"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
h.li...

While we're on the H&C station at Paddington, i noticed the other day that
there are two mainline platforms on the fare-paid side of the barriers;
what are those all about? Are they used for suburban services?

They are used by First Great Western Link suburban services. The original
layout of the four platforms was different and was remodelled in the 1960s,
when through services from the GW suburban stations ceased. LUL trains used
to run through the centre pair of platforms, whilst GW suburban services
used the outer faces, giving cross-platform changes between the two services
in each direction. The remodelling concentrated suburban services on the two
faces of the southern island and LU services on the two faces of the
northern island and removed the crossovers and all physical links between
the two systems. For some reason, although it is possible to walk along the
platform from the mainline station to the suburban platform unimpeded, the
LUL gates need to be traversed when accessing the suburban platforms from
the footbridge. Conversely, it is possible to gain access to the LUL
platforms without passing through the barriers by using the mainline access
to the suburban platforms and then crossing via the footbridge!