most confusing platform numbering?

[306024]

Cambridge is always nice and confusing. Why they can't have 4A/B instead of 4/7 I have no idea.

Well you have certainly confused me :?

 

[Eagle]

Cambridge is always nice and confusing. Why they can't have 4A/B instead of 4/7 I have no idea.

Platform 7 at Cambridge is nowhere near platform 4... (and there's already a 4a).

 

[jopsuk]

Aye. The platform numbering at Cambridge is quite sane. At the south end, the "through" is 1, with bays 2 & 3 following on. At the north, 4 is the other half of the "through", with 5 & 6 the bays. the outer ends of 1 & 4 are suffixed "a"- mainly used for northbound trains splitting on platform 4.

Adding on the additional platforms as 7 & 8 made sense too.

 

[NSE]

Yeah I think Cambridge is pretty simple. I don't see the 'A' bit used very often though.

 

[glbotu]

The use of "A" varies on a day by day basis. I get a train every morning from 4A, but sometimes it's advertised as 4. I think this is because there aren't any train describers for 4A, but there is one for platform 4. 1A isn't used very often at all, as it's rare for a Southbound train to divide.

 

[LexyBoy]

I'm surprised the old Reading layout hasn't been mentioned. From the main entrance, one would walk onto platform 4. Platforms 4A and 4B were not subdivisions of this as one might expect, but a further two separate platforms off the end of platform 4. Over the bridge for the up platforms, there was an island with platform 5 on one side and 8 on the other. The bay platforms facing west off p4 were low numbered (1,2,3) but the bay between platforms 5 and 8 was high (7, against 6 for the bay at the opposite end).

 

[Tibbs]

I'm surprised the old Reading layout hasn't been mentioned. From the main entrance, one would walk onto platform 4. Platforms 4A and 4B were not subdivisions of this as one might expect, but a further two separate platforms off the end of platform 4. Over the bridge for the up platforms, there was an island with platform 5 on one side and 8 on the other. The bay platforms facing west off p4 were low numbered (1,2,3) but the bay between platforms 5 and 8 was high (7, against 6 for the bay at the opposite end).

Thank you, I was trying to remember where that was - I missed 2 trains in a row because of that layout. :roll:

 

[Eagle]

I'm surprised the old Reading layout hasn't been mentioned. From the main entrance, one would walk onto platform 4. Platforms 4A and 4B were not subdivisions of this as one might expect, but a further two separate platforms off the end of platform 4. Over the bridge for the up platforms, there was an island with platform 5 on one side and 8 on the other. The bay platforms facing west off p4 were low numbered (1,2,3) but the bay between platforms 5 and 8 was high (7, against 6 for the bay at the opposite end).

Somewhat ironically the old platform 4 (current 7) has now been divided into 'a' and 'b' ends.

 

[jon0844]

I was quite confused on my first trip to Bristol Temple Meads, not knowing where one platform started and ended and where to wait for my train to London. Luckily, I had plenty of time to wander around and realise - but if I'd been running late?

I guess most of these issues (and Stratford still confuses the hell out of me even today!) is down to good signage... and some stations are a lot better than others.

With good and clear signs, along with posters that might show a map of the station layout, a lot of the problems disappear. All new signs should also use the recognised international symbols too.

 

[LexyBoy]

Somewhat ironically the old platform 4 (current 7) has now been divided into 'a' and 'b' ends.

Indeed - and lost the now legendary blue zone (and its reclusive cousins the gold and purple(?) zones).

 

[swt_passenger]

Indeed - and lost the now legendary blue zone (and its reclusive cousins the gold and purple(?) zones).

In hindsight it was a brilliant decision to renumber the whole station when they did - was it really as far back as Dec 2011? Apart from the fact they'd have needed a platform 4C for the intervening period, can you imagine the extra chaos if it had also been done a few weeks ago during the Easter weekend?

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Somewhat ironically the old platform 4 (current 7) has now been divided into 'a' and 'b' ends.

Reading now has the through platforms divided into A and B sections. The new concourse on the bridge over the platforms is roughly in the middle with A one side and B the other. For HSTs it doesn't matter as they fill the whole platform, but for the local services and Cross Country services with shorter trains, it tells you which side of the bridge to go down the escalator. If they really had to, I suppose they could put two trains in one platform. They appear to operate it with the convention that the train is in the part of the platform nearest the direction in which it will travel on leaving.

 

[scotraildriver]

The other odd thing a at Waverley is that 8 and 9 are numbered as 8E and 8W and 9E and 9W! So as suggested maybe do 1 E and W etc as well. It is all a bit of a hotchpotch although if you understand the logic it actually works ok. Its just the majority of passengers are unaware of the circular thing.

 

[swt_passenger]

If they really had to, I suppose they could put two trains in one platform.

They do that already, it's a regular routine and has been done ever since opening. The XC terminating services from Newcastle sit in the 'B end' of either 13 or 14 for about half an hour, during which time a Paddington stopper uses the A end...

 

[Eagle]

Reading now has the through platforms divided into A and B sections. The new concourse on the bridge over the platforms is roughly in the middle with A one side and B the other. For HSTs it doesn't matter as they fill the whole platform, but for the local services and Cross Country services with shorter trains, it tells you which side of the bridge to go down the escalator. If they really had to, I suppose they could put two trains in one platform. They appear to operate it with the convention that the train is in the part of the platform nearest the direction in which it will travel on leaving.

Yep. The exact system that's been successfully used at Birmingham New Street for very many years.

 

[Bedpan]

I'm surprised the old Reading layout hasn't been mentioned. From the main entrance, one would walk onto platform 4. Platforms 4A and 4B were not subdivisions of this as one might expect, but a further two separate platforms off the end of platform 4. Over the bridge for the up platforms, there was an island with platform 5 on one side and 8 on the other. The bay platforms facing west off p4 were low numbered (1,2,3) but the bay between platforms 5 and 8 was high (7, against 6 for the bay at the opposite end).

4a and 4b came about due to the closure of Reading Southern next door and were numbered thus so as not to have to renumber all the platforms at the station. As far as I remember there was only one platform built for the Southern Region traffic initially, platform 4a, so there is no reason why it could not have been numbered Platform 0, which would have fitted into the layout of the platform numbers,but not sure what they would have called the second new platform had this happened. Equally platforms A and B would have been logical bearing in mind that they were for Southern and the rest of the station was Western region.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

4a and 4b came about due to the closure of Reading Southern next door and were numbered thus so as not to have to renumber all the platforms at the station. As far as I remember there was only one platform built for the Southern Region traffic initially, platform 4a, so there is no reason why it could not have been numbered Platform 0, which would have fitted into the layout of the platform numbers,but not sure what they would have called the second new platform had this happened.

Platform -1 obviously

 

[AnonymousUser1]

At Lowestoft, Platform 1 was where the Yarmouth service used to terminate. When that line closed down in 1970, they removed the platform and it became a car park, but didn't bother renumbering the remaining platforms.

Not necessarily confusing, but somewhat odd that 40 years later, they still haven't renumbered.

There was something similar to this at Lincoln Central for a while where bay platforms to the east of the station building were removed ( and turned into a car park, PWay compound or some such
)

 

[LE Greys]

The use of "A" varies on a day by day basis. I get a train every morning from 4A, but sometimes it's advertised as 4. I think this is because there aren't any train describers for 4A, but there is one for platform 4. 1A isn't used very often at all, as it's rare for a Southbound train to divide.

When they're adding stock to a Lynn-King's Cross train, they tend to put the extra unit in 1A (or the south end of 1 at least) then couple the other unit to the back of it. I did that today - I've now 'cleared' all the NR passenger route mileage in Norfolk (before Hertfordshire) and discovered that King's Lynn is numbered 2,1,[] - the missing number apparently being used for stabling a spare unit (there's also a non-platform road) despite it being apparently a useable platform. Another oddity I remember is Birmingham Moor Street being numbered 2,1,3,4,5 (the reversal from when it had platforms on the through lines only).

 

[Eagle]

Another oddity I remember is Birmingham Moor Street being numbered 2,1,3,4,5 (the reversal from when it had platforms on the through lines only).

Other way round. Moor Street is now numbered 1-2-3-4 (5 is still disused), but before the bays opened it was 2-1.