please empty your brain below
Although Waterloo -Reading trains stop at my local station, and I have a few times travelled to Reading, I have not even noticed this station before! I must try and get to my station at a peak time and look at the display panel to see the name come up.
By the time trains from Reading to Waterloo get to my stop they are already crammed full, but fortunately I have several other trains to use.

John | 19.10.16 - 7:32 a.m. | #

Presumably if one misses the 17.50 from Waterloo, one can get a later train, go one station further and return on one of the later running trains from Reading. The timetable seems seriously unbalanced and the whole place best left alone especially in the dark of winter except by those nearby workers who obviously understand the nuances of travelling via this outpost. Fascinating stuff, thank you DG.

Berkshire Boy | 19.10.16 - 7:46 a.m. | #

Super interesting - thanks for going because there's no way I would (sunset looked beautiful though.)

Kevin | 19.10.16 - 8:05 a.m. | #

That concrete bridge, and indeed most of the other structures including the platform, are of designs seen throughout the former Southern Railway. They were prefabricated in-house at its concrete casting plant in Exeter.
Here's a very similar one at Eynsford in Kent
http://www.kentrail.org.uk/Eynsford%20005.jpg

timbo | 19.10.16 - 8:14 a.m. | #

Thank you DG, that was an excellent article. I've travelled from Richmond to Reading on numerous occasions but, I think, only stopped at Lawncross once - and had always wondered what was there.

Robert | Homepage | 19.10.16 - 8:20 a.m. | #

I was at university near here in the late 80s. The OS map showed Longcross Station in the middle of Chobham Common and I thought it would be a good place to go walking. I was surprised, when arriving, to find myself surrounded by tanks rather than open common land - as the MVEE was not shown on the map at all.
I remember that the path to the station had a sign saying that it would be closed every year on Christmas Day and was not a right of way, but no indication that it led to the station.
As I recall, trains were rather more frequent in those days with alternate trains stopping during the day.

RobT | 19.10.16 - 8:29 a.m. | #

The crew for Skyfall may possibly have been based here, but the Highlands scene was filmed on Hankley Common near Farnham: https://www.thejamesbonddossier.com/news/photos-from-skyfall-lodge-set.htm

Ed | 19.10.16 - 8:32 a.m. | #

I remember visiting Longcross on foot in the 1990s, curious about its location far from any road. Until about 10 years ago, Ordnance Survey maps showed the Longcross military establishment as a blank space with no buildings, presumably in the optimistic hope that if it wasn’t on the 1:25000 map, our enemies would not know it was there. This made the station’s location seem all the more unlikely.

It was possible to access the station from the common, following the fence around the military establishment as you did. At the turnstile into the base, there was a sign saying “BIKINI STATE”, and underneath, a removable part which at the time said “BLACK” The Bikini State was a now-obsolete system, similar to America’s DEFCON, for indicating the likelihood of nuclear armageddon on that particular day. It was all very surreal.

davleed | 19.10.16 - 8:46 a.m. | #

This is my nearest "least used" station which as you say is very unusual in many ways not least the lack of road access. I decided to explore it a few years ago walking up the road (Burma Road) which soon narrows to a track. On reaching the station I was pleasantly surprised to find that the "Engineering Work" poster was for the current week, so at least South West Trains does seem to look after the place.

The land already developed around there is, oddly, Green Belt, so there has been some controversy over building housing there. The Council are (or were?) insisting the developers would have to pay to fund improvments to the M3 junction 3 which is already badly congested, not sure if that is still part of the plans.

It's a great station for access to Chobham Common, though and I do wonder if making that access clear and stopping a few trains here at the weekends for walkers and cyclists might help, though I suppose it has to be balanced against slowing down the (already very slow) Waterloo to Reading trains.

Jon Combe | 19.10.16 - 8:52 a.m. | #

There's a striking absence of graffiti.

Great Aunt Annie | 19.10.16 - 9:42 a.m. | #

If we're talking about stations accessed by foot tracks, try Commondale (towards the end of this post). Proper rural! And half the footfall of Longcross.

David | 19.10.16 - 10:05 a.m. | #

Dovey Junction is even less accessible, being 3/4 mile from the nearest road, along a path alongside the railway line from the roadhead. (If you want to know why the station isn't at the point where the railway meets the road, the clue is in the word "junction")

Berney Arms in the Norfolk Broads is similarly challenged

Redcar British Steel station has no access except from the steelworks site (now largely mothballed), to which there is no public access. It has kept the name through multiple changes of ownership of the steelworks(Corus, Tata, SSI, and now back to British Steel again)

However, even less accessible is Smallbrook Junction on the Isle of Wight, which has no access at all except by rail - and then only when the steam railway is running.

timbo | 19.10.16 - 11:13 a.m. | #

The National Rail map shows that the gate to Wentworth used to be left open - maybe the survey was done before the new owners took over.

martin | 19.10.16 - 11:58 a.m. | #

On Friday evening, every winter in the early 1960s, 1st Bracknell Boy Scouts would take the train to Longcross for a Wide Game played out on Chobham Common. On one occasion, we came across Brian Blessed and James Ellis sitting in a police car, while filming Z-Cars, of blessed memory ...

Peter Sellars | 19.10.16 - 12:00 p.m. | #

Lovely post DG, I do enjoy your little jaunts to the back end of nowhere. You have a great skill with words in bringing a seemingly dead place to life.

gooneruk | Homepage | 19.10.16 - 12:18 p.m. | #

@martin Yes the gate was open when I went there, a couple of years ago.

Jon Combe | 19.10.16 - 12:39 p.m. | #

Sounds like a lovely place. Must add it to my bucket list. Glad to see it's got electronic displays as well. Very important.

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 19.10.16 - 1:32 p.m. | #

For anyone who's interested, here is the Onward Connections poster: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/posters/LNG.pdf

greg | 19.10.16 - 4:20 p.m. | #

Rarely has a circle with a radius of "10 minutes walking distance" been less useful.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 19.10.16 - 4:26 p.m. | #

At least it is physically (if not legally) possible to walk to the limits of that circle. A similar circle drawn around, say, Portsmouth Harbour station, or even Temple, is more of a challenge.

(Likewise, the distance between my nearest cycle docking station and the next nearest is nearly twice as far as advertised because Sir Christopher Wren inconsiderately put a cathedral in the way)

timbo | 19.10.16 - 4:41 p.m. | #

A masterful post - thank you (from a lurker!)

yman | 20.10.16 - 1:03 p.m. | #

Not entirely serious extra: 'popular' rumour (well, we liked it) said don't go to Longcross as a small nuclear reactor was next door. Had to be daft because there's no known water supply, but why spoil a story with facts? This was an enthusiast line-shoot from a half-tale that 'depleted uranium' ('Chobham Armour'?) was made there. Anyone who dared to stop off there didn't come back glowing in the dark but the rumour took a long, long time to dissolve.

Joel | 20.10.16 - 1:14 p.m. | #

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Lympstone Commando station which is believe the only National Rail-owned and operated station with officially no public access and where you are liable to be shot if you try and leave the platform or try to take a photo.

See http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/LYC/details.html and [FOI request pdf[

Whiff | 21.10.16 - 4:31 a.m. | #

Lympstone Commando Station Details

CCTV: Yes. Lots. Seriously, just go away.

Kirk | 21.10.16 - 7:17 a.m. | #

Ironically Lympstone Commando Station has a public footpath running right next to it - the Exe Estuary Trail.

Yet they keep the gates locked on the station for no justifiable reason.

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 21.10.16 - 9:57 a.m. | #

Great post, and I agree it's rather spooky.

I used the station last December: the mainline to Woking was in disarray due to a big incident - an alternative for me is to use the Reading line to Virgina Water or Sunningdale and get a lift home, as I live the right side of Woking for this.

On this occasion, I noticed on the departure screens the train was due to call at Longcross and couldn't resist giving it a go.

The guard, checking tickets, couldn't believe it - and loudly warned that "there was nothing there" - loud enough for other passengers to hear, much to their amusement.

I was the only passenger to alight - and things became rather real when the train departed and I was left alone in the pitch dark, with only barbed wire to keep me company.

I did successfully find the path out to Burma Road, where further up there were a car sitting alone with its headlights on I'd have to pass. Fortunately, I already knew from the local press that Chobham Common is Surrey's "no.1 dogging site", so I had an alternative reason in my head for it to be there other than my imminent death.

The red and white barrier is creepy as you say, but I safely made it to the main road and got my lift home - success!

I've stuck to the adjacent stations since however...

A | 22.10.16 - 11:46 p.m. | #

Determined to obsolete your least used station, Longcross is identified in the first round of 'garden vilages'

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/02/...

Mike D (in Surrey) | 02.01.17 - 4:36 p.m. | #

Times change. A quick check on the NR website shows 8 trains calling in the next 100 minutes. Wonder if the infrastructure has improved commensurately. Time for a revisit?

David | 25.04.22 - 5:11 p.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy