Wimbledon platform 6 and 7

[adc82140]

Back in the 90s when I used to commute to Wimbledon, there were a handful of services booked in to platforms 6 and 7 in the early morning and early evening peaks respectively. In recent years these platforms have been fenced off for safety reasons. When did the regular use of these platforms cease?

 

[MichaelAMW]

Once upon a time, the outer suburban trains, by which I mean those that were all stations beyond Surbiton to Guildford via either Cobham or Woking, were fast from Surbiton to Waterloo and ran on the (now) fast lines. The Wimbledon stop was added in the late 1960s/early 1970s and eventually Clapham Junction too - I'd have to check the archive to determine exactly when. Subsequently they were moved the slow lines and Vauxhall and Earlsfield added too. As a result, what used to be regular use of those platforms stopped and they were fenced off to reduce risk, as has been done at several other places. Whilst there are additional trains calling at West Byfleet, Weybridge and Walton, and have been for some time, it does means the smaller stations that still only get the half-hourly stopper have seen an increased journey time. In the 1960s Esher - Waterloo was 24 mins with one stop; now it's 30 mins with five.

 

[Dibbo4025]

They're still in regular use - notably platform 7 in the morning as trains come into service from the depot (which has no access to platform 8) as well as all day on Sundays when the BSK/AON services make fast line calls all day. The gates are opened just prior to any service using these platforms.

 

[swt_passenger]

They're still in regular use - notably platform 7 in the morning as trains come into service from the depot (which has no access to platform 8) as well as all day on Sundays when the BSK/AON services make fast line calls all day. The gates are opened just prior to any service using these platforms.

I don’t think the gating actually reduced any fast line calls did it? IIRC in 2019 they still had the Wimbledon tennis fortnight extra calls in longer distance trains, as you say they just have to control access at the time.

 

[adc82140]

Didn't realise that the fences had gates in them!

 

[Gloster]

There are sliding gates. A few years ago I went up during Wimbledon fortnight as I was going to Clapham Junction and Wimbledon was a more convenient place to change than Woking (I was using a Portsmouth fast). Even though the gates were manned and part open, I had to go up on to the bridge and back down to the other side of the platform, rather than just crossing it, to get my onward train. There may have been some sort of crowd control, but making me go all that way seemed excessive. Particularly as very few people had got off the Portsmouth.

 

[Meglos]

When there are planned restrictions into Waterloo/Clapham Junction (such as last Saturday), the Chessington and Dorking services often terminate on Platform 6, and the Up fast services route via Platform 5. The terminated services, then also depart from Platform 6 back to Chessington and Dorking.

 

[Dr_Paul]

I find it rather amusing that whenever a fast goes through Wimbledon, passengers on the slow platforms (5 or 8) are still requested over the tannoy to stay well away from the fast platform edge (6 or 7), although the platform fence keeps us a good 10 feet from the edge. Presumably the old announcement is kept for when the gates in the fence are for some reason opened. I've seen them open at occasional off-peak times when a service on one of the fast lines is scheduled to stop at the station.

 

[Southern]

Still sees use in disruption too, had a late running Hampton Court use 7 last year - boarded at Clapham Platform 9 so it called at Earlsfield on the DF, eventually crossing onto the DS at New Malden.

 

[Meglos]

Still sees use in disruption too, had a late running Hampton Court use 7 last year - boarded at Clapham Platform 9 so it called at Earlsfield on the DF, eventually crossing onto the DS at New Malden.

That has to rate as a rare as my solo 456. I've not seen a 'slow' stopper on the DF at Earlsfield in more than 20 years. If it only crossed to the DS at New Malden then presumably it missed out on Raynes Park, that would've pissed off a lot of passengers!

 

[Southern]

That has to rate as a rare as my solo 456. I've not seen a 'slow' stopper on the DF at Earlsfield in more than 20 years. If it only crossed to the DS at New Malden then presumably it missed out on Raynes Park, that would've pissed off a lot of passengers!

Ran non-stop Wimbledon - Surbiton so indeed flew through Raynes Park - recall we overtook something at New Malden so presume this is why we didn't call