Visiting All Platform Zeros (Part 2) | Doncaster | Stockport | Haymarket

It's Part 2 (or should that be Part Zero?) of visiting the EIGHT stations in Great Britain that have a 'Platform 0' and with our train to Edinburgh cancelled, we leave King's Cross on a different train instead heading for Doncaster.
Teaming up with me is Matt Parker from StandUpMaths, give his channel a follow and watch his video here: • Visiting every Platfor...
Additional video by Lewis Bergen, thanks to him and the lovely people that came out and met us! #WeStopAtNothing
Complimentary tickets for travel were provided by LNER for travel on their services, all other tickets we bought and paid for ourselves.

[@greenguy2008]

I can't believe between the two videos Northern was the most reliable. I'm astounded.

[@Nick-ux7zt]

Green Guy and only 2 out of the 3 Northern trains which we saw we Pacers, with the other being a Class 195 Civity. I mean they weren’t even planning to use Northern, but good old Northern just getting along and working to time, now there’s a phrase I never though I’d say.

[@redracerb18]

Even an off clock is right twice a day

[@stephenallmond67]

@@Nick-ux7zt actually there was 4 a 150 was coupled to the pacer to man pic

[@DubGathoni]

Northern? Reliable? What witchcraft is this??!!

[@LeoStarrenburg]

Pizza in a Pacer, life is bliss.

[@johnbouttell5827]

Pizza-Pacer, Pizza-Pacer, Pizza-Pacer, Pizza-Pacer, Pizza-Pacer

[@violeteclipse3912]

Exactly

[@Will1am_idk]

Pizza-pacer, pizza-pizza, pacer pacer

[@donovanemery597]

Fillafaca-onapacer

[@swalsh91]

Slightly drunk Geoff is excellent. More Standup Maths crossovers!

[@markdavies7727]

Although, in the spirit of a cross over , he'd have to do Standup Trains.

[@tinyupes]

[Tune of All The Stations theme] All the zeroes All of them All the zeroes All of them

[@BaileyChap]

From Doncaster to Gravesend, We'll stop at, All of them. We will succeed, In our quest, To become the best zero, In the west, We will stop at nothing!

[@RickyLeong]

Brilliant!!

[@robertmould5444]

Surely this is part 1 and the previous episode part 0?! 😂

[@DoctorFish10]

Part 0 and Part 00 (very Dastardly that last one)

[@mittfh]

Or, going by binary, 01 and 10 (zero one and one zero)...

[@kgm1000uk]

or 0 and 1, can be stored in just 1bit.

[@ryannicholls3662]

Well if it's the extra episode being tacked on, then surely this is episode 0.

[@ashersiddique1276]

😂 Good One 😅😅

[@perman17]

Platform 0 at Haymarket was built about a decade ago. There was major engineering work in Edinburgh that reduced the number of trains that could get through from Haymarket to Waverley, meaning that many trains had to terminate at Haymarket. Platform 0 was built so that they could terminate more trains there, and it saw very regular use for those few months. I don't think there's been any regular service since then. It's now mostly used, as Lewis said, for stabling trains and training and so on. But I have seen it used on occasion, when there's been disruption. I did once see them start a late train from Platform 0 at Haymarket and direct passengers at Waverley onto other trains (of which there are plenty) to get to Haymarket and change to the train on Platform 0. It's an inconvenience for the passengers, but I suppose it minimises delay.

[@DavidWood2]

6:05 I believe - though am open to correction on this - that Oyster uses zone 0 for bus and tram.

[@pokemonsuper9]

Makes perfect sense

[@PGATProductions]

and zone -1 for all stations not in london

[@alextheo965]

@@PGATProductions nah thats 10 to 14

[@AnthonyFrancisJones]

"Where is the prime seat on a pacer?" Answer: "2, 3, 5..."

[@thehusketeers4319]

Trains and binary numbers. This is the channel for nerds alright.

[@martyn3538]

As per usual.....Geoff's video...the perfect antidote to the damned Sunday blues.

[@RoadCone411]

Well done, Geoff, on being acknowledged by the BBC in today’s news, for your “least used stations” tour! Truly remarkable - I said, “Hey, I know that guy!” (even though I don’t actually know you personally)...still, you should be proud. People like your work, people take notice, and in some small way, you even change peoples’ habits and thoughts about what is important. You don’t want to lose these small stations because we all know that once they are gone, they’re not coming back. So keep up the good fight!

[@dsintel6652]

Geoff's having a beer instead of a tea! That's the proper way to do a train journey!

[@trevordance5181]

Should have had T.E.A... Traditional English Ale from The Hogsback Brewery.

[@dsintel6652]

@@trevordance5181 That's what I ask for in the pubs in Surrey! A pint of Tea.

[@trevordance5181]

@@dsintel6652 Have you tried any of the beers from Pilgrim Brewery based in Reigate in Surrey? Very tasty ales!

[@dsintel6652]

@@trevordance5181 I think so, when I've been in the Dorking area I've had progress which might be from there. I tend to go for the Hogsback beers though as theyre more local!

[@katesonanadventure]

Fun fact... this is at least the second time Doncaster has had a platform 0. In the early 2000s a temporary platform 0 was built in approximately the same position as the current one. However there was no access from the other platforms, you had to go outside and through the car park (where the bus station is now) ... an even longer walk than the new one, but not by much

[@stephenholt4670]

Ooh, been waiting for this to hit the shelves for a while. Exciting times!

[@misskittysmith]

That pacer there on 0 at Donny is my commute. I bloody hate Pacers!

[@rosiefay7283]

Thank you, Geoff and Matt for your collaboration. And congratulations for making it to all 8 0s in 24 hours despite all the hiccups along the way. And thanks for the maths, Matt, talking of which, 4:13 Geoff, wouldn't you say dividing by 365 is a mathematical feat?

[@123ricardo210]

You Brits may have platform zeroes, but in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, the platforms start at 35 go directly to 1, and are then followed by 3 and 4 (1,3 and 4 are divided in an a and b as well). Funnily enough the bus platforms go from A to J, but are missing the I.

[@azog23]

How about visiting platforms that aren't really platforms. Like platform 5 at Llandudno Junction (which is a bus stop).

[@kyledunn8205]

Was not expecting Junction to be referenced on here

[@neville132bbk]

Like Platform 9 in Wellington NZ,, which rarely has a train.

[@ekvedrek]

@@neville132bbk but sometimes gets a train?

[@sihollett]

The West Midlands and Chiltern Route Study documents not only suggest building a platform 0 at Birmingham Moor Street, but possibly a platform -1 as well!

[@AndreiTupolev]

It sounds like Geoff's friend has never ever seen a Pacer before

[@OlanKenny]

He spends his time in London. They don't have to endure them there

[@Elitist20]

He's Australian.

[@christophernoble6810]

Copenhagen Central station has 13 platforms and an additional, quite separate, platform which is numbered 26. This is normally used only by Swedish trains to Stockholm and Gothenburg. Looks like Doncaster could have been treated in a similar way.

[@myra0224]

It was really too difficult to call it 14, was it? XD

[@philgray8811]

Plaftorm 0 at Stockport was added when the station booking hall was revamped...

[@MichaelTavares]

Phil Gray ... and?

[@realnoahsimpson]

I read this as “booking hell”

[@MrAbowker]

I remember the track was always there for platform zero. I used Stockport in the 1980s, the new entrance was built on the outside of a wall that the platform in now built against. Stockport used to have large coal drops and goods sidings in what is now the retail park and new entrance. The track that is now platform zero was a goods line through the station to the good sidings as British Rail owned all the land to the A6 Road for goods, the coal drops and car parking. There have always been two entrances for as long as I can remember back to the 1970s. The retail park was built in the late 80s early 90's and opened in 1991 I think. It was / is called Grand Central. It is now owned by Stockport Council.

[@dorsettyke]

"Doncaster is great for trainspotting!" Stating the obvious there Geoff! 😉

[@OlanKenny]

Not as good as Glasgow

[@sethallen259]

All the stations with lettered platforms!

[@davetye]

Waterloo East?

[@joesos]

New Cross does right?

[@adamelsodaney8369]

St Pancras Thameslink - plus the 2 stations above I think are all of them

[@mariosphere]

welcome to France

[@anthonydefreitas6006]

Geoff's ultimate travel companion for this challenge surely Martin Zero.

[@matthewwalker8197]

i live in stockport so this video kind of suprised me.. as never thought about it being diffrent and that there were so few stations that have a platform zero

[@sambarton5963]

Regards Stockport, platform zero is a new(ish) platform built in the early 2000s (possibly late 90s, I just remember it being under construction when I was younger).

[@billyshearer1]

"You called it Stockton. It's Stockport' "Got the start right..." Mathsman doesn't do letters.

[@ekvedrek]

Algebra

[@billyshearer1]

@@ekvedrek 😂😂😂

[@deltic1964]

Loved both Parts of this Challenge Keep them coming Geoff

[@danielalcon3851]

You’re all nuts, in a wonderfully zany eccentric British way. 🤪

[@BaileyChap]

He did it! We got him past half a million! Good work guys! "We will stop at nothing!"

[@christianbarnay2499]

I suspect TFL zone 0 already exists and is used for decommissioned stations and/or technical facilities that are not available to regular passengers.

[@jeroena2114]

nijmegen station in the netherlands has 3 platforms but also a platform 35

[@caw25sha]

Why?

[@dbleumink]

The only real platform "zero" in the Netherlands is also found in that area by the way: it's the non-elektrified track at Elst station, used for the additional trains Elst - Tiel in off-peak hours. Being next to platform 1 and with platform 2 already existing on the other side of the station, ProRail has been struggling how to number the platform. Just after it was build signs were placed indicating "Spoor 1a", but now it's being used it was renamed to platform 3 creating a platform order of 2 - 1 - 3.

[@dbleumink]

@@caw25sha Because the official numbering convention in The Netherlands is that numbering starts with platform 1 at the station building side. Then all tracks are numbered (and there are a lot at Nijmegen). After that any bay or terminating platforms next to the station building are numbered. That's why there is a platform 35 in Nijmegen, but also platforms 12 till 16 in Zwolle, 15 and 20 in Dordrecht, 20 in Sittard and 6 in Venlo which are all next to platform 1. However, there are many exceptions which make it fun and sometimes possible to recognise things from the past. As small examples: Kesteren has nowadays only a platform 3 and 4, 1 and 2 have been removed; Rotterdam Central no longer has a platform 1 since the station was track layout was changed to create a platform long enough for the Eurostar and Utrecht Vaartsche Rijn has the "artificial" platform numbers 1 till 4 as it would otherwise only have platforms 3, 4, 7 and 8.

[@caw25sha]

@@dbleumink That is quite interesting, thanks for your detailed reply. Are there any tracks in the Netherlands with a platform each side? That would mess up the system!

[@dbleumink]

@@caw25sha There are, but in train stations they will always have a fence on one side of the track. The only exception I know is in an underground station: at Rotterdam Centraal the subway station has one track where its possible to board and alight from both sides of the train. But there another numbering system is used anyway.

[@5SpotReview]

The next train to depart from Platform Zero is the 00:00 service to. . . Nowhere. Calling at. . . No stations. None of them.

[@micksharman2093]

Loving the plarform zero video's, certainly different, keep up the great work.

[@andyb2706]

Geoff, you were spot on with your reasoning for platform 0 at Stockport. It was not there before the station revamp.

[@jaydeschamps1633]

love the videos keep it up!

[@philipgay4878]

The next challenge has to be arriving or departing from all the platform '0' in the shortest amount of time - oh, Once platform 0 at leeds is up and running!

[@emilyjarvis9324]

Pacer trains are unfortunately everywhere in South Yorkshire, it's normal for us. Seeing a new train is a miracle for us

[@oliverbrelsford5472]

What Geoff didn't notice at Piccadilly... there's a new class 195 behind him!

[@tingewickmax]

There was an excellent BBC4 documentary series, "The History of Maths", regrettably currently unavailable on iPlayer. That included an episode on the origin and use of the number 0. Keep an eye on the schedules as it is bound to be repeated soon, if you enjoy that sort of thing. 0, it turns out, resolves a lot of mathematical issues - not just the numbering of platforms.

[@TrimutiusToo]

0000 might be reserved for "invalid zone" in that system so that might be why they are not going for it

[@sihollett]

they didn't go for 1111 either!

[@TrimutiusToo]

@@sihollett 1111 is 15 and they have zone 15... Not sure what you are talking about

[@sihollett]

@@TrimutiusToo zone 15 was reserved for #purpletrain stations west of West Drayton only for it not to be used when they rolled out PAYG on the line earlier this month. They don't have zone 15 - they deliberately decided not to use it for some reason.

[@LisaMarli]

What wonderful silliness. Thanks for this.

[@terrymoore9388]

I worked on the upgrades around Stockport in 2002 -2003 for EWS as they were then and platform 0 was built to provide grade separation for the services to Buxton and across the Hope Valley to Sheffield

[@buksi6342]

At Kauniainen station in Finland, there’s 3 platforms, and trains stop at 1 and 2, but the platform on the right is 2, the one in the middle is 1 and the one on the left is 3, making it a platform order of 3-1-2.

[@anteeklund4159]

Happy new day! -Geoff 2020

[@philipperry9012]

I so love you videos. I'm a rail enthusiasts I was at Leeds 2 weeks ago leeds has a new platform 0 New to me.

[@ferretimp]

Love seeing Retford in the background and the Retford FC ground (my hometown)

[@jimmythewig3354]

I changed there once. Never been back, I'm afraid...

[@DarenStratton]

I've recently visited every Platform 0, and gave both you and Matt a shoutout for your inspiration. I'd hoped that I could say that I visited them effortlessly, but TFW went wrong - a cancellation on the train before mine meant that mine was packed from Hereford, and TPE were on strike as well - luckily I only needed it from York to Leeds. Also, Platform 0 in Stockport was closed off, so I ended up giving the info about it on Platform 1. Keep up the excellent work Geoff

[@neville132bbk]

All that frantic activity to achieve zero.

[@KevinRBoyd]

Changing platform numbers may sound easy but does mean spending money on engineering. The signallers displays and some signalling records would need changing, and that costs a lot!

[@markbraid1985]

I work at Waverley and TPE are a nightmare there too. Good to know it's the same in other parts of Britain

[@avinashbhunjun5429]

Great videos! What a mission!

[@TonyTheYouTuba]

Perfect ending, genius!

[@matsui90]

More like 'all the zero trains running'.

[@SnowmanTF2]

The oyster system could be using zero to indicate somewhere is outsize the system, they do have some of the same readers that are used for other payment systems

[@TheBigdavejones]

Watched this last night Today, travelling to London with a change at Doncaster thinking “do I have time to find platform 0” Leave train. Look up. I arrived at platform 0, so yes then

[@robloxboi3108]

Probably the train controllers were like: hey it’s Geoff! Let’s cancel all the trains he wants to get on

[@ThomK-TBF-IRL]

As a Stopfordian, I am quite happy to see Stockport show up on this video.

[@highpath4776]

Geoff Did TfL respond with 0000 being the Bus Fare Zone ? (Others have suggested it is, I dont know, seems logical)

[@moochincrawdad]

Prime seats on a Pacer: the sideways facing bench seats by the doors! 😃

[@glynwelshkarelian3489]

Proved by the fact that that's where they actually sat.

[@Dimitriedmr]

I admire your passion.

[@neilcrawford8303]

TPE cancel a service, never! Their record at the moment is actually slightly worse than Northern's. Both Liverpool and Manchester authorities want TPEs head on a platter to, alongside Northern's.

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

Very refreshing watching these videos.

[@hikaru-live]

I think TfL is reserving zone 0 for something. For example if they can find some other fields to use, zone 0 can mean "look elsewhere for zone information" to the software.

[@jballenger9240]

…because it was nearly a Herculean ask to complete in one day!

[@daveharrison9107]

9:55 Tired, pissed or both? 😂

[@OlanKenny]

Both

[@davidcronan4072]

I'm surprised you didn't invite along the Manchester history vlogger Martin Zero

[@SaturnCanuck]

That was brilliant. Looked like a long day. The Pizza looked great. Thanks.

[@robloxboi3108]

I honestly feel like the controllers purposely try to mess up Geoff’s plans by cancelling trains

[@WhiteTiger333]

The countdown at the end...LOL! :D

[@lukeedwards8599]

You are indeed correct about Platform 0 at Stockport used to be the car park but then they changed the entrance and added an extra platform saves on congestion for trains to Buxton and Sheffield

[@CLechleitner42]

Numbers in digital data aren't always used for counting. A 0 for the TfL zone can also mean "none" or "not known" or both, kind of. An advanced version of that data model could use 0 for "none", -1 (or 255 or 65535) for "unknown", -2 for "invalid", -3 for "all", ...

[@bobfromhull]

Donny P0 fits snugly betweem P1 and P3. A nightmare if you're on a tight connection Thank you for your visit

[@edwardswann7584]

Matt eating pizza looking depressed on a pacer is bringing back so many memories of university

[@arthurvasey]

Pacers ARE buses on rails - the rolling stock used to be buses - took the bases off, put them on train wheels, put them on train tracks, joined several buses together and called them trains! Can’t remember what those buses were called, though!

[@conscienceaginBlackadder]

Haymarket 0 was used more by service trains during the last rebuilding of Waverley. Some local routes including Fife Circle were terminated at Haymarket during that time. They built 0 in time for that use, + I think it is largely a spare platform kept for using every time they do their frequent redesigns of Waverley's platform structure, which they can never seem to get long term right.

[@joermnyc]

In the US, the ground floor is the 1st floor. In the UK and other commonwealth countries (found it in Australia) it’s “Floor zero” or just “Ground Floor” and the next floor up is the 1st floor. So those lifts have been indexing all this time!

[@neville132bbk]

NZ does it right, too.

[@DanLoudShirts]

Why oh why is there not a "love" button on KZbin? What a great two-part comedy-drama this was!

[@Nick-ux7zt]

It is a new platform and a new entrance at Stockport, the entrance was always there and I think that line was always there too, but they added the platform when they redid the entrance. I say that, I can’t actually remember it before they had it, but I know my dad refers to it as new. Also, 0 and 1 are used for the same thing: southbound trains down the Buxton Line, of which there are 5 and hour of (2 Northen to Buxton, 1 Northern to Hazel Grove, 1 EMR to Norwich and 1 TPE to Cleethorpes). I think the one to Chester might also use plat 1. Interestingly there is only plat 2 for northbound services which have come along the Buxton line because 3 and 4 serve the WCML: Crewe - Manchester and the Mid Cheshire Line. (In which there are 8 trains per hour using).

[@michwimbledon]

Next go to all the platform thirteens on Friday the 13th March

[@alexleo172]

#AllThe13s

[@HenrysAdventures]

From what I can see nearly all the Zeros are the newest platform at each of their host railway station!

[@oysterfarescentral]

Gravesend being the exception!

[@bisqueta414]

Finally the rest of the #westopatnothing

[@muskrat645]

Hi Geoff, surprised you didn't arrange to meet Martin Zero at Manchester.

[@PNEKarl]

@martin zero would only travel behind a class 40!

[@mattcherry276]

Stockport platform 0 was built on a former loop line. The idea was that there would be five tracks all the way from the south end of the viaduct through to the junction for the Hazel Grove line. However, when Stockport was declared too complicated for modern signalling in the Ansaldo debacle, it was left effectively as a loop off the Up Slow (which was already catered for in the 19th Century signalling that still remains here) and, as such doesn't really add much in the way of capacity. It was built at roughly the same time as the new entrance and now is used by most services going down the Hazel Grove branch (bound for Buxton, Hazel Grove, Norwich or Cleethorpes) even though they then re-merge with everything coming out of platform 1.

[@onlineamiga]

Nice to see you at my local, Doncaster. I don't recall it having a platform 0 but it was many years ago when i had to commute from there daily. They since revamped the whole station and joined it to the frenchgate shopping centre.

[@tonyhancock8479]

Hi Geoff, Platform 0 at Stockport was built I think during the WCML upgrade, but because they ran out of money to upgrade Stockport's signalling (it is still absolute block controlled by 5 boxes) it sat there with track but not connected at either end for several years. And BTW I hope you enjoyed your pacer ride as it will probably be your last. They supposedly go from the Manchester area in February.

[@maidbloke]

Loving the geekiness at 10:30 🤓

[@oskarooni]

There’s also a platform 0 in Doncaster, Melbourne! Only because our government hasn’t built it yet 🤨😂

[@originalwolf8297]

You perfectly summed up the reason why i don't travel by train. In 2 Minutes. There are no trains going north past York.... they canceled trains X,Y and Z and so on.

[@johnhowitt2653]

Stockport viaduct is reputedly the worlds largest brick built structure in the world with around 11,000,000 bricks. plus the good burgers of Stockport got an act of Parliament passed in 1840 that all through trains had to stop at Stockport, crafty. I was commuting to and from Stockport while they were building Platform 0 so watched it being built. The local staff were rather disgusted that it was numbered 0 though.

[@neville132bbk]

From Levin NZ..When my son and his wife were living for 2 years in Macclesfield, we came up to Stockport one day... the Hat Museum was fascinating indeed.. and in a different, eerie way... the underground air raid shelter tunnels. Well worth a visit. That was 2006....no shiny modern station as I remember it...

[@GenialHarryGrout]

Geoff & Matt from Zero to Hero

[@jameshardwick2726]

Platform zero at Haymarket is the only platform at the station that is a terminus. It's mostly used when there's a bottleneck of trains between Haymarket and Waverley. I've used it numerous times.

[@TropicalP456]

Love the music

[@TropicalP456]

What is it

[@neilbain8736]

Haymarket was the terminal before the tunnels were dug, and there were many sidings. Latterly it was used by a coal dealer (called Bruce Lyndsey Waldie I think) that disappeared by the early 80's. 0 and the tramway and lots of new buildings occupy the land now. In fact the railway and tramway share the same land before the tram swings up the hill to Haymarket station entrance, although it could have had a tram stop at platform level in theory. There was a plan to descend the Union Canal via (Canal St Station?) to meet the railway going through Scotland Street tunnel. It never happened. The railway went East at right angles to Scotland Street tunnel, Waverley was created, Canal Street ceased to exist and became a sharp curve by platform 19 at Waverley. Waverley has since been renumbered.

[@lv-ag6129]

Are you going to be able to do a video with the class 745 entering service? Running between Liverpool Street & norwich

[@TaylorsTrainsMore]

Hi Geoff your such an inspiration I love the videos I wish I could meet you irl but I’m young so yh, even though I do know how to travel. Keep it up! The greater anglia 745 are in service also TFW 170’s possible videos?

[@Paco_Gaepedores]

Very lovely and Interesting video woohoo ❤

[@maplady572]

Brilliant video. Cheers fellas!

[@TPhype-Discovery]

Platform 0, this must be something new, Geoff