Glass Station Awnings

[matacaster]

Just left Barnsley station. Awnings are filthy, letting hardly any light through. It's not obvious how they can be cleaned without a line possession. Surely, if there is a glass canopy, there should be means to clean it without disrupting traffic? Or perhaps they never intended to clean it?

 

[RailWonderer]

Mansfield station has a glass awning. Modern stations either have bus shelters on the platforms or a prefab PRM compliant building. I assume the 'tax-payers' money card is played every time someone believes we should have something different to a clone of another station. Ultimately ticking boxes and reducing costs prevails above any convenience for staff maintenance.

 

[matacaster]

Mansfield station has a glass awning. Modern stations either have bus shelters on the platforms or a prefab PRM compliant building. I assume the 'tax-payers' money card is played every time someone believes we should have something different to a clone of another station. Ultimately ticking boxes and reducing costs prevails above any convenience for staff maintenance.

Why am I not surprised?

 

[Dougal2345]

Brockenhurst used to have glass panels in the awnings, IIRC, which were grimy, but then the recent rebuild gave it solid awnings, making the platforms even darker

 

[John R]

Bristol Temple Meads has glass panels in many of its platform awnings (I'm not talking about the main train shed), and many are covered in moss to such an extent that minimal light gets through. And they have been like that for many years. I'm hoping that the work currently underway at the station might address the situation.

 

[73128]

Many formerly glass awnings have been replaced over recent years by new clean synthetic lighter transparent materials. I'm sure that someone more technical can say what the material is (or are).

 

[tomuk]

The replacement panels are made of polycarbonate they can be clear like normal glass or as used in many rail installations are partly frosted with wire mesh to look like original Georgian Wired Glass.

You can see case studies on one of the supplier sites linked https://www.twinfix.co.uk/sectors/rail

 

[jopsuk]

The Carter Bridge (station cycle bridge) in Cambridge is enclosed in polycarbonate panels which seem to have reached a tipping point where they're rapidly getting worse. The City Deal, as part of the Greenways projects, have investigated how much it would cost to clean. Network Rail insist that the power to the running lines and sidings below would have to be switched off, the low end of the estimates is £250,000.

 

[The exile]

I’m sure that back when Temple Meads trainshed was last done up (1990 ish), it was explained that the “glass” in the roof would be self-cleaning. If so, it hasn’t worked very well. I may be thinking of somewhere else, though (and am aware that you’re talking about the platform awnings)

 

[urbophile]

Cressington on Merseyrail is a Victorian listed gem. It has two small canopies over the platforms which have been encrusted with moss for years. Recently the line was temporarily closed to allow work on the platform surface; there were long periods when nothing was happening there and a co-ordinated plan would have allowed scaffolding so that the canopies could be cleaned. Opportunity missed.