Top 5 stations in the North East

Stuart Boyd • 27 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...

It's time to head Northwards, and to the North East:

5. Acklington

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Station: Acklington

Line: East Coast Main Line (Newcastle to Chathill)

County: Northumberland

Managed By: Northern


When I compiled my top 5 list for the North East I had a massive decision to make,  which station would make it into 5th place... It was basically between Acklington and Chathill. The only thing that swayed my decision was that Acklington was that bit quieter than Chathill!


I remember this well, it was my 5th station after the first lockdown. I alighted here and spent about 5 minutes taking photos and then took a walk through the village. If you think the station in lovely and quaint, then head into the village which is equally quaint! The village welcome sign even had an old rail carriage underneath it!


Safe to say, one day I will return to this part of the world, might even treat the other half to a weekend away!

4. Poppleton

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Station: Poppleton

Line: The Harrogate Line

County: North Yorkshire

Managed By: Northern


Poppleton is a station that is included in my top 5 due to the amazing station house, but not only the house, but the way the glass waiting room on the Eastbound platform has been designed, a really lovely modern addition that most certainly does not look out of place.


I visited the station during a last minute trip, I literally had no plan for this trip. It was a case of blag it and see what happened. I had 50 minutes here, so I looked on Google Maps and headed in the direction of a local McDonalds for some dinner. I took the food back to the station and ate it while enjoying the surroundings of the station. The village of Poppleton looks a delight and will be getting a revisit at some point, possibly when I'm in the York area.

3. Kildale

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Station: Kildale

Line: Esk Valley Line

County: North Yorkshire

Managed By: Northern


Any of the stations on the Esk Valley Line could of featured in my top 5 if I was being completely honest. But obviously I couldn't select all the stations on one line, so I had to be really picky, Kildale made the cut!


I visited this station on a Sunday morning, alighting at the station I spent 10-15 minutes taking photos and admiring the surroundings! After this I took a walk the Captain Cook's Monument and the RAF Officers Memorial. A lovely walk and one I would encourage people to do if they are in the area! The views from the monument are spectacular! I know this is a walk I will be doing again, just at a much more relaxing pace.

2. Bempton

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Station: Bempton

Line: Yorkshire Coast Line

County: East Riding of Yorkshire

Managed By: Northern


I almost chose to miss my planned train to have a longer look around the area near this station. But due to Boris announcing he was going to be making a significant announcement that evening I decided to get back to my hotel to listen to what he had to say... As it turned out, it was another stay at home announcement sadly :(. 


Bempton station is a very basic single platform station, but wow, what a single platform station it is! The now private station house is lovely, the only negative thing is the fact the level crossing is now an automated system (Yes, I know progress has to happen). But believe me, everything else about the station makes up for the automated crossing!

1. Commondale

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Station: Commondale

Line: Esk Valley Line

County: North Yorkshire

Managed By: Northern


It's that line again, that line that could of had the whole line in the top 5! Commondale was a station I alighted at and literally just stood there thinking 'how on earth is this station not talked about more!'


I have some really vivid memories from this station, the amazingly cute waiting room, the stunning surroundings, the amazing fact that the entrance to this station is across a flipping field! Because having a road to access a station is so last year, all stations should be accessed across a field! 


After alighting at Commondale I then took a walk across the fields to Castleton Moor. The walk was memorable due to a rather annoyed Llama, I think it had an issue with me walking through it's field, it had no hesitation in letting me know it was annoyed! Other than that moment the walk was beautiful!

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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