Where was I this week?

[whole diary]

[inspector_blakey]

I'd qualify that by saying 'longest platform on the domestic rail network'. Eurotunnel Folkestone Terminal has 8 public platforms all with a platform length of 2595ft, easily beating Gloucester's 1977ft. Also the platforms at Cheriton are all single numbered ones - Gloucester's continuous face is two numbered platforms with dead space in between where, due to a crossover and signalling, passenger trains don't stop.

Anoraky question: is that likely to change when platform 20 at Waterloo (one of the former Eurostar platforms) comes back into use for domestic services next spring...?

[JayMac]

The longest at Waterloo (International) is, I believe, P24. Due to the outside curve it would be longer than P20.

P24 is 428m (1404ft) long. Can't find a figure for P20 but I imagine it'll be in the ballpark of 420m (1378ft). That may make it the longest single numbered platform on the domestic network, when it is reopened. Should P24 reopen in the future then that would naturally become the longest.

Darlington's P4 at 458m (1503ft) did lay claim to being the longest single numbered platform, but this now has a 4b. I'm still investigating where a platform could lay claim to being the longest single numbered on the domestic network.

Incidentally, I've just measured Minehead's P1 using Google Earth and that comes out at around 380m (1247ft). Probably the longest platform on a heritage railway.