Seaside Specials - 2023

[NorthKent1989]

In the Southern Region (more specifically South Eastern) there area number of Seaside excursions this year.

Today was supposed to have been a Cannon Street to Ramsgate service, fast from London Bridge to Lewisham then all stations via Blackheath and Woolwich to Dartford, then selected stations.

In August there will be one from Victoria to Ramsgate via Lewisham & Woolwich

And one from Blackfriars or Elephant & Castle to Ramsgate via Peckham and Catford.

Are there any other seaside excursions elsewhere in the country?

N

 

[OliverH68]

Have you got times for the last 2 please, can't see anything on RTT....?

 

[Iskra]

EMR are running their summer Saturday only Derby-Skegness additional services departing at 0756 and 0923, although seemingly with less interesting rolling stock than previous years.

 

[penguin8967]

GWR are back to running their Pembroke Dock services on Saturdays this summer.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

GWR are back to running their Pembroke Dock services on Saturdays this summer.

And also the Paddington to Newquays every day through summer and upping the frequency of Paignton and Penzance services on Summer Saturdays.

The Summer Saturday Swindon to Weymouth special also runs.

 

[Class 170101]

Extra Norwich to Great Yarmouth services Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays from Mid July to the start of September

 

[jfollows]

In the Southern Region (more specifically South Eastern) there area number of Seaside excursions this year.

Today was supposed to have been a Cannon Street to Ramsgate service, fast from London Bridge to Lewisham then all stations via Blackheath and Woolwich to Dartford, then selected stations.

In August there will be one from Victoria to Ramsgate via Lewisham & Woolwich

And one from Blackfriars or Elephant & Castle to Ramsgate via Peckham and Catford.

Are there any other seaside excursions elsewhere in the country?

N

”Today” was Saturday I think.

 

[30907]

On SE it's 0922 VIC-RAM; the Blackfriars isn't shown, but is a very longstanding working so I would expect it to appear, formed of one of the 3 SE arrivals that go empty to depot.

Also, some of the xx10 VIC to Dover switch to Ramsgate on Saturdays, plus the CST trains mentioned.

 

[Trainguy34]

On SE it's 0922 VIC-RAM; the Blackfriars isn't shown, but is a very longstanding working so I would expect it to appear, formed of one of the 3 SE arrivals that go empty to depot.

Also, some of the xx10 VIC to Dover switch to Ramsgate on Saturdays, plus the CST trains mentioned.

They don't necessarily switch, they split at Faversham with 4 cars to Dover, 4/8 to Ramsgate (I'm not sure about the carriage formations though)

 

[lyndhurst25]

Quite the opposite in Northern land, with them having just withdrawn the Saturdays only Sheffield to Cleethorpes via Brigg service.

 

[GoneSouth]

Quite the opposite in Northern land, with them having just withdrawn the Saturdays only Sheffield to Cleethorpes via Brigg service.

How’s Scarborough doing with its extra York shuttle from northern, or does it still just have the indignity of suffering only hourly TPE shuttles to York with the an occasional extension to Manchester Piccadilly

 

[HamworthyGoods]

How’s Scarborough doing with its extra York shuttle from northern, or does it still just have the indignity of suffering only hourly TPE shuttles to York with the an occasional extension to Manchester Piccadilly

The Northern shuttle never made it to fruition.

 

[BoroAndy]

EMR are running their summer Saturday only Derby-Skegness additional services departing at 0756 and 0923, although seemingly with less interesting rolling stock than previous years.

Seems odd times as holiday changeover days are mostly Fridays and Mondays now, and arrivals are not really welcome until the afternoon.

 

[Iskra]

Seems odd times as holiday changeover days are mostly Fridays and Mondays now, and arrivals are not really welcome until the afternoon.

One assumes that the remaining services are strengthened too over the summer.

The Jolly Fisherman has always been an early start off Derby on a Saturday as far as I know and was busy when I used it back when it was a HST.

 

[12LDA28C]

Depends what you call a 'seaside excursion' - personally I wouldn't call a regular timetabled service an 'excursion'. An excursion has always been a charter train to my mind and there are certainly a few of those running this year to various seaside destinations.

 

[dk1]

Extra Norwich to Great Yarmouth services Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays from Mid July to the start of September

The Saturday extras have started already & run for an extra week in September. That is normally the case. The Monday/Friday additionals could well do with starting earlier.

 

[Travellin’man]

One assumes that the remaining services are strengthened too over the summer.

The Jolly Fisherman has always been an early start off Derby on a Saturday as far as I know and was busy when I used it back when it was a HST.

Its an early start to get the train to Skeg for the return journey. The queues at Skeg build up early and need to be cleared ASAP. Going home is in a more concentrated time frame than the arrivals

 

[Russel]

Its an early start to get the train to Skeg for the return journey. The queues at Skeg build up early and need to be cleared ASAP. Going home is in a more concentrated time frame than the arrivals

The queues at Skegness took me by surprise when I last used the HST special. I planned to spend an hour there and return on a later 156, only to find I couldn't get near the one I planned to catch.

 

[30907]

They don't necessarily switch, they split at Faversham with 4 cars to Dover, 4/8 to Ramsgate (I'm not sure about the carriage formations though)

RTT tells me the Faversham-Dover portions are formed by ECS not detachment.
It's not all day - mornings to the coast and evenings back only.

 

[Steddenm]

Translink NIR have the Portrush specials running from Lanyon Place with only limited stop, and evening return.

The cross-border Enterprise also now has ten journeys each way per day utilising the Enterprise fleet as well as NIR CAF and IÉ Rotem units.

 

[winsaw]

And also the Paddington to Newquays every day through summer and upping the frequency of Paignton and Penzance services on Summer Saturdays.

The Summer Saturday Swindon to Weymouth special also runs.

GWR are also running there summer Saturday Bristol to Newquay this year so that's them pretty much back to full holiday train pre covid levels service

 

[NorthKent1989]

For some history, the LUL used to run Seaside Specials to Southend, in many ways you could say that this was the very first Crossrail, these stopped upon the start of WW2.

I may actually ride a Woolwich line special from either Victoria or Cannon Street, I guess Victoria is more of the novelty.

 

[telstarbox]

In the Southern Region (more specifically South Eastern) there area number of Seaside excursions this year.

Today was supposed to have been a Cannon Street to Ramsgate service, fast from London Bridge to Lewisham then all stations via Blackheath and Woolwich to Dartford, then selected stations.

In August there will be one from Victoria to Ramsgate via Lewisham & Woolwich

And one from Blackfriars or Elephant & Castle to Ramsgate via Peckham and Catford.

Are there any other seaside excursions elsewhere in the country?

N

How do Southeastern market these? Is it just long standing custom from Londoners expecting the trains to be there?

 

[NorthKent1989]

How do Southeastern market these? Is it just long standing custom from Londoners expecting the trains to be there?

They’re usually promoted at local stations, and local news sites like Murky Depths usually promotes these.

The Ramsgate service via the NKL is a left over from the days when the line use to have hourly Ramsgates (Chx-Wat-LB non stop Woolwich-Dartford-Gravesend and beyond) by the 80s it was peaks only that went down that way and by the 90s all Thanet trains were routed via Bromley.

Once a year until 2018 they extend the normal NKL Gillingham service to Ramsgate nowadays they simply slot a train.

 

[youngiecj]

Seems odd times as holiday changeover days are mostly Fridays and Mondays now, and arrivals are not really welcome until the afternoon.

Skegness changes to a Saturday during the school holidays..

 

[D6975]

Most holiday parks run long weekends and midweek breaks out of season (as well as full weeks)
ie 4 nights Mon-Thu
and 3 nights Fri-Sun
When the school hols come, they change to 7 nights Sat-Sat. Some will still have a limited no of 3 and 4 night breaks in the summer, but a lot are 7 nights only.
Worthy of note is that quite a few places in Scotland run Fri to Fri as a summer option too.

 

[telstarbox]

These trains will be for day trips though not weekly stays.

 

[2192]

The queues at Skegness took me by surprise when I last used the HST special. I planned to spend an hour there and return on a later 156, only to find I couldn't get near the one I planned to catch.

I caught the earliest HST several years ago from Derby to Skegness, and on the first Saturday they were running, and after 10 minutes in Skeg felt that was long enough, and caught the first train back! (via Grantham)

 

[BoroAndy]

Most holiday parks run long weekends and midweek breaks out of season (as well as full weeks)
ie 4 nights Mon-Thu
and 3 nights Fri-Sun
When the school hols come, they change to 7 nights Sat-Sat. Some will still have a limited no of 3 and 4 night breaks in the summer, but a lot are 7 nights only.
Worthy of note is that quite a few places in Scotland run Fri to Fri as a summer option too.

Not sure I agree with you. The big holiday camp companies, e.g.Butlins and Haven are geared up for Friday and Monday changeovers all year. Cleaners being the major workers on those 2 days. Some Friday arrivals will be late if work hols only allow calendar weeks, but they will have to vacate by the following Friday. People using private rental accom, could be using any start dates if the owner allows it.

 

[D6975]

Having spent many holidays at various Haven and Park Resorts camps, they all changed over on Saturdays.

ps - just looked at Haven and they have indeed switched over to Fri-Fri in peak summer.