The ‘ugly’ train stop in Bristol named ‘loneliest railway station in the world’

Its name stirs the imagination to picture a quiet leafy city suburb with cosy traditional pubs, a line of thatched cottages and a beautiful 15th Century stone church. Even a village pump on The Green, maybe.

But you couldn’t be further from reality if you step off the GWR train from Bristol to Severn Beach at St Andrews Road Railway Station; a tiny passenger stop located deep within the industrial heartland of Avonmouth.

There are no attractions, no houses, not even a pub nearby this two-platform stop which, amazingly, does have an hourly service from Bristol Temple Meads (£2 one way) - although it has fewer than 20 passengers a day using it.

Its size, and usage, is why it’s been included in a book called Tiny Stations by Dixe Wills. The author, who embarked on an ‘idiosyncratic journey’ to discover the stories behind each station, donates just five of the 352 pages of his book to St Andrews Road. And anyone with feelings for this station should look away now.

“If it disappeared in a sink hole tomorrow I fear it would go unmourned,” the author wrote before he described any changes to the station from 1964 as moving ‘from one sort of ugliness to another’.

Adding further insult, he said that the footbridge appeared to stop the station’s platforms vanishing into a sea of surrounding ‘gantries, antennae, oil containers [and] half-hidden warehouses’. He then wrote it seemed to be the ‘loneliest place in the world’.

St Andrews Railway Station - one of the smallest, ugliest stations in the UK, apparently

A search on the internet reveals similar bad reviews. One rail enthusiast described it as ‘quite a bleak place to wait for a train on an overcast May afternoon’. Another said it was located in a ‘grimy industrial estate of heavy industry’.

And yet despite its lack of popularity, the station appears to have gained fame, and a small following. In 2016, it featured in Paul Merton’s Secret Stations series on Channel, while rail enthusiasts like Geoff Marshall visit (you can watch his video by clicking here) to ‘tick off’ another of the country’s least used stations from their lists.

So, next time you’re on your way to more pleasant pastures such as Severn Beach, keep an eye out for St Andrews Road. Just, maybe stay onboard the carriage.