Disused Stations

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

Whilst researching something else, I came across a photostream of stations. Some of these are disused, others have found new uses, but many of them speak of a different time. The thought crossed my mind that these stations were once focal points for their communities, and are disappearing before our (largely) unseeing eyes.

I suppose most people cared no more or less when local railway stations were closing everywhere in the 1960's...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131286969@N05/50536026151/in/photostream/

[johnneyw]

I thought that I had been taken to the wrong link for a moment before the penny dropped.  Who's plays the Beeching role here I wonder?

[eightonedee]

Market forces and large supermarket changes I expect.

There might be a Christmas quiz here - guess the year from the petrol price?

[ChrisB]

They’ll all be gone by 2050 with no fuel to sell electric/hydrogen vehicles

[stuving]

I thought that I had been taken to the wrong link for a moment before the penny dropped.  Who's plays the Beeching role here I wonder?

No Beeching was needed, since these sites were not kept running for forty years after their economic justification had vanished. And their sites were usually valuable for other uses.

Some, though did hang on - here's a little "halt" that was still open (but no longer selling petrol) ten years ago, and now has planning for houses. Last time I went past it was still awaiting demolition, and while the pumps have been replaced by Buddleia that red "bunker" (were they for storing motor oil?) is still there.

[JayMac]

A rather nice preserved one in Colyford, Devon, just up the road from the trams. No longer dispensing petrol though. Instead a cafe and cycle shop. Grade II Listed.

[Surrey 455]

Great Missenden https://goo.gl/maps/FR6LiTavAsDcCMz36
That one made its way into one of Roald Dahls books.

Also Stockbridge (Google Streetview 2008) https://goo.gl/maps/ikksrZmJ2ktGCeDv7
It's gone by 2011 though.   https://goo.gl/maps/SaWwKTSkX2DvDYte9

[MVR S&T]

One in wareham, near the railway station:

https://goo.gl/maps/ajFkESK1UvxU6dNEA

_{Edit: shortened link - Red Squirrel}

[JayMac]

Maybe not disused, but...

I stayed in Bala, Gwynedd, a few years ago. Remember seeing this station on my walk to another sort of station. Old, but not ancient, pumps still operating when I was there, August 2016. I remember thinking to myself how rare to see working pumps right on the pavement.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/QLpLkkdJrXCTacP5A

[JayMac]

Some more from around the UK^▸ (United Kingdom):

https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/community/take-a-tour-of-britains-preserved-and-crumbling-local-petrol-stations/

[Red Squirrel]

This one, in Clifton, Bristol, is nicely preserved:


Image from Facebook

This was the home, incidentally, of Maggie Shapland, doyenne of the Clifton Rocks Railway preservation project.

[Electric train]

This website is a great resource for those interested in disused stations and associated lines http://disused-stations.org.uk/

[froome]

A rather nice preserved one in Colyford, Devon, just up the road from the trams. No longer dispensing petrol though. Instead a cafe and cycle shop. Grade II Listed.

I hope that the pumps are all now used to fill bike tyres with air.

[paul7575]

Some, though did hang on - here's a little "halt" that was still open (but no longer selling petrol) ten years ago, and now has planning for houses. Last time I went past it was still awaiting demolition, and while the pumps have been replaced by Buddleia that red "bunker" (were they for storing motor oil?) is still there.

I think the red container might have been for bottles or cans of paraffin?

Paul

[stuving]

Some, though did hang on - here's a little "halt" that was still open (but no longer selling petrol) ten years ago, and now has planning for houses. Last time I went past it was still awaiting demolition, and while the pumps have been replaced by Buddleia that red "bunker" (were they for storing motor oil?) is still there.

I think the red container might have been for bottles or cans of paraffin?

Paul

I did think it was a cabinet, so could hold anything for which being lockable, leakproof, and somewhat fireproof was required. However, based on what Google can find for me, I think it contains hand pumps with storage tanks for lubricating oils. The steel cabinets were found mainly in workshops, but somewhere really small like this they did appear on forecourts too. Being red, it's probably Esso or perhaps Shell.

There are pictures of similar things here, taken from this page of history in "International Good Guys" - Mike Smith's web site of stuff for railway modellers.


And here's one that's a more exact match for shape, though missing its flip-top (if it's not too heavy for flipping): it's on Pinterest so I can't link to the image, but this should show the object: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/565412928199602877/
I think this one is American.