Worst Sunday Rail Service

[David Goddard]

TBH Sunday services are far better than they were back in the 60s - Scotland had hardly any Sunday trains at all - but then a Scottish Sunday in the 60s consisted of going to church or taking healthy walks through the heather.

On a similar note, Sunday afternoons used to be associated with visiting people in hospital. I have some Cambridgeshire bus timetables from the mid 1970s that had services on Sundays only from North of Cambridge through to Addenbrookes Hospital (south of the City) arriving about 1400 and returning at 1600.

 

[bAzTNM]

Hate that there are no services to Duke Street, Alexandra Parade and Barnhill on a Sunday from Bellgrove. Springburn is served from Glasgow Queen Street though.

Duke St could be quite busy with being next to the Forge too.

 

[Marton]

Esk Valley: Middlesbrough - Whitby

Summer only, and then not even the full summer timetable only 20 May to 9 September

 

[class26]

First train out of Lincoln on Sundays is the 1105 to Newark Northgate, and during the summer months this forms the 1135 Northgate to Cleethorpes via Lincoln (dep. 1200). From September, return working terminates at Lincoln. The next departure is the 1300 to Newark, then 1500 to Nottingham and the 1515 to Leeds (via Sheffield). The next departure to Nottingham isn't until 1800 and then it's hourly to 2200.

Don`t forget the Joint LIne south of Lincoln, it`s closed on Sundays unless there`s any diversions but there is no scheduled service. Mind you, the weekday service on the central section is rubbish also.

 

[p123]

Anderston! In Glasgow city centre, next to the giant Mariott Hotel - tourists must wonder why a city centre station is closed on a Sunday!

Also, the Shotts line must be a contender. Only runs Edinburgh to West Calder every 2 hours. Sometimes I feel that may as well be no service, as being a suburban-ish commuter line having a train every 2 hours isn't really practical to 'head into town' for anything as you'd need to plan your entire day round the train times.

 

[RPI]

Looe gets a reasonable Sunday service in summer (almost hourly but not quite) but none in winter, I think St Ives gets the best Sunday service in comparrison to the weekday service as it is the same frequency on sundays-albeit with a later start, but winter there are no morning trains, better than 10 years ago though when none of the Cornish branch lines had a Sunday service in winter, now they all do with the exception of Looe!

 

[PHILIPE]

Westbury to Swindon via Melksham with 2 services one way and one the other but not until evening. Many of these are historical and you will
notice that many of them are on routes where are still manual signal boxes and a reluctance to spend money on an additional shift.

 

[Stephen55a1960]

Hate that there are no services to Duke Street, Alexandra Parade and Barnhill on a Sunday from Bellgrove. Springburn is served from Glasgow Queen Street though.

Duke St could be quite busy with being next to the Forge too.

Coming out of Glasgow Central (on the GSW line), I believe, that Crossmyloof and Kennishead don't get any Sunday services either.

 

[Statto]

Edge Hill 5 trains an hour stop there Monday to Saturday, but no trains on Sundays. Bryn 2 trains an hour Monday to Saturday, no trains on Sundays

 

[Stonesourscotty]

Bryn had a Sunday Service Under First Northwestern?? i used it myself.

 

[Stephen55a1960]

Edge Hill 5 trains an hour stop there Monday to Saturday, but no trains on Sundays. Bryn 2 trains an hour Monday to Saturday, no trains on Sundays

Surprised about that. Edge Hill is not exactly in the middle of nowhere

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Nor does Eccleston Park, also on the Liverpool-Huyton-Wigan line. Others services that don't run on Sundays are Glasgow Queen St-Maryhill-Anniesland, Glasgow Central-Whifflet / Paisley Canal (whether the latter'll change come December and electrification I don't know) and services south of Greenfaulds or north of Cumbernauld (only Glasgow Queen St-Springburn-Cumbernauld trains run).

 

[Gathursty]

Preston - Ormskirk
Wigan Wallgate - Kirkby

 

[Donny Dave]

Althorpe, Crowle and Thorne South - Hourly Monday to Saturday and nothing on Sundays.

Hatfield and Stainforth and Kirk Sandall - 2tph Mon - Sat, 1 tp2h Sun

Pretty dire in (North) Lincolnshire overall ....

 

[PR1Berske]

Surprised about that. Edge Hill is not exactly in the middle of nowhere

Why would anyone want to get off at Edge Hill*?







*One for the older readers.

 

[merlodlliw]

Llandudno, no trains Sept to early May.

 

[Roylang]

Newquay branch - but then the service is terrible every other day as well.

Roy

 

[Scotrail84]

Anderston! In Glasgow city centre, next to the giant Mariott Hotel - tourists must wonder why a city centre station is closed on a Sunday!

Also, the Shotts line must be a contender. Only runs Edinburgh to West Calder every 2 hours. Sometimes I feel that may as well be no service, as being a suburban-ish commuter line having a train every 2 hours isn't really practical to 'head into town' for anything as you'd need to plan your entire day round the train times.

I've always said the west calders should start and terminate at newcraighall on a Sunday given that newcraighall has no Sunday service

 

[PHILIPE]

Newquay branch - but then the service is terrible every other day as well.

Roy

Newquay now has a Sunday service all year round from last December

 

[ashworth]

I think the whole situation regarding public transport on Sundays needs addressing. Sundays in 2012 are very different to what they were 20 or 30 years ago. Yet even a city like Lincoln still has a rail service little different from what it was 40 years ago.

Before the days of Sunday trading our towns and cities were deserted on Sundays but now it is one of the busiest shopping days of the week especially leading up to Christmas. If the government relax the Sunday trading laws further how are shop workers to travel to work with no early morning bus or train services.

Outside of cities and major towns Sunday bus services are very rare. Most rural areas have no Sunday buses. Even many bus routes that enjoy a frequent service during the week lost their Sunday services about 20 years ago. Is now time to reinstate many of these Sunday services.

 

[Roylang]

Newquay now has a Sunday service all year round from last December

Yes, but the service is terrible and needs to be improved, as does every day of the week. If you look at what can be acheived on the Cornish branches (Falmouth / St.Ives etc.), Newquay seems to have a very poor deal.

Roy

 

[PR1Berske]

I think the whole situation regarding public transport on Sundays needs addressing. Sundays in 2012 are very different to what they were 20 or 30 years ago. Yet even a city like Lincoln still has a rail service little different from what it was 40 years ago.

Before the days of Sunday trading our towns and cities were deserted on Sundays but now it is one of the busiest shopping days of the week especially leading up to Christmas. If the government relax the Sunday trading laws further how are shop workers to travel to work with no early morning bus or train services.

Outside of cities and major towns Sunday bus services are very rare. Most rural areas have no Sunday buses. Even many bus routes that enjoy a frequent service during the week lost their Sunday services about 20 years ago. Is now time to reinstate many of these Sunday services.

Absolutely. I remember still to this day seeing a woman with a heavy suitcase at Preston station many, many years ago having something of a breakdown complaining about "the railways shutting down like it's the war". Things haven't improved!

BUT - as I know this might be brought up if we had down this conversational route - there needs to be addressed the issue of drivers/guards and how much they are paid, whether there's enough stock to go round an expanded Sunday service, and the disruption caused by engineering work.

Your main point is right though. We are a very backward, stubborn country at the best of times. Hanging on to "Sunday is special" attitudes in 2012 is pretty laughable.

 

[ichabod05]

For a while in the mid 2000s, I lived in Newark and couldn't believe the Sunday service - if you wanted to go shopping in Nottingham it was out of the question, as the first departure from Newark Castle was at around 1600 - but bizarrely, operated hourly until around 2300. The same was true of departures towards Lincoln, although you did have the option of going out of North Gate if I remember rightly.

From what I remember, GNER's Newark to Grantham wasn't a lot better, but last time I was in the area there did seem to be an hourly service (roughly).

 

[Stephen55a1960]

Why would anyone want to get off at Edge Hill*?




*One for the older readers.

There's a university campus there?

 

[bAzTNM]

Anderston in Glasgow is a strange one (which I didn't know about). Most offices around that way are open on a Sunday morning and the whole area is still quite busy. Right next to that major hotel too.

 

[northwichcat]

There's a university campus there?

Do you mean:

Edge Hill University
Saint Helens Road
Ormskirk,
Lancashire
L39 4QP

Not in the Edge Hill area of Liverpool.

 

[bailey65]

The further from london the worse they get it is assumed by the dft that life doen't exist outside the m25.

 

[12CSVT]

Why would anyone want to get off at Edge Hill*?

Loads of residential areas close to Edge Hill. Its quite likely that using their local station would be more convenient than having to trudge into Lime Street to catch their train.

 

[PR1Berske]

Loads of residential areas close to Edge Hill. Its quite likely that using their local station would be more convenient than having to trudge into Lime Street to catch their train.

Sorry, it seems my knowledge of what "getting off at Edge Hill" used to mean has been lost to some posters

 

[John55]

Sorry, it seems my knowledge of what "getting off at Edge Hill" used to mean has been lost to some posters

I am fairly old and lived within a stone's throw for 20 odd years and had to look it up on google!

Loads of residential areas close to Edge Hill. Its quite likely that using their local station would be more convenient than having to trudge into Lime Street to catch their train.

The buses down Wavertree Rd run quite frequently even on a Sunday. Not many use the train from Edge Hill into Liverpool it is usually traffic the other way.

Do you mean:

Edge Hill University
Saint Helens Road
Ormskirk,
Lancashire
L39 4QP

Not in the Edge Hill area of Liverpool.

Well, not since 1933.