Great Western Coffee Shop

Beware clickbate tendency but here are Timeout's 12 most beautiful UK stations (https://www.timeout.com/uk/travel/uks-most-beautiful-train-stations)


What would you add or take away from the list (list to remain between 10 and 15 stations long)?

We should probably not start a "worst" list though I have some candidates!

Berwyn is the only one that I haven't been to

The setting is lovely - with the Chain Bridge, Horseshoe Falls and canal walk back down to Llangollen.


Ironic that that the list includes two "Great Western Railway" stations - Cardiff Central and Bristol Temple Meads - which are not managed by the current "Great Western Railway".    Cardiff is served by Transport for Wales, CrossCountry and Great Western.   Temple Meads just by Great Western and CrossCountry as South Western have withdrawn.

I stopped reading after two words - Train station. Pah!   ;D

Not sure I'd change any of them, though I might change the order - it is hard to think of a more quintessentially English station than Corfe Castle. Sitting in the National Trust Tea Room at Corfe Castle, looking down on the station as steam trains ply to and fro is about as good as it gets I think.

Temple Meads is an odd one. It's not at its best at the moment, and familiarity breeds contempt. When the refurbishment is complete in a few years time, though, I suspect it will go up 8 or 9 places...

To the benefit of those who'd rather not surrender to clickbait...here's their list:

1. Huddersfield
2. Cardiff Central
3. London Kings Cross
4. Edinburgh Waverley
5. Corfe Castle
6. Wemyss Bay
7. Berwyn
8. London St Pancras
9. Bristol Temple Meads
10. Cromford
11. Dawlish
12. Norwich

I would certainly relegate Bristol Temple Meads and Dawlish for the work that's taking place at both stations currently. In their place I'd have Great Malvern and Crowcombe Heathfield

So....if it's train rail(way) station, then surely it's

bus road station.

But it definitely isn't. it's BUS station, which to me is a definite vote for {type of vehicle} plus station.

If it isn't, why isn't it?

I understood the story...


In the days of stage coaches the coaches stopped at 'stations', being a place on the road where the coaches stopped. Compare 'action stations' being the places on a warship where the sailors had to be in expectations of a battle.

When the first trains began to carry passengers the places where the trains stopped were also called 'stations' but to distinguish them from the much more common stage coach stations they were called 'railway stations'.

QED!

I get the first para, absolutely.

But coach stations begat bus stations begat train stations, not railway stations. Why would one confuse train stations with coach stations, if what you are suggesting is right?

I would suggest that both Torquay and especially Great Malvern stations as worthy of your collectively esteemed consideration.  The latter is a particular favourite of mine outside of the heritage railway station domain.

I was mystified by the inclusion of Edinburgh Waverley. The picture they use is of the waiting room, with its glazed ceiling, which is indeed special. But it's not a whole station. They opine in the text "Waverley station’s exterior stands proud on the beauty factor". That would be as seen from where, exactly?

"Picturesque station" could be either the station buildings or the setting it is in, and one could easily make two completely different lists, depending on which criteria one used.

Of those listed, I haven't been to either Huddersfield or Berwyn, so can't comment on those, and it is so long since I went to Cromford I have no memory of it.

Any list I made would probably mostly include smaller stations, like Wemyss Bay, which is definitely lovely using both criteria. Two which are not on that list which immediately come to mind are Knaresborough and Tynemouth, the latter being a particularly spectacular building (and yes I know it is a Metro station, but in all respects it should be considered as a railway station).

Locally, for its setting, Avoncliff is stunning, though the station itself has nothing except its short platform.

Singular platform, suggesting something distinctive or unique. I presume they really mean single platform. Maybe I am not used to Time Out's style.

Mars

Google's Engish dictionary[url] has two definitions of "station" as a noun

 (https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/)

Now - which of these describe the infrastructure (e.g. Railway) and which the user (e.g. Police)?

Railway Station
Bus Station
Radio or TV Station
Cattle Station
Hill Station
Filling Station
Police Station
Weather Station
Fire Station
Charging Station
Service Station
Coffee Station

Of course, a fire station is really an anti-fire station ...

Yep - that backs up the thought that *either* railway or train is *equally* correct

Any station where the train turns up on time.

Such beauty is sadly becoming more rare.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Airport vice Planeport.

I would certainly put in a case for Great Malvern.

(https://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/gmv2.jpg)