My Top 5 stations in the East Midlands

Stuart Boyd • 10 February 2021

When ever I do a Q&A on Twitter one of the questions I always get is "Which is your favourite station so far?" It is very tough to choose a top 10 nationwide... So I have decided to split it up into a collection of Top 5's...

So we've done the South West, and the South East. It's now time to head a little north and focus on the East Midlands...

5. Market Rasen

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Station: Market Rasen

Line: Newark to Grimsby Line

County: Lincolnshire

Managed By: East Midlands Railway


This is a station that took me a couple attempts, with a pretty poor service (which matches most of Lincolnshire to be fair) it made visiting here quite challenging.


On the final day of Lincolnshire I decided to visit this station. It would be my final station in Lincolnshire. I was extremely pleased I had saved this to last as it was absolutely beautiful. Although it was clearly a station that had been much more important and better served and connected in years gone by.


I'm baffled this station doesn't have a better service. I have been told that this is planned to happen in the future, I keep my fingers and toes crossed and look forward to returning in the future!

4. Elton & Orston

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Station: Elton & Orston

Line: The Poacher Line

County: Nottinghamshire

Managed By: East Midlands Railway


After a day of cancellations and delays I was over the moon to reach Elton & Orston. Before I arrived, I was thinking this would be perfect so I could have an hour sitting and chilling while waiting for the train. After arriving I did very little sitting and chilling. I spent the hour taking dozens and dozens of photos!


The peaceful station, the oddly lovely stone shelters, the wind in the trees really sorted out what had been a stressful afternoon!


I recommend to anyone who visits the station to use the bus from Bingham to Orston. The drive through the Nottinghamshire countryside is beautiful. If you're lucky enough like I was, you'll get a driver who will tell you about the villages and points of interest on the route!

3. Kirton Lindsey

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Station: Kirton Lindsey

Line: The Brigg Line

County: Lincolnshire

Managed By: Northern


A station I wasn't expecting to be anything special turned out to be incredibly special. Earlier in the day I visited Brigg, which I was expecting to be a really nice station due to the mass of people saying things like "Brigg is lovely, you'll love Brigg" As it happened I didn't love Brigg, I found the station rather functional, which is funny as it has a very non functional service.


So, on a little downer, I headed off to a couple more stations before heading back through Brigg to Kirton Lindsey. I alighted and was met by a lovely station building. A long platform with an interesting looking tunnel in the distance. A walk around the village showed me the village was equally lovely. I agree with the #VisitBrigg... But I might add, #VisitKirtonLindsey while your at it!

2. Havenhouse

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Station: Havenhouse

Line: The Poacher Line

County: Lincolnshire

Managed By: East Midlands Railway


Havenhouse was stunning! I visited in the early evening and it was dark, it was cold... But the darkness and the clear cold sky made my heart really warm! I loved it. Part of me really wants to return to the station in daylight, but another part of me doesn't. I don't want to lose the warm feeling that the station gave me when I visited on a cold winters evening...


I visited here after a cold hour at Thorpe Culvert where the light in the waiting room wasn't working, after Havenhouse I took the walk by torchlight to the main road to catch a bus to Skegness where I then headed to Sleaford where I spent the night in possibly the worst Travelodge I've ever stayed at. But thankfully my mind was full of the starry sky at Havenhouse.

1. Thornton Abbey

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Station: Thornton Abbey

Line: Barton Line

County: Lincolnshire

Managed By: Northern


Thornton Abbey needs zero introductions. I could just type 'WOW' 100 times and it still wouldn't cover my love for this station!


When I visited this station I had alighted at Ulceby and took the walk down narrow country lanes, saw lots of fields, a disused station and even an Abbey... The I arrived at the station via a walk across a field and through a small gate.


I remember standing there, open mouthed and thinking 'Yep, this is definitely one of my favourite stations... It might even give Nethertown a run for it's money as my overall favourite station! 

DAY 3 Look back - Walking the scenic railways of Wales

by Stuart • 21 September 2024
Day three of the walk saw me starting nice and early at Llandudno Junction. With one simple aim, to get as far along the Conwy Valley as possible! Betws-y-Coed was the minimum target for the day. On this day I was joined by KD ( @roadsignreporter over on YouTube ). Walking to Glan Conwy was easy enough for us both, I kicked myself that I hadn't pushed myself the day before! Blooming beer! After Glan Conwy it was time for the first of the many hills that Wales was going to throw at me during this walk. We had to head up the steep hills to avoid walking along the very busy footpathless A470. You can see the scale of the diversion on the Strava map at the bottom. Things improved at Tal-y-Cafn when we arrived at the lovely station. Had a good chat with the Network Rail level crossing staff there who refilled our water bottles for us. After this we headed across the fields and along the B5106 which we would follow mostly until Betws-y-Coed. Only really leaving the road to pop to the required stations to walk too. We had a nice surprise at Dalgarrog when we came across the Dolgarrog Railway Society platform where we chatted with one of the members. They told us about the work they are doing with the site. Was a really nice break from walking. Between Dolgarrog and Llanrwst our pace slowed down a fair bit, I think this was down to the heat, and it became clear Betws-y-Coed was going to be the end point for the day! We reached the village and the road kindly dropped us off at the Spar shop and bakery so was able to stock up on some essential cakes and drinks. Shout out to the TfW guard on the train back to Llandudno Junction who kindly wavered the fare for the journey. Was much appreciated!

DAY 2 Look back - Walking the scenic railways of Wales

by Stuart • 21 September 2024
Day two of the walk saw me walking from Bangor to Llandudno Junction. This day was a lovely walk mostly along the North Wales Coast Path. With getting ahead of schedule the day before I was able to relax a little today. So the target today was Penmaenmawr, anything after that was a bonus. On this day I was joined by friend and boss. Special mention to Ian, honestly without him keeping me on full pay while on these charity walks they simply wouldn't be able to happen! We stopped at the beach café at Penmaenmawr where comically we was counting out pennies to pay for our lunch as the café didn't accept card! While having lunch we looked at how far we would be able to walk. We set our target on Glan Conwy. We was going well following the A55 right until we arrived at Conwy where we went to a pub for a pint... After this we decided that with beer in us we wasn't going to be making it to Glan Conwy. Instead we slowly made our way to Llandudno Junction where we called it a day!

DAY 1 Look back - Walking the scenic railways of Wales

by Stuart • 20 September 2024
Day one of the walk would see me walk from Holyhead to Bangor. This was not the original plan. The original plan was to only walk to Bodorgan. But upon reaching Bodorgan and just missing a train I decided to push on and just see how far I could get! Sadly on day one I was on my own that day. But that was probably a good thing, I don't think many would of approved of walking 32 miles!

Stations to visit: KILDALE

by Stu • 28 April 2024
Kildale station is located on the very scenic Esk Valley Line that runs from Middlesborough to Whitby. From the June 2024 timetable change the station will see 8 trains per day, 4 in each direction! Although this is a limited service it does give you the opportunity to do some exploring of the area.

Afternoon walk with Bailey

by Stuart • 27 January 2024
I set of on a walk with my sisters dog and headed for the disused canal from Kendal. I followed along disused canal to the village of Natland. I then swapped the disused canal for the river. After following the riverside path, I came across a footbridge that I had planned to use, annoyingly it was closed! Annoyingly I was planning to use this footbridge, due to this there was a lenghty diversion. Thankfully the diversion wasn't a total waste of time, I was able to walk through the beautiful Sizergh Castle and then head back up to my original route plan and headed to Helsington church and view point. After spending a little time chatting with my Dad (who's ashs was scattered there) me and Bailey then headed up to Scout Scar before setting of back down towards Kendal. Upon reaching the River Kent I decided that my feet was still feeling good and I headed back along the river to Hawes Bridge. I then headed up into the village of Natland and then up to Oxenholme where my walk came to an end!

The Northumberland Line

by Stuart • 21 January 2024
A blog about the new Northumberland Line that is scheduled to start opening in the Summer of 2024.

Walking the Great Western Railway - Day 4

by Stu • 6 September 2023
This walk was a tail of two halves! The day started with walking through Reading suburbs and then through the city centre. Things mid morning took a positive turn as we headed to the The Kennet and Avon Canal which I then followed for the remaineder of the day. Only hopping away from the canal to go on to station platforms. A very enjoyable walk, even in the scorching heat! Stations visted today was: Reading, Reading West, Theale, Aldermaston & ended the day at Midgham. By walking between Aldermaston and Midgham I actually have managed to get a station ahead on my plan which can only be a good thing as I head down to the more difficult reagions of Somerset & Devon next week. Until tomorrow :)

Walking the Great Western Mainline gallery - Day 3

by Stu • 4 September 2023
Todays walk was a little bit of a tough one, mainly due to the excessive heat which is only going to get worse as the week goes on. Thinking there will be some early starts coming up to try and miss the worst of the heat! Today was a mixture of roads and walks across fields. Discovered there is some beautiful countryside between Maidenhead and Twyford. I strongly encourage you to take this walk! Stations visited today: Burnham, Taplow, Maidenhead and ended at Twyford. Was great to have Nick Badley along with me today. Make sure to check out and subscribe to his YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@NickBadley . After the walk myself and Nick headed to Windsor where we met up with Coastway Will and had a Nandos dinner where the unlimited refils was very much used again and again! Until tomorrow :)

Walking the Great Western Mainline gallery - Day 2

by Stu • 3 September 2023
Todays walk saw me starting at Southall and heading straight to The Grand Union Canal. We followed this for most of the walk today. Stations called at today was: Hayes & Harlington, West Drayton, Iver, Langley before finishing the walk at Slough. Was great to have pals Jack and Dave with me today. Laughed for the most part, especially when we got the wrong place for the London/Buckinghamshire borders. That video on twitter got filmed twice lol. Massive thank you to everyone supporting the event via donations to either/both: Donate to Samaritans: https://justgiving.com/page/greatwesternwalk Support me with the challenge: https://www.gofundme.com/f/GreatWesternWalk My photos from today are below. Daves photos from today can be found here on his Flickr photostream: https://flic.kr/ps/3ppCTV Until tomorrow :)

Walking the Great Western Mainline gallery - Day 1

by Stu • 2 September 2023
The first day of the walk from London Paddington to Southall saw me call at Acton Mainline, Ealing Broadway, West Ealing & Hanwell. On the way we saw unexpected viaducts, fancy McDonalds, pretty gardens & nice market squares. Today I was joined by a couple of friends who can be found online at the following places, Please do check their accounts out. Jack All Station: twitter.com/JackAllStations Midland London: youtube.com/@MidlandLondon Below is a selection of photos from today.
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