• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Trivia: Stations that are really two different stations joined together

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Mikey C

Established Member
Joined
11 Feb 2013
Messages
6,830

Ken H

On Moderation
Joined
11 Nov 2018
Messages
6,272
Location
N Yorks
Paddington
The 2 GW platforms (13 & 14?) and the H&C platforms stuck out beyond the train shed. Originally for through trains from the GW onto the Metropolitan Railway. The Hammersmith branch was a GW/Met joint line. And the Metropolitan was mixed gauge when built.

And does Kings cross count before electrification when there was York Road platform where trains stopped before going down the tunnels onto the widened lines. There was another platform to the west of the station where trains from Moorgate and the Southern Railway via Snow Hill stopped after they had emerged from the Hotel curve.
 

47271

Established Member
Joined
28 Apr 2015
Messages
2,983
I was going to suggest Perth too. Platforms 1&2 (Glasgow / Dundee Aberdeen) is through a little passageway from the bulk of the station. The platforms are open and look better cared for than the other 5 platforms which are enclosed under increasingly dilapidated canopies.
The original station building is the large ornate block between P4, the bays and P7. P1-3 came later. The frontage was the wall that now faces onto P4 and is partially concealed by the dilapidated overall roof. The period between the two projects was really quite short, so to say that it's two separate stations is maybe stretching the point a bit.

Another Perth (original) station fact: it was designed by William Tite to an almost identical layout and architectural style to Carlisle, right down to ramped road access to the north and a number of other instantly recognisable features. The present sprawling layout makes this less obvious, but if you imagine it without the later section then the similarities are very clear.
 

swt_passenger

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Apr 2010
Messages
31,269
does Oxford count. The chiltern platforms seem to be separate from the GW part
Don’t think they count at all. The present Chiltern platforms replaced existing bays on the same site and were effectively only a lengthening built to modern construction standards.
 

swt_passenger

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Apr 2010
Messages
31,269
The Southern station was originally built by the South Eastern, as the terminus of its line from Redhill. Prior to the recent rebuilding, IIRC there were two Southern platforms, 4a and 4b, since rebuilding there are three, numbered 4, 5, & 6.
[Reading]
In fact the first change made was to open platform 4a only. Platform 4b was a later addition, someone will probably know the exact dates.
 

Taunton

Established Member
Joined
1 Aug 2013
Messages
10,020
Being pedantic, there’s loads of examples on LU where stations were built by different independent companies.
The worst of all has to be Canary Wharf, all built by TfL in recent times, absolutely no connection between them. Between DLR and Jubilee Line is a labyrinth dogleg through a shopping centre, and when Crossrail opens that will be a third, nowhere near either of the other two. Yet all are shown as interchange.
 

greyman42

Established Member
Joined
14 Aug 2017
Messages
4,894
The worst of all has to be Canary Wharf, all built by TfL in recent times, absolutely no connection between them. Between DLR and Jubilee Line is a labyrinth dogleg through a shopping centre, and when Crossrail opens that will be a third, nowhere near either of the other two. Yet all are shown as interchange.
I see your point but if you know where you are going, which most people who use these stations will, its pretty straight forward.
 

DelW

Established Member
Joined
15 Jan 2015
Messages
3,835
[Reading]
In fact the first change made was to open platform 4a only. Platform 4b was a later addition, someone will probably know the exact dates.
Do you know if the Waterloo and Tonbridge services shared the single platform 4a then, or did some run through into the GWR platforms? I'd have thought using a single platform would have been an operating nightmare, but I suppose Southern Region services into Reading would have been less frequent then - maybe half-hourly to Waterloo and hourly to Tonbridge?
I first used the Guildford to Reading line in the early 1970s, but I have no recollection of the service pattern or the Reading station layout. I do remember being packed into one-and-a-half Tadpole coaches though :'(.
 

swt_passenger

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Apr 2010
Messages
31,269
Do you know if the Waterloo and Tonbridge services shared the single platform 4a then, or did some run through into the GWR platforms? I'd have thought using a single platform would have been an operating nightmare, but I suppose Southern Region services into Reading would have been less frequent then - maybe half-hourly to Waterloo and hourly to Tonbridge?
I first used the Guildford to Reading line in the early 1970s, but I have no recollection of the service pattern or the Reading station layout. I do remember being packed into one-and-a-half Tadpole coaches though :'(.
I had the same thoughts. Presumably though the Waterloo trains didn’t have the long turnround time they have become used to in recent years.

I’ve just this minute searched again and found an online google book, “Southern Region through the 1970s”, which explains that platform 4B opened in 1974, and that it would mean trains from the Southern would no longer “interfere with the Western main line”.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...q=reading station platform 4a opening&f=false
 

d9009alycidon

Member
Joined
22 Jun 2011
Messages
837
Location
Eaglesham
I was going to suggest Perth too. Platforms 1&2 (Glasgow / Dundee Aberdeen) is through a little passageway from the bulk of the station. The platforms are open and look better cared for than the other 5 platforms which are enclosed under increasingly dilapidated canopies.

I am struggling to think of any Scottish examples that meet the criteria set out by the OP, Perth was built as a single joint station, Glasgow Central was only ever one station, extended a couple of times. The only long closed example was Muirkirk, where the GSWR station and Caledonian Station were side by side. The station was later re-positioned to the east and the old stations became the goods yard

Edit - knew there was another - Morningside station near Wishaw was an end on junction between the NBR and Caledonian with separate terminal platforms and a through track for freight connecting them
 
Last edited:

JamesT

Established Member
Joined
25 Feb 2015
Messages
2,641
Don’t think they count at all. The present Chiltern platforms replaced existing bays on the same site and were effectively only a lengthening built to modern construction standards.

Yes, that’s right. The ‘other’ Oxford station was Rewley Road, on the other side of the current forecourt where the Said Business School now sits.
 

trebor79

Established Member
Joined
8 Mar 2018
Messages
4,435
Does Bristol Temple Meads not count?
Yes, Bristol & Exeter station and GWR station built at right angles to each other. Originally there was a lift to move wagons between each station. Later an "Express platform" was built on a curve between the two stations, which subsequently developed into the existing layout.
 

camflyer

Member
Joined
13 Feb 2018
Messages
876
I see your point but if you know where you are going, which most people who use these stations will, its pretty straight forward.

I suppose Canary Wharf doesn't get many tourists is most commuters but I only pass through a couple times a year and find the layout really confusing.
 

DelW

Established Member
Joined
15 Jan 2015
Messages
3,835
I had the same thoughts. Presumably though the Waterloo trains didn’t have the long turnround time they have become used to in recent years.

I’ve just this minute searched again and found an online google book, “Southern Region through the 1970s”, which explains that platform 4B opened in 1974, and that it would mean trains from the Southern would no longer “interfere with the Western main line”.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UK6IDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT98&lpg=PT98&dq=reading+station+platform+4a+opening&source=bl&ots=YIvtRAtMec&sig=ACfU3U3IiywO28_2hn03kq9Xy-ioINH5JA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiR_qHtndThAhXKShUIHdYaDZY4ChDoATABegQIBRAB#v=onepage&q=reading station platform 4a opening&f=false
Thanks for that link. I wonder if the recently reinstated dive-under went out of use at the same time as 4b was added, since the book suggests that addition reduced or eliminated the need to run into the main platforms.

Thinking back to what I was doing at the time, I was using the Guildford to Reading line quite regularly in autumn 1974, but I have no recollection of what the station looked like then.
 

Mikey C

Established Member
Joined
11 Feb 2013
Messages
6,830
I suppose Canary Wharf doesn't get many tourists is most commuters but I only pass through a couple times a year and find the layout really confusing.

A lot of locals in the surrounding area use the shopping centre and the other facilities. I think people get used to it. At least with the DLR it's easy to see where the trains go and stations are!
 

edwin_m

Veteran Member
Joined
21 Apr 2013
Messages
24,793
Location
Nottingham
I suppose Canary Wharf doesn't get many tourists is most commuters but I only pass through a couple times a year and find the layout really confusing.
I suspect it is deliberately designed as such to maximise the number of people passing the shops. If you pick the right route, Heron Quays DLR is actually slightly nearer to Canary Wharf Jubilee than Canary Wharf DLR is. And the Crossrail station may turn out to be nearer to Poplar DLR.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top