Footex

[daccer]

I remember in the dim distant past when Saturday football extras were all the rage and generated considerable income for BR. I know BR used to dump the worst stock on the trains as the carriages used to get trashed - this was when hooligans used to be rife in English football.

I am wondering if Footexs still run. If not do any TOC's actively encourage use by football fans by doing deals with clubs or special fares etc. I know football is much more a family sport nowdays and as most games still occur on the weekends it is a way of filling otherwise quiet trains.

I noticed when Leciester played at Twickenham over Xmas (against Wasps I think) the crowd was limited to 50,000 due to no trains running (engineering work on the MML I think). It shows how important the railways can be for major sporting events. I have been to Twickenham myself and the line from Waterloo is mobbed on match day.

As the TOC's are in it for the money I was wondering how good they are at tapping into this revenue stream. For example with Hull in the Premiership I am sure Hull Trains have picked up some extra trafic into and out of London.

 

[Mojo]

I am wondering if Footexs still run.

They seem to be few and far between these days, but a few still run from Birmingham New Street non-stop to Witton (for Aston Villa). Looking at the book for yesterday, there were trains 1142, 1211, each formed of 2x323s.

 

[jopsuk]

They seem to be few and far between these days, but a few still run from Birmingham New Street non-stop to Witton (for Aston Villa). Looking at the book for yesterday, there were trains 1142, 1211, each formed of 2x323s.

sooo 1136 seats. Make much difference for a 42,640 seater stadium?

 

[clagmonster]

In a similar situation to Villa, ManUre pairs of 323s operate between Manchester Piccadilly and Old Trafford Halt on matchdays, usually 3 services in each direction. When I went with City in November, one of these each way ran through from Macclesfield.
When Millwall were up at the Circle, a relief was run using an East Coast HST, cunningly timed just before the Hull Trains service, to avoid overcrowding. I assume this was run due to a Police request.
Of course, for the play off final at Wembley, 3 footex trains were run, 2 charters and a relief HST. I believe Exeter also had similar for their conferance play off final. If I think of others, I'll let you know.

 

[spoony]

Northern put an extra train on from Sunderland to Newcastle for the derby match. Also when I was down at Middlesborough for the match an announcement came over the tannoy advising of a specially designated train for away supporters.

 

[Mojo]

sooo 1136 seats. Make much difference for a 42,640 seater stadium?

This is true, but don't forget that also you've got 2tph of "normal" trains (each formed of 1x323) plus 8tph to Aston (also 1x323 and 6tph of which don't call at Witton), where lots of people also go for the football.

 

[87015]

Aah the Witton circular footexs. Always a good shout for a 310 if you were struggling to get one in Central days when they were getting pretty rare. Allowed to stay on the empties back into New St via Soho aswell usually.

Chelsea (via Thomas Cook I belive) did use EWS/Riviera for a few footexs mainly for Sunday away games a few years back at the start (ish) of the Abramovich era, not sure if this still goes on.

 

[Stonesourscotty]

Dont Northern still run extra's for Bolton games? (Northern run Rugby extras too)

 

[theblackwatch]

Aah the Witton circular footexs. Always a good shout for a 310 if you were struggling to get one in Central days when they were getting pretty rare. Allowed to stay on the empties back into New St via Soho aswell usually.

I remember a 31 on a Cross Country rake of IC air-cons also being used on these on one occasion in the early 90s - my brother did it from New St to Witton, unit back to New St and saw what he thought was another 31 on one of these workings, then realised it was the same loco having done the full circle! I remember doing one of these trains with a hybrid DMU once, which included a 119 Cross Country unit in the formation. Happy days!

 

[Royston Vasey]

I seem to remember a few months ago on an Arsenal match Saturday, getting what I'd call a phantom train from Stevenage to Royston, which terminated at Royston formed of two 317s (I think) but wasn't on the timetable and wasn't one of the 2tph stoppers to Cambridge. I remember thinking it was probably an extra train because of the Arsenal game though not confined only to football fans?