Trivia: Trains with unusual stopping patterns

[northwichcat]

I once had a Virgin XC service from Preston to Bournemouth, "calling at Manchester Piccadilly, Macclesfield..."
I think it was then non stop Brockenhurst. I can't remember the full thing

There did used to be at least one Sunday Virgin service from Glasgow to the South via Manchester. It got well publicised due to a child running away from their parents and boarding that train at Glasgow and they were only discovered by Virgin staff between Stockport and Macclesfield.

 

[PermitToTravel]

How about http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/W71151/2013/06/30/advanced?

Is this the only SN WLL train that runs fast from CLJ to ECR? and does it stop at SRS?

It stops at Selhurst for railway personnel, according to OTT

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

I really, really doubt it ran non-stop from Macclesfield to Brockenhurst - avoiding places such as Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Reading and Southampton.

I know. That's why I said I wasn't sure. Southampton was a calling point I recall.

 

[Goatboy]

One I did notice today was 1M53 1252 Plymouth to Manchester, which doesn't call at Taunton, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Macclesfield and Stockport. Very unusual for a CrossCountry service not to call at these stations, Taunton and Wolverhampton especially.

This one is totally bizarre - it manages to run fast from Exeter to Bristol yet takes more time than a regular stopping XC in order to do so?

Why does it manage to take an hour and 10 minutes to do Exeter to Bristol non stop when the standard journey time inclusive of a call at both Tiverton and Taunton is an hour?

 

[Eagle]

I think you're mixing up arrival and departure times there. The train is dep EXD 13.48 - arr BRI 14.40. Which is 52 minutes.

 

[Goatboy]

I think you're mixing up arrival and departure times there. The train is dep EXD 13.48 - arr BRI 14.40. Which is 52 minutes.

So I am, good spot. But it still makes it interesting. Whats now the case is that it saves time not calling and then wasted it away sitting at Temple Meads for 20 minutes

 

[Eagle]

The fact that it's only doing that for this month makes me suspect that it's something to do with the engineering work being done north of Cheltenham every Sunday morning currently. It seems to be completely closed until 10.45, and then single-line working until mid-afternoon. Presumably that's why this train has to wait at Bristol for a path.

 

[louis97]

The fact that it's only doing that for this month makes me suspect that it's something to do with the engineering work being done north of Cheltenham every Sunday morning currently. It seems to be completely closed until 10.45, and then single-line working until mid-afternoon. Presumably that's why this train has to wait at Bristol for a path.

Nothing to do with the engineering works, just waits for its regular timetabled path north, as XC generally run half hourly between Bristol and Birmingham at xx00 and xx30.

 

[Thomas6187]

One I did notice today was 1M53 1252 Plymouth to Manchester, which doesn't call at Taunton, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Macclesfield and Stockport. Very unusual for a CrossCountry service not to call at these stations, Taunton and Wolverhampton especially.

It didn't stop at Wolverhampton due to engineering work over the Bank Holiday weekend. As for the other stops north of Birmingham, that's regular on Sundays

 

[EM2]

The 17:32 FCC from St Pancras seems to be the only service that doesn't serve Luton Airport Parkway. There's a 17:36 that does, so it's no real problem, but it's alway sstruck me as odd that there's just that one.

 

[Deerfold]

The 17:32 FCC from St Pancras seems to be the only service that doesn't serve Luton Airport Parkway. There's a 17:36 that does, so it's no real problem, but it's alway sstruck me as odd that there's just that one.

Just that one?

How about the 1632, 1702, 1802, 1832 and 1902 - it seems to be a peak time variation.

 

[ValleyLines142]

It didn't stop at Wolverhampton due to engineering work over the Bank Holiday weekend. As for the other stops north of Birmingham, that's regular on Sundays

According to the timetable online, Stafford and Macclesfield still have an hourly service on a Sunday.

 

[Eagle]

Yes, on the Bournemouth services.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Yes, on the Bournemouth services.

Indeed so. My mistake. The Sunday timetable is very unusual indeed!

 

[Goatboy]

Nothing to do with the engineering works, just waits for its regular timetabled path north, as XC generally run half hourly between Bristol and Birmingham at xx00 and xx30.

So whats the point in running it fast and missing the stops if it then sits and wastes away the extra time it made up by having to wait for its path?

 

[louis97]

So whats the point in running it fast and missing the stops if it then sits and wastes away the extra time it made up by having to wait for its path?

Presumably to do with staffing, as I know it has a crew change at Bristol, and it could easily have a path between Plymouth and Bristol Temple Meads stopping at the usual places, maybe except Totnes.

 

[Pride Of Crewe]

The ATW Premier Holyhead-Cardiff Central service used to be non-stop through Hereford southbound, the only such service, but that changed when it was diverted via Wrexham in lieu of Crewe IIRC.

Then when this happend Cwmbran lost out on it's stop...

 

[SprinterMan]

Then when this happend Cwmbran lost out on it's stop...

The train that stopped at Cwmbran was the old WAG1, 1621 off CDF. It still does call at Cwmbran in it's current form, even though it is a 175 now and not LHCS. The current WAG is the old WAG2, which has never called at Cwmbran.

Adam

 

[Pride Of Crewe]

Oh yes when they swaped the 67 and coaches for one of those rubbish 175s. But I still dont get why it no longer calls at Cwmbran but calls at Abergavenny.

 

[Eagle]

Looking at the timetable I'm of the opinion that the stopping pattern for each train between Newport and Shrewsbury is determined by picking station names out of a hat. :P

 

[Starmill]

09:01 Sunday Chester-Southport omits Lostock Gralam and Ashley - the only Northern Mid-Cheshire train in the week to not stop at those stations.

This is instead of an 08:59 departure with calls at Lostock Gralam and Ashley and has apparently been done because there is more demand from the Wirral stations for Delamere Forest (the first train from Liverpool arrives at Chester at 08:56 on Sunday) then there is at Lostock Gralam and Ashley.

Awh! Poor little Ashley! Bet that makes for a long wait there then...

 

[Pride Of Crewe]

Looking at the timetable I'm of the opinion that the stopping pattern for each train between Newport and Shrewsbury is determined by picking station names out of a hat. :P

It is like that 50% of trains call at Pontypool and Newinn (although the number of times i've been there I'm the only one on the station!) 3 trains don't call at Cwmbran and some dont stop at Ludlow etc.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

One Nottingham - Skegness service ( the 09.55 ) misses out Grantham; presumably it is a Parliamentary for the direct line - and likely to be the only case where a Parliamentary omits rather than runs via a station!

 

[Eagle]

One Nottingham - Skegness service ( the 09.55 ) misses out Grantham; presumably it is a Parliamentary for the direct line - and likely to be the only case where a Parliamentary omits rather than runs via a station!

There is the 1553 Sunday Norwich to Manchester, which skips Ely by running via the loop.

There also used to be one Manchester to Crewe stopper that skipped the Airport spur, but seemingly no longer (although other trains do use that curve, all of them are fast to Wilmslow or Crewe).

 

[SprinterMan]

It is like that 50% of trains call at Pontypool and Newinn (although the number of times i've been there I'm the only one on the station!) 3 trains don't call at Cwmbran and some dont stop at Ludlow etc.

There is a pattern, just there are lots of exceptions to it :P

Between Newport and Shrewsbury, there are 3 trains per 2 hours; 1x Carmarthen to Manchester, 1x Cardiff to Holyhead and 1x Milford Haven to Manchester.

The CMN-MAN train calls at Cwmbran, Abergavenny, Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow, Craven Arms and Church Stretton (Everywhere except Pontypool & New Inn)

The CDF-HHD train calls at Cwmbran, Pontypool & New Inn, Abergavenny, Hereford, Ludlow, Craven Arms and Church Stretton (Everywhere except Leominster)

The MFH-MAN train calls at Cwmbran, Abergavenny, Hereford, Leominster and Ludlow (Everywhere except Pontypool & New Inn, Craven Arms and Church Stretton)

The result is that:

Cwmbran gets 3tp2h
Pontypool & New Inn gets 1tp2h
Abergavenny gets 3tp2h
Hereford gets 3tp2h
Leominster gets 1tph
Ludlow gets 3tp2h
Craven Arms gets 1tph
Church Stretton gets 1tph

Which roughly matches demand. There are lots of exceptions to this pattern that muddy the waters though :P

Adam

 

[Rhydgaled]

One Nottingham - Skegness service ( the 09.55 ) misses out Grantham; presumably it is a Parliamentary for the direct line - and likely to be the only case where a Parliamentary omits rather than runs via a station!

The daytime Fishguard boat train is similar, it ommits Carmarthen (westbound only, it calls on the eastbound run) using the Carmarthen avoider line.

 

[Welshman]

One Nottingham - Skegness service ( the 09.55 ) misses out Grantham; presumably it is a Parliamentary for the direct line - and likely to be the only case where a Parliamentary omits rather than runs via a station!

There are also two return services in the evening which go that way and omit Grantham - the 1730 and 2102 from Skegness, plus the Summer Sats. out and back HST service from Derby.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

the 1553 Sunday Norwich to Manchester[/URL], which skips Ely by running via the loop.

Ah, yes - I'd forgotten about that one!

The daytime Fishguard boat train is similar, it ommits Carmarthen (westbound only, it calls on the eastbound run) using the Carmarthen avoider line.

Does it do this to save time or is it acting as a Parliamentary for the avoider?

 

[Rhydgaled]

Does it do this to save time or is it acting as a Parliamentary for the avoider?

It is the only passenger service to use it, and I've commented on fishguardtrains.info once or twice that I think it should start calling at Carmarthen (now that Fishguard has a more regular service and Carmarthen is one of the main destinations for Fishguard) and a commenter known as Swansea Jack suggests it is parliamentary.

 

[SansPareil]

Between Dorking and Horsham in both directions it seems every train stops all stations (Holmwood-Ockley-Warnham) except for the 0756 departure Which seems to run fast from Clapham Junction to Sutton, and then fast from Dorking to Horsham.

As far as I can tell this is the only train to run fast between Dorking and Horsham in either direction.