Most Delayed Service

[dmacw]

I'm sure the other week I saw on LDB that there was a southbound East Coast delayed for over 6 hours. What's the biggest delay that is known of and why?

 

[Ibex]

I've seen the London-bound sleeper from Glasgow & Edinburgh be 7 hours late before during all the snow and a faulty loco too in 2009. It was due through Watford Jn at 06:24 and then sailed through ECS at 13:20 after turfing everybody off at Carlisle and onto an early morning Pendolino. I'm sure that went down well!

 

[IanPooleTrains]

How about all of the snow choas with all of those cancelled third rail trains

 

[Ivo]

How's this?

Blame the unions

 

[IanPooleTrains]

Me and my brother had something similar to that at Trent Valley Saturday just gone.

Got there are half seven in the morning and aparrently, the next train on that platform was half seven at night?

 

[dk1]

TOCs blag it these days by cancelling the original service then relacing it with a new temporary headcode. Stops the minutes building & spoiling their performance targets. Spoils all the fun as with certain long distance operators we could have some really extended & impressive journey times.

 

[rail-britain]

Arrived at work to find a Euston - Aberdeen sleeper with the equipment being taken off from the platforms, to find out that it had arrived 13 hours late
It had just arrived and was going to be prepared and then returned to the platform
It rolled back in at 21:10, just 10 minutes prior to departure without enough time to refuel the loco
After some debate it was agreed the loco would make it to Edinburgh, and arrangments would be made there to refuel it (not normally done)

The water tanks had also not been fully refilled, so this was done at Edinburgh and again at Preston

 

[dk1]

Arrived at work to find a Euston - Aberdeen sleeper with the equipment being taken off from the platforms, to find out that it had arrived 13 hours late
It had just arrived and was going to be prepared and then returned to the platform
It rolled back in at 21:10, just 10 minutes prior to departure without enough time to refuel the loco
After some debate it was agreed the loco would make it to Edinburgh, and arrangments would be made there to refuel it (not normally done)

The water tanks had also not been fully refilled, so this was done at Edinburgh and again at Preston

That is what running a railway is all about. Making do & mend & making the best of a bad job. It CAN work!!

 

[12CSVT]

How about these for mega delays

17th March 1979 (the day Penmanshiel Tunnel on the ECML collapsed) - the Kings Cross to Aberdeen sleeper, having been stopped just south of the tunnel, sent back to Newcastle and eventually diverted via Carlisle (not leaving Newcastle until early afternoon) arrived at its destination around 18 hours late.

Even that pales into insignificance when compared with the 'Thames Clyde Express' during the harsh winter of 1962-1963 which got stuck in heavy snow on the S&C for 3 days.

 

[rail-britain]

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=603262&postcount=79
Posted previously about travelling pass on the above service, eventually arriving in Plymouth about 6 hours late (the train making the paper the following day)

Sadly their archive doesn't cover 1993, but this looks worse, arriving 8 hours late by coach instead :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-23204/Train-passengers-suffer-16-hour-ordeal.html

 

[bengolding]

ISTR after the Hatfield crash that the 22:00 Midland Mainline service from Barlow's trainshed proper - Nottingham arrived about 7 hours late in Nottingham after breaking down numerous times en-route. This got a lot of publicity at the time.

 

[ChrisCooper]

ISTR after the Hatfield crash that the 22:00 Midland Mainline service from Barlow's trainshed proper - Nottingham arrived about 7 hours late in Nottingham after breaking down numerous times en-route. This got a lot of publicity at the time.

Yes, that was back in the days when MML were truely awful. As someone who was a fairly regular user back at that time I never managed to forgive them and always hated everyones love for them (yes they did improve a lot, but they came from very low). Funny thing is that despite everyones disapointment that "Midland Mainline" didn't get the EM franchise, it would have been interesting if they had what effect it would have had on the current NX hating, and what National Express East Midlands would have been like.

 

[Whistler40145]

Nothing can beat the answer in #9

 

[12CSVT]

ISTR after the Hatfield crash that the 22:00 Midland Mainline service from Barlow's trainshed proper - Nottingham arrived about 7 hours late in Nottingham after breaking down numerous times en-route. This got a lot of publicity at the time.

If its 27th November 2000 you're referring to, the main cause of this was a total points / signal failure affecting the Luton area (on a similar scale to the one which affected the ECML near York a few days ago). I don't think there were any Thameslink services running north of Harpenden that night.

 

[me123]

I remember there was a French one quite recently which even made the headlines over here. The train was 13 hours late, and was delayed by poor weather, a late driver, technical problems, a blockage on the line and disruptive drunks! Maybe not quite as good as three days on the S&C, but impressive nonetheless. Clicky. Obviously, it also managed to make the news as far afield as China!

Whilst looking for that story, I also found this rather amusing one. At 2 hours, not quite a record, but definitely one of the more interesting delays

 

[Statto]

ISTR after the Hatfield crash that the 22:00 Midland Mainline service from Barlow's trainshed proper - Nottingham arrived about 7 hours late in Nottingham after breaking down numerous times en-route. This got a lot of publicity at the time.

That was a horrific time for the Rail industry, some if not most of it self inflicted. I remember reading at that time, tha someone 10 hours from Blackpool North to Leeds, normally about a 2 hour journey, & most if not all rail services were taking double the usual journey time because of the speed restrictions.

 

[mike1990]

My nomination is the 13 hour Eurostar journey from Paris to London St Pancras, just because I was on that train!

 

[Whistler40145]

Statto, how on earth did it take 10 hours from Blackpool North to Leeds?

 

[YorkshireBear]

Statto, how on earth did it take 10 hours from Blackpool North to Leeds?

i could walk that

 

[Track Basher]

Here are a couple of my better ones from 1989.

http://trackbasher.co.uk/KentJune89.aspx

http://trackbasher.co.uk/BoulogneOct89.aspx

 

[seagull]

How about:

"8 January 1982 was a dramatic day on the Cambrian Coast line, when two trains became trapped in the snow. One coach of an empty DMU became derailed near Tal-y-Bont; the crew managed to uncouple the derailed driving trailer vehicle and escape to Porthmadog in the remaining power car. The 12:10 Pwllheli - Dovey Junction service train, again a DMU, became trapped in a snowdrift near Tonfanau, with the driver, guard, four passengers and a railway maintenance worker aboard. Luckily, the train heaters were working. According to a Railway Magazine report:


The driver and guard struggled through 90 mph gusts of wind and falling snow to a lineside telephone four times between 14:30 and 21:00 to try and find out what was happening. 25 201 was sent from Machynlleth to assist, but this could not get through snowdrifts near Tywyn. Another Class 25, fitted with miniature snowploughs, was sent from Shrewsbury, but was delayed by snowdrifts and frozen points. A helicopter from RAF Valley tried to reach the train, but was unable to do so, and eventually, after spending the night in the train, the passengers and railwaymen were taken off by the helicopter which managed to land nearby at about 10:30 next morning and given breakfast at a local guest house.

25 201 managed to collect its stranded sister loco and the DMU at Tonfanau on 10 January, but became derailed itself while trying to reach Tal-y-Bont, and yet another loco was sent, only to become stuck itself. The line did not reopen to traffic until 18 January."

 

[maddeningcrowds]

17th March 1979 (the day Penmanshiel Tunnel on the ECML collapsed) - the Kings Cross to Aberdeen sleeper, having been stopped just south of the tunnel, sent back to Newcastle and eventually diverted via Carlisle (not leaving Newcastle until early afternoon) arrived at its destination around 18 hours late.

With the passengers still on it?

Even that pales into insignificance when compared with the 'Thames Clyde Express' during the harsh winter of 1962-1963 which got stuck in heavy snow on the S&C for 3 days.

Same question....

 

[Statto]

Statto, how on earth did it take 10 hours from Blackpool North to Leeds?

Not sure as it was so long ago but i remember reading that it took 10 hours, & it was on a Sunday, the only other thing i remember about that was passengers were awarded just 50% of the full fare in compensation.

Most services at that time had double or more than the normal journey time, i remember Liverpool-Euston trains taking 6 hours rather than the 2hrs 45min[before the upgrade] due to the speed restrictions.

 

[Blindtraveler]

best i've ever had was total travel time of 10hrs from bhm to edb back in 1998 as a school pupil returning with my team from a sport tourniment. Failed loco at crewe, broken down train at man pic cuppled with engineering works, faults on the vxc mk2 set, and awating temperary traincrew at preston. Felt sorry for our staff who must hav hated it!! Vxc were good though, always felt there customer care has been brill!

 

[12CSVT]

With the passengers still on it?


Same question....

Not sure what happened with the passengers on the train stuck on the S&C for 3 days (in any case I doubt there were any means to safely evacuate them in the middle of nowhere in heavy snow in 1963).

However the Aberdeen sleeper that nearly reached Penmanshiel Tunnel just after it collapsed DID have passengers on board.

 

[Whistler40145]

12CSVT, what happened to any trains that nearly got to Penmansheil Tunnel, were dragged back to Newcastle in the South & Edinburgh in the North?

 

[syorksdeano]

I remember 1 particular journey a few years ago I made.

I was travelling from Bradford Interchange to Llandrindod Wells, and because the train from Bradford arrived 20 mins late, it meant that I missed my train from Manchester to Shrewsbury (on advanced purchase ticket).

Anyway I was made to go Manchester - Cardiff, then change at Cardiff for Llandrindod Wells. So a 6:10am from Bradford journey meant that I arrived in Llandrindod Wells at 5pm. If I had waited for another train, then I would have arrived in Llandrindod Wells about 20 mins before, but it meant hanging around Manchester until 1pm, and would have arrived roughly the same time anyway.

 

[HST Power]

It was really, really bad when we had the snow last year. I was trying to get back from London. Took me an age.

 

[12CSVT]

12CSVT, what happened to any trains that nearly got to Penmansheil Tunnel, were dragged back to Newcastle in the South & Edinburgh in the North?

Can't say if there were any other trains on the ECML at the time (the tunnel collaped in the early hours of a Saturday morning), as I was in Carlisle at the time, and diverted northbound ECML trains first appeared in Carlisle about 2 to 3 pm (a HST and the sleeper were the first northbounds through within about 5 to 10 mins of each other, but cant remember which was first)