Querying the occasional Bedford-Rainham (Kent) direct services?

[rmpbedford]

Hi there,

I commute from Bedford into London and have been fascinated to see details of the very occasional, direct trains which run from Bedford to Rainham (Kent). There are two on weekdays, departing Bedford at 0600 and 0630, and one on a Saturday, departing 0656. With the Great British Rail Sale upon us I figured it was time to make the trip on the Saturday morning service and managed to get a very cheap ticket as I already have my season ticket to London Bridge (I have to change on the way back as there are no direct trains - in fact the only equivalent service in the other direction leaves Rainham at 2158 on Sundays.)

I wondered if anyone knew how this service came to be? Is it due to the need to meet regulatory or contractual obligations, or is it a means of getting trains in useful locations for subsequent journeys. Or something else entirely?

Many thanks!

 

[OliverH68]

I think you pretty much covered it, in the fact it's a good way to cycle stock as I don't think 700s get any maintenance at Gillingham Depot (or just very light & basic stuff).

 

[moonarrow458]

Its similar to the late evening services from Sutton that run to Bedford instead of terminating at St Albans and Luton. The units have to go to Bedford anyway so easier to run them up to Bedford in service than blocking the line whilst tipping them out at Luton, many of them run non-stop Luton to Bedford.

In the mornings however there are numerous ECS moves from Bedford to Luton from where the unit forms a passenger service to Sutton or Orpington generally. Those Rainham trains appear to be an in service version of that altho they do seem to run express between St Albans and London so equally could just be a peak time variation to make the timetable work

 

[DPQ]

The Saturday version is to get the unit out of Bedford Carriage Sidings. The Midweek versions run provide early semi-fast services to London before the usual Bedford to Three Bridges services start.

 

[Blindtraveler]

And as someone else has said cycling stock between one side of the river and the other, I think it's just cleaning and watering done down this end at Gillingham, not even sure if they can empty the toilets, but in all honesty these cross London workings are a nightmare as once they get over a certain point of lightness we have stops ripped out and services being spun all over the place and constant inconvenients for passengers from the multitude of small North Kent stations and = inconvenience for those of us that have to rely on this excuse for a service if we want to use the Elizabeth line at abbey wood

 

[rmpbedford]

Thanks all - much appreciate your responses and I've learned a lot!

 

[CarrotPie]

I think you pretty much covered it, in the fact it's a good way to cycle stock as I don't think 700s get any maintenance at Gillingham Depot (or just very light & basic stuff).

As others have said, Gillingham is essentially a convenient stabling point where units can get a quick spritz, that's all.

 

[D7666]

Hi there,

I commute from Bedford into London and have been fascinated to see details of the very occasional, direct trains which run from Bedford to Rainham (Kent). There are two on weekdays, departing Bedford at 0600 and 0630, and one on a Saturday, departing 0656.

There are other similar odd balls.

e.g. 06:07 SX and 06:37 SX Horsham - Bedford but nothing (I think) the other way SX.***

None - or any other examples - are anything more sinister than positioning stock (and possibly crew) at start or end of day service, from or to berthing / cleaning, or for peak hours off pattern variations and so on, including possible stock rotation.



*** Horsham is a little different in that there are Bedford < > Horshams hourly on Sundays. When they decide to run the normal Sunday service that is, which is about every third blue moon these days.

 

[DHB1950]

Isn’t it that most of the carriage sidings at Bedford will only hold 8-car 700s (I think only the Jowett’s sidings will take 12-cars), but I believe that all the regular Bedford terminating services through the day are 12-cars, so movements are necessary to get Bedford-stabled 8-cars to lines where services are run by 8-cars.

Afraid I still find permanently coupled 12-car units mildly insane, but that’s probably just me (hated them the only times I ever used them, but that was at Easter holiday crush loading with Luton/Gatwick airport traffic).

 

[MCR247]

Afraid I still find permanently coupled 12-car units mildly insane, but that’s probably just me (hated them the only times I ever used them, but that was at Easter holiday crush loading with Luton/Gatwick airport traffic).

Imagine the same journey on an 8 car 700 (assuming you could get on) and I reckon you’ll start to warm to them