possible use for the platform no. 3 of the Wellington(Shropshire) station

[Stephen Lee]

As I have heard, Originally, during the peak of the station, 5 platforms were in service, 2 bay platforms, of which one survives and 3 through platforms, of which 2 survive. Despite that Platform 3 survived and was not removed like the old Platform 1 and Platform 5, service has been limited since 2008 when the Wellington-Walsall service was removed. I wondered what is the possible use of the platform? Say for an example, maybe a Wellington-Birmingham New Street service?

 

[JonathanH]

As I have heard, Originally, during the peak of the station, 5 platforms were in service, 2 bay platforms, of which one survives and 3 through platforms, of which 2 survive. Despite that Platform 3 survived and was not removed like the old Platform 1 and Platform 5, service has been limited since 2008 when the Wellington-Walsall service was removed. I wondered what is the possible use of the platform? Say for an example, maybe a Wellington-Birmingham New Street service?

Why does the platform need to be used?

It was previously used for the Wellington to Walsall service as you indicate. It appears to be deemed better to run a through service from Shrewsbury to Birmingham than one which terminates at Wellington. There appears not to be demand for an additional Wellington to Wolverhampton service calling at the smaller stations to speed up the Shrewsbury service so I guess it will remain unused for the time being. Retaining the platform allows something different to happen in the future, but at the moment, that seems unlikely.

Looking at RTT, it appears to see use for a reversing move for a track machine / de-icer type Q-path movement.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/WLN/2021-02-03/0625-0635?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/H09248/2021-02-03/detailed

 

[CBlue]

As I have heard, Originally, during the peak of the station, 5 platforms were in service, 2 bay platforms, of which one survives and 3 through platforms, of which 2 survive. Despite that Platform 3 survived and was not removed like the old Platform 1 and Platform 5, service has been limited since 2008 when the Wellington-Walsall service was removed. I wondered what is the possible use of the platform? Say for an example, maybe a Wellington-Birmingham New Street service?

There's a fair few stations out there that have platforms which see little or no services use them. Huntingdon P1 springs to mind as an example, does it really matter that there isn't a service from there?

 

[30907]

It was previously used for the Wellington to Walsall service as you indicate. It appears to be deemed better to run a through service from Shrewsbury to Birmingham than one which terminates at Wellington. There appears not to be demand for an additional Wellington to Wolverhampton service calling at the smaller stations to speed up the Shrewsbury service so I guess it will remain unused for the time being. Retaining the platform allows something different to happen in the future, but at the moment, that seems unlikely.

The present timetable, works efficiently with all trains running through to Shrewsbury and smart turnrounds there. A re-cast timetable (without the split between TfW and WMT) might work more efficiently with a stopping train turning back at Wellington. (That's ignoring whether demand would best be served by 2tph or 3tph between Wellington and Shrewsbury - I'd guess it's marginal either way, but hope someone will correct me.

 

[Kite159]

I believe in the past few years it has seen use to terminate additional trains run for the airshow at Cosford