Ipswich Platform 3

[MaxB]

I went to catch a Felixstowe train advertised on the general indicator as leaving from Platform 3b.

It was not very apparent where the (it turned out) three sections of the platform were but having spotted a small sign saying 3b stop, I walked a little way north towards, in the distance, another tiny 3b stop sign was visible. Halfway between the two was a departure board asserting the next train from the platform was going to Norwich.

On querying this with a member of staff he very kindly, and somewhat patronisingly, pointed to the first 3b sign and told me that was where the train would be. I did not seem to be able to get over the point to him that the other information sign was displaying different information. Presumably that sign referred to the whole platform, not just the middle bit where it was located which may be clear to the staff but was not to the passengers.

A number of other people were also asking about the Felixstowe train, so it wasn't just me being a pedant.

The signage is marginally better on Platform 2 but they really need to sort out this nonsense on Platform 3 and as Crosscountry trains seem to leave from all 4 platforms, clearer A, B and Cs would be big step forward.

 

[a_c_skinner]

somewhat patronisingly,

That is the big problem, not the signage.

 

[Purple Train]

That is the big problem, not the signage.

To be fair, a member of platform staff will probably get a lot of similar questions from the genuinely unobservant, so may well be tired of it. Indeed, one of my friends (who could not have looked less like a member of platform staff at the time) was once asked at Reading station, "Where's platform 9?" by someone standing next to the platform 9 escalator, right next to a large sign proclaiming the fact, and I've overheard some similar conversations even at much smaller stations between members of staff and passengers.
Platform staff are human like all of us, and I know I would get irritated to the point of condescension by what I perceived to be another stupid question.

Speaking of which, I have a stupid question. Do the platform boards at Ipswich display the actual platform number? As in:

12:52 Norwich Platform 3
Calling at:

etc., or does it always display the expected time instead? I wonder whether this might come in useful on a platform which has trains leaving from separate sections and the whole platform.
Also, did the platform display show the next train, as in:

1st 12:52 Norwich On time
Calling at:
Diss
Norwich
Formed of 12 coaches

2nd 13:00 Felixstowe On time

or are they of the type where they only show one train at a time?

 

[MaxB]

I'm sure you are right about getting lots of queries, precisely the reason I am suggesting some improvement in signing is needed. I think they are all one train only indicators.

 

[Purple Train]

I'm sure you are right about getting lots of queries, precisely the reason I am suggesting some improvement in signing is needed. I think they are all one train only indicators.

The signage could definitely do with improving, but, if it's a one-train-only indicator, then your train won't show up if there's a train booked from the same platform beforehand, so the information screens are perfectly correct.

 

[MaxB]

The whole point was that the Norwich service was the second train (actually the 1407) while we were waiting on the same platform for the 1358 to Felixstowe. So no it was not correct.

 

[185143]

To be fair, a member of platform staff will probably get a lot of similar questions from the genuinely unobservant, so may well be tired of it. Indeed, one of my friends (who could not have looked less like a member of platform staff at the time) was once asked at Reading station, "Where's platform 9?" by someone standing next to the platform 9 escalator, right next to a large sign proclaiming the fact, and I've overheard some similar conversations even at much smaller stations between members of staff and passengers.
Platform staff are human like all of us, and I know I would get irritated to the point of condescension by what I perceived to be another stupid question.

Speaking of which, I have a stupid question. Do the platform boards at Ipswich display the actual platform number? As in:

12:52 Norwich Platform 3
Calling at:

etc., or does it always display the expected time instead? I wonder whether this might come in useful on a platform which has trains leaving from separate sections and the whole platform.
Also, did the platform display show the next train, as in:

1st 12:52 Norwich On time
Calling at:
Diss
Norwich
Formed of 12 coaches

2nd 13:00 Felixstowe On time

or are they of the type where they only show one train at a time?

I was once mistaken for a driver by a trainee dispatcher at Waterloo!

I was talking to the driver who brought in the 455 I'd just alighted and what I was wearing was certainly distinctive, but didn't resemble uniform in the slightest. And no, I'm not one of those enthusiasts that walks around with a TOC bag before someone suggests that.

 

[gingerheid]

I complained to Greater Anglia about the problem with the monitors on Platform 3 when they were introduced (before covid) and it's disappointing that they've never been corrected.

As well as being completely useless in practical terms, the answer offered isn't even pedantically correct if the train from 3b is four carriage; in which case the monitor most fully alongside the train is one that shows the 2nd departure. The stopping position on P4b means it's not a problem there, so I think someone has assumed both would be the same.

 

[dk1]

Was rather a lot of confusion yesterday. I took a 755 empty to Ipswich to form the 20:00 Peterborough & was booked into platform 4C however I was signalled into platform 3 so stopped at 3C incase something else was arriving into 3B/3A. There was already a train in 4C which was originally shown as for Peterborough so station staff were hurriedly walking through this & telling them to move to 3C as that train was now going 20:16 East Suffolk. Meanwhile the Peterborough was shown as 3B on the departure board with 3C (where it was) showing the next Norwich departure. I think everyone got where they wanted to be though.

 

[MaxB]

I rest my case!

 

[gingerheid]

Plat 3b at Ipswich just now. Both sides of the board alongside the middle of the 1914 to Cambridge advertise it as Norwich.