Main Station Buildings Next To Which Line

[Andy873]

I'm curious about one observation I made a few years ago, I'm not focusing on my old branch line this time but on it all the main station buildings for all three stations were adjacent to the down line for East bound trains (for various reasons).

Are there other examples around the country where this happened? That is, all the main buildings on one side as opposed to the other line.

I could imagine a branch line for onward travel to London, Glasgow, Cardiff etc might have the main building facilities next to (for example) the up line for those destinations?

 

[Gloster]

There may be other examples, but there were a large number of factors involved. The availability of land and how much work would be needed to make it suitable for the construction of the booking hall, the location of the main generator of traffic, often the the town centre, and access roads would all have to be considered. But there could be other factors, such as the wishes of a local landowner or a restriction in the Act authorising construction of the line. Having all the station buildings on one side is most likely happenstance. A small exception might be made for stations on commuter and similar lines, where people will buy their tickets and then overwhelmingly board a train going in one direction, but even then other factors will still be more important.

 

[Magdalia]

I'm curious about one observation I made a few years ago, I'm not focusing on my old branch line this time but on it all the main station buildings for all three stations were adjacent to the down line for East bound trains (for various reasons).

For three stations, if they are positioned randomly on either the up side or the down side, then the probability of all three being on the same side is one in four.

 

[Rescars]

Some stations avoided such difficult decisions by having their main buildings constructed on a overbridge with access down to the platforms. A style favoured by the GCR with its island platforms, but not unknown elsewhere. East Croydon is a fine example!

 

[John Webb]

The Midland Railway's 'London Extension' from Bedford to St Pancras in 1868 had all the main station buildings on the Down side, as this matched the only pair of lines that were first laid all the way into London. A number of the stations have since been rebuilt, often with the station building on the Up Slow platform side on the sites of the former goods yards.

 

[DelW]

Are there other examples around the country where this happened? That is, all the main buildings on one side as opposed to the other line.

I could imagine a branch line for onward travel to London, Glasgow, Cardiff etc might have the main building facilities next to (for example) the up line for those destinations?

On the Portsmouth Direct, all the principal stations (Guildford, Godalming, Haslemere and Petersfield) have their main buildings on the down side. Though minor stations are a mix with more on the up side than the down.

 

[Gloster]

On the Portsmouth Direct, all the principal stations (Guildford, Godalming, Haslemere and Petersfield) have their main buildings on the down side. Though minor stations are a mix with more on the up side than the down.

Most of them are on the same side as the local town or village centre, although Worplesdon was at the end of a lineside road in the middle of nowhere. The exceptions are Farncombe and Milford, but at the later Chiddingfold and Hambledon may have been thought more important or it may have been to use a convenient existing road for access.

 

[30907]

On the Portsmouth Direct, all the principal stations (Guildford, Godalming, Haslemere and Petersfield) have their main buildings on the down side. Though minor stations are a mix with more on the up side than the down.

For Down read Town - I suspect that is the dominant feature in most cases (as it is on the OP's favourite line, and on mine in Airedale). Gloster has made a similar point.

 

[DelW]

T

Most of them are on the same side as the local town or village centre, although Worplesdon was at the end of a lineside road in the middle of nowhere. The exceptions are Farncombe and Milford, but at the later Chiddingfold and Hambledon may have been thought more important or it may have been to use a convenient existing road for access.

The roads (lanes really) east of Milford station are narrow and twisty, with stretches of single-track and lots of blind bends. Traffic from any distance would be more likely to arrive via the main roads through Milford village.

For Down read Town - I suspect that is the dominant feature in most cases (as it is on the OP's favourite line, and on mine in Airedale). Gloster has made a similar point.

Indeed, I was pointing out that it was a route to London which didn't meet the OP's hypothesis that main buildings were more likely to be on the up side on such lines.

 

[Springs Branch]

A couple of examples from the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway:-

• The LYR's 'new build' four-track Atherton line from the late-1880s used the GCR pattern of island platforms with station building on the road bridge above (below the line in the case of Walkden) at Daisy Hill, Walkden, Swinton, Moorside and Pendleton Broad Street.
  You can speculate they would have done the same thing at Pendlebury station (now closed), but the skew crossing of the A666 Bolton Road bridge possibly made it less than ideal.
  Local conditions at the other original stations - Atherton and Irlams o' th' Heights (closed) also precluded it there.
  The Atherton line was built a few years before the GC London Extension, so was it actually the GCR copying the LYR's layout?
  
  
• There are six consecutive stations on the Wigan - Southport line where the main station buildings are/were on the Up Wigan & Manchester-bound platform: New Lane, Burscough Bridge, Hoscar (demolished), Parbold, Appley Bridge and Gathurst.
  (I'm not sure about Bescar Lane. The Southport platform has been relocated west of the level crossing. Prior to that, Bescar Lane's station building, with canopy, had been on the now demolished Down platform, but in photos looked a different style to all the other stations on the line. So maybe was a replacement for some long-lost stone original, which potentially would have made the list seven if that had been on the Wigan side)