Heysham Habour train - does it ever run?

[Steelman]

I had a few days away walking on the Isle of Man. Both ways the Heysham Harbour train was cancelled and it has been cancelled on other occasions when I have been using the ferry. Does it ever run?

If not, what on earth is the point of advertising the service when it is so unreliable?

Going out the train was cancelled early so I walked from Morecambe station to Heysham Harbour. It's just over 4 miles and I did it in 90 minutes and walking along Morecambe prom is quite nice.

I also wonder why they can't provide a connection for the early morning arrival either.

Anyone know the reasons for its non appearance?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Reliability does look to have nose-dived in the past fortnight. Six cancellations since Monday 15th December? Did run bang on time the last time I used it (November) but that's no consolation.

 

[30907]

It certainly has run on the 2 occasions I have needed to use it to/from IoM, but that was a couple of years back.
As for the night boat, I doubt there's enough demand to pay for the lubricating oil, let alone crew costs and fuel - except perhaps TT week

 

[david737]

The reliability of this has improved compared to last year when it would be cancelled nearly every day for weeks on end. I think the issue is lack of train crew, isn't this crewed by Barrow in Furness depot? and they had an awful lot of shortages for a while.

 

[Grumpy]

I caught it on a Saturday this October. There can’t have been a dozen passengers between Morecambe and Heysham.

 

[craigybagel]

I think the issue is lack of train crew, isn't this crewed by Barrow in Furness depot? and they had an awful lot of shortages for a while.

It is indeed - and even then Barrow depot is still split in two. The former TPE traincrew are in a separate link to the FNW/Northern traincrew; only the latter sign Heysham.

 

[RJ]

It does run sometimes, I've caught it before. It looks like a replacement bus service was laid on today, which doesn't take that much longer than the train so a service was still provided that connected with the ferry?

 

[pokemonsuper9]

It looks like a replacement bus service was laid on today, which doesn't take that much longer than the train so a service was still provided that connected with the ferry?

Yes, it's common practice when the service is cancelled.

When I last used the service (02/11/2024) it was quite well occupied (in both directions).

 

[InkyScrolls]

In my experience (as a Skipton driver who meets the Heysham train) it tends to run relatively reliably.

 

[cuccir]

It looks like a replacement bus service was laid on today, which doesn't take that much longer than the train

If an RRB is more or less as good as the train, it makes you wonder why they bother with the train service at all. Given that rail passengers arriving from Douglas have to wait over 2 and a half hours, this might get better use and be more practical all round as a permanent rail replacement bus direct to Lancaster.

Ferry arrives 11:45, bus departs Heysham Harbour at 12:05, arrives at Lancaster 12:30, departs Lancaster 12:45, arrives at Heysham Harbour 13:10 for the 13:45 ferry.

 

[janb]

Yes, it does normally run. Looking at recenttraintimes for the past 6 months it ran 97% of the time on the old timetable. This has dropped since the timetable change to 78% with the pressures of staff availability between Christmas and New Year meaning it has been cancelled every day since 27th. When it has been cancelled it is 99% of the time due conductor or driver shortage, the other 1% would be the unit breaking down or a broader points failure at Lancaster or something.

Personally when the boat is 1345 in the winter I wouldn't chance the train anyway, I like to leave a bit more margin. And again in the winter arriving you'll typically be in 1130-1200 so personally I'd walk to Combermere Road and pick up Stagecoach from there.

 

[Acathater]

It does run sometimes, I've caught it before. It looks like a replacement bus service was laid on today, which doesn't take that much longer than the train so a service was still provided that connected with the ferry?

The replacement bus service doesn't run Lancaster - Heysham direct down the Bay Gateway. It runs Lancaster - Bare Lane - Morecambe -Heysham so can take some time. It has to cover the whole route, not just cater for IoM passengers.

As to why the disruption happens, staffing issues at Barrow seem to be the major factor - but so also seems to be unit availability. It uses class 156 units off the Barrow line rotation, and if there's any problems on that line, or around Preston then the whole Morecambe service is the first to get chopped

 

[RJ]

The replacement bus service doesn't run Lancaster - Heysham direct down the Bay Gateway. It runs Lancaster - Bare Lane - Morecambe -Heysham so can take some time. It has to cover the whole route, not just cater for IoM passengers.

As to why the disruption happens, staffing issues at Barrow seem to be the major factor - but so also seems to be unit availability. It uses class 156 units off the Barrow line rotation, and if there's any problems on that line, or around Preston then the whole Morecambe service is the first to get chopped

The schedule that's used suggests the replacement bus takes exactly the same amount of time as the train between Heysham and Bare Lane. Given it's a very low speed run that includes a reversal, I suspect the bus actually takes less time than the train, but the schedule is padded out so as not to leave the stations before the train would.

It takes a few extra minutes between Bare Lane and Lancaster, but not enough to write it off as not providing the service.

When I did the line, the train was delayed as some children had accessed the railway line from a bridge and were sliding down the bank towards the running line. The manner in which the train stopped then not long after carried on as they were climbing back up the bank made me think that;

a.) there must be very little for the local children to do if the highlight of their day is to wait for that boat train to come to cause trouble
b.) this must be a frequent problem that the train crew and signallers deal with
c.) it's a world away from down here in the South London suburbs where trespass would trigger a major response!

 

[Andy Pacer]

It ran when I did Heysham in April 2019, although the return was a few minutes late.

 

[pdeaves]

The last time I went to Heysham (2015, gosh it doesn't seem that long ago!), the train got as far as the ground frame. After much guard-struggling-with-keys-and-levers, we returned to Morecambe. What started as a 'plenty of time' journey turned into a last minute rush for the ferry. A week or so later the return journey worked exactly to plan.