how to find out when freight trains are actually running

[hathaer1]

Hi, I would like to take my sons to see some freight trains on the Paisley to Glasgow line.

I have looked up the WTT to try and get the times of some trains but when we go down to the railway line the freight trains are never there when it says they should be.

I get the feeling I'm reading the WTT wrong. Is there any other way to tell when a freight train will be on the line?

Thanks for any help

 

[yorkie]

Welcome to the forum.

The working timetables just show what paths exist, it doesn't mean they will run.

Here's a few posts from previous threads:

Some freight services are advertised as Run as Required, however just because a freight service does not say this - does not mean it is definitely going to run. Freight service paths should be looked at with a pinch of salt until it reports a departure from its origin.

... 1000s of paths ... are in the system and save planners having to sort out the schedules every time, they are activated as and when required.

...many trains are just 'ghost' paths which rarely/never run and even those which do run are often shown as running Monday to Friday when in reality they only run once or twice a week.

My full time job for the past 20 years has been to study the patterns of freight services all over the country and publish regularly updated timetables for popular locations which only show the regular runners.

My timetables are intended to act as a companion to RTT, to enable people to see in advance what they are likely to see at a particular location on a given day of the week, so they can choose the best day/time of day to go out...

Perhaps someone might be able to help say which freight trains are currently likely to run through Paisley.

 

[Freightmaster]

Perhaps someone might be able to help say which freight trains are currently likely to run through Paisley.

Not much at the moment, I'm afraid

The line normally sees a large number of coal trains running
from the port at Hunterston to the power stations at Longannet
in Fife and (to a lesser extent) Fiddlers Ferry near Warrington,
but recent changes to the way that coal is taxed means that
power stations are taking very few coal deliveries this summer...

Because of this, the Hunterston to Fiddlers Ferry trains stopped
running altogether a couple of weeks ago, and the Longannet
workings have been reduced to the point where only about 25%
of the full trainplan is currently operating.

The specific trains can and do vary from week to week,
but to give an idea of what to expect, this week has seen
daytime (8am to 8pm) loaded coal trains to Longannet
booked to pass Paisley at 09:07 and 17:37, with empties
booked to pass at 13:02 and 15:32

In addition to these daily trains, there are a number
of interesting, but less frequent freight services to
be seen, including:

- a weekly nuclear flask train from Hunterston to Sellafield,
booked to pass Paisley at 13:30

- a twice weekly trainload of aviation fuel from Grangemouth
to Prestwick, hauled by a Colas 56, booked to pass Paisley
at 08:15 and 18:13 on Tuesdays and Fridays.

There are also other workings, such as china clay from Antwerp
and Aberdeen to Irvine.


MARK

 

[Condor7]

Mark at Freightmaster as the name suggests is the expert on freight and if you joined Freightmaster (which comes at a small cost) he has various tables in Scottish locations showing regular freight, but not Paisley I am afraid, however he does provide an on request table for any given day at any given location.

The next best thing is Real Time Trains or Open Train Times. These are like WTT but in real time.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced

This is a link to Real Time Trains (RTT)

Under 'Location, Date, & TOC' put in Paisley Gilmour Street. If you leave 'All' in the box below, the table will show both passenger and freight, if you change it to 'ZZ' it will just show freight.

Under 'What Time' use the drop down box to change to say 0600-2000, and under 'Services' change it from 'WTT order' to 'Actual order', and then press submit.

Like with the WTT this lists everything whether it runs or not, however (and this can change as the day goes on) if you look under the 'ID' column in the centre of the table if it says FRGT then this path has not yet been activated so will not be running (at least not at the time you are looking but as mentioned can change as the day goes on), if on the other hand there is a code in there i.e. '689D' then it has been activated. Unfortunately this does not necessarily mean it will still run, the only way of knowing for sure is to click on the code mentioned above and it will take you to the full table for that train, look at the column on the right headed 'Realtime' and check where it says 'Dly' This tells you if the train is running early or late or on time (RT). If there is anything in that column the train is running.

Complicated I know, but after a while you get used to it, and your local knowledge will also kick in after a while as you will get to know which trains run regularly and which do not.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Mark at Freightmaster as the name suggests is the expert of freight and if you joined Freightmaster (which comes at a small cost) he has various tables in Scottish locations showing regular freight but not Paisley, however he does provide an on request table for any given day at any given location.

The next best thing is Real Time Trains or Open Train Times. These are like WTT but in real time.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced

This is a link to Real Time Trains (RTT)

Under Location, Date, & TOC put in Paisley Gilmour Street. If you leave 'All' in the box below the table will show both passenger and freight, if you change it to 'ZZ' it will just show freight.

Under 'What Time' use the drop down box to change to say 0600-2000, and under 'Services' change it from WTT order to Actual order, and then press submit.

Like with the WTT this lists everything whether it runs or not, however (and this can change as the day goes on) if you look under the 'ID' column in the centre of the table if it says FRGT then this path has not yet been activated so will not run, if on the other hand there is a code in there i.e. 689D then it has been activated. Unfortunately this does not necessarily mean it will still run, the only way of knowing for sure is to click on the code mentioned above and it will take you to the full table for that train, look at the column on the right headed 'Realtime' and check where it says 'Dly' This tells you if the train is running early or late or on time (RT). If there is anything in that column the train is running.

Complicated I know, but after a while you get used to it, and your local knowledge will also kick in after a while as you will get to know which trains run regularly and which do not.