Not to be confused with Cheech-Chesthair, which is Cheech from Cheech and Chong, and a commentary…read moreon how fucking hairy he is. Chichester has a large station, situated 28 miles from Brighton, and as you would imagine it is right on the way to Southampton. It's dark because it's pretty much closed in and unusual, and only has two platforms but feels larger than it is, despite having a big road coming right across it at one end, which is a level crossing. It has a greenish blue bridge over it which looks pretty like me and Barbi, and is a cute little enclosed station for this lovely little town.

Horrid staff. Horrid and unhelpful. Running late for a train with my four children and the man by…read morethe ticket barrier was rude unhelpful. Kindness and a smile cost nothing why is it so hard to come by these days?

If you Havant been to Havant then maybe it's time to come. So to speak…read more This is a little and wide station with a track running right through the middle so trains don't have to stop if they don't want to, and it has overhanging stuff on both sides of the platform, and it mainly serves as a changing point if you want to get to Portsmouth or Southampton and aren't on a train to one of those places. So it's a cute little station and it does a good job, but it feels pretty secluded and separated because of how wide the tracks are between the two tiny platforms.

I hope my review of Angmering isn't Angering you…read more This is not too far from Brighton, about 15 miles away in the countryside, and it's right next to a secondary school so Aletta (not Aletta but I'm in love with Aletta so)... a lot of... students use it to get to their little country houses and whatnot. How nice it must be to be middle class or rich in the suburbs of Sussex. Looking at you, Keane. It's a cute little station in the middle of nowhere with a nice dark brown house with a couple of chimneys on top of it. There's a level crossing right at the station which adds to the beauty for a nice element.

Angmering is a small station situated on the outskirts of Littlehampton, serving the suburb of East…read morePreston and the pretty village of Angmering to the north. It is on the 'West Coastway' line between Brighton and Chichester. The station was opened on 16 March 1846 when the London, Brighton & South Coast railway line was extended from Worthing to Ford Junction, before its extension onwards to Chichester. The present building was built in the 1860s. The station has a traditional but rather plain brick-built building with a generous awning on the eastbound platform (to Brighton/London). Facilities include a staffed ticket office, ticket machine, and a privately-run food outlet selling sandwiches, snacks, confectionery and hot and cold drinks. (NB No toilets). There's a decent sized car-park with two disabled parking bays, and cycle racks behind the building and also on the westbound platform. There's a privately run taxi-office just behind the main station building as well. There is level access to both platforms, via the road level crossing at the west end of the station. Off-peak, it's served by the half-hourly London-Littlehampton service, as well as the hourly Brighton-Portsmouth and Brighton-Southampton services. In the evenings there are also some local Littlehampton to Brighton all-stations services.

Most folks walk on by and don't notice this train station, yet this is a delightful and historical…read moreEdwardian building with a hellava backstory. The station dates from 1864 and in its 158 years it has been blown down by a hurricane and burnt down because a coat had been left to warm on one of the stoves in the waiting room in October, 1899. By 1865 the Pier had been built, there were houses in West Street. A number of religious groups were opening churches at the time and new streets were being developed. Pubs were opening, and Bognor's population was about 3,000. The area in which the station was built was at the end of Dorset Gardens. It was at that time outside the town. However, it was not long before the town grew out to its new station. The Bank Holiday Act in 1871, which fixed holidays for Christmas, helped to increase rail traffic in the season. Excursion trips to the seaside became a part of the lives of millions of people. National newspapers were advertising cheap day trips to Bognor and the Daily News of May 28, 1900, announced all its arrangements for trains over the Whitsuntide holidays, including late trains for those working in London on Saturdays. In 1910 the return fare from London to Bognor was three shillings (15p) and because of this, high numbers continued to come into the town. In 1913 it was reported that on Wednesday, July 9, there were 4,350 day visitors in the town. The world's first travel agent Thomas Cook reported that in 1918 there had been more than 35,000 visitors to the town 'hard to believe, especially when the population was only 8,500.' So it's population had trebled in 53 years and 93 years later, by 2011, it was just over 24,000. The four platform station (and the town) was re named Bognor Regis in 1930 as it was the place of the King's (George V) recuperation from serious illness. Regis 'of the King'. The king who was 70 when he died had suffered for years from chronic bronchitis (heavy smoking didn't help) and in 1928 suffered septicaemia from which he never recovered. Bognor is one of the oldest recorded Anglo - Saxon place names in Sussex. In a document of AD 680, it is referred to as Bucgan ora meaning Bucge's (an Anglo-Saxon name) shore, or landing place. It has survived two world wars, the swinging 60's, the strike-bound 70's, all the polarisation of the Thatcher years, the rise and fall of New Labour. On its 154th birthday (2018) it got a £2.5 million refurbishment and improvements including a new business creative digital hub with an ultra-fast internet connection for leasing to start-up businesses and freelancers but when I was there in July 2022 it was dodo dead. A hive of inactivity. Maybe a victim of wu flu. Not just any old train station then?

Great place to travel from..staff helpful and there's a kiosk to hand while you wait to start your…read morejourney. There are toilets and a bus stop on both sides of the station.

Not to be confused with Mitt Romsey, who is not related to Mitt Romney. And even if he was, I…read morewouldn't give a mitt. So this is a little old station in Romsey, which is on the line from Waterloo into Southampton, and it's a listed beautiful old building with a very unique and very attractive design. It feels like a tiny little town station, but with a truly grand building and style, and is definitely one of the nicer stations you'll find in this part of the country.

The historic town of Romsey has a well-preserved and well maintained traditional railway station on…read morethe line from Salisbury to Southampton. It is used by over 330,000 passengers a year. The station opened in 1847 on the line from Southampton to Salisbury (via Eastleigh). In 1865 the route from Andover to Southampton via Romsey and Redbridge opened, making Romsey a junction; also known as the Sprat and Winkle Line, it closed between Andover and Romsey in 1965, but the southern section from Romsey to Redbridge (on the Southampton-Bournemouth line) remained to form the main Salisbury to Southampton line. The Eastleigh to Romsey line closed to passengers in 1967 but reopened in 2003, making Romsey a junction station once more. It is served by the Cardiff/Bristol to Portsmouth service (roughly hourly, half-hourly at peak times) and the Salisbury-Romsey-Southampton-Chandler's Ford-Romsey service, which provides an hourly service in all directions (and thus provides two trains and hour to Southampton, one direct, and one via Chandler's Ford, Eastleigh and Southampton Airport). Facilities include a ticket office (open part time), ticket machines, toilets, waiting rooms, covered bicycle storage, a small cafe (open part-time) and a small car park.

A lol of platforms and a nice cafe with decent food. There is also a waiting room and local shops…read morenearby

It's a surprise to find a station serving as a small village as Balcombe, especially on a main…read moreline. However, the lack of good roads to and from the village, and its proximity to London, ensures a healthy flow of commuter traffic, with Balcombe acting as a rail-head for several villages around - it is used by just over 100,000 passengers a year. It's an attractive small station, the east side nestling in a cutting, and surrounded on all sides by mature trees and shrubs, and is very popular at week-ends with walkers exploring the surrounding woodlands. The station opened on 12 July 1841 as an intermediate station on the then London and Brighton Railway, later amalgamated into the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. The 1841 census shows that there were 550 railway labourers living in the village at the time - which must have been challenging for the locals! The station has been rationalised over the years, but retains a small building on the down (Brighton) platform, complete with Victorian canopy, ticket office and toilet. The office is only open at peak times (the toilet is also closed when the office is shut). If this is the case, you need to buy a 'permit to travel' from the machine and buy a ticket on board. The up platform (for London) has a small waiting shelter with step-free access from the car park, and there are car parking spaces and a cycle rack on this side of the station. A footbridge provides access between the platforms, and also provides the exit to London Road at the top of the cutting. Note that there is no step-free access to the Brighton platform. An oddity is the extension of the Brighton platform under the small tunnel at the south of the station: this is only used to board and alight from trains, and a sign warns not to enter the tunnel when a through (ie non-stopping) train is approaching which they do, at some speed. The service is fairly sparse: off-peak, Monday to Saturday there is one train an hour in each direction, on the First Capital Connect service from Bedford to Brighton via London Bridge. On Sundays, an hourly service is provided by Southern on the Brighton to London Victoria line. Additional services stop during rush hours in both directions. To the north of the station is Balcombe tunnel, 800 yards long, and to the south the famous Ouse viaduct, the first long railway viaduct in southern Britain. At 1,475 ft (450m) long, faced with Caen stone and with four Italianate pavilions at each end, it is regarded as one of the most attractive in the UK.

Polegate station serves the town of the same name on the northern edge of the Eastbourne…read moreconurbation, and is served by trains on the West Coastway line. It handles around 0.9m passengers a year. The first station on the site opened in 1846 on the Lewes to St Leonards railway line. It became the junction for Eastbourne and for the line northwards to Hailsham in 1849, with the Hailsham line being extended northwards to Eridge on the Uckfield-Groombridge Junction line in 1880. In 1881, to avoid Eastbourne-Hailsham trains having to reverse, a new station was opened further east. The Hailsham line closed in 1968, and the short direct line to Hastings has also closed, necessitating the reversal of all eastbound trains at Eastbourne. In 1986, the 1881 station was closed (it is now a restaurant) and a replacement opened on the site of the original 1846 station, on Polegate High street, and this is the station in use today. It has two platforms, with the main buildings on the north, Eastbourne-bound line. Facilities include a car park, ticket office, waiting rooms or shelters, ticket machines, and cycle storage, but no toilets. There is step-free access both to the ticket office and via short steep ramps to each platform. Between the platforms, there is a footbridge: level access is via the High Street level crossing (allow 5 minutes). Services are provided by Southern; there are two trains an hour to each of Brighton and London Victoria, both via Lewes; and four eastbound to Eastbourne, two of which continue to Hastings and Ore, and one to Ashford.

Just your average train station. Nice long and wide platforms with two waiting rooms (which are…read moreheated!) Good barrier system, although I was sad when the old signal box was removed. Great direct links to London, Brighton, Eastbourne and many more. Staff are nice, there are three (I think) ticket buying machines and two kiosks inside the station. Information packs readily available, you can buy Railcards from here too. I like the welcoming feeling of this station, which also has a night gate for late exits when the barriers are off. I'd recommend this to families, commuters and just about anyone due to the wide platforms and nice service.

Not to be confused with Sports Mouth, which is a condition where every time you're asked something…read moreor talked to in general, you make sports metaphors which the vast majority of people find repulsive. Portsmouth is a pretty old and beautiful station, with the most gorgeous large red building, and a pedestrian plaza that is probably one of the prettiest stations in England, certainly that isn't in one of the major cities. It's the final terminus of a line that leads down to the water, and here they have a whole bunch of tracks and a lot of people using it too, and it's hard not to love such a gorgeous old station. The lovely city of Portsmouth in recent years and also the seaside Town Southsea which is a lot of memories from my past, are right here, and it's amazing. It has been the station for Portsmouth since 1847 and was originally just Portsmouth and then later Portsmouth Town, before in 1925 becoming Portsmouth and Southsea. You can get trains from here to Cardiff Bristol Brighton London and so on. And remember, promise to love this station in richer, in porth, in sickness and in health.

This station is on the mainline linking Portsmouth to London, Southampton, Cardiff, Brighton and…read moremany other places. The only station before it is Portsmouth Harbour. This is the station you need to get off at if you want to go shopping in Commercial Road or Cascades, or if you are going to Portsmouth Guildhall, the Civic Offices or the Courts. It is also the station for a lot of the University buildings. The station has upper and lower platforms and a lift is available for those who need it. The station has several windows in the ticket office and has ticket machines too. There are places to get food and drink, although they can be a bit expensive and you may be better off getting something from one of the shops in the nearby shopping centre.