Weirdest Oddities Still on the UK Network?

davmet · 25 Feb 2019

Westonhanger was the station you used for the racecourse

RailUK Forums

matchmaker · 26 Feb 2019

Dai Corner said:
Isn't this odd manoeuvre done purely to avoid going through closure procedures for that short length of track?

No, there is no need to close the Rose Street Curve. Non passenger services use it regularly.

Dr_Paul · 26 Feb 2019

Nicks said:
Norbury Station still has long ramps to the platforms which are said to have been used for horses to be off loaded from trains.

This sounds a bit unlikely. I doubt if horses would have used the same entrance as passengers, as I doubt that the latter would appreciate negotiating a pile of horse-dung on their way to and from the platform. I would have thought that horses would have used a separate entrance were they unloaded at a station platform rather than in a goods-yard.

Esker-pades · 26 Feb 2019

Dai Corner said:
Isn't this odd manoeuvre done purely to avoid going through closure procedures for that short length of track?

It's to get it to the right side of Inverness so it can continue to Elgin. In theory, platform 5 can serve all lines from Inverness, but it has been decided that that can't be done in this case. I'm not sure what the reason is though.

InOban · 26 Feb 2019

As I recall the section of the platform which has access both East and West is very short, only enough to allow engine release. I'm fairly sure it wouldn't allow even a 2-coach DMU.

DelW · 27 Feb 2019

Dr_Paul said:
This sounds a bit unlikely. I doubt if horses would have used the same entrance as passengers, as I doubt that the latter would appreciate negotiating a pile of horse-dung on their way to and from the platform. I would have thought that horses would have used a separate entrance were they unloaded at a station platform rather than in a goods-yard.

But bear in mind that until well into the 20th century, horse-dung was everywhere in the streets and everyone would be used to dealing with it!
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Great-Horse-Manure-Crisis-of-1894/

By the late 1800s, large cities all around the world were “drowning in horse manure”. In order for these cities to function, they were dependent on thousands of horses for the transport of both people and goods.

In 1900, there were over 11,000 hansom cabs on the streets of London alone. There were also several thousand horse-drawn buses, each needing 12 horses per day, making a staggering total of over 50,000 horses transporting people around the city each day.

To add to this, there were yet more horse-drawn carts and drays delivering goods around what was then the largest city in the world.

This huge number of horses created major problems. The main concern was the large amount of manure left behind on the streets. On average a horse will produce between 15 and 35 pounds of manure per day, so you can imagine the sheer scale of the problem. The manure on London’s streets also attracted huge numbers of ﬂies which then spread typhoid fever and other diseases.

30740 · 27 Feb 2019

Dr_Paul said:
This sounds a bit unlikely. I doubt if horses would have used the same entrance as passengers, as I doubt that the latter would appreciate negotiating a pile of horse-dung on their way to and from the platform. I would have thought that horses would have used a separate entrance were they unloaded at a station platform rather than in a goods-yard.

I think that it is likely
1) The public park next to Norbury station was a race course at the time the railway was built, and the railway was used for the transport of race horses
2) This is supported by Norbury being the only station on the line with ramps, all the others have staircases

Dr_Paul · 27 Feb 2019

30740 said:
I think that it is likely
1) The public park next to Norbury station was a race course at the time the railway was built, and the railway was used for the transport of race horses
2) This is supported by Norbury being the only station on the line with ramps, all the others have staircases

I didn't know that about a race course near Norbury station. As there isn't a yard at Norbury, horses would have had to be unloaded onto the platform if they were going there.

6Gman · 27 Feb 2019

Dr_Paul said:
I didn't know that about a race course near Norbury station. As there isn't a yard at Norbury, horses would have had to be unloaded onto the platform if they were going there.

Racecourse closed in 1879.

High Dyke · 5 Mar 2019

Highlandspring said:
Since the December 2018 timetable change it has terminated at Inverness, running directly into platform 6.

Good job I did the route a year or so ago.

tsr · 5 Mar 2019

30740 said:
I think that it is likely
1) The public park next to Norbury station was a race course at the time the railway was built, and the railway was used for the transport of race horses
2) This is supported by Norbury being the only station on the line with ramps, all the others have staircases

Nope, Selhurst Platform 1 also has a ramp. West Croydon has combined ramps and stairs. East Croydon has obviously had various rebuilding works but has steep ramps at the country end.

Doomotron · 5 Mar 2019

Probably not unique, but Dover Priory's island platform is used for terminating trains from London only. Platform 1 is the only platform used by trains going through it.

MotCO · 5 Mar 2019

I seem to recall that Tube timetables were timed to the half-minute, rather than the more usual whole minute.

Nicks · 6 Mar 2019

Surbiton still has an additional rail connected platform which was used for the short lived steam hauled car carrying service to Okehampton in the early 1960s. It is now used by engineering stock.

Re Norbury station there is an information panel on the station saying that horses used the ramp to the passenger platforms.

i4n · 6 Mar 2019

Doomotron said:
Probably not unique, but Dover Priory's island platform is used for terminating trains from London only. Platform 1 is the only platform used by trains going through it.

In the main yes, but there are still through trains from London that use P2, the 18:45 at Dover for example. I think it's something to do with their length as it seems to be the 12 carriage trains from London that use P2 (irrespective if they're High Speed or Mainline trains)

d9009alycidon · 6 Mar 2019

In the town of Dumbarton, there are rails set into the A814 dual carriageway that passes through the town, the line used to go into a distillery (now demolished). Can't think of another level crossing on a dual carriageway, any others??
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.9...4!1so_uGZbdQLb8f2ON5-plBrw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Dai Corner · 6 Mar 2019

d9009alycidon said:
In the town of Dumbarton, there are rails set into the A814 dual carriageway that passes through the town, the line used to go into a distillery (now demolished). Can't think of another level crossing on a dual carriageway, any others??
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.9...4!1so_uGZbdQLb8f2ON5-plBrw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

There's the one where the branch to the Bridgend Ford engine factory crosses the A48 which is in regular use.
https://goo.gl/maps/AoFTEAH7zGJ2

Calthrop · 6 Mar 2019

DelW said:
But bear in mind that until well into the 20th century, horse-dung was everywhere in the streets and everyone would be used to dealing with it!
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Great-Horse-Manure-Crisis-of-1894/

"Off at a tangent" -- rather a habit of mine -- but I congratulate myself on having thought of a fine 1894-compatible solution for the "big cities drowning in horse manure" issue: which would have been effective, even if the advent of internal combustion had not been just round the corner. The problem is addressed as follows: inaugurate narrow-gauge freight-type tramways, with steam or maybe electric traction (not horse-worked -- that would have added to what was having to be tackled), running in all directions from the city centres, as far out into the countryside as proved necessary. The purpose of the tramways would be for horse manure to be loaded, in the city, onto their wagons; and conveyed into the countryside, for the benefit of anyone cultivating the land in any way, for whom it would be of use as fertiliser. Sell the stuff to the cultivators if possible -- if not, give it away free. Empty stock worked back into the city: repeat "in perpetuity".

InOban · 6 Mar 2019

Traditionally the manure, both horse and human, was conveyed to the countryside on the canals. The advent of Mr Bazalgette's sewers and the internal combustion engine led to a loss of fertility in the countryside, and the need for artificial fertilizer.

Deafdoggie · 6 Mar 2019

d9009alycidon said:
In the town of Dumbarton, there are rails set into the A814 dual carriageway that passes through the town, the line used to go into a distillery (now demolished). Can't think of another level crossing on a dual carriageway, any others??
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.9...4!1so_uGZbdQLb8f2ON5-plBrw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

There is a (disused) line on Trafford Park that crosses five lanes of traffic! https://www.google.com/maps/@53.455...4!1sUTfSavjLsT6Fyn_9qaj2PQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Calthrop · 6 Mar 2019

InOban said:
Traditionally the manure, both horse and human, was conveyed to the countryside on the canals. The advent of Mr Bazalgette's sewers and the internal combustion engine led to a loss of fertility in the countryside, and the need for artificial fertilizer.

I suspect that Mr. Tolkien would have had something pungent (no pun intended) to say about all this...

Doomotron · 6 Mar 2019

i4n said:
In the main yes, but there are still through trains from London that use P2, the 18:45 at Dover for example. I think it's something to do with their length as it seems to be the 12 carriage trains from London that use P2 (irrespective if they're High Speed or Mainline trains)

Ah, OK, so a a couple. However, Platforms 2 and 3 can't fit 12 coaches, only Platform 1.

i4n · 6 Mar 2019

Doomotron said:
Ah, OK, so a a couple. However, Platforms 2 and 3 can't fit 12 coaches, only Platform 1.

Would they foul the crossover blocking both lines perhaps so have some coaches hanging off the platform instead? I don't know but I certainly notice the walk over the bridge when I get on a train home that goes into P2!

BC · 6 Mar 2019

Oddities - not sure but the sempahore signals controlled by wires for detecting rockfalls at the Pass of Brandor on the Oban line are charming anachronistic.

So was getting a railway carriage nearly in the back garden of the holiday cottage!

Ken H · 6 Mar 2019

d9009alycidon said:
In the town of Dumbarton, there are rails set into the A814 dual carriageway that passes through the town, the line used to go into a distillery (now demolished). Can't think of another level crossing on a dual carriageway, any others??
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.9...4!1so_uGZbdQLb8f2ON5-plBrw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

there is one on the A5 near Oswestry
Think its still regarded as a 'live' railway but don't know when the last train passed.
https://goo.gl/maps/7DpsYH9Temy

Not really a dual carriageway but is a fast by-pass road.

6Gman · 6 Mar 2019

MotCO said:
I seem to recall that Tube timetables were timed to the half-minute, rather than the more usual whole minute.

Working Time Tables are timed to the half-minute throughout the network.

(I have memories of timetablers retiming everything on the Cross-City into New Street by half a minute, and my having to go through all the traincrew diagrams adjusting them all by half a minute!)

bobbyrail · 6 Mar 2019

Deafdoggie said:
There is a (disused) line on Trafford Park that crosses five lanes of traffic! https://www.google.com/maps/@53.455...4!1sUTfSavjLsT6Fyn_9qaj2PQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

It's not that long ago that workings stopped on this line, i can remember being stuck at the light at Kellogs when the train crew used to get out and manually activate the crossing allowing the train to continue to what used to be the i think "eurofrieght terminal" now much absorbed by the Trafford centre. Quite ironic that Metrolink is now being "extended" to within 100yrds of where these tracks went but at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds. All this is bring in punters from the other side of Manchester, I say ironic really i mean perverse.

vlad · 6 Mar 2019

d9009alycidon said:
In the town of Dumbarton, there are rails set into the A814 dual carriageway that passes through the town, the line used to go into a distillery (now demolished). Can't think of another level crossing on a dual carriageway, any others??

It's not heavy rail - but the Croydon Tramlink crosses the dual-carriageway A212 here.

Ken H · 6 Mar 2019

vlad said:
It's not heavy rail - but the Croydon Tramlink crosses the dual-carriageway A212 here.

no wigwag lights like on a level crossing. who did the risk assessment for that?

A Challenge · 7 Mar 2019

The A30 through Sunningdale has a short section of dual carriageway up to and across the level crossing.

Weirdest Oddities Still on the UK Network?

Member

RailUK Forums

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Member

Established Member

Member

Member

Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Established Member

Member

Member

Guest

On Moderation

Established Member

Member

Member

On Moderation

Established Member