Trivia: Obsolete or unusual stop position or boarding point markers etc.

[221101 Voyager]

I have a correction to make...

Gold	First Class (London End)
Blue	First Class and Buffet
Purple	Standard Class
Orange	Standard Class with Smoking (Country End)

Some WCML stations still have the coloured zones in situ.

Other operators, including GWR, now have numbered zones (1-10) which tell passengers where each coach is.

Thanks.

That seems like they retrofitted to platform 6 (which was added in the 2000s, or was it early 2010s?) even though they were no longer used by then!

The Zones were orange, purple, blue and gold, in no particular order. They were just used for coach positions. Though gold was usually at the south end so did represent 1st.

Platform 6 along with the very little used 2A were opened 29th December 2008.

 

[DanNCL]

I will have to keep an eye out for the 91 boards next time I'm at Darlington or Thirsk.

Darlington still had them when I was there a couple of months ago. Don't think Thirsk has ever had them, as 91s were never booked to stop there.

 

[Jimini]

I have a correction to make...

Gold	First Class (London End)
Blue	First Class and Buffet
Purple	Standard Class
Orange	Standard Class with Smoking (Country End)

Some WCML stations still have the coloured zones in situ.

Other operators, including GWR, now have numbered zones (1-10) which tell passengers where each coach is.

They're still in situ at Swindon, along with the new zones 1-10 markings.

 

[bearhugger]

Darlington still had them when I was there a couple of months ago. Don't think Thirsk has ever had them, as 91s were never booked to stop there.

Thanks for the info, I normally stand on the open part of the platforms at Darlington if it's not raining so will have to explore when I can next get there.

 

[route101]

Might be Linlithgow on the Edinburgh-bound thinking about it

Perhaps the Queen St to Kings X HSTs stopped at Linlithgow

 

[MrEd]

The Glasgow to Poole sleeper ceased around 1992

Forgot about that one! Thank you.

 

[hexagon789]

Perhaps the Queen St to Kings X HSTs stopped at Linlithgow

They did, as they slotted into the paths of the push-pull shuttles so made the exact same stops. In May 1986 that became Falkirk, Polmont, Haymarket or Falkirk, Linlithgow, Haymarket alternating easy half-hour.

Also the Highland Chieftain when introduced in May 1984 called at Linlithgow northbound, plus Polmont northbound on Saturdays.

 

[507 001]

Euston still has ‘HST STOP’ boards hanging from the roof at the block ends.

 

[Paul Jones 88]

3 Car Stop at Ponders End, 3 Cars haven't been to Ponders End for at least 20 years.

 

[Ianno87]

Euston still has ‘HST STOP’ boards hanging from the roof at the block ends.

Still used by the New Measurement Train.

 

[Jimini]

Here’s a couple of the old colour zone markers still up at Swindon I took earlier while travelling through.

 

[Hawkwood Junc]

319 specific stop boards at Beckenham Junction platform 4 and at Kent House - at least they were still there last year when I passed through. No 319s down here any more!

 

[507 001]

Still used by the New Measurement Train.

Good point, hadn’t thought of that.

 

[drew_k]

And I thought Derby had long platforms. There you have 170 Car Stop boards, and they're only halfway down the platform. *Ahem*

One oddity I've seen but don't understand is a Z Stop board at Banbury. Clearly that's not on the route of any sleeper service, so what that's for I could not say.

The 'Z Car' board at Banbury is provided for a similar reason to the 170 boards at Derby. There was also an 'X Car' board positioned in advance of the axle counter head in the middle of the platform. Both were applicable to up direction movements, the idea was that drivers of terminating trains arriving in platform 1 from the North would stop at X, allowing another train to be signalled into the platform from the London end under permissive working arrangements.

Through trains and movements onto the LMD would stop at Z, although in reality most drivers stop towards the end of the platform canopy.

There was a similar arrangement for down direction trains with 'A and C Car' boards, I don't know if these are still in use or extant.

As an aside, there is a 'Loco hauled 5 car' marker on the down platform at Burton-on-Trent and I was wondering what services this may have applied to?

 

[EnriqueEspaña]

Shiplake on the Henley Branch has some long-obsolete stopping markers in the up direction, or at least they were still there the last time I travelled on the line about a year ago. If my memory serves me right they're for 9 and 10 cars and possibly 12? They presumably date from the 1970s when there were through services to Paddington in the peaks formed of loco-hauled trains and Class 123 DMUs. They're quite some way to the south of the station presumably to keep the trains clear of the level crossing and their comparative remoteness is perhaps why they survived for so long.

I believe these actually survived because of excursion traffic for the Henley Royal Regatta. Wouldnt be suprised if this is why they were installed in the first place too. I'm really struggling to remember if HSTs made it to Henley ever, I have a feeling they did but I can find no photo evidence to back this up, so maybe its a rumour I am mixing into reality!

 

[43055]

As an aside, there is a 'Loco hauled 5 car' marker on the down platform at Burton-on-Trent and I was wondering what services this may have applied to?

Nothing now but probably something that remains from the virgin trains/loco hauled days before the voyagers arrived?

 

[island]

I remain to be convinced that when originally put up the "V" in "VT" stood for "Voyager". OK maybe somebody thought that the "V" could stand for either "Virgin" or "Voyager" when they were being made but I'm sure if you asked 99% of people what they thought the "V" stood for I'm sure they would say "Virgin". Is there any documentary evidence from operating publications at the time (not from now) that states that the "V" stands for "Voyager"?

I agree. It was far more likely to have been ”Virgin” at deployment; “Voyager” is a backronym.

 

[40129]

Does anyone know if the Wrexham & Shropshire loco stop board is still in place on the up at Tame Bridge Parkway? I know it outlasted the service by several years, but haven't been thru there recently

 

[Doomotron]

Until a few years ago Walmer had a 4 car stop board with a 6/8 board only two or so meters in further along. Needless to say, it was replaced with an S car stop.

The next stop, Deal, had NSE stopping boards until about the same time.

 

[Shaun_92]

There is a TransPennine Express Class 68 Stop Board at Crowle, but only Class 185 operate on the South TransPennine Route

 

[43066]

There are some 377 stop boards on the southern section of the MML left over from when GTR operated them. Luton Airport Parkway and a few other platforms also still have the housing for platform DOO monitors.

 

[_toommm_]

There is a sign at the end of Skipton p1 (Settle end) which refers to GNER - I forget exactly what the sign says but I do have photos somewhere


I would expect these to stay for a while - it isn't inconceivable, I don't believe, for one to make it up there again, at least whilst crews sign them. Indeed, even after the final planned services, some went up North again


It states it belongs to an album named "Torquay"

At the end of platform 2, there’s this at Skipton:

 

[pompeyfan]

There is a few stations on the SWR network with “ASDO S” on them on the wrong direction.

these confuse me as apparently they’re for when single line working is in use, however the instruction to drivers is to pull up to the ramp on SLW, which is where these markers are anyway. I can only assume they’re there to prevent drivers authorising a full door release as the units should release in default mode which is front 4 on 450 stock and front 3 on 444 stock.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

There is a TransPennine Express Class 68 Stop Board at Crowle, but only Class 185 operate on the South TransPennine Route

There are similar TPE stop boards for 68s and 802s at Brighouse: a station they only serve when on diversions.

 

[Crossover]

At the end of platform 2, there’s this at Skipton:

View attachment 90930

That's the one. Getting my platform numbers mixed up!

 

[jimm]

Kingham, and I assume Charlbury too, both have HST stop markers. They're on the Cotswold Line, which hasn't seen a HST since May 2019, and the thing which really interests me is that they have both 2+7 and 2+8 stop car markers, despite all the HSTs I saw on the route were 2+8 sets. I believe FGW ran some 2+7 HSTs at one point when they were stretched for coaches?

-Peter

BR Western Region started with 2+7s.

I wondered if there were still any on the E&G but I assumed not. I think some of the smaller stations on the Edinburgh-Dundee line might still have them even though they've not been served by HSTs for many years.


Surprised they've not got rid of them yet!


Asides from the original 253 sets, FGW did indeed run some 2+7 high-density sets sans buffet car, I forget the reasoning behind it but I don't believe it was trailer shortages. It was fairly short lived as well in the grand scheme of thingsm

As noted, Western Region HSTs were 2+7s for a long time - perhaps until ECML electrification allowed some HST fleet reshuffling in the late 1980s? I'm sure someone will know.
in the mid-2000s FGW managers decided to take the buffet cars out of a lot of sets and switch to catering trolleys but a change of management - and increasing passenger traffic - put paid to that idea. And there was always the possibility that a depot had just run out of spare trailers, so turned out the odd set as a 2+7 for a day now and again.

 

[Journeyman]

There are still "H" car stop markers at Falkirk High (I think?) which date back to the days when HSTs used to call there on Glasgow Queen St to Kings Cross workings.

There's one on the Glasgow bound side at Linlithgow.

 

[hexagon789]

As noted, Western Region HSTs were 2+7s for a long time - perhaps until ECML electrification allowed some HST fleet reshuffling in the late 1980s?

I believe it was 1986 when most (all bar two iirc) of the WoE TRUB sets were extended to 2+8

 

[40129]

IIRC Wolverton still has car stop markers dating from Silverlink County days - purple background

 

[Journeyman]

I saw an On Board Services Administration Office sign on Edinburgh Waverley station today that dated from GNER days. Blue with red stripe, with the GNER lettering crudely painted over.