Trivia: Largest delay recovery

[Brent Goose]

Following on from the other two threads on largest delays and early arrivals, what has been the largest delay recovered due to timetable ‘padding’ or the efforts of the train crew?

I remember one 17:30 Waterloo to Portsmouth service starting 20 minutes late and by the time it arrived at Havant it was pretty much back on time.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

My 1st place record is a rail replacement minibus departing Welshpool 44 minutes late, arriving Criccieth 8 minutes early, so 52m gained (this was an ad-hoc bus so not actually timetabled as a bus, I'm comparing to the train timetable, we skipped straight from Welshpool to Barmouth).

For a train, my record is a Wigan Wallgate to Soutport service that left Wigan 17 minutes late, skipped all the stops, and arrived 3 minutes late (14m recovered) - I had already assumed we would miss the Merseyrail train and the whole day would be thrown off schedule (had to also buy the special £2 Merseyrail day ticket which I used to great effect, made the train with a bit over a minute to spare).

I record just the delay when boarding and the delay when disembarking so there might be bigger recovery between different stations or before I started keeping track.

 

[popeter45]

the sleeper services prob take 1st place as they can recover hours due to built in padding to allow full nights rest
think last Glasgow to Euston lowlander i took left Calstairs 2hrs late but arrived into Euston a full Hour early

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:P01171/2025-04-29/detailed#allox_id=1 example of similar the other day, 1hr day at Carlisle but Euston was 18 minutes Early

 

[tram21]

the sleeper services prob take 1st place as they can recover hours due to built in padding to allow full nights rest
think last Glasgow to Euston lowlander i took left Calstairs 2hrs late but arrived into Euston a full Hour early

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:P01171/2025-04-29/detailed#allox_id=1 example of similar the other day, 1hr day at Carlisle but Euston was 18 minutes Early

Looks like maybe that diverted to make up time?

 

[driverd]

Personal best for me, I think, is the 2Ixx services off Leeds. I've made back 17 mins by Todmorden in the past, no stops skipped, just a rapid guard and a decent 158.

I think on one occasion I then managed 5 early by Man Vic. We do love a slack timetable!

(Please do excuse me doing a bit of shameless self congratulation)...

 

[The Planner]

the sleeper services prob take 1st place as they can recover hours due to built in padding to allow full nights rest
think last Glasgow to Euston lowlander i took left Calstairs 2hrs late but arrived into Euston a full Hour early

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:P01171/2025-04-29/detailed#allox_id=1 example of similar the other day, 1hr day at Carlisle but Euston was 18 minutes Early

Looks like maybe that diverted to make up time?

Clearly went Trent Valley instead of the West Mids, would have made up loads doing that.

 

[Dave W]

Clearly went Trent Valley instead of the West Mids, would have made up loads doing that.

Would it have been because of the delay that they could do that? Perhaps the Trent Valley was closed until after the train was booked, but because it was late it could turn left at Stafford instead?

 

[sportzbar]

Personal best for me, I think, is the 2Ixx services off Leeds. I've made back 17 mins by Todmorden in the past, no stops skipped, just a rapid guard and a decent 158.

I think on one occasion I then managed 5 early by Man Vic. We do love a slack timetable!

(Please do excuse me doing a bit of shameless self congratulation)...

The 2Ixx services have a lot of slack in the timetable, but the 1Jxx services from Vic to Leeds more than make up for it with the tight schedule all the way to Bradford....

 

[Topological]

The North East - South West pairing on CrossCountry seem to be able to make back a lot of time. Dwells in Birmingham and Bristol helps them, and it does seem to be possible to get in and out of other stations faster then scheduled. Very useful when the train can find itself delayed between Leeds and Sheffield and then stuck behind something slow in the West Midlands.

I cannot give a specific example, but from travelling I have seen 30+ late north of Birmingham pulled back to only a couple late at Plymouth.

 

[The Planner]

Would it have been because of the delay that they could do that? Perhaps the Trent Valley was closed until after the train was booked, but because it was late it could turn left at Stafford instead?

Could well have been, the block also could have come off early so the line was handed back.

 

[Taunton]

In France, in steam loco days on SNCF, loco crews were paid a bonus for recovering lost time, dependent on the minutes recovered.

Key shift to get was apparently the overnight sleeper services on the spring morning when the clocks go forward. There was no adjustment to the timetable, the service suddenly became an hour late, which the crew then strove to recover. Not a lot of sleep to be had back in the coaches for the rest of the journey!

 

[edgar13]

was on the last southbound Heart of Wales service, had to wait for the late northbound to pass at Llandrindod so we left 51 late, but flew past most request stops and got to Swansea only 12 late.

 

[NorthOxonian]

There is an absurd amount of padding on some late evening services. One that I know well is the 2200 London Kings Cross - Newcastle which is timetabled to take 3h47m-3h53m (depending on day), or about half an hour longer than midday services with similar calling patterns.

Just looking at RealTimeTrains, on Sunday night this train was 8 minutes late at Doncaster (and 12 at one of the junctions just south of there) yet arrived into Newcastle 16 minutes early, and last Thursday night, it left Northallerton 16 minutes late but arrived at Newcastle 8 minutes early.

 

[Route115?]

Many years ago I was 30 minutes late at Banbury and on time at Birmingham, but that was a Sunday and I think that there was a lot of padding in the timetable, or even time for a diversion. (A few years ago we were 10 minutes late at East Croydon and just about on on time at London Bridge, but the Thameslink train was timetabled "round the houses" and we took the direct route.) Sometimes there is a massive amount of recovery time (padding) into the last station - this was even more prevalent a few years ago.

 

[43066]

There is an absurd amount of padding on some late evening services. One that I know well is the 2200 London Kings Cross - Newcastle which is timetabled to take 3h47m-3h53m (depending on day), or about half an hour longer than midday services with similar calling patterns.

Just looking at RealTimeTrains, on Sunday night this train was 8 minutes late at Doncaster (and 12 at one of the junctions just south of there) yet arrived into Newcastle 16 minutes early, and last Thursday night, it left Northallerton 16 minutes late but arrived at Newcastle 8 minutes early.

That’ll be because it’s allowance for engineering works which may not take place - hence the train will arrive very early.

 

[milooo]

There is an absurd amount of padding on some late evening services. One that I know well is the 2200 London Kings Cross - Newcastle which is timetabled to take 3h47m-3h53m (depending on day), or about half an hour longer than midday services with similar calling patterns.

Just looking at RealTimeTrains, on Sunday night this train was 8 minutes late at Doncaster (and 12 at one of the junctions just south of there) yet arrived into Newcastle 16 minutes early, and last Thursday night, it left Northallerton 16 minutes late but arrived at Newcastle 8 minutes early.

It does have a 15 min allowance at Durham to be fair

 

[InkyScrolls]

I've left Morecambe 25 late before and been on time by Skipton - fortunately I'd just signed in Hest Bank Curve as we weren't able to go via Lancaster!