Which stations used to have "cab roads"? Do any still have them?

[alistairlees]

Lots of major stations (and probably some smaller ones) used to have "cab roads" - where taxis were available on a platform, and there was no need to go outside the station. I can think of:
- Paddington
- Victoria
- Kings Cross
- St Pancras (I think?)
- Edinburgh Waverley
- York
- Liverpool Lime Street
- Newcastle (I think)

A few such as Darlington still have taxis from pretty much inside the station (though, in this case, from a turning circle which is between - but separated from - the platforms).

Are there any true cab roads left? Where else had them? Any pictures?

 

[king_walnut]

Brighton. The road is still there between platform 7 and 8.

 

[swt_passenger]

Waterloo had an internal cab road until the 1990s alterations for Eurostar.

But i don’t remember Newcastle having cabs inside the main shed, at least since the early 60s…

 

[Sleepy]

Liverpool St. was in use between platforms 10 and 11 until about a year ago ?

 

[qpsnapper]

Glasgow Central: There was a piece on the "Inside Central Station" programme last week which the station tour guide was talking about the cab road that used to be on the western side of the station.

 

[Ken H]

Is this one at carlisle? The road down from Victoria Viaduct, Think the ramp is still there. 1924 map from maps.nls.uk

 

[AlterEgo]

Marylebone used to have one. Vehicles can be seen in it during the station scene in A Hard Day’s Night.

 

[6Gman]

Llandudno.

 

[Flange Squeal]

I believe taxis currently pick up from a dedicated area outside the station, but I'm not sure if this at Eastbourne used to be a cab road in the past?

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[Roger1973]

Waterloo had an internal cab road until the 1990s alterations for Eurostar.

Yes, between (then) platforms 11 and 12 - I think they added another couple of platforms in the space when the Eurostar bit got added.

Having said that, I don't know when it stopped being used as a taxi road - by the time I remember it, it was used by parcels / post vans only, and the taxi rank was more or less where it is now and you were under cover all the way (the exact location may have been changed after the old railway bridge stopped being the pedestrian route to Waterloo East.)

There was a similar roadway between two platforms at St Pancras which may at one time have been a cab road, but again I only remember it being used by post office vans (appeared in the opening titles of the 70s sitcom 'Porridge'- youtube video here)

 

[Rescars]

I think there used to be a cab road at Edinburgh Waverley.

 

[alistairlees]

Thanks all for the additions. I completely forgot about the Waterloo one. I assume the Brighton one is not in use for taxis any more? Is anywhere?

Llandudno was a surprise to me ... all that summer holiday traffic I expect.

 

[king_walnut]

I believe taxis currently pick up from a dedicated area outside the station, but I'm not sure if this at Eastbourne used to be a cab road in the past?

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Yeah that's the pickup/dropoff point. Not exclusively for taxis. It's currently being rebuilt or refurbished or something.

 

[6Gman]

Thanks all for the additions. I completely forgot about the Waterloo one. I assume the Brighton one is not in use for taxis any more? Is anywhere?

Llandudno was a surprise to me ... all that summer holiday traffic I expect.

I've actually caught a taxi from the cab road at Llandudno within the past ten years, but I have a feeling the "improvements" may have put an end to that.

 

[The exile]

I think there used to be a cab road at Edinburgh Waverley.

There was general vehicle access into Waverley for a long time using the two ramps from Waverley Bridge which I think may have later been restricted to taxis only

 

[Recessio]

I assume the Brighton one is not in use for taxis any more?

Not in the time I've been living there (~5 years).

Brighton not only has a surviving cab rank, but a wooden platform too - is it the only station with that combination left?

 

[AlbertBeale]

Yes, between (then) platforms 11 and 12 - I think they added another couple of platforms in the space when the Eurostar bit got added.

Having said that, I don't know when it stopped being used as a taxi road - by the time I remember it, it was used by parcels / post vans only, and the taxi rank was more or less where it is now and you were under cover all the way (the exact location may have been changed after the old railway bridge stopped being the pedestrian route to Waterloo East.)

There was a similar roadway between two platforms at St Pancras which may at one time have been a cab road, but again I only remember it being used by post office vans (appeared in the opening titles of the 70s sitcom 'Porridge'- youtube video here)

Yes - that road between platforms at St Pancras was only ever (in my memory of the station since the '70s) used for Post Office traffic etc. I think the cabs picked up on the high-level road in front of the station; or perhaps from where the Red Start parcels office was near/behind the ticket office (on the platform level in the south west corner). Certainly they left via a ramp down inside the external wall of the west side, with a very sharp right-angled left turn at the bottom to emerge onto Midland Road.

Brighton. The road is still there between platform 7 and 8.

I don't remember that being used for taxis for many decades - only for parcels vans and so on. I only remember the cabs picking up in the covered area in front of the station (until a year or two back that is, when they were pushed round to the side of the station, much to many people's annoyance).


The internal cab roads at Paddington and Liverpool Street were really useful; I was sorry they moved the Paddington one to a depressing place somewhere a long way from (and out of sight of) the platforms, up near the H&C Underground access from the canalside. The Liverpool Street one saved my bacon once when cycling to catch a train there; taking a wrong turn through the City with a couple of minutes before the train left; I ended up accessing the cab road from behind the station and belted down the ramp overtaking taxis on the way to get to the train and throw myself and my bike aboard with seconds to spare.

 

[SussexMan]

I believe taxis currently pick up from a dedicated area outside the station, but I'm not sure if this at Eastbourne used to be a cab road in the past?

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I don't believe this was ever a platform cab road which is what the OP was asking about.

 

[crossani]

There was a piece on the "Inside Central Station" programme last week which the station tour guide was talking about the cab road that used to be on the western side of the station.

Was that in the space now occupied by platforms 12 and 13 (created for the Airport Rail Link), or was that space used for something else like parcels or passenger drop off?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Llandudno.

Llandudno was a surprise to me ... all that summer holiday traffic I expect.

I've actually caught a taxi from the cab road at Llandudno within the past ten years, but I have a feeling the "improvements" may have put an end to that.

I was there a few weeks ago, and I can confirm that, whilst the entrance leading underneath the overall roof is still there, the taxi rank is now in the station forecourt.

 

[seagull]

London Euston of course used to have one between platforms 2 and 3, the ramp to it still there from a bridge over the lines about midway along the platform.

Looks like Preston may well also have had at one time - before the ticket hall was where it is now? Or maybe that's always been its location.

 

[Falcon1200]

Was that in the space now occupied by platforms 12 and 13 (created for the Airport Rail Link)

Yes, it was where the present day 12 and 13 are. IIRC the reason 12 and 13 are much shorter than the adjoining platforms is that the structure beneath the cab road was built for road vehicles, not trains !

 

[John Webb]

.....There was a similar roadway between two platforms at St Pancras which may at one time have been a cab road, but again I only remember it being used by post office vans (appeared in the opening titles of the 70s sitcom 'Porridge'- youtube video here)

It was on the old platforms 5 & 6, and disappeared when the station was revamped as the Eurostar terminus. Entrance was from the east side (Pancras Road) at the north end of the station and the taxis left through the arch in the hotel and passed down the front ramps into Euston Road. None of my books on St Pancras and other London termini say when the cab road fell out of use, but a diagram of St Pancras in 1958 from The Railway Magazine reproduced in Alan Jackson's book "London Termini" (David and Charles, 2nd Ed, 1985) refers to the "Former Cab Approach".

It would seem generally that cab roads, usually on platforms designated for use for arriving trains, fell out of use with the arrival of multiple units where it became common to use platforms indiscriminately for arrivals and departures to minimise shunting moves otherwise required.

 

[Southsider]

Yes, it was where the present day 12 and 13 are. IIRC the reason 12 and 13 are much shorter than the adjoining platforms is that the structure beneath the cab road was built for road vehicles, not trains !

Wasn’t that the car park with the taxi rank being on the access road?

 

[edwin_m]

As I posted recently on another thread, my memory of the one at Waverley was not a good one. It may have been great when the cabs were horse-drawn and the station was full of fumes from the trains, but a queue of idling diesels isn't the best experience and there's a risk of accidents if they have to drive across a busy concourse.

So good riddance in my view, move the cabs outside and maybe provide a hire bike rack where they used to be.

 

[DanNCL]

- Newcastle (I think)

But i don’t remember Newcastle having cabs inside the main shed, at least since the early 60s…

The taxi rank at Newcastle Central hasn’t been in the main shed. It was located in the station portico until around 2013-2014, when it was moved outside as the portico was enclosed and pedestrianised as part of a station refurbishment.

 

[redengine]

Does the original Birmingham New Street count? Its cab road was between the LNWR and Midland trainsheds.

 

[HSP 2]

London Euston of course used to have one between platforms 2 and 3, the ramp to it still there from a bridge over the lines about midway along the platform.

Looks like Preston may well also have had at one time - before the ticket hall was where it is now? Or maybe that's always been its location.

In all of the time I have been going to Preston (50+ years) it has never had a cab road to the platforms. The taxi rank has always been in the same place, at one time it did have a roof over it not like now.

 

[D6130]

Helensburgh Central - still has its original cab road with separate entrance and exit to/from East Princes Street alongside the original platform 2 (now platform 3) and used as a car park in modern times. One can imagine the wealthy nineteenth century Glasgow bankers, lawyers and merchants alighting from their horse-drawn carriages under cover of the glass roof - protected from the challenging West of Scotland weather - and walking briskly to their first class compartments....perhaps pausing briefly at the bookstall to pick up a copy of the Glasgow Herald.

 

[Falcon1200]

Wasn’t that the car park with the taxi rank being on the access road?

You are right, I should have said car park. Thanks.