Largest Difference between Working Timetable and Public Timetable?

[ainsworth74]

I recently stumbled upon the case of LNER's 1Y03 (0440 Newcastle to Kings Cross) which at Northallerton in the public timetable is shown as arriving at 0522 and departing at 0524 however if you consult the Working Timetable then it is shown as arriving at 0537 and departing 0539. It's actually scheduled in the WTT to arrive thirteen minutes after the public timetable has it as departing! Now today, like I imagine most days, it ran "on time" according to the public timetable and "early" according to the WTT as it is shown as arriving at 0523 and departing 0525.

I assume that the reason is that it's one way of accommodating early morning engineering work as either it arrives at Northallerton late in the Public Timetable but on time in the Working Timetable if there is work between Darlington and Northallerton. Or it leaves Northallerton early in the Working Timetable and on time in the Public Timetable and then has a slow run to York arriving there on time for both Working Timetable and Public Timetable (today there was no work so it arrived 14 minutes early).

Anyway, it got me wondering, is this the most extreme variance between the WTT and the Public Timetable? Seeing differences of a few minutes here and there is quite common (indeed 1Y03 has a difference at York where it departs 0600 in the Public Timetable but 0601 in the WTT!) but a difference of 15 minutes between the arrival and departure times of the two timetables feels quite extreme! Any other examples of a big difference like this?

 

[1D53]

1D36 & 1N36 are similarly impacted.

 

[jfollows]

1M16 Inverness to London Euston WTT arrival 07:47 but public arrival 08:30. It was 41 minutes “early” today.

 

[The Planner]

I recently stumbled upon the case of LNER's 1Y03 (0440 Newcastle to Kings Cross) which at Northallerton in the public timetable is shown as arriving at 0522 and departing at 0524 however if you consult the Working Timetable then it is shown as arriving at 0537 and departing 0539. It's actually scheduled in the WTT to arrive thirteen minutes after the public timetable has it as departing! Now today, like I imagine most days, it ran "on time" according to the public timetable and "early" according to the WTT as it is shown as arriving at 0523 and departing 0525.

I assume that the reason is that it's one way of accommodating early morning engineering work as either it arrives at Northallerton late in the Public Timetable but on time in the Working Timetable if there is work between Darlington and Northallerton. Or it leaves Northallerton early in the Working Timetable and on time in the Public Timetable and then has a slow run to York arriving there on time for both Working Timetable and Public Timetable (today there was no work so it arrived 14 minutes early).

Anyway, it got me wondering, is this the most extreme variance between the WTT and the Public Timetable? Seeing differences of a few minutes here and there is quite common (indeed 1Y03 has a difference at York where it departs 0600 in the Public Timetable but 0601 in the WTT!) but a difference of 15 minutes between the arrival and departure times of the two timetables feels quite extreme! Any other examples of a big difference like this?

15 minutes box time for SLW.

 

[Kite159]

The sleeper to Inverness has ten minutes of timetable padding (WTT arrival at 08;35, GBTT arrival at 08;45).

Although nothing compared to their usual 'extreme' weather where the WTT can be an hour earlier at the final destination to the late notice revised public timetable to avoid paying out on delay repay

 

[Oxfordblues]

The sleeper to Inverness has ten minutes of timetable padding (WTT arrival at 08;35, GBTT arrival at 08;45)

1S25 arrives at Preston 00:48 and departs at 00:30 (in the Public Timetable) bizarrely!

 

[Starmill]

The Timetable Planning Rules sometimes provide for an "allowance" to be taken as a differential rather than as an allowance, especially in the North East for whatever reason. Some people argue it looks unprofessional to appear to be late or excessively early when you're actually not, but I personally don't really think it makes much difference.

It's a little different if you are risking a customer arriving late (or "late"). Presumably in this case nearly nobody ever gets off at Northallerton at such an ungodly hour, so the risk is near zero.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Nov 2025 ==

1S25 arrives at Preston 00:48 and departs at 00:30 (in the Public Timetable) bizarrely!

I think that one makes sense for a train that's pick up only. The logical extension of it to a train that appears to arrive after it has already departed is something that some people view as not permitted under the Code. There are times when that would actually be a useful thing to do, same as overlapping two schedules with pick up and set down only rules, but all for the same service (for example here, Heathrow Central to Gatwick Airport or Heathrow T5 to Gatwick Airport are permitted, but Heathrow Central to Heathrow T5 is not https://bustimes.org/services/200-bristol-gatwick-airport-south-2) but I can appreciate why it is something that may be looked on very dimly also.

 

[Taunton]

The last train of the day, 2300 from St Pancras to Leicester and Derby, is timetabled to run round from Kettering (depart 0037) through Melton Mowbray, and into Leicester from the north (arrive 0127), then reverses. Done for route knowledge and/or works. However sometimes the diversion is cancelled and it runs direct, arriving at Leicester about half an hour early. There's presumably a conditional path for this in the WTT.

 

[The Planner]

The last train of the day, 2300 from St Pancras to Leicester and Derby, is timetabled to run round from Kettering (depart 0037) through Melton Mowbray, and into Leicester from the north (arrive 0127), then reverses. Done for route knowledge and/or works. However sometimes the diversion is cancelled and it runs direct, arriving at Leicester about half an hour early. There's presumably a conditional path for this in the WTT.

They are open stops after Leicester, so it should just wait time if it ran via Wigston.

 

[xotGD]

My main bugbear is when the WTT would give a valid +11 connection at Leeds but the public timetable gives an invalid +9.

Miss it (like I did on Tuesday) and no Delay Repay!