Missing platforms / Unused Platforms & other bits

[GatwickDepress]

The predecessor of the Gatwick Express was a special sub-fleet of EMUs (4-VEG I think) which were split and joined at Gatwick to trains to/from further south. Subsidiary aspects would have been needed on the Up lines approaching Gatwick to allow this joining move to take place.

I can't remember whether the current signalling was introduced before this practice finished. Even if it wasn't, someone may have decided during the design process that it was worth retaining the sub aspects in case a similar working was needed again.

Even earlier than that, from the start of the summer timetable in 1958 a 2-HAL unit would detach from Bognor Regis bound trains (4Cor/Bufs at that time) at the newly-renamed Gatwick Airport station and await the next up train from Bognor.

This practice throughout the 4VEG era(which were 12 4VEPs converted to 4VEGs through adding more luggage racks), and this lasted up until the introduction of the first dedicated Gatwick Express services in 1984, run by 73+488+489 sets. The 4VEGs were converted back to 4VEPs upon the introduction of this service.

I guess any signalling work would've retained the signal "just in case", which seems to be the words to live by for a lot of engineers.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

Got a picture of this signal you can show us? We might be able to explain it then!

Or is it this one:
Horsham Station

© Copyright Nigel Chadwick and
licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

That will be down to the splitting of services at Horsham. Hence why there is a signal there.

 

[yorksrob]

Even earlier than that, from the start of the summer timetable in 1958 a 2-HAL unit would detach from Bognor Regis bound trains (4Cor/Bufs at that time) at the newly-renamed Gatwick Airport station and await the next up train from Bognor.

This practice throughout the 4VEG era(which were 12 4VEPs converted to 4VEGs through adding more luggage racks), and this lasted up until the introduction of the first dedicated Gatwick Express services in 1984, run by 73+488+489 sets. The 4VEGs were converted back to 4VEPs upon the introduction of this service.

I guess any signalling work would've retained the signal "just in case", which seems to be the words to live by for a lot of engineers.

As I understand it, the Gatwick services tended to use a particular sub-group of (Gatwick) HAL's which differed from most of the fleet in that they had Bullied style bodywork i.e similar in appearance to SR built SUB unit.

 

[6Gman]

Yes - platform 2 was a bay at north end of platform 1 that is now a car park.

Surely Stafford's Platform 2 was the south-facing bay (more recently used to stable a Thunderbird) which was used by the Trent Valley locals when they were 304s between Stafford and Nuneaton/Rugby?

 

[swt_passenger]

That will be down to the splitting of services at Horsham. Hence why there is a signal there.

Not necessarily. There are many places on the SR where splitting takes place without a mid platform signal.

 

[455driver]

I know the up Platform at Chessington South has never been used but is there an access to it?

Yes there is a sub signal to allow you in from the up line, I wouldnt fancy taking a train in there though.

 

[JB25]

Yes there is a sub signal to allow you in from the up line, I wouldnt fancy taking a train in there though.

I actually meant people not trains.

 

[30907]

Even earlier than that, from the start of the summer timetable in 1958 a 2-HAL unit would detach from Bognor Regis bound trains (4Cor/Bufs at that time) at the newly-renamed Gatwick Airport station and await the next up train from Bognor.

Just to add to that: the trains concerned were the Arun Valley stoppers which had previously run Three Bridges-Littlehampton-Bognor only, but now became through workings from/to Victoria. They were normally BILs (or HALs?) - most of the Bognor/Pompey fasts with CORs/BUFs (or CEPs/BEPs) ran via Dorking until the 70's when Gatwick became too important to ignore. (I remember - or rather my notebook does - going down to see relatives in Havant in 1964 using from East Croydon the 9.18am ex Vic, but that was one of very few that went that way)

 

[L&Y Robert]

The platform 3 north bay (buffer-stop platform) at Banbury isn't used because it has no track! Or is it that it has no track because it isn't used? It still has a white edge to it, I suppose it's so that people won't fall onto the ballast. The corresponding south bay is used though, but I don't know what for.
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Mid platform signals are fairly common on the network.

Lot of 'em at Birmingham New Street.

 

[Muzer]

and the subway leading to it.

They wouldn't be if it weren't for those bloody ticket barriers :-x

 

[craigwilson]

Lot of 'em at Birmingham New Street.

And Leeds too.

 

[Eagle]

And Leeds too.

And now Reading.

 

[Railsigns]

And now Reading.

There aren't any at Reading.

 

[The Planner]

The platform 3 north bay (buffer-stop platform) at Banbury isn't used because it has no track! Or is it that it has no track because it isn't used? It still has a white edge to it, I suppose it's so that people won't fall onto the ballast. The corresponding south bay is used though, but I don't know what for.

You sure? I thought Chiltern use it as a dumping ground for units overnight, P2 is occasionally used for the local Oxford Banbury services depending on how the signaller feels.
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Surely Stafford's Platform 2 was the south-facing bay (more recently used to stable a Thunderbird) which was used by the Trent Valley locals when they were 304s between Stafford and Nuneaton/Rugby?

Google seems to suggest that is correct, Stafford looked a lot different pre-electrification it seems.

 

[David Goddard]

Ascot lost P4 and P5 a long time ago, and they are both very overgrown.
The track (and the juice rail) both remain into the former P5.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Same goes for platform 1 at Leamington, the only service to use it is this one in the morning, again using the unit that stabled in it overnight.

That changes from time to time though. Last year there was a mid afternoon LMS - SAV train from Platform 1 because the unit for the service was stabled there for a couple of hours ahead of departure and platform 4 was needed by the LMS - BMO stopping service. We could easily see something similar at the next timetable change.

 

[TheEdge]

Why is the Platform 4 at Lowestoft not in use as often as the other two?

Why use it? There is never normally the need to use it, Ipswich trains sit in 2, Norwich in 3. Same reason 1, 3 and 4 at Yarmouth are not used as often as 2.

Although saying that it is used normally every day. 05+12 ECS arrival normally uses it so 05.25 Harwich and 05.42 Norwich depart from it.

 

[455driver]

I actually meant people not trains.

Ah I see , if you stand on the in use platform you can see where the bridge would have been by the filled in hole in the wall.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Watford Jn p5 doesn't exist. I think it used to be a loop from the DF and created an island platform, which vanished presumably in the 1960s under the new building. Anybody able to confirm?

 

[mr_jrt]

Watford Jn p5 doesn't exist. I think it used to be a loop from the DF and created an island platform, which vanished presumably in the 1960s under the new building. Anybody able to confirm?

I believe it used to be the platform for the Rickmansworth branch's connection to the mainline, for through trains (which apparently did use to happen, abet rarely!)

Obviously not needed for the original purpose now, but would be very useful if it still existed for enabling more services to stop at Watford without destroying line capacity. Given the changes HS2 will cause, I'd like to see 5&6 turned back into an island for northbound fast services, and likewise 7&8 used for southbound fast services. A rebuild of 9&10 as a slow line island platform completes things, though it would be very handy to have a new 11&12 island as well, so you could have the same dual faces for the slows as for the fasts. You could terminate in the central platforms (10&11) and with suitable crossovers you wouldn't lose any line capacity either as you currently do with the platform 10 bay.

 

[Class172]

Platform 3 at Worcester Shrub Hill never gets any use: it's a south-facing bay and is really short, I think it could only fit 2 carriages.

 

[Lukeo2311]

Rock Ferry on the Wirral has 2 unused platforms on the mothballed Birkenhead Docks Line, which I hope reopens in the future for a tram train service

 

[craigybagel]

Surely Stafford's Platform 2 was the south-facing bay (more recently used to stable a Thunderbird) which was used by the Trent Valley locals when they were 304s between Stafford and Nuneaton/Rugby?

Google seems to suggest that is correct, Stafford looked a lot different pre-electrification it seems.

Stafford Platform 2 was indeed a bay at the north end of Platform 1, in what is now the overflow car park. The bays at the south end of Platform 1 never (or at least not since the current numbering was adopted) had platform numbers.

Trent Valley Locals were booked to use Platform 6, but occasionally used 3 and 5 if necessary.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

Preston's platform 7 is signalled, electrified and so on and so forty but has no booked train service. It's like Salisbury P5 I suppose.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Rock Ferry on the Wirral has 2 unused platforms on the mothballed Birkenhead Docks Line, which I hope reopens in the future for a tram train service

I think those bays (which saw regular use up until the mid '80s prior to the juice rail being extended South) are still used at times of disruption. and certainly a few years back they were used for some peak-time extras, though I think this stopped when the Chesters went to 4tph. Not sure if they're still used for stabling though.

Huddersfield of course has no P3 or P7 (P3 was a Leeds-bound bay behind P1 was last used as a parcels bay and loco-stabling in the 1980s, P7 was a very short West-facing bay on the island which I don't think saw any use since the end of steam- it's now a rather unkempt flowerbed!). P5 at HUD saw very little use until the splitting of the 'Grand Tour' as it's only long enough for a 2-car DMU (it might fit a 3-car 144 at a push) but now that the Wakefield services run as a shuttle, it's rarely more than a 153 or a 2-car pacer. Certainly helps when things go belly-up!

 

[JB25]

Ah I see , if you stand on the in use platform you can see where the bridge would have been by the filled in hole in the wall.

I have only been there once so trying to picture the station. There is no bridge or anything across is there?

I'm guessing there is no plan to ever finish the line to Leatherhead then?

 

[BestWestern]

Platform 3 at Worcester Shrub Hill never gets any use: it's a south-facing bay and is really short, I think it could only fit 2 carriages.

Not even two! A very bizarre layout indeed there.

Portsmouth Harbour no longer has a platform 2, it was removed some years ago during work to deal with structural issues I believe. The station stands on stilts and was slowly sinking into the mud or somesuch from what I recall being told. The resulting big hole now has grating over it for the length of the platform, with railings along the platform edge.

Another odd one is Westbury, where there are three platforms numbered 1 - 3, but with an additional disused platform edge 'behind' platform 1. Well before my time, but presumably when the track there was lifted the other platforms must have been renumbered?

Bristol Temple Meads has no platform 14, and no longer uses platform 2. Number 2 is one of the west end bays, which remains but is now used only for stabling stock, and number 14 just doesn't exist.

 

[Eagle]

Another odd one is Westbury, where there are three platforms numbered 1 - 3, but with an additional disused platform edge 'behind' platform 1. Well before my time, but presumably when the track there was lifted the other platforms must have been renumbered?

What about Chippenham, where the disused trackless platform is the one that the station buildings are on? Slightly surreal.
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Platform 3 at Worcester Shrub Hill never gets any use: it's a south-facing bay and is really short, I think it could only fit 2 carriages.

It's 70 metres long, which is enough for three coaches of 20 m or 23 m stock.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Birmingham Moor Street has a platform number 5, it has some rusty old track laid out beneath it but it is not connected to the running lines. There was a steam train there for about ten years until it got removed for restoration last month.

Platform 5 is signposted from the concourse and it briefly had LED departure screens along it for a few weeks after bay platforms 3 & 4 reopened for use in 2010. Those screens were relocated onto the concourse near the flower shop when somebody realised what had happened!

Platform 5 might reopen one day, and there is plenty of room for a fourth south facing bay platform (6) in the space currently occupied by a disused siding beyond platform 5. Maybe if the Camp Hill lines get their much discussed spur into Moor Street then we will see something happen.

 

[edwin_m]

Bristol Temple Meads has no platform 14, and no longer uses platform 2. Number 2 is one of the west end bays, which remains but is now used only for stabling stock, and number 14 just doesn't exist.

Bristol TM has five double-length platform faces each of which has two numbers, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10 and 11/12. There are no mid-platform signals but the route indicators on the approach signals tell drivers which end of the platform to stop at (there are some orange cases holding white illuminated boards with black Xs to show drivers the limits of each platform).

The furthest island from the main entrance is too short to be split into two faces but is numbered 13/15 instead of 13/14 as it is mainly accessed from the east and drivers can just remember if they get an odd number from this direction to stop in the nearer part of the platform.

I believe this is a longstanding arrangement - certainly there is a GWR-looking wooden sign on 13/15 giving the numbers of the other platforms accessible via the staircase.

At Cardiff Central I believe the glazed tile platform numbers next to the subway stairs are part of the listed fabric of the station, so the platforms are unlikely to be re-numbered and platform zero will remain so named for the foreseeable future.