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Beautiful Railway Stations

Started by Twed, September 18, 2017, 09:40:28 PM

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buzby

Quote from: Serge on September 19, 2017, 01:41:00 PM
An obvious one, but I'm glad that whenever I travel to London, I arrive at St. Pancras:
And to think it came within a hair's breadth of being demolished in the 1960s. Unfortunately Euston didn't escape the same fate.

Serge

Yeah, whenever I read about the Euston Arch, it makes me sad that it's been replaced with....well, nothing worth mentioning.

Gurke and Hare

Oh! Manchester Victoria! Partly for the canopy listing destinations that you could at one time visit from the station:



and partly for the old tiled map of the [Newton Heath] L&Y Railway:


Gurke and Hare

Greenwich is nice



and one of relatively few London non-terminal stations not to have been replaced by something dull and functional. I'm struggling to think of any others.

Also, Grand Central Station in New York, both outside



and especially inside.


phes

Quote from: Gurke and Hare on September 19, 2017, 01:48:51 PM
Oh! Manchester Victoria! Partly for the canopy listing destinations that you could at one time visit from the station:

Yes, however, a revolting station to actually be at. Unfortunately there's no effective ventilation meaning that standing on the platforms (and especially crossing the bridge) means breathing concentrated diesel emissions. I try to not enter the platform until the last minute and cross my fingers trains don't get delayed.

Paul Calf

Are we including Tube stations? Because I really like the Jubilee Line Extension stations (I was about to call them the 'new' stations until I realised that they opened nearly 20 years ago) especially North Greenwich. It's not much to look at from the outside, but the sense of space as you sweep down the escalators from the surface to the concourse is amazing.

Captain Crunch

I do like the mad eyeborg thing they've got now at New Street:




Blinder Data

Manchester Victoria's new roof seems like it was inspired by Kings Cross. However, since it's been installed I've only ever found the station pretty stuffy on a hot day. And it makes it look like the whole thing has been covered in bubble wrap.



BUT! To respond to the OP. It might just be that I've associated it with fond memories but I've always liked Edinburgh Waverley. A bit confusing to navigate but slap bang in the middle of the city with many different interesting entrances (woof!). It doesn't stand out like other city stations - it's quirky and unassuming.

The old booking hall is a lovely waiting area:



Gurke and Hare

Quote from: Paul Calf on September 19, 2017, 02:31:20 PMespecially North Greenwich. It's not much to look at from the outside, but the sense of space as you sweep down the escalators from the surface to the concourse is amazing.

Yeah, Canary Wharf's similar. I wonder if that vast space thing that they have is inspired by Grand Central, which is similar albeit more ornate.

If we're allowed underground stations, well, virtually every station on the Piccadilly line has something to recommend it for. Even if it's only the clocks at Hammersmith.



slavestate

Sherborne Station



Ham stone so in keeping with all the other older buildings of the town.  Quite often pop a steam train through there too so you can relive your Railway Children memories

purlieu


Wateringbury is nice. A couple of the rather large collection of vintage buses that live beside the old station building can be seen in that picture. The old signal box is still there too:


On the same route, Aylesford has a rather nice old station building, which is now occupied by an excellent Indian takeaway.


The other stations on that route belong in the other thread.

Leicester's nothing to write home about inside, but the exterior is quite splendid

im barry bethel

The Palma to Sollar branch line in Majorca, starts off pretty enough (shame about the building next door)



Takes you down to a touristy time warp station





Which was designed/decorated/kitted out by Picasso and Joan Miro






Shoulders?-Stomach!

The new green line in Budapest has some good neo-brutalism and stylish platforms:

Szent Gellert ter station:



They're also air conditioned and really well designed acoustically.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

On the other hand I have got a soft spot for Nyugati palyaudvar, the venerable old train station in Pest:



It has one of those really air-craft hanger platforms that give the sense that you really are shooting off to somewhere far-flung and exotic:




Shoulders?-Stomach!

Koln hauptbahnhof is perfectly functional and all that, but with one giant arched roof and the iconic 4711 signage it's a memorable one, just gives your arrival a tinge of excitement.


mothman

Ten days back I spent an hour waiting for a train at Toledo railway station. The time just flew by. It's really quite beautiful inside. I got some very nice shots of the mosaic floor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_railway_station

shiftwork2

New York's Grand Central is the shoo-in's shoo-in for 'most beautiful railway station', but only because the Sunderland-esque Penn Central isn't included.  Other N American cities apparently putting us to shame include Toronto's magnificent (you have no idea how hard it is for me to type those last two words) Union Station and



LA's astonishing Union Station (trend developing here)



Two countries in love with the car and openly hostile to mass transit yet prepared to indulge these architectural excesses for the use of tourists and civil servants.  I swear the Toronto - Ottawa line is used exclusively by government employees; how redolent of N Korea.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Nice. I like grand stations that almost look like they're part of a machine. That does that and looks like a temple for good measure.


purlieu

I notice the foreign:British ratio is higher in this thread than the ugly stations thread.

hamfist


Shoulders?-Stomach!




Always had a soft spot for Ayr railway station's pleasantly imposing facade.

purlieu

Worcester Shrub Hill is a rather nice one



stunted


Neville Chamberlain


buzby

Quote from: Neville Chamberlain on September 20, 2017, 07:49:23 AM
Wot no King's Cross?!?
See Gurke and Hare's post on the first page.

Tynemouth
It was built in 1882 to handle local commuting traffic and excursion traffic for the holiday resort with long eastern and western through platforms and northern and southern bay platforms. The whole concourse and platform areas were covered by very grand cast iron and glass canopies.


It was largely well maintained into the BR era, but as the resort faded in the 1960s traffic declined to local commuters only. It was handed over to the T&W Metro system in 1980, though the TWPTE had taken custody of a station far grander than it's intended use (the Metro only used the western through platform, with the oriiginal main station concourse and bay platforms on the eastern side becoming disused), couldn't afford to maintain it and as a result it was left to deteriorate. By the end of the 80s the canopies over the disused eastern side of the station was in a very shabby state:


A friends group was set up in 1987 to try and get the canopies and station building restored. They started with restoring the western section that was still in use, and the station offices were restored and let out as small business units, and a weekend market was started on the platform. They then moved onto the main concourse and original main building on the eastern side, and the nothern bay platforms and by 2011 they then moved onto the southern end (the bay platforms were filled in to provide extra floor space).  The station was fully reopened in 2012, and is now the site of weekly arts and crafts, antiques, farmers and flea markets:




Gurke and Hare

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof has a similar monumental feel to the Koln photo Ser Shoulders posted above.



Dortmund is mostly bland, but has some excellent decorative glass panels above the main entrance.



Amsterdam's another good one of the grand monumental types.


Gurke and Hare

Michigan Central station, which closed in 1988 and has, like so much of Detroit, been criminally left to rot since.






Serge

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on September 19, 2017, 09:53:22 PMKoln hauptbahnhof is perfectly functional and all that, but with one giant arched roof and the iconic 4711 signage it's a memorable one, just gives your arrival a tinge of excitement.

Did you change the picture for this one? I'm sure it was a different picture last night. Or is it just another example of the Mandela effect?

Quote from: Neville Chamberlain on September 20, 2017, 07:49:23 AM
Wot no King's Cross?!?

I think - possibly unfairly - that King's Cross is always going to be in the shadow of St. Pancras (literally and figuratively). Having said that, I don't remember it looking like it does inside in your second picture, so it must have been a while since I passed through there!

Quote from: Gurke and Hare on September 20, 2017, 10:33:31 AMHamburg Hauptbahnhof has a similar monumental feel to the Koln photo Ser Shoulders posted above.

Your pic seems to be missing, but I can confirm that Hamburg is a particularly great station to have to wait around in.

Neville Chamberlain

Quote from: Serge on September 20, 2017, 11:05:47 AM
I think - possibly unfairly - that King's Cross is always going to be in the shadow of St. Pancras (literally and figuratively). Having said that, I don't remember it looking like it does inside in your second picture, so it must have been a while since I passed through there!

Certainly not since the London Olympics, it would seem, which I think was the main motivation behind the redevelopment.