Derby Hotel Private Platform

[03_179]

I've had a google and I cannot locate anything other than the usual adverts for hotels.

I have been told that a Hotel in Derby had its own platform for hotel customers.

Is this true?
What hotel?
Where?
Any information about it at all online?

Thanks in advance for any help regarding this.

 

[WesternLancer]

The traditional railway hotel in Derby is the Midland Hotel opposite the station - it is claimed this is the oldest purpose built railway hotel in the world (a claim mentioned on the wikipedia page)

Midland Hotel, Derby - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This also mentions a connection to the station but that seems a pedestrian connection.

However, it is very close and I can imagine that it would have been possible to have had a siding service (with platform) it in some previous layout of the station area - so maybe old maps would provide a clue - I have not heard this claim before but of course that does not mean it's not accurate. After all it's been in business since 1841...

 

[03_179]

Looking at a map of the Derby area on the Library of Scotland Maps section there appears no such connection on various years.

View map: Ordnance Survey, Derbyshire L.13 (Chaddesden; Derby) - Ordnance Survey 25 inch England and Wales, 1841-1952

maps.nls.uk

I know one hotel had it's own platform elsewhere but I cannot find any reference to any other hotel with it's own private platform.

 

[pdeaves]

Looking at a map of the Derby area on the Library of Scotland Maps section there appears no such connection on various years.

View map: Ordnance Survey, Derbyshire L.13 (Chaddesden; Derby) - Ordnance Survey 25 inch England and Wales, 1841-1952

maps.nls.uk

I know one hotel had it's own platform elsewhere but I cannot find any reference to any other hotel with it's own private platform.

Zetland (Saltburn) was one.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Difficult to say conclusively. However, it would almost certainly have been possible to walk from the Westernmost (platform 1?) side at Derby station more or less straight into the Midland Hotel.

View map: Ordnance Survey, Derbyshire L.13 (Chaddesden; Derby) - Ordnance Survey 25 inch England and Wales, 1841-1952

maps.nls.uk

 

[03_179]

Zetland (Saltburn) was one.

That's one I know defo about ... I was there at the weekend but apart from that one I have never heard of any other.

The Wiki page for Zetland states (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zetland_Hotel):

The Zetland Hotel was one of the world's earliest purpose-built railway hotels with its own private platform [4] (the first was built in Derby).

It's the Derby reference that could be misinterpreted as having the platform. I could also be just that it was the hotel being purpose built. Didn't want to confuse the two.

Difficult to say conclusively. However, it would almost certainly have been possible to walk from the Westernmost (platform 1?) side at Derby station more or less straight into the Midland Hotel.

View map: Ordnance Survey, Derbyshire L.13 (Chaddesden; Derby) - Ordnance Survey 25 inch England and Wales, 1841-1952

maps.nls.uk

Yes, it is VERY close between the two but not to be an actual Hotel Platform I guess.

 

[D6130]

I was under the impression that quite a few railway hotels were equipped with a rail connection for the delivery of coal for the boilers and possibly also a small platform for the loading and unloading of laundry.

 

[LowLevel]

I don't know about a platform, but there is a humongous rabbit warren of passageways under and radiating from Derby station that went all over the place to the various Midland facilities in the area, it's still accessible from the subway. I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of them led to the Midland hotel.

 

[03_179]

Thanks all.

It's mainly a passenger platform I am looking at. It does appear that The Zetland is the only one.

 

[Rescars]

IIRC Turnberry station was connected to the hotel by a covered walkway. There would have been little reason for using this station apart from visiting the hotel.

At Derby I believe there was an underground passage connecting the hotel to the station, but this was intended more for the transfer of supplies and luggage rather than for use by patrons.

A number of hotels had private sidings. The Imperial Great Malvern is one example. This also had direct access to the down platform (via the "Worm"), which isn't quite the same thing as a private platform, but not a bad effort.

The Cruden Bay Hotel did best of all, with its private tramway connecting the hotel to the station. This was probably the most northern tramway to operate in the UK. So sad it has all disappeared long since!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Fairly sure that the former Manchester Central station once had a covered walkway direct from the station, across Windmill Street, and into the Midland Hotel opposite. But not the same arrangement as having a private platform at the station, I would suggest.

 

[D6130]

Gleneagles Hotel - started by the Caledonian Railway in 1913 and completed and opened by the LMS (London Midland and Scottish Railway) in 1924 - was served by a short branch (just under a mile long) from The Gleneagles to Creiff line. However, I'm not sure weather there was a platform at the hotel....or whether or not passengers were ever carried.

 

[WesternLancer]

The Wiki page for Zetland states (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zetland_Hotel):

It's the Derby reference that could be misinterpreted as having the platform. I could also be just that it was the hotel being purpose built. Didn't want to confuse the two.

The Zetland Hotel was one of the world's earliest purpose-built railway hotels with its own private platform [4] (the first was built in Derby).

Yes, I suspect this is just badly worded. A clearer wording might be: 'The Zetland Hotel was one of the earliest railway hotels (and the first was built in Derby). The Zetland had a private platform.'


Even the claim of Derby Midland Hotel being the earliest is a bit poorly written on wikipedia as I noted down the page it says that it became the oldest after the demolition of the Euston Hotel - suggesting that it is perhaps the oldest railway hotel still extant (or some such).

 

[greyman42]

Yes, I suspect this is just badly worded. A clearer wording might be: 'The Zetland Hotel was one of the earliest railway hotels (and the first was built in Derby). The Zetland had a private platform.'

It is well covered in one of the TV episodes of " The Architecture That The Railways Built".

 

[WesternLancer]

It is well covered in one of the TV episodes of " The Architecture That The Railways Built".

Thanks - but what is well covered in the programme? A platform that served the Midland Hotel in Derby (which is what the OP was asking about evidence of), or the platform that served the Zetland Hotel (which seems to be widely acknowledged)?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It is well covered in one of the TV episodes of " The Architecture That The Railways Built".

It was definitely Saltburn-by-the-Sea that was featured in Series 3 Episode 5 of "The Architecture that the Railways Built".

The Architecture the Railways Built, Series 3, Episode 5 - Saltburn | Watch on U

Tim Dunn visits the popular Victorian holiday resort Saltburn-by-the-Sea.

uktvplay.co.uk

Not sure if @timmydunn has yet been to Derby in the series of programmes.

 

[WesternLancer]

It was definitely Saltburn-by-the-Sea that was featured in Series 3 Episode 5 of "The Architecture that the Railways Built".

Not sure if @timmydunn has yet been to Derby in the programme.

Thanks - so the Zetland Hotel is featured. I have not seen the series sadly so that's helpful

 

[D365]

The traditional railway hotel in Derby is the Midland Hotel opposite the station - it is claimed this is the oldest purpose built railway hotel in the world (a claim mentioned on the wikipedia page)

Hasn't York claimed the same? Or does that only apply to the original hotel.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hasn't York claimed the same? Or does that only apply to the original hotel.

Sorry - I don't know the answer to that. The claim seems to be made in different contexts and is thus confusing!

 

[03_179]

TO clarify to my original post.

The Zetland platform was not fully part of the station but almost separate. (https://trackntrains.co.uk/zetland.php)
Derby appears to be not actually part of the hotel but very close.

I was meaning that the hotel is not part of the station and the hotel has it's own platforms.

I wasn't meaning a hotel like the Great Northern at Kings Cross or the one at St Pancras as they are not dedicated Hotel Platforms.

 

[Gloster]

I think the problem is that nobody has defined what an ‘hotel’s own platform’ (or similar phrasings) actually is and over the years all sorts of different things have been described as such. I suspect that in many cases it has been used for an entrance direct to the hotel reception from a station platform. I think that the Zetland was rare, if not unique, in having a platform that was used by hotel guests and for no other purpose. (I was too young to notice when I stayed at the Zetland.)