Trivia Missing platform numbers and reasons

[74A]

So some stations have missing platform numbers. Ones I can think of and the reasons why are

Paddington platform 13. When platform 12 was extended it cut across the access to platform 13. Simpler to eliminate 13 than resignal the route indicator for platform 14.

Bristol Temple Meads no platform 14. Most platforms are so long they are split so have 2 numbers. Ie 5/6, 7/8 etc. When a driver approaches Bristol from London an odd number in the indicator box they go right down the end of the platform and even number they stop half way. So to keep the logic the last platform is numbered 15 not 14.

Cardiff Central no platform 5. I don't know the reason for this. I was told once that 5 is similar to a rude word in Welsh but this doesn't seem likely!

 

[BeijingDave]

For about 30 years (maybe more), Warrington Bank Quay had platforms 1, 2, 3, (unused bay), 5. The unused, north-facing bay was not numbered and not allowed to be used for passenger services.

Only in recent memory was it renumbered to 1, 2, 3, 4.

 

[ls2270]

Watford Junction also has no Platform 5 (not sure why on that one).

Portsmouth Harbour has no Platform 2 as the track was removed about 25 years ago to reduce the possible potential weight on the structure underneath the station.

Salisbury has no platforms numbered 1 or 5 although they exist as non passenger lines.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Huddersfield has no platform 3 (this used to be at the Leeds end of platform 1 near the stable block, and was last used to stable parcels vehicles and/or spare locos, occasionally a Gronk) and no platform 7. The site of 7 is now a flowerbed/shrubbery at the Manchester end of the island platform.

 

[The Planner]

Stafford has no platform 2. Presuambly a bay for the disused branch to Utoxeter.

 

[louis97]

When a driver approaches Bristol from London an odd number in the indicator box they go right down the end of the platform and even number they stop half way. So to keep the logic the last platform is numbered 15 not 14.

However this is not the case anymore, since resignalling the platform number displayed is only ever the number at that end of the station. It is the aspect received that now tells the driver how far through the station they can proceed.

 

[WizCastro197]

Shrewsbury has platforms 3-7 but no 1&2. Actually are 1&2 still there, just not used?

 

[louis97]

There is no platform 1 and 2 at Plymouth. Platform 1 was previously a bay which is now where the staff car park is and platform 2 is now split into two sidings either side of the direct access to platform 4 from the concourse.

 

[mp01]

So some stations have missing platform numbers. Ones I can think of and the reasons why are

Paddington platform 13. When platform 12 was extended it cut across the access to platform 13. Simpler to eliminate 13 than resignal the route indicator for platform 14.

Bristol Temple Meads no platform 14. Most platforms are so long they are split so have 2 numbers. Ie 5/6, 7/8 etc. When a driver approaches Bristol from London an odd number in the indicator box they go right down the end of the platform and even number they stop half way. So to keep the logic the last platform is numbered 15 not 14.

Cardiff Central no platform 5. I don't know the reason for this. I was told once that 5 is similar to a rude word in Welsh but this doesn't seem likely!

Platform 5 at Cardiff Central used to be a west facing bay between what platforms 3 and 4.

 

[swt_passenger]

There was a fairly long discussion about why platform numbers are not fixed back in September.

Why aren't the platforms at UK railway stations renumbered?

Hopefully a self-explanatory title, but sitting on Shrewsbury railway station yesterday, I started wondering why the platforms were numbered 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. I mean, clearly at some point there were 8 platforms (though not sure if the prison platform would've been numbered!), but there's now...

www.railforums.co.uk

I think there are a few other older threads on the same subject but I haven’t searched for them yet.

 

[CyrusWuff]

There's no Platform 7 at Stratford, and until the DLR came along there was no Platform 4 either. They would have been used for a Fenchurch Street - Stepney (now Limehouse) - Bow Road - Stratford shuttle following the Shenfield electrification, but it was never introduced.

 

[scragend]

Platform 2 at Wigan North Western is now out of use after Platform 3 was extended, but the surviving platforms haven't been renumbered.

 

[Llanigraham]

So some stations have missing platform numbers. Ones I can think of and the reasons why are

Paddington platform 13. When platform 12 was extended it cut across the access to platform 13. Simpler to eliminate 13 than resignal the route indicator for platform 14.

Bristol Temple Meads no platform 14. Most platforms are so long they are split so have 2 numbers. Ie 5/6, 7/8 etc. When a driver approaches Bristol from London an odd number in the indicator box they go right down the end of the platform and even number they stop half way. So to keep the logic the last platform is numbered 15 not 14.

Cardiff Central no platform 5. I don't know the reason for this. I was told once that 5 is similar to a rude word in Welsh but this doesn't seem likely!

The Welsh for 5 is "pump", pronounced "pimp".
Was 5 previuosly a bay in one of the platforms?

 

[Rescars]

Prior to rebuilding, London Bridge lost a terminal platform (IIRC platform 7) when some reconstruction was made to the approach to platform 6 on the through lines. The platform face remained and became a cycle storage area for a while. All very different now.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Watford Junction also has no Platform 5 (not sure why on that one).

There was a loop line along the 'back' of Platform 6. Pretty sure I've seen a film with a Bakerloo Line tube train in it.

Platforms 1-4 were wholly separate from the 'original' main line platforms.

 

[Western 52]

The Welsh for 5 is "pump", pronounced "pimp".
Was 5 previuosly a bay in one of the platforms?

There are still signs to platform 5 in the main subway, as part of the main wall tiles. I think they have been preserved, although that platform was removed in the 1960s I think. Given the congestion at times at the station, it would no doubt be handy these days if it had been retained.

 

[james73]

Stirling doesn't have a Platform 1. It's a car park now.

 

[InOban]

Oban has neither 1 nor 2.

 

[rf_ioliver]

The Welsh for 5 is "pump", pronounced "pimp".
Was 5 previuosly a bay in one of the platforms?

At the western end of 3 and 4:

The fate of CardiffCentral's platform 5. - Free Online Library

Free Online Library: The fate of CardiffCentral's platform 5.(News) by "Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales)"; News, opinion and commentary General interest

www.thefreelibrary.com

IN response to Ray Jenkin who asked what happened to Platform 5 at Cardiff Central (Western Mail, September 3).
The platform was what is known as a Bay Platform and was located at the western end of platforms three and four.
It was short in length and indented in to the platforms, which made them very narrow.
It was quite usual to see parcel rail vans in the platform where parcels were being loaded and unloaded.
A few passenger trains did depart from there including an evening commuter service to Porthcawl.

The wikipedia page for Cardiff Central mentions the fate of platform 5 and a reference to a Network Rail document discussing the reinstatement of the platform

 

[The exile]

However this is not the case anymore, since resignalling the platform number displayed is only ever the number at that end of the station. It is the aspect received that now tells the driver how far through the station they can proceed.

Even when it was, it would have been the other way around. Coming from London, the even numbers are at the far end.

 

[Anonymous10]

So some stations have missing platform numbers. Ones I can think of and the reasons why are

Paddington platform 13. When platform 12 was extended it cut across the access to platform 13. Simpler to eliminate 13 than resignal the route indicator for platform 14.

Bristol Temple Meads no platform 14. Most platforms are so long they are split so have 2 numbers. Ie 5/6, 7/8 etc. When a driver approaches Bristol from London an odd number in the indicator box they go right down the end of the platform and even number they stop half way. So to keep the logic the last platform is numbered 15 not 14.

Cardiff Central no platform 5. I don't know the reason for this. I was told once that 5 is similar to a rude word in Welsh but this doesn't seem likely!

I seem to have read somewhere 5 was a bay platform

 

[MadMac]

Prior to the 1979s rebuild, Motherwell had 1, 2, 5 and 6. 3 and 4 had disappeared over the years.

Glasgow Queen Street had 1-7 upstairs and 10-11 downstairs. 8 & 9 disappeared in, I believe, the 60s.

 

[Tester]

There was a loop line along the 'back' of Platform 6. Pretty sure I've seen a film with a Bakerloo Line tube train in it.

Platforms 1-4 were wholly separate from the 'original' main line platforms.

Watford Junction would rather like its platform 5 back, so that we could have more Avanti stoppers!

Unfortunately the station rebuilding obliterated that possibility

Tangentially related, what is now platform 10 was previously platform 11 - otherwise there would have been another gap!

 

[150249]

Doesn't count but I'm still trying to convince my friend that Exeter St David's has no Platform 7 and does in fact have a Platform 2. Maybe I should take him there!

 

[Tester]

There's no Platform 7 at Stratford, and until the DLR came along there was no Platform 4 either. They would have been used for a Fenchurch Street - Stepney (now Limehouse) - Bow Road - Stratford shuttle following the Shenfield electrification, but it was never introduced.

Stratford of course makes up for this loss by having a platform 10a on a different island from platform 10. It would be no more confusing if it was platform 7!

 

[CyrusWuff]

Stratford of course makes up for this loss by having a platform 10a on a different island from platform 10. It would be no more confusing if it was platform 7!

What should have been Platform 7 is, shockingly for Stratford, exactly where it should be! Namely a bay between Platform 6 (Eastbound Central Line) and Platform 8 (Down Electric), as can be seen here on a Google Maps satellite view.

 

[louis97]

Even when it was, it would have been the other way around. Coming from London, the even numbers are at the far end.

Well spotted, I'd missed that.

 

[The Quincunx]

West Ealing has platforms 3, 4 and 5 but no 1 and 2, which were on the main line but removed years ago. In the same vein, Acton Main Line has no platform 1.

 

[rower40]

Edinburgh platforms 5 and 6 were added in to a 5-and-6-shaped hole when the Motorail sidings were converted to passenger use.

 

[PGAT]

Seaford has no Platform 1, only Platform 2