, not even a songbird to disturb the peace.

 

I could spend hours there and I wouldn't care if there wasn't a train for a couple of hours yet.

We had a fantastic business meeting at the Engine House. Every time a train approached we stopped the meeting and went out onto the balcony to watch it pass. If only all meetings were like that.

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1 hour ago, johnofwessex said:

Blue Anchor, next to the beach with a lovely view towards Minehead

Great spot for photos just along that beach as well - slightly raised straight stretch with little clutter around.

Edited by Hal Nail
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I guess this thread will run out once every heritage station has been named....

 

Minehead is the overall best for me. Very attractive buildings with huge canopy. It's a proper terminus rather than a through station dressed up as one. And it is right on the beach. Exit the station, cross the road and your on the sands of the glorious Bristol Channel. 

Second is Blue Anchor. Again, right on the beach, even closer than Minehead is to the sea. Beautiful GWr signalbox controls traditional level crossing gates.

Minehead and Blue Anchor are a pair. In 1874, Minehead was linked to the rail network to bring well-to-do visitors to the town and several posh hotels and villas were built to accommodate them. However, they did not want uncouth daytrippers despoiling the town, so Blue Anchor was developed to cater for those to keep them away from the posh visitors!

Both stations are the best.

Ian C.

 

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Has to be Sheringham - for no other reason than for over 40  years being on Sheringham station has marked the start of an annual holiday. Either arriving by train (on a day visit) or driving down the hill from the main road into Sheringham I still get a thrill at seeing the station.

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Yes, another vote for Grosmont here

 

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And some more love for the Tanfield, here Andrew's House

 

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I need the scent of a steam locomotive back in my life. Why do women insist on smelling of flowers spices and such? Here pet hold this lump of coal, a dab of light machine oil behind yerr luggoles... phwoar!

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I'd go with AY Mod with regard to Highley, except I think they spoiled the rural setting with that engine house. Before that it was such a tranquil place, almost hidden in the woods down that steep hill.  It was even better as it originally was with the footbridge across from the hill. Last time I was there, several years ago, a 'Western' was working one of the trains, and I was invited into the station house for coffee by the lady who lived there. It seemed to be a lovely cosy home. Arley is a delight, too, and I remember that from its final BR days with one track centred between the two platforms. In those days, of course, there's the wonderful story of how - after the colliery closed and the railway was dead - BR continued to run one train a week......... just to take the signalman his pay packet! The tabloids had a field day. Some things, preservation can't replicate. (CJL)

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One not mentioned yet: Cranmore (East Somerset).

One of the most atmospheric visits to a preserved railway was to here on a non-operating day.  It looked just like a well-tended rural station in the latter days of steam; just a couple of staff, no train and no passengers!

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1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

One not mentioned yet: Cranmore (East Somerset).

One of the most atmospheric visits to a preserved railway was to here on a non-operating day.  It looked just like a well-tended rural station in the latter days of steam; just a couple of staff, no train and no passengers!

 

If you want a beautifully restored station undisturbed by trains and passengers, you should have gone to County School in Norfolk when it was first done up.  Not yet connected to the rest of the Mid Norfolk Railway last time I was there it was looking rather sad and neglected again but I do believe work has since been done to bring it back up to scratch for the northern Extension which should get there before too long.

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Although Holt Station on the NNR is completely new, in our lunch breaks from working on the model railway, you will often find us sitting on the seat at the end of the platform and a very pleasant spot to watch the trains.

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13 hours ago, russ p said:

Grosmont may be nice but its absolutely nothing like it was pre preservation nowadays 

True, but the vast majority of heritage railway stations are like that. There's a lot of sheds and sidings at Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes which weren't there pre-preservation. Weybourne and Loughborough sheds weren't features of BR days either.

 

There are a few around which haven't had the kind of development necessary for a modern heritage operation, but by and large they're rose tinted pastiches, not faithful reproductions.

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On 21/02/2021 at 07:26, Hal Nail said:

Kingscote has a lot of charm but HK has sausage, chips and beans....!

 

I'm a big fan of Medstead and Four Marks - a sleepy passing place on the Mid Hants. A favourite spot for a sit down and a cup of tea when cycling out from Basingstoke.

 

 

Medstead and Four Marks definitely my favourite, especially when it's not a gala weekend and there are no crowds, like you it's a stopping off point on my cycle trips.

 

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Here is an oddity. Aysgarth Station is a "preserved" station without a railway. I visited a Wensleydale Railway open day in 2012, since then it has been sold to a private individual who plans to reinstate the rails and hold open days. That was in 2019, no idea what progress if any has been made?

 

It was interesting in that nearly all the infrastructure that the NER installed was still present including scales in the Goods shed a desk in the Weighbridge and none of the fripperies that are required to run as a "Tourist Attraction"

 

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More in the Gallery here:

RMWeb Gallery - Aysgarth Station

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Dungeness on the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway can either be pleasant or bleak, depending on the weather.

 

The area feels like it belongs in another world, and yet London is not that far away when you really think about it.

 

Here is a shot from the top of the Old Lighthouse from 2011.

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