Does anyone know of any stations on the national rail network (or any other UK rail networks such as the London Underground) that have toilets for people of one sex only, or where this was the case at any time in the past?
It's quite a while since I last came across any, but this used to be quite common in BR days. As I recall in the 1980s and '90s quite a lot of smaller stations on the London suburban network, especially on the Southern Region, had toilets for one sex only, more often a Gents but no Ladies but occasionally the other way round.
For example Vauxhall, Wandsworth Town, Mortlake (which had a Gents on both platforms), Honor Oak Park, Streatham Hill and West Dulwich all had only a Gents (often just a urinal, with the WCs (if there were any) padlocked out of use) for a time in the 1980s and/or '90s.
In fact, Vauxhall is kind of like that again now, as there's a urinal by the adjacent bus station but the bus station toilets are now closed.
At West Dulwich, the gents' toilet block on the Up platform remained standing and open for use even after the main platform building had been demolished and replaced by a basic shelter. I also seem to recall that that was the case at Selling, between Faversham and Canterbury East.
At least in the early to mid 1980s, Putney, which was then my local station, had no Gents (the gents' toilet blocks having all been demolished) but there was still a Ladies on Platform 1, the Up platform on the outer side which was used only by a few peak hour Waterloo-bound trains (most trains used the central island platform in those days). This meant that any women who wanted to use it had to traipse over to Platform 1 and back.
On the other hand, the nearby East Putney Underground station only had a gents' urinal on the Wimbledon-bound platform.
I would guess that where a station only had toilets for one sex it was usually because they happened still to be in working order whereas the toilet for the other sex had been permanently closed because of vandalism and/or needing major repairs that were deemed uneconomic (and had been demolished in some cases). Not sure if any stations were built with facilities for one sex only.
It's quite a while since I last came across any, but this used to be quite common in BR days. As I recall in the 1980s and '90s quite a lot of smaller stations on the London suburban network, especially on the Southern Region, had toilets for one sex only, more often a Gents but no Ladies but occasionally the other way round.
For example Vauxhall, Wandsworth Town, Mortlake (which had a Gents on both platforms), Honor Oak Park, Streatham Hill and West Dulwich all had only a Gents (often just a urinal, with the WCs (if there were any) padlocked out of use) for a time in the 1980s and/or '90s.
In fact, Vauxhall is kind of like that again now, as there's a urinal by the adjacent bus station but the bus station toilets are now closed.
At West Dulwich, the gents' toilet block on the Up platform remained standing and open for use even after the main platform building had been demolished and replaced by a basic shelter. I also seem to recall that that was the case at Selling, between Faversham and Canterbury East.
At least in the early to mid 1980s, Putney, which was then my local station, had no Gents (the gents' toilet blocks having all been demolished) but there was still a Ladies on Platform 1, the Up platform on the outer side which was used only by a few peak hour Waterloo-bound trains (most trains used the central island platform in those days). This meant that any women who wanted to use it had to traipse over to Platform 1 and back.
On the other hand, the nearby East Putney Underground station only had a gents' urinal on the Wimbledon-bound platform.
I would guess that where a station only had toilets for one sex it was usually because they happened still to be in working order whereas the toilet for the other sex had been permanently closed because of vandalism and/or needing major repairs that were deemed uneconomic (and had been demolished in some cases). Not sure if any stations were built with facilities for one sex only.
