Cleethorpes 153

Now that the first and last trips on the Barton branch are class 185, how does the 153 get to/from Cleethorpes each day?

Doesn’t it come in from Lincoln on empty stock working?

can you not follow it on RTT? I suspect it works empty from Lincoln at stupid o'clock

Yes I presume it works in/out with the EMT service but what services get it to Lincoln and what does it do to escape Lincoln?

Has this changed ownership?

It would work on the 0442 Lincoln to Cleethorpes and the 2115 Cleethorpes to Lincoln services.

Then many ways to escape Lincoln (on the northern services to Sheffield)

Are there any manual boxes left between Lincoln and Cleethorpes?

To don my evil Tory hat for a moment......isn’t it about time the Barton branch was put out of its misery? There at least surely can’t be any justification for spending any money when renewals are due. And it’s going to need new trains soon presumably?

Sure it does a Sheffield to Lincoln at night and then attaches to a EMT service to Grimsby the following morning

Mugby said:

Are there any manual boxes left between Lincoln and Cleethorpes?

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Langworth, Wickenby and Holton-le-Moor.

Unit brought back on the 2117 from Cleethorpes by EMT, locked out of passenger use. It is then taken back to Sheffield on the 2242 from Lincoln.

The 2217 arrival from Sheffield is stabled at Lincoln over night and runs to Cleethorpes on the 0442 ECS working the next morning.

No idea how this route can be economically justified, but I tried it on Thursday from Habrough to Stallingborough. Possibly retained for potential port freight traffic and lack of bus

It isn’t viable, but it’s one of those routes that must be run (even if at a loss) as stipulated by the Government in the franchise arrangements.
There are a few lines throughout the UK that run at the expense of those lines making a profit, a service must be provided or they will face the wrath for effectively ‘cutting people off’ who have had a service for x amount of years.

It's one of those routes where if you give the local stations on the 'mainline' an hourly service they might get used (silly idea of inserting the calls onto the current EMT services from Lincoln), but the branch itself copes, the only real settlement of size is Goxhill.

Kite159 said:

It's one of those routes where if you give the local stations on the 'mainline' an hourly service they might get used (silly idea of inserting the calls onto the current EMT services from Lincoln), but the branch itself copes, the only real settlement of size is Goxhill.

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If we're talking post 2021 when the Lincoln to Grimsby service is supposed to go hourly, then I could see the potential of adding some peak time calls at Stallingborough, Healing and Great Coates. At the moment, a sparodic service isn't going to attract much more custom than we currently get with people changing at Habrough. Especially as the evening peak working from Lincoln is full and standing most nights. At present, I think Healing and Great Coates can only accommodate a 153.

trentside said:

If we're talking post 2021 when the Lincoln to Grimsby service is supposed to go hourly, then I could see the potential of adding some peak time calls at Stallingborough, Healing and Great Coates. At the moment, a sparodic service isn't going to attract much more custom than we currently get with people changing at Habrough. Especially as the evening peak working from Lincoln is full and standing most nights. At present, I think Healing and Great Coates can only accommodate a 153.

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The other thing at the moment is that the most of the time the turnaround at Grimsby is about 10 minutes, so the extra stops would be impossible to accomodate anyway. I suspect that EMT would prefer to run to Cleethorpes if they had extra time rather than additional stops.

Of course we don't know what the proposed timetable will be, but I dont expect a long turnaround to feature.

Owen T said:

It isn’t viable, but it’s one of those routes that must be run (even if at a loss) as stipulated by the Government in the franchise arrangements.
There are a few lines throughout the UK that run at the expense of those lines making a profit, a service must be provided or they will face the wrath for effectively ‘cutting people off’ who have had a service for x amount of years.

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Back in the beeching cuts era - The Humber bridge didn't exist - the Barton line was well used for connections to the Ferry over to Hull. Shortly after the Humber bridge opened, the ferry service ceased, and buses could now run Direct from Grimsby to Hull, saving the need to use the train and ferry connection.

Had the Humber Bridge being around in the 60's, I am sure the Barton branch would have been culled, like so many other similar lines across the UK.

I have only used the line a couple of times, and on both occasions found the Cl153 roughly half to 3/4s full on arriving/leaving Grimsby, although this was a few years ago

The massive issue with the Barton branch has been reliability over the past couple of years. The line is run by TPE staff and TPE have been suffering with shortages of staff over this period. Rather than cancel the TPE service to Man Airport, cancelling the Barton service makes a lot more sense.

Unfortunately, people can't rely on the service and therefore, the line has seen a drop in patronage. Examples include:
•Goxhill and New Holland down to 13k from 20k per annum
•Growth of Healing and Stallingborough from 9k to 13k has fallen back to around 10k per annum

Some body really needs to take ownership of the line and make some effort to grow patronage. While I'd avoid closing the whole route, I do wonder if closing lightly used stations such as Thorton Abbey and Barrow Haven would have some merit. Concentrating on developing parking at either Goxhill or New Holland would probably cover for the closure of these.

Ideally, an hourly service would be reinstated on the line but I do wonder in order to provide a reliable service if two class 230's could be used with one providing the 2 hourly core service and the other providing cover for this unit and running one morning peak extra to arrive in Grimsby around 8:00 and one evening service leaving Grimsby at either 16:00 or 18:00 or perhaps even both. It's probably better to have a 2 hourly service people can rely on to begin with and see if that can grow patronage sufficiently.

One thing I would love to be tried would be a micro franchise, either run by a private operator / developer or the Councils on the route, that takes a long approach to the line and develops housing along the routes such as Habrough and Healing Stations. The housing could help fund the service and the service would provide transport for the housing which would make the service more viable.

Grimsby town said:

The massive issue with the Barton branch has been reliability over the past couple of years. The line is run by TPE staff and TPE have been suffering with shortages of staff over this period. Rather than cancel the TPE service to Man Airport, cancelling the Barton service makes a lot more sense.

Unfortunately, people can't rely on the service and therefore, the line has seen a drop in patronage. Examples include:
•Goxhill and New Holland down to 13k from 20k per annum
•Growth of Healing and Stallingborough from 9k to 13k has fallen back to around 10k per annum

Some body really needs to take ownership of the line and make some effort to grow patronage. While I'd avoid closing the whole route, I do wonder if closing lightly used stations such as Thorton Abbey and Barrow Haven would have some merit. Concentrating on developing parking at either Goxhill or New Holland would probably cover for the closure of these.

Ideally, an hourly service would be reinstated on the line but I do wonder in order to provide a reliable service if two class 230's could be used with one providing the 2 hourly core service and the other providing cover for this unit and running one morning peak extra to arrive in Grimsby around 8:00 and one evening service leaving Grimsby at either 16:00 or 18:00 or perhaps even both. It's probably better to have a 2 hourly service people can rely on to begin with and see if that can grow patronage sufficiently.

One thing I would love to be tried would be a micro franchise, either run by a private operator / developer or the Councils on the route, that takes a long approach to the line and develops housing along the routes such as Habrough and Healing Stations. The housing could help fund the service and the service would provide transport for the housing which would make the service more viable.

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I wonder if Hull Trains are looking for other opportunities.