Stoke - Manchester Northern not using bay at Stoke

[mjc]

Ok, so a very specific query but it has me wondering and I'm sure someone here will have the answer!

Northern run and hourly stopping service between Stoke and Manchester Piccadilly. At Stoke it's always used Platform 3, a north facing bay platform, and is the only service to use that platform. Recently I've noticed that occasionally it instead arrives into platform 1, moves south into some kind of siding to wait, and then departs from platform 2, all while platform 3 sits unused. There's no work going on around platform 3 and sometimes it still uses platform 3 so the change seems odd, especially as it then gets in the way of the other services through the station.

Any ideas?

 

[Rail Ranger]

Was the train too long for platform 3?

 

[aliceh]

Looking at RTT for yesterday, they all used Platform 3 except the ones that were 6-car units, so I'd guess it's those being too long for p3

 

[The Planner]

Ok, so a very specific query but it has me wondering and I'm sure someone here will have the answer!

Northern run and hourly stopping service between Stoke and Manchester Piccadilly. At Stoke it's always used Platform 3, a north facing bay platform, and is the only service to use that platform. Recently I've noticed that occasionally it instead arrives into platform 1, moves south into some kind of siding to wait, and then departs from platform 2, all while platform 3 sits unused. There's no work going on around platform 3 and sometimes it still uses platform 3 so the change seems odd, especially as it then gets in the way of the other services through the station.

Any ideas?

Looks like some 6 cars were running about yesterday, they won't fit the bay.

 

[jfollows]

Looks like some 6 cars were running about yesterday, they won't fit the bay.

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/class-331-at-stoke-on-trent.246365/page-2#post-6175917 shows a four-car unit only just fits.

 

[mjc]

Thanks for the replies chaps, that makes sense as 6 carriage train wouldn't fit in the bay, however it wasn't yesterday I'd noticed it, last Friday for example all 3 carriage trains but the services around 11am and 7pm used P1/2. It wasn't the same unit so not likely it's a diagram which sometimes has a 6 car unit, and different times than yesterday...

 

[The Planner]

Thanks for the replies chaps, that makes sense as 6 carriage train wouldn't fit in the bay, however it wasn't yesterday I'd noticed it, last Friday for example all 3 carriage trains but the services around 11am and 7pm used P1/2. It wasn't the same unit so not likely it's a diagram which sometimes has a 6 car unit, and different times than yesterday...

The ones around 7pm form ECS as they are extras, and clash with northbound trains if they use the bays.

 

[jonnyfan]

There is construction work associated with the roof on Platform 3, which causes issues if there is a wheelchair user who wants to alight at Stoke from a Northern service. So if there is a customer in a wheelchair alighting at Stoke, a request is put in to use Plat 1 to allow the ramp to be deployed. So that may also explain some of the extra uses of the through platforms instead of the bay.