Date: 26/11/2017

The golden age of rail travel appears to be well and truly over, and stations lack the glamour formerly associated with letting the train take the strain. Often unmanned and usually unloved, they are places to hurry through. Commuters on the daily grind tend to be grimly determined when leaving a train. Heads down, elbows out, it's a fight to get to the exit. The only reason to pause is to grab a cardboard cup of something caffeinated before stalking out into the ice-spiked drizzle of a dark winter's morning. But what if your station wasn't full of faceless coffee chains and people pushing? What if there was a station garden filled with fragrant shrubs, or an art gallery, or a top-notch local restaurant?

External links

Play stations: Railway stops worth lingering at

BBC News

The railway stations that offer relaxing gardens, modern art, and even free vegetables.

Related images

'Table for one please.' Newcastle Central, 6 July 2004.
Location: Newcastle Central
Company: Newcastle and Berwick Railway
06/07/2004 John Furnevel

The 'Tap on the Line' at Kew Gardens station is the last pub to be located on part of a London Underground platform (the station was opened by the L&SWR in 1869 and is today served by District Line and North London Line trains). The pub, formerly known as 'The Railway' is today only accessible from Station Approach.
Location: Kew Gardens
Company: South Acton to Richmond Line and Hammersmith Branch (London and South Western Railway)
//2016 Ian Dinmore

The former station building at Bearsden (opened 1863) - now houses a stylish pub/restaurant known as The Inn. Photographed on 8 August 2009, with its modern day replacement standing alongside on the right and the platform entrance between the two.
Location: Bearsden
Company: Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Railway
08/08/2009 David Panton