Previous unusual calling patterns / services

[30907]

until 19681950s-60s there was a through summer Saturday service from Cleethorpes to Exmouth, which apart from connecting two quite secondary resort towns went via the Somerset & Dorset line.

It commenced in 1960 (previous destination was Bournemouth) and was an extension of the weekday Cleethorpes-Birmingham service. It was withdrawn with all the other S&D "expresses."

 

[King Lazy]

IIRC the first service of the day to Windermere started at Lancaster, ran to Morecambe then used the Bare Lane-Hest Bank side of the triangle to continue north. Can't remember whether it called at Bare Lane heading towards Morecambe only or both ways.

It definitely called at Bare both ways.

 

[dannypye9999]

XC have served all sorts in the past. Dronfield, Cross Gates, Kidsgrove, even recall Blackburn as an extra in one particular timetable from the mid 00’s which I’m yet to recover.

I don't remember any XC train having a Kidsgrove or Blackburn call.

But back to the topic, VTXC have served Bramhall as there was once a London Paddington bound service that stopped at Bramhall in early 2000s.

Sandwell and Dudley used to be a major stop on cross country services under BR.

 

[Djgr]

Sandwell and Dudley used to be a major stop on cross country services under BR.

And on the Wolverhampton-London service if I remember correctly?

 

[Whistler40145]

I don't remember any XC train having a Kidsgrove or Blackburn call.

But back to the topic, VTXC have served Bramhall as there was once a London Paddington bound service that stopped at Bramhall in early 2000s.

Sandwell and Dudley used to be a major stop on cross country services under BR.

Blackburn was occasionally served by diversions over the Settle & Carlisle line, even one train was routed from Bolton via Darwen with Passengers from Preston joining at Blackburn.

This would've been late 90s/early 2000s

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

Back in the mid 2000s when Newquay was a really prime seasonal destination by rail for those with surfboards in particular. The mid-morning summer Saturday HST from Paddington called at Reading to pick up only, Exeter, Plymouth and Par… and also randomly at Lostwithiel. I seem to recall it was to avoid to avoid a service gap of several hours as almost all the local services were replaced by long-distance trains which did not generally call there. (Quite different to today, where almost all stops have an hourly service or better, even in summer.)

 

[Old Yard Dog]

In the early days of Cross Country, there was a Barrow to Colchester (at a time when both clubs were in the Conference)

I have actually done Ellesmere Port to Leeds end-to-end en route to Headingley.

And I've also done Liverpool to Portsmouth on a 2-car 158.

 

[Kieran1990]

Used to be a Pompey direct off Wat during the peak 1845 i think that was first stop West Byfleet during the SWT days

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

In the early days of Cross Country, there was a Barrow to Colchester (at a time when both clubs were in the Conference)

That sounds like the late 80s - early 90s when the first Provincial Class 156 units were working the NW-Anglia axis. Some of those services were named; ‘Loreley’, ‘Britannia’ etc. I don’t think they were Cross Country though?

 

[jfollows]

Used to be a Pompey direct off Wat during the peak 1845 i think that was first stop West Byfleet during the SWT days

16:55 & 17:55 today, albeit with a pick-up call at Clapham Junction.
The time I did it - 1981 - it was non-stop on a Farnborough etc. service, not stopping at Woking.

 

[65477]

In the days of an extensive TPO service there were some TPO's that contained passenger coaches. I travelled on two of these Peterborough to Liverpool Street via Ipswich and Nottingham to Glasgow. This was in the 1970's.

 

[Falcon1200]

And on the Wolverhampton-London service if I remember correctly?

It (Sandwell & Dudley) still is, for Avanti's services.

 

[Magdalia]

In the days of an extensive TPO service there were some TPO's that contained passenger coaches. I travelled on two of these Peterborough to Liverpool Street via Ipswich and Nottingham to Glasgow. This was in the 1970's.

The Peterborough-Liverpool Street and vice versa ran as advertised passenger trains until 1980, but continued for a while after that. They had Norwich portions that split and joined at Ipswich in the latter days. But until 1965 the splits and joins were at Haughley and the trains were always known locally as the Haughley Mails. Another feature of their history is that until the early 1970s they used pre-Nationalisation TPOs.

But the Nottingham-Glasgow overnight train was a sleeper not a mail train. It was discussed at length here:

Thames-Clyde Express in the 1970's

Could anyone here point me to timetables for the named Thames-Clyde Express, through service from St Pancras to Glasgow and v/v, in the period from 1974 to 1979? What happened to it after that? At what point did the through daytime service (named or otherwise) on that route finally end? Also...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Timmyd]

Beckenham Jn became a longer-distance stop after I left the area - ISTR it lasted until the 15-min stopping service was introduced. Herne Hill has "always" had the odd "outer" call for City connections. Denmark Hill now gets regular "outer" stops.

Herne Hill doesn’t have any more, hasn’t for a number of years. It used to both on SE and TL when peak Brighton trains were routed that way

 

[JRT]

In the days of an extensive TPO service there were some TPO's that contained passenger coaches. I travelled on two of these Peterborough to Liverpool Street via Ipswich and Nottingham to Glasgow. This was in the 1970's.

There was a useful York – Shrewsbury TPO service in the 1970s, in the other direction called at Stockport and Leeds, providing a late-night Manchester Piccadilly – Bradford service using connecting services!

 

[Amateurish]

In the 2000s there were some Newport - Paddington HST services which went via the Cotswold Line.

 

[Worblaufen]

Am I right in thinking around the 1980s or 1990s there was an early morning train from Portsmouth Harbour to Southampton which ran via Guildford, Reading and then Basingstoke? A long way round as I think I caught it at Reading once occasion around 9-10am? Can anyone recall it in more detail or correct my routing and recollection?

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

In the 2000s there were some Newport - Paddington HST services which went via the Cotswold Line.

In the 1980s the evening Paddington-Hereford HST ran in service through to Abergavenny, and then (once it opened) right through to Cwmbran. It wasn’t very successful as it was much quicker to travel via Newport with a change but made sense operationally as the set, driver and guard were all working through to Bristol on the empty stock.

 

[Deepgreen]

There must be thousands of 'odd' calling patterns which are now defunct. One that always springs to my mind was a mid-1960s morning peak working that started from Worcester Park and was non-stop to Waterloo. I don't know if the reverse applied in the evening.

 

[greyman42]

There was a useful York – Shrewsbury TPO service in the 1970s, in the other direction called at Stockport and Leeds, providing a late-night Manchester Piccadilly – Bradford service using connecting services!

I did it when travelling from Liverpool to York. Changed at Man. Picc. for the Euston sleeper and Stockport. I think it ran to the very early 80s.

 

[Trainfan2019]

XC have served all sorts in the past. Dronfield, Cross Gates, Kidsgrove, even recall Blackburn as an extra in one particular timetable from the mid 00’s which I’m yet to recover.

I'm intrigued about Crosscountry serving Kidsgrove. What was the route, frequency and years approximately? I know about 2 Crosscountry trains a day served Congleton pre-covid.

 

[Merle Haggard]

There was a useful York – Shrewsbury TPO service in the 1970s, in the other direction called at Stockport and Leeds, providing a late-night Manchester Piccadilly – Bradford service using connecting services!

That might have been a descendant of the York - Swansea 'mail' (via the Central Wales line) - a Salop 'Jubilee' working. Happy memories off seeing it on holiday on the Mumbles Road, sadly we got there by Associated Motorways.

 

[STKKK46]

I'm intrigued about Crosscountry serving Kidsgrove. What was the route, frequency and years approximately? I know about 2 Crosscountry trains a day served Congleton pre-covid.

I’d say it was mid to late 00’s on Birmingham to Manchester. I seem to recall it being similar to that Congleton service - serving Manchester commuters, maybe one Down in the morning and an Up in the evening.

I wouldn’t have a clue where to start in finding the timetable.

 

[enginedin]

This is a current, rather than previous, route - so sorry if it should be in a different thread, but I was surprised by the daily Transport for Wales Birmingham International - Manchester Picadilly route via Telford & Chester (https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:L40335/2024-11-25/detailed)

 

[JRT]

This is a current, rather than previous, route - so sorry if it should be in a different thread, but I was surprised by the daily Transport for Wales Birmingham International - Manchester Picadilly route via Telford & Chester (https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:L40335/2024-11-25/detailed)

Yes, you're on the wrong thread, see post #1 https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trivia-unusual-interesting-calling-patterns.276206/

 

[Old Yard Dog]

There was a useful York – Shrewsbury TPO service in the 1970s, in the other direction called at Stockport and Leeds, providing a late-night Manchester Piccadilly – Bradford service using connecting services!

I remember going to a Bradford away game at Stafford Rangers one night in the 1970's when I was living in Cottingham and getting home about 5.30 am changing at Stockport, Leeds and Hull - thus using the aforementioned train.

When I lived in Bradford, I was annoyed when the last Kings Cross to Bradford, 2250-ish, was rerouted via Halifax meaning late night connections at Leeds from west of the Pennines, Lincolnshire and the S&C were lost.

 

[NorthKent1989]

I recall boarding a Southern train in the mid 00s (2006?) where a Caterhsm/Tattenham split service called at New Cross Gate then non stop to Penge West, then all stations.

Over on SE, some Orpington’s used to run fast from Victoria to Beckenham Junction, there used t be a Strood to Charing Cross service which was a peak service called at Higham, Gravesend, Dartford, Abbey Wood, Woolwich Arsenal, Blackheath then fast to Waterloo East then Charing X, this later got switched to CST and added London Bridge

 

[johntea]

For a short period in 2017 Northern ran an extra 16:59 Leeds - Castleford passnger service that didn't even call at Woodlesford then went back to Leeds empty and went on to do a Sheffield service

16:59 Leeds to Castleford service

The conductor on board my train home has just announced that apparently there is a brand new 16:59 service from Leeds to Castleford...calling at Castleford only (not even Woodlesford!) Presumably to help bridge the large gap between the 16:33 and 17:16 services but I can't seem to see it on...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Spartacus]

There used to be one Hull - Piccadilly service that called at Dewsbury a day, usually a 170. At least it was booked to call there, it was far from unknown for a driver to sail straight through.

A bit more recently but there was an eastbound TPE that was booked to call at Cottingley early in the morning, which wasn't one of the semi-fast/mixed services that call there now. Always seemed strange when the Northern to Leeds was quite close.

 

[dannypye9999]

Most recently there was a Stoke on Trent to Manchester Piccadilly stopper that didn't call at Stockport..Just non stop from Cheadle Hulme to Heaton Chapel. It was just a one a day service too with nothing else avoiding Stockport in the opposite direction and was weekdays only..... Never quite understood or knew why it was timetabled this way unless it was an error in the timetabling which was too late to fix.