Trivia: Lowest (non-zero) mileage unit diagram in a day?

[causton]

Following on from this thread:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trivia-highest-mileage-diagram-in-a-day.160737/

What is the lowest (non-zero - yes - where the train actually moves!!!) unit diagram in a day?

Let's start with the 319 pair on a Saturday that just goes from Bletchley Carriage Sidings to Northampton EMUD and back. Around 36 miles.

Any lower?

 

[D365]

What do the diagrams look like for the Stourbridge Class 139s?

 

[prod_pep]

Southern has a Sunday night diagram (BI706) with a total mileage of 6.60 and a mere four minutes in passenger service.

Runs ECS from Lovers Walk to Brighton via reversals at Preston Park and Hove, then runs the 00.10 shuttle to Hove before returning ECS to Brighton. That's it.

 

[Ianno87]

What do the diagrams look like for the Stourbridge Class 139s?

Well, it's 0.75 miles each way, 6 round trips per hour = 9 miles per hour.

Operating day c. 18ish hours = 162 miles per day.

Units don't normally get swapped over in the day, unless there's a fault.

 

[a_c_skinner]

Southern has a Sunday night diagram (BI706) with a total mileage of 6.60 and a mere four minutes in passenger service.

Runs ECS from Lovers Walk to Brighton via reversals at Preston Park and Hove, then runs the 00.10 shuttle to Hove before returning ECS to Brighton. That's it.

As someone who visits that area frequently I've got to ask why? Is it to turn the unit?

 

[MontyP]

What’s the lowest regular (i.e. Mon-Fri daily) diagram? Reason I ask is that such a diagram would be the only reason for the TOC to have leased the stock required. I imagine that there are quite a few that are just one revenue service in each of morning / evening peaks?

 

[bramling]

What’s the lowest regular (i.e. Mon-Fri daily) diagram? Reason I ask is that such a diagram would be the only reason for the TOC to have leased the stock required. I imagine that there are quite a few that are just one revenue service in each of morning / evening peaks?

There was certainly a GN 321 diagram at one point which did something like Hornsey Welwyn King’s Cross Hornsey and the same in the evening.

Likewise there’s diagrams which come off the sidings at Peterborough and do King’s Cross then Hornsey, and the reverse in the evening.

 

[G_A_C_C_C]

What mileage does the Heathrow 360/2 shuttle do in a day?

 

[Fincra5]

Sunday service Hove shuttles must be quite low. A 1ph trip there and back - all day.

 

[swt_passenger]

What’s the lowest regular (i.e. Mon-Fri daily) diagram? Reason I ask is that such a diagram would be the only reason for the TOC to have leased the stock required. I imagine that there are quite a few that are just one revenue service in each of morning / evening peaks?

Suppose you originally had a timetabled requirement for 20 EMUs. We are told that a reasonable utilisation figure used to be considered around 85%, so that would mean a TOC might want 23 of that unit in its fleet, 3 under going maintenance of some sort each day.

Now suppose that with experience the maintainers have upped their maintenace game and can now give you a few hours extra service per day - it might be a few hours each for 2 units, or a few hours for 1 unit. It means the fleet utilisation is increased overall, and that is a bonus, not that the the short diagrams are inefficient use of those particular units.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

What mileage does the Heathrow 360/2 shuttle do in a day?

Much like the 139s, short frequent shuttles probably mount up the distances over a day.

 

[Kite159]

There are probably some units on C2C which solely does Shoeburyness Carriage Sidings - Shoeburyness - Fenchurch Street - East Ham depot - Fenchurch Street - Shoeburyness - Shoeburyness Carrage sidings.

Likewise on GA, probably some 321s only do Southend Sidings - Southend Victoria - Liverpool Street - Orient Way/Ilford Sidings - Liverpool Street - Southend Victoria - Southend sidings

(and I dare say some EMUs for South Eastern only do a couple trips a day during the peaks, resting up in the Victoria sidings/Grove Park)

 

[Ianno87]

What mileage does the Heathrow 360/2 shuttle do in a day?

Approx 1.75 miles each way = 3.5 mile round trip
4 trips per hour = 14 miles per hour = c. 252 miles per day (plus trip from/to Old Oak depot, about 9 miles each way)

Helped by having sharp turnrounds at both ends (with driver in each end).

Would have been approximately half that when it only ran half-hourly (when Connect ran to T4 on the opposite quarter-hours)

 

[tbtc]

There are some routes that only require additional capacity at rush hour, so potentially some routes where a diagram only really requires one morning and one afternoon working (plus associated depot trip), but a leftfield suggestion would be a DMU on the Kyle line.

For example:

Inverness (d) - 13:35
Kyle (a) - 16:12
Kyle (d) - 17:13
Elgin (a) - 20:47
Elgin (d) 20:52
Inverness (a) 21:31

...so that's two hundred and forty miles in eight hours - it sounds like a lot but it's only an average of around thirty miles an hour.

I don't know what that diagram does earlier in the day (potentially some Dingwall shuttles etc), but the low linespeed on the Kyle line and the long layover means it doesn't cover many miles in the eight hours I've quoted.

 

[mushroomchow]

Southern has a Sunday night diagram (BI706) with a total mileage of 6.60 and a mere four minutes in passenger service.

Runs ECS from Lovers Walk to Brighton via reversals at Preston Park and Hove, then runs the 00.10 shuttle to Hove before returning ECS to Brighton. That's it.

There's a joke in there somewhere about four minutes in passenger service being above average for Southern.

 

[sd0733]

There's a 350 on a Sunday at 08:49 I believe which runs ecs from Crewe to Crewe C.S and that's it for the day. That must take some beating! It is non zero tho so meets the rules.of the thread!

This is it www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P67351/2018/02/18/advanced

 

[306024]

Similarly there was a diagram from Colchester CS to Colchester station on a Sunday evening with nothing else. May need to get the tape measure out to see which is shortest.

 

[Bromley boy]

SE Bromley North shuttle must be pretty low...

Isle of Wight trains must be another contender?

 

[CyrusWuff]

Doing a bit of digging suggests that Chiltern have a unit that forms part of 5H00 (0545 Wembley LMD - Marylebone) that goes on to form 2A06 (0620 Marylebone - Aylesbury via High Wycombe) which doesn't appear to have an onward working, so presumably heads off to the Depot given it's booked for Platform 1 at Aylesbury. If it doesn't come out again later in the day, I make that around 50 miles.

 

[Ianno87]

SE Bromley North shuttle must be pretty low...

Isle of Wight trains must be another contender?

Bromley North is 1.5 miles each way, 3 times an hour, so 9 miles an hour. Same as Stourbridge!

 

[Bovverboy]

Doing a bit of digging suggests that Chiltern have a unit that forms part of 5H00 (0545 Wembley LMD - Marylebone) that goes on to form 2A06 (0620 Marylebone - Aylesbury via High Wycombe) which doesn't appear to have an onward working, so presumably heads off to the Depot given it's booked for Platform 1 at Aylesbury. If it doesn't come out again later in the day, I make that around 50 miles.

2A06 is 0620 Marylebone - Aylesbury on Sats only. The platform numbers are suspect, since there isn't a balance of arrivals/departures. I would imagine that the unit off 2A06 returns in service to Marylebone, there are suitable departure times.

 

[Bald Rick]

Similarly there was a diagram from Colchester CS to Colchester station on a Sunday evening with nothing else. May need to get the tape measure out to see which is shortest.

Not a metal one though.

 

[Highlandspring]

There are some routes that only require additional capacity at rush hour, so potentially some routes where a diagram only really requires one morning and one afternoon working (plus associated depot trip), but a leftfield suggestion would be a DMU on the Kyle line.

For example:

Inverness (d) - 13:35
Kyle (a) - 16:12
Kyle (d) - 17:13
Elgin (a) - 20:47
Elgin (d) 20:52
Inverness (a) 21:31

...so that's two hundred and forty miles in eight hours - it sounds like a lot but it's only an average of around thirty miles an hour.

I don't know what that diagram does earlier in the day (potentially some Dingwall shuttles etc), but the low linespeed on the Kyle line and the long layover means it doesn't cover many miles in the eight hours I've quoted.

This is diagram IS827 - the unit starts in Wick and works to Inverness on 2H56 at 0802. On arrival in Inverness it shunts to the TMD via the washer before working 2H85 to Kyle, then 2H86 to Elgin and 5H86 back to Inverness TMD for fuelling and overnight stabling. The diagram is 399.9 miles in total. Looking at the current ScotRail 158 SX LTP diagrams the shortest is HA855 FO at 132 miles, which is used to position a unit for maintenance. It starts at Stirling and works empty to Dunblane then 1P06 0723 to Edinburgh, runs off to Haymarket for an underframe wash, then comes back out in the afternoon to do another Dunblane before running off to Haymarket again for exam.

 

[tbtc]

This is diagram IS827 - the unit starts in Wick and works to Inverness on 2H56 at 0802. On arrival in Inverness it shunts to the TMD via the washer before working 2H85 to Kyle, then 2H86 to Elgin and 5H86 back to Inverness TMD for fuelling and overnight stabling. The diagram is 399.9 miles in total. Looking at the current ScotRail 158 SX LTP diagrams the shortest is HA855 FO at 132 miles, which is used to position a unit for maintenance. It starts at Stirling and works empty to Dunblane then 1P06 0723 to Edinburgh, runs off to Haymarket for an underframe wash, then comes back out in the afternoon to do another Dunblane before running off to Haymarket again for exam.

Really interesting - cheers @Highlandspring

My suggestion was nowhere near the lowest - even the lowest for ScotRail - I was thinking that the low line speeds beyond Inverness and the long layovers might have come up with a decent contender, but I can't see anything beating your HA855!

 

[bastien]

How about the Looe branch?