Normanton - platform extensions?

[johntea]

I can't find anything online other than perhaps some gossip on Facebook and my own eyes spotting some unknown works underway at Normanton whilst passing by in recent weeks but it sounds like Normanton may be getting platform extensions to allow for longer trains to stop there?

If true presumably this would then mean the 6 carriage Transpenine Express services will be able to stop there although I'm not quite sure if there is a longer term goal as it seems like quite a bit of effort just so those (quite rare) 6 carriage setups can call there, are Northern planning to run longer trains in the future with new stock and the like?

(@yorksrob will be delighted )

 

[yorksrob]

I can't find anything online other than perhaps some gossip on Facebook and my own eyes spotting some unknown works underway at Normanton whilst passing by in recent weeks but it sounds like Normanton may be getting platform extensions to allow for longer trains to stop there?

If true presumably this would then mean the 6 carriage Transpenine Express services will be able to stop there although I'm not quite sure if there is a longer term goal as it seems like quite a bit of effort just so those (quite rare) 6 carriage setups can call there, are Northern planning to run longer trains in the future with new stock and the like?

(@yorksrob will be delighted )

Yes, I can confirm that platform extensions are getting built - there are information boards at the station that go into some detail about the works.

It is good news - the current platforms can't quite fit a four carriage 158 satisfactorily at the moment, which can be a nuisance.

Given they've already extended them a few years back, they may as well bite the bullet and go for the full six carriage 185 length !

 

[nr758123]

It's the platform length at Normanton which currently stops the Manchester-York via Wakefield service from being strengthened to six carriages at peak times. Every other station on the route has platforms which are long enough for six carriages (some with selective door opening).

 

[BorderCollie]

Didn't Normanton used to have humungous platforms?

 

[YorksLad12]

Is it technically a platform *extension*, or just a refacing of the existing unused platform edges? Good news, either way.

 

[yorksrob]

Didn't Normanton used to have humungous platforms?

It did. Two huge island platforms.

The current station occupies the east tnd of the larger island.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Sunday at 18:49 ==

Is it technically a platform *extension*, or just a refacing of the existing unused platform edges? Good news, either way.

From the works, it looks as though the platforms are being extended along the existing island.

The platform edges have long gone and the rest of the island is a mound, so any extensions along it will be new.

 

[Mugby]

I presume there must be quite some difference in the permissible speeds on each line through Normanton Station?

Towards Leeds the line (Down?) is fairly straight and doesn't seem to rquire any reduction in speed. However, towards Wakefield the line has two reverse curves around the platform which certainly does require a speed reduction.

Could the Up platform be staightened somewhat to allow a higher speed for non-stop traffic through the station?

 

[childwallblues]

Perhaps they may clear the trees and bushes at the same time.

 

[Tractor37]

I presume there must be quite some difference in the permissible speeds on each line through Normanton Station?

Towards Leeds the line (Down?) is fairly straight and doesn't seem to rquire any reduction in speed. However, towards Wakefield the line has two reverse curves around the platform which certainly does require a speed reduction.

Could the Up platform be staightened somewhat to allow a higher speed for non-stop traffic through the station?

The linespeed on the down line is 60mph. The upline is 30mph. Could the platform be straightened out unfortunately not due to the car park. What could have been done IF THE MONEY WAS AVAILABLE before the new access for all footbridge was built about 10 years ago to replace the foot crossing from the car park to the up platform was move the whole line sideways so it goes through the next arch of Station Road bridge and rebuild the station as two separate platforms with a footbridge connecting the two. Roughly making the position of the down platform the up platform thus enabling trains to pass through in the up direction at 60 as well. A lot of money to spend to save a couple of minutes on a train service in the north

 

[35B]

It did. Two huge island platforms.

The current station occupies the east tnd of the larger island.

Are you sure - looking at the NLS georeferenced maps, I see one humongous island, with 2 bays inset at each end

 

[Senex]

The original Normanton had two island platforms, but the rebuilt version had just the one massive island with bays at both ends. There were ideas in late Midland Railways days to run two fast lines past the station on the west side, and the same proposal surfaced again when plans were that Normanton should once again be on the main NE/SW route (the 60-mph junction at Altofts being part of the same BR planning). Nothing came of it — and nothing is ever likely to now. Between York and Sheffield the fastest route is via Doncaster, and who these days is ever going to want a really fast route between York and Thornhill Jn?

 

[70014IronDuke]

Wasn't Normanton originally humongous because in the ancient of days, pre-Dining Cars, the Midland stopped Scottish expresses there for hungry passengers to nosh in the station restaurant? At least, that's what I was told as a nipper.

 

[edwin_m]

Wasn't Normanton originally humongous because in the ancient of days, pre-Dining Cars, the Midland stopped Scottish expresses there for hungry passengers to nosh in the station restaurant? At least, that's what I was told as a nipper.

It was also the meeting point of the Midland, L&Y and North Eastern, so I guess a fair amount of shunting and loco changes?

 

[YorksLad12]

It was also the meeting point of the Midland, L&Y and North Eastern, so I guess a fair amount of shunting and loco changes?

And passenger changes. Photos of the old Normanton station show a substantial platform building, accessed via a bridge from the car park side. I don't remember seeing two island platforms though...

Adding two platformless lines from Goose Hill to Altofts would work for the semi-fasts, and there's space for them. But it would be an expensive solution for two semi-fast trains per hour, with everything else stopping there (unless freight used them, which would risk blocking the semi-fasts). It would only be 2.6km (1.6 miles) long, unless you extended the western end closer to Wakefield. You would be on the correct side to/from Methley though.

 

[edwin_m]

And passenger changes. Photos of the old Normanton station show a substantial platform building, accessed via a bridge from the car park side. I don't remember seeing two island platforms though...

Adding two platformless lines from Goose Hill to Altofts would work for the semi-fasts, and there's space for them. But it would be an expensive solution for two semi-fast trains per hour, with everything else stopping there (unless freight used them, which would risk blocking the semi-fasts). It would only be 2.6km (1.6 miles) long, unless you extended the western end closer to Wakefield. You would be on the correct side to/from Methley though.

Here's the 1905 map showing only one island, though it's curiously lop-sided suggesting there might have been, or intended to be, a second one: https://maps.nls.uk/view/125644708.

The 1892 and 1932 maps are similar, but the one from 1846-1848 does indeed show two islands: https://maps.nls.uk/view/266665615

So it looks very much as if nearly every train stopped in those early days, but later on the northern island was demolished to make way for straight through tracks for non-stopping trains.

 

[YorksLad12]

Here's the 1905 map showing only one island, though it's curiously lop-sided suggesting there might have been, or intended to be, a second one: https://maps.nls.uk/view/125644708.

The 1892 and 1932 maps are similar, but the one from 1846-1848 does indeed show two islands: https://maps.nls.uk/view/266665615

So it looks very much as if nearly every train stopped in those early days, but later on the northern island was demolished to make way for straight through tracks for non-stopping trains.

I have to disagree, or at the very least, quibble. The 1846 map looks like a single island with lines either side and two bays to me. That said, the northbound platform on the map is more curved than now and on the other map.

Annoyingly, neither Quick’s Chronology or Wikipedia mention platforms.