Platform 1 and 3/4?

[John M Upton]

Portsmouth & Southsea is not numbered consecutively, they go 2, 1, 3, 4!!  Portsmouth Harbour meanwhile is missing number 2 completely!!

Edited December 21, 2016 by John M Upton

[phil-b259]

Portsmouth & Southsea is not numbered consecutively, they go 2, 1, 3, 4!!  Portsmouth Harbour meanwhile is missing number 2 completely!!

 

In the case of Portsmouth Harbour, that is due to the condition of the supporting metalwork. Basically its not strong enough for platform 2 to be put back (even for EMUs) without serious money being spent on it. Given SWT / Southern / GWR seem to cope quite well with only having 4 platforms there is no business case to put it back (BR presumably having removed it precisely to avoid having to spend money on the required remedial work back in the 1980s).

 

Now you may say "why no renumber the other platforms" - well I imagine part of that is the same reasons why we are getting lots of platform 0s appearing across the network (even when the area concerned is seeing layout changes (e.g. Gravesend), the other part being to keep the number available in case there is ever a business case to put in back (much like Edinburgh has some missing numbers just in case the stabling roads at the east end become proper platforms in future).

 

With Portsmouth and Southsea, that is due to the split level status plus the fact that the low level side has been severely 'rationalised in BR days (there used to be far more than just 2 platforms) so as to release land for redevelopment.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

If I recall at Guildford, doors are only opened on the plat 6 side of trains that use the double-sided plat 6/7.

[The Johnster]

At one time there was a doubled sided bay platform at the west end of Cardiff General, I don't know the number though

https://www.flickr.com/photos/taffytank/16178790298/in/photolist-qDEwGj-8rhs9A-nEhbqa-jfiWbM-q1M9i8-6aBBUw-fLAwvV-ojGPAf-b3BkhH-dFHCQc-f9xamm-HVvv3i-ndcm3w-ojP8MW-H4Rctt-o7msP8-8rekkz-o7KYbQ-e9s3iR-rpqcuL-m8w64v-JzPaoh-qoDCQ4-q3v8NB-rpufXm-dqCTTj-gqQVCK-aUn1VP-7a28t8-osagSC-j3PqxS-bc8hte-dBkiJt-e4ZHYR-jjU2mg-hYfvHa-fwwVEA-nVtckG-o1fKj4-ndbZxn-pKEE4c-8reipP-busMsL-p514SN-oktah2-4wNoc7-dq28Ld-dUyjE2-bkoUmf-rFWLRd

 

 

There was  (still is) a double sided bay at the west end of Taunton, which is occasionally used for stabling locos etc, 

in recent years it has been renumbered and is now numbered platform 1 I believe, but is not available for passenger use

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lillian1000/7510004796/in/photolist-oXdb7M-pBzef4-PTEr5g-NPSN1Z-8kawig-hVxHKm-8kdHYd-9WuXn3-crCJMj-w9JPbz-DPxhrU-PcLeRD-PcLerk-safDDu-gzWzqB-eD1h44-eD7nuq

 

cheers

 

Cardiff (General) Platform 5. You can still trace where it was filled in, and there is a gap in the canopy to fit it.  Platform numbers still miss out 5, and people sometimes ask what happened to it.  Nice photo, don't think I've seen one of a 31xx in lined green before.  It is probably on a Porthcawl train, which was a rush hour commuter service, and little other passenger traffic used it.  Being double sided, it was very handy for rapid loading and unloading of parcel vans, and was seldom empty for long.

Edited December 22, 2016 by The Johnster

[Jim49]

Hi Phaeton,

 

I'm afraid that I can't help you with info about how the platforms would be numbered but Leuchars junction station in Fife had a track and platform arrangement exactly as you have shown. The main line North went to Dundee and Aberdeen while South was to Edinburgh or Glasgow. The South facing bay served trains for St Andrews and the North bay was for trains on the former line to Tayport.

Both bays were fairly short, probably accepting a loco and about 3 coaches at most. When St Andrews station closed in 1969(?) both bays were filled in.

 

Jim

Edited December 22, 2016 by Jim49

[Joseph_Pestell]

Morden station at the end of the Northern Line has a number of platforms, although only single lines between them. Each platform face has a different number, and where they can, both sets of doors are opened.

I think this may have changed. I recall that in my childhood they would open one side first for passengers to get off before opening the doors on the other side. Both sets would then be left open until departure ensuring that the passengers were suitably chilled before their journey below ground.

[cravensdmufan]

Sorry to raise the subject again, but I am intrigued as to the purpose of double sided platforms, i.e one track with a platform on both sides.  I'm wondering why they were built like that originally.

 

At first I assumed that they were installed where passenger numbers were heavy for quick loading/disembarkation from slam door stock.  But looking at photos in books recently I have come across examples at Yeovil Pen Mill and Ulverston - hardly busy commuter stations!

 

Now I'm wondering if they were designed for milk or parcels traffic.  I can't imagine they were specifically for passenger use - surely it would be difficult to dispatch trains as they would surely need a member of station staff on both platforms for each departure - and how could the guard and driver keep an eye on each side?!  I'm talking about slam stock, not sliding door stock obviously.

 

Any information would be much appreciated. 

 

[Geep7]

The is/was a double sided platform in the up direction at Ascot. However in recent years, I believe the 'wrong' side onto the island platform has been fenced off.

[Steven B]

16 hours ago, cravensdmufan said:

Sorry to raise the subject again, but I am intrigued as to the purpose of double sided platforms, i.e one track with a platform on both sides.  I'm wondering why they were built like that originally.

 

Presumably because there was enough traffic to warrent a bay platform, but not sufficient traffic (or not enough physical space) to put two bay tracks in.

 

Steven B.

 

 

[Nick C]

On 21/12/2016 at 17:32, corneliuslundie said:

The City of Celle in Germany has all the houses numbered in the order they were built - and it is a very old town. I'm not sure how the postman copes.

 

That seems to be quite common on the continent, at least in smaller villages.

 

Platform numbering in Poland is interesting - they have a platform number (Peron) and a track number (Tor). So for example, Krakow Glowny has 5 island platforms (and thus 10 platform faces). The track numbers aren't in order though, so platform 1 has tracks 11 and 9... (in fact, having just found a track diagram, they go from west to east - 11,9,7,5,3,1,2,4,6,8,10,12)

[Oldddudders]

6 hours ago, Steven B said:

 

Presumably because there was enough traffic to warrent a bay platform, but not sufficient traffic (or not enough physical space) to put two bay tracks in.

 

Steven B.

 

 

They weren't all bay platforms. Norwood Junction has such a platform on the up side. It's a through platform used often. 

[JZ]

On 21/12/2016 at 22:30, Peter Kazmierczak said:

If I recall at Guildford, doors are only opened on the plat 6 side of trains that use the double-sided plat 6/7.

That's because of the third rail being on the 7 side.

 

[Ragtag]

Not getting to London much I was bemused to alight onto Platform 0 at Kings Cross.

[The Johnster]

Cardiff (General) featured a platform 5  bay platform on the down side between 3 & 4.  It was used by the Porthcawl commuter trains and  parcels traffic; as a single track double sided platform it was very useful for this as the vans could be worked on from both sides at once.  Platform numbering at what is now Central preserves the ghost of it’s memory in the numbering sequence that goes 1,2,3,4,6,7 etc., and passengers still occasionally ask about the anomaly. 

 

But I was always mildly offended by what I considered an incorrect numbering sequence.  3 and 4 are the downside main line island platform, though a good bit of up traffic departs from them nowadays, and the number sequence runs from north to south.  In both respects, my slightly Asperger-esque desire for order and correctness demands that the old bay should have been 4, and the platform we know as 4 should always have been 5. The missing number in the sequence should be 4, not 5. 

 

I demand an immediate recount...

[Rowsley17D]

Buxton Midland, a terminus, had a double-sided main platform in the train shed and remained so when the cattle dock bay was extended to become another platform and a further platform added outside the train shed. They were numbered 1-3 in Midland days and 4-6 in LMS days when the LNWR and MR sides became one station. 

[talisman56]

Adding to the list, Horsted Keynes on the Bluebell has always had a double platformed line (4/5) next to the station buildings. It always puzzled my why Platform 1 was the one the furthest away from the station buildings (i.e. on the western side of the station). It can't be because of a 'number from the up side' rule because nearby Haywards Heath has Platform 1/2 on the island nearest the station building (the down side/eastern side of the station)...

Edited September 15, 2019 by talisman56