Great Western Coffee Shop

I have just come across a section of the National Rail Enquiries Site called "Stations Made Easy".

Upon identifying the Station, either by name or short code, you wish to research - the link opens a web page containing a plan of the station and showing all of its facilities.  By clicking on parts of the plan, you can bring up pictures of parts of the station together with a detailed description of the facilities shown.

The below link, shows the facilities at Bristol Temple Meads for example -

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/BRI/plan.html

Thanks for posting that, Phil Farmer - it's not a section of their site I've seen before.  :)

However - a word of warning: it seems to be woefully out of date.

For example, it shows a First Class lounge at Bristol Temple Meads - and apparently random descriptions of the historic locations of the two TVMs at Nailsea & Backwell ... .  ::)

Well, that's a part of the NRES website I've not discovered before....It even has some 'mouse-pointer-hovery-pop-up-thingies' giving pictures and further information for most parts of a station.

I've only looked at Bristol Temple Meads, but there are pictures of toilets (fortunately without pax availing themselves!!), luggage trolleys, lift entrances, catering outlets, staircases....etc etc.

And I've been so critical of ATOC in the past for not providing enough information.....off now to look at pictures of toilets across the rail network  ;D

I like the label for the redundant signal box at Corrour - "Old Watchtower" indeed. 

axminster looks wrong  ;)

It's alright for box and linear shaped stations, but when curves etc are made linear, it's not quite right.

Oh and you can see the guy who took the photo in the toilet at Bath Spa.
And look at the state of the gents toilet at Cardiff Central!

They havent included that WOS ladies are regularly flooded

Great fun this !!

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/FIT/plan.html

I love this ticket machine  !!!!

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Don't they think, before they post such nonsense??  ::)

I find it fascinating - been over a lot of the country and seen the poor state of a lot of the stations!

Well Penryn is completely wrong, as the station layout is now completely different. These photos must have been taken over a year ago, considering the loop was installed in October 2008!

(http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/DAR/images/photos/800/o1637-0000069.jpg)

Whoops!  :-[ - from Darlington's page - anyone recognise him?!

He shouldn't be wearing a hi viz unless he's working lineside. Tut.

I knew that bog looked familiar from a recent journey!


That's not strictly true. ATW train despatchers, for example, wear group standard HV as part of their uniform when discharging station duties (and I'm guessing that they don't all have PTS). HV is often used just as a "lazy" way of indicating staff these days.

always thougt that platform staff had to wear yellow, like on fgw.

Hmm.  Sorry, devon_metro, but I'm not convinced. Our FGW platform staff (the excellent Dave) certainly wore orange - I was under the impression that's the 'recognised' colour for platform staff?

See http://www.satra.co.uk/spotlight/article_view.php?id=209

Railway group standard is for orange HV, but it is only necessary when working "on or about the line" - there is no rule-book requirement at all for staff to wear HV clothing in public areas. Other "group standard" specifications include the pattern of reflective tapes on the garments (these are picked up very effectively by train headlamps in the dark) and also the requirement for them to tear off easily, with either velcro or press-studs at the shoulder and waist, should the wearer become hooked on a moving piece of equipment. Drivers and guards are always to the best of my knowledge competent in "personal track safety", and will carry with them HV clothing in case they need to do anything at the lineside. The same is not always (or ever, these days?) true of platform staff.

I've seen and heard various explanations for orange rather than green as the standard colour, I have no idea which if any is the correct one. The suggestions are the orange is less inclined to blend in with line-side vegetation, that it enables railway personnel to be distinguished quickly from emergency services at the scene of an accident, or that in the dark yellow HV can look like a green flag if it catches the light. The last one has a veneer of plausibility, until you remember that hand-signalling in the dark is done using lamps, not flags.

After doing a bit of Googling, I managed to find the most isolated railway station on the National Rail network and, surprisingly, it's on there - Corrour (CRR): http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/CRR/plan.html

I wonder which is the most rural/isolated on the FGW network?

I always assumed orange was the Hi Vis colour for track-side staff because if they wore yellow they woudl not be so easy to see if they were standing in front of the yellow safety paint on the end of trains and other plant.

IIRC amateur photographers are not suposed to wear hi-vis on platforms and in stations so that they do not get mistaken for trackside staff.  Slightly hypocritical for a professional railway prhotographer to do the same then.

Using the modern day equivalent of a "Box Brownie" ?

Corrour would appear to have competition from Altnabreac -
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/ABC/plan.html

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/84058

http://www.jbutler.org.uk/e2e/csw/w11/index.shtml

How do those stations compare to Dyfi/Dovey Junction (no road access, but a 3/4 mile-long footpath from Glandyfi) in terms of isolation?

Ignore all this tosh about the colour of the vests...surely the Adonis (admire him as I do) should be clocking these snaps and demanding "everyday" improvements!! ::)

I'll throw Berney Arms into the mix.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/BYA/plan.html

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berney_Arms_railway_station), it's 3.5 miles from the nearest road and only accessible by train, boat, on foot or horseback. Not sure what you do with your equine friend if you plan to board a train - unless you've got a folding horse!

Also, just look at the platform 'shelter'. Can't shelter from much in that...

(http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/BYA/images/photos/800/o1398-0000002.jpg)

Not necessarily the most rural/isolated FGW operated station, but definitely the hardest to get to/from by train:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/pil/plan.html

Just one 'parliamentary' service a week in each direction!

(Now, just for fun..... There is one public station on the UK network that is only accessible by train. No road or footpath access at all.....?)

Coombe, in Cornwall?  :-\

Nope :D

There appears to be a footpath to the platform at Coombe (Junction <Halt>).....

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~owend/I/R/stnpages/coombejunction.html

....dunno where it goes though!

Smallbrook Junction

Edit: For those who don't know it's on the Island Line =]

Well done, Ollie. And quick edit as well. No point replying to a non existent post ;D ;D

In my original post I mentioned Berney Arms :P Until I looked up the page and saw you had put it, and then read what you had said properly :)

Our intrepid photographer seem to enjoy appearing in his own photos. Either that or a strange fetish for toilets!

Bath Spa:
(http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/bth/images/photos/800/o1358-0000080.jpg)

Fort William:
(http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/ftw/images/photos/800/o1892-0000050.jpg)

Brighton:
(http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/btn/images/photos/800/o1360-0000019.jpg)

Bloody hell! Has it really been the same bloke going to every station in the country? I hope us taxpayers haven't paid for his fares!

As well as Coombe Junction Halt and Pilning, I would throw the following into the mix:

Take away an "o" from Coombe and waddya get?...

COMBE

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/CME/plan.html

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/cme/localarea.html

KINGS NYMPTON

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/KGN/plan.html

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/kgn/localarea.html

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~owend/I/R/stnpages/kingsnympton.html

PORTSMOUTH ARMS

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/PMA/plan.html

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/pma/localarea.html

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~owend/I/R/stnpages/portsmoutharms.html

Why dont we come up with a few more suggestions and have a poll?

Depends how we decide isolated. Isolated from a centre of population or isolated from the wider rail network?

If it's the former then maybe Kings Nympton, 2.5 miles from the village of the same name, although it is closer (0.9 miles) to the hamlet of Elstone.

If the latter then it has to be Pilning with its 2 services a week.

He seems to like the toilets at Bath Spa as he has got a smile on his face as he's taking the picture. Sorry ladies but I suspect that all the pictures on the National Rail site will only be of the Gents for obvious reasons if this guy was responsible for taking pictures of every station toilet in Britain. I suspect some won't be appearing on the website because they are in such a state.

Hope there's more than one sink in the gents at Brighton station!

Hmm.  Just because things are 'in a bit of a state' doesn't seem to stop NR from cheerfully publishing details on their site: see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/FIT/objectvalues/1838-0000025.html  ;) :D ;D

Oh my gosh!!!!  :o I cannot believe they have posted that picture. Still better than not showing one at all which is still the case at Oldfield Park...just an empty shelter remains where the ticket machine once stood.

I really should have known that, seeing as I've even been there...

There are plenty of pictures of ladies toilets, but I've yet to find one with a reflected image of our intrepid photographer. Oh, and I've only been looking at ladies toilets for research purposes!

And the sink at Brighton was in the baby changing area of the 'Male Accessible Toilet'. There are more sinks in the toilet block.