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Stations Without Footbridges or Subways


Geoff Endacott

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Our club layout Highbridge Road, which is a fictional BR(WR) location, doesn't have a footbridge. There is a road underbridge next to the station which means that passengers could change platforms by walking down to the road, under the railway and back up the other side. Of course, no one should need to change trains at a rural two-track station. Anyone crossing from one platform to the other would only do so in order to catch a train back in the direction from whence they came.

 

I got the idea from Dockyard Station in Plymouth which features a similar arrangement. The problem is, we have a member who insists that such an arrangement is wrong. (He also happens to be the person who knows everything about everything.)

 

So how common is such a situation? I still think that no railway company would go to the expense of building a footbridge at a quiet station if there was a simple alternative route between the platforms. Can people come up with examples?

 

Thanks.

 

Geoff Endacott

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Woodlesford station on the outskirts of Leeds had until quite recently 2 staggered platforms with a boarded foot crossing between platforms, there is also a road under bridge just at the end of one platform ,however there is no access from that road.

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Pevensey Bay has no bridge. Neither does the neighbouring Normans Bay. Probably they were halts in earlier days. Edit - Berwick, Sussex, the other side of Eastbourne, similarly uses the road level crossing.

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Access to both platforms is from the road that crosses the level crossing at the east end of the station.

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Off the top of my head North Camp doesn't have a bridge or subway (there's a level crossing at the end of the platforms) and Bleasby has staggered platforms with a leevl crossing between them (althought that is a request-stop station).

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Balmoral railway station features this design. You have to walk to the end of the platform, down a long ramp to a road then go under the railway line then back up the ramp to the station.

 

Edit: Balmoral is quite a busy commuting station as well as being on the main line.

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Spring Road, Yardley Wood, Whitlocks End, Wythall, Earlswood (used to have one), The Lakes, Wood End (used to have one) and Wootton Wawen on the North Warwickshire Line all use a nearby road over bridge.

 

Brian

 

Edited Wood End

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I can give you a few from the line I work on the Daisyfield juc to hellifield . Langho, Whalley, chatburn, gisburn. They had no footbridge but road access. Daisyfield had a footbridge on the platform and a subway on the road.

Hope this helps

 

Mark

 

Hi Mark,

The OP is after stations without dedicated footbridges OR subways.

Langho has a subway. Whalley has a subway - separate from the public pavement. Chatburn and Gisburn are long closed. 

 

Gisburn had access from the road bridge

 

Chatburn had a footbridge. See about halfway down

 

As did Clitheroe on the same line - now long since removed. Wilpshire also had a footbridge, but the new station at Ramsgreave and Wilpshire uses the road bridge for access

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

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Bromley Cross has only a foot crossing at the end of the platforms. Hall i'th'wood has staggered platforms either side of a duel carriageway bridge with pedestrian access via two ramps up from the road to each platform. There must be lots of stations that fall into these categories.

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If I've read the OP's post correctly and his club layout station is a quiet rural one (no time period stated though), then there are lots of BR (WR) examples: Arley, Hampton Loade, Coalport and Cressage on the Severn Valley; Glyndyfrwdwy and Carrog on the Ruabon to Barmouth line and Dyffryn Ardudwy and Barmouth Junction on the Cambrian Coast line. I'm sure there are a great many more.

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Hayle only offered a board crossing with miniature red / green lights for many years.  Recently that was determined to be dangerous and was closed meaning it is now necessary to use a lane beneath the railway to change between platforms and, for almost everyone, to access the up platform at all.  Associated works required a significant new length of ramped footpath to connect the lane and the up platform and new lighting to current standards along the entire new route.

 

The absence of a footbridge or subway simply to connect platforms is reasonably common as posts above show.

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Littlehaven in Horsham has a level crossing, but no other way to cross. I know people who've missed trains because the barriers have gone down and they have been stuck on the wrong side.

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Littlehaven in Horsham has a level crossing, but no other way to cross. I know people who've missed trains because the barriers have gone down and they have been stuck on the wrong side.

 

I know Littlehaven well from my time as a driver at Horsham. Hardly a day went by without a couple of commuters leaving it until the last minute to run down to the station. Waiting to depart in the morning rush with a London-bound train, there was nothing I could do except offer them a sympathetic look. At least I never witnessed anybody doing something stupid to get across. One guy did throw something at the train in frustration once. Only when I got to London Bridge did I realise it must have been his lunch as there was a piece of buttered bread and a couple of slices of tomato stuck to the secondman's window! Late for work and hungry...

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It was quite common in SECR territory (not sure if it was SER or LCDR practice, or both) to have the up and down platforms at either end of a level crossing.

 

Of course, that's not ideal from a modelling standpoint as it makes the station rather long.

 

To (half) support your position, my local station at Honiton (Devon, ex-LSWR) has always had a footbridge, and a new one was built only about six years ago without the usual modern requirement for lifts or ramps because pedestrian/wheelchair access is available via the public highway under the railway. I think the footbridge was only required at all because the pavement beneath the line does not conform to modern standards as to minimum width. 

 

The reason most stations do have footbridges is purely because they were (at least originally) built with public access to only one platform so that all tickets could be inspected / collected by a single member of staff. Nowadays "revenue protection" (where applied at all) is achieved by other means,

 

John

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Plenty of stations on the North & west line between Shrewsbury and Newport that fit the bill.

 

Condover, Dorrington, Berrington & Eye, Dinmore, Moreton on Lugg, St Devereux, Llanvihangel and Natyderry all used road overbridges to cross over to the other platform.

 

On the same line Marshbrook, Ford Bridge and Tram Inn used level crossings. Pandy just had a foot crossing at the end of the platform.

 

Justin

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