I tend to agree that this is a very depressing, melancholic station nowadays.It has gone downhill ever since right to the point where the level of depression far e
The passenger trains used to consist of Loco hauled for dECAdes but nowadays it is all pendolinos, and voyagers. Gone are the 101/6's and loco-hauled mk2s on the north wales workings, these have made way for the new 175s! MAKE WAY FOR THE NEW PLASTIC!
As there is less locos to look at you spend all your time looking at the grim surroundings and feeling ever increasingly depressed not to mention bored. The adjacent lever factory is dreary, consumes the view west of the station and pumps huge clouds and rancid gasses into the atmosphere making the statio smell worse than raw sewage. Just a bit north of the grim factory is a gigantic wooden shed used for car racing. the shed is decrepit and the elephantine noise of the racing cars revving around is overwhelming and irritating.
There are always lots of spotters on the station, usually the same cretins every day, including some undesirable types who shout a lot, make irritating noises, and run around like nitwits collecting wagon numbers. There is one regular halfwit who we call "Chicken Run" as he runs up & down the platform like a Chicken whenever a pendolino pulls into the station. Between trains he makes an irksome, high-pitched laughing noise every 5 seconds. It makes the environment even more depressing to see spotters pushing the definition of SAD to new levels.

The view on the east side of the station consists of Arpley yard surrounded by ugly high steel fencing and EWS admin offices. Arpley is only very partially visible due to the aforementioned drab in the way. Standing on the south end of platform 1, you can just about see the tops of locos (mainly Class 66s) and any freight trains leaving Arpley heading towards the Liverpool avoiding line which subsequently runs underneath the station.

Anything to avoid wbq's drearly surroundings and pestiferous spotters!!!
The North West is an awful area for the spotter and as poor as Warrington is, it is still perhaps one of the better locations to go.

to give you an idea of how drab it is this was a session on the 12th of May this year from 09:48 to 18:27. This does not include the sparodic traffic on the low level avoiding line which runs beneath the yard as it is difficult to spot. But look at those huge gaps between the locos. It's official, Warrington is dead!!!

09:48 WARRINGTON BANK QUAY SOUTH BAY Loco: 66155
10.46 66405 Coatbridge – Daventry 4Z34
11.00 67029 Warrington Arpley – Carlisle Station 0Z67
11.15 66001 Stanton Grove – Warrington Arpley 6F14
11.24 66623 L/e north on (Crewe – Hellifield) route learner
11.26 57302 L/e south to points then back north
11.28 66155 Warrington Arpley – Gladstone Steel Terminal 6F10
12.04 66513 Crewe VQ – Carlisle 6Z26
12.13 66145 Allerton – Warrington Arpley 6L33
12.43 66145 Warrington Arpley – Wigan Springs Branch 0L34
13.00 67017 Blackburn – Warrington Arpley 6F42
13.41 66422 Mossend – Daventry 4M44
13.53 66001 Warrington Arpley – Immingham 6E33
14.42 66145 Wigan Springs Branch – Warrington Arpley 6L33
15.07 66145 Warrington Arpley – Edge Hill Tuebrook 0L31
16.05 66429 Daventry – Coatbridge 4S44 – down to 3 DRS locos needed now
16.10 66623 L/e south on (Hellifield – Crewe) route learner
16.11 66609 Barassie – Fiddlers Ferry 6M11
16.19 66155 Gladstone Steel Terminal – Warrington Arpley 6F15
16.36 66085 Carlisle Yard – Crewe Basford Hall 6K05
17.17 66155 L/e north up West Coast mainline towards Wigan NW
17.20 66145 Edge Hill Tuebrook – Warrington Arpley 6L31
17.32 66607 Shap – Crewe 6P24
18.19 47853 L/e north to Warrington RMT

Warrington is DEAD. Bring back steam.

It's been a few years, but I visited Warrington Bank Quay station recently and decided an updated review is in order.

Warrington BQ is one of the most depressing stations you will ever have the opportunity to visit. The station buildings are incredibly drab and underwhelming; the station itself is located adjacent to a massive industrial facility, billowing out thick clouds of smoke into Warrington's dismal, grey skies. The weather in these parts is always cold, windy and wet, or at least, this is usually the case over Warrington BQ.

There are useful facilities for my train spotting brethren, including waiting room, lavatories, and a cafe. Everything sold in the cafe is of a low quality, and over priced. But being a British railway station this is to be expected.

Let's get down to business. What is the traffic like these days? Not great I'm afraid.

This was my main spotting haunt back in the late 90s and I used to visit on a weekly basis, as a spotty teenager. Back then you could expect to see the following locomotives: 08, 31, 37, 43, 47, 56, 60, 86, 87, 90, 92s in addition to the ubiquitous bog-units (Pacers and Sprinters.) You could actually expect to see all of this during any 2-3 hour period.

There were usually a few locos in the nearby yard (Arpley), which could be viewed off the western end of Platform 1/2. Otherwise, you could get a closer look by taking a dodgy pathway round the side of the station, by exiting the station and turning right. This is still the case. There was plenty of loco-hauled through-traffic pulling freight and passengers. There was also an avoiding line going beneath the station on a north-south axis, which carried MGRs through the middle of the station. These MGRs were difficult to see unless you were over the area they travel through - but this was a pain as you were most likely to spend your time at the end of platform 1/2 waiting for WCML traffic and watching the yard.

These days, the yard still has a few locos in it at all times. EWS shunters, 60s, 66s and 67s. Occassionaly there is a 37. Freight traffic through the station isn't great these days. Or at least that is my experience. All passenger traffic is D/E MU (Pendlino, Voyager, cls 175, Sprinters, Pacers.) The MGR low level line is still there, and still difficult to view from the station. But the traffic along it is very sporadic anyway.

Perhaps spending an entire day at BQ during the week, one could expect to see a fair bit of loco-hauled freight. But my experience of late is that freight traffic is pretty sporadic and thin on the ground. There are usually around 5-6 locos in the yard.

Warrington BQ is worth a passing visit - have a quick look at the depot and catch anything that happens to be passing through the station - and then get the hell out of there and move on to greener pastures. I wouldn't camp out there for the day, unless you like units as well as locos. But even then, you might find yourself becoming overwhelmed by the grim surroundings, and on a downward spiral into terminal depression and dementia.

Cheers

only been to warrington twice but is well worth a visit warrington
bank quay is on the west coast main line between crewe and preston
and interchange for manchester and north wales services you get
pendolinos and voyagers 142 158 175 units 37s 47s 60s 66s plenty
of freight traffic,enterprise,intermodels,coal etc,
arpley yard is also close by go straight ahead out of station on
to slutchers lane follow the road round on to the bridge this is a
good location for the fiddlers ferrycoal traffic on the low level
just after the bridge turn right and a road leads down to the depot
you will see the locos on the left hand side off this road you do
get a lot off enthusiasts on the station there is toilets on the
platforms and a small buffet but i would recomend a very good
sandwhich shop near the station turn left outside the station,past
the newsagents,to the following corner the quiche is the biggest
you will get anywhere

Warrington Bank Quay is a medium sized station situated between Wigan and Crewe on the WCML. It sees classes 142, 150, 156, 220/221, 390 and freight locos. It has four platforms and a small bay where locos are sometimes kept. It is right next to a lever faberge factory, and when you first get off the train, the station stinks of the adjacent factory. However, you get used to it after a while. The ticket office is beneath the station, and so access to the platforms is by stairs or lift. There is a cafe on platform 1 which doesn't have much seating but you can take food out. One of the waiting rooms on platform 3 is like a sauna (don't go in there unless you really have to). Warrington Bank Quay is a nice little station, however I suggest you travel further down the line to Crewe, as it is much more interesting.