Robert Hampton

I already blogged about my visit to Metrolink yesterday, but that was really only a sidebar to the real reason for my trip to Manchester. I wanted to ride the once a week service from Reddish South to Denton and visit both stations, surely the least used on the British railway network.

It’s such a special occasion that it warrants a whole new blog, so I proudly present: The Station Master! This is a new project of mine, aiming to visit the obscure and forgotten nooks and crannies of the UK rail network. It will either blossom and grow into something special, or I will update it twice and forget about it. Still, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. My first proper post (about Reddish South and Denton) is up now.

Comments here are closed – please head over to The Station Master blog and comment there.

I like the National Rail site. As well as the regular stuff about timetables and fares, there’s a glorious hodgepodge of miscellaneous trivia about the rail network.

Now they’ve gone even better, with Stations Made Easy. It’s an amazing site which contains maps and plans of railway stations. Not just major stations, mind you, but seemingly EVERY station on the network (although Stanlow and Thornton station, located within the Shell oil refinery near Ellesmere Port, is missing).

Even better, hover your mouse over each part of the plan and you get photos and information of every section.

It’s like Google Earth for trainspotters and a fantastic resource for anyone visiting a station for the first time, or even just the terminally curious. Some stations are not particularly photogenic, however.

My favourite one so far is Edale, where there’s a dusting of snow on the platforms.