A unique railway station - looking for information

[CopernicusHigh]

Hello,

I'm a geocacher from Poland and I'm preparing a series of geocaches dedicated to the unique railway stations.
I came across a type of construction that I had had no idea about. There are only two of that kind in Poland. Are there any similar somewhere in the world? Perhaps.

Unfortunately, to search the Web you need to know the English terms and I don’t. I have already checked several dictionaries on technical terms and some Polish-English glossaries on railways, I have also checked the Wikipedia. Everything in vain ☹

The stations have rails on two levels (you can see in the pictures attached), The rails intersect above each other. Trains going in different directions.

Is there any special word for this kind of a station?
Do you know if there are similar stations somewhere else?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Bożena

[TRP]

Hi Bozena & welcome to the forum.

We would call this a split level station. They are uncommon, but we have (or have had in the past) a few in the UK.
The closest to me in the South East was at East Grinstead in West Sussex. This had High Level and Low Level stations crossing each other at right angles (90 degrees), but the High Level station closed in 1967 and was demolished in 1970. The Low Level station is still open for traffic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_G...ailway_station
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/e/east_grinstead/

Currently operational split level stations in the UK include:
Tamworth station, Staffordshire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamworth_railway_station
https://www.search.staffspasttrack.o...=2&ThemeID=272

Lichfield Trent Valley station, Staffordshire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichfi...ailway_station
http://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.u...ent_valley.php

Retford station, Nottinghamshire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retford_railway_station
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stati...d-station-plan

These are the only stations that I know of in the UK but there may be others! There are also several examples of stations with parallel platforms at different levels (including London Bridge, St Pancras International and Portsmouth & Southsea for example) and these would also be known as split level stations.

Hope this helps and good luck with your project.

Tony

[CopernicusHigh]

Hi Tony,
Thank you for such a quick help. It came to my mind that it might be a split level station but I was somehow confused by the stations crossing

Best regards and warm greetings from snowy Poland
Bozena

[TRP]

Glad to have been of help. It was snowy in Poland the only time I have visited so far - Zakopane in late October 1991.

Cheers,

Tony

[Master Cutler]

Hi Bozena
We have something close to split level in Nottingham, but not sure if it qualifies.
The Nottingham tramway now passes over the Midland Station on a reinstated over bridge, going South to Clifton in one direction and North to City Centre in the other.
This is where the old Great Central Victoria Line bridge out of Week Day Cross used to be.
The tram stop is above the Midland Station.

[aussiesteve]

We have one that I know of in smog hollow.
Wolli Creek on the Illawarra line.
When the then newbie Airport line tunnel was bored, they went underneath Wolli Creek.
That connecting with the existing East Hills line.
To provide some vitamin D to the cattle, the Wolli Creek underground station is open to the atmosphere.
But, to prevent miscreants, and we got heaps of them, from tossing rocks down onto the Airport line station at Wolli Creek a huge razor wire fence surrounds the gaping chasm.
So, cattle can now transfer from the Airport line to the Illawarra line at Wolli Creek.
Mind you, during the plague, there ain't many cattle getting on or off at Mascot International station.
The beauty of grade separation meaning that trains that do actually cross time wise don't need to suffer any delays, as they might encounter when attempting to go across at same level junctions.
Steve.

[graham9qh]

Just to add to the info on the UK, I believe Wolverhampton in the West Midlands had High & Low level at one time & London has High & Low level stations at Willesden where the North London line crosses over the West Coast Main Line.
I don't know of any others.
Regards, Graham

[Bevan Price]

Originally Posted by graham9qh

Just to add to the info on the UK, I believe Wolverhampton in the West Midlands had High & Low level at one time & London has High & Low level stations at Willesden where the North London line crosses over the West Coast Main Line.
I don't know of any others.
Regards, Graham

Wolverhampton High & Low Level were completely separate stations, roughly parallel to each other, with no internal connection for passengers.. Outside Leeds, there used to be Holbeck High Level & Low Level stations. And Stratford (East London) also had Low Level platforms for the North Woolwich branch

There are /were also other cases where the Low Level station was underground, and not visible from the High Level stations / platforms, e.g. Liverpool Central, Glasgow Central & Queen Street, etc.

[Beeyar Wunby]

We we're having a discussion on another thread about the Widened Lines - which reminded me that of course Moorgate station very much falls into this category.

Tube trains access platforms 1-4.

The sub-surface platforms 5 & 6 were accessed via the Widened Lines by trains from the Midland Mainline side. This arrangement is now defunct. Picture here... Class 319s at Moorgate on the last day of service

The Deep Level platforms 9 & 10 are presently part of the Great Northern network, accessed via the East Coast Main Line and Northern City Line. Platform 9 you may remember, is where the horrible Moorgate crash occurred.

I have various photos from my time here, and when I can find them I'll post them retrospectively.

Cheers, John

[pre65]

Just been watching a cab ride video (Birmingham - Liverpool) and it seems Smethwick Galton Bridge has high and low level platforms.

Video here if interested.

https://youtu.be/lS-6uM2DrcM