The Midnight Train...?

[OldandRambling]

Many USA songs mention catching the "midnight train". A romantic notion in some ways, but what UK trains are scheduled to depart nearest to midnight? I can see that 00.00 as a time would not be sensible, but which trains are nearest? Any 23.59 or 00.01?

 

[zwk500]

There's a 0001 from Euston to Wolverhampton, among others.

 

[syorksdeano]

There's a 0001 from Euston to Wolverhampton, among others.

Nothing romantic about Wolverhampton

 

[zwk500]

Nothing romantic about Wolverhampton

Very true!

 

[D821]

I believe 'Midnight Train To Dudley' was Gladys Knight's original version of the song, but the record company insisted she change it.

 

[iphone76]

0001 to Gidea Park / Shenfield from Liv St

 

[najaB]

I can see that 00.00 as a time would not be sensible, but which trains are nearest? Any 23.59 or 00.01?

If buses in the railway timetable count there's a 23:59 bus from Haymarket to Edinburgh Airport.

 

[JonathanH]

There's a 0001 from Euston to Wolverhampton, among others.

0001 at Euston *from* Wolverhampton. The last Virgin / Avanti departure from Euston has been 2330 for some time.

I don't think there are any particularly symbolic 'midnight' departures across the network that go specifically at 2359 or 0001 for the reason of being a 'midnight train'. They are just as likely to be 2350, 2355, 2358, 0002, 0005 etc. For example the lowland sleeper leaves Euston at 2350 and Edinburgh / Glasgow at 2340. Euston has a departure to Watford at 2358 and Milton Keynes at 0002. Victoria has the last Brighton (Worthing) train at 0002, then final Southern departures at 0008 for Gatwick and 0013 for East Croydon.

 

[T-Karmel]

There's a 0001 Marylebone to Oxford departure.

 

[Eloise]

Many systems can’t handle 00:00:00 so our planning systems prevents it going downstream. Note this is a issue with legacy systems and not TPS as is often misinformed. I believe there are WTT times at 23:59:30 and possibly some at 00:00:30 but personally I avoid the latter if I spot it.

 

[Alex365Dash]

The Caledonian Highland Sleeper (Aberdeen portion) is scheduled to depart at 23:59 from Kirkcaldy towards London Euston in the public timetable. However, in the working timetable, it departs at 00:01 (having arrived at 23:58).

The sleeper is shown to depart two minutes before its actual time at quite a few stations so this disparity isn’t unusual, but this case is a bit interesting because the departure in each timetable is one minute away from midnight on either side.

 

[TheEdge]

Many systems can’t handle 00:00:00 so our planning systems prevents it going downstream. Note this is a issue with legacy systems and not TPS as is often misinformed. I believe there are WTT times at 23:59:30 and possibly some at 00:00:30 but personally I avoid the latter if I spot it.

I was wondering if all these 2359 and 0001 timings were more to do with 0000 being a potential issue for various systems. The 2330 departure from Liverpool Street to Norwich is set to dwell at Chelmsford from 2359 to 0001 which I presume is to avoid an 0000 timing.

 

[Shrop]

I guess one conclusion is that it's a good job you can't catch a train to Georgia, from anywhere in the UK, unless you were prepared to make it a less romantic trip!

 

[zero]

0000 is confusing to passengers because nobody can ever be sure which day is meant (actual 0000 on day 1, or 0000 on day 2 = 2400 on day 1).

Airlines also schedule flights at 2359 for this reason. 2359 is preferable to 0001 because for a flight at 2359 you need to arrive at around 2200 on the same date, whereas with 0001 inevitably over time a few passengers will get confused and turn up a day early (embarrassing) or a day late (expensive)

 

[Bald Rick]

I guess one conclusion is that it's a good job you can't catch a train to Georgia, from anywhere in the UK, unless you were prepared to make it a less romantic trip!

Unles sperhaps you are taking a trip to visit a friend called Georgia, and happen to be leaving at 00:00?

 

[dk1]

Many USA songs mention catching the "midnight train". A romantic notion in some ways, but what UK trains are scheduled to depart nearest to midnight? I can see that 00.00 as a time would not be sensible, but which trains are nearest? Any 23.59 or 00.01?

Been saying that for years now & usually gets met with a sigh as a response. I don’t think these so called songwriters gave much attention to detail.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I was wondering if all these 2359 and 0001 timings were more to do with 0000 being a potential issue for various systems. The 2330 departure from Liverpool Street to Norwich is set to dwell at Chelmsford from 2359 to 0001 which I presume is to avoid an 0000 timing.

The old printed timetable book used to have a short passage in it about no trains being timed publically at 0000 to avoid confusion about which day they were on.

 

[dk1]

I was wondering if all these 2359 and 0001 timings were more to do with 0000 being a potential issue for various systems. The 2330 departure from Liverpool Street to Norwich is set to dwell at Chelmsford from 2359 to 0001 which I presume is to avoid an 0000 timing.

Which is so annoying with our rocket Stadlers. Probably arriving around 23:56 these days. We could be through New Hall neutral by 00:01 Grrr!!!

 

[Surreytraveller]

0001 at Euston *from* Wolverhampton. The last Virgin / Avanti departure from Euston has been 2330 for some time.

I don't think there are any particularly symbolic 'midnight' departures across the network that go specifically at 2359 or 0001 for the reason of being a 'midnight train'. They are just as likely to be 2350, 2355, 2358, 0002, 0005 etc. For example the lowland sleeper leaves Euston at 2350 and Edinburgh / Glasgow at 2340. Euston has a departure to Watford at 2358 and Milton Keynes at 0002. Victoria has the last Brighton (Worthing) train at 0002, then final Southern departures at 0008 for Gatwick and 0013 for East Croydon.

Pedantically, the last train to Brighton isn't at 00.02. Its the first train!

The old printed timetable book used to have a short passage in it about no trains being timed publically at 0000 to avoid confusion about which day they were on.

I've known railway replacement buses turn up 24 hours early before because of the unawareness amongst nine-to-fivers about not timing anything at midnight

 

[Sapphire Blue]

I believe 'Midnight Train To Dudley' was Gladys Knight's original version of the song, but the record company insisted she change it.

More accurately (but maybe less interesting)
The song was originally written as Midnight Train to Houston
It was changed to Georgia when Thelma Houston was due to record it.

 

[OldandRambling]

Thanks for all the interesting replies. I can see that the 00.00 issue would cause major confusion for people.
Apart from Georgia, I was thinking of "The Midnight Special", and the group Journey, who mention catching the midnight train in song lyrics.
I guess the "Twenty Three Fifty Nine to Georgia" has lost some of the romance!

 

[najaB]

Pedantically, the last train to Brighton isn't at 00.02. Its the first train

In railway terms it would be one of the last trains of the day.

 

[CW2]

The Paddington - Penzance overnight has departed at various times over the years, but was always known (amongst the cranky bashers at least) as the "Down Midnight".
The corresponding Up service had / has a departure time from Plymouth (rather than origin time from Penzance) of shortly after midnight too, so that became the "Up Midnight".
Are these terms still used for these trains?

 

[fgwrich]

You used to have the 00:05 to Bournemouth, but that seems to have been unhelpfully dropped by SWR so it’s the less romantic 23:40 or 23:48.

 

[LAX54]

In railway terms it would be one of the last trains of the day.

Does the Railway not run (internal) to a 25 or 26 hour day / clock ? so last trains of the 'day' are 0100 / 0200 departures

 

[Astro_Orbiter]

There's (idk if it still runs with covid timetable) a 2359 from Stansted Airport to Liv St

 

[Ken H]

I often schedule software changes at work to occur around midnight. But I always use 00:05:00 to remove any confusion. I don't actually know when it would do one scheduled for 00:00. It seems sensible to me to avoid scheduling stuff for 00:00

Or is it 24:00???

 

[Gloster]

I wish I could remember which was which, but one of the three Paddington-Penzance trains (Postal, News and sleeper) was the Waker and another the Owl.

 

[najaB]

Does the Railway not run (internal) to a 25 or 26 hour day / clock ? so last trains of the 'day' are 0100 / 0200 departures

Not sure about the 26-hour day but yes, as I understand it, the railway day runs through to 01:59:59.

 

[saxsux]

Does the Railway not run (internal) to a 25 or 26 hour day / clock ? so last trains of the 'day' are 0100 / 0200 departures

For ticketing purposes, one day ends at 0429 and the next starts at 0430