Well, if you have a photo or link to any really ugly railway station, let us know about it.
I will nominate Balaclava Station. It is nasty pebble dash with not an iota of style. All that saves it slightly is that it is elevated and you can look into tree tops and over houses.
Jayne reckons Hughesdale is pretty crook.
Reuben suggests Bell as his unattractive model.
I would probably say Boronia has to be in the running or perhaps Croydon And was never fond of a East Richmond East Richmond, always looked a dusty depressing place, it was rare that the train made a stop there.
ReplyDeleteooh ooh definitely Patterson Station. Ugly, little to no shelter, it always seems to blow a gale on this elevated station.
ReplyDeleteIf beingness is nothingness then ROCKBANK takes the prize. There is no station, just a concrete platform in the middle of a thistle infested but barren paddock. Truly frightening inh every way, hundreds of commuters alight there from the 5:03 out of SO.Cross
ReplyDeleteMy favourite Balaclava station story is the $10 thou in cash that was found under the platform by some (not quite a) Loser.
The day after the front page news, Another Loser went and looked, AND FOUND ANOTHER 10k IN CASH.
Now what's funny about that?
The cops didn't find the second lot when they investigated the 1st lot.
they were too busy selling drugs and killing people.
bwah ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
God Bless you Commissioner Christine Nixon (Ret'd)
In second place, I'd like to nominate Victoria Park station.
ReplyDeleteMoorabbin would have to rate, I reckon. Booking office and shops are a giant shoe-box, and isolated from the platforms.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Balaclava re-built after a fire in the early 80s?
... and the Oscar goes to JACANA!
ReplyDeleteHaving never seen any of the railway stations in Melbourne, I'll just nominate Sedgwick instead.
ReplyDeleteFor me it's Mont Albert
ReplyDeleteBox Hill station has to be the ugliest station. It is a souless, concrete cavern leading up into a miserable shopping centre. I vaguely remember the original. It was a late 19th Century station, I think, something like Auburn station.
ReplyDeleteI nominate Macdonaldtown Railway Station Sydney.
ReplyDelete(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macdonaldtown_railway_station,_Sydney)
....as Sydney's ugliest; that is!
ReplyDeleteWorthy contenders Ian. East Richmond and Burnley are odd little stations.
ReplyDeleteNot dissimilar to Balaclava Fenz. Not nice.
Rockbank sounds delightful Ann. Looks like a tin shed waiting room. We lived in Balaclava when the money was found, alas not be us.
Another of those sixties jobs Reuben. Yuk.
Moorabbin looks very unfriendly to me Daniel. Not sure about fire at Balaclava. It looks older than the eighties to me.
Close to first prize I think LS.
Sorry Loz, not in the running. The old bit looks ok.
I am a bit familiar with Box Hill LiD. I don't like it either. It does not have a feeling of 'safety' to me.
Need more pictures Victor. Certainly looks neglected.
I nominate Dandenong, hideous, soul-less and as welcoming as a Wiltshire Stay Sharp knife.
ReplyDeleteI'll back up Anne O'Dyne's nomination. As a non-Melbournian, my experience with train stations is limited, but if the other contenders are Flinders St, Southern Cross, Greensboro(-ugh?) and Melton (the only ones I can visualise), Rockbanks wins by a long shot.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to agree with Lid, Box Hill is horrible. Dark, dingy, and smelly.
ReplyDeleteOther than that I will offer up Watsonia. It is situated in a cutting, isolated, feels unsafe, and is frequented by bogans who like to screech at each other very loudly. Not to mention the car theives that steal things out of cars. On top of that there are the vandals that always smash up the bus stop. This happens so often that they gave up and replaced the glass with a nice grey metal mesh. Problem solved.
Looks like a late eighties reno Jayne. I am sure it is awful.
ReplyDeleteRockbank is ahead in the poll then Me. Thanks.
Ben, I don't like the look of Watsonia at all. A worthy entrant.
I thought of East Richmond straight away, although Mobiltown (Altona line) would beat the pants off anything.
ReplyDeleteSeaholme (same line) coming in second.
Now Ian mentioned East Richmond too Captain. Is that the Church Street Station? I don't recall it being so bad. I have caught a train there a couple of times. One train on the Lilydale Belgrave line stops at East Richmond and the other at Burnley.
ReplyDeleteMobiltown I will check tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteChurch Street, yes. An abandoned feel, so I recall: no trains arriving, ever.
ReplyDeleteAnd call me Captain if you like, but my friends call me Sweetiepie.
ReplyDeleteI'm told Mobiltown station was demolished a long time ago. Thank goodness. But it's a loss all the same. East Richmond station could be handy if it had a regular service, but I guess it's no use trains stopping there if there's no one to get on, which makes me wonder why it was placed there at all (so close to Richmond station), maybe some politician had a business nearby.
ReplyDeleteI remember it very gloomy at night, in desolate surroundings. Gloomy describes a lot of rail stations, unmanned and unloved, it's as though it doesn't matter, anything will do. Pride has gone out of it, that's for sure, it's all penny-pinching nowadays.
I was very surprised recently to see the run-down condition of Glenferrie station: grubby, stained, exceedingly ugly. And this in such an affluent area.
I do think it's a general attitude, a modern idea, that public utilities be anonymous and bleak, like orphanages.
Well I think it's actually an official attitude, not a general one. People want better than this.
ReplyDeleteSweetiepie sounds a little too familiar Captain. The millions of school kids and tertiary student who use Glenferrie must take its toll.
ReplyDelete