Help me identify this station we used in the 1980s

[Grinder]

Many years ago when I was a small child(mid 80s), I was taken on a rail trip by my grandparents and I need to try and identify a station we caught a train from.

There were toilets that had an entrance at either end so that you could access from two platforms. I only realised this after leaving via a different door and emerging on a different platform. I can’t remember much about it as I was crying hysterically at the time but I have a feeling it may have been somewhere in the North West.

Lackadaisical 80’s child supervision aside, I wondered if the idea of a toilet in the middle of an island platform rings any bells. It may have had wood panelling but I can’t swear to it.

 

[Barnsley]

Sounds like Wigan Wallgate

 

[Nottingham59]

hmm. This could be tricky: there are lots of stations like that. I think Leicester, for instance, has that layout on the Southbound platforms. Can you remember any other details of the station? Were the buildings of stone, or brick or concrete? Do you remember where you were going to on this trip? And where did your grandparents live?

 

[Grinder]

I can’t remember anything at all...that is what is driving me mad. We started the journey at Hull Paragon but most of our rail visits were to London twice a year. I remember one trip to Edinburgh and a go at Leeds-Settle-Carlisle but this one I can’t place other than a vague feeling.
I’m not sure where we would have been travelling to if it was Wigan Wallgate.

 

[YorksLad12]

York? There's a Gentleman's Convenience between platforms 8 & 9. Not wood panelled now, obviously.

 

[philthetube]

Preston

 

[Dr Hoo]

Definitely sounds like Preston to me too.

 

[Nottingham59]

Preston would make sense as a possible interchange if it was during the Settle-Carlisle trip and they came back via the West Coast Mainline. But then again, York would be a likely interchange / toilet break on a trip from Hull to Edinburgh......

 

[Grinder]

Thanks for the suggestions. I doubt it was York just because I have used that station extensively as an adult and the station I remember was smaller without curved platforms. I am pretty confident I had never visited Leicester but Wigan Wallgate and Preston are good shouts.

 

[Killingworth]

Not too sure about Doncaster, but certainly could match with Sheffield.

 

[Crisps]

Darlington? I’m sure it’s toilets were accessible from both the main platforms before GNER rebuilt them. I don’t remember wood panelling though.

 

[Deafdoggie]

Crewe also has island platform toilets on what is now 6 & 11 with a door off both and no way to see one door from the other! These platforms were renumbered in the mid 80’s and were originally 3 & 4.

Possibly the same on what is now platform 12 & a disused platform that were 1 & 2 in the mid 80’s. But I can’t remember if those toilets were double doored too.

 

[Grinder]

Sheffield would be an irony if I didn’t recognise it as that is my local station.
I looked at some photos based on your suggestions and Wigan Wallgate seems strangely familiar.

 

[Nottingham59]

You say you have a memory about the curvature of the platforms, so is there anything else? Thinking back to the moment you realised you were lost, what was on the far side of the line? (e.g. was there another line and another platform facing you? Or open fields? Or a blank wall?) Was the view very different, so you know knew immediately you were lost, or did it take a while to realise? Were you in a train shed or open to the sky? Any of these could help.

And if Wigan Wallgate looks strangely familiar, then consider other stations on that line, which will have been built by the same railway company at the same time, and will often have a similar look and feel to them.

 

[scrapy]

Don't think the toilets at Wigan have been accessible from both sides, the ladies is on one side and the gents is on the other and I don't remember it being any different in the 80s. Could it possibly be Wilmslow, I seem to remember wood panelling there between 2 and 3?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Preston sounds likely to me. I've made that mistake and confused myself before!

Wigan Wallgate is a very "local" station so you'd probably only have been going to Southport via there.

Do you remember if the station had a high, enclosing overall roof? Preston does, Wigan Wallgate doesn't and never did.

 

[Grinder]

I think it might have been open air on the platforms or maybe a canopy but definitely not a roof.

I remember seeing only a couple of people waiting for a train instead of a half full platform. At first glance it definitely looked like an identical view to the original platform....maybe there was another platform opposite across the tracks.