Trivia: Short Shuttle Services

[150249]

On Saturday 21st March, I was at Exeter St Davids for a few hours and I noticed I saw 150249 a fair few times. (The train not me ). I checked on Realtime Trains and found that it was doing a shuttle service between Exeter St Davids and Exeter Central due to the Barnstaple and Okehampton lines being shut. The peculiar thing about this however, is that the two stations are 3 minutes apart and the shuttle is hourly in each direction which means that 150249 was only in active service for 10% of every hour.

I assume this was the case in Exeter for the whole duration of the line closure but is there anywhere in the UK where this is a regular practice? Furthermore, is this the biggest out of service to in service ratio on the network?

I am rather tired so forgive me if parts of this are incomprehensible!

 

[stadler]

On Saturday 21st March, I was at Exeter St Davids for a few hours and I noticed I saw 150249 a fair few times. (The train not me ). I checked on Realtime Trains and found that it was doing a shuttle service between Exeter St Davids and Exeter Central due to the Barnstaple and Okehampton lines being shut. The peculiar thing about this however, is that the two stations are 3 minutes apart and the shuttle is hourly in each direction which means that 150249 was only in active service for 10% of every hour.

I assume this was the case in Exeter for the whole duration of the line closure but is there anywhere in the UK where this is a regular practice? Furthermore, is this the biggest out of service to in service ratio on the network?

I am rather tired so forgive me if parts of this are incomprehensible!

Southern have very short distance Barnham to Bognor Regis shuttles (daily) and Brighton to Hove shuttles (sundays) which are both very short one stop journeys.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I assume this was the case in Exeter for the whole duration of the line closure but is there anywhere in the UK where this is a regular practice? Furthermore, is this the biggest out of service to in service ratio on the network?

Stourbridge has a 3 minute long shuttle service, but it runs 6tph instead of 1.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

During engineering works, I have guarded shuttle services between Surbiton and Hampton Court, a journey of approximately 7 minutes with half an hour's turnaround at Hampton Court. Quite enjoyable on a single 458 just shuttling back and forth all day.

What's also interesting about these workings is that to negate the need for a shunt at Surbiton they travel (to those not in the know) in the "wrong direction" up to Surbiton using the down line - not technically, as the line is bi-directional, but it does seem to attract quite a bit of interest from locals on the line.

Of course there's also the Brockenhurst to Lymington shuttles which are actually regular workings.

 

[BeijingDave]

Chester to Crewe?

 

[Cletus]

Bromley North to Grove Park (1 intermediate station) with a 465.

 

[Kite159]

Chester to Crewe?

Whilst it is a shuttle (for the time being), I wouldn't call it short at around 20-odd miles. Compared to the current Chester to Wrexham General shuttle.

 

[notspy]

Manchester Piccadilly to Stalybridge has 1tpd, increasing to 1tph during certain engineering works.

 

[izvor]

Reigate to Redhill (4 minutes) when there is weekend disruption, including when Victoria is closed (so quite often!).

Often these are tacked on the end of the Tonbridges, and used to be advertised as through trains until this stopped recently for some reason. Tonbridge crews do not sign Reigate so there is usually a crew change.

 

[Magdalia]

I am surprised that nobody has mentioned Romford-Upminster, or the Thames Valley branches, most notably Slough-Windsor and Eton Central, which has 3tph.

 

[stadler]

I am surprised that nobody has mentioned Romford-Upminster, or the Thames Valley branches, most notably Slough-Windsor and Eton Central, which has 3tph.

I forgot about those. Those peak hour Bourne End to Marlow shuttles are especially short. Just a one stop short distance journey.

 

[johntea]

Not a shuttle service as such but the hourly Northern Leeds - Knottingley via Wakefield calls at both Wakefield Kirkgate and Wakefield Westgate which is actually quite useful if you need to transit between the more local Kirkgate services and the longer distance Westgate services or vice versa, I seem to remember many years ago there was much less than an hourly connection between the two!

I've always wondered if anyone has actually bought a Wakefield - Wakefield ticket (looking at journey planner it does seem you can at £3.30 for a single, £3.40/£4.00 for a return), does the ticket actually say 'Wakefield Kirkgate to Wakefield Westgate' or just 'Wakefield Stns to Wakefiend Stns'?

 

[zwk500]

I've always wondered if anyone has actually bought a Wakefield - Wakefield ticket (looking at journey planner it does seem you can at £3.30 for a single, £3.40/£4.00 for a return), does the ticket actually say 'Wakefield Kirkgate to Wakefield Westgate' or just 'Wakefield Stns to Wakefiend Stns'?

BR Fares suggests it would be Wakefield Kirkgate to Wakefield Westgate: https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=WKF&dest=WKK&tkt=SDS
Whereas a ticket from, e.g., Leeds, https://www.brfares.com/!fares?orig=LDS&dest=WKK&period=20260301 is issued to Wakefield KG/WG: https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=LDS&dest=WKK&grpd=0444&rte=1000&tkt=SDS (including those routed 'LNER only!')

 

[A S Leib]

I am surprised that nobody has mentioned Romford-Upminster, or the Thames Valley branches, most notably Slough-Windsor and Eton Central, which has 3tph.

Can a shuttle have intermediate stations (Emerson Park)?

 

[sammyg901]

Aylesbury (AYS)-Aylesbury Vale Parkway (AVP) has 1 - 0646 and AVP-AYS has two in the evening 1758 & 1953 . The two in the evening are a little interesting as the units typically go on to form a AYS-London Marylebone service but presumably they do not want to schedule a ~20 minute layover on a through service (and presumably offers flexibility to allow the London bound service to go on time if the ex-MYB runs too late)

 

[High Dyke]

Cardiff Bay - Cardiff Queen Street - three minute journey time.

 

[xotGD]

In the evening there are a couple of Bradford - Shipley / Shipley - Bradford services.

Likewise, Newcastle - Metrocentre / Metrocentre - Newcastle.

 

[brad465]

St Ives' branch services might borderline meet this subject: 11-12 minutes each way with one train (usually 1-2x 150s) usually shuttling back and forth almost all day (the first and last services come from/go to Penzance). They all have Carbis Bay as an intermediate stop, but the Lelant stations get skipped regularly.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

In the evening there are a couple of Bradford - Shipley / Shipley - Bradford services.

Indeed. Both call at Frizinghall. Do short 'shuttle' services with intermediate calling points count for the purposes of this thread?

 

[norbitonflyer]

The "Drain"?

 

[brad465]

The "Drain"?

Unless there's one I've missed, I suspect this the only underground one-stop shuttle left, as Mill Hill East and Chesham now get through services into Central London. Kensington Olympia-High Street Kensington comes close with one intermediate call at Earl's Court.

 

[EYFanatic]

During the recent works at Manchester Picc, wasn't there a shuttle between there and Oxford Road with several hours between them?

 

[pokemonsuper9]

During the recent works at Manchester Picc, wasn't there a shuttle between there and Oxford Road with several hours between them?

Not exactly hours (ran 1 per hour), but yes there was a shuttle the 2 minutes from Platform 13b to Platform 1 at Oxford Road and then back
But that ran as part of a Liverpool service and wasn't just a shuttle.

 

[Sealink]

Mondays to Fridays
2030hrs and 2130hrs
Yeovil Pen Mill to Yeovil Junction

 

[Bishopstone]

Greater Anglia run some shuttles between Colchester and Colchester Town.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Greater Anglia run some shuttles between Colchester and Colchester Town.

I'm not sure if those should count as the diagrams are not captive? They are alternate workings on services from and to Liverpool Street aren't they?

I'd agree they are shuttles as far as the average passenger is concerned, but it's a different unit each time it runs.

 

[Sealink]

Mondays to Fridays
2030hrs and 2130hrs
Yeovil Pen Mill to Yeovil Junction

Actually, I doubt these are the same units daily

 

[liamf656]

A historical one is Corby to Kettering. A journey of around 8 minutes which ran using Class 222 intercity trains (and sometimes the odd HST!).

 

[Flange Squeal]

The Guildford to Farnham service is just over 20 minutes in length, with three self-contained units providing a half hourly frequency all day Mon-Sat, so although known as ‘Shuttles’ to staff I’m not sure if they entirely count for your purposes due to journey length? But in terms of downtime, each return trip spends 25mins turnaround at Guildford and has 18 minutes between arriving and departing Farnham (via a shunt). So in each unit’s 1.5 hour cycle, it only spends half of that in passenger service.

 

[thenorthern]

A historical one is Corby to Kettering. A journey of around 8 minutes which ran using Class 222 intercity trains (and sometimes the odd HST!).

There was also the 1987-1990 shuttle from Kettering to Corbyn, which was operated by NSE using a Class 108.