Unusual Station Layouts

[SprinterMan]

I was thinking about all the different station layouts in the country today, and there are some odd ones. Please add to this list and comment if I have missed any. What is the most unusually layed out station in the country that you have come across? :P

"Triangular" Layout - 3 pairs of platforms arranged in a triangular layout
Shipley
Earlestown

"X" Layout - 2 pairs of platforms on lines at different levels at roughly 90 degrees to each other
Shotton
Smethwick Galton Bridge
Lichfield Trent Valley
Tamworth
Retford
Willesden Junction
Liverpool Central
Moorfields

"Y" Layout - Junction stations where the platforms start where the line parts and continue down both branches
Helsby
Kidsgrove
Clapham Junction
Hither Green
Lewisham
Paisley Gilmour Street
Perth
Cheadle Hulme
Dinting
Dovey Junction
Virginia Water
Barnt Green
Motherwell
Kilwinning
Lewes
Sutton
St. Denys
Marks Tey (sort of)

"Half-Y" Layout - Partially closed "Y" stations on mainlines where the mainline platforms are closed and platforms only remain on the branch line
Carnforth
Stone
Brixton
Bethnal Green
West St. Leonards (although it never had platforms on the mainline)

"Double Bi-directional" Layout - 2 platform stations where trains routinely call at both platforms in both directions
Worcester Foregate Street
Thorpe-Le-Soken
Bare Lane

"Half Bi-directional" Layout - 2 platform stations where trains routinely call at one platform in both directions due to the position of a crossover
Ladybank
Craven Arms
Guide Bridge

"A Bit On The Side" Layout - Stations where one or two platforms are in a completely different place to the main platforms (not counting LUL/Light Rail/etc.)
Liskeard
Glasgow Queen Street
Glasgow Central
Manchester Piccadilly
Wrexham General (former Wrexham Exchange platform)
Liverpool South Parkway (could also be considered a non y-shaped "Y")
Liverpool Lime Street
Watford Junction (could also be considered a non y-shaped "Y")

"Spread Out" Layout - Platforms are far way from each other and/or are separated from each other by something, despite being on the same line
Holyhead - Platforms are on opposite sides of harbour
Llandudno - Platforms separated by car park/taxi rank
London St. Pancras - EMT and SET/Eurostar platforms are basically different stations
Buckenham - one platform is alot further up the line from the other
Mirfield - one platform is far away from the others
London Marylebone - two platform are alot further up the line from the others
Marsden - one platform is far away from the others
Dilton Marsh - one platform is alot further up the line from the other

"Back to Back" Layout - Stations with terminal platforms at both ends with some through lines also
Edinburgh Waverley (Sort of - see below)
Crewe
Preston (?)
Cambridge
Bristol Temple Meads
Chester
Colchester (?)
Perth
York
Ormskirk (No through lines)
Kirby (No through lines)
Springburn
Newcastle
Stirling (?)

"2 in 1" Layout - Stations with odd pointwork that seem like 2 stations in 1 place
Inverness
Glenthroes with Thornton
Southport

"Too Many Platforms" Layout - Stations with more platforms than running lines
Ulverston
Yeovil Pen Mill

"Permanent right-hand running" Layout - Stations with permanent right-hand running
Muir of Ord
Axminster
Ardlui (?)
Arrochar (?)

"Artificial Terminus" Layout - Through stations where a reverse is necessary to continue the journey

Bere Alston
Bourne End
Coombe Junction Halt
Battersby
Cromer
Colchester Town (Sort of)
Castleford (Sort of)
Eastbourne (Sort of)
Swansea (Sort of)
Carmarthen (Sort of)
Georgemans Junction (Sort of)

Please add to this list with more layouts/examples of these layouts.
Adam

 

[Michael.Y]

Holyhead is V/Y shaped - Platform 1 and Platform 2/4 are split and are on two sides of the old dock.

Out of interest, how many stations are shaped like Crewe and Chester - i.e. running through lines in the centre with bay platforms at either end? Temple Meads would be an extreme example I guess....

 

[SprinterMan]

Holyhead is V/Y shaped - Platform 1 and Platform 2/4 are split and are on two sides of the old dock.

Out of interest, how many stations are shaped like Crewe and Chester - i.e. running through lines in the centre with bay platforms at either end? Temple Meads would be an extreme example I guess....

Damn! I knew I had forgotten a category I had planned to put in there. I tried to do this thread last night but either the site went down or my internet packed up when I tried to post it. Thanks for reminding me about Holyhead, it is now added to the main list.

Cambridge and Colchester are also like Crewe/Chester/Bristol TM, and Preston might be as well.

Adam

 

[12CSVT]

Inverness is a 'Y' shaped terminus

 

[SprinterMan]

Inverness is a 'Y' shaped terminus

Inverness is a weird one, as from what I know of it is almost 2 stations that share an area, the point work is so separated. I've called it a "2 in 1" station :P

Adam

 

[IrishDave]

A few more I've thought of:

X layout: Willesden Junction
Half Y-layout: Brixton
Double bi-di: Bare Lane

As for plain Y-layout stations, there are lots of them depending on how you think about it, especially in the Southern region: Clapham Junction is a rather large example; others include Hither Green, Lewisham, Paisley Gilmour Street, and Perth.

Also, we surely need a category for Edinburgh Waverley, which is best described as two terminus stations back to back with a few through roads round the outside... I'm not sure if that's the same as Temple Meads or Crewe, or whether it deserves to be different...

 

[gnolife]

Cheadle Hulme, Dinting, Kidsgrove, Dovey Junction, Virginia Water, Barnt Green are all Ys

Wrexham General would count as a 'bit on the side' with the Borderlands being separate to the Chester - Shrewsbury

 

[SwindonPkwy]

Great thread SprinterMan, I never knew there was a reason to visit Smethwick!!

 

[Liam]

I'm not sure how to describe Denham.

Perth is similar to Edinburgh Waverley. Through roads (platforms 4, 7 and the occasionally used 3) on the outside of North and South facing bays, though the North facing bays are now a fuelling point. Plus it is also a 'Y' with the Dundee platforms (1 and 2) added at a later date.

What about Glenrothes with Thornton? It looks like a standard 2 platform station, but platform 1 can only be used by services to and from Markinch, platform 2 can only be used by services to and from Kirkcaldy.

At Ladybank trains to and from Perth can only use platform 2 as the crossover is to the South of the station. Dundee-Edinburgh services use platform 1. So it half fills the criteria for the "Double Bi-directional" Layout.

 

[SprinterMan]

Thanks IrishDave, gnolife and Liam, all added to main list :P
I have lumped EDB and in with Crewe for the time being.
Adam

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Great thread SprinterMan, I never knew there was a reason to visit Smethwick!!

Thanks very much

And I assure you, Smethwick is a paradise on earth compared to Shotton
Adam

 

[4SRKT]

Guide Bridge is half bi-drectional, although whether the one train a week that uses the platform in the 'wrong' direction counts as 'routine' is another matter!

Liverpool South Parkway and Motherwell are Ys, as is Keighley, but do you count it if one of the sets of platforms is on a preserved line?

Dalmuir is a 'Y with its Y-fronts in a twist' because the line heading in the southerly direction leaves the station from the northern set of platforms and then dives under the line heading in the northerly direction.

York fits the back to back description, but because platforms 2 and 4 only lead to the Scarborough line it could also be considered a Y.

What about somewhere like West St Leonards, which is almost on top of a junction, but has platforms on only one of the lines, meaning that trains on the other line pass very close but cannot stop? Not a half-Y because there weren't ever platforms on the Eastbourne line, but a new category altogether perhaps.

Another category could be artificial terminus stations, where the through line has closed and all that remains is a branch line with a reversal. Bere Alston, Battersby Junction, Bourne End. Do these places have to begin with B?

 

[73001]

There are also stations like Ormskirk and Kirkby where there is one long platform (which used to be a through line) which is now essentially a double terminus. The through line was cut in the middle with trains leaving in 2 directions.

 

[D365]

Cambridge is more than just "Back-to-Back", but I don't know what it's called as a whole. Read up on it and add it's [unusual] features to the list

 

[IanD]

Kilwinning is a Y as is Lewes.

Mirfield has an odd layout - 2 platforms on a massive island serving trains heading East and a single platform on one westbound line not close to the other 2.

My favourite has to be Willesden Junction.

 

[jopsuk]

St Pancras. Even though the main shed platforms are all parallel, you've effectively got three stations on the upper level- the EMT and Southeastern stations, which are under the extension roof, the International station in the middle, with the buffer stops pretty much where they were in the old station- then a fourth down below for Thameslink. Cheating slightly, there's a fifth at the front, under Euston Road, for the subsurface lines, and a sixth for the tube lines. With the connections under the street, it becomes a single complex with Kings Cross, which has two almost entirely seperate sheds- the suburban one, and the main one (used though by a lot of suburban services).

So that's one station complex, eight "stations". Could become even more complex- one Crossrail 2 or 3 plan would have a station between St Pancras and Euston, with exits into both- so add on a ninth station for Crossrail and then however many effective stations the new Euston holds!
(one aspect may see the Euston Square platforms moved closer to the main station- Euston also has deep level tube platforms on a couple of the same lines as Kings Cross-St Pancras, indeed, one can ride in an endless loop only using "Northbound" trains between the two. Kings Cross St Pancras Euston would be quite a confusing looking interchange!)

 

[4SRKT]

Kilwinning is a Y as is Lewes.

Mirfield has an odd layout - 2 platforms on a massive island serving trains heading East and a single platform on one westbound line not close to the other 2.

Marsden also has a curious arrangement similar to this with most westbound trains using a newer platform built on a passing loop and not really part of the original station at all.

What about stations at junctions which have a bay platform that leads only to the branch? St Erth for starters. Cheekily extending this I'll add Limerick Junction.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

How about stations with permanent right hand running? Muir of Ord is certainly one and there is one on the West Highland. it's either Ardlui or Arrochar?

 

[district]

Marylebone maybe? The reason Chiltern have cheap fares from Aylesbury is that you have to walk most of the way into London when you get to the platform at Marylebone!

Sort of has a layout like:


|
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X|||

 

[infobleep]

Lewes is a Y station and then there is Reading with bays terminating at each end.

Christchurch Hospital use to have a Y layout I think. The disused platforms are heavily overgrown.

Wilesden Junction of course also use to have mainline platforms as well.

Guildford station is on the whole straight but the lines at the northern side do head off in three separate directions. Which other stations have lines going off in that many or more directions so soon after leaving the station? South it splits into two but not until after the two tunnels.

 

[Searle]

Sutton is a Y station, and Meadowhall Interchange has a bit on the side

Also, Northallerton must get a shout, not sure what category though. Spread out maybe? :P

 

[lyndhurst25]

What about Ulverston? Two running lines but three platforms.

 

[Dumpton Park]

How about *deceptive* layouts? Ramsgate has an extremly conventional layout with two large island platforms, and looks for all the world like somewhere like Bromley South. But only about 1 train an hour actually passes through. Most of the time it functions a double-ended terminus.

Dp

 

[dcd]

Southampton Central has 5 platforms with 5 being a bay that is hardly ever used.

2 and 3 are split as 2a 2b and 3a 3b.
Southern Services use 2a or 3a as a terminus and FGW Southampton-Great Malvern use 2b or 3b as a terminus.

All lines can be used bi-directionally.



Dillon Marsh has 2 platforms which are not opposite one another and some distance apart.

St Deny's is a Y with one branch going towards London and the other to Portsmouth from Southampton
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Scotrail84]

Springburn is a 2 in one? 2 bays with 2 through roads. 2 bays are doo lines and the through rds are used by Cumbernauld and Falkirk Grahamston services. Bi directional too.

 

[jopsuk]

Stirling has both North and South bays between platforms 3 and 6- little used though. It's also missing platform 1, a bay on the main building side of the station- and there was a further bay on that side as well.

 

[SouthStand]

Would guess Leeds is fairly unusual in having terminating "bays" long enough for a IC225 set, as well as the usual though platforms.

 

[Scotrail84]

Stirling has both North and South bays between platforms 3 and 6- little used though. It's also missing platform 1, a bay on the main building side of the station- and there was a further bay on that side as well.

You can't depart from one set of the bays with a passenger train, I'm sure it's the north bays that are for ecs and stabling purposes.

 

[simonm]

Axminster has two platforms but they are the wrong way round, trains pass left to left instead of right to right. (ie wrong side of the "road").

 

[Kryten2340]

Newcastle has a back to back layout. Platform 1 is a terminating bay at the east end and 9-12 are terminating bays at the west end with 2-8 all through platforms. Granted 5-8 are two physical platforms but these are still through lines.

 

[alexf380]

Isn't Motherwell a Y station?