Central Trains blinds

[northernrailer]

I picked up a Central Trains destination blind at a railway memorabilia function, the blind is from "153321" when it moved from Central to Wales & Borders in 2001, its from the original cab end i believe. It is a very long blind with a few unusal destinations i it i didnt expect to see:

Bath Spa
Bristol
Leeds
York


I dont believe Central Trains ever went to these places, so what was the reason for these places been put on the blind? was Central Trains hoping to extend its services to there??

Great Yarmouth (for sat only extensions between Norwich - Gt Ymth)
Hucknall (did trains ever terminate there, as its 2nd stop out of Notts on Worksop line)
These two i can understand - but why Hucknall when Mansfield and Worksop are on there too!! And i noticed "Market Rasen" isnt even on, even tho it only got 1 train terminate there on a weekend.

Does anyone else have any Central Trains blinds they can share on here??

 

[150219]

The Railcar Website has an excellent list of some of the different blinds. You'll find that a few blinds have 'unusual' destinations on them. Sometimes intended traffic never arrived, sometimes for diversionary purposes, some have spelling mistakes, etc. etc. One has Exeter St. Thomas, which hasn't had a timetabled terminating service since the sprinters were introduced. The Bletchley 117 blind has Finsbury Park on it. One of the West Country DMU blinds spelt Taunton without the 'n' in the middle!

 

[Failed Unit]

Central had plans to run to Bristol and Bath but virgin put a stop to it. It was one of the objections CT put into for the princes timetable. CT planned to extend the Nottingham - Coventry service to Bristol via Oxford and Swindon.

I didn't think the Lincoln to Leeds / York service ever got of rail futures dream list.

 

[Arriva158]

Does the blind have Gobowen/Shrewsbury on it, i remember at one time back in the old days of W&B that a 153 had Gobowen on it when there were a few weekends of terminating trains!

 

[WillPS]

Hucknall was used as a terminus very temporarily during the NET construction; the Nottingham Tram runs on what was once the second line of the Robin Hood Line.

 

[northernrailer]

Does the blind have Gobowen/Shrewsbury on it, i remember at one time back in the old days of W&B that a 153 had Gobowen on it when there were a few weekends of terminating trains!

The blind is black and yellow, and the destinations it has for North Wales are:
Barmouth, Chester, Dovey Junction, Gobowen, Machynlleth, Pwllheli, Shrewsbury, Tywyn, Wellington.
is you go to the following link you can view the blind:

http://www.railcar.co.uk/features/destination/153c.htm

 

[HSTfan!!!]

Remember a good few years back central used to frequently have a 158 stabled at Bristol Temple Meads, I can't for the life of me remember why though.

 

[MCR247]

You sure it wasn't on hire?

 

[tbtc]

CT planned to extend the Nottingham - Coventry service to Bristol via Oxford and Swindon

That'd have been brilliant!

Could the other destinations have been put on in case the 153 was ever loaned out? Central blinds would presumably have Liverpool/ Manchester/ Manchester Airport/ Sheffield/ Doncaster on them already (as CT served these places), so maybe adding Leeds/ York meant that the unit had most "Northern" termini on it, so could easily be loaned?

 

[fgwrich]

Remember a good few years back central used to frequently have a 158 stabled at Bristol Temple Meads, I can't for the life of me remember why though.

You sure it wasn't on hire?

Either that or depending on how long ago you saw said 158, could it have been one of the Ex Central - Wessex 158 Transferees ?

 

[RobShipway]

I wonder if it was on hire to Wessex Trains/FGW at some point in time?

The 158 from Central Trains at Bristol was that on loan to SWT for the service they used to run to Bristol from Brighton?

 

[moonrakerz]

The 158 from Central Trains at Bristol was that on loan to SWT for the service they used to run to Bristol from Brighton?

Did SWT ever run that service ? The only SWT trains to Bristol are the Waterloo, via Salisbury, service. FGW operate the Brighton trains.

 

[RobShipway]

Yes, there was a service run by SWT ages ago that used to run from Bristol to Brighton using a class 159 three car unit. I used to pop over to Bristol Temp Meads a few times on a Saturday to do a bit of train spotting and every couple of hours a Class 159 would be in the platforms next to where the HST trains come in from Paddington with Brighton or sometimes Portsmouth on the blind.

I think the service either got stopped or it got taken over by Arriva Trains Wales as part of their Cardiff to Portsmouth and Cardiff to Brighton services.

 

[MCR247]

ATW don't run cardiff to portsmouth, thats FGW, and no-one runs Cardiff - Brighton

 

[TEW]

FGW have operated Cardiff-Brighton services in the past but they have now been switched to Worcester or Great Malvern.

 

[AlterEgo]

Apparently Thameslink had destination blinds for Dunstable - very sad it never materialised.