Pinhao Railway Station

[nivrip]

When did you last see a station as clean and graffiti-free as this? It's in Portugal, along the Douro valley. And what about the wonderful old petrol driven maintenance vehicle designed to run along the railway? I was there two weeks ago.

 

[Taffycat]

That is an amazing sight these days Niv - even the well-kept little garden is a picture. I wonder why we are such a society of "litter-bugs" here...?

 

[Ian]

Very nice indeed It makes such a difference when something is as well kept and picturesque as that

Great photos nivrip

 

[AbsoluteKevster]

That is an amazing sight these days Niv - even the well-kept little garden is a picture. I wonder why we are such a society of "litter-bugs" here...?

Because there's no one to clip people around the ear...
Too concerned with human rights..

No community respect and no role models to aspire to...

Sorry state of affairs..

It's a take it or someone else will society now, which includes taking something that isn't yours even using violence to achieve it.

Of course there's a lot of people not like this, but I fear, the group who do belong in that group; are growing in numbers!

 

[Madxgraphics]

Awesome...reminds me of some of the stations in S.A

 

[murdoch]

On the London Undergroud their are a few stations at the end of the different line's in north London that have a good floral display. In the West Country they did this a few years ago to brighten up the stations, sadly holiday makers/townies used them to throw at people instead!

 

[floppybootstomp]

Nice pix niv

It occured to me that if you were to look, I reckon you could find rural stations in the UK like that.

And I also would hazard to guess that the train station in Lisbon may not be such a pretty sight.

The problem seems, to a degree, to be an urban one.

This suggests to me that maybe, just maybe, rural kids don't have to leave their tags everywhere as they possess a self confidence that their urban counterparts don't have.

Whereas the city kid is usually an insecure halfwit who has to prove himself by spraying everything in site with a load of gobbledegook, his country peer has more mettle.

But of course I could be completely wrong.

Heard an interesting story the other day, a kid was aprehended spraying graffitti so instead of arresting him the police, with the aproval of his parents, spray painted his ps3, computer and TV and mobile phone. They then asked him 'How do you like it?'

He never sprayed graffitti again.

That story may or may not be true but it's a good idea innit?

 

[nivrip]

And I also would hazard to guess that the train station in Lisbon may not be such a pretty sight.

Can't say about Lisbon but Portugal's second city, Porto (or, as we in the UK call it, Oporto) does have a very clean and tidy station too - no gardens but graffitiless tiled walls . The city has a population of about 500,000 so it's a decent size. See thumbnails ( the tiles are in the middle of restoration at the moment, hence the two different colours).

It occured to me that if you were to look, I reckon you could find rural stations in the UK like that.

You're quite right Flops, there are some nice stations about in the rural areas. There are several on the line to Whitby which are very tidy - but none of them have the beautiful tilework on them and I'm sure that if they did they would be vandalised eventually.

 

[floppybootstomp]

You're quite right Flops, there are some nice stations about in the rural areas. There are several on the line to Whitby which are very tidy - but none of them have the beautiful tilework on them and I'm sure that if they did they would be vandalised eventually.

You're sure are you?

Ever thought you may be wrong and that in ten years time those stations - or the majority of them - would be graffitti free if they had tiles? They do happen you know, good things.

I always try and see the good side of things, I try to stay opitmistic and also harbour the perhaps rather foolish view that if enough folks thought positive, then positive stuff would occur.

Of course, I always get let down but hey, I refuse to be a grumpy git who only sees bad and is pessimistic.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, the majority of kids are ok, only takes a few bad 'uns to tar the lot of them with the same brush.

Yes, there are bad peeps about, and yes, I actually do blame most of it on the parents, but not always, and I'd hazard a guess those people don't get any better as they get older, they just lose their 'courage' to disfigure nice places, mostly cos they realise the consequences, they could get nicked.

Of course, the good maintenance and appearance of any rail station is largely dependent on it's staff. Graffitti artists do tend to go for run down sites, if they see a place is looking good and well looked after, in my experience they do tend to leave it alone.

If the staff adopt a 'couldn't care less' attitude and let their patch slide downhill, vandals will likely move in.

You see, there's two sides to every story.

I hate graffitti with a passion, by the way, and think that all vandals who practice it should be stripped to their underwear in public, tied up and sprayed head to foot with hard-to-remove paint. That may dissuade them from more spraying.

Of course, if I done that I'd probably be charged with assault and slung in Wandsworth but hey, I can dream

But I'm still positive, I refuse to join an army of moaners

 

[nivrip]

You're sure are you?

Sadly, yes.

The well kept stations here are certainly a credit to the staff and occasional local volunteers. In general, with dedicated staff, they can be kept up to scratch relatively easily. They tend to have flower beds, small lawns and wood or brick painted buildings. When they do get vandalised (and they do) flowers and grass regrow, lawn edges can be refurnished and, usually, graffiti can be painted over fairly easily. However, when it comes to a unique tile system you cannot simply overpaint without ruining the tile effect and if one of them gets chipped then you are in big trouble.

Some of the vandals do target what they think of as smart things e.g. very expensive cars are often vandalised whereas the "ordinary" cars round about are often left alone.

My post certainly did NOT state that all kids are little b****** and did NOT state that there are no good things out there. Like you I think that the vast majority of kids are sensible, reasonably responsible and work pretty hard to achieve their goals. I also feel that there is a lot more good out there than bad - we would be in a sorry state if it were the other way round.

As to spraying suspended graffiti artists with paint, count me in. I'll be there alongside you helping out.

A git I may well be but a grumpy, pessimistic, moaning git I am not. Maybe a realistic git.

 

[floppybootstomp]

We'll have to agree to disagree on being sure.

As for the 'grumpy git' references I'd just like to clarify that my comments weren't aimed specifically at you nivrip, but at a large section of the UK population at large.

Although looking at my post it may have seemed that way.

 

[Abarbarian]

It should not be down to dedicated staff and volounteers putting their hands in their pockets and paying for the flowers etc and doing the work in their own time to keep stations looking good. It should be the responsibility of the owners and top management to initiate a company policy of making and keeping the stations looking good. However all these people are interested in is MONEY and PROFIT and RETURNS for their SHAREHOLDERS.