Lost holiday through services to / from devon & cornwall

[SouthDevonian]

Since the early 1960s there has been a gradual reduction in the number of places served by through summer Friday night / Saturday holiday trains to Devon & Cornwall. From various old timetables & leaflets, I have produced the following incomplete list. I would welcome details of any errors or omissions.
• Carmarthen (southbound only) [?early 1960s?]
• Birmingham Moor St via Stratford on Avon [end of 1961 or 1962 summer season]
• Birkenhead Woodside via Severn Tunnel + Hereford + Shrewsbury + Wrexham + Chester [end of 1961 or 1962 summer season]
• Manchester Exchange via Severn Tunnel + Hereford + Shrewsbury + Wrexham + Chester [end of 1961 or 1962 summer season]
• Cleethorpes via LSW + S&D + Bath Green Pk [end of 1963 summer season]
• Glasgow Central via Severn Tunnel + Hereford + Shrewsbury + WCML [end of summer 1964 or 1965]
• Wolverhampton LL via Stratford on Avon [end of 1966 summer season]
• Walsall - southbound only [end 1964 summer season] (except Sutton Park / Walsall line used during summers between June 1970 & Sept 1983 but had no stop at Walsall)
• Bradford Forster Sq [May 1967]{resumed summers 1989 & 1990}
• Manchester Victoria via Severn Tunnel + Hereford + Shrewsbury [end of 1969 summer season]
• Scarborough - southbound only [end of 1970 or 1971 summer season]
• Newcastle via West Hartlepool + Sunderland [end of 1979 or 1980 or 1981 summer season]
• Worcester Shrub Hill [between May 1980 and May 1982]
• Hull [end of 1982 summer season]
• Liverpool via Severn Tunnel + Hereford + Shrewsbury [end of 1982 summer season]
• Nottingham via Derby [?end of 1984 or 1985 summer season?]
• Bradford Exchange [end of 1988 summer season]
• Milton Keynes [?end of 1989 summer season?]
• Glasgow Queen St via ECML [end of 1990 summer season]
• Rose Grove [end of 1991 summer season]
• Nottingham or Leicester via Nuneaton [?end of 1997 summer season?]
• Glasgow Central / Edinburgh via Birmingham New St + Manchester + Bolton + Chorley (or Wigan) + WCML from Euxton Jn [17/7/2002]
• Liverpool via Birmingham New St + WCML [17/7/2002]
• Gloucester [XC services reduced to one call each way 2004]
• Manchester Piccadilly via Severn Tunnel + Hereford + Shrewsbury [Dec 2005] (previously ceased end of 1982 summer season but resumed 1997)
• Glasgow Central / Edinburgh via Birmingham New St + WCML [ended 9/12/2007]

• Swansea [???]
• Portsmouth [?1998 season or later?]
• Brighton [?1998 season or later?]

 

[Bevan Price]

Use of Manchester Exchange was just a short term measure, reducing traffic on the Manchester - Crewe line whilst electrification work was in progress.

Some of the other routings arose from historical origins. LNWR services from Manchester / Liverpool ran via Shrewsbury & Hereford because that line was jointly owned with GWR. If they had run via Birmingham New St., they would have needed to use part of the Midland Railway (not the LNWR's best friend....)

The Birkenhead services were all of GWR origin, attempting to attract passengers from the Liverpool, Wirral & Chester areas - partly in competition with LNWR. Likewise, services from Birmingham Snow Hill maximised use of GWR tracks by running via Stratford Upon Avon & Gloucester.

 

[30907]

A couple of comments.

Cleethorpes-Exmouth only ran for 2 or 3 seasons, previously having gone to Bournemouth - and IIRC being an extension of the daily Cleethorpes-Birmingham.

The Brighton and Portsmouth services had a complex history, running to Plymouth every weekday via Tavistock until the late 60s, then to Exeter on SO, then reappearing post privatisation.

 

[SouthDevonian]

Re. the Ilfracombe - Manchester Exchange.
I checked with a retired BR controller about this train who advised as follows:

"It ran thoughout the 1950's and was routed in a most curious way, Barnstaple to Taunton and then down the GW and LNW/GW joint to Chester, where it detached a couple of coaches before running forward to Manchester Exchange via Warrington. Its formation was:
Engine TK, TK (Ilfracombe - Chester) BCK, TK, CK, TK, TK, TK, BTK, (Ilfracombe – Manchester Ex) TK, TK, TK, BCK (Taunton – Manchester Ex)
The first two vehicles and the last four were GWR stock, the remainder LMS."

He doesn't specifically mention the Minehead portion but that was probably the 4 coaches attached at Taunton. During the rebuilding of Manchester London Rd station in the early 1960s, nearly all the SW services were re-routed to either Victoria or Central.