Trivia: Downsized stations that are shells of their former selves?

[TheRightTrack]

What stations are there in the uk which are shadows of what they used to be?

I mean it in the sense of, did the station have more platforms which are now abandoned, or if the station was once busy but now not.

March in Cambridgeshire springs to mind for me as it had 7 platforms and now only has 2 operational ones with the rest rotting away.

Any other such examples?

 

[NER1621]

Stockton-on-Tees.

 

[A S Leib]

Lots of seaside town examples, I suspect (Skegness is the one which comes to mind first).

 

[steamybrian]

Christs Hospital reduced from 7 platforms in the 1960s to the present 2 platforms
Epsom Downs was once a 7 platform terminus now replaced with a new one platform station.
Exmouth was reduced from 4 platforms to the now one platform in use.
East Grinstead had 6 platforms until 1967 when the High level platforms were closed leaving the present low level 2 platforms
Blackpool North had a large number (?) of platforms reduced to present 6
Aberystwyth reduced from 5 to the present 1 platform
Barmouth Junction /Morfa Mawwdach was 4 platforms until 1965 and now 1 platform

 

[Taunton]

Both Tattenham Corner and Epsom Downs, either end of the Epsom racecourse.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Chinley, once an important main line junction with five platforms. Now just an unstaffed island platform, essentially a wayside local station.

 

[A S Leib]

Bishop Auckland had three or four platforms at one point; now down to the Darlington branch and the Weardale Railway on the same platform edge in the same way as Ormskirk.

 

[fgwrich]

Newquay, although that is having a slow and steady revival with the second platform reinstatement.

 

[Richard Scott]

Bradford Forster Square has got to be one of the bigger downsized stations?

 

[DM352]

Blackpool South springs to mind and in this day surprised it is not a through to a reduced Central but that bit is a different discussion.

South is friendlier than Blackpool North as you can go to the platform without the gatekeeper.

Another is Duddeston.

 

[BrummieBobby]

Sadly, there are countless examples over the network; a sign of the misguided management of the railway over a number of years.

I would suggest that a very good example of this is Duddeston. A former 4 platform station now down to 2, the former carriage sheds bricked up to prevent vandalism, the two former platforms crudely fenced off and left to slowly disappear under ever increasing vegetation; the rails that ran through the abandoned platforms rusty beyond recognition, their OLE removed. The platforms that are still in use look fairly neglected, with a ticket office open for two hours a day and a tiny bus shelter on the platform, coupled with further vegetation and litter strewn virtually everywhere in the cess and 4 foot.

Coupled with this, the station and surrounds feel quite hostile in the evening.

 

[HarryF]

Stranraer (Harbour) no longer has the ferry interchange as the ferry terminal has moved to Cairnryan.
I believe there also used to be a second platform too which is now inaccessible.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Surprised nobody has yet mentioned Manchester Victoria. Yes it still has 6 platforms plus Metrolink but back in the day that number was 17. And more if you count the adjacent and linked Manchester Exchange station. How we could do with (some of) that lost capacity today.

 

[D6130]

Stranraer (Harbour) no longer has the ferry interchange as the ferry terminal has moved to Cairnryan.
I believe there also used to be a second platform too which is now inaccessible.

Originally three platforms. There was a short bay at the end of the present platform 1.

 

[swt_passenger]

Manors. 9 covered platforms, 4 on the mainline and 5 for the Blyth and Tyne route via Gosforth. Reduced to one short island platform that’s not exactly easy to find…

 

[Mr. SW]

Newmarket.

 

[D6130]

Llandudno.

Aberdeen.

 

[londiscape]

Windsor and Eton Central? Original grand station is now a shopping centre, with the trains relegated to a single platform out the back.

 

[D6130]

Barnstaple Junction.

Bridlington.

 

[thenorthern]

Ambergate used to have 6 platforms on a triangular and it's now just a single small platform.

Uttoxeter used to be quite a big station but is now just 2 platforms.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Surprised nobody has yet mentioned Manchester Victoria. Yes it still has 6 platforms plus Metrolink but back in the day that number was 17. And more if you count the adjacent and linked Manchester Exchange station. How we could do with (some of) that lost capacity today.

Manchester Victoria was/is top of my list too.

 

[notyolosmh]

Barry Island

 

[12C]

Carnforth used to have 6 platforms in its heyday, now down to 2 and no longer has WCML stopping traffic.

 

[Springs Branch]

Chinley, once an important main line junction with five platforms. Now just an unstaffed island platform, essentially a wayside local station.

March used to have 7 platforms, services to most points of the compass and was an important junction/interchange for longer distance journeys. At least some station buildings have been retained, unlike the bus shelter at Chinley.

Hellifield is another example which previously was an important junction station with some terminating services, but no longer has that function (but has retained its heritage station buildings)

Heysham (Port) is now another basic terminus à la Blackpool South - which historically featured multiple platforms, local electric trains to Morecambe & Lancaster and until the 1970s, Inter-City trains to Euston & Birmingham. Not to mention the Belfast Boat Express to/from Manchester Vic.

 

[trainswitheddy]

Gainsborough Central definitely worth a mention. Gorgeous station that sadly didn't survive to today.

 

[Harpers Tate]

Penistone.

 

[froggy9]

Wigan NW. Formerly 10 platforms now effectively 5. Hardly any roofing either

 

[SeanG]

Perth springs to mind for me. Grand buildings but feels more or less abandoned at times with much fewer services than one would expect for it's grandness. I absolutely love it though

 

[a_c_skinner]

Morecambe. Someone else will have to detail it, with the line cut back from the seafront to a much less useful location. Presumably to make room for the road to Morrisons.

 

[Mat17]

Normanton

Not so much downsized but Wakefield Kirkgate prior to the refurbishment looked like the perfect example of derelict grandeur.