Great Western Coffee Shop

OK

1: What is the most remote station in the UK? (by remote I mean has no road access close by).
2: Has the most useless train service in the UK? (e.g. 1 train a day/week).

2.  Pilning (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=814.0).  ::)

1: Many stations vie for that title. Corrour on the West Highland Line is probably the most worthy of the title but there's also Berney Arms in Norfolk and Dovey Junction on the Cambrian Line which are pretty remote.

2: Reddish South or Denton. Both with only 50% of the service that Pilning gets!

1. Berney Arms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berney_Arms_railway_station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berney_Arms_railway_station) .......... or posibly
Conour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrour_railway_station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrour_railway_station)

Fairly easy to get to. You go down a lane near to a pub and then into the station car park ;)

I know that.  But the question, as posed, was,

::)

Didn't spot that '2.' there, honest  :D

 ;D

Corrour station may be a good 15 miles from a 'proper' road but, so long as you have the permission of the Corrour Estate, you can drive all the way to the station on the estate roads - so one up on Berney Arms in that respect.

Certainly about as remote as it gets in terms of being away from it all, as I can attest, having spent a week's holiday at a cottage on the estate many years ago, after arriving by train at dead of night. This was in the days of Class 37s and steam-heat coaches, with the guard telling me to come up to the brake coach after we left Rannoch to get off at Corrour, as the platform was just one coach long. Who needs SDO?

But even Corrour might just be shaded by Altnabreac on the Far North line, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altnabreac_railway_station

Cough, splutter:


Best not tell grahame about that level of service ...  ::) ;D

Three a day each way and only 200 odd passengers a year!

....and Corrour may be remote but it's got daily (not Saturday) direct services to and from London!

So are FGW trying to shut down pilning then?

I have wanted to go and visit Corrour, as an ex rambler (and bronze DofE award recipient) would be interesting to hike around the estate to see the views of the north highland line. Plus as the sleeper stops there is even easier to get there.

Well worth the trip on the Caledonian sleeper. Just don't go in February like I did - Total whiteout until we dropped down into Fort William!

Teeside airport station has one train a week in each direction.

2. Newhaven Marine, think it is still rail conected and there were ghost trains run to it

Reddish South and Denton, 1 train each week in one direction.

I'm not going to make any Wiltshire claims for "most useless train service" ... there are uses for the current TransWilts service and doubling the number of trains could raise from one to 9 or 16 the number of round trip opportunities.

My vote would be Norton Bridge ...

Ah yes..... Norton Bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_Bridge_railway_station).

An apparently still open station with no train service whatsoever!

Coombe Halt...?!

And fares are even available in NFM07 to/from Norton Bridge ???

Substitute buses.
Still I would count that as the most useless railway station.

I've always thought long buck by was pretty pointless

Closest station to daventry but no de net bus connections, no taxi rank and piss poor car park

Agreed that more could perhaps be done to entice Daventry folk to use it, but it's still tempting enough to get 157000 passengers a year.  Hardly pointless!

You can add Barlaston and Wedgewood Halt to Norton Bridge as the most useless service.

Doing some national journey planning Taplow to Barlaston, you go through Barlaston and Wedgewood to Stoke and come back on the bus.

Whereas to Norton Bridge you get a change at Stafford (XC from Reading) onto the bus.

However, I got one joureny where you go to Stoke (08:11 XC from Reading) a bus to Stone and  another bus to Norton Bridge! Having gone through both Norton Bridge and Stone on your way to Stoke!  But to add insult to injury the train also stops at Stafford!

i found the station to the most useless location...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_United_FC_Halt_railway_station ....why build a station to a swamp?  ;D

or is Menheniot a better guess



Edited to fix link. bignosemac

Bordsely is another pointles station, one train a week unless Birmingham City are at home so a pointless station for a pointless team!  ;D

To be fair, Birmingham City have currently got 7 points.  :P

Even Birmingham Moor Street has more than 7 points.  ;)

Pfft.

Sir, II did a pun.  :P

Well, you started it (sort of)!  ;) :D ;D

I have often used Altnabraec as an example of an obscure station with an absurd fare from our GWR area, and actally took a trip out there from Wick about 8 years ago when I was up there on a Scottish Rover / trip. Memories of lovely weather and fasconating walks from Wick and a town of character. And memories of a remoteness at Altanbraec - ABC - where there's no public road though it can be (and was being) passed 40 yards away on a pretty well built gravel private road, with a side track / walk up to the station.

I understand since then that the station required heavy equipment for upgrade and maintenance works, and that the Network Rail contractor came along with their heavy lorries and were denied access via private land - a big stand-off and something of a feud which looked to be beyond reason - surely they could have found some way of sorting the thing out.  Me suspect(ed) that the local landowners didin't actually want a station there, and that the blocking has the objective of keeping it closed.

I have noticed in the Scots press in recent weeks stories about a chap who owns a big old pile in the flow country - the huge elevated flat boggy area with an awful lot of water - and about his brushes with the law, and (please correct me if I'm wrong) being detained at her majesty's pleasure and having various restrictions put on him with regards who may be emloyed or visit.  I hadn't really considered this as part of the rail story, but I got a very odd look from a train manager I was talking to yesterday, and it seems that Altrabraec station is so remote and that it was the only way "in" without a car that a noticable proportion of the passengers to and from were travelling for the purpose of the activities associated with or similar in drift to the gent reported by the papers.

Hadn't seen this thread before, it predates my membership.



Everyone had it in those days - you'd just walk to the door, open the window and press down on the lever on the outside!

As regards the dispute you mention, it came up on my YouTube feed a while back. It's a little unclear what the rights and wrongs of it are - there's a very angry person who seems to have bought the the station house and is in dispute with Network Rail about rights of access. He's not very good at explaining clearly what the problem is. All kinds of impropriety are being alleged. It's nothing to do with the monster in the castle, the subject of the recent travel ban, as far as I can see.

 There is in fact a whole can of worms that's been opened up about access rights to the break station various ongoing court cases involving network rail ScotRail British transport police are involved EE the telephone provider and anybody else that seems to annoy the current residences at the break station I won't go into much more detail Safe to say that there are a couple of interesting channels on YouTube that seem to be a gain a great delight from covering the story.

There has been a long discussion on RailUK which is currently paused.

Documented on this YouTube channel. Although it is somewhat one-sided it does rather show Network Rail and BTP in a poor light with them seemingly overstepping their powers. One example being an attempt to arrest the legal occupiers of land at Altnabraec for aggravated trespass. On their OWN land. :P

https://youtube.com/@altnabreac

From the Railfuture Campaigners Facebook group

I wonder if the residents of the former station house and it's surrounding land are granting access for Network Rail to carry out the work. If not then there's little NR and BTP can do.

Except try to arrest the landowners for trespassing on their own property again!

It's a long running saga of claim and counter-claim with Network Rail consistently calling BTP out as their "personal security force".

https://youtube.com/@altnabreac

Given the station's remote location and rough surrounding terrain I would question the likelihood of any visiting passenger finding tactile paving useful, which perhaps points to a lack of pragmatism in Network Rail's approach to the whole thing.  It may of course be a legal requirement during any platform upgrade if the legislation isn't flexible, despite the money almost certainly being better spent on a safety improvement elsewhere.