Lumo Services through Darlington

[Bishops]

AS i sit here most days looking out the window of where i work i was wondering why when they send the southbound Lumo services that use the avoiding line so slowly at times? I get that there may be a service just in front of it but surely they would hold that and let the Lumo through or if not then why not just send it through the station anyway?

 

[Segedunum]

Because most of them are booked to stand for a minute or so:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Darlington all day on 11/03/2026

Train information at Darlington all day on 11/03/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

They wait to allow a Bishop Auckland to Saltburn service to depart, which will be in the southbound platform at Darlington. You can't just let them go early as then they'd delay the Saltburn service, and you can't send them through the platform as that Saltburn service will be sat in it.

 

[IanXC]

Given the nature of the service and its calling patterns its not that unusual to find Lumo services running early. Holding an on time train calling at Darlington for a non stop train running early, which then delays the train calling at the station which was otherwise on time starts to get a bit awkward to explain. There is also a risk that the then early running train ends up totally in the wrong place in a flight of trains further along the route, causing even more delay to other services.

 

[Bishops]

Thanks for the explanation - all seems a bit daft really but it is what it is .

 

[gomango]

Given the nature of the service and its calling patterns its not that unusual to find Lumo services running early. Holding an on time train calling at Darlington for a non stop train running early, which then delays the train calling at the station which was otherwise on time starts to get a bit awkward to explain. There is also a risk that the then early running train ends up totally in the wrong place in a flight of trains further along the route, causing even more delay to other services.

I once about 2 years ago boarded a Lumo service from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh at Newcastle, It arrived at Newcastle 17 minutes early from London, so their must be quite a lot of pathing time in these Lumo services!

 

[hexagon789]

I once about 2 years ago boarded a Lumo service from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh at Newcastle, It arrived at Newcastle 17 minutes early from London, so their must be quite a lot of pathing time in these Lumo services!

Most have been tightened up since the December changes.

 

[gomango]

Most have been tightened up since the December changes.

Ah ok it's good to hear that the paths have improved a bit since 2 years ago

 

[hexagon789]

Ah ok it's good to hear that the paths have improved a bit since 2 years ago

Most are around 10 mins quicker to Newcastle give-or-take.

 

[Segedunum]

I once about 2 years ago boarded a Lumo service from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh at Newcastle, It arrived at Newcastle 17 minutes early from London, so their must be quite a lot of pathing time in these Lumo services!

IIRC this happened a lot during ASLEF strike action, where early/late services that had been pathed around other trains basically had the run of the network.

There are still a couple of generously pathed services (1842 Kings Cross to Newcastle is one).