Trivia: Stations that are overengineered for their current usage

[james60059]

Would Rugby qualify, not so much the new platforms but the bay at the South End? does any thing passenger wise use it or is it just for the stabling of the Class 57 Thunderbird

I know before the remodelling the bays were overkill then for the island platform but I suppose they were what was left when trains use to arrive from Leamington, Leicester and Market Harbrough/Peterborough back in the day.

 

[Ships]

Wrexham general, Has two un numbed bay platforms that not used, also platform 3 sees very if any use

Bays are used for OTMs.

 

[richard1976]

I am sure Ince & Elton station and Stanlow & Thornton could manage with only one platform each

 

[Intercity 225]

I am sure Ince & Elton station and Stanlow & Thornton could manage with only one platform each

Despite the admittedly low usage, aren't both platforms required at these stations because the services that stop at them run on both tracks?

 

[Intercity 225]

Thank you for all the additional responses since my last update, great to see the thread continuing to grow!

To account for the most recent posts, I've updated the list that contains all stations that are widely accepted to be overengineered and the list that contains stations that are being debated as to whether they qualify or not. Both lists continue to be in alphabetical order for ease of reference.

Any stations in blue have moved list since the previous update
Any stations in red are new entries

Please continue with the contributions!

Widely Accepted
Attenborough
Bexhill
Brigg
Cheadle Hulme
Chippenham
Denton
East Midlands Parkway
Esher
Folkestone Central
Gainsborough Central
Great Yarmouth
Hampton-in-Arden
Hartford
Hellifield
Hooton
Hull Paragon
Kempston Hardwick
North Camp
Perth
Pontypridd
Salisbury
Skegness
Stirling
Telford Central
Thornton Abbey
Tynemouth
Wellington
Wembley Central
Wemyss Bay

Debated
Aberdeen
Birmingham Snow Hill
Blackpool North
Bristol Temple Meads
Bushey
Carlisle
Crewe
Dorchester South
Ebbsfleet International
Edinburgh Gateway
Exeter Central
Goxhill
Harrow and Wealdstone
Ince & Elton
Inverness
Liverpool South Parkway
Lowestoft
Manchester Victoria
Moorgate
New Malden
Nuneaton
Queen's Park (London)
Rugby
Scarborough
Shrewsbury
Stafford
Stanlow & Thornton
Stratford International
Vauxhall
Watford Junction
Weymouth
Wrexham General

 

[moogal]

Moorgate ,with its not in use City Widened Line / ex TL platforms could count . I think something like 3 are no longer in use

2 ex-Thameslink platforms no longer in use, the other 2 bays are regularly used to turn Circle/H&C/Met trains if late running/disruption.

 

[Andyh82]

Instead of just surplus platforms how about massive amounts of redundant buildings, like the Manchester Victoria example?

 

[Intercity 225]

Instead of just surplus platforms how about massive amounts of redundant buildings, like the Manchester Victoria example?

Manchester Victoria has already been mentioned but your point is valid, stations with a significant amount of redundant buildings are suitable for this thread. If you have any further examples please share them.

 

[bramling]

2 ex-Thameslink platforms no longer in use, the other 2 bays are regularly used to turn Circle/H&C/Met trains if late running/disruption.

The two Thameslink platforms are planned to be made into sidings over the next few years, so even these will find a use of sorts. A junction has already been laid at Farringdon to provide access.

 

[DarloRich]

York, Newcastle, Darlington etc all have platforms much longer than needed for trains today. What is the point of this list?

 

[Kite159]

York, Newcastle, Darlington etc all have platforms much longer than needed for trains today. What is the point of this list?

Especially since you could probably add several other stations which has disused or underused platforms from previous lines or when seaside expresses ran, where it is too costly to remove them. Similar with stations which has disused buildings [again plenty of examples where once staffed stations have been reduced to unstaffed stops with the station building either currently disused or only part in use. Romsey springs to mind.

With that you could add Bromsgrove, 4 platforms for currently an hourly service, and even when the wires reach it platform 1 won't be seeing that much use [probably only in times where a late running XC express needs to overtake the 170].

Maybe even Birmingham New Street as that has a disused parcels bay next to platform 12, maybe even Birmingham Moor Street with a disused platform (5), with long platforms which only see full use with a handful of peak-time services daily?

Over-engineered would be like the footbridge at Brigg/Gainsborough Central for the number of passengers using the station.

 

[dk1]

Lowestoft Station today at 09:07 & the once daily 'full house' :razz:

 

[swt_passenger]

The two Thameslink platforms are planned to be made into sidings over the next few years, so even these will find a use of sorts. A junction has already been laid at Farringdon to provide access.

AIUI the two lines through Barbican are being made into stabling sidings, but they don't seem to be intending to stable trains all the way into the Moorgate end. There was a drawing showing the final track layout in the LU sub-forum somewhere, it looks like a single line at Moorgate. I wondered in that discussion why they wouldn't use two platforms, but member Dstock7080 reckons not.

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=2579841&postcount=29

(Oddly enough I found it in a thread about the Waterloo and City - not where I expected it at all...)

 

[urbophile]

Lowestoft Station today at 09:07 & the once daily 'full house' :razz:

I know it is in the driest part of England, but it must rain some time. Very spartan station when it does. And naff graphics on the platform number signs.

 

[Rich McLean]

I see Plymouth has been mentioned as too big for the traffic flow. However early mornings and late evenings all 5 through platforms and park sidings are often all occupied with starting and terminating services including ECS moves for crew purposes. During the daytime then I agree it's a bit over the top, but doesn't really qualify to make the list.

 

[GW43125]

Would Rugby qualify, not so much the new platforms but the bay at the South End? does any thing passenger wise use it or is it just for the stabling of the Class 57 Thunderbird

I know before the remodelling the bays were overkill then for the island platform but I suppose they were what was left when trains use to arrive from Leamington, Leicester and Market Harbrough/Peterborough back in the day.

Isn't the thunderbird kept in the loco siding next to P3?

 

[richard1976]

Bordesley, has 2 platforms and only served by 1 train a week

 

[faltskog36abba]

I can understand why Manchester Victoria is on here owing to the mainly empty façade /office block. But apart from that Victoria is a busy station once again, The ground floor units are now let to Smiths, Marks and spencer, Greggs, Starbucks, Java and the buffet bar. All six platforms are in use daily and in the peaks the platforms are at capacity- Which they will be again all day from December this year when the Ordsall chord opens.

 

[185143]

Bristol Temple Meads, possibly over-engineered?! No chance. This station is always busy, especially at peak times. Personally I'd want to engineer it more, in particular make platform 13 a through platform as a back-up for platform 15's through line.

Dorchester South is used as a passing loop most of the day, so it's two platforms are used regularly, thus this station cannot be even considered over-engineered. Same thing applies to Weymouth, and for that matter many of the stations listed as debatable. Harrow and Wealdstone, OK so the fast line platforms don't see much use. That applies to the majority of stations between London Euston and Northampton, as well as from London Paddington to Didcot Parkway. If the fast line platforms saw regular use it would stuff up the express services. Take away the fast line platforms, and you lose the flexibility.

Hooton I saw mentioned and I agree it is a bit over-engineered these days, as those two bay platforms don't see use these days.

There aren't that many stations which can truely be described as over-engineered, just poorly so these days. Stratford International is definitely one that was over-engineered, but I do recall the plan was to stop Eurostar services there originally, then the plan changed after construction started. I could be wrong on the latter.

One of Hooton's bay platforms is being used for the Ellesmere Port shuttle service during the track renewal works.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Bordesley, has 2 platforms and only served by 1 train a week

Presumably you've never seen it on a day when Birmingham are playing at home?

 

[fgwrich]

Shoreditch High Street? Cant think of the platform length at the moment, but compared to the rest of the LO network it does seem to have been over engineered - Built in a large concrete box on a viaduct to facilitate eventual building over / incorporating into future high rise developments, with plenty of circulation space, it feels as if it's been built to handle St Pancras international level of custom while only really achieving a quarter of that. And that's including during the rush hour.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Shoreditch High Street? Cant think of the platform length at the moment, but compared to the rest of the LO network it does seem to have been over engineered - Built in a large concrete box on a viaduct to facilitate eventual building over / incorporating into future high rise developments, with plenty of circulation space, it feels as if it's been built to handle St Pancras international level of custom while only really achieving a quarter of that. And that's including during the rush hour.

Good suggestion here, though at least it has been "future-proofed"... unlike so many other new bits of railway:- the MML platforms at St. Pancras International being an obvious example.

 

[BurtonM]

Stalybridge, at least for the moment. A bay that doesn't see regular use, and two platforms towards Manchester where you could possibly get away with one.

Ardwick

 

[Greetlander]

Apologies if this has been done before but I can’t see it anywhere.

A number of members have always seemed to have a bee in their bonnet about certain stations not being large enough for their liking. Halifax is my pet topic but Manchester Victoria gets a frequent mention.

Are there any stations that people feel are oversized for purpose, and would benefit from some pruning?

 

[30907]

Hull is generously sized for the number of trains using it, but this usefully allows various services to have long turnrounds - and you'd still have the overall roof to maintain, so no point.
Perth isn't the most sensibly laid out station, but difficult to sort out, and Stirling is enormous, but the Alloa line needs the easternmost throuh platform, and the bays are used as carriage sidings.
So not much you can do with any of those 3.

Then there's Wemyss Bay, where only 1 of 3 platforms seems to be used - but I imagine the whole thing is the equivalent of Grade 1 listed, so hands off!

 

[Mikey C]

LLandudno previously would have fitted this thread, but 2 platforms and a chunk of the station building have now been removed

 

[Wirewiper]

EDIT: I've just realised I have replied to a necropost.

 

[freddy362]

definitely Kensington Olympia with the huge platforms

 

[30907]

definitely Kensington Olympia with the huge platforms

3 platforms, only one of which is full length (and hasn't been needed as such for 20+ years), plus the redundant Motorail facility.

 

[Andrew1395]

Wembley central - cannot remember when the fast line platforms were last used. It even has a long abandoned bay platform ( or something similar to that) which shows how over engineered the station is. Fast services also have a low patronage( the appalling service may be a reason for that)

Harrow and wealdstone - p3/4 rarely used, although I do remember using them a few times last year

Bushey p3/4 also rarely used I believe p3 was OOU from mid 1980s to 2011

Queens Park - two completely useless WCML platforms

Rules of the route mean that without fast line platforms at Harrow and Bushey services late in the evening most weeks would not be able to call at those stations. The very reason platform 3 was reinstated at Bushey.