The Awkward Squad
BRITAIN'S 20 MOST DIFFICULT STATIONS TO VISIT
Paul Smith recently completed a mission to visit every one of the 2,595 stations and halts on the Network Rail system, but found that not all of them are as easy to get to as you might think.
Paul Smith has recently completed a mission to visit and photograph every one of the 2,595 stations and halts on the Network Rail system. In doing so, he discovered that not all of them are as easy to access as you might imagine.
QUITE how the idea ofvisiting all the operational National Rail stations germinated in my head I cannot recall.
Perhaps it was compiling a series of UK rail atlases with my co-author Keith Turner, but in 2015 the decision to 'go for it' was made. I wanted to start in Scotland as it was 50 years since I'd toured there with a college friend visiting steam shed sites, and 30 years since I'd honeymooned there with my late wife Shirl. I decided to photograph the stations without trains in view whenever possible, so all the features could be included. This precluded jumping offa train and taking a quick snap but the paucity of services at many locations meant the only alternative was to visit by foot or motor vehicle.
'Holding' system
While the huge majority posed no problems, there were a few that weren't so easy.
Skegness and Blackpool North, being terminal stations at holiday resorts, operate a 'holding' system whereby passengers are not allowed onto the platform until the train has arrived and is ready to be boarded.
A fair degree ofpersuasion thus had to be employed (bearing in mind I had no intention oftravelling by train on those occasions). At Blackpool, a member ofNorthern Rail staff had to loan me an orange hi-vis jacket before I was allowed on the platform, to show I'd been authorised.
Another inconvenience was the times stations were open - or not open.
While most ofthe minor ones had 24 hours access, those that were staffed in conurbations generally opened and closed as per the timing ofthe first and last trains, but the real problems arose when the opening times were tied to events.
Manchester United football gronnd - Old Trafford - for example, was only open when games were being played at the nearby stadium, and Bordesley, apart from one service on a Friday, was restricted to when Birmingham City were playing at the nearby St Andrews stadium.
In Lincolnshire, Gainsborough Central was locked up all week in the year I visited and only open on Saturdays for a couple ofservices.
Sampford Courtenay, in Devon, was in the unusual position of being a heritage line station that's also used by a main line train operating company so was only opened up by the train guard, as required. Consequently, quite a lot of
planning was required to photograph those four. When the intention is not to stay for longer than it takes to record a few pictures, parking can pose problems. Many stations have a very welcome 20-minutes drop-offzone, but too many ofthose that charge do not.
To compound the matter, such stations are invariably surrounded by myriad roads with double yellow lines stretching some distance to discourage drivers from parking free of charge.
Long walks
Long walks therefore had to be entertained to avoid hefty car park charges for just a few minutes (assuming I could find a space at all, of course). The hardest station in this respect was Stobart Rail-owned Southend Airport, where just five minutes are allowed, so any photography there has to be pretty sharp.
Now we come to what could be considered as 'the very awkward squad'. A candidate for this category when I visited, and still is to a lesser degree, was Lympstone Commando on the Exmouth branch. When opened, it was for the exclusive use ofpeople with business at the nearby Commando training camp, but since then a dedicated footpath has been installed between the camp and the station, so ordinary passengers are now allowed to use it.
However, the army still possesses the key to the station's entrance gate and so can open and close it as required!
To ensure access, I contacted the camp in advance and was greeted on the platform by Dermot Bucldey, ofthe Royal Marines, when I arrived on the train.
The station's nameboard, despite bearing First Great Western branding, states in no-nonsense military terms: 'Person who alight here must only have business with the camp'.
Peartree: This one came as a shock. Having arrived by car, I was met by a locked steel gate across the entrance, a mass ofspiked metal security fencing, a CCTC camera, a push-button device and an intercom.
When I enquired on the intercom ifl could access the station, I was informed I could only be allowed in ifl had booked on a train, and it was due in less than 10 minutes.
So I had to return to Derby by road and organise a revisit at an appropriate time.
Cheerfully received
The following six stations are either on private property or accessed only by a private road:
Redcar British Steel: An e-mail to SSI Steel - the owners at the time, requesting access - was sympathetically received, and a date and time arranged. Sadly, it turned out to be the week that production was stopped at the plant and a lot oflivelihoods were at stake but, nonetheless, I was cheerfully received, kitted out with hard hat and hi-vis jacket (I already had boots on) and dispatched to the station with a young employee as my guide. At that time it was one ofthe least used in Britain with just 50 entries and exits in 2016/17.
Stanlow & Thornton: This station lies