Peterborough via the Hertford Loop…?

[GtNortherner]

On a Saturday evening at the beginning of last month, I boarded a service at Finsbury Park which I initially thought was the delayed 23:54 ex-Horsham to Peterborough (9J76), but quickly became somewhat confused when it slowed down where I wasn’t expecting it to, the ride became noticeably more bumpy, and the stations it started passing through didn’t look as I expected them to… after some investigation, it turned out that I was actually on the 00:20 service from FPK (1P00) which starts at Kings Cross, and on that occasion was routed via the Hertford loop.

I remember some years back that the first Southbound departure from Peterborough (at something like 03:15am) used to take that route and also called at some of the intermediate stations along the way - I think that has now changed though.

So, my questions are: 1). Is 1P00 always routed that way, and 2). Do any other TL/GN services to/from stations north of Stevenage normally take that route?

Thanks in advance!

 

[bramling]

On a Saturday evening at the beginning of last month, I boarded a service at Finsbury Park which I initially thought was the delayed 23:54 ex-Horsham to Peterborough (9J76), but quickly became somewhat confused when it slowed down where I wasn’t expecting it to, the ride became noticeably more bumpy, and the stations it started passing through didn’t look as I expected them to… after some investigation, it turned out that I was actually on the 00:20 service from FPK (1P00) which starts at Kings Cross, and on that occasion was routed via the Hertford loop.

I remember some years back that the first Southbound departure from Peterborough took that route and also called at some intermediate stations, but hadn’t realised that any services to stations north of Stevenage still took it.

So, my questions are: 1). Is 1P00 always routed that way, and 2). Do any other TL/GN services which travel to stations north of Stevenage normally take that route?

Thanks in advance!

Only 1P00 down and 1P79 up. They are booked that way in the base timetable, but being at the extreme of the day are often affected by engineering work so sometimes go via Welwyn.

There are few ECS services which go that way as well, however these all run to/from the Cambridge branch.

 

[GN Boy]

the ride became noticeably more bumpy

That really does sum up the Hertford Loop…