Trivia: Stations with platforms that have never been used

[A0wen]

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

No there weren't - once electrification reached Royston, Cambridge lost its through services to Kings Cross until electrification and the only direct Cambridge to London services were via the West Anglia line to Liverpool Street.

There were a few peak hour trains between Kings Cross and the intermediate stations to Huntingdon until that got wired, but Cambridge lost out for 10 years until the wiring was extended.

 

[Acc3lerat1on]

Platform 2 at Bristol Temple Meads is only used as a siding. It might have been used to let people on and off before privatisation though.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

The R.e.s platform at Preston.

 

[Mag_seven]

The R.e.s platform at Preston.

I actually recall trains using that platform during engineering works at the station in the late 80s.

 

[Crossover]

For platform faces sans track, Letchworth Garden City is surely a contender? Designed to have two island platforms but only one half of each was ever used

With track, the cripple platform on Metrolink at Manchester Airport. Designed as such to allow an extension onwards from the Airport but currently not used in passenger service as I understand it

 

[DelW]

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?

A book titled "Northern Wastes" by Jim Blake and Jonathan James*, includes two different proposed plans of Edgware station, though neither is dated and I'm not sure whether either shows the final intended layout. However, both show links between the Highgate and Hampstead lines, albeit only by shunting via carriage sidings in one layout.

In both cases, the Highgate lines lead more directly to the extension, while the Hampstead lines head more directly to terminal platforms.

*Published by North London Transport Society in 1987, ISBN 0 3267304 02. It describes the whole saga of the Northern Line extension, its deferral and final abandonment.

 

[Deepgreen]

Have the island platforms at New Malden ever been used?

Yes, there was at least one timetabled early morning train for many years until the 1960s, which ran non-stop to Waterloo (from Woking or Basingstoke, I think). My father used to catch it occasionally when we lived there, and I recall a few occasions when it was used as a diversionary platform into the 1970s/80s. I lived there from 1961 to 1981.

How much of the connecting platform between Manchester Victoria and Exchange was ever used (and the OP does not specifiy passenger use)? I remember being taken there as a child and being stunned by the endless and almost empty expanse stretching out before me!

 

[swt_passenger]

A book titled "Northern Wastes" by Jim Blake and Jonathan James*, includes two different proposed plans of Edgware station, though neither is dated and I'm not sure whether either shows the final intended layout. However, both show links between the Highgate and Hampstead lines, albeit only by shunting via carriage sidings in one layout.

In both cases, the Highgate lines lead more directly to the extension, while the Hampstead lines head more directly to terminal platforms.

*Published by North London Transport Society in 1987, ISBN 0 3267304 02. It describes the whole saga of the Northern Line extension, its deferral and final abandonment.

Thanks for getting back with that info. I‘ve looked at a few bits of info over the years but nothing ever seemed to be “set in stone”...

 

[bramling]

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?

I can’t remember what was planned, though there are track and signalling plans in books on the subject.

The rear of the current platform 1 is pretty much gone now as you say. There’s various porta cabins and rooms been built over it, which has resulted in what was there gradually disappearing.

The stub tunnels at the north end of platforms 2 and 3 are curious, but they’re too modern looking to be part of the 1930s works. I suspect the road bridge has been rebuilt at some stage. These stubs are possibly more to do with providing sufficient space for overrun mitigation measures, as otherwise the platform berths would be *very* tight, especially platform 2. As an aside the platform 2 berth has issues relating to the new signalling, which again presumably was related to getting the berth lengths compliant with standards. Trains have to be stopped quite accurately there in order to give sufficient room to clear the points at the other end, go too far and the system will register it as an overshoot which also causes issues.

 

[swt_passenger]

The stub tunnels at the north end of platforms 2 and 3 are curious, but they’re too modern looking to be part of the 1930s works. I suspect the road bridge has been rebuilt at some stage. These stubs are possibly more to do with providing sufficient space for overrun mitigation measures, as otherwise the platform berths would be *very* tight, especially platform 2. As an aside the platform 2 berth has issues relating to the new signalling, which again presumably was related to getting the berth lengths compliant with standards. Trains have to be stopped quite accurately there in order to give sufficient room to clear the points at the other end, go too far and the system will register it as an overshoot which also causes issues.

Yes, and that’s an interesting point, because they do usually get described as the unused start of the extension. But I guess people maybe take that viewpoint because it’s a bit more exciting than mentioning overrun protection, that they’d have needed anyway...

 

[DelW]

Yes, and that’s an interesting point, because they do usually get described as the unused start of the extension. But I guess people maybe take that viewpoint because it’s a bit more exciting than mentioning overrun protection, that they’d have needed anyway...

The book I mentioned above includes the following, referring to Edgware station (and written in 1987):
"The island platform that would have given cross-platform interchange with trains terminating at Edgware (from Golders Green) and those continuing to Bushey Heath was built but never used at all - today being overgrown with part of the trackbed filled in with spoil from more recent building work. It is still flanked with the "temporary" wooden hoardings erected nearly 50 years ago to hide the tunnelling work beneath Station Road (also begun) from prying eyes!"

So the authors stated then that the tunnelling had been started in the 1930s.

 

[Welshman]

I actually recall trains using that platform during engineering works at the station in the late 80s.

I can actually recall the Leeds/Castleford/Bradford - Blackpool dmu using that platform when it still was a platform for passenger use!
This was on summer Saturdays in the 1960s when Preston station could get very congested!
The return services used the East Lancashire side - now the car-park!

Yes, there was at least one timetabled early morning train for many years until the 1960s, which ran non-stop to Waterloo (from Woking or Basingstoke, I think). My father used to catch it occasionally when we lived there, and I recall a few occasions when it was used as a diversionary platform into the 1970s/80s. I lived there from 1961 to 1981.

How much of the connecting platform between Manchester Victoria and Exchange was ever used (and the OP does not specifiy passenger use)? I remember being taken there as a child and being stunned by the endless and almost empty expanse stretching out before me!

I seem to remember, again as a child in the 1960s, platform 11Middle being used, so it was possible to have a train on 11 at Victoria, 11Middle and 3 at Exchange at the same time. The train in 11Middle left via the middle line between platforms 3 & 4 at Exchange.

Also in the 1960s, it was used by the overnight London trains, diverted due to engineering works, and the overnight newspaper trains, enabling the delivery vans to drive straight on to the platform.

 

[ServerHoster]

Acton Bridge's platform 1 is never used by passenger trains. (Crewe-bound trains run from platform 2)

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Acton Bridge's platform 1 is never used by passenger trains. (Crewe-bound trains run from platform 2)

That's as may be, but, as per the OP's criteria, has Platform 1 ever been used in the past, if so, then it's excluded.

 

[AMD]

The R.e.s platform at Preston.

This may have been used in the past, possibly it was the original platforms 1 & 2 as if you look at this - https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/4/590/ - this photo is of what is now P1&2, but is signed 3&4.

What about stations (with platforms) that never opened at all?
There are three in the Paisley area - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenfield_railway_station_(Scotland) - that were built in the late 1890s but never opened, although the line was used for freight until the 1960s.

 

[AndyW33]

This may have been used in the past, possibly it was the original platforms 1 & 2 as if you look at this - https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/4/590/ - this photo is of what is now P1&2, but is signed 3&4.

The platform now known as RES at Preston was definitely Platform 2 (the other face of the island, now no longer a through road, was Platform 1). They were routinely used for services to/from Blackpool up to the resignalling when Preston powerbox was commissioned. Couldn't have been called RES at that point as Rail Express Systems hadn't been invented as a brand name then, and I remember using it both as Platform 2 in pre-powerbox days, and later after it was taken out of normal passenger use, as Platform 0 during engineering works. It is still occasionally used for passenger services during engineering work - but now under the RES identity, and accessed through a door in the subway.