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tenby station did it ever have 3 platforms

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Anonymous10

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so when i visit tenby i notice that the east bound platform is a island and seems like it had a track beside it ie a 3rd platform. did it if so what was it used for and when did it get removed
 
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Mcr Warrior

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Would this be the former Platform 3, which I believe was a bay platform?
 

Gloster

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The Up platform used to have a loop behind it. The Signalling Record Society has diagrams dated 1896, which shows it as a Back Platform signalled for Up passenger trains, and for 1956 which shows it as a siding. The 1956 diagram is, I think, for the new signal box that was opened (according to Wikipedia) in that year.

EDIT: The 1896 diagram appears to show that passenger trains could run into the Back Platform from the Pembroke Dock end and then continue out towards Whitland.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Seems to be a paucity of readily available information for this particular station.
 

fishwomp

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Thanks mr_jrt - I was about to post a similar map!

The interesting thing to see on that - and this - https://maps.nls.uk/view/102189045 - is the railway line a little to the left of the station - the old yard, and I believe an original terminus of the Pembroke and Tenby line. This is marked as "Great Western Railway Works" in my map link, and at ground level - now the Salterns car park, vs the current line which is very much at an altitude!

Here's the proof of Platform 3 - mid 1980s track machine (finally identified that it is indeed Tenby platform '3') - mid 1980s
2020-12-03-19-AA001.jpg
 
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clagmonster

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There were loco hauled trains booked to terminate at Tenby on summer Saturdays right up to the 1980s. Presumably the third platform will have been useful for running round and stock layovers whilst maintaining capacity on the branch.
 

Anonymous10

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Thanks mr_jrt - I was about to post a similar map!

The interesting thing to see on that - and this - https://maps.nls.uk/view/102189045 - is the railway line a little to the left of the station - the old yard, and I believe an original terminus of the Pembroke and Tenby line. This is marked as "Great Western Railway Works" in my map link, and at ground level - now the Salterns car park, vs the current line which is very much at an altitude!

I thought I had a photo of a track machine in that platform at Tenby, some time in the mid-1980s - but having just posted it, I realized it's not actually there at all, so just deleted that.
shame was trying to view the photo

There were loco hauled trains booked to terminate at Tenby on summer Saturdays right up to the 1980s. Presumably the third platform will have been useful for running round and stock layovers whilst maintaining capacity on the branch.
would be nice to see back in use no doubt where i work has photos of it in archive but at moment im furloughed so
 

fishwomp

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shame was trying to view the photo


would be nice to see back in use no doubt where i work has photos of it in archive but at moment im furloughed so
Fixed it, the picture is back now in my post - and this time the negative is the right way round so the picture makes sense :)

Here are couple of great pictures:

This one - nice to see the (upper) shed:

and this one:
 

Gloster

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There were loco hauled trains booked to terminate at Tenby on summer Saturdays right up to the 1980s. Presumably the third platform will have been useful for running round and stock layovers whilst maintaining capacity on the branch.
The back siding is not shown on the 1989 Quail map. The signal box closed in 1988, again according to Wikipedia, and the siding would have been removed then if it had not been removed at an earlier date. There was a siding on the Down side at the Whitland end of the station and this could have been used for layovers.
 

Anonymous10

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Fixed it, the picture is back now in my post - and this time the negative is the right way round so the picture makes sense :)

Here are couple of great pictures:

This one - nice to see the (upper) shed:

and this one:
i think they could just about squeeze a train down it as the building is now something else and theres a steep bank now so only room to lay track nothing else thats with a little support tho but interesting alwayd suspected it
 

fishwomp

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i think they could just about squeeze a train down it as the building is now something else and theres a steep bank now so only room to lay track nothing else thats with a little support tho but interesting alwayd suspected it
The embankment's as steep as its always been, and the gap as wide as it's always been! You could still put the line back in - if there were demand!

There's also the siding on the down side, as visible in this photo from 2010 - which I think has been plain lined now. Never a platform, more a loading bay, I guess?

dsc_1865.jpg
 

Anonymous10

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The embankment's as steep as its always been, and the gap as wide as it's always been! You could still put the line back in - if there were demand!

There's also the siding on the down side, as visible in this photo from 2010 - which I think has been plain lined now. Never a platform, more a loading bay, I guess?

View attachment 90252
never noticed that one im guessing your right or could have been a siding not sure saundersfoot seems like long ago was 2 platform too then whitland and Carmarthen are obviously previous major regional hubs
 

Hardcastle

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I remember something like a York to Tenby & return train on summer Saturdays around the mid 80s which would have be loco hauled.
 

fishwomp

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It was almost always a 47 - in latter years a 47/8 but I certainly had 47/0s for the ride, I feel a photo or two coming on... My memory is hazy of precise workings - but in addition to York - Tenby, there was a Manchester - Pembroke Dock, and I also have HST photos from the same era on ex-Paddingtons. Was always a busy place on a summer Saturday.

This one would have been quite late 80s, maybe early 90s., at Kilgetty
2020-12-03-29-AF126.jpg

This one must be mid-1980s.. Saundersfoot.

2020-12-03-02-1-AE150.jpg
 

Anonymous10

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It was almost always a 47 - in latter years a 47/8 but I certainly had 47/0s for the ride, I feel a photo or two coming on... My memory is hazy of precise workings - but in addition to York - Tenby, there was a Manchester - Pembroke Dock, and I also have HST photos from the same era on ex-Paddingtons. Was always a busy place on a summer Saturday.

This one would have been quite late 80s, maybe early 90s., at Kilgetty
View attachment 90275

This one must be mid-1980s.. Saundersfoot.

View attachment 90276
i believe the Manchester to pembroke dock survives as a 1 weekly service
 

Envoy

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2 photos here of Tenby station on 4 July 2015. The westbound ‘Pembroke Coast Express’ HST has arrived and soon after an eastbound Sprinter arrives. I was very surprised at the number of people who got off the Sprinter having come down the branch line for a day out in Tenby. It always amazes me why Network Rail see fit to remove tracks from platforms and thereby reduce options in the future - such as parking for steam specials. Recently they removed a track at Milford Haven.
 

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Anonymous10

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Wasn't it the 19:30 departure from Picc pre. Covid?
not sure believe one to operate from Pembroke dock roughly mid day then 1 train a day from tenby at mid day to Manchester Piccadilly

2 photos here of Tenby station on 4 July 2015. The westbound ‘Pembroke Coast Express’ HST has arrived and soon after an eastbound Sprinter arrives. I was very surprised at the number of people who got off the Sprinter having come down the branch line for a day out in Tenby. It always amazes me why Network Rail see fit to remove tracks from platforms and thereby reduce options in the future - such as parking for steam specials. Recently they removed a track at Milford Haven.
frankly tenby in the summer probably warrants a 3 car train i know i seen a nearly full pacer and 153 arrive in tenby at 4 pm on a friday
 

sd0733

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Wasn't it the 19:30 departure from Picc pre. Covid?
Before Covid the 13:31 from Manchester went to Tenby, dont think it went right through to Pembroke Dock, the 19:30 from Manchester was a Fishguard train arriving about 02:30 but was a couple of timetables ago that one got cut back to Cardiff
 

Anonymous10

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Before Covid the 13:31 from Manchester went to Tenby, dont think it went right through to Pembroke Dock, the 19:30 from Manchester was a Fishguard train arriving about 02:30 but was a couple of timetables ago that one got cut back to Cardiff
they do operate a once weekly to pembroke dock to my knowledge
 

Envoy

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The afternoon service from Manchester to Tenby becomes a slow stopper between Cardiff & Swansea as it hits Cardiff at peak commuting time. Of course, all this is because they did not have enough rolling stock so long distance trains morphed into local stoppers when needed. This should all be sorted out when the new fleets arrive.
 

zwk500

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It always amazes me why Network Rail see fit to remove tracks from platforms and thereby reduce options in the future - such as parking for steam specials. Recently they removed a track at Milford Haven.
At Tenby, the lack of a spare platform was no barrier to 60163 Tornado going down the branch in 2019. The former platform line would have been no help for the tour even if it had existed, as it would have been too short and has no water supply to fill the loco & carriages, nor any road access to allow a tanker to do the job.

It costs NR quite a lot in staff time, plant time and compensation to operators for closing the line to remove tracks and sidings, so if they are taking up track it will be costing them a lot to maintain it. If it was kept, somebody would have to pay for it.
 

Envoy

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At Tenby, the lack of a spare platform was no barrier to 60163 Tornado going down the branch in 2019. The former platform line would have been no help for the tour even if it had existed, as it would have been too short and has no water supply to fill the loco & carriages, nor any road access to allow a tanker to do the job.

It costs NR quite a lot in staff time, plant time and compensation to operators for closing the line to remove tracks and sidings, so if they are taking up track it will be costing them a lot to maintain it. If it was kept, somebody would have to pay for it.
I think that Tornado was serviced at Carmarthen and a 47 brought the train into Tenby with Tornado on the rear ready to head the return.

Surely, if a track is lying dormant at a platform, it would require hardly any maintenance?
 

zwk500

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I think that Tornado was serviced at Carmarthen and a 47 brought the train into Tenby with Tornado on the rear ready to head the return.

Surely, if a track is lying dormant at a platform, it would require hardly any maintenance?
Tornado did service at Carmarthen (which it needed to visit anyway to turn) and it was a 66 (or might have been a 67) that led the train into Tenby.

If the track is nominally open NR need to maintain it so that a train can use it without notice. NR can notify operators that a line is out of use and to give notice of any plans to use it, but if it's the pointwork that's causing the issues (including excess wear to the trains' wheels) and only 1 train a year is using it, there'll be pressure to remove the continual costs. Also, a line that's not been used or maintained for a year may need a lot of work to bring it back up to standard, paradoxically it can cost more than the regular maintenance if 1 train a day shunted in and out just to keep everything greased and rust-free.
 
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