How can you be here so quickly from Waterloo? Like 18 minutes. I've not got so far out of London so…read morequickly ever before, that I can remember. Lucky locals (although....the train felt like a packed sauna during the post work rush hour). There's lots of stuff around the train station too.

Surbiton railway station is an original art deco Southern Railway masterpiece now somewhat more…read morehumbly served by South West Trains. A great fast, often non-stop service to London offers a quick getaway and you can also get to the countryside easily by going the other way. In Zone 6 so Travelcard prices apply. Almost always staffed, it's the centrepiece of Surbiton and is busy all day long. Plenty of shops just outside and a McDonalds to the left if you can face it. Buses leave from across the road to Kingston upon Thames and a busy taxi rank is right in front of the station.

Very small and easy station to use. Get to Waterloo in just over 20 minutes. Trains not often…read moredelayed. Lots of shops and restaurants nearby. Also worth noting there is an exit with no barriers (turn left when descending stairs after exiting train)

Decent station hugely improved by recent works which have made the platforms accessible and…read moreimproved the facilities, getting onto the trains is another matter unfortunately due to the height difference between platform and train carriages.

Not much I can say really. It's a train station! Because of its proximity to a town centre, it's…read morelarger than usual and has a few more shops, such as the Costa coffee shop on the ground floor. It's generally pretty clean here, compared to some of the less-frequented train stations, but, at the end of the day, it's just that - a train station.

Awful ... paint is peeling on the platform seats so much that you cannot sit down for fear of…read moredamaging clothes. Also, there is no waiting room and so in the winter months it is extremely cold when waiting for the frequently delayed trains. This is a disgrace and South West trains and everyone associated with this station should be ashamed of themselves.

Hampton Station is on the Shepperton branch, serviced by South West Trains. It is a tiny station,…read morewith only two platforms, one ticket window (which is only open part time) and a couple of ticket machines. There are no toilets, though there is a little shack on the London bound side housing Cafe Nemo, selling coffee, cold drinks, baguettes and newpapers. There is no inside waiting room. There is a pay phone. The station is kept clean enough, and has a board on each platform telling you when the next train is, where it's going, whether it's delayed, and summary details of the two subsequent trains. These usually work. Shepperton is a branch line, so for most of the day, there are only two trains an hour in either direction going to and from Waterloo via Kingston. This takes about 45 minutes. However for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening (between 7.09 - 8.09 in the morning and leaving Waterloo between 5.43 - 6.43 in the evening), extra services run via Richmond, which is a shorter journey (though in the morning, you have to change at Twickeham to avoid a seven minute wait there and a full stopping service. At Twickenham, you can pick up a fast train). There is no parking apart from street parking. Despite the fact that Hampton is one of the more popular stations on the line, it is woefully under serviced, both by trains and facilities. To top it all off, South West Trains are proposing cutting the ticket office hours even more, opening only for a couple of hours on weekday mornings. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

My local railway station offers a good service to London Waterloo and in the other direction ends…read moreup at Shepperton. The station needs a bit of a revamp, but you don't go there to party! For those with mobility issues, it's stairs only to either platform I'm afraid.

The first station in Richmond was built in 1846, not on the same site as the present building which…read moreopened its doors in 1937. Richmond station serves as a terminus for zone 4 district line services and also as a stop for many national rail services out of Waterloo and into Surrey. You can get to Hammersmith on the district line in around 15 minutes, or into Waterloo in around 16 mins on the main line fast service, of which there are around 2 per hour. This makes Richmond very commutable. The final piece of the puzzle serving North London is the Silverlink service, which, if you can brave the crack addicts can get you all the way to Hampsted in around 40 mins. It feels like the slowest train in the world right now, although TfL are taking over management so perhaps it will improve. There are 7 platforms, 1+2 for main line services, 3+4 for Silverlink, and 5-7 for district line. I would advise skipping the ticket office and machines in the entrance hall and going to the ones on platform level which are much less busy. There is a front entrance onto Richmond High Street, and a handy back entrance onto Church Road which is much more pleasant, but floods everytime it rains. It was recently voted South West Trains 'Station of the Year 2007' in mysterious circumstances. If you're hungry, I would advise popping into Source next door and getting a take out, which you can scoff on the way into London...

This is a cracking little interchange really. Using this station daily has make me realise that…read moretrains are often late, but mostly i love the fact that the services are all on the boards meaning you have some very strange places lke Upminster in Essex as final desinations. Transport for London have just renamed the sliverlink service 'London Overground' and there is new trains on the way in 2008 or 2009. I personally find it to be slow but quite good for getting to Camden, King's Cross etc without going into Zone 1. There is a new Marks and Spencer where the Door shop used to be by the ticket barriers in the entrance hall. I still think Phil is right about going to Source though instead though!

Like, sure, this station may not be all that flash, but it is still a railway station, and railway…read morestations are always a good thing, especially in London which means that if you live nearby you really don't need a car. It certainly doesn't have the charm of those older stations, but it still works.