Unusual signage at Workington

[Bletchleyite]

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Setting off from Workington this morning, and the placement of this fence on the yellow line made me smile a little...

I imagine there's some poor NR H&S type weighing up the relative risk of the roof falling on passengers Vs the risk of them having to use the platform on the wrong side of the yellow line

For anyone unfamiliar with the station, the platform is for southbound trains to Whitehaven/Barrow in Furness/Lancaster, and the rear doors of the train will normally be to the left of that fencing as you look at it. It also leads to the disabled access to the northbound platform.

No, it's the work of Workington Transport Heritage Trust. One of their volunteers worked for Northern in the ticket office, so the group take a pretty active role in caring for the station - gardening, they've got a video display about rail making, as at one point the majority of rails were made in Workington, they've got a coffee shop there to raise funds for the Trust, and they've put up various Workington and Transport related boards around the station.

Oh, and they also do some of the RRB work in their newer preserved vehicles - they have a fleet of around 20/25 buses and coaches, all with local connections, a few of which are still PSV tested, along with an O licence.

The reason for the two signs is that although now known as Workington, in days gone by, it was known as Workington Main to signify it was the main station, as opposed to Workington Central, which was so called only because it was in the middle of town.

Thanks. Interesting that it is genuine - I was more noting that the signage has some odd inconsistencies such as the newer looking sign appearing to be in Southern rather than Northern style, the very large N in Main, the missing dot on the I in Workington and the oversized O on the other sign - such corruptions are often a sign of AI, as AI has trouble doing text nicely for some reason.

I did wonder if "Main" was because of the temporary "North" a while back - interesting as to the real reason.

 

[PyrahnaRanger]

There was also at one point the "Workington Bridge" station. It seems strange a relatively small town should have so many stations, but back in the mists of time there were several railways all converging there to feed the steelworks.

 

[Lucy1501]

The signs at Workington were hand painted by a driver in 2018 in conjunction with the local heritage group painting the station, which does explain the small inconsistencies.