I spent a year travelling 4,000 miles on UK railways. These are my 10 favourite stations

Telegraph

16-05-2025

Charles Dickens once wrote: 'I am never sure of time or place upon a railroad. I can't read, I can't think, I can't sleep – I can only dream. Rattling along in this railway carriage in a state of luxurious confusion, I take it for granted that I am coming from somewhere, and going somewhere else. I know nothing about myself – for anything I know, I may be coming from the Moon.'
It was exactly this feeling of disappearing along the tracks that I hoped to capture during my journey of more than 4,000 miles last year around Britain on (many, many) trains.
That long trip, 143 rides in all, took me clattering and sliding across Britain from Darlington, across the north of England via the Settle and Carlisle line, around Cumbria, through the old industrial heartlands of the north-west into Wales and down to Penzance in the south-west tip of Cornwall.
From there, the tracks wound across the south coast, up the east coast, wiggled southwards through the Midlands, before rolling northwards on the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Aberdeen, followed by an investigation of Scotland by train, and finally returning to where I had started – and trains did too, in 1825 – in County Durham.
It was quite a journey, featuring encounters with guards, stationmasters, train drivers, fellow passengers and rail enthusiasts aplenty – many happily proud of the 'trainspotter' tag. Despite the recent controversies over high ticket prices, delays, franchise inadequacies, and – dare one mention – the failure to complete HS2 from London to Manchester, British trains still, usually, ran on time.
Surrendering yourself to the tracks was strangely liberating. You can, naturally, only go where the lines lead – and there is a sense of freedom (of happy release) in allowing them to do just that. Currently, there are roughly 10,000 route miles in Britain; not bad, all things considered, even if it's less than half the number of the early 20th century, when routes topped 23,000 miles ahead of the 1960s cutbacks championed by Dr Richard Beeching, the chairman of the British Railways Board at the time.
So, even though British trains – with franchises now being re-nationalised – remain in a state of flux, there's plenty of railway out there still waiting to be explored.
That's just what I did for my new book Slow Trains Around Britain: Notes from a 4,088-Mile Adventure on 143 Rides, enjoying seeing great swaths of the country from the carriage window and stopping in plenty of wonderful stations along the way. Here are a few of my favourites.
1. York
With its enormous curved roof supported by classical columns, York station, dating from 1877, has a graceful elegance. It's Britain's biggest station without ticket hall barriers, creating a pleasing sense of spaciousness. Enjoy a cappuccino in the former signalman's box or something stronger at the jolly platform-side York Tap. The National Railway Museum is close by.
2. Appleby
The 73-mile Settle and Carlisle Railway opened in 1876 at great cost, traversing rugged moorland and requiring 14 tunnels and 22 viaducts. The route features many charming, quaint-looking stations, of which Appleby's is perhaps the pick. Expect gingerbread-house-style platform buildings with gables, smart burgundy-coloured doors, old-fashioned lanterns, plus a great little bookshop that's a rail enthusiast's dream.
3. Dalmeny
Simple, sleepy Dalmeny station – eight miles west of Edinburgh – is on the southern side of the dramatic Forth Bridge spanning the Firth of Forth. From its platforms you can see the cranberry-red metal cantilevered structure rising ahead, gaining a close-up appreciation of the audacity of the 1889 engineering feat. Disembark for an even better shore-side view.
4. Blaenau Ffestiniog
This station in Gwynedd is a mainline terminus from the north coast, and also where you can join the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highlands, a heritage railway featuring narrow-gauge steam trains linking to Porthmadog. It's tucked away in the hills, at 709ft, between former slate quarries with steep slopes. There's a strange sensation of pulling into a secretive 'Welsh Alps'.
5. Penzance
It's no particular 'beauty' – a hulk of a shed with high (slightly mouldy-looking) walls and a rudimentary arched roof – but Penzance station is nevertheless a treat. This is Britain's most southerly station, a terminus that linked with London in 1859. A salty breeze crosses the tracks from the nearby shore, with the striking, pyramid-shaped St Michael's Mount rising beyond.
6. Hull Paragon
This station is higgledy-piggledy with a wonderful old part dating from 1848 featuring neo-classical columns and original fittings. By the platforms is a splendid statue of Hull's famous 20th-century resident poet, Philip Larkin, pictured as though rushing to catch a train. It's inscribed with lines from his evocative train-themed poem The Whitsun Weddings.
7. Ryde Pier Head
The Portsmouth ferry deposits you at Ryde's pier and Ryde Pier Head station. This is a curious, rickety-looking affair offering Island Line services along the 2,200ft pier in former London Underground carriages. The 8½-mile railway runs to the east coast seaside resort of Shanklin, from where you can purchase a 'ticket to Ryde' back.
8. Edale
Edale station is halfway along the 40-mile Hope Valley trans-Pennine railway between Manchester and Sheffield. Enjoy wonderful hill and moorland views from its platforms, including the summit of Mam Tor, the big local attraction. The superb platform-side Penny Pot Café offers excellent granola bars and coffees, with a pleasant back garden, folksy music and poetry lining the walls.
9. London St Pancras
Before the Eurostar trains to Europe, London St Pancras International station was simply St Pancras station. It dates from 1868 and features a marvellous single-span roof designed by William Henry Barlow (known as 'Barlow's Shed'). The glorious, gothic St Pancras Renaissance London Hotel is by George Gilbert Scott and opened in 1873 – with a great cocktail bar these days.
10. Okehampton
This station in Devon reopened in 2021 at the end of a restored 15-mile line from Exeter. Expect a cosy, well-run café, a railway-themed bookshop, glossy green décor, vintage railway posters and hiking trails leading to Dartmoor National Park. The line's success has put wind in the sails of 'Restoring Your Railway' national plans for re-establishing rural railways.