Trivia: Stations with platforms that have never been used

[Taunton]

Does platform 3 ar Mudchute on the DLR ever get used in passenger service

Yes, when there's any disruption on the section on to Lewisham. Possibly not planned, but certainly is used by ops if the need arises.

 

[Ianno87]

Ellesmere Port is believed to be the only station in the country with two conventional through lines and two though platforms - which has trains terminating from and departing in both directions - but has no through passenger services (if that makes sense).

Only other example I can think of is Royston before electrification was extended to Cambridge, although there were a few through peak trains.

 

[adc82140]

Have the island platforms at New Malden ever been used?

 

[Ianno87]

Have the island platforms at New Malden ever been used?

I believe last saw regular timetabled use in about 1967 or something.

 

[adc82140]

I'm guessing the answer will be the same for Walton on Thames. It's got me thi King about sonething though for which I'll start a new thread..

 

[BS56]

Hertford North. There is a never used platform face behind the current platform 1. You can still see it if you peer through the fence and shrubbery at the northern end of the platform.

Tricky one that. At one time I feel sure it was known as platform four although never used. This means at some time in the past the other platforms had been renumbered.

 

[Surreyman]

Platform 7 at Guildford is never used (It serves the same track as platform 6) must have been used sometime in the past?

 

[Meerkat]

Platform 7 at Guildford is never used (It serves the same track as platform 6) must have been used sometime in the past?

In Slam door days you couldn’t stop 7 being used. I don’t know what the announcements and platform indicators said.
My Dad tells the tale of a platform announcement saying one of the platforms and a chap in his crowded carriage looked out the wrong window saw the other platform number, panicked, and crashed out the train.
A minute or two later he came crashing through a door on the other side, breathing manically but looking triumphant......until he looked round at some familiar faces smiling at him.....

 

[DorkingMain]

Have the island platforms at New Malden ever been used?

No scheduled use for a long time but have been used in the past in emergencies.

 

[Jona26]

As I child in the late seventies I remember arriving at the island platform on the down side at Walton on Thames. I don't remember ever departing from there or arriving or departing from the up side of the island.

I think by that point although the island platforms were still officially in use there were no timetabled services and only used for additional stops or when the down slow was closed.

Certainly by the early eighties when I was using the station daily to get to secondary school the gate at the bottom of the steps to the platform was permanently padlocked shut.

 

[norbitonflyer]

As I child in the late seventies I remember arriving at the island platform on the down side at Walton on Thames. I don't remember ever departing from there or arriving or departing from the up side of the island.

I think by that point although the island platforms were still officially in use there were no timetabled services and only used for additional stops or when the down slow was closed.

Certainly by the early eighties when I was using the station daily to get to secondary school the gate at the bottom of the steps to the platform was permanently padlocked shut.

 

[philthetube]

I know that this is not what the OP is looking for though it fits the thread.

Dolgarrog

 

[norbitonflyer]

UpSome years ago I used the island platform at Esher. My train had been due to call at Surbiton but was prevented by s failed train in platform 3 so a special stop was made on the down fast at Esher, and an up train made a special stop on the up fast to take us back to Surbiton.

On another tack, I don't think Platform 1 at Lincoln has had any scheduled services since it was renumbered from Platform 3 during the resignalling a few years back

 

[Lifelong]

No scheduled use for a long time but have been used in the past in emergencies.

I suspect I may have been on the last train to use the down platform. Probably in around 2005/6/7, when there was an evening rush hour meltdown IIRC...

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Isn't there one at Honeybourne built fairly recently for potential future use by the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire railway?

No, not really. There's space for a platform, but no platform as such. Here's what it looks like: http://everythinggwr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/24.jpg

And here's a temporary platform that was built to provide a shuttle service to Long Marston for a rail industry event in 2017: https://www.flickr.com/photos/citytransportinfo/34693548204

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross?

 

[BayPaul]

Platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross?

That's the other way around, surely. A platform in regular use that doesn't exist, at least for us muggles!

 

[gazr]

UpSome years ago I used the island platform at Esher. My train had been due to call at Surbiton but was prevented by s failed train in platform 3 so a special stop was made on the down fast at Esher, and an up train made a special stop on the up fast to take us back to Surbiton.

On another tack, I don't think Platform 1 at Lincoln has had any scheduled services since it was renumbered from Platform 3 during the resignalling a few years back

There is/was a service that used P1 @ Lincoln recently. Inbound working ECS and stables before working to Peterborough.

 

[4COR]

When was the last time platform 7 at Norwood Junction was used (and the old goods loading bay to the east side)?

P7 had signage the last time I went through, yellow lines etc, but no 3rd rail. I just about recall passing through Norwood as a kid when the sidings to the south were in use, but never on P7...

 

[CaptainBen]

Does Platform 3 at Finsbury Park ever get used? It serves the same track as Platform 2, which is where services actually call.

 

[BarryD]

On another tack, I don't think Platform 1 at Lincoln has had any scheduled services since it was renumbered from Platform 3 during the resignalling a few years back

As I write, Traksy shows a train in Platform 1 - 5K41, the 16.00 from Sleaford, arriving 16.30.

 

[norbitonflyer]

I sta

As I write, Traksy shows a train in Platform 1 - 5K41, the 16.00 from Sleaford, arriving 16.30.

I stand corrected. I don't recall it seeing much use before the resignalling (when it was platform 3). The original Platforms 1 and 2 were lost to a car park way back (1970s?)

 

[GW43125]

Does Platform 3 at Finsbury Park ever get used? It serves the same track as Platform 2, which is where services actually call.

It was platform 1 (Up Slow) until the present 1/2 island was built about 10 years ago (along with associated work to turn the Up Goods into the Up Slow 2)

 

[NoMorePacers]

To add further, last week, I boarded a 158 heading towards Grimsby from Lincoln Platform 1, so I don't think that example is valid in this situation.

 

[Mikey C]

I assume Platform 1 at Golders Green tube station must at some point have been used by passengers, but I've never seen it myself. It's been solely for staff use as far as I can remember

 

[steamybrian]

At Edgware Underground station an island platform was built in 1939 for the planned extension to Bushey Heath. Work on construction of the new railway was well advanced when it was suspended due to WW2 and subsequently abandoned. Are the platforms still there?.
In connection with this work the line to Finchley Central was closed in 1939 for doubling of the line/electrification and reconstruction of Mill Hill The Hale and Mill Hill East stations. The second platform at Mill The Hale was constructed but never used, the station never reopened and abandoned. Mill Hill East was reopened in 1940 with the original single platform and the second platform was never built.

 

[BasildonBob]

Tricky one that. At one time I feel sure it was known as platform four although never used. This means at some time in the past the other platforms had been renumbered.

I think this may have been used for the old line from Welwyn to Hertford North. There was also a short link from Hertford North to just outside Hertford East.

 

[BS56]

I think this may have been used for the old line from Welwyn to Hertford North. There was also a short link from Hertford North to just outside Hertford East.

NO it has always been disused trains from Welwyn either terminated in the down main or the other bay which had a run round loop. New connections were put in around 1922 for this purpose when the new station was under construction . Goods trains however used the original route of the branch which was further over.

 

[swt_passenger]

At Edgware Underground station an island platform was built in 1939 for the planned extension to Bushey Heath. Work on construction of the new railway was well advanced when it was suspended due to WW2 and subsequently abandoned. Are the platforms still there?.
In connection with this work the line to Finchley Central was closed in 1939 for doubling of the line/electrification and reconstruction of Mill Hill The Hale and Mill Hill East stations. The second platform at Mill The Hale was constructed but never used, the station never reopened and abandoned. Mill Hill East was reopened in 1940 with the original single platform and the second platform was never built.

I believe one face of the additional island is still in use, as P1, but as far as the satellite view suggests only a very short length at the London end of its other unused face is still visible. I expect it never saw any track.

I believe had the extension via Mill Hill ever been opened, then the present 2 platforms in the main shed would have been the through platforms, (there are stub tunnels in line), and the current P1 and its unused opposite face would have been the terminus of the Hampstead branch. The wiki page for the station suggests it would have been a junction, and implies the Hampstead line would have been extended, but I’m sure I’ve seen other line diagrams showing it as a terminus with the two routes separate.

I wonder if anyone knows for sure?

 

[BasildonBob]

NO it has always been disused trains from Welwyn either terminated in the down main or the other bay which had a run round loop. New connections were put in around 1922 for this purpose when the new station was under construction . Goods trains however used the original route of the branch which was further over.

Ah yes, until I looked at the old OS maps more closely, I hadn't appreciated that the line to Hertford East ran past, rather than through Hertford North. Thank you for the clarification. It's a bit odd that the disused platform was built and never used. I wonder what the original intention might have been.