I'm possibly opening a can of worms here, but does anyone know if there is a convention for numbering platforms, 1 being on the up, down, North, South or anything.
Specifically thinking west country terminus with the platforms in a |  |
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arrangement with the station building at the bottom of the U shape.
Cheers

Alan

I would say, with zero evidence beyond the few stations I can think of off hand, that yes, 1 tends to be the up line. However, with a terminus I'd say they're normally numbered left-right from the concourse. Maybe.

There don't appear to be any hard and fast rules...

Lower numbers for the up lines is certainly common for through stations, but termini seem less consistent.
If the main station building is to one side the adjacent platform was often platform 1 regardless of direction.
If there was a preferred (more frequently used) platform that was often platform 1.

The two termini I use most are opposites... Hull Paragon is left to right, Kings Cross is right to left (starting at 00).
Then there's Bridlington... two through platforms numbered 4&5 plus one bay currently in use adjacent to P4 but numbered 6 so reading left to right you have 6-4-5!

And as for bay platforms... Sometimes individually numbered, sometimes taking the number of the adjacent main platform with an 'A' suffix.

Thanks, thats the arrangement at Brighton, Penzance, and Paddington. For some reason Southend Vic is the opposite.
Good enough for me, thanks @njee20

Yep, also holds for Euston, Victoria, Waterloo and London Bridge, although as noted there are always exceptions!

Edinburgh Waverley is an interesting arrangement, with the platforms numbered in a clockwise arrangement.

They start with platform 1 being the northernmost platform east of North Bridge and the numbers increasing as you progress southwards that side of the bridge to platform 8 East. They then move to the other side of the bridge starting at platform 8 west (the other end of 8 east) and increment as you go north to finish at platform 20, which is the other end of platform 1.

I haven't been able to find, with a quick search, which platforms are the main lines, although Wikipedia says that the original Down Main was platforms 7 & 8, now 7 & 11.

The split platforms vary as to how they are numbered, some being split into east and west like platform 8 whilst others have completely different numbers, like platforms 1 and 20

Plus 11 and 19 @chrism at edinburgh. Here is a plan https://images.app.goo.gl/wtx2RTDuxe9G4KVt5

Several features on the railway are conventionally numbered from the Down direction to the Up direction although there have been many changes made over the years and there are many exceptions especially at major termini. For example, Glasgow Central platforms were originally numbered from west to east as seen looking south. Through stations also tend to follow this convention and platforms are often numbered in a clockwise direction. Therefore Platform 1 would normally be the first platform encountered and would be for the Down direction.

I had a personal hand in a piece of this in preparation for Ayrshire Electrification in 1986. Prior to this the Down and Up directions between Glasgow Central and Ayr were different for several sections of the route which had been formed in sections over the years causing the "Up line to London" convention having a different outcome for some. Under electrification the entire route from Glasgow Central towards Ayr was designated Down direction but possibly more importantly a centralised public address system was installed which required the platform numbers to be likewise realigned as far as possible to make operator announcements easier. Many more platform numbers would have had to be changed if Platform 1 was to accord to the Down line so the decision was made to make The Up line platforms to be Platform 1. This was driven by the desire to minimise the costs involved in providing new and altered signage and the unseen costs of making changes to the manifiold internal railway documents.

As an aside the convention still tends to apply to the numbering of signals in "power signalled" areas whereby odd numbers are for the Down direction and even numbers for the Up.

Hopefully this will help you to make your mind up as to what is appropriate for your modelled era!

A lot of the numbering appears to line up with the direction merely by accident. Someone simply decided to number them east-west or north-sound and since most lines don't turn 180 degrees that keeps the platform/direction tied together.

History tends to make a mockery of the planning anyway - Cardiff has as platform 0 (but not 5). It does have signs for platform 5 however just to screw with customers heads.

Isn't this fascinating stuff.  For through stations, the platform nearest the station building is normally Platform 1 and then they are numbered away from there.  As @EtchedPixels helpfully says, history can be a confounder of logic.  Stirling now has no Platform 1 (it was a north-facing bay) but Haymarket has gained a Platform 0 (west-facing bay).

Termini are interesting and the numbering can reflect the growth of the station over time.  A good example of this is Inverness which is numbered from east (the old Inverness & Nairn Railway side )to west.

@chrism kindly reminded us of the recent partial re-numbering at the Waverley (which is still confusing me!).  Wasn't something similar done at King's Cross in the recent past?

Alan, I think you can number your west country terminus' platforms as you think best, due to the station building being at right angles beyond the buffer stops. 

With best wishes

John

@acook

Quote from: Train Waiting on December 09, 2021, 01:49:56 PM
Wasn't something similar done at King's Cross in the recent past?

Kings cross was always a bit strange due to York Road and the (originally separate) station building for 9-12, plus the hotel curve platform (16 or 14 depending upon the time) on a different alignment and grade, then what was Kings Cross Metropolitan, became Kings Cross Thameslink and was finally moved into St Pancras.

Despite all the renumberings and layout change to tidy it up, Kings Cross now also has a platform 0 because they added one on the york road side about a decade ago. They did renumber 11 back to 10 when they took 10 out last year but didn't renumber to fix having as 0.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned platform 9¾ at Kings Cross

Quote from: Newportnobby on December 09, 2021, 04:13:40 PM
I'm surprised no one has mentioned platform 9¾ at Kings Cross

I was tempted, but I thought there might be some muggles around 

Thanks chaps, think its going to be platform 1 on the left looking from the concourse.
Thing is pre-grouping GWR, Paddington & Penzance are that way, so if it was good for them, its good for me.

I am constantly amazed at the depth of knowledge on this forum, I love this place! 

What an interesting  thread.