Missing platforms / Unused Platforms & other bits

[455driver]

I have only been there once so trying to picture the station. There is no bridge or anything across is there?

I'm guessing there is no plan to ever finish the line to Leatherhead then?

No there isnt a bridge but you can make out where it would go by looking at the outside of the wall from the in use platform, there is a large filled in square, next time I am there I will try and gfet a picture or 2.

It is all green belt now so it could never realistically be finished, there was talk about putting another platform down near the World of Adventure but that went very quiet very quick.
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Another odd one is Westbury, where there are three platforms numbered 1 - 3, but with an additional disused platform edge 'behind' platform 1. Well before my time, but presumably when the track there was lifted the other platforms must have been renumbered?

I thought the track was still in place and used by the many freight trains that run through the station.

 

[Welshman]

On a slightly-different tack, Llandudno Junction has a Platform 5 and Betws y Coed a Platform 2 - both in regular use but neither having any lines alongside.

They are the names given to the bus-stops outside the station, presumably in an attempt by Conwy Council to advertise the rail/bus co-ordination.

 

[GazUk]

As far as i know, Rugby has 2 unused bay platforms facing southwards (The northfacing ones are long gone!), not too sure on the numbering though, although i have an hunch that it could be platform 3, as platforms 1&2 are for northwards journeys and platforms 4,5&6 are for southward journeys, and the south facing bays are where the thunderbird is usually stationed but i am not aware if any services leave these platforms anymore.

 

[Eagle]

Bridlington is a good one. It has three platforms, numbered 4, 5 and 6. It also has two tracked but disused platforms. Want to guess what they're numbered?

7 and 8.

 

[swt_passenger]

As far as i know, Rugby has 2 unused bay platforms facing southwards (The northfacing ones are long gone!), not too sure on the numbering though, although i have an hunch that it could be platform 3, as platforms 1&2 are for northwards journeys and platforms 4,5&6 are for southward journeys, and the south facing bays are where the thunderbird is usually stationed but i am not aware if any services leave these platforms anymore.

There is a single south facing bay at Rugby which is signed P3, it is alongside the London end of P2. Can't see any current use but there have been trains in there in previous timetables since the re-building.
There is then a second line alongside this bay which is used to stable a Thunderbird, but IIRC it is not alongside a platform face, it's effectively half way across the gap between P3 and the back of P4...

 

[causton]

I thought the track was still in place and used by the many freight trains that run through the station.

Not sure they implied there was no track there, but yes, there is (I think there might have been two tracks) but it was fenced off! This is according to my memory of whenever the FGW Waterloo diverts were though :P

 

[455driver]

Not sure they implied there was no track there, but yes, there is (I think there might have been two tracks) but it was fenced off! This is according to my memory of whenever the FGW Waterloo diverts were though :P

This bit-

Another odd one is Westbury, where there are three platforms numbered 1 - 3, but with an additional disused platform edge 'behind' platform 1. Well before my time, but presumably when the track there was lifted the other platforms must have been renumbered?

Sort of implies it!

 

[8J]

Liverpool Lime Street used to have 12 platforms.

 

[CockneySparrow]

Fair enough, I just don't get why it's "published" as a platform though.
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• Platform 4 at Horsham why is there a weird signal halfway along the platform? Weirdest set up I have come across.

its not just a case of taking down the signs and deleting it from NR website, there is more to it than that, it will affect NR signalling system which is either too consuming to remove especially when they have bigger priorities

Also not to mention the beurocratic paperwork that will been to be filled in

 

[Trog]

Watford Jn p5 doesn't exist. I think it used to be a loop from the DF and created an island platform, which vanished presumably in the 1960s under the new building. Anybody able to confirm?

It was just a longer DC line platform, as far as I am aware there was never any connection to the DF at the St Albans Road end of the station. The 1980's station tower block is built on the formation so no chance of reinstating anything longer than platforms 1 to 4.

 

[RichmondCommu]

For years platform 5 at Derby wasn't used due to issues with Sprinters. This all seemed to be a terrible waste given how busy the station is.

 

[mr_jrt]

It was just a longer DC line platform, as far as I am aware there was never any connection to the DF at the St Albans Road end of the station. The 1980's station tower block is built on the formation so no chance of reinstating anything longer than platforms 1 to 4.

The Rickmansworth branch predated the DC line and was connected to the Main Line via two through platforms with a junction to the north; these platforms have since been partly built over and their remaining southern sections form part of the DC line terminus.

Yeah they were.

 

[causton]

Sort of implies it!

Only read the bit in your quote fully!

 

[Surreyman]

Guildford has a platform 7, which physically exists but is never used, as it services a single track always accessed from platform 6, so 8 platforms but only 7 tracks.

 

[BestWestern]

Not sure they implied there was no track there, but yes, there is (I think there might have been two tracks) but it was fenced off! This is according to my memory of whenever the FGW Waterloo diverts were though :P

The track which would have served that platform has been lifted - or at least heavily skewed away from the platform - and the remaining line, which is indeed still used by regular freight movements, is actually quite a way out from the edge, and would no longer allow trains to serve it. I've been over it once on a loaded unit, very slowly, when the main route through the station was blocked.

 

[class303]

There is a single south facing bay at Rugby which is signed P3, it is alongside the London end of P2. Can't see any current use but there have been trains in there in previous timetables since the re-building.
There is then a second line alongside this bay which is used to stable a Thunderbird, but IIRC it is not alongside a platform face, it's effectively half way across the gap between P3 and the back of P4...

Didn't realise there was now only 1 bay platform. The old Rugby to Brighton services used to use the bay many years ago now.

 

[Eagle]

Polesworth platform 2 is completely unused.

 

[Muzer]

What about Chippenham, where the disused trackless platform is the one that the station buildings are on? Slightly surreal.

That also goes for Micheldever (used to have side platforms, I believe, and later turned into an island), though I believe the route forces you directly into the subway (I might be wrong about this). Can't actually remember if the station buildings are still open.

 

[swt_passenger]

Didn't realise there was now only 1 bay platform. The old Rugby to Brighton services used to use the bay many years ago now.

I thought it odd at the time. Unless there was an over-riding requirement to stable the 'Thunderbird' so as to prevent public access, what they have actually provided seems to have been more expensive than just using a platform face, because they had to include an illuminated safe walking route, at ballast level, for drivers... :roll:

 

[matchmaker]

Stirling had 10 platforms, numbered 1-10 (logically enough!). It now has 2-10. 1 was a north facing bay, now tarred over and used as a car park. It's last use was for storage of fuel tank wagons.

2,3,6, 9 & 10 are still used for passengers. 4 & 5 (north facing bays) are used for stabling stock only and can't be used for passengers as entry to them is by hand points. 7 & 8 (south facing bays) can be used for outgoing passenger services, but not incoming as there are no FPL on the points. I think this is due to change as part of the junction remodelling.

Stirling Middle has two calling on signals, on the down Perth line and on the down S&D (Alloa) line. They are very rarely used nowadays.
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Stirling has no platform 1 (there's a car park built over it). The main platforms in use are 2 & 3, plus 6 for Alloa services in both directions. 4 & 5 are offcially not in use (though are used for stabling), I've never seen a service 7 or 8, and for some reason in my experience 10 is used more than 9 (they're a terminal "island" pair).

9 is a through platform and sometimes used for services from Alloa. 6 is signalled bi-directionally. Empty MGR trains from Longannet go through 9.

 

[jopsuk]

using 6 is much better for passengers- access to 9/10 is not brilliant, with an open footbridge and no lift.

 

[thedbdiboy]

I believe it used to be the platform for the Rickmansworth branch's connection to the mainline, for through trains (which apparently did use to happen, abet rarely!)

Obviously not needed for the original purpose now, but would be very useful if it still existed for enabling more services to stop at Watford without destroying line capacity. Given the changes HS2 will cause, I'd like to see 5&6 turned back into an island for northbound fast services, and likewise 7&8 used for southbound fast services. A rebuild of 9&10 as a slow line island platform completes things, though it would be very handy to have a new 11&12 island as well, so you could have the same dual faces for the slows as for the fasts. You could terminate in the central platforms (10&11) and with suitable crossovers you wouldn't lose any line capacity either as you currently do with the platform 10 bay.

Trying to summarise the situation at Watford Junction - Platform 5 at Watford Junction was originally the Rickmansworth branch bay (and presumably had a different number then). When the 'new' line (DC line) was built in the early 20th century a new terminating block of platforms was built which became platforms 1-4 whilst what we now know as platform 5 extended all the way to the north end of the station but was actually disconnected from the main line at that end. At some point in the late 1960s the original entrance stairs to the terminating platforms 1-4 were removed to create the Travel Centre and access instead provided via the platform 5/6 island stairs via a new link that cut across the path of the trackbed for platform 5. I'm not sure if 5 was closed entirely or initially just cut back, but by the 1970s the track was gone. The 1980s rebuilding further hid the evidence of the original layout which is now only discernible if you know what you're looking for.

 

[Cletus]

Had a long connection time at Redhill today so was standing in the sun at the London end of platform 3 where I noticed a a disused bay platform - platform 4?

 

[JB25]

I heard there's a bay at Redhill that used to be for postal deliveries, is that what Cletus means?

 

[Callum]

Aberdeen has several unnumbered/unused platforms.

South facing, bay platforms 1 and 2, which are not numbered, are used for the stabling of stock.

The platforms which I believe were 8 and 9, are/were through platforms to the west of the station, have a track running between them, which is used as a headshunt for HSTs using the depot.

Greenock Central has a disused bay platform, it still has rails running alongside it, but I don't know whether it is still connected to the network.

 

[CockneySparrow]

Why use it? There is never normally the need to use it, Ipswich trains sit in 2, Norwich in 3. Same reason 1, 3 and 4 at Yarmouth are not used as often as 2.

Although saying that it is used normally every day. 05+12 ECS arrival normally uses it so 05.25 Harwich and 05.42 Norwich depart from it.

Think platform 1 & 2 are used at Yarmouth when the station closed and locked up as there is a gate at the side more like at the stub of platform 1, platform 4 I think is used on a Sunday for services through Berney Arms

On a summer Saturday when the Liverpool Street drag is in the station either platform 1 or 4 is used for the stoper as 2 & 3 are used to change ends

On to Lowestoft platform 4 was used the weekend of the Lowerstoft Airshow by drags
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Platform 1 at Peterborough
Platform at Kings Lynn isn't used, think it used to be Platform 3
Trimley only one platform is used
Skegness and Blackpool North can't be using all platforms
Everytime I go through Preston there are a few unassigned platforms
March there are two unused and track lifted and one filled in

 

[30907]

Is P1 at Peterboro' never used now? Used to get the Kings Cross slows if 4-car at times.

As to Preston, P7 doesn't usually see passenger trains, but the running line is used (and the platform is the access from/to the car park), the other unused bit is the old Parcels platform which has no access from the main station AFAIK

 

[Eagle]

Is P1 at Peterboro' never used now? Used to get the Kings Cross slows if 4-car at times.

Looking at RTT it seems it's still used as such, but only in the late evening.

Platform 1 at Huntingdon seems to be unused.

 

[NeilWatson]

Platform 1 at Peterborough is also used on Saturday mornings.

 

[alex17595]

does anyone have any information on the old Crewe ones?