Help with freight timetables

[newbie85]

Hi all,

I hope someone can help me. I realise this forum is for train enthusiasts and in full disclosure I have to admit I know next to nothing about trains.

The reason for my post is that I’m hoping to buy a house next to a railway line. It is a line through Maryland station in E15, London. I have experienced the Elizabeth line and higher speed trains passing which is fine, but I have been informed that one or more freight trains also run through.

Can anyone help me in determining what time freight trains run through? Also, is it something that is likely to change in frequency/times?

I hope you don’t mind me gatecrashing your forum!

Thank you.

 

[furnessvale]

Put the following address in your search box.

Realtime Trains | Search

Realtime Trains is an independent source of live realtime running information for the Great British railway network.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Fill in the nearest station in the location box. Scroll down the TOC box to ZZ and select. Pick all day in the time box. Pick a recent date (no more than 7 back and not worth looking mare than 3-4 ahead).

Press "search" but be sure you are seated with a double whisky when the result comes up! Don't worry too much. Look in the far right column to see how many of those trains actually run on any given day.

Happy hunting!

 

[tiptoptaff]

Maryland, being on the GEML, sees a lot of intermodal traffic to or from Felixstowe. There is also a fair amount of other freight traffic that runs on the GEML.

 

[Condor7]

That’s good advice, but also when Looking at previous days you will see what freight actual ran that day. It is not a guarantee that the same trains will run at the same times on that day the following week, as freight trains can be one off for the day or if not they are more susceptible to running late or early unlike passenger trains, however it will give you a guide as to roughly how many run each day and roughly the times they run.

 

[Fenchurch SP]

They are on average every 1-2 hours all day and night but hardly any on Saturday evenings or Sundays. The eastbound ones will be accelerating away from Stratford so I would expect engine noise at Maryland (they are long heavy container trains).

 

[158756]

They are on average every 1-2 hours all day and night but hardly any on Saturday evenings or Sundays. The eastbound ones will be accelerating away from Stratford so I would expect engine noise at Maryland (they are long heavy container trains).

A bit more than that today at least. Over the last 24 hours Realtime Trains shows 45 freight trains passing Maryland station, so nearly one every half an hour on average. They appear to avoid peak passenger times, so almost all those trains were concentrated between 8pm-6am and 10am to 2pm.

 

[Fenchurch SP]

A bit more than that today at least. Over the last 24 hours Realtime Trains shows 45 freight trains passing Maryland station, so nearly one every half an hour on average. They appear to avoid peak passenger times, so almost all those trains were concentrated between 8pm-6am and 10am to 2pm.

I meant to say every 1 or 2 hours in each direction but still more than I thought. They seem less frequent when I'm hanging around at a station hoping to photograph one.

 

[Class15]

Maryland, as others have said, is hardly an ideal place when it comes to freight trains. Eastbound freight will frequently be accelerating away from a stop at Stratford and will have a high engine noise. Westbound freights are slowing down so less of a problem.

A significant number of night workings are booked to be worked by Class 90 (electric) locomotives making less noise. However many are diesel-worked.

 

[Watershed]

Most of the freight services are hauled by a diesel locomotive (despite the line being electrified - it's cheaper as the electricity is now dearer than diesel). Eastbound trains will generally have the locomotive on full throttle accelerating the train up to the linespeed - so fairly loud and possibly with some vibrations too.

Also bear in mind that whilst it's fairly unlikely as the Great Eastern Main Line is very busy, there is always the possibility that freight services could run more frequently in future. Certainly you have to buy on the basis that freight and other trains can and do run through the night, and that there will occasionally be night-time noise from rail grinding and other maintenance works.