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EMT Summer HST to Skegness

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xc170

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Tempted to do the summer HST to Skegness from Derby tomorrow morning, do any of you have any idea how full it's likely to be, if very, I may wait and do it next week with a reservation... It's the below service I'm looking at doing.

2S11 DBY 0853 - NOT 0931a / 0945d - SKG 1158
 
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Tempted to do the summer HST to Skegness from Derby tomorrow morning, do any of you have any idea how full it's likely to be, if very, I may wait and do it next week with a reservation... It's the below service I'm looking at doing.

It'll be busy from Nottingham I would think. My advice would be to go for the single seat in the TGS (next to the guard's area) or a bay of two in FC - service is standard class only so you can use first class.
 

xc170

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Thanks - it's definitely standard only?

I'll probably get the same HST straight back, not keen on Skegness, it's a bit Jeremy Kyle.
 

LowLevel

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It's definitely standard class only and I would advise boarding as early on in the journey as possible - all previous Saturdays the morning train has been full and standing. Departure from Skegness is also up to 25 minutes late due to the amount of time it's taking to unload - combining the service train and the additional has lead it to be very busy. Both powercars and the brake van cage are typically floor to ceiling with luggage which takes an age to unload.
 
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70014IronDuke

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It's definitely standard class only and I would advise boarding as early on in the journey as possible - all previous Saturdays the morning train has been full and standing. Departure from Skegness is also up to 25 minutes late due to the amount of time it's taking to unload - combining the service train and the additional has lead it to be very busy. Both powercars and the brake van cage are typically floor to ceiling with luggage which takes an age to unload.

Very interesting to hear this. Do people still take a fortnight's holiday at Skeggy then? Or is it just day trippers when the sun looks like it's gonna shine?
 

xc170

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Well, this morning I did the 08:53 Derby to Skegness HST all the way.

Boarded at Derby and headed straight into 1st, had the coach to myself with the exception of a couple of other enthusiasts sat behind me, lovely relaxing journey to Nottingham.

We arrived into Nottingham and an entire council estate dived on, the rest of the journey from here on in wasn't an experience I enjoyed, from the smell of weed and Fosters larger to the screaming 10 year olds being chased up and down the train by their tracksuit wearing teenage parents, it was like a Jeremy Kyle Show day out!

Moving on, I had an hour in Skegness before deciding to catch a 156 back to Nottingham, I had planned to get the HST straight back but after three hours I needed a walk and a coffee.

Arriving back at the Skegness station I was greeted by the sight of 200+ people all with suitcases and a single 156 in the platform. Fortunately for me, being a lone traveller without luggage the EMT staff found a seat for me, can't fault the staff considering what they had to cope with.

All in all, I'll say it was an experience, I'm undecided weather I enjoyed it or not.

I'd imagine the class 222 isn't yet cleared to work to Skegness, but this is something EMT should be seriously looking at, single 156's really are not suitable, I counted 4 222's sat at Etches Park as I passed on my way home, I'd say at least 50 people had to be left behind at Skegness.
 

TheBigD

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Just a few points...

There has been a reduction in capacity on Saturday mornings this summer following the decision to run the Matlock-Newark services on Saturdays (previously they ran Mon-Fri only)... The HST diagram was changed so that a unit was released for the above services... The loss is the equivalent of a 153+156... There is however more capacity from Skegness late afternoon... I think some other EMT services were also strengthened elsewhere...

The single 156 you mention above should have been a 156+158 but the 158 had a door fault... I dread to thing how overcrowded it was on the inbound 1045 ex Nottingham...

The Nottingham crews that work the HST services don't sign 222's and I'm not sure they are cleared to Skeggy anyway... 222's have been used a fair few times on the Derby-Crewe services though so that might be possible to release units for the Skeggy run...
 

CaptainHaddock

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Thinking of doing this run on Saturday; anyone know how busy it normally is on the 1730 HST departure from Skegness?
 

LowLevel

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No it isn't, that's the earlier departure in the main. It's busyish but the 1730 hasn't left anyone behind on any occasion I'm aware of.
 

CaptainHaddock

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Thanks for the responses even if you seem to have contradicted each other!

Anyway, I decided against doing the Skegness HST on the bank holiday weekend and am thinking of trying again this saturday. Does anyone know if this Saturday (10 September) is the last Skegness HST run of the Summer season?
 

LowLevel

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It is indeed the last day of it. I like to think my gen is good, my source is my own eyeballs and I'm a senior conductor at the depot operating the trains, dunno who the other chap is :)

As for the other patrons on the train, it's a well known fact that on top of normal people out for a day at the seaside the Skegness line attracts the worst scum the East Midlands has to offer. It's best to bear that in mind and come prepared!
 
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ainsworth74

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Having just done a forum trip last weekend to Skegness our experience was that the 1445 from Nottingham to Skegness was dead and that the 1730 loaded well but was by no means full. I feel as if a four-car unit would have been full and standing but an eight-car HST was more than sufficient.

It should be noted, however, that the weather was poor so it will have deterred day trippers. I would also trust LowLevel in what they say as well! :)
 

robbeech

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We were certainly a little concerned about getting a reasonable selection of seats for the return leg but there was at least half of that carriage still empty. There were actually more people from Boston than from Skegness, football related drivel with people with insufficient tickets etc.

Rob
 

Darandio

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We arrived into Nottingham and an entire council estate dived on, the rest of the journey from here on in wasn't an experience I enjoyed, from the smell of weed and Fosters larger to the screaming 10 year olds being chased up and down the train by their tracksuit wearing teenage parents, it was like a Jeremy Kyle Show day out!

There were actually more people from Boston than from Skegness, football related drivel with people with insufficient tickets etc.

I think you both need to get over yourselves.
 

robbeech

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Ok, to rephrase, there were a lot of football fans that got on at Boston on the way back. They were rather noisy although only a small number entered our carriage. it turns out they only had tickets from Nottingham to Sleaford rather than to Boston. I was merely commenting on the fact that we were un-necessarily concerned about space on the way back and infact there were a significant number of people joining at Boston too due to a football match having been played there.

Rob
 

LowLevel

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I think you both need to get over yourselves.

Really? :) Spend 5 consecutive days on Skegness services in the summer and you might have a different opinion. I do anything I can to avoid them.
 
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