The most decrepit, derelict station photo challenge

[Michael Hodgson]

2 hours ago, Darius43 said:

I think that should be Redesmouth (in Northumberland) rather than Reedsmouth.

 

 

The place is named after the River Rede, which is a tributary of the Tyne.

 

2 hours ago, montyburns56 said:

Reedsmouth 1961 by Kevin Lane

 

That's the old spelling, and was used by the railway.  Quite a lot of places changed the spelling of the name over the life of the railways.

[montyburns56]

It's amazing to think that a station of this size could get closed down even as late as the 90s.

 

Tilbury Riverside

 

 

[mullie]

By all accounts it was rarely busy even in its heyday,  dictated by the boat traffic.  It was a strange station to walk around as it was usually deserted,  Broad Street was similar even in the 80s. The decay made both fascinating places to visit. 

 

Martyn 

[Ben B]

There's some interesting pics of it from 1994 on Disused Stations, wiring intact but masses of weeds everywhere. The sort of place any director of post-apocalyptic tv shows would have given their right-arms to film in :)

[Oldddudders]

I last visited Riverside on a filming train circa 1992 for LT&S Resignalling. Infrastructure design engineers really benefit from being able to check site details visually in the office - a lot of saved time! - an idea pioneered, I think, on East Grinstead electrification, with Barry Cox and his video-camera. 

 

The Saturday of the filming was an inauspicious choice, as some uncouth soul had detonated a bomb in the City overnight, [was it St Mary Axe? the office fax at 70 Old Broad St was spewing out glass fragments for some days afterwards!] and Fenchurch St was closed. District Line to Barking and a phonecall to LT&S Control at Southend revealed the film train would start from Barking, so all was well filming east thereof. 

[roundhouse]

There is even less left of Tilbury Riverside now.

[eastwestdivide]

Tilbury - see also a couple of photos here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/183328-the-slow-train-to-rainham-marshes-via-tilbury/

 

Edited April 6 by eastwestdivide

[KeithMacdonald]

On 03/12/2021 at 20:51, Northmoor said:

Don't forget the "ground rules" in @montyburns56's first post in this thread:

"So I just thought that we could have a photo competition to post pictures of the most filthiest, derelict looking stations that were still in use at the time that the photo was taken".

 

I hope this qualifies?

 

Bridport 1974, the end of the line (literally and metaphorically) for a much neglected station. One track already removed, peeling paint, broken windows, weeds growing everywhere...

 

[33C]

35 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

I hope this qualifies?

 

Bridport 1974, the end of the line (literally and metaphorically) for a much neglected station. One track already removed, peeling paint, broken windows, weeds growing everywhere...

 

That's a nice photo and plenty of modelling potential.

[33C]

4 hours ago, montyburns56 said:

Tilbury Riverside

Mess-room had a lead water pipe coming out the wall for water and a gas ring for heat, light and decoration. I still use a tin cup. Fill from the pipe, stick it on the gas ring to boil, add leaves, sugar and milk. Stir well. Lovely!  (Don't forget the asbestos glove to take it off the heat.) The boat trains were still something to run, even towards the end. And the "Grey Ghost" in the box would always wave...

A very spooky station at night..Kipping on cardboard boxes in the derelict, depot hut, but it was quite cosy and i always slept well.

[mullie]

The loco shed hosted WDs, even a Q1 during steam days and you had boat trains hauled by 4fs and large tank engines. 

 

I lived a few miles away from 1994 to 2004 and had visited the area since the early 1970s mainly to view the ships. A fascinating area.

[TheSignalEngineer]

Early in the thread someone mentioned Spring Road in Birmingham. This picture of the Up platform building shows when it was approaching its worst. 

(Picture from https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/springroad.htm)

 

I started commuting from there two years later when the original building had been rep[laced by an Abacus shelter. The gas lights had gone but I remember that before the new electric lighting was commissioned the platforms were lit by temporary electric lighting which consisted of bulbs hanging from a festoon cable supported on wooden posts planted in cable drums full of ballast.

Edited April 6 by TheSignalEngineer

[Steamport Southport]

Only went to Tilbury Riverside once when we were going to see my grandad on one of his few visits to Britain and that was a mistake!

 

Supposed to be going to Tilbury Town and my dad asked the guard who told him Riverside, even though we had said it's Town we want. I think the guard thought we wanted the ferry as I doubt they had many families wanting to go to a container port.  Got off, asked at that end and was directed back to Tilbury Town.

 

If you've got kids who are trainspotters, listen to them....

 

 

Jason

 

[Michael Hodgson]

14 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

 

The Saturday of the filming was an inauspicious choice, as some uncouth soul had detonated a bomb in the City overnight, [was it St Mary Axe? the office fax at 70 Old Broad St was spewing out glass fragments for some days afterwards!] and Fenchurch St was closed. District Line to Barking and a phonecall to LT&S Control at Southend revealed the film train would start from Barking, so all was well filming east thereof. 

 

I remember that only too well.  That Friday I was working for the liquidators on a bank insolvency in Leadenhall Street.  My desk was in what had been the cashiers area, lots of glass.  Fortunately I had gone home for the night when that bomb destroyed the Baltic Exchange, because when the police allowed us back in a week later to collect our stuff (there was still no question of resuming work there)  my desk was six inches deep in broken glass.  We only had a security guard on duty at the time - he was blown off his feet by the blast.  As well as killing and injuring a lot of people, that bomb completely destroyed a church which had survived both the Great Fire and the Blitz, and also the branch of RBS where I used to use the ATM.  Most of the buildings in the area had broken windows - I think the police had called every glazing contractor they could find and told them just to board up everything and sort out the accounting later.  The surprising thing was that the modern Lloyds Building with all its glass seemed to be unscathed.

[Oldddudders]

I think the Gravesend ferry from Riverside tied up for the last time last week. Kent CC and Thurrock DC have struggled to finance it - no surprise with the calls on limited cash all councils are suffering - and operators are not queuing up, either, so that may be that for the foreseeable future. 

 

In effect, this is a late victim of BR Privatisation, since it was originally a railway-owned service. 

[Northmoor]

5 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I think the Gravesend ferry from Riverside tied up for the last time last week. Kent CC and Thurrock DC have struggled to finance it - no surprise with the calls on limited cash all councils are suffering - and operators are not queuing up, either, so that may be that for the foreseeable future. 

 

In effect, this is a late victim of BR Privatisation, since it was originally a railway-owned service. 

KCC website says the last one was on 31st March.  Damn, the ferry was on my to-do list for this year. 

 

I remember us calling in at Tilbury Riverside once in late 1985 - no photos, it was a very dull evening - but I remember it being much like the photos above, grotty and deserted.  We probably visited because it was where Dad arrived back in the UK in about 1952, after his family had lived in Nyasaland (now Malawi) for a few years.

[roundhouse]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

I think the Gravesend ferry from Riverside tied up for the last time last week. Kent CC and Thurrock DC have struggled to finance it - no surprise with the calls on limited cash all councils are suffering - and operators are not queuing up, either, so that may be that for the foreseeable future. 

 

In effect, this is a late victim of BR Privatisation, since it was originally a railway-owned service. 

I travelled on it a couple of weeks before it finished. The staff were talking to each other that for now they sill had jobs in maintenance as the operator is a our boat company.

 

Even the modernised pier at Gravesend is now empty but once had a bar or two plus a few small shops.

[britishcolumbian]

On 06/04/2024 at 22:54, TheSignalEngineer said:

Early in the thread someone mentioned Spring Road in Birmingham. This picture of the Up platform building shows when it was approaching its worst. 

(Picture from https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/springroad.htm)

 

I started commuting from there two years later when the original building had been rep[laced by an Abacus shelter. The gas lights had gone but I remember that before the new electric lighting was commissioned the platforms were lit by temporary electric lighting which consisted of bulbs hanging from a festoon cable supported on wooden posts planted in cable drums full of ballast.

 

I notice the adverts seem to be in good condition, though.

[KeithMacdonald]

5 minutes ago, britishcolumbian said:

I notice the adverts seem to be in good condition, though.

 

Yes, looks like there was still revenue to be collected from whoever wanted to display advert posters. Even if none of the revenue was being spent on maintenance?

[roundhouse]

A couple of weeks ago we were in Manchester and Glossop. On passing through Dinting towards Glossop the old disused platform  building where the Dinting railway museum was next to, is still just about standing but probably for not much longer

[KeithMacdonald]

8 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

A couple of weeks ago we were in Manchester and Glossop. On passing through Dinting towards Glossop the old disused platform  building where the Dinting railway museum was next to, is still just about standing but probably for not much longer

 

It's times like this when the options available just aren't enough

What we need is

 

[Morello Cherry]

I'd like to nominate pretty much every single station on the Cambrian coast and Conway valley lines in the 1980s/90s. No stations were absolutely terrible but the journey was just grim and depressing because they all seemed so bleak. Tywyn by that point I think had all the windows bricked up. My guess is probably just Machynlleth, Aberystwyth and Llandudno Junction were staffed.

 

Searching flickr unsurprisingly does not bring up many photos of the station but these ones of Llanrwst North captures the vibe nicely. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me but pretty much this was the look for every single station on the line (which had a building still standing and not a bus shelter).

 

It's not even like BR had the excuse that they were running the lines down for closure either.

 

 

 

Edited April 14 by Morello Cherry

[britishcolumbian]

7 hours ago, Morello Cherry said:

I'd like to nominate pretty much every single station on the Cambrian coast and Conway valley lines in the 1980s/90s. No stations were absolutely terrible but the journey was just grim and depressing because they all seemed so bleak. Tywyn by that point I think had all the windows bricked up. My guess is probably just Machynlleth, Aberystwyth and Llandudno Junction were staffed.

 

Searching flickr unsurprisingly does not bring up many photos of the station but these ones of Llanrwst North captures the vibe nicely. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me but pretty much this was the look for every single station on the line (which had a building still standing and not a bus shelter).

 

It's not even like BR had the excuse that they were running the lines down for closure either.

 

 

 

Shame, too, as that's a very pretty building.

[Ben B]

9 hours ago, Morello Cherry said:

I'd like to nominate pretty much every single station on the Cambrian coast and Conway valley lines in the 1980s/90s. No stations were absolutely terrible but the journey was just grim and depressing because they all seemed so bleak. Tywyn by that point I think had all the windows bricked up. My guess is probably just Machynlleth, Aberystwyth and Llandudno Junction were staffed.

 

Searching flickr unsurprisingly does not bring up many photos of the station but these ones of Llanrwst North captures the vibe nicely. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me but pretty much this was the look for every single station on the line (which had a building still standing and not a bus shelter).

 

It's not even like BR had the excuse that they were running the lines down for closure either.

 

 

 

 

I wasn't terrifically impressed by Minfford last week; nicely surfaced platform, new bright lights and signeage, they were good... but an old bus shelter. Many, many coats of green paint, a nice mural as an attempt to liven it up, but still very basic for what could be a decent spot, interchange with the Ffestiniog and hop-off point for Portmerion. Some of the halts have had newer shelters, but there's quite a lot of 70's BR cost-cutting scattered around. Minfford could maybe use something a little more heritage-looking, even if it has to be solid, brick, and bored-teenager-proof.

 

[KingEdwardII]

10 hours ago, Morello Cherry said:

I'd like to nominate pretty much every single station on the Cambrian coast

Aberystwyth station looked pretty sad a few years ago. It was always a rather grand building and the ironwork on the platform canopies was classic Victorian decoration, but it had been neglected for years. Now, it has been spruced up and a new use found for the abandoned platforms 4 & 5 with a very sympathetic adaptation.

The rerouting of the Devils Bridge line to terminate in the old platforms 1 & 2 area also means that many more people get to see the station.

 

Yours, Mike.