Trivia: Counties served only by electric trains

[Captain Bigwig]

If ceremonial counties are accepted, I'll nominate Huntingdonshire (which I don't think includes Peterborough).

By ceremonial county I meant leiutenancy areas of England (this list: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremonial_counties_of_England)

 

[paul1609]

When did the city of London last see a scheduled diesel service? I guess the last 47s to Norwich and Ely / Kings Lynn. Before that the DMU's and 31's on the widened lines to Moorgate, and Herts into Broad Street

Hastings DEMUs May 1986 to Cannon Street?

 

[scotrail158713]

there's a service from Motherwell to Edinburgh which runs via Shotts that goes on to form a Tweedbank service. It'll be a 158/170.

2Y76 0559 Motherwell to Edinburgh which then goes onto form 2T64 0751 Edinburgh to Tweedbank

 

[stuu]

When did the city of London last see a scheduled diesel service? I guess the last 47s to Norwich and Ely / Kings Lynn. Before that the DMU's and 31's on the widened lines to Moorgate, and Herts into Broad Street

Anglia used to run 170s from Liverpool Street to Lowestoft and Yarmouth. Someone will be along in a minute to say when that stopped

 

[30907]

Anglia used to run 170s from Liverpool Street to Lowestoft and Yarmouth. Someone will be along in a minute to say when that stopped

Without bothering to check, I certainly used the 1632 LST-PBO sometime after 2002 and before 2008.
But it looks as though Huntingdonshire is, within the OP's definition, the winner.

 

[jopsuk]

Probably Clackmannanshire (Alloa).

Which is is undeniably a county by any measure- a traditional one, a modern unitary authority since 1996 (having been made a District in 1975) and a Lieutenancy.

But as Lieutenancies are a weird ceremonial thing of little relevance to modern life, and "traditional counties" are a historical anomaly, the sensible parameter here would be top level authorities. In England those are:
the 56 Unitary Authorities
the 36 Metropolitan Boroughs
the 32 London Boroughs
The Common Council of the City of London
The Council of the Isles of Scilly
the 25 non-metropolitan counties

the other ones of interest are
the Greater London Authority
the 10 Combind Authorities (some of which are the same as or roughly similar to the Metropolitan Counties, which all still exist anyway just not as councils)

We'd be here longer if we try and sift through
the 188 non-Metropolitan Districts

Scotland is of course easy as the current local authorities are of a single tier and type (32 thereof), the same goes for Wales (22 authorities) regardless of the different names and Northern Ireland replaced the six counties with 11 districts.

 

[Bringback309s]

Without bothering to check, I certainly used the 1632 LST-PBO sometime after 2002 and before 2008.
But it looks as though Huntingdonshire is, within the OP's definition, the winner.

Interesting - I didn't know any scheduled services to Liverpool Street were 170's, I know that they occasionally turn up, and did last year, as substitutes. I do remember the Norwich - Basingstoke service well, I wonder what market research thought it would be worth linking those two towns!

 

[route101]

Interesting , never knew 170s operated along the Shotts.

 

[RailWonderer]

Anglia used to run 170s from Liverpool Street to Lowestoft and Yarmouth. Someone will be along in a minute to say when that stopped

The December 2010 timetable saw NXEA seize all Lowestoft / Peterborough through services into Liverpool St.
However during a land slip in 2013, East Suffolk was blocked off so they used some 170s on Norwich - Liverpool Street services in 6 and 9 car formations.
The last 170 to go into London was December 2019 on the 1700 ex-LST as a 3 car.

 

[Hadders]

But it looks as though Huntingdonshire is, within the OP's definition, the winner.

The ECML passes through Huntingdonshire which has class 180 diesel trains in daily operation although to be fair they don't call at any stations in the county.

 

[oglord]

"traditional counties" are a historical anomaly

Of course they are! The only thing in the whole identity mess that people actually think of as a county! 1,000 years of history is now a "historical anomaly". People should base their identity on "Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole", "Cheshire West and Chester", "Tyne and Wear" and so on!

 

[si404]

If ceremonial counties are accepted, I'll nominate Huntingdonshire (which I don't think includes Peterborough).

I presume you meant traditional, rather than ceremonial?

Huntingdonshire is part of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire*, and is a district in the non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire too. The traditional county (which included most of Peterborough UA south of the Nene) ceased to be an administrative/ceremonial entity in 1965 when it was merged with the Soke of Peterborough (which was split off Northants in 1888), and then that situation lasted 9 years before it all became administered as Cambridgeshire.

The traditional county does indeed have only electric services stopping on the National Rail network (Huntingdon and St Neots stations are the only two) - though the Nene Valley Railway exists. I presume we're not counting heritage! I don't believe there's any other traditional county, save Clackmannanshire, that only has electric trains.

*To be fair, there's zero reason why England can't use ceremonial counties to recreate traditional counties like Scotland does - it even splits Stockton UA in two so that the ancient boundary of the Tees is restored! There is therefore zero reason why Huntingdonshire can't be a ceremonial county. Sussex and Yorkshire can be treated as one should they want. 'Metropolitan Kent', Barking/Romford, etc don't have to be of Greater London for the purposes of person wearing tights and instead can be grouped with the counties they were administered by until 1965 should they want that. Though as a Bucks native, Berks can keep Slough - we offloaded it for a reason!

 

[D365]

I presume you meant traditional, rather than ceremonial?

Correct

The ECML passes through Huntingdonshire which has class 180 diesel trains in daily operation although to be fair they don't call at any stations in the county.

OP does state that non-stopping trains aren't counted. Though that does remind me that EWR will (in its current form) be bringing diesels back to St Neots.

 

[Esker-pades]

Interesting , never knew 170s operated along the Shotts.

I'd place bets that it would be a 158 rather than a 170, but I'm not 100% sure. I was going off Tweedbank allocations.

 

[route101]

I'd place bets that it would be a 158 rather than a 170, but I'm not 100% sure. I was going off Tweedbank allocations.

Aye , never known a 170 go via Shotts or Cartsairs in service. Deffo a 158 that leaves Glasgow late evening to Edinburgh via Shotts

 

[delt1c]

When did the city of London last see a scheduled diesel service? I guess the last 47s to Norwich and Ely / Kings Lynn. Before that the DMU's and 31's on the widened lines to Moorgate, and Herts into Broad Street

Last diesels would have been the 170's used for Norwich services

 

[urbophile]

I presume you meant traditional, rather than ceremonial?

Huntingdonshire is part of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire*, and is a district in the non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire too. The traditional county (which included most of Peterborough UA south of the Nene) ceased to be an administrative/ceremonial entity in 1965 when it was merged with the Soke of Peterborough (which was split off Northants in 1888), and then that situation lasted 9 years before it all became administered as Cambridgeshire.

The traditional county does indeed have only electric services stopping on the National Rail network (Huntingdon and St Neots stations are the only two) - though the Nene Valley Railway exists. I presume we're not counting heritage! I don't believe there's any other traditional county, save Clackmannanshire, that only has electric trains.

*To be fair, there's zero reason why England can't use ceremonial counties to recreate traditional counties like Scotland does - it even splits Stockton UA in two so that the ancient boundary of the Tees is restored! There is therefore zero reason why Huntingdonshire can't be a ceremonial county. Sussex and Yorkshire can be treated as one should they want. 'Metropolitan Kent', Barking/Romford, etc don't have to be of Greater London for the purposes of person wearing tights and instead can be grouped with the counties they were administered by until 1965 should they want that. Though as a Bucks native, Berks can keep Slough - we offloaded it for a reason!

 

[urbophile]

'Sussex and Yorkshire can be treated as one should they want.' As a Yorkshireman, I feel I should ask for clarification!

 

[si404]

'Sussex and Yorkshire can be treated as one should they want.' As a Yorkshireman, I feel I should ask for clarification!

I meant no East-West-North-South splits. Though, of course, should Brighton and Bradford, Hastings and Hull, Worthing and Whitby feel like uniting than that too!

 

[InOban]

As I said in an earlier post, 158s aren't maintained at Haymarket, so have to rotate to Glasgow. 170s are based at Haymarket.

 

[route101]

As I said in an earlier post, 158s aren't maintained at Haymarket, so have to rotate to Glasgow. 170s are based at Haymarket.

Where are 158s normally based?

 

[route101]

As I said in an earlier post, 158s aren't maintained at Haymarket, so have to rotate to Glasgow. 170s are based at Haymarket.

Where are 158s normally based?

 

[norbitonflyer]

I read elsewhere on this forum that the daily Fife-Glasgow and return services, which are currently suspended, do not appear in the May 2020 timetable, and so have probably run for the last time. As mentioned above, these are/were the only diesel services serving any station in West Lothian or East Dunbartonshire.

Neither Berwickshire nor Peeblesshire have any stations served by diesel (or electric) trains.

 

[PHILIPE]

Where are 158s normally based?

Corkerhill in lieu of Haymarket and still at Inverness

 

[si404]

I can't see any non-electric services in the council areas of North Ayrshire, Inverclyde or Renfrewshire. However the larger lieutenancy areas they are in do have non-electric services.

 

[Kite159]

I read elsewhere on this forum that the daily Fife-Glasgow and return services, which are currently suspended, do not appear in the May 2020 timetable, and so have probably run for the last time. As mentioned above, these are/were the only diesel services serving any station in West Lothian or East Dunbartonshire.

Neither Berwickshire nor Peeblesshire have any stations served by diesel (or electric) trains.

0916 Perth to Edinburgh & 1806 Edinburgh to Perth on a Sunday calls at Linlithgow so West Lothian is out.

For East Dunbartonshire, there is a 2344 Glasgow Queen Street to Perth service on a Sunday which calls at Bishopbriggs & Lenzie. Weekdays & Saturday there is a 0517 Perth to Glasgow Queen Street service

 

[route101]

I read elsewhere on this forum that the daily Fife-Glasgow and return services, which are currently suspended, do not appear in the May 2020 timetable, and so have probably run for the last time. As mentioned above, these are/were the only diesel services serving any station in West Lothian or East Dunbartonshire.

Neither Berwickshire nor Peeblesshire have any stations served by diesel (or electric) trains.

Shame , never got round to doing that service , suppose commuters will, have to go via Haymarket.

If the WHL service still served Westerton then East Dumbartonshire would have diesel.

A late Glasgow to Edinburgh via Shotts is 158.

 

[arbeia]

Inverclyde

 

[Altnabreac]

With the Stranraer trains diverted via Kilmarnock, I reckon North Ayrshire, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and Clackmannanshire are the Scottish local authorities with no diesel services. The county of Renfrewshire would have counted, I think, if it hadn’t been for Barrhead in East Renfrewshire.

Thornliebank, Clarkston and Giffnock would also be diesel served stations in the county of Renfrewshire.

Busby, while in modern East Renfrewshire falls under the traditional county of Lanarkshire.

 

[Jamesrob637]

The last 170 to go into London was December 2019 on the 1700 ex-LST as a 3 car.

Take it that was on one of the days between Christmas and New Year when numbers are very light?