Liverpool to Newcastle May 2014

[Eagle]

About a decade or so ago there was a 2 hourly Scarborough-Blackpool & alternate 2 hourly Scarborough-Liverpool service giving the Scarborough-Leeds axis a hourly service so going back to that might be a good idea.

Allow me to quote something I said half an hour ago in another thread:

Any argument based on "the timetable used to be like this ten years ago" isn't a very strong one. Why are we using long past service patterns to inform decisions on the present railway?

 

[Hardcastle]

Point taken but there again Scarborough-York was at one time just a shuttle between the two apart from summer extras from Newcastle/Leicester/London etc

 

[Dunc108]

But (like most services) it isn't planned solely for end-to-end passengers. What it'll offer is the opportunity for people to make journeys without having to change at Leeds or York.

Well if they're not an end to end customer and they're headed somewhere other than Scarborough then they WILL have to change at Leeds or York..

 

[transmanche]

Well if they're not an end to end customer and they're headed somewhere other than Scarborough then they WILL have to change at Leeds or York..

That would be true... if the trains run non-stop Leeds-York and York-Scarborough...

 

[northwichcat]

About a decade or so ago there was a 2 hourly Scarborough-Blackpool & alternate 2 hourly Scarborough-Liverpool service giving the Scarborough-Leeds axis a hourly service so going back to that might be a good idea.

Allow me to quote something I said half an hour ago in another thread:

One of the requirements for the TPE franchise was to have a standard hourly pattern and not to alternate destinations of trains throughout the day to make the timetable more user friendly.

 

[Eagle]

Indeed. Also since then the Blackpool to York service has gone up from two-hourly to hourly, so it would be even more awkward to timetable it like that.

Also would I be right in saying that both Blackpool to Scarborough and Liverpool to Scarborough would be operated by ATN Transpennine 158s? Were they interworked?

 

[northwichcat]

Also would I be right in saying that both Blackpool to Scarborough and Liverpool to Scarborough would be operated by ATN Transpennine 158s? Were they interworked?

Blackpool to Yorkshire services were operated by ATN and it was a 'transpenninexpress' branded route. Although, at the time 'transpenninexpress' didn't mean you would get a train with First Class as they didn't have enough 158s with FC to cover all TPE routes. Therefore, some services like the Hull ones were shown as standard class only (and frequently got 156s and MetroTrain 158s) while the Sunderland and Middlesbrough ones were pretty much guaranteed to have FC.

Also at one point ATN cut the Blackpool services didn't continue beyond Bradford.

 

[Karl]

Yes there are set to be calling pattern changes. Also Bamber Bridge is set to be added as a calling point - Network Rail are to lengthen it's platforms to be able to take 3 car 158s. I'm not sure entirely why though, maybe there's a lot of houses being built there or something?

As a resident of Bamber Bridge I was unaware of this. Do you have a link or any any information I could read online? I'm very interested.

I'm sure there's ample room at the moment for 3 car trains?

Thanks.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

The 1744 off Preston is usually a 3-car 158 and that fits IIRC.

 

[northwichcat]

The Network Rail CP5 plans include platform lengthening at Bamber Bridge Up to be able to take 3 car 156/158s but saying "Bamber Bridge Up" suggests "Bamber Bridge Down" already can take 3 car 156/158s.