XC PLY-BHM timetables

[ashley84]

Hello,

I used to travel fairly regularly between Plymouth and Birmingham on XC in the early 2000s/ early days of Voyager stock. My vague memory of that period was that the service was roughly hourly. Destinations beyond Birmingham varied, and were a mix of terminating Plymouth and continuing to Penzance, but the section between Plymouth and Birmingham was fairly consistent.

Fast forward to today, and I find there are some 2-hour gaps between trains- for example there is no 1027 PLY-BHM on weekdays in between the 0927 and 1127.

I assume some of this is staffing related rather than an intentional cut to the service. However what I am struggling to understand is after the missing 1027, there is then an "extra" at 1153 between the 1127 and 1227.

It seems odd that the timetable is not equally spaced. I would personally prefer to lose the 1153 if it meant the clockface 1027 could be restored.

Just wondered if anyone knows why this is?

Thank you.

 

[Peterthegreat]

Hello,

I used to travel fairly regularly between Plymouth and Birmingham on XC in the early 2000s/ early days of Voyager stock. My vague memory of that period was that the service was roughly hourly. Destinations beyond Birmingham varied, and were a mix of terminating Plymouth and continuing to Penzance, but the section between Plymouth and Birmingham was fairly consistent.

Fast forward to today, and I find there are some 2-hour gaps between trains- for example there is no 1027 PLY-BHM on weekdays in between the 0927 and 1127.

I assume some of this is staffing related rather than an intentional cut to the service. However what I am struggling to understand is after the missing 1027, there is then an "extra" at 1153 between the 1127 and 1227.

It seems odd that the timetable is not equally spaced. I would personally prefer to lose the 1153 if it meant the clockface 1027 could be restored.

Just wondered if anyone knows why this is?

Thank you.

The xx.27 departures go to Newcastle (or beyond). The 11.53 is the remnants of the through service to Manchester.

 

[JonathanH]

It seems odd that the timetable is not equally spaced. I would personally prefer to lose the 1153 if it meant the clockface 1027 could be restored.

Just wondered if anyone knows why this is?

The 1153 is the return working of an arrival at Plymouth from Derby at 1044. It can't go at 1027 and isn't needed for the 1227 which is formed off the next arrival at Plymouth.

The 1127 from Plymouth comes from Penzance. Basically if the 1153 didn't run, the unit would be spare all day - an extra train at an operationally convenient time.

I suspect you are right that if XC were to become 1tph all day it would be good to have an evenly spaced timetable.

 

[Peterthegreat]

The 1153 is the return working of an arrival at Plymouth from Derby at 1044. It can't go at 1027 and isn't needed for the 1227 which is formed off the next arrival at Plymouth.

The 1127 from Plymouth comes from Penzance. Basically if the 1153 didn't run, the unit would be spare all day - an extra train at an operationally convenient time.

I suspect you are right that if XC were to become 1tph all day it would be good to have an evenly spaced timetable.

It is more complicated than that. This week the timetable is adjusted due to engineering work. However in normal circumstances the arrival from Derby at 10.44 is formed of two sets when arriving at Plymouth. The train splits at Plymouth with one set strengthening the train from Penzance which then goes forward from Plymouth at 11.27. The other unit forms the 11.53 to Birmingham.
The 12.27 departure would normally be an HST formed of the 11.48 arrival from Leeds.

 

[Martin_1981]

The 1153 Plymouth to Birmingham has been formed of a HST on certain weekdays recently, it returns to Plymouth on the 1642 Birmingham to Plymouth. From the May timetable change, the 1153 from Plymouth goes through to Manchester, as it did pre-pandemic.

 

[ashley84]

Thank you everyone, that's really helpful.