Overnight services

[Intermodal]

Hi all,

I was wondering what are the overnight passenger services that run on the UK rail network? I know the sleepers are the obvious ones - but I was wondering if there are any others? Very late leaving trains or very early arriving should count.

Thanks!

 

[ushawk]

I know theres trains that run between London and Three Bridges/Brighton through the night, not sure how often though.

 

[causton]

Thameslink services at least northwards from St Pancras don't really have a gap between the end of one night and the start of the next day and there's one really late return working from Kings Cross to Peterborough which leaves Kings Cross at something like half 1 in the morning and another unit forms the first service back from Peterborough 10 minutes later, all in the small hours of the morning!

 

[Striker]

Trans Pennine to Manchester Airport.

 

[142094]

Some more in this thread, might be of use.

 

[EM2]

Thameslink services at least northwards from St Pancras don't really have a gap between the end of one night and the start of the next day and there's one really late return working from Kings Cross to Peterborough which leaves Kings Cross at something like half 1 in the morning and forms the first service back from Peterborough in the small hours of the morning!

Biggest gap on Thameslink Northbound is just about now, 02:32 to 03:52. Except in the early hours of Sunday, when the the last 'Saturday' one is 01:32 and the first on Sunday is 06:04.

 

[Nym]

Trans Pennine to Manchester Airport.

No...

Silly early and silly late yes, but they cut the overnight services due to lack of intrest, the 03:40 off Bolton (02:30) off BPN doesn't run any more. And the last service off piccadilly is 00:16...

Correcton: Timetable changes again since I last used it, there is a 2am off airport to york...

 

[Invincibles]

I wonder to what extent the overnight services from Manchester Airport serve as a useful marketing tool for TPE. Because if your plane is late, and that can happen quite a lot, there is certain to be less than 2 hours* before the next train home**.

I would have thought that the limited numbers who did use the services almost justifies it given the potential further marketing for the railways that is on offer.

However, with the daytime trains so full maybe there just is not the interest in having that flexibility attract yet more passengers to the railway.

Personally it is a blow because it makes it impossible to get back from Barnsley after a Tuesday night game (having a house in Manchester had a lot of advantages in the days of genuine night trains to Piccadilly and the airport)

It would be ineteresting to see the potential market for Manchester Airport with a reasonable service to/from major cities like Sheffield, Leeds and Liverpool that do not have international airports of the same calibre. Maybe there is even a case for subsidising services. If they ever made a Manchester Airport shuttle using Mayfield (as I would like) then I would imagine that would work all night.

 

[xtradj]

Not only do TP run the overnight services for flights, but there is a huge student population who will use these services between Manchester and York, with Leeds and Huddersfield. All 4 Destinations have universities that will lead students to use these services during the evening. I did around 3/4 years ago

Also there is a Northern Lime St - Man Airport at around 3.30am monday - friday

 

[Track Basher]

Biggest gap on Thameslink Northbound is just about now, 02:32 to 03:52. Except in the early hours of Sunday, when the the last 'Saturday' one is 01:32 and the first on Sunday is 06:04.

That is not a gap. Fishguard has a regular interval service. One every 12 hours one at 01:30 and 13:30. Now that is a gap.

I does have a train in the middle of the night though.

 

[FLHH East Anglia]

Thameslink services at least northwards from St Pancras don't really have a gap between the end of one night and the start of the next day and there's one really late return working from Kings Cross to Peterborough which leaves Kings Cross at something like half 1 in the morning and forms the first service back from Peterborough in the small hours of the morning!

NO,that unit goes for cleaning,a fresh one off the sidings forms the 3-25 KX.:roll:

 

[Striker]

No...

Silly early and silly late yes, but they cut the overnight services due to lack of intrest, the 03:40 off Bolton (02:30) off BPN doesn't run any more. And the last service off piccadilly is 00:16...

Correcton: Timetable changes again since I last used it, there is a 2am off airport to york...

So you were wrong then? :roll:

 

[causton]

NO,that unit goes for cleaning,a fresh one off the sidings forms the 3-25 KX.:roll:

Sorry that I've never been at Peterborough at quarter past 3 in the morning to find that out. I bow down to your ultimate knowledge of train workings! :roll:

 

[EltonRoad]

That is not a gap. Fishguard has a regular interval service. One every 12 hours one at 01:30 and 13:30. Now that is a gap.

No, that's nothing. How about turning up at Reddish South on a Friday morning at 9.30 to find you've missed the train to Stalybridge, the next one isn't till same time next week. hock:

 

[142094]

No, that's nothing. How about turning up at Reddish South on a Friday morning at 9.30 to find you've missed the train to Stalybridge, the next one isn't till same time next week. hock:

Bit screwed if you miss the last train of the season from Dunrobin Castle...

 

[EM2]

That is not a gap. Fishguard has a regular interval service. One every 12 hours one at 01:30 and 13:30. Now that is a gap.

I does have a train in the middle of the night though.

Of course it's a gap. It's not a *massive* gap, compared to some other service patterns, but it is a gap nonetheless. And it *is* the biggest gap in that service pattern.

 

[Helvellyn]

I suppose that 1B01, 01:05 Waterloo to Southampton Central could count as a night train. Runs daily, but due to engineering works it is subject to frequent diversions and/or bus replacement for part of the journey.

Don't Southern run Gatwick Express services through the night as well?

 

[matchmaker]

Back in the "good old days" there was a 0100 departure from Glasgow Queen Street for Oban. It was (I forget which) either mail or milk but had passenger accomodation as well.

It ran well into diesel days.

 

[deltic]

Depends what you call overnight eg some late night departures include

23.30 LKX to Leeds a02.37

23.30 Padd to Cardiff a 02.34

23.30 Eus to BHM a 01.36

22.25 STP to SHF a 01.42

 

[mr williams]

Back in the "good old days" there was a 0100 departure from Glasgow Queen Street for Oban. It was (I forget which) either mail or milk but had passenger accomodation as well.

In the 70s and early 80s there used to be a Cardiff - Crewe service which was essentially a mail train with a couple of Mk 1 passenger coaches attached.

In those days there were only six through trains each way on that line (plus a couple of locals Cardiff - Hereford) so the northbound from Cardiff at about 20.00, the last through train of the day, was always a sardine job.

The return left Crewe at about 1.00 am calling only at Shrewsbury, Hereford, Abergavenny, Pontypool and Newport (no station at Cwmbran in those days of course), arriving in Cardiff at about 04.20.

In those days there was also a sleeper from South Wales to Paddington (Dep Cardiff around 01.30). I think it might have started from Milford Haven and ran via Temple Meads but I can't remember it running the other way!

There was also a sleeper from the south-west to Scotland that was still running in 1992/93 as I used to see it at Bristol Parkway (around 23.15).

Until the Eurostar moved from Waterloo there were through the night connecting trains, one from South Wales and (I think) one from Crewe/Hereford. These were cut back to start from Bristol Temple Meads after a franchise change and got a lot of bad local publicity as the 2.05 from Temple Meads to Waterloo carried an average of four passengers! I think it was finally axed about three years ago.

 

[bb21]

There are regular departures between Paddington and Reading overnight and EMT runs a 0015 northbound from St Pancras on weekdays.

 

[cuccir]

In my idle thoughts I've wondered a few times whether operating late night services, either Intercity or suburban 'post-pub' runs in larger cities might be a potentially profitable business for an Open Access operator? I think if you could do it correctly and find lines where the cost of keeping the passenger infrastructure open would be minimal ther might be a business in it. Presumably as an open access-er you could charge higher fares on the basis of operating both a safer service (a few bouncers on trains perhaps) and a nice service (if you went down the long distance plan).

 

[Greenback]

In those days there was also a sleeper from South Wales to Paddington (Dep Cardiff around 01.30). I think it might have started from Milford Haven and ran via Temple Meads but I can't remember it running the other way!

There was also a sleeper from the south-west to Scotland that was still running in 1992/93 as I used to see it at Bristol Parkway (around 23.15).

Yes, there was a sleeper from milford Haven until 1982. The Plymouth - Scotland sleepers combined with a portion from Poole for a while.

 

[dk1]

The 23.30 Liverpool Street to Norwich often arrives well after 03.00 & occasionally at 06.55

 

[northwichcat]

Trans Pennine to Manchester Airport.

Note it's not a full Manchester Airport service overnight.

It's York to Manchester Airport not Middlesbrough/Newcastle and Sheffield/Doncaster not Cleethorphes and Preston not Scotland/Blackpool/Barrow.

There also aren't any calls at stations like Stalybridge to make it easy for TPE to divert the services or replace by buses during engineering works.

 

[Safety365]

I know theres trains that run between London and Three Bridges/Brighton through the night, not sure how often though.

Advertised as xx00 departures from Vic, there are hourly services alternating TBD/BTN 0002 to 0502. All make stops at Selhurst and Purley, but these are only advertised on the 0502 Vic to Btn and shown as 'staff stops' on train-crew diagrams.