Sheffield Station is the busiest station in South Yorkshire, serving the city centre of Sheffield,…read moreit is also part of the Supertram network, where you can continue your journey around Sheffield/Rotherham, and the station is located adjacent to Sheffield Hallam University. The station is managed by East Midlands Railway, who provide most of the major services going in and out of the station, including services to Manchester and London. The station is also served by Transpennine Express on the Manchester Airport - Cleethorpes line (via Doncaster), and also has CrossCountry services (Edinburgh, Reading, Newcastle, York) and many Northern services (local services around Yorkshire and Greater Manchester) Due to the construction of the station, meaning you have to pass through the station to use the footbridge for access to bus and Supertram services, there are no ticket gates here. The main concourse of the station is pretty noticeable and modern, including a couple of shops / small-take away kiosks, there isn't particularly places to sit down and get something to eat/drink in the station which is annoying, but there is a Superdrug and Marks and Spencer Simply Food. There are places nearby in the city centre for food, however. I hate the lift at this station which takes you up to the footbridge, it must be the world's slowest lift, the doors take forever to close up to the point they're forced to have a sign in the lift, it says they're "working on it", but it's been like that for over two years... I guess it will stay like that. I think the station is A-OK, but still miles apart from other stations in Yorkshire including York and Leeds. 3*

Clean and modernized rail station in the Midlands, Sheffield offers transport to London,…read moreManchester, Leeds and Liverpool plus CrossCountry services to Scotland. There is also a tram stop nearby for Sheffield services. It's really quite a nice station with easy access to the tracks on stairs and step-free. There are labels on the steps so that traffic is kept to the left side. Many ticket windows for purchasing tickets if, like me, the automated ticket machine doesn't like your "swipe" credit card. Departure board is easy to read and the signage clearly points out which way to which platforms. There is a beautiful sculpture / fountain out front.

There isn't really much to say about Chesterfield Railway Station.... there are two platforms, so…read moreno problem getting lost. There is no bus stop at the station, but probably for the best as it is a very busy junction... can even prove a bit tricky for pedestrians. The station does have a car park, both long stay and short stay, although because it is quite the spot for commuters, there are a number of other (and cheaper) car parking options just down the road off the roundabout. Plenty of places to store bikes, there is a cash point just to the left of the entrance toward the newsagent. There is also a little café as well if you want to grab a drink to go. Inside the station itself, just outside the café and newsagent are some tables and chairs if you are waiting for someone or arrived a bit early. To the right of the entrance are two self-service ticket kiosks and a car parking pay point. No ticket barriers at the station, making it easy to access the toilets on Platform 1. Again, not a whole lot here, but I think it keeps the station hassle-free.

Fairly easy to navigate. Plenty of staff around to ask questions or for help. Busy stop to…read moreairport is directly outside and come fairly regularly

I used Derby Railway Station as a connection on a journey from Manchester Piccadilly to Leicester,…read moreit is a fairly small station with only seven platforms, but with Derby only being a very small city with a population of around 250,000, this is pretty understandable. The station is operated by East Midlands Trains, which did cause some confusion in the past with Yelp merging the two listings by mistake, for anyone reading this confused, British railway stations which aren't the busiest, major stations such as Manchester Piccadilly and most in London, are often operated by local railway operators who mainly use the station, in this case East Midlands trains operate this station, so the staff you'll see around often have jackets with that provider on, in a similar way Brighton Station is operated by Southern Railway. Other providers serving the station include Northern and Cross Country. Being on the Midland Main Line, East Midlands Trains offer serves to East Midlands Parkway (for the airport), Leicester, Chesterfield etc and Cross Country offer services on their Reading-Newcastle and Cardiff-Nottingham routes, which, as well as the named cities, also call at Birmingham and Sheffield. Sadly, there are no direct routes to Manchester with the best routes being an East Midlands service to Stoke On-Trent or Sheffield or a Cross Country service into Birmingham New Street and then onto there, the services into London are also pretty infrequent and although you can get an East Midlands service into St Pancras, arriving in just over 90 minutes it is again better to go into Birmingham. It is located rather close to Pride Park Football Stadium, home to Championship side Derby County, who potentially could be in the Premier League with a playoff win over Aston Villa at the end of the month, making it quite an easy ground to get too, so good luck to them on their promotion quest. The station seemed quite clean, and the staff in the station seemed nice, the bridge was quite modern considering at most other stations including nearby Sheffield they tend to be a little grubby and ugly. There isn't a lot of businesses inside the station, there is a Costa and WHSmith which are pretty much regulars to train stations in the UK, especially the latter. A clean train station, mainly offering local services, just over half an hour from Birmingham and Sheffield where you can get loads more trains to carry on your journey. 3*

Not a bad little station just down from Stockport, be aware though that there is only one train…read moreevery 30 mins to Manchester where as trains from Stockport (20 mins walk away) go every 4-5 mins. Not many facilities but a fairly friendly few staff who work here, these are localised trains stopping at all the small and major stations along the way. Davenport high street is 5 mins walk away if you need to hit any shops and there's a fairly decent range while nothing massively spectacular on the foodie side. I guess Funky Monkey is probably best option to get a coffee on the high street if you need a buzz in a hurry!

Changed trains here in transit for about 1 hour. Station is covered and pretty functional…read more Station has plenty of places to eat. Facilty has large lifts so can carry large number of people plus luggage.  Platform 5 has a wh smith, pumpkin cafe, and cafe shack.  Platform 6 has an upper crust, wh smith  and crewe hero pub.  Bathrooms are small.

Crewe Railway Station is quite a nice station, especially for a small town in Cheshire East, I…read moretravelled via this station on an Arriva Trains service from Manchester Piccadilly to Cardiff Central and was quite pleased and surprised with the facilities on offer, which even comes close to beating what is on offer at slightly larger cities such as Stoke on Trent where you would expect more. It is operated by Virgin Trains with many routes passing through across multiple companies including ATW, who I travelled with today. This station is also used by many other companies including CrossCountry and sees at least 23 trains an hour pass through, being on a central position on the West Coast mainline sees Virgin Trains have routes to the likes of Birmingham, London, Glasgow, Manchester and Edinburgh from here. Trains to Derby, Bristol, Cardiff, Stockport, Liverpool, Chester, Aberdeen and Blackpool (from 2018) also call here. There are 12 platforms here, which is needed for the vast amount of trains that pass through, with newsagents such as Whsmith on both sides, for example Virgin Trains use Platform 11 for Northbound journey's to the likes of Glasgow, North Wales and Liverpool and they then use Platform 5 for Southbound journey's, which is shared by London Midland's service to Birmingham and the Arriva service towards Glasgow. This really is quite a nice, cool station and a central hub for railway travel, which certainly gives Crewe the name as a railway town, it is an old station from the mid 1800's but still is relatively modern and quite a nice station, which deserves 3 stars. Perhaps more facilities at the station to make it more of a nicer place for long distance travel which this station seems to be all about.

I like Stockport Station, it's a great, large station for a small town, it's on a good number of…read moreroutes and has easy access into the town centre as well as buses to continue onto your journey, once arriving into the station. Avanti West Coast manages the station; it's served by a good number of operators including: Transport For Wales, CrossCountry, Transpennine Express, Northern and East Midlands Railway. Most services go into Manchester Piccadilly which is only 7-14 minutes away, depending on which service you take but then you can go to a lot of destinations including London, Norwich, Sheffield and Liverpool. If you're heading into Manchester, you'll want the Northbound platforms (3 and 4) There is a Starbucks inside the station which is temporarily closed at the time of writing (January 2021), as well as a WHSmith, both on Platform 2 (London / Southbound platform) The staff inside the station are friendly and there's a good amount of ticket machines. The station is slightly open so it can get pretty cold if you're waiting for a train, compared to Manchester Piccadilly. There is lift-access to all platforms from the subway level. 4*

As explained by others, Stockport is a major transport hub in Greater Manchester as some Victorian…read morebylaw passed at the time the viaduct was built means trains passing over it have to stop here. Given that it is a bit surprising there aren't any substantial shops - it's mostly small outlets for food and drink to take away. These options are mostly terrible...Starbucks etc. However I'm not sure when this started but in recent months I have noticed food stalls in the underpass beneath the platforms. I've had several good quiches from Cheese is Grate who also sell local cheese, cakes and soup I think on a Tuesday and Wednesday. Most excitingly, my Kirkham (Preston) based favourite Pudding & Pie is now here every other Thursday and Friday. Their pies are consistently excellent and the sweet potato and chilli tart I tried today is my new favourite! Way to go Stockport supporting local businesses making good quality non mass produced food and provided better options for hungry travellers!

Heaton Chapel is a small railway station serving Heaton Chapel and Heaton Moor, an area of…read moreStockport, it has an irregular train service, all of which are provided by Northern Rail who operate the station, to get anywhere long distance you would have to travel into Stockport or Manchester Piccadilly. The station does look nice and is kept nice by volunteers, with a large sign honouring the local area. The ticket office hours are limited, this means at certain hours it takes longer and is more difficult to get into the station, especially on a weekday afternoon. 3* - Basic station, made less annoying to stop through by the volunteers who keep the station nice. Limited facilities and basic shelter make it a basic station overall, but it also has step-free access which is handy and sometimes rare on these types of stations.

Heaton Chapel Railway Station is a little two platform station serving the Four Heaton's area on…read moreHeaton Moor Road. The first thing to note is that the station itself is below street level, so access is primarily via stairs. The two staircases to the platforms both come out on to Heaton Moor Road, however the stairs to the Manchester platform are only usable when the ticket office is open. That's not to say that the station is inaccessible for those who are unable to take the stairs. There are ramps down to Platform 1 and 2 which come out on Egerton Road North and Tatton Road South respectively. The platforms themselves are fairly standard, though thanks to the Friends of Heaton Chapel Station there's some nice planters and some artwork on both now to brighten the station a bit. (More so in summer when the plants are out!) For getting into Manchester, your journey from Heaton Chapel should take no more than 10-15 minutes and given that an off-peak day return is only £2.60* it's cheaper and quicker than either the bus or tram. The only downside to Heaton Chapel station is that the ticket office doesn't have the longest hours: they're only open until 13:00 during the week, but on a Saturday they're open until 14:00 or 16:00 on a Sunday. Seems weird to me. If you need a ticket and the office is closed, there's a ticket machine on Platform 2 (towards Manchester) but no such machine on Platform 1. Northern Rail, who operate the station, have recently started deploying their "Customer Support & Revenue Team" staff to the station though. All in all, it's a nice little station to wait at for your brief - and cheap - journey into Manchester. (* Prices correct at time of writing, January 2016.)

Hale railway station is a small railway station, located in the centre of Hale, around a mile from…read moreAltrincham town centre. Hale Station is operated by Northern, who are the only railway operator to serve this station. The facilities are obviously limited compared to Altrincham Interchange, which has Metrolink, Bus and Rail services. There are no toilets/shops or waiting rooms, so you will want to plan ahead if you are planning to travel. The ticket office is only open from just after 7 am until just before 2 pm, so you might want to plan ahead and purchase tickets before you travel. You can always use the ticket machine when the ticket office is closed. Services run hourly in both directions towards Manchester Piccadilly and Chester, it takes just over half an hour into Manchester, but you can be in Altrincham in around three minutes or so. The old buildings of the station are quite pleasant to look at, with a bridge connecting the two platforms, and a small bed of flowers, the station does seem to be maintained reasonably well. 3* - Basic station, but does the job of connecting around the local area, you will likely need to head into Manchester, Altrincham or Chester to continue on with your journey, depending on where you are heading.