WCML Freight timetables : past and present

[MarkWi72]

I was talking with my father the other day and he remarked that he thought the WCML had fewer freight on it than in steam days. That was his era. He also said this when I were a lad. I think freight dropped off in the early 80s on some routes. But it got me thinking. How does the modern day WCML timetabled freight compare with the 80s/90s/00s ?

I know there was similar discussion, regarding electric freight haulage. But does anyone have timetables to compare modern day with say, mid 80s or 90s?

I am aware freight trains are usually longer now (many freightliners for example) with more powerful haulage traction. More container traffic, which presumably took over from Speedlink.

I'm particularly interested in southern section, plus Brum & Trent Valley up to Stafford.

 

[DarloRich]

I was talking with my father the other day and he remarked that he thought the WCML had fewer freight on it than in steam days. That was his era. He also said this when I were a lad. I think freight dropped off in the early 80s on some routes. But it got me thinking. How does the modern day WCML timetabled freight compare with the 80s/90s/00s

I suspect there are fewer freight trains generally. However, business and the world has moved on. We haven't got the mines, steel works, docks, chemical works & refineries we had in the 1980's

 

[Rescars]

I suspect there are fewer freight trains generally. However, business and the world has moved on. We haven't got the mines, steel works, docks, chemical works & refineries we had in the 1980's

Fewer non-passenger trains of all sorts, I'd guess. No parcels or mail trains anymore.

 

[Adrian Barr]

How does the modern day WCML timetabled freight compare with the 80s/90s/00s ?

I was looking at this a while back and made some notes on trains through Rugby.

I took a specific date (Tue 13th Sep 2022) and found there were 68 freight trains total over 24 hours:

5 car trains (Dagenham - Mossend & return, 2 x Dagenham - Garston + 1 return)
3 construction trains (Tunstead - Park Royal and return + Peak Forest - Bletchley)
2 metals trains (Dollands - Ditton & return Novelis aluminium)
1 possession train (Basford Hall - Leighton Buzzard HOBC)
57 Intermodals

This can be compared with the 1988 freight timetable for Rugby shown in Freight Only Volume 2: Southern and Central England (Michael Rhodes and Paul Shannon, 1988)

That shows 52 trains for a similar 24-hour period in 1988:

-19 Speedlink
-25 Freightliner
-2 Petroleum (Purfleet - Bromborough Edible Oil & return)
-4 car trains (2x Dagenham - Garston & return)
-2 stone (Peak Forest - Bletchley & return)

Another interesting comparison is that the 1988 freight seems to be more concentrated through the night. If you take the 09:00 to 17:00 period, you get 8 trains in 1988 versus 19 in 2022.

There would also probably have been some local trips / "target" workings for departmental traffic seen at Rugby in 1988 which would not be shown in the timetable. And I'm not including parcels / mail / newspaper trains

Plenty of 1980s footage on YouTube to get a flavour or reminder of the times: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rugby+1980s+trains
Lineside Video have also uploaded a fair bit of footage from Bletchley circa 1987: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lineside+video+bletchley

I remember visiting Bletchley a couple of times in the early 1990s and it was a bit disappointing for freight, with the main highlight being the pair of 37s working the RMC hoppers from Peak Forest, as seen here (not my pic): https://www.flickr.com/photos/httpwwwpeakdaleworkscom/51821720077/

As mentioned above, another big change is the amount of parcels / mail / newspaper trains. I remember a summer canal holiday (probably sometime around 1990-1992) with one night moored up with a view of the line through Weedon on an embankment in the distance. There was a tantalising flurry of mail / sleeper / freightliner trains in the late evening as it was getting dark. I also did a couple of overnights at Crewe circa 1990 and while most of the freight used the avoiding lines, there was enough non-passenger traffic in the form of mail, parcels e.t.c to maintain interest through the night, along with the sleepers (give or take a couple of lulls which allowed a visit to the 24 hour buffet for hot chocolate)...

 

[MarkWi72]

I was looking at this a while back and made some notes on trains through Rugby.

I took a specific date (Tue 13th Sep 2022) and found there were 68 freight trains total over 24 hours:

5 car trains (Dagenham - Mossend & return, 2 x Dagenham - Garston + 1 return)
3 construction trains (Tunstead - Park Royal and return + Peak Forest - Bletchley)
2 metals trains (Dollands - Ditton & return Novelis aluminium)
1 possession train (Basford Hall - Leighton Buzzard HOBC)
57 Intermodals

This can be compared with the 1988 freight timetable for Rugby shown in Freight Only Volume 2: Southern and Central England (Michael Rhodes and Paul Shannon, 1988)

That shows 52 trains for a similar 24-hour period in 1988:

-19 Speedlink
-25 Freightliner
-2 Petroleum (Purfleet - Bromborough Edible Oil & return)
-4 car trains (2x Dagenham - Garston & return)
-2 stone (Peak Forest - Bletchley & return)

Another interesting comparison is that the 1988 freight seems to be more concentrated through the night. If you take the 09:00 to 17:00 period, you get 8 trains in 1988 versus 19 in 2022.

There would also probably have been some local trips / "target" workings for departmental traffic seen at Rugby in 1988 which would not be shown in the timetable. And I'm not including parcels / mail / newspaper trains

Plenty of 1980s footage on YouTube to get a flavour or reminder of the times: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rugby+1980s+trains
Lineside Video have also uploaded a fair bit of footage from Bletchley circa 1987: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lineside+video+bletchley

I remember visiting Bletchley a couple of times in the early 1990s and it was a bit disappointing for freight, with the main highlight being the pair of 37s working the RMC hoppers from Peak Forest, as seen here (not my pic): https://www.flickr.com/photos/httpwwwpeakdaleworkscom/51821720077/

As mentioned above, another big change is the amount of parcels / mail / newspaper trains. I remember a summer canal holiday (probably sometime around 1990-1992) with one night moored up with a view of the line through Weedon on an embankment in the distance. There was a tantalising flurry of mail / sleeper / freightliner trains in the late evening as it was getting dark. I also did a couple of overnights at Crewe circa 1990 and while most of the freight used the avoiding lines, there was enough non-passenger traffic in the form of mail, parcels e.t.c to maintain interest through the night, along with the sleepers (give or take a couple of lulls which allowed a visit to the 24 hour buffet for hot chocolate)...

Many thanks for this rely. Interesting.

Even earlier, you would have had BOC trains. Obviously no coal anymore (used to be a lot through Stafford). 4F53 (London Brickliner) stopped in '85.

Looking at the Freightliner plus Speedlink in '88 - (44 v 57) Intermodal now - well 2022 - that suggests there is a bit more of that freight now on rails. I presume that intermodal/container traffic being the equivalent of Freightliner container and speedlink vans etc.