Stations with strange or missing platform numbers

[mumrar]

I'm curious to know just how many nationwide there are. I'm aware of lots, I'll put ones I remember below:
Northfield and Kings Norton have platforms 1 and 4, centre platforms shut long ago, but CIS still shows this.
Cardiff Central and it's platform 0.
Shrewsbury has platforms 4-8.
For ease on this thread we'll ignore all the letter suffixes given to some platforms

 

[GNERman]

lincoln doesn't have a platform 1 and I remember Leeds with Platform W...

 

[thelem]

Bristol Parkway has platforms 2-4, although a platform 1 is planned.

 

[bengley]

This is different but a couple of London Overground platforms are just 'Eastbound' and 'Westbound'

 

[90019]

Haymarket has a platform 0.

 

[philjo]

I'm curious to know just how many nationwide there are. I'm aware of lots, I'll put ones I remember below:

Shrewsbury has platforms 4-8.

Platform 3 is also open at Shrewsbury - though you have to access it by a separate staircase from the outside of the station entrance. I think they are putting in a new lift to access platform 3 soon.
http://www2.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/Shrewsbury_railway.aspx

The only services I have seen using it are the odd WSMR service terminating from London or running towards Wrexham.

 

[HSTfan!!!]

As well as Cardiff Central having a platform 0, there is no platform 5

 

[philjo]

Sheffield has the infamous platform 2c which is a bay platform used for Hope Valley stoppers - it is a totally separate platform in its own right from the rest of platform 2 as it is a separate bay, hidden round the corner - I have known people standing on platform 2 waiting for their train see it leaving as they hadn't realised the other platform was actually round the corner & you can't see the train sitting there unless you go to the far end of the main platform.

 

[will1337]

Stockport has also got a platform 0

 

[Capybara]

Clapham Junction does not have a Platform 1.

 

[mumrar]

Sheffield has the infamous platform 2c which is a bay platform used for Hope Valley stoppers - it is a totally separate platform in its own right from the rest of platform 2 as it is a separate bay, hidden round the corner - I have known people standing on platform 2 waiting for their train see it leaving as they hadn't realised the other platform was actually round the corner & you can't see the train sitting there unless you go to the far end of the main platform.

So that's just the same as 4c at New Street then, right down to the fact that the Navigation Street bridge blocking the view of trains.

 

[Capybara]

Stratford is pretty amazing at the moment with Platforms 1 and 2 on the opposite side of the station to 3, 4, 5 etc and close to 11 and 12. There is also a 10 and 10a while 4 is split into 4a and 4b for the DLR.

At Waterloo there is now a signposted Platform 20 in the old Eurostar terminal though access to it is chained off and it is not in use.

 

[The Planner]

Bristol Parkway has platforms 2-4, although a platform 1 is planned.

Been binned last I heard.

As well as Cardiff Central having a platform 0, there is no platform 5

There is provision for one to be put in as part of the Cardiff re-signalling as well as a platform 8.

 

[Burkitt]

Waterloo East and New Cross both have four platforms lettered A, B, C and D, to distinguish them from the numbered platforms at nearby Waterloo and New Cross Gate respectively.

 

[scrapy]

Stockport has also got a platform 0

Stockport also has 3a even though it is a completely different platform to 3. Normally 3a would simply be a portion of platform 3.

 

[Drsatan]

There's no platform 1 at Salisbury (it physically exists but not used by service trains because it's not track circuited.)

 

[Failed Unit]

lincoln doesn't have a platform 1 and I remember Leeds with Platform W...

It does now,

In the glory days Lincoln Central was as follows.

Platform 1 - Bay platform heading East (now a car park)
Platform 2 - Bay Platform heading East (now a car park)
Platform 3 - Bay platform heading East - renumbered 1 after resignalling
Platform 4 - Bay Platform heading East - renumbered 2 after resignalling
Platform 5 - Through platform near booking office formally eastbound renumbered 3 after resignalling.
Platform 6 - Through Westbound overbridge renumbered 4
Platform 7 - Through Westbound furthest away from booking office renumbered 5
Platform 6 - Nearest Tentecroft Street car park, still in place but has not had any rails connected to it for a very long time!

Most of the time these things happen due to signalling systems, like at Haymarket renumbering would have caused problems with the signalling system.

Glasgow Central was renumbered after the resignalling at them moment it is misisng a 12 and 13, until they are built as part of the paisley improvements. Were going to be used for GARL.

 

[jopsuk]

Edinburgh Waverley has no 5 or 6 in use, though there are tracks used for loco stabling. it was extensively re-numbered during the addition of several extra platforms which was accompanied by track layout changes and full resignalling.

Stirling has no Platform 1, and platforms 4 and 5 are never used (north bound bays) for passenger services.

There's little consistency in the use of lettered "sub" platforms. i've seen stations where every section is lettered (so you have 2a, 2b and even 2c for example) whereas at Cambridge platforms 1 & 4 only the outer ends are 1a and 4a, the inner ends are just plain 1 & 4 (never mind that all this is a single platform face...).

 

[northwichcat]

Stockport's platform 0 was a new platform and it was instead of having them numbered in an illogical order i.e. 5, 1, 2, 3, 4 or renumbering existing platforms.

Huddersfield has platforms 1,2,4,5,6,8 as bay platforms 3 and 7 were closed and the platforms weren't renumbered. There are plans for a new through platform at Huddersfield which would become platform 9 because of it's proposed position.

Likewise a proposed new platform at Manchester Piccadilly would be platform 0 not platform 15.

 

[Waddon]

London Bridge has no platform 7, but it does have an 8 (although who knows what it will have when its all rebuilt in a few years time)

Stratford (London) has possibly the most confusing platform numbering of all. I can't recall all of it, but theres numbers missing, Platforms 1 and 2 are now next to 11 and 12, platform 4a and 4b are over the other side above the Jubilee line platforms which I think are 13, 14, and 15, Theres a 10a which is rarely used and I have no idea what the new DLR platforms under construction are going to be called. Theres also a new platform face being put in alongside the westbound central line platform 5 - what number will that have? Maybe it'll be sorted out before the Olympics?

 

[stut]

The lack of consistency in using sub-platforms can indeed be confusing - I use the bike racks on platform 9 at King's Cross and there isn't a day
goes by withough someone asking where platform 9 is. Why? Well, the departure boards say 'platform 9', but the platform signs only say either '9a'
or '9b'. It's not helped by the platform departure screens currently being obscured by hoarding.

I used Newcastle Central for years before electrification, and still can't get used to the main platform not being 8.

St Pancras Low Level is another one with the A-B designation.

I remember Guildford before the platforms were split into a and b sections - where there were multiple trains, it'd be either "London End" or "Tunnel
End".

One thing I've always wondered about is why London Underground use platform numbers on occasion (when dealing with the public). Given they're barely
marked (usually just on the line map as you arrive on the platform), how on earth do they expect people to know which is which?

 

[thefab444]

There's no platform 1 at Salisbury (it physically exists but not used by service trains because it's not track circuited.)

There's also a platform 5 at Salisbury, similarly out of use, but I'm not sure why.

With regards to some LO stations having Eastbound and Westbound platforms, Highbury & Islington also has a "Special Platform" (on the same island as the Eastbound platform)!

 

[Mojo]

Northampton, can't remember the exact numbering, but there are some bay platforms (I think 4/5) but are next to platform 1.

Bristol Temple Meads doesn't have platform 14 and platform 2 exists but isn't numbered.

Clapham Junction platform 1 is fenced off and isn't numbered.

There are also some platforms on the North London Line that are signed and referred to as "East" and "West" (may be Eastbound/Westbound, I can't remember).

 

[Capybara]

With regards to some LO stations having Eastbound and Westbound platforms, Highbury & Islington also has a "Special Platform" (on the same island as the Eastbound platform)!

The Special Platform at Highbury & Islington which was used bidirectionally so that the station could be used when engineering works were taking place on the main lines has now been removed in conjunction with the LO works currently taking place.

Clapham Junction platform 1 is fenced off and isn't numbered.

And doesn't have any track serving it. Ergo, it's not a platform, it's a fence with a drop onto some chippings on the other side.

 

[Solent&Wessex]

Huddersfield has Platforms 1,2,4,5,6,8. - so no platform 3 or 7.

Preston has totally silly bay platforms 3c and 4c miles away down the end of the main platforms which are numbered 3 and 4 and not in any way connected with the bays. They are totally out of view from the main part of station so if anything still does use them, god help the passengers actually trying to find the platforms!

Hull has no Platform 1 - the numbers run 2 - 8. Platform 1 is still physically there, and still has the support for a very ancient CIS monitor, but it is not signposted and not used - and judging by the condition of the track into the platform, nothing of any description has gone into it for some time.

I seem to recall West Croydon has - or did have - a missing platform resulting from the conversion of the Wimbledon line to Tramway, but I can't just remember whether it is still there.

 

[87015]

Northampton, can't remember the exact numbering, but there are some bay platforms (I think 4/5) but are next to platform 1.

The bays are 'new' to the extent that 1/2/3 have been there since the station was rebuilt with (or nearly with) electrification but the bays were not used for passenger service until the 1990s. They were previously used for parcels traffic, which Northampton used to have lots of, and the occasional stabling of a 310 unit. Obviously when they were brought into passenger use they didn't want to renumber the main platforms.

Similarly until the late 90s Bletchley had platforms 3-8 not 1-6 until Silverlink renumbered them all. Yet six miles down the road they did renumber Leighton when the Dunstable branch closed!

 

[Mojo]

I remember reading the minutes from a meeting where passengers asked if the platform numbers at Stratford could be renamed in time for the Olympics to avoid confusing passengers. Network Rail responded by saying that it's not just a case of changing the signs on the platforms and that it would cost several million to renumber!

 

[WhereInSussex]

Seaford has only one platform. It is platform 2. All trains are announced to leave from platform 2!

 

[delt1c]

When Stratford was rebuilt for the electrification 2 bays were provided at the London end for a proposed Fenchurch St service which never came to fruition. However the bays were built and numbered (4 & 6 I believe) but never had tracks. 4 was eventually used as the origonal Docklands but 6 has never been used . And remains trackless to this day

 

[90019]

Edinburgh Waverley has no 5 or 6 in use, though there are tracks used for loco stabling. it was extensively re-numbered during the addition of several extra platforms which was accompanied by track layout changes and full resignalling.

It also has 8e, 8w, 9e and 9w. IIRC this is so that they can fit 4 shorter trains in if need be, but when there's a 125 or 225, they're just platforms 8 and 9.