Trivia: longest delay?

[Taunton]

We were on a trans-Canadian rail trip in 1999 and our train from Winnipeg to Jasper was 18 hours late owing to a freight train derailment and a subsequent 600 mile diversion! We had to stay another night in Winnipeg as a result (when we would much have preferred an extra night in Jasper!).

Delays of 24 hours or more are not unknown on The Canadian, they happen once every year or two and are just one of those things for the territory they operate in. Derailments, landslides, whatever up ahead just being waited out. The UK would detrain into buses, but the train is fully equipped for multi-day travel. The service recovery after such events is notably complex. Occasionally passengers are detrained into airline flights, if going transcontinental this can even lead to them arriving at destination a day early!

 

[D1537]

During the big freeze of 1981-82 I was standing at Birmingham New St at around 9am waiting for a train to somewhere ( I can't remember where) and a train to Bristol arrived which was actually the last NE-SW train from the previous night, running around 12 hours late.

 

[37405rfhdhdfj]

3 hours late after our train from London Kings Cross broke down. Hadn’t even reached Finsbury Park. As if that wasn’t bad enough there was a safety inspection on the track. Awful

 

[Phil R]

During the big freeze of 1981-82 I was standing at Birmingham New St at around 9am waiting for a train to somewhere ( I can't remember where) and a train to Bristol arrived which was actually the last NE-SW train from the previous night, running around 12 hours late.

Similar a few years later, early 1987, severral trains very late because of frozen points at multiple places in the Gloucester / Bristol area. I was on one that got into Temple Meads 15 hours late.

 

[PyrahnaRanger]

In October 1999, I had a delay of around 13 hours on a Carlisle-Euston service after a jet hit a bridge near Shap. I'm not sure if it was officially recorded as such, because our train (the first on scene, so to speak) was dragged back to Carlisle after 3 or 4 hours and we were decanted to a later train so ours could run back to Glasgow. We then had quite an adventure involving drags via the S&C, waiting for drivers in taxis, no food/drink in the buffet car, track circuit failures and being "lost" when they tried to kick those waiting for us out of Euston as "all the trains have finished for today" despite us being a few hours out still.

 

[Newtraveller58]

Back in 1984, the last Inverness to Aberdeen train on a Saturday night sat in Huntly for nearly 24 hours due to a heavy snowfall blocking the line. The roads were also blocked due to the snow, so the train which had arrived in Huntly with about 20 passengers left with about 200! The crew kept the locomotive running to maintain heat and the local hotel provided food and hot drinks to the passengers and crew. The train eventually arrived in Aberdeen almost exactly 24 hours late.

 

[Amaranthe]

Back in 1984, the last Inverness to Aberdeen train on a Saturday night sat in Huntly for nearly 24 hours due to a heavy snowfall blocking the line. The roads were also blocked due to the snow, so the train which had arrived in Huntly with about 20 passengers left with about 200! The crew kept the locomotive running to maintain heat and the local hotel provided food and hot drinks to the passengers and crew. The train eventually arrived in Aberdeen almost exactly 24 hours late.

When I saw this thread I was going to post about this very train.

My Dad was the guard on this train.

 

[70014IronDuke]

These things are relative, of course, but I smile when I see people talking in shock about trains 7, 10, 15 and even, shock horror, 24 hours late. Such delays in the UK and western Europe are inevitably rare and the result of extreme weather or some sort of fairly catastrophic failure.

Going off topic and international, for anyone familiar with Turkish trains in the early 70s, such delays, certainly 18 - 24 hours, were normal, everyday events at the Istanbul end of the routes from the far east of the country, so much so that my travellin' pal and I actually relied on such late trains to get back into Istanbul after our first trip out east - and this was from Hereke, a station a mere (guess) 40km or so from the Haydapashar terminus. What it got like in winter, with bad weather in the mountains out east, I do not know, but I can well imagine trains could be anything from 2-3 whole days late into Istanbul.

I presume the line to Ankara is, by now, fully electrified and hopefully better managed, but if the lines out to the east have not been modernised and resignalled, I wonder if such wayward running is still the norm?

 

[sh24]

I presume the line to Ankara is, by now, fully electrified and hopefully better managed, but if the lines out to the east have not been modernised and resignalled, I wonder if such wayward running is still the norm?

Istanbul-Ankara is now a high speed line and very punctual IME. Did the Dogu Express from Ankara to Kars a few years ago and it arrived on time, to the minute. Turkey is much changed!

 

[70014IronDuke]

Istanbul-Ankara is now a high speed line and very punctual IME.

I am pleased to hear this!

Did the Dogu Express from Ankara to Kars a few years ago and it arrived on time, to the minute. Turkey is much changed!

Ha ha! The dear ol Dogu Ekspress! Indeed, i had thought of citing this train as one of the worst back in the day. As for the "Ekspress" title, it stopped at every tin-pot shack east of Sivas (or Kayseri, I forget), I seem to remember! I'm sure we caught it more than once. Glad to hear that things have changed for the good!

 

[Requeststop]

Years back, I was travelling down from Edinburgh to St Erth travelling over the West Coast Mainline in the days when you could, and got as far as Lancaster and held for a few hours. Overhead wines down on the way to Preston. We were reversed back through Carnforth, across to Long Preston/Hellifield/Blackburn/Preston, reversed again and down to Birmingham when the service was terminated. Another wait for a run to Bristol Temple Meads and then I was hustled onto a train to Reading, to pick up the sleeper service to St Erth. I was extremely late. Before the days of mobile phones so couldn't contact home to explain what was happening and got in god knows how many hours late.
Away from rail. I was at Jeddah airport in the early eighties and I saw the delay of an Air Sudan flight from Port Sudan to Jeddah of ninety six hours for a distance of One Hundred and eighty miles. Swimming might have been quicker., but suspect the poor passengers were put on a ferry as an alternate.

 

[Egg Centric]

These things are relative, of course, but I smile when I see people talking in shock about trains 7, 10, 15 and even, shock horror, 24 hours late. Such delays in the UK and western Europe are inevitably rare and the result of extreme weather or some sort of fairly catastrophic failure.

Going off topic and international, for anyone familiar with Turkish trains in the early 70s, such delays, certainly 18 - 24 hours, were normal, everyday events at the Istanbul end of the routes from the far east of the country, so much so that my travellin' pal and I actually relied on such late trains to get back into Istanbul after our first trip out east - and this was from Hereke, a station a mere (guess) 40km or so from the Haydapashar terminus. What it got like in winter, with bad weather in the mountains out east, I do not know, but I can well imagine trains could be anything from 2-3 whole days late into Istanbul.

I presume the line to Ankara is, by now, fully electrified and hopefully better managed, but if the lines out to the east have not been modernised and resignalled, I wonder if such wayward running is still the norm?

It's very much the case in most of Africa still. With the occasional weird Chinese-built exception.

 

[hluraven]

Delays of 24 hours or more are not unknown on The Canadian, they happen once every year or two and are just one of those things for the territory they operate in. Derailments, landslides, whatever up ahead just being waited out. The UK would detrain into buses, but the train is fully equipped for multi-day travel. The service recovery after such events is notably complex. Occasionally passengers are detrained into airline flights, if going transcontinental this can even lead to them arriving at destination a day early!

I was taking the train up to Churchill, we got to Thompson pretty much on time, sat there for over 12 hours, and were then taken to a Rail Replacement Airplane! Arrived earlier than the train would have done, but annoying to me as cost way more than just taking the plane up there would have done in the first place, the journey was what I was wanting.

 

[sh24]

I am pleased to hear this!

Ha ha! The dear ol Dogu Ekspress! Indeed, i had thought of citing this train as one of the worst back in the day. As for the "Ekspress" title, it stopped at every tin-pot shack east of Sivas (or Kayseri, I forget), I seem to remember! I'm sure we caught it more than once. Glad to hear that things have changed for the good!

it was by no means fast, but very comfortable and there weren't too many stops along the way.

 

[70014IronDuke]

it was by no means fast, but very comfortable and there weren't too many stops along the way.

I can't remember if it was the Dogu or some other rocket train running x hours late and averaging 25 mph going to Sivas in 1975, but I bought a plastic bag of the most succulent oranges I've ever tasted from a boy hawker. Cost was probably about 15p.
Funny the things one remembers - or not - 50 years on!

 

[styles]

I was taking the train up to Churchill, we got to Thompson pretty much on time, sat there for over 12 hours, and were then taken to a Rail Replacement Airplane! Arrived earlier than the train would have done, but annoying to me as cost way more than just taking the plane up there would have done in the first place, the journey was what I was wanting.

That's incredible. While I would be unhappy about the cost and environmental impact, I think I would be satisfied by the arrangements made!

 

[Steelman]

During the Big Freeze in 1987 I remember a Plymouth - Edinburgh train took four or five days to reach its destination. Fair play for keeping it going!

 

[brad465]

Depending on what happens tonight, we might be able to add delays caused by this Beattock freight service failing, as covered in this thread.

 

[RT4038]

It's very much the case in most of Africa still. With the occasional weird Chinese-built exception.

Except that finding a passsenger train to ride on is quite a feat......

 

[Dren Ahmeti]

14 hours for a Weymouth bound train

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-43253130

I love that I have this screenshot after all these years!

 

[Thornaby 37]

Three days is the longest delay I am aware of in this country, a St Pancras to Glasgow service got caught in a severe snowstorm on the Settle - Carlisle line during the big freeze of 1963

 

[321362]

When I was scrolling the TPE app as one does, I saw a 23hr59min late train - the previous day that service had been cancelled, and this was 1 early. Very entertaining error.