Broome - Least Used Station In Shropshire
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- Опубликовано: 27 май 2018
- Whilst taking a trip on the Heart of Wales line to visit the Cynghordy Viaduct, we realised that on the way home, we'd be passing through the least used station in Shropshire - it's Broome!
And we asked our friend Sarah, to come along and join us to measure the length of the platform in a very special way ...
ORR Estimated Station Usage Figures : dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statist...
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Wheelchair user here,
1. Gravel sucks
2. The ramp is definitely to steep especially at the top
Why does the station have a gate in the first place?
I asked myself that as soon as I saw it in the video, it's the style of gate you see on public rights of ways
@@hesky10 That gate will probably be there to stop animals like sheep wandering on to the railway. Very serious safety issue is animals on the line.
I hope national rail see this to truly learn what accessible is and isn’t as this is clearly inaccessible. Great vid Geoff and H Sarah!!
Thanks. I hope they do too.
I'm watching these least used stations videos back to back. Hours of enjoyment. Sarah is a star.
Looked away when the video was loading and glanced back to see a man fall into water and flail about, and was wondering what drastically dramatic turn Geoff's channel had taken..
..but no, just an RNLI advert. Maybe next time.
Less than 1 hour after the video was uploaded, the Wiki article has already been edited! You're an influential figure, Geoff...
All The Accessible Stations 2019
Once upon a time, more than 30 years ago, I used to live in Shropshire. It is a marvellous county.
Best cameo in a ‘Least used’ video. Loved this! Great stuff Sarah and well done to team ‘least used’ for highlighting this important problem.
Love this video and what it highlighted, we are so quick to overlook things that don't effect us. I find that parts of this video was difficult to watch and Arriva/Network Rail ought to be ashamed of themselves. Thank you Sarah for opening peoples eyes to accessibility issues that are swept under the carpet for so many people. ❤
I am really pleased you made this video how you did.
I have no accessibility problems (yet) but do have a friend who does.
Knowing her has made me so much more aware of accessibility issues, and the fact that it is ordinary people who are being affected.
It's rather frustrating that the railway company at Broome are probably giving themselves a pat on the back for making the station step-free, without considering whether it and its services are actually accessible.
Keep up the good work. You can actually change people's opinions and outlooks.
Geoff: has access to a tape measure
Also Geoff: still voluntarily chooses to measure the platform length in the obscure units of Sarah wheelchair revolutions
It's depressingly repetitive how half-assed accessibility provisions often are, especially when they're retrofits. Here in the US, and I'm sure it's a similar situation over there, we have a set of very specific rules about how these things are supposed to be done, and it feels like at _least_ half the time, the people doing retrofits to older facilities didn't consult them. "It needs a ramp. OK, here's a ramp. Job done!"
3:04 wheelchair revolutions sounds like the name of my new prog-rock band.
Love it! Or a new John Cage.
Sarah Ward I wonder if the time signature of such a piece would be 1/1?
I don’t know why I like these videos but I can’t help watching 10 in a row
Great video Geoff, the least used series is my second favourite of yours, all the stations come first.
Guys, from an Anglophile in the U.S., please keep it up! Love All the vlogs!
Very interesting video! Good to see it from another perspective!
Well I think National Rail Enquiries calling that station wheelchair "accessible" is a serious, serious stretch. I'd say they're in breach of their Equality Act obligations.
It's one thing to not claim the station as accessible, but they are claiming it is. The slope is tricky but that gate is the real killer of accessibility.
It's certainly something that I've discussed with them (and local t.o.c.)
Andrew Long why was there even a gate?
I can't really see any use for it.
Then there's the other side of the gate - How would Sarah open that gate if she was coming off at Broome. I can't figure out how she could unlatch the gate, then pull it open while manoeuvring backwards up a slope.
@@OneKnifeYeHand In these rural areas it is usually to keep livestock/other animals out.
I went on the Heart of Wales line last year, about a week behind you when you did it on All The Stations. I had to alight at Broome on the Saturday morning, as there were engineering works between there and Shrewsbury (or however you pronounce it!!!) and so had to do that stretch by bus! At least I got to do most of the Heart of Wales line proper on the train.
We have similar accessibility problems at Biggleswade Station (Bedfordshire). No ramps and no lifts so there’s very limited accessibility. The get around this by offering free taxis to the nearest accessible station 10 minute drive away (Sandy Station)
It been a long wait for this one, but worth it. I will post the link on a couple of the Shropshire facebook groups.
Brilliant video..well done to all involved
Iove this... One of my fav episodes ☺️ Sarah is awesome
Thank-you, that's really kind. I love the "Least Used" series, and it was an absolute pleasure to be involved. Lovely area.
Thanks for coming to Shropshire! Hopefully the new franchise owners will sort this out.
thoughtful and important message well told. Sarah, well done and I am sure will catch the attention of authorities to rethink some of their corporate definitions
Thank-you. I hope so.
Loved this video. Sarah was great, highlighting a serious problem in a good-natured and good-humoured way, hopefully we'll see her again if yous do another station near her. Really upsets me that this isn't something that's easily fixed, I would volunteer to help if I could as I can't stand the thought that other people don't get to experience the same freedoms as me just because they have different needs.
Hi! Thank-you, it was a pleasure to be involved, and I'm glad that it came over well. It would be great to do more. Loved going to Broome, even though it's in "my" county, it was an absolute voyage of discovery: Lovely area.
Great video, it's a fab line that I'm sure TfW would love to ditch because they regularly give up on running trains. An eye-opener for accessibility issues too. Thank you Sarah for taking part and illustrating the point.
I enjoyed this video. Wow, that's quite a step up from the platform at Hopton.
An interesting and worthwhile addition and it shows the disparages about what is actually accessible and what isn't accessible accessble. And certainly shows Broome isn't accessible owing to the steepness of the ramp from the street to the platform and that gate which Sarah certainly had issues with opening - and as Sarah mentions in her comment - Access is a huge problem.
For those who don't know this, the station information pages - except the maps - on the National Rail website are actually the responsibility of the station owing train operator to ensure that the information is correct - not National Rail - as that data then cascade into various feeds which also supply station information data into TOC website sites. Some TOCs are excellent at ensuring their station data is correct whilst others can be a bit lapse - if you spot a potential station information page error let the TOC know!
Thanks for this. That's useful.
I'm a Shropshire lad (stuck in Berkshire) and I'd never heard of Broome station! Nearest station to Clun by the looks of it ( a mere six or seven miles west)
I love these videos: currently binge-watching all the least used station ones
Loved this video.
There's a yard of old machinery you can see from the train at Broome, I played with a jazz band on this line from Shrewsbury to Llandrindod Wells about 10 years ago!
Having visited Broome 3 times in the last year (and started a walk video from the station), I totally agree that the gate it pointless and the ramp is too steep. Definite crimes against accessibility.
Thank you for covering accessibity issues hopefully network rail will take notice
It's sad to say, but small stations as this one are not the responsibility of NR. They operate the major stations - Euston, Waterloo, Waverley, Glasgow Central, etc. No, these small stations are the responsibility of the franchise operator - and since Arriva have just lost the franchise, that will not be on their 'must do tomorrow' list. Lord only knows how long it will take the new lot to get something done. Probably more like the opening line of the song 'Do Re Mi' from 'The Sound of Music' - 'Let's start at the very beginning…'
The Wikipedia page has been edited. Including the fact that the ramp is difficult to use by a wheelchair passenger.
Thanks!
No problem! :D
I see the wikipedia article has been changed based on this video, good video as usual Geoff.
What a lovelly guest.
Salt bin is necessary because of the aforementioned ramp - where there are steep gradients, you need grit to clear them in the winter.
Andrew Long
I suspect the Health and Safety Executive ruling is that the grit has to be available, and the public could therefore use it at their own discretion, or that in inclement weather, the TOC could send someone to do it. In my local area a few particularly steep minor roads have bins that the local homeowners can use.
Andrew Long In a documentary on British rail operators (Keeping Britian On Track? Search for that on YT), usually they'll send out a crew to do the gritting in the middle of the night. Having such grit bins in a located place would seem like a good idea.
Terrific Video (!!)
Just for clarification, under U.K. law, a wheelchair ramp cannot be steeper than a rise to run ratio of 1 to 12, and there must be a level strech after every 10 meters (32 feet, 9 11/16 inches). This is similar to the United States, which requires the same rise to run ratio and a resting platform every 30 feet (9.144 m).
Thanks for this, appreciated.
Thanks, Tom... I was just going to mention the 1:12 gradient but decided to read the other comments first. :)
Asking for all stations to be made accessible: be careful of unintended consequences because, despite the legal complexities involved, it may turn out cheaper for the company to close stations like Broome rather than upgrade them. It is already happening with toilets on the Pacers in South Wales - because they can't be made accessible they are to be locked out of use (or disabled, even) - thus all (remaining) toilets on the network will be accessible.
This is a very interesting point. There certainly IS the possibility of that outcome. Gosh, I didn't know that, about the Pacers. I've never been on one that did have a toilet (as far as I can recall). As an aside, have you seen the "two stage" ramp solution? I was quite struck by it!
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/toilets-many-arriva-trains-wales-14598405 As far as I am aware, all Pacers have toilets, but none of them are "accessible".
I see your point, but at some stage a stand has to be made.
I, like most Londoners, used to really like our old Routemaster buses. They were popular with tourists too. But they prevented disabled people from travelling around London. (This was a London that at the time also had worse wheelchair access on the trains and London Underground, so not being able to get onto Routemasters meant that being in a wheelchair made poor people housebound.)
Then we had some activists wheel themselves up to the Routemasters, dive out of their wheelchairs, crawl underneath the buses and handcuff themselves to the driveshafts. Crippling the buses that they could not get onto.
They were right and everyone else was wrong.
Routemasters were awesome. But getting wheelchair users onto the buses (and trains) of London was more important than keeping quaint buses.
The UK can not be made 100 percent accessible in one go, but the time of pretending disabled passengers do not exist is long gone.
Closing non-accessible toilets, in order to claim that "there are no non-accessible toilets" is massaging the statistics. And if that happens, the ToCs that do it should be publicly shamed for lying to disabled people and people should call for them to be renationalised and replaced with an organisation that will actually invest in accessibility.
ITS shrewsbury, home of the shrew (shroos-bury)
there's also great places that turn half of stairs into a super steep ramp and call it wheelchair accesable. no rocket boost provided at the bottom
I don't think about accesibility a lot because my legs work fine but somebody in a wheelchair asked me to help her get up a slope somewhere and that really showed me how hard it can be to get up a slope that doesn't feel too bad to walk up
Oh aren't there. Yes, it often isn't until you're in that situation, that you begin to get it.
Topical video Geoff. It would be a great if you could show things like the driver doing the token.
Yeah, Geoff pointed the camera the wrong way XD
That's a good idea. Most of us probably never get to use or see a section of line that still uses tokens, unless we go on a steam preservation railway. That would make a good subject for a short video.
I'm all for accessible stations from most to least...
Check out Ardwick. It’s close to Manchester Piccadilly and has three significant flights of steps. It’s one of the most “Red ❌” stations there is!
@@nigelkthomas9501 Life is hard enough without a disability let alone having one with few accessible places... :/
@@icascone I take it you’ve been to Ardwick then?
@@nigelkthomas9501 I wish I live in Australia but having a chronic condition for 20 years Ii understand the need to make life easier for all of us!
I have been to London though and hope to visit UK more one day!
Good video if network rail used this to test all stations for accessibly for all rail users.
Please make a "most used stations" series 😄 would be cool
In a non-disability themed comment. Broome and Hopton are in a lovely lovely part of Shropshire, and I'd highly recommend a visit. There's more than one castle nearby!
Just edited the Wikipedia page!
You left out the part about no bins.
Unfortunately, you cannot use a RUclips video as a source on Wikipedia in almost all cases. It is considered a primary source and/or unreliable.
Where are the brooms?
Maybe the plants grow nearby
awesome video i like the video about the tube maps and what editing software do you use
One of the things I'm super impressed by is the "Step-free" accessibility in the Purple [Elizabeth Line] Line stations. (Yeah, yeah, I've brought this up with Simon.)
I need to visit this, don't I? I won't get into the Crossrail/Elizabeth Line thing 😉
(Probably for the best. I asked my boyfriend's friend Simon, "So, do you have opinions about the whole "Crossrail/Elizabeth line naming scheme, or is it just one guy on the internet?" "Oh, you mean my friend Geoff?!" Followed by - I thought impossibly - even more strong opinions than Mr. Marshall! :-D ) So yeah. But! I was impressed by the map of the ... new line... where *every* station is marked as accessible! Maybe you & G & V can test this out once they're all open! All The ... Purple ... Stations!
Would love to see a series on station accessibility, testing out the reality behind accessibility claims on the website. Could also make a good resource for people at NR, TOCs etc who could stand to understand accessibility needs better, given your experience at Broome. (Suspect it wasn't even considered when procuring that gate!)
This would be a super idea. Of course, you'd need to involve people with a wide range of access requirements. I've had a number of similar experiences, in recent weeks, it's surprising how commonplace these problems remain. Oh and that gate... What WERE they thinking.
Oh yeah, for sure - mobility needs aren't the only issues the railway has in terms of accessibility, not by a long shot!
I really doubt they were thinking of accessibility at all: I think their main priority was probably 'securing all the boundaries of the railway' with the toughest materials they could get as cheaply as possible! (British railways are so much more fenced off than most on the continent, though that seems to be a more recent development.)
One of the advantages of living in greater Los Angeles is basically all rail stations of any sort were built (or rebuilt) after the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, meaning they are all fully wheelchair accessible, at least in theory. This in not the case in places like New York City or Chicago.
Good video Geoff. Also may be Sarah could do her own RUclips channel, of seeing how many stations in Britain are Wheelchair accessible.
Tempting. I've considered "Accessible Tube Challenge", too.
Hopton Heath #1 fav station also local to me!
I was at Church Fenton (south of York) last Wednesday and up until then I’d never given any thought as to what class of station it was. Out of four platforms only one has step free access. Platform 1 for trains to Pontefract, Sheffield, Selby and Hull. All the others have long ramps, but the ramps oddly enough have steps every six foot! How daft it that?
With regard to Broome I strongly suspect Sarah will be the first wheelchair passenger that station has seen in many years!
Maybe I shouldn’t have said “Hello Sarah” out loud when watching video with earphones in
Hello! Don't worry: I've done worse things.
Not only is that ramp far too steep and the question of any need for a gate but it seems the surface is very uneven on the ramp up - did Network Rail ever do anything about it?
my friends who used to live in Broome used Broome Station everyday for school - quite a few years ago I'm talking - but it always seemed a really desolate station...
plus I hear that Arriva Trains Wales will be taken over by another company in September/October, can't remember the name though
Oh no! New video needed. It's now Hopton Heath, next station south from Broome. Massive reduction (38%) in 2019/20
The way Geoff pronounces Cynghordy at the beginning of this video is distressing :P
But on a serious note, the accessibility to that platform needs to improve. On the Arriva Trains Wales Network Map, it does say that Broome has "Partial access for wheelchair users" but from this video, it's quite evident that accessing the platform with a wheelchair isn't entirely easy
Interesting. Arriva were a little more honest, at least. Yes, it's a "wheelchair user, plus companion", job.
That measurement was no short of being "revolutionary"! lol
Glad you thought so! 😀
That's stretching the definition of accessibility. That said, GWR's Nailsea and Backwell station in Somerset is a major commuter station for Bristol. Whilst there's a huge car park, there's a steep ramp up to the north bound line which is more inclined than Broome's. But even if you can get up the ramp, if you're thinking of getting off coming back, forget it ! There's no crossing over the lines, bar a footbridge (steps only not a ramp) and if you go down to road level on the side you alight, it's also a set of VERY steep and narrow steps only - which are probably also a difficult for anyone with walking difficulties. Though the surrounding topography is a challenge in terms of engineering a ramp, it's not impossible, and is isolating for anyone local who has to use a wheelchair, especially for a mainline and heavily used station.
I think the railways should hire Sarah.
I think it’s really good that she was happy to help you out, but you should maybe contact network rail and explain the accessibility issues at this station, looping in northern. You can contact them both directly from Twitter, send them both a DM explaining the issues, along with some contact details. I’m sure they’d be able to investigate and make improvements based on the feedback they receive.
I cycled the Bristol-Bath Railway Path today. Maybe an interesting video in it!
I'm guessing that the original intent of the Wikipedia article was talking about the Harrington Hump since it mentioned boarding and alighting.
It's really not the best worded piece, but if the author was listing things *on the platform*, that massive steep ramp and gate wouldn't count. From a certain point of view. I'm going to go against my normal form and think that there was no malicious or stupid intent.
Hopefully accessibility within transport will improve, but with the challenges of different stock on the same platform and the different sizes, the gap issue will be hard to solve. New builds for single stock like Crossabeth can be easily designed to have the platform-train interface step-free. With rural low-volume stations the barrier is how much money Network Rail or the responsible TOC wants to throw at the problem.
Broome could be improved by altering the gate to one that is easier to open, or removing the gate/locking it open. The latter option is a minimal cost and removes a quite literal barrier to entry.
Also, as said by Peter, Deepdene sucks.
I've looked into the ramp gradient. Arriva Trains Wales list it as steeper than 1:20, definitely not the specified 1:12
Thanks for this: In typical me fashion (hazy understand of figures), I got my numbers the wrong way round. 🙁 My thought process being this: It doesn't look like either of those. I might "just" have got away with it, if it had been a shorter run, but certainly not every day/time of day. Now I want to go back and measure.
What a loud train! (on the inside)
Hi Sarah
I'm legally blind and I think I would have found that gate to be a challenge as well, the first time anyway (the tiny timetable text can be overcome by using the camera on your phone)
Hi Geoff when are you doing falls of chruachan the least used station in argyll and Bute which you went to on all the stations on the oban line
When you have done this series of least used stations, can you do the busiest stations in each county? Please
0:58 the kid on the left made me die 😂😂
When are you doing Upton? That's our nearest station!
There's good light in Broome.
Are all new stations built and renovated made wheelchair accessible? Would the inability to provide accessibility prevent the reopening or opening of new stations on less used services?
That's interesting. I would say that all new stations would have to be accessible, in accordance with legislation. For some places, the cost implication could possibly be considered too high, although it really shouldn't be that way, and being creative, could solve a lot of issues.
How did you get your camera on the top corner of the shelter/waiting room? (7:55)
I'm an active wheelchair user, is shocking the gradient on incline. The gate (Why??). The surface of slope very poor. Think any independent wheelchair user would struggle. Is obvious that Network Rail have no vision when it comes to inclusion. Sarah is an independent & active wheelchair user who struggled - Network Rail need to up their game!
i won't be the first last, or only person saying this and of course you can't drag Sarah everywhere but accessibility could well be a new consideration when featuring stations. I noticed also that there seemed be cracks and potential hazards on the platform itself.
The platform really did look like it could benefit from re-surfacing. One of the "bad" areas being where the phone box and help point had been removed. There have been many occasions lately, where I've wished that I had a 'ride along' person, to film some of the things that I've come across!
Sarah Ward someone could attach a dash cam to the chair. I am sure you would not look daft wearing it on your head if necessary 😀
This has been considered. 🙂 I have a (small) Gorilla Pod, which holds my phone/a camera, but really a Go-Pro would be more the thing. I could always borrow a cycle helmet cam...
Accessibility is also a problem as you get older too many stairs or steep ramps can be a nightmare for the elderly
Come to do the least used station in merseyside which is Upton station on the arriva trains wales borderlands line from wrexham to Bidston nice little station :)
It looks like the public telephone's remains are right behind you at 7:51
Yes, I thought so, based on the Wikipedia photo.
Wow that gate alone makes it impossible to access the platform or the street for a disabled person.
1. That grade will just result in someone landing on their face trying to go down it.
2. That gate will be impossible to open towards the person in a wheelchair if they're going downhill towards it (not withstanding the difficulties shown opening it going uphill)
3. The surface... Oh my goodness.
NR/ATW sort it out!!!
It's terrible, isn't it? I thought I'd seen some things, but....
I've been rattling my brains as to why there needs to be a gate there at all - to keep the sheep/cattle out? Anyway, it needs resiting, or there needs to be a level section of the (currently too steep) incline so that the latch can be operated.
re Hpt unusual to see paving slabs like that on a platform
It does say on the National Rail Enquires website that the incline in greater than 1 in 20 and has a a gate with a top latch, goes on to say which stations nearby are fully accessible. Wether every station should have the investment to make then truly wheelchair accessible is a moot point, especially one that is so little used. Sarah is fortunate in that she can drive to an accessible station, perhaps if anyone else has to use this station then it might be more cost effective to be taken by taxi to nearest fully accessible station. This is just an observation so please be kind if you reply.
Just had a look at this. Don't worry: absolutely fine to comment. I definitely don't have all the answers (merely a humble traveller). Yes, for me personally, I can use another station (when I'm well enough to drive), which isn't all the time, and yes: if it was affordable, a taxi could be an option. (There don't seem to be any buses) Someone else has commented that the expense of adapting certain stations may lead to closures. I've seen all sorts of things, good and bad, in the last few weeks, and I've come across some interesting solutions. It would be fantastic to have access at all stations, such wide ranging benefits: A case of "if you build it, they will use it". Always interested in ongoing debate. Thanks for commenting.
I see someone has now edited the Wikipedia article and referenced this video as a source :-)
Maybe a new series? "All the Stations - Disabled Access all Areas?"
It's tempting.
Or a much shorter series "All the Accessible Stations"
That was what I had in mind. I've also considered "Accessible Tube Challenge"
You should do least used Gloucestershire
I often wonder when somewhere is claimed to be accessible have they actually had people with accessibility issues test it
So true: There are plenty of people who'd willingly be involved.
I feel like it might be more accessible going the other way.
Not to be confused with High Brooms - which is busier. And probably more accessible ...
Tun Wells?
Yes around there, but a separate station
Ah, thanks!
Every station needs to have wheelchair access whether 1 person uses the station or 1000...!!!
As soon as I saw that "ramp" was gravel, I was like, "no way on this earth that is accessible". That grade might have been almost acceptable if it was a hard surface but not as gravel. But even as a hard surface with something to help with traction, it still seems far too steep.
And that gate latch. Ludicrous.
You're so right. I remember reading on a website, before visiting, that there was a "hard surface". There are awful potholes at the bottom too.
i know this is a channel about trains but i ship you two
Have the issues been addressed since this video was posted?
I have edited the wickepedia page
Thanks.
Update on the station? have they made necessary changes?
Do the least used station in Telford and Wrekin. There's only 3 stations in Telford, the least used being oakengates
Telford is in Shropshire. This video is about the least-used station in that county, which isn't any of the ones in Telford ....
I can't see how Broome can be classed as accessible, unless there is some sort of grade, as in 'as long as the wheelchair is motorised or can be achieved using herculean strength'.
One of those instances where they perhaps need to look at their definitions, and very definitely need to re-visit the site.