Edinburgh Waverley station needs me.

[TallOrLong]

Here are the facts:

• I go to many train stations, I never ever get confused elsewhere.
• I never go to Waverley without walking round in a big loop in a state of confusion.
• From observation I am not the only one.

I am prepared to provide executive advice. Payment terms are a baguette from upper crust, a bag of percy pigs from M&S and some scottish fudge from, well, somewhere that sells good fudge.

This is not actually an AIBU, because I am not being unreasonable. I am on a train leaving Edinburgh having finally found my platform. See you next time for the same fun again Waverley!

Unless your intended destination is Inverness. In that case you end up in Bristol Parkway.

To be fair, though, all the platforms for all directions are in one station in Waverley, unlike in Glasgow, where you need to walk between Queen Street and Central if you want to go from north to south.

YABU for asking for payment in fudge rather than tablet which is, imo, far superior.

🤣

I remember dd2 travelling alone for the first time from Waverley to York to visit a friend. A young teen finding her independence but dyslexic and easily confused. We rehearsed a lot,then off she went. Cue panicked call from Waverley that there was no train going to York,there was nothing on the board etc. I asked where she was
" in front of the board like you said"
Which board?
" the arrivals one"
No,you need to look at the Departures one,dd
" But why? I've just ARRIVED!"

Yes!! I am from Edinburgh and know Waverley well but I came back from Newcastle a few weeks ago and pulled into a bizarre wee platform that was tucked away that I had never been to before. I wouldn’t be surprised if the train to Hogwarts stopped there

I adore The Pool @RampantIvy I have family there so have been a regular visitor all my life, I almost went there to do my doctorate, and now my pension is administrated from within the Liver Building (which is my favourite building in the world.) My son chose to have his 18th there recently. In my part of Lancashire however we do like to take the affectionate Michael out of the great city down the road 😀

Ha I was going to say this! 👏👏

Excellent- going tomorrow, will keep you all posted 😆

This post has come just in time for me. I'm coming up from london in a couple of weeks to look at the university with my daughter so I'll make sure I write down all this info, check online info and maybe print a map first. I thought it would be a straightforward station with platforms in numerical order.

Last time I was at Waverley, I went up and down the same escalator twice. Accompanied by a family (a child in a buggy and 2 suitcases, poor sods) and I spotted them later on, in the same escalator...and I grew up between Edinburgh and Glasgow and was on and off the trains all the time. The time before that, I was fighting back tears - entered at an arse end of an entry (later at night) with long walkways and stairs, with no signs in sight. I found an official looking man (no hat, so it wasn't the hatted man) but he saw me on my way.

These heady days I live in the Highlands and my local stations have ONE platform.

I'll come down and assist in the planning, my preferred payment can be M&S Caramelised Onion Chutney. I can bring some tablet.

😂😂😂1

It is truly amazing if ALL the escalators on the Waverly Steps are functioning - I give it about a week max until one or more break again!

Yes it’s awful - and I’m a native! The worst thing is the modern trick of not posting the platform number until the last minute. Unlike at King’s cross or Glasgow Queens St. where you just have to leap forward to the logically numbered platforms laid out in front of you, at Waverley you have to set off on a voyage of discovery involving lifts, stairs, escalators etc. etc. I’m mobility impaired so have to take the lifts but always find myself in competition with Americans and Chinese people who always seem to travel with GIANT suitcases…..

I’m keeping an eye on which platform the 14:00 to London goes from. What’s the charge for helping me find platform 9?

I think Kings Cross can be just as bad. The platform announcements for trains for Newcastle and Edinburgh are posted about 2 minutes before the train leaves. This creates a rush of people at the barriers, many with large suitcases. The usual platform is 5 but occasionally it is 10 which is at the extreme other end of the station. Now I look on phone at the arrivals so I know where to be.

For platform nine, from the main concourse, so where Pret and the ticket machines are, you go up the escalator to the walkway and join another walkway - keep going in the same direction - and down the stairs or lift again (it should be signed platform 9 where you need to go down but I can’t remember actually seeing this)

I have just realised another thing which is annoying, the barriers on the walkway which mean that you cannot go from one side to the other easily. But on the plus side, the station makes so much more sense knowing the platforms go in a circle which is why 7 and 11 are different ends of the same one. Platform nine apparently has an east and a west, so for London, it would be 9e.

It’s up and over the bridge / walkway thing! Give yourself 5min to get there. Stand with your back to Pret A Manger and the other shops in that main concourse and go up the escalator to the right, keep walking in that direction when you get off the escalator and then you’ll need to go down stairs or the lift. Is it the Euston train rather than King’s Cross?
if you’re getting a taxi get dropped at market street and that’ll bring you in on the bridge / walkway thing right near that platform.

Same at St Pancras for Sheffield trains. I think trains have such a short turnaround time though.

Stand facing the main waiting room where the toilets are with Pret on your right & Costa on your left, then go up the escalator to your right, up & past Pret effectively. Then along the walkway, turn right at the end of the walkway & you’ll see signs for platform 8 & 9 🙂

The term higgledy piggledy was made for Edinburgh Waverley.
It was originally 3 stations. Now melded into one. It's a nightmare.

Does anyone know why EW choses to number its platforms that way?
All the lines are parallel-ish, despite them diverging into various directions (a not uncommon situation for mainline stations). Other stations have trains departing from either end of a platform.
Other stations manage to have customers waiting to board the train before it arrives, in zones for the local distance ones.
Others use subways and bridges

So why is one crazier than the others?

Thank you everyone. It looks like I owe lots of fudge. It’s the King’s Cross train.

Edinburgh is like Hotel California you can check in but you can never leave. I’ve never not got lost travelling to Newcastle from Edinburgh. There are no signs until you get to the ring road.

It's unusual for the Kings Cross train to use platform 9 unless it's come from further north and the 2pm train starts at Waverley so I'd check that nearer the time @MinnieMountain