[Trivia] How many stations still have wooden platforms?

[infobleep]

There were a few answers to this question in 2012, if anyone needs a hint:

Stations with wooden platforms

Are there any stations in the UK (not heritage) which still have wooden platforms? I would be interested to see some of them, if there are any... Thanks

www.railforums.co.uk

Thanks for that. I didn't do a brief search on platform wooden but nothing showed up in the first page or so. I guess to far back in time.

For all I know I read that thread at the time.

 

[Spartacus]

WYPTE, keen to get modal shift onto rail by building new trial stations, horrified by BR’s costs, drove this concept of the simplest possible design.

If demand did not show up the station could cheaply be removed. If successful a better station could be built for the proven flow. People were actually very proud of it, and the new much cheaper trains, Pacers, that made modal shift almost affordable.

That is all from memory, I was a young planner at the time. No point in asking for sources. It’s pre-Internet and most of my paper-based library went in the recycling 5 years ago.

I don’t recall any other PTE doing it.

Pity that the basics of cost-driven engineering and the ‘let's get something built to see how it’s used’ attitudes then have died. Does anyone get promoted for actually getting passengers onto public transport nowadays?

Trouble with it was it led to almost constant repair bills for platform damage; I remember some of those wooden platforms spending considerable time looking like a patchwork quilt with all the repair patched on them, sometimes a patch on a larger patch, undoubtedly a trip hazard in some cases, and in extreme cases platforms, or part of them, being closed off due to rotten timber.

I've no doubt a better more modern solution would be to use the same recycled plastic that you often see picnic benches made out of. Didn't someone have a bash at making sleepers from it?

A good example of something not dissimilar to a platform below. Could be Rotherham when it floods

Water Won’t Rot It – Amazing Aquatic Builds - British Recycled Plastic

One of the best features of our recycled plastic lumber is its sheer versatility. The build possibilities are practically endless – if you can think of a potential project that would normally use timber or composite, it’s highly likely that recycled plastic can be used as a durable and...

britishrecycledplastic.co.uk

 

[Pit_buzzer]

3 more West Yorkshire stations, Sandal And Agbrigg(1987), Fitzwilliam (1982) and Outwood (1988)

 

[SuspectUsual]

Walsden as well - another of the WYPTE ones

 

[20200506]

Shotton Low Level had wooden platforms in around 2019 I think. And it's on a curve (possibly with a transition involved) so rebuilding it might not be as straightforward as building a cookie cutter station on straight track.

 

[jamieintercity]

Golf Street and Balmossie

 

[yorksrob]

No,it was built of concrete sections (possibly second hand).

You learn something new everyday.

It always looked sort of flat pack built.

 

[MatthewHutton]

A colleague commented that he was surprised more wooden platforms hadn't caught fire from a spark off the third rail or someone starting a fire in some way.

It then got me thinking about cinders from steam engines back in the day.

It’s quite difficult setting wood alight in a campfire!

 

[duffield]

If we're allowing heritage railways, I think there's a few. The north end platform extension at Duffield on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is wooden.

 

[Twingo37175]

3 more West Yorkshire stations, Sandal And Agbrigg(1987), Fitzwilliam (1982) and Outwood (1988)

To add to that, stand to be corrected, but I think Adwick and Bentley (Yorks) are also in the same bracket.

 

[Geeves]

Smithy Bridge, Mills Hill, Lostock Parkway, (recently extended with more wood). Hall ith Wood, Hag Fold. Pretty much all the 80s Greater Manchester Stations I would imagine.

 

[Elecman]

Lostock Parkway and Blackpool Pleasure beach are both wooden platforms

 

[onlinespotting]

Burley Park

 

[Mat17]

Silkstone Common, Berry Brow and Dodworth?

 

[fgwrich]

Lymington Pier

 

[Rescars]

Are there still sections at Halesworth made of timber (the sections which used to swing across the line to clear the level crossing)?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I always assumed it either wasn't real wood and just looked like wood or had some kind of fireproof coating on it (either or both may be wrong).
Either way I don't think any new platforms would be built out of wood now.

Not entirely new ones maybe. Slaithwaite had extensions built with timber frames within the last decade.
Here's a photo of the new section of platform under construction, from May 2018:

 

[davetheguard]

Appleford (at one time Appleford Halt) - one stop north from Didcot Parkway on the line to Oxford.

 

[infobleep]

If we're allowing heritage railways, I think there's a few. The north end platform extension at Duffield on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is wooden.

I am happy to allow them.

 

[themiller]

Flimby.
Ravenglass no longer has a wooden section on the up platform since the bridge was replaced. This was removed and the platform now ends at the bridge with a subsequent extension to the other end.

 

[Farnborough]

Noting that Berrylands is listed as a CrossRail2 station (yes, I know...), I'm assuming this will just be a straight repair job, as any potential improvements for CrossRail2 won't be countenanced yet?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

One slight oddity I've just remembered is that the currently disused up platform at Honley is mostly masonry but has a wooden section. I'll have to do some reading on the history of this, as it looks like it was designed to be able to be removed when required- though I'm intrigued as to what the purpose of such a feature would be.
If ever the line is redoubled or a loop is installed here, I suspect the platform would be rebuilt.

 

[Mordac]

My local Northfield certainly looks like wood at least in the soutbound platform although I'm not 100% sure it's not some kind of composite material. Not sure about the townbound one, and the disused middle platform is definitely not wood.

 

[trundlewagon]

My local Northfield certainly looks like wood at least in the soutbound platform although I'm not 100% sure it's not some kind of composite material. Not sure about the townbound one, and the disused middle platform is definitely not wood.

Just the down platform

 

[Barnsley]

Silkstone Common, Berry Brow and Dodworth?

Dodworth is concrete, but Goldthorpe and Thurnscoe are wooden, as is Broomfleet

 

[Iskra]

Chapeltown, South Yorkshire. Although you can also walk over the old concrete platforms to reach the current station.

 

[leytongabriel]

How about Bow Brickhill?

 

[geoffk]

Walsden as well - another of the WYPTE ones

Walsden was my local station for 13 years and the platforms were well patched-up, but it was done cheaply and an existing (L&YR?) footbridge was available, also an underpass for those unable to use the steps.

 

[KnobbyGB]

Are wooden platforms really a fire hazard? I mean, I can understand wood being a problem in a dry confined space (LU escalators, for example), but out in the 'damp' UK weather, with easy ways to evacuate? I'd have thought it'd take a LOT of effort to set a modern wooden platform alight, even deliberately. Certainly CCTV cameras would pick up any attempts pretty quickly.

I'm going back to 2002 or 2003 (I don't live there any more) but many of the new platforms I used around the Manchester suburbs were wooden. For sure, my regular commute from Flowery Field was. Also Godley on that same line. Basically most new stations of the 80s and early 90s.

If you asked me to guess how many there are on the network, I'd guess several hundred. I'd say it's a perfectly sensible, safe, cost effective solution really.

Now, what I never understand (totally off topic) is how a certain country (with an overgrown Wotsit in charge) build all-wooden houses in either tornado zones or forest fire zones then wonder why so many whole neighbourhoods either go up in smoke or get blown away.

 

[Haywain]

Now, what I never understand (totally off topic) is how a certain country (with an overgrown Wotsit in charge) build all-wooden houses in either tornado zones or forest fire zones then wonder why so many whole neighbourhoods either go up in smoke or get blown away.

Cheaper to build and rebuild, and easier to salvage materials.