If you go to Paddington main line station and follow the signs to platform 14 you eventually end up at short curved platform located almost at the far end of the station. All of Paddington’s other platforms are long and, for the most part, straight. Moreover, they are easily directly accessible from the main concourse providing building work is not going on (which it currently is affecting platforms 11 and 12).
There is not much point in going to platform 14 because, as far as we can tell, no passenger train in service is ever scheduled to arrive or depart from this platform on a regular basis. Yet the rails aren’t rusty, the platform is maintained, it is signalled and it appears in the Timetable Planning Rules for ‘Wales and Western’ (warning: 3MB PDF) – and an entry in Timetable Planning Rules is usually the definitive test to see if a platform is still in use. So, why does it exist and why is it not apparently used?
To add to the mystery, the platform seems to be too short to be of any use. According to the aforementioned timetable planning rules, the entry for platform 14 at Paddington is:
Length in MetresComments147 Length from the buffer stop to signal144.2Length from the stop line to signalRelevant rows and columns from the Timetable Planning Rules entry
This would suggest that it is too short of any passenger train that uses Paddington other than a 5-car Class 80x GWR platform 14 InterCity Express Train.
At this point we have to remind you that we have our suspicions as to how correct the platform lengths quoted in the Timetable Planning Rules for ‘Wales and Western’ are. There are extremely good reasons to believe that platform 14 can actually accommodate a 163-metre-long train which is the length a GWR Class 387 EMU consisting of two units.
To find the length of a platform quoted to the nearest tenth of a metre is surprising. This does seem to be a measurement that is precise but probably not at all accurate.
History and The Answer to This ‘Unused’ Platform
To understand how and why we are in the situation we are in now, we need to look at a surprising amount of railway history. For those who wish to skip this and get to the reason for why this short, awkwardly located platform still exists, you are going to be disappointed – we really don’t have a definite answer. However, we will look at how and why we got here and how, but for one or two probably showstopper issues, a platform 14 could serve a useful purpose.
We also discover if platform 13 ever existed and, if it did, what happened to it.
The Start of It All
The story goes all the way back to the beginning of the Metropolitan Railway and the opening of the first underground railway in the world in 1863. Indeed, our story is as much about the Metropolitan Railway as it is about the original Great Western Railway and its modern-day namesake.
In 1863 the Metropolitan Railway opened between Bishop’s Road station and Farringdon Street. At this stage it is important to realise two things. Bishop’s Road station was a completely separate station to Paddington main line station with its only entrance in Bishop’s Road (today’s Bishop’s Bridge Road). And opening the railway between Bishop’s Road and Farringdon Street was not the plan.
Bishop’s Road Station
Bishop’s Road Station was the original two platform terminus of the Metropolitan Railway service running from there to Farringdon Street. However, it was not a terminal station and had through running lines, which were broad gauge, to join up with GWR just west of Paddington station. This connection was essential. In the first place, the connection was needed to remove spoil from the running tunnels being built. Subsequently, on opening, GWR provided the trains that formed the services on the Metropolitan Railway. The station was never intended to be the terminus hence why there were only two platforms and no run-round loop.
The description of how the original station was rather unsatisfactorily shoe-horned into the Paddington site cannot be described better than two sentences contained within its entry on the Heritage Gateway website – amusingly the entry has a category of “Post Medieval”.
Bishop’s Road occupied an awkward position between the main line station and the Great Western Railway coal depot alongside Paddington canal basin, further restricted by an approach road to the Great Western goods depot. Bishop’s Road bridge was partially demolished to make room for the station building, set back behind a forecourt for cabs and omnibuses.
Bishop’s Road Station page on the Heritage Gateway Website
The Intended Original Underground Railway
GWR features rather a lot in the part of our story concerning today’s Hammersmith & City line so it is not too much of a digression to have a close look at their involvement from the outset.
For a bit of the original history of what is today’s Hammersmith & City line west of Paddington one can do little better than read a previous article by guest author Rog entitled The Unknown Hammersmith & City Construction Calamity.
In essence, it was intended that the opening would be a line from Farringdon Street to a station at Hammersmith. Significantly, this involved running over three separate railway company’s lines
The Metropolitan Railway to a location close to Bishop’s Road station
GWR from its boundary with the Metropolitan Railway joining the Great Western Main line (GWML) on the north side of the GWML to a location at what today is Westbourne Park and leaving the GWML on the south side
The Hammersmith, Paddington and City Junction Railway which, despite its name, would run from the GWML at Westbourne Park to a station at Hammersmith
As is common at the time, the Hammersmith, Paddington and City Junction Railway was basically set up by another railway, actually two railways in this case, the Metropolitan and GWR. The two companies behind it did not provide the investment but did provide the impetus behind it.
Subsequent Independence from the Great Western Main Line
Not surprisingly, relying on running trains along the Great Western Main Line for the two miles between just west of Paddington and the approximate location of today’s Westbourne Park station was highly undesirable. GWR were persuaded to provide two tracks to the north of the GWML so that the Metropolitan service to Hammersmith was not so dependent on the GWML. These two tracks opened in 1871.
It seems a bit strange that the extra two tracks would be thought to improve matters as the trains still had to cross the entire GWML. Indeed, one could argue that an arrangement that enabled Metropolitan trains to ‘go with the flow’ was better than one where it crossed all the tracks on a flat crossing.
Not surprisingly, the Board of Trade (who in those days was the government department which oversaw railways) didn’t like this arrangement of a flat crossing and made strong objections. The result was a dive-under below the GWML opened in 1878 which is in use to this day.
By now the Metropolitan Railway was running over not only its own tracks but also over both GWR tracks and tracks belonging to the Hammersmith, Paddington and City Junction Railway which itself was now jointly owned by the Metropolitan Railway and GWR.
The Owners of Bishop’s Road Station
Not made clear earlier is the fact that in 1863 GWR also actually owned Bishop’s Road station. In fact. they also owned 12 chains of track (just over 241 metres) to the east of the station. This may seem a bit ridiculous but, as explained, Bishop’s Road was never intended to be a terminus and also GWR owned the land on which the station was built.
More difficult to explain is why the GWR owned the underground section for 12 chains eastward of Bishop’s Road station. A partial explanation can be ascertained by the fact that it appears that he boundary between the two companies is the western location at which the railway is built under the public highway at a bend in South Wharf Road. In all probability GWR owned this land as well. They would not have been able to build the railway under the public highway as that right would have been conferred only on the Metropolitan Railway under the relevant act of parliament.
1874 map
Although there were occasional serious disputes, the Metropolitan and GWR worked closely together for many years and GWR had substantial running rights over the Metropolitan Railway.
In fact, getting ahead of ourselves, GWR trains continued to pass through Bishop’s Road station all the way to the City terminating at Moorgate Street (renamed Moorgate in 1924) until shortly after the outbreak of World War II. As soon as the Metropolitan Railway was electrified these trains were hauled on the Metropolitan Railway by Metropolitan electric locomotives.
Meanwhile at Paddington…
As would be expected, alterations have been made to Paddington station over the years. Of some, but not much, significance to our story is the 1909-1915 alterations which included a footbridge spanning platforms 1-8 thereby linking 1-9 platforms at western (country) end of the station. The footbridge continued, rather awkwardly, beyond platform 8 by changing direction and continuing in the direction of Bishop’s Road station but there was no connection, for the public at least, between the two stations. This lack of a connection could be considered as a lost opportunity but it also appears to show that there was no desire to attempt to unify the two stations.
The 12 long platforms under the arched roof at Paddington were now much as they are today although they were slightly shorter and have been repositioned laterally from time to time. This, with the two platforms at Bishop’s Road gave a total of 14 platforms.
Further Alterations at Paddington…
More significant changes since then took place at Paddington in 1930-1933 when platforms 2-11 were lengthened at the country end and shortly afterwards the semaphore signalling throughout was replaced by colour light signalling. The changes enabled the concourse circulating area which, for various historical reasons of disputed origin, is known as ‘the lawn’, to be extended pushing the buffer stops slightly to the west. To achieve this, the original arched Bishop’s Bridge (which carried Bishop’s Road over the main line railway tracks) was rebuilt with iron girders enabling a more flexible track layout to be commissioned. One consequence of these changes was that platform 12 became significantly shorter.
Highly significantly, the footbridge was replaced with a better wider one linking all the Paddington platforms as well as the Bishop’s Road platforms.
…And Bishop’s Road
The 1930-1933 alterations also saw substantial changes to Bishop’s Road station including a name change. As owners, GWR had almost ‘carte blanche’ to do what they wanted provided they maintained the Metropolitan Railway’s running rights. In fact, the Metropolitan Railway was soon to become the Metropolitan line of London Transport which would inherit these rights.
GWR needed more platforms at Paddington. Their plan was to run their suburban services, of which there weren’t that many, to and from Bishop’s Road. Of course, they had the big advantage that they owned the surrounding land so extending the station was not a significant problem.
The work involved replacing the two side platforms at Bishop’s Road with two much longer island platforms of double the original length (630ft as opposed to 315ft). Because they were much longer and were extended eastward, the platforms were now closer to Paddington. Much more significantly, the platforms at the two stations were now linked.
Partly to cater for passengers from the main station at Paddington, a new booking office was opened at the same level as the footbridge above platform 8. There was still an entrance to Bishop’s Road station from Bishop’s Road but this ticket office had been replaced by a minimal ticket office of the ‘passimeter’ type indicating that GWR were not expecting many passengers to enter Bishop’s Road station from Bishop’s Road itself.
Map showing 1933 footbridge
The entrance in Bishop’s Bridge Road became rather dilapidated and uninviting as can be seen in this 1950 photo below.
Bishop’s Bridge Road entrance (c) LT museum
However, at least in 1950 the entrance off Bishop’s Bridge Road was well advertised. Contrast this with approximately same location today and note the minuscule low-level signs directing you to either the main station or Underground one.
Platforms 13 to 16
As a result of the 1933 alterations, Bishop’s Road station now had four platforms and the station was better linked to the main Paddington station. It made sense to label these platforms as platforms 13-16 following on from platform 12, the highest number platform in the existing Paddington station. Furthermore, it was felt that ”Bishop’s Road” was now an inappropriate name for the station and it was renamed to ‘Paddington (Suburban)’.
At this time, the outer platforms (13 and 16) were used for Metropolitan Railway trains to and from Hammersmith and the inner platforms (14 and 15) were used to terminate GWR’s steam suburban services. Until 1939 these suburban trains would have included GWR trains from Hammersmith.
Our understanding of the layout based on a small scale map of the time.
Platforms 14 and 15 had London Transport’s fourth rail electrification installed. Any GWR engine runaround necessary supposedly utilised one of the three potentially available platform lines although the track layout suggests that from the GWR up line one could not use the Metropolitan down line for the runaround engine movement.
The diagram above shows an ‘engine spur’. In those accounts that mention this, it is described as an electric locomotive spur which makes a lot of sense. On arrival from Hammersmith a GWR train would have a Metropolitan Railway locomotive, or subsequently a London Transport locomotive, leave the ‘engine spur’ and attach at the City end. Simultaneously, we presume, a GWR steam engine would detach at the Hammersmith end and travel the short distance to the nearby GWR loco depot and use the turntable to be ready to return to attach to the next GWR Hammersmith train. The reverse process would take place in the other direction.
For GWR terminating trains at Paddington (Suburban) platforms 14 and 15 the process was much simpler with no electric loco involved.
A Change in the Platform Arrangement
Until 1967 the above track arrangement for platforms 13 to 16 continued with only minor changes. Direct GWR trains to the City had long gone and GWR steam trains from the suburbs were replaced by British Rail DMUs. The ‘engine spur’ would have disappeared by now as it no longer served any purpose. Then a long-overdue change was made and platform 15 became the Westbound Metropolitan platform while platform 16 continued to be the Eastbound Metropolitan one.
Platforms 13 and 14 were very short by main line standards and really only suitable for suburban trains. By now these lines had buffer stops at the end of the platforms. In consequence the Metropolitan line (nowadays the Hammersmith & City line at this location) was severed entirely from the British Rail network at Paddington. This meant that needlessly conflicting moves were eliminated. It also enabled today’s Hammersmith & City line to be independently signalled from British Rail.
The Direct Footbridge Link Disappears
The direct link between the main line station and the Underground station was severed in 2009. It was still possible to access the Underground station via the footbridge but it now involved going outside to what most people would intuitively not regard as part of Paddington main line station and entering the Underground station via a new entrance.
The route to the Hammersmith & City platforms used to be straight ahead
The Taxi Rank is Relocated
At the time, in preparation for Crossrail, substantial works were undertaken to move the location of the taxi rank to the north of the main station with an entrance and exit for taxis only off Bishop’s Bridge Road. As a small digression, the taxi new rank was really busy at around the time of its opening and for a few years afterwards with long queues forming for the plentiful taxis. In contrast, the taxi queues today remain but demand seems to have plummeted which we presume is down to Crossrail running to Heathrow direct from central London.
The Underground Station is Rebuilt
Also in 2009, the Circle line’s reliability was by now so appalling that TfL decided to bring forward proposal to ‘Uncircle the Circle line’ prior to planned resignalling. This necessitated rebuilding of Paddington Underground station (Hammersmith & City line and now also Circle line) to handle the considerable number of extra passengers. As a consequence of this rebuilding, passengers now have to exit the Underground station into the taxi rank area before entering the main line station either via the footbridge which now has an entrance in the taxi rank area or a new main line station entrance on the north side of the station.
One curiosity about the present day platforms 15 and 16 is that their assigned platform numbers have been retained despite being now completely independent from Paddington Main Line station once again. Also, the Hammersmith & City line trains arriving at Paddington (Hammersmith & City and Circle lines) are announced as ‘the train now arriving at platform 15 …’ (or 16 as appropriate).
Platform 13 Bites the Dust
At platform level, things had remained stable in this part of the unified Paddington station for around 50 years but in 2016 significant changes came. The next issue was one common to many London termini – the trains were becoming too long for the existing platforms. It was the GWR Intercity Express Trains which replaced the old HSTs (High Speed Trains) which were causing the initial problems. This, coupled with a proposed more frequent service to Wales, would mean that a solution was necessary.
Platform 13 was extremely short by modern standards and there was no possibility of it being extended. This made it practically useless and platform 14 was potentially not much better. The situation was not helped by platform 12 at that time in the main train shed not being that much longer than platforms 13 or 14.
The solution to the short platforms in a restricted space was the time honoured one of sacrificing a short platform to make another of the platforms significantly longer. By sacrificing platform 13, platform 12 could be made sufficiently long for just about any train expected to terminate at Paddington. In the picture below there is an 8-car Class 387 EMU in platform 12. The platform is temporarily shortened at the buffer end by about two carriages due to rebuilding works and still the train looks to be a long way away.
The long platform 12 – or arguably the long merged platforms 12 and 13
One could argue it would be more accurate to state that platforms 12 and 13 were merged. Certainly, at the country end of platform 12 you can see small buildings on the platform, clearly older than 2016 when the new platform 12 was created. These buildings were located on the original two-sided platform that was designated platform 13 on one side and platform 14 on the other.
Network Rail did an excellent job of combining the platforms and there is no obvious physical indication that there ever was a platform 13 other than the fact that 13 is missing in the numerical sequencing of platforms.
Platform 14 gets a Stay of Execution
Platform 14 could be extended a short distance by setting back the buffer stops enabling it to be used by an 8-car ‘Electrostar’ EMU train – as would subsequently appear at Paddington in the form of a Class 387 EMU. This is what was done at the same time platform 13 was eliminated and may be the origin of the discrepancy in the stated platform length.
There was also an element of longer term thinking in this change and this related to Crossrail. TfL Rail were taking over Heathrow Connect services and planning to run the replacement service at 4tph. They were also planning to take over GWR stopping services to Reading which would mean a further 4tph in the peak periods. These services would terminate at Paddington and it would be desirable to have adjacent dedicated platforms for these trains. Two platforms would have probably been minimally sufficient but three would be ideal.
When the time came to introduce Class 345 Crossrail trains, it was planned to introduce them as 7-car trains which would be roughly equivalent to a ‘normal’ 8-car EMU. Platforms 11, 12, and 14 seemed ideal platforms for Crossrail trains to primarily, although not necessary exclusively, use. This enabled the remainder of Paddington station continue in operation with relatively little disruption.
Subsequently, Crossrail trains were extended by two carriages and the 9-car, now Elizabeth line, trains could no longer use platform 14. Of course, usually Elizabeth line trains do not terminate at Paddington Main Line station but in the early morning, late night and at times of disruption these trains are routed there. With the lengthening of these trains, it seems that the last useful role for platform 14 had disappeared.
The Last Regular Use of Platform 14
From what we can determine, the last use of platform 14 on a regular consistent basis was for the now-withdrawn Mondays to Fridays Chiltern Railways daily parliamentary train. Somehow, platform 14 seemed appropriate for this train. It ensured that its usage of Paddington was made as unobtrusive as possible as if it had to be run but the authorities did not want the general public to be aware of its existence. It also prevented the pride and joy of a station of GWR heritage from being sullied by a second ‘foreign operator’ although you could argue that nowadays Heathrow Express isn’t a foreign operator because GWR actually operates the service on behalf of Heathrow Express.
Which Trains Do Use Platform 14?
From what we can work out using the OpenTrainTimes website that has details of all trains (not just passenger ones in service) no trains are regularly scheduled to use platform 14. In any case, not that many trains could actually use it. Whilst none do so on a regular basis, it seems that many early morning trains to Paddington regularly use different platforms. We can only presume this is to keep driver knowledge on routes into all possible platforms up to date.
There appear to be four trains that occasionally terminate and restart their journey at platform 14:
1) The earliest and most surprising is a Heathrow Express train.
This departs from Reading Traincare Depot in the early hours of the morning. It runs out-of-service (empty coaching stock in railway parlance) to Paddington. Its next journey is to Heathrow Terminal 5 (also out-of-service) so it is in position to be one of the first two Heathrow Express trains from the airport. We believe it has to go via Paddington to drop off another driver or drivers to pick up the Heathrow Express trains normally stabled overnight at platforms 6 and 7.
A slight variation on the previous train is one that leaves West Ealing EMU Sidings to form the other Heathrow Express train that is also positioned at Terminal 5 station prior to the start of the day’s service.
2) The next possible train to use platform 14 is the Class 165 DMU that currently provides the train for the Greenford shuttle between Greenford and North Ealing.
This begins its day at Reading and travels to Paddington before travelling to Greenford prior to spending the day shuttling backward and forward on the branch. These journeys are all in service but the inward journey is likely to have very few passengers and the outward journey to Greenford probably has no passengers at all.
3) A one-of-a-kind Sunday Only GWR daytime service that runs on the up relief line and stops at most stations from Reading to Paddington arrives in Paddington at 0712 on Sunday morning.
There are three similar services that run through the night which usually use low numbered platforms but have been known to use platform 14. Like the inward journey of the Greenford shuttle train, these trains are unlikely to have many passengers.
It must be borne in mind that the only sensible reason we can see to run these services into platform 14 is to retain route knowledge. If the platform did not exist then the route knowledge would not need to be retained.
The only other trains known by us to use platform 14 are during engineering works affecting the main lines into Paddington forcing all trains to run on the relief lines.
On these fairly rare occasions, some trains, very few, do terminate at platform 14. But the limitation seems to be the capacity of the relief lines rather than the number of platforms available at Paddington. The feeling is ‘that is what the platform is there for so we better use it’ rather than it being used as a platform of last resort.
Is There Really a Reason for Platform 14?
We are struggling to find a genuine purpose for platform 14 and so do wonder why Network Rail and GWR keep it. A possible potential use is to stable overnight the Heathrow Express train that currently stables at West Ealing EMU sidings. However, we can understand that a train left overnight at platform 14, away from the main concourse area, would potentially be vulnerable to graffiti attacks. No train operating company likes to see its trains graffitied but Heathrow Express would probably be more upset than most companies.
Our best answer is that the platform is there, it is in good condition, it is signalled and has no obvious maintenance issues outstanding so why not keep it until such time as it becomes an expense liability? The fact that the construction of Old Oak Common station is going to lead to many weeks of engineering work until around 2030 adds impetus to the need to keep it, at least for the next few years.
So Nearly Potentially Useful
Whilst it is hard to see what really useful purpose platform 14 provides for GWR, first impressions suggest that TfL could make good use of it if they wish to. We have to be realistic and, even if TfL did potentially find the platform useful and it were offered to them, it has no money needed to make the necessary changes which would need to include providing an overbridge for passengers to reach platform 14 from the current Underground ticket hall. Unfortunately, there is also probably an insuperable problem which means the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
If TfL took over platform 14 then it could make it the primary, or only, Hammersmith bound platform taking over the role of today’s platform 15. This in turn would appear to make it possible for exiting passengers arriving from central London (the majority) to walk to the main line concourse via a shorter route utilising platform 12 without having to climb any stairs or use any lifts. It also would make it possible for the station to have an arrangement similar to Tower Hill with a central (platform 15) bi-directional through route which could be useful for terminating trains from either direction.
Unfortunately, the route along platform 12 is just too narrow to handle a large passenger flow from the Underground station especially when there is a train arriving at platform 12. It would also be difficult to segregate the two platforms given the lack of width of the platform area. So, unless a more radical solution is available, it seems that this possibility is thwarted.
The Future
Platform 14 really does seem to be the most pointless platform of any London terminus – and that includes platform 4 at Blackfriars which is, arguably, genuinely potentially useful even though it sees hardly any trains in passenger service at present. Platform 14 at Paddington will probably continue that way for at least the next few years. But, perhaps, one day it will have a purpose – just as it has done in the past. Or maybe, it will be abandoned when Network Rail encounters a situation whereby it has to spend serious money to enable it to continue to be in use.
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