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Wooden Steps from platform to train

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earthmover

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Do any National Rail Network railway stations still have those wooden boxes with steps to help especially passengers who are short climb onto a train where a platform is low. They used to be a feature of some stations in Wales if I recall, the Settle & Carlisle Line and the West Country especially in rural locations.
 
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yorksrob

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Definately still one at St Bees. Think there may be a couple of others dotted around the Cumbrian coast.
 

Mag_seven

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They tend to exist where the cost of improving the steeping distance by undertaking platform works is not economically viable. The "Harrington Hump" was a low cost solution to this.

Harrington Hump - Wikipedia

The Harrington Hump is a modular and easy-to-install system by which the height of a railway platform can be increased at relatively low cost. The system takes its name from Harrington railway station in Cumbria, England, the location of the first production version. Harrington Humps have slowly, from 2011, been installed on other UK railway stations.
 

Fincra5

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Dunrobin Castle still does... but the platform is basically on the ballast :D
 

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D6130

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Horton-in-Ribblesdale still has them. Most of the stations on the Kyle line used to have them, but it's a few years now since I was last along there.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Not National Rail, but definitely one or more (moveable) sets of steps with handrails used at Bolton Abbey station on the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway.
 

Peter C

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Not National Rail, but definitely one or more (moveable) sets of steps with handrails used at Bolton Abbey station on the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway.
And to add to the heritage station list, Pickering station (NYMR) had plastic box/step things to allow people to get into the train due to the tight curves on the platforms and the therefore low height to avoid train-platform collisions.

-Peter
 

TheSel

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Definately still one at St Bees. Think there may be a couple of others dotted around the Cumbrian coast.
Are you sure? St Bees had been 'Harrington Humped' (see post #3) last time I was there.

1613928397433.png
Picture shows 156451 and 156447 passing at St Bees, with a 'Harrington Hump' serving the latter on the Carlisle bound platform. 16 August 2019 - my own picture.
 

yorksrob

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Are you sure? St Bees had been 'Harrington Humped' (see post #3) last time I was there.

View attachment 91160
Picture shows 156451 and 156447 passing at St Bees, with a 'Harrington Hump' serving the latter on the Carlisle bound platform. 16 August 2019 - my own picture.

It's a couple of years since I've caught a train there.
 

urbophile

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They had them at Gargrave (northwest of Skipton) for many years. I'm sure they were far from Health and Safety compliant because they tended to tilt when a large (and often pompous) passenger stood on the top step (think Hyacinth Bucket or male equivalent), necessitating a member of staff to keep a foot heavily pressed down on the bottom step. Since the station was destaffed the platforms have been raised, but I think there were several years when the steps were in use with no staff member to monitor them
 

sw1ller

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Ty Croes and Bodorgan on Anglesey both have them. Still painted in Arriva trains green!
 

billio

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Horton-in-Ribblesdale still has them. Most of the stations on the Kyle line used to have them, but it's a few years now since I was last along there.
Horton in Ribblesdale has a Harrington Hump at least on the Leeds platform (I never use the other one). But on the other hand, here by chance is a picture of the steps, obviously borrowed from Kirkby Stephen. (January 2018)

DSCF5942.JPG
 

earthmover

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Thanks for the info, great to know that these simple steps still exist and are still being used. The cost of a Harrington Hump is now around 100k. With those robust little box steps still being used they may be a way to improve low use stations with low platforms that it would not be viable to install a Harrington Hump at. Nice thing about them is that they can be re-used and moved around the network( or a replacement when one that is life expired) as station platforms are upgraded.
 

theironroad

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Thanks for the info, great to know that these simple steps still exist and are still being used. The cost of a Harrington Hump is now around 100k. With those robust little box steps still being used they may be a way to improve low use stations with low platforms that it would not be viable to install a Harrington Hump at. Nice thing about them is that they can be re-used and moved around the network( or a replacement when one that is life expired) as station platforms are upgraded.

Jeez, 100k for a bit of rubber secured to the platform.
 

mike57

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Even Braystones on the Cumbrian Coast has had a hump built, found this picture on Google maps, the old steps can be seen languishing behind the fence. My wife used this station a few times in 2005 when I was working in W Cumbria, the other picture is of the same steps when they were used taken in 2005. She would always ring me before she arrived telling me to make sure I was there to move the steps if need be. Getting off a train without the steps was challenging, particularly with bags.
 

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sw1ller

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It’s always a tiny bit nervey going past a station with the steps at speed. They are right on the edge at Ty Croes most of the time and we often fly through at 75mph. They’ve not been hit yet so I assume they’re pretty heavy so not to move in the wind. Anglesey can get a bit blowy.
 

_toommm_

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Even Braystones on the Cumbrian Coast has had a hump built, found this picture on Google maps, the old steps can be seen languishing behind the fence. My wife used this station a few times in 2005 when I was working in W Cumbria, the other picture is of the same steps when they were used taken in 2005. She would always ring me before she arrived telling me to make sure I was there to move the steps if need be. Getting off a train without the steps was challenging, particularly with bags.

Nethertown does too surprisingly
 

hexagon789

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They look like they're made of plastic, though I'd imagine they are weighted somehow at the base otherwise the slightest gust of wind would have them on the track.
Yeah, they just looked very well-aligned to the platform edge somehow as though they were fixed in position. Being moveable obviously makes more sense of course, but they didn't move the second one to line up with the second door.
 

OldNick

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Thanks for the info, great to know that these simple steps still exist and are still being used. The cost of a Harrington Hump is now around 100k. With those robust little box steps still being used they may be a way to improve low use stations with low platforms that it would not be viable to install a Harrington Hump at. Nice thing about them is that they can be re-used and moved around the network( or a replacement when one that is life expired) as station platforms are upgraded.
Unfortunately the steps are not much use to disabled customers who can't navigate steps!
 
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