Great Western Coffee Shop

Interesting idea ..


But wouldn't that cause confusion with numbers scattered all over?   Do a thorough job ...

New 1 is old 15
New 2 is old 13
New 3a and 3b are 11 and 12
New 4a and 4b are 9 and 10
New 5a and 5b are 7 and 8
New 6a and 6b are 5 and 6
New 7a and 7b are 3 and 4
New 8 is old 2
New 9 is the old dock beside 2
New 10 is old 1
New 11 and 12 are in the old train shed in due course

There is a precendee to some of this - walk in through the main entrance at Reading and you are now on 7.

We already have a Platform 1, which will presumably be extended into the Old Station if that ever happens; the other one would become Platform 0 - which will make it one of the few but growing numbering systems that starts in the right place!

Renumbering 15 to 14 would break the convention that London-bound platforms are odd whilst Exeter-bound are even - which might confuse some people. A hang on, 0 is an even number!

Ah, but at Reading, London-bound platforms are (occasionally): 4, (5), 6, (7, 8, 9), 10, 11, (12), 13, 14 & 15. ;)

any renumbering will be confusing for a time, but really it is inevitable if the old train shed is to reopen.  What numbers did those platforms have before?

12 (now 1), 13, 14 and 15, according to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Temple_Meads_railway_station). Presumably the old scheme dates back to the 1870's expansion.

But the OS 1:500 plan of 1883 says they were 4, 5 and 6 - 1, 2 and 3 being in the Joint Station. At that date a platform could have two faces, as in France today. But - this being the GWR - 4 & 5 were end to end.

Of course! They would have renumbered them in the 1930's when the Culverhouse's new platforms were added beyond the main shed.

Yeah there's still an old sign on platforms 13/15 above the subway stairs saying "to Platforms 3 to 12".  That's when the current 13 / 15 where P1 & P2.  I asked someone at the station years ago why it didn't mention platform 1 (obvs platform 2 is out of use) and he explained then about the platforms being numbered the other way around, with the ones in the Midland Shed being the higher numbers, and they've just left the sign there

That'll be this one then, which survived because these platforms were out of use during the last renumbering, and was protected by listing when they came back into use:

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Bristol_Temple_Meads_P13_sign.jpg/256px-Bristol_Temple_Meads_P13_sign.jpg)

Image: Geof Sheppard [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons

Yep that's the one!

Which is better in terms of both legibility and positioning than almost all the signs erected by Network Rail at Reading four years ago!

Good to see that all these ideas retain a platform 13. I find it quite extraordinary the recent fashion for new housing to miss out number 13s altogether, or to replace them with 12a or 11a. I hope we don't see that spreading to the railway network.

...as long as we continue to avoid unlucky 14, eh?  :) :)

Anyone reading this remember the time when there was platform 1 where the current platform 15 resides, platform 6 was the current platforms 5/6, platforms 7 and 8 was an island platform where the current up through line and up through loop are currently in residence and platform 9 occupied the current platforms 3/4 space. If you look carefully you can still see where the footbridge was located that went from the current platforms 3/4 to the current platforms 5/6 serving this island platform which was the platforms 7/8 in old (King George V's) money.

There also used to be an exit from the subway directly out onto the forecourt of the station by continuing directly up again after the first half dozen or so stairs from the subway until one has to currently turn left or right. This exit emerged onto the station forecourt and this former exit is clearly visible on the forecourt by the blocked up archway adjacent to where the airport buses used to drop off/pickup before the stop was moved to the incline where it shared the bus stop with the 8/9 and then moved further down the incline to its present location before the entrance to the Old Engine Shed events venue.

This would,nt work as the new signals have route indicators that show the driver the platform he is to enter, if a nearest one to him he would get a no 7, if half signal on amber he should get an eight on the theatre indicator by the signal. Anyway this is how it was, when controlled from Bristol panel, with st Andrews crosses half way down platforms.

Too late.
It's happened at that minor wayside halt at the extreme eastern end of the great western, named after a rather good pair of films.  And a bear.

Is it London Paddington, I noticed the platform 13 there has disappeared.

I’d suggest removing P13 was practical rather than superstition.  They basically extended P12 over it so P13 was just the obvious number to remove.

Paul

That solves that then, now time for a cup of tea.