Long turn-rounds at quiet terminus stations

[Kite159]

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40 minutes at Hazel Grove for the Blackpool North services

Realtime Trains | 5N68 1315 Hazel Grove to Hazel Grove | 12/11/2022

Real-time train running information for 5N68 1315 departure from Hazel Grove to Hazel Grove on 12/11/2022. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

I think it's similar for the Alderley Edge terminators, they sit in one of the turnback sidings for a good 40 minutes.

Better to have a long turn around time than too little.

 

[John C]

In the early 1980s turnaround at Scarborough on summer Sundays was around 5 hours. Services from Sheffield, Bradford and other places would arrive by midday(ish) then depart at tea time. Same loco, coaches and crew. The punters would have a day out at the seaside. Possibly the crew too?

Up until recently before it was cancelled the EMR service was an example of this arriving Scarborough (York in Winter) late morning and returning to St Pancras early evening.

 

[Sunil_P]

Does this ever happen? i.e. a train terminates at either a dead-end terminus or a very quiet junction station as part of the regular hourly clockface service, and has a long turn around time of more than 30 minutes, due to timetable constraints. I'm thinking of any occurrence in modern times, post-Beeching, i.e. from approximately 1970 onwards - but I am thinking of the regular off-peak pattern, not exceptions around the peaks or late at night.

I wonder what drivers and guards do if there is a long wait at such a terminus station as part of the hourly pattern. I'd imagine that it might help if there is a station cafe...

To give an example of the sort of stations I'm thinking of, they would include - but not be restricted to - Alton, East Grinstead, Uckfield, Henley and Marlow.

Marlow? No I had only 10 minutes to take pics last Sunday! Henley? Only 3 minutes on Sunday 23rd, so I had to get the next departure!

 

[m4tt]

Over the summer I spent 45 minutes on a 158 at Milford Haven awaiting the return service to Cardiff. I remember the guard cracked a joke about how I must be crazy to have come all this way to visit!

 

[Sunil_P]

Reading, Windsor and Weybridge for most of the day since 2004.

|Windsor & Eton Central? No, only 5 minutes or so when I went there on Oct 12th!

 

[Teddyward]

Southminster is half hour turn around on Sundays except first and last.

 

[JonathanH]

|Windsor & Eton Central? No, only 5 minutes or so when I went there on Oct 12th!

Riverside. There isn't scope to have trains hang around at any of Henley, Marlow and Windsor & Eton Central given they are all single line routes.

 

[Sunil_P]

Southminster is half hour turn around on Sundays except first and last.

Otherwise, 15 minutes weekdays off-peak.

 

[greatkingrat]

|Windsor & Eton Central? No, only 5 minutes or so when I went there on Oct 12th!

It's about 27 minutes at Riverside though.

 

[John C]

Clitheroe is another example (ish) where the service arrives generally at :56 departing at :23 minutes past the next hour, however the ish part is the unit is not sat the whole dwell time in the station as it reverses from platform 2 to platform 1 via Horrocksford Junction, this ECS move more often than not takes around 5 minutes platform to platform rather than the allotted 17 minutes allowed for the move thus spending more dwell time on the station.

 

[Sunil_P]

Wick had a nice 50 minute layover back in July.

 

[philthetube]

and a decent spoons, but are train crews allowed to visit while on duty?

 

[D6130]

and a decent spoons, but are train crews allowed to visit while on duty?

No....they're most definitely not. That didn't stop crews making surreptitious pub visits on long layover jobs - known to diagrammers as 'temptation turns' - in the past....but things have very much been tightened-up nowadays - especially since the Eltham Well Hall and Morpeth accidents.

 

[Ashley Hill]

We had a turn Bristol to Frome with a 40 min turnaround at Frome. The phone number of the Chinese outside the station was written on the turn card. Prior to leaving Westbury one would place an order and collect upon arrival.

 

[Watershed]

Some long turnrounds (e.g. Kyle, Mallaig, Oban, Wick) are specifically timed to allow the traincrew to have their break. But in most cases it's just a function of how the paths work out.

Saltburn will see long ~53 minute turnrounds for Manchester Airport services from December, with trains booked to pass each other at the single lead junction to the west of the station.

I wonder whether this might be the winner for a regular clockface hourly service?

I suppose the staff could use it as an official break - as long as the train has a toilet. Mind you, I have no idea how these things work.

It depends on the agreements that are in place. TOCs often have agreements that instead of a shift having one long break, it can have two shorter breaks if that makes it more efficient (bearing in mind you can't go more than 6 hours without a break, but the maximum shift length is typically between 9-10.5 hours).

And sometimes the shorter breaks can be taken onboard trains, as long as there is a toilet available.

 

[Ex-controller]

There are also one or two turnarounds at Gourock that are 4-6 hours. The unit basically stables there during the day.

There’s usually 2-3 trains an hour off peak at Gourock, not sure it fits the example the OP was looking for.

Alloa used to be one such example, roughly 40 minutes turn around when it was an hourly service. Traincrew used to go to the cafe at Asda next to the station.

Also, others suggesting whetherspoons in certain locations, not sure that’s a wise option for an on duty traincrew.

 

[Dai Corner]

Saltburn will see long ~53 minute turnrounds for Manchester Airport services from December, with trains booked to pass each other at the single lead junction to the west of the station.

I wonder whether this might be the winner for a regular clockface hourly service?

Not meeting the OP's criteria of being at a quiet terminus and admittedly including a shunt between platforms, trains from Ebbw Vale spend 60 mins at Cardiff Central before returning.

 

[dk1]

and a decent spoons, but are train crews allowed to visit while on duty?

Of course. It’s no different to having breakfast/lunch in a buffet that sells alcohol.

 

[syorksdeano]

Does Colne have a lengthy layover or has it changed?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Does Colne have a lengthy layover or has it changed?

Looks like it's often as little as just four or five minutes.

 

[_toommm_]

Does Colne have a lengthy layover or has it changed?

Four minutes for most of the day, apart from the third-to-last and second-to-last that have nineteen minutes and seventeen minutes respectively.

 

[Class800]

We had a turn Bristol to Frome with a 40 min turnaround at Frome. The phone number of the Chinese outside the station was written on the turn card. Prior to leaving Westbury one would place an order and collect upon arrival.

that's the sort of fun story I love

 

[Snow1964]

Since Op asked for since 1970s, when HSTs were first introduced they were at Kings Cross long enough for end panels to be raised and plugged into shore power.

Can’t remember if it happened at Paddington too

 

[Western 52]

Back in the 1980s some of the holiday trains from Derby and Leicester used to spend the whole day at Skegness. I wondered how they arranged the crews.

 

[Iskra]

Back in the 1980s some of the holiday trains from Derby and Leicester used to spend the whole day at Skegness. I wondered how they arranged the crews.

The Skegness EMR summer IC extras still sit for a good couple of hours (although the crews may not).

The Brigg service (remember that) also sits there a long time, possibly also a couple of hours from memory.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Buxton. The timetable on that line is quite silly; it's apparently so tight that trains can't serve both Middlewood and Dove Holes in the same hour

I think the alternate hours calls at Middlewood and Dove Holes are more about lack of demand rather than tight timetabling - and it does make the slow journey to Buxton marginally less slow.

I suppose the staff could use it as an official break - as long as the train has a toilet. Mind you, I have no idea how these things work.

There are no Mess Room Facilites for Traincrew at Hazel Grove, and even if there were the train is parked in a siding for most of the turnround.

 

[nw1]

Four minutes for most of the day, apart from the third-to-last and second-to-last that have nineteen minutes and seventeen minutes respectively.

Interesting, I always had the idea that five minutes was the minimum for a turnaround (for reliability reasons).

 

[SteveM70]

When the push-pull 73 powered Gatwick Express was launched, was it not the case that they deliberately planned it with excessive layovers so that there’d always be a train sat at both Victoria and Gatwick?

 

[dk1]

When the push-pull 73 powered Gatwick Express was launched, was it not the case that they deliberately planned it with excessive layovers so that there’d always be a train sat at both Victoria and Gatwick?

Yes, should always be a service boarding was one of the advertising claims.

 

[306024]

When the push-pull 73 powered Gatwick Express was launched, was it not the case that they deliberately planned it with excessive layovers so that there’d always be a train sat at both Victoria and Gatwick?

And exactly how the 15 minute frequency Stansted Express was planned too, not that either end could be described as quiet though.