Congleton station

I have a copy of the splendid book, Britain’s 100 Best Railway Stations alongside me. Yesterday, I dropped in on Congleton station in Cheshire, on the main line between Stafford and Manchester Piccadilly, via Stoke on Trent. To say that it was a disappointment was an understatement, though admittedly, it was raining, which didn’t help. It made me think that I should write a book about Britain’s 100 worst railway stations. In my admittedly limited experience, as we did not stay long, Congleton would certainly be up there.

Up the hill and quite a way out from the centre of town, the station was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway in 1848. In 1966, the original station buildings were demolished and rebuilt when modernisation and electrification of the West Coast Main Line took place. The unimaginative, flat roof, Brutalist architecture from the period has become so tired and faded in the intervening years, and north west England certainly got it bad. Reports show that it had won regional best kept station awards in the 80s, but more recently it has been highlighted as having suffered from vandalism.

I couldn’t get an adequate picture of the frontage as it was blocked off by a string of Network Rail vans, parked up for the weekend. There was no obvious dropping off zone, so to avoid forecourt parking charges, I had to cross a cinder path and make use of an extensive lay-by next to the approach road. How dismal is all this, I thought. Does it really have to be like this?

      

Wensleydale

It is a lovely valley, which changes in stages as you proceed westwards. From a wide and undulating plain around Leeming Bar to a broad and attractive valley by the time you pass Leyburn with its handy viewpoint at the Sleeve, then onwards past the surprisingly dramatic Aysgarth Falls [well, it had been raining] before climbing up into the hills, proper, it is extensive, green and sparsely populated North Yorkshire at its best.

There were no midweek trains on the Wensleydale Railway but we had a good snoop around Leeming Bar and Bedale stations. At the terminus, they were preparing for the lucrative pre-Christmas special train season - these days often described as the Polar Express rather than Santa Specials - with some energetic dance practice in the marquee and a proliferation of coloured lights. Class 60 “Tug” No. 60087 Ingleborough was unexpectedly parked up behind the carriage stock in the platform at Leeming, at the head of which was Class 33 No. 33035.

Even with no trains about, the view from the platform at Bedale of the home signal, signalbox and level crossing gates is a bit special. Leeming Bar station was opened for the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway in 1846 and was at first a terminus for the branch from the main line at Northallerton. It is Grade II listed and boasts a classic portico entrance with some grand stone columns.