EMR 5car to Skegness, but buy food afterwards

[Snow1964]

BBC is reporting that East Midlands will be using longer 5car trains on some Skegness workings, but they want people to buy food afterwards.

A train operator is increasing the number of carriages in a bid to stop overcrowding on one of its most popular summer routes.

East Midlands Railway (EMR) said services between Nottingham to Skegness would have five carriages at peak times, an increase of more than 30% compared with summer 2023.

It is also offering free vacuum bags, to allow passengers to reduce the size of their bedding, and is urging customers to "resist the urge to take food shopping with you".

Emma Davis, from EMR, said the changes were introduced after analysing passenger data.
Customers are also being encouraged to book in advance to guarantee a seat.

"What we have done is taken all the information from the past two years of customers travelling and understood when they would like to travel," Ms Davis said.

More carriages on Nottingham to Skegness train service

East Midlands Railway says trains from Nottingham to Skegness will have five carriages at peak time.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[duffield]

BBC is reporting that East Midlands will be using longer 5car trains on some Skegness workings, but they want people to buy food afterwards.

More carriages on Nottingham to Skegness train service

East Midlands Railway says trains from Nottingham to Skegness will have five carriages at peak time.

www.bbc.co.uk

Given that there's a large Morrisons and Tesco right next to the station, carting loads of food with you to Skeg is generally pretty unnecessary.

Skeg trains (10:50 Nottingham to Skegness, and 16:14 Skegness to Nottingham) were pretty much full but not standing yesterday, both 3 coaches. Separation of booked/non-booked passengers was not yet in operation (for my services anyhow), no queueing system at Nottingham but normal queueing system at Skegness. The usual extra Saturday services from Derby to Skegness are supposed to start next Saturday (13th July) but don't yet appear in the journey planners.

It's good that EMR seem to be making at least some extra provision this year compared to last year, but I'm sure it will still be inadequate at busy times.

 

[31160]

The pity of it is this is the sort of service the railways used to be so good for but now, everything is just too difficult

 

[richardderby]

The usual extra Saturday services from Derby to Skegness are supposed to start next Saturday (13th July) but don't yet appear in the journey planners.

the extra trains start the following Saturday, (20th) and run through to the first week of September to reflect school holidays.
the Skegness services are probably best avoided during theses periods...

 

[duffield]

the extra trains start the following Saturday, (20th) and run through to the first week of September to reflect school holidays.
the Skegness services are probably best avoided during theses periods...

Ah, so the EMR website is wrong (quote from Skegness this summer FAQ )

Will the Skegness special services be running this Summer?
Yes, there will also be a number of Skegness Summer Special services which will depart from Derby on Saturdays between 7 July 2024 - 7 September 2024.

The first Saturday after 7th of July would have been 13th July. Anyhow, I can see them in RTT for the 20th.

 

[dk1]

I couldn’t imagine taking food with me on a holiday (apart from a few snacks for the journey) but then I doubt I’d go to Skegness for more than a couple of days eating out at all times.

 

[Trainman40083]

I couldn’t imagine taking food with me on a holiday (apart from a few snacks for the journey) but then I doubt I’d go to Skegness for more than a couple of days eating out at all times.

Maybe EMR don't want to have to clean the train afterwards. My memory was much of it ended up on the floor and seats.

 

[cactustwirly]

I couldn’t imagine taking food with me on a holiday (apart from a few snacks for the journey) but then I doubt I’d go to Skegness for more than a couple of days eating out at all times.

I'd imagine these people are staying at Caravan parks etc

 

[dk1]

Maybe EMR don't want to have to clean the train afterwards. My memory was much of it ended up on the floor and seats.

Some passengers are absolutely vile. We see the same on the Yarmouth route on Mondays & Fridays.

I'd imagine these people are staying at Caravan parks etc

I would imagine so.

 

[43055]

The 0955 from Nottingham and 1212 return seems to always be a 5 car since the timetable change on weekdays. The 2 car 170 then goes onto work the 1454 on arrival at Nottingham with the 3 car set returning to Skegness.

Also have been double sets some days are the 0847, 1346 from Nottingham and 1114, 1927 from Skegness.

 

[Bradford PA]

I'd imagine these people are staying at Caravan parks etc

I often stay at self-catering accommodation on holiday, including caravan parks, but wouldn't dream of overloading my train luggage with food for the journey there. I simply drop my luggage on arrival at my holiday residence and then take a trip to the local supermarket to stock up for the week. There seem to be good options available for this at Skegness.

 

[Trainman40083]

I remember seeing a lady butter bread for sandwiches on her chest, and just brush the crumbs onto the floor. Then there was some that spilt drinks all over the table. Rather than go to the toilet for paper towels to mop it up, they just moved seats.

 

[class26]

I remember seeing a lady butter bread for sandwiches on her chest, and just brush the crumbs onto the floor. Then there was some that spilt drinks all over the table. Rather than go to the toilet for paper towels to mop it up, they just moved seats.

I would hesitate to call her a "lady"

 

[yorksrob]

I remember seeing a lady butter bread for sandwiches on her chest, and just brush the crumbs onto the floor. Then there was some that spilt drinks all over the table. Rather than go to the toilet for paper towels to mop it up, they just moved seats.

Unfortunately not enough trains have paper towels any more (although one should attempt to mop up ones mess with what is to hand).

I've got on trains and seen crushed up crisps all over the floor - assuming this is misbehaved small children.

 

[Trainman40083]

Unfortunately not enough trains have paper towels any more (although one should attempt to mop up ones mess with what is to hand).

I've got on trains and seen crushed up crisps all over the floor - assuming this is misbehaved small children.

I used to commute home from Crewe when the Skegness trains worked through. Would often help the staff if they had a black bin bag for all the litter. In later years the train would terminate in Nottingham for a clean. One wonders what state their houses are in, if they leave trains like that. Bugs me, when people complain to the TOC about the mess. Maybe they should have spoken to the person that made it

 

[whoosh]

Well, my recollections of trains arriving into Nottingham from Skegness, were that the clientele already had bin liners of their own.

Instead of suitcases...

 

[LowLevel]

Having "suffered" these trains as the guard for many years I do surprisingly feel a little bit inclined to defend the passengers here.

For the most part they're families or couples often not very well off who've saved to pay for their train tickets and their holiday and 99.9% of them have perfectly valid tickets and their behaviour is OK although yes they might make a mess. Plenty come from places like Birmingham and even Scotland and pay a surprising amount. You have a small number of difficult families but by far the worst tend to be small groups of delinquent adults who have had too much to drink or taken drugs.

They don't tend to have alternative means and the modern railway has no interest in making proper provision for catering for them, so they're crammed into small trains without luggage space and tempers fray.

The 8 coach HST sets which had plenty of room for their things as well as seating were a totally different atmosphere to when a 2 car DMU turns up bursting.

I honestly feel terrible when you turn up at Grantham with a train that is already full from Nottingham and see another load waiting.

More than once I've ended up wedged in a doorway myself with them and they offer to share their picnic and just get on with it and it's rubbish. I've said often enough I don't know why they come back to us but they do.

Hopefully the fleet will be resilient enough to allow the planned 3, 4 and 5 car trains to be reliably formed.

 

[Kite159]

Having "suffered" these trains as the guard for many years I do surprisingly feel a little bit inclined to defend the passengers here.

For the most part they're families or couples often not very well off who've saved to pay for their train tickets and their holiday and 99.9% of them have perfectly valid tickets and their behaviour is OK although yes they might make a mess. Plenty come from places like Birmingham and even Scotland and pay a surprising amount. You have a small number of difficult families but by far the worst tend to be small groups of delinquent adults who have had too much to drink or taken drugs.

They don't tend to have alternative means and the modern railway has no interest in making proper provision for catering for them, so they're crammed into small trains without luggage space and tempers fray.

The 8 coach HST sets which had plenty of room for their things as well as seating were a totally different atmosphere to when a 2 car DMU turns up bursting.

I honestly feel terrible when you turn up at Grantham with a train that is already full from Nottingham and see another load waiting.

More than once I've ended up wedged in a doorway myself with them and they offer to share their picnic and just get on with it and it's rubbish. I've said often enough I don't know why they come back to us but they do.

Hopefully the fleet will be resilient enough to allow the planned 3, 4 and 5 car trains to be reliably formed.

I guess one advantage the 170s have over sprinters is the guard can do the doors from the rear cab area rather than within the passenger area?

Although, that doesn't help if you end up having to fight through the crowd for any stations which require SDO.

(I guess one potential idea for EMR is to run a separate Grantham - Skegness service, with the service from Nottingham going direct towards Skegness, to cater for passengers boarding at Grantham, assuming there is enough slack in the fleet + staff for an extra unit)

 

[Trainman40083]

I guess one advantage the 170s have over sprinters is the guard can do the doors from the rear cab area rather than within the passenger area?

Although, that doesn't help if you end up having to fight through the crowd for any stations which require SDO.

(I guess one potential idea for EMR is to run a separate Grantham - Skegness service, with the service from Nottingham going direct towards Skegness, to cater for passengers boarding at Grantham, assuming there is enough slack in the fleet + staff for an extra unit)

I remember catching a Nottingham to Skegness service, to do the curve at Allington. Whoops, it did not stop at Grantham, and went the same way as the 20 hauled trains went. Got the curve on the way back

 

[Andy Pacer]

I remember catching a Nottingham to Skegness service, to do the curve at Allington. Whoops, it did not stop at Grantham, and went the same way as the 20 hauled trains went. Got the curve on the way back

The 0955 off Nottingham still does this, not sure why though.

 

[Falcon1200]

The 0955 off Nottingham still does this, not sure why though.

Presumably to retain Traincrew route knowledge?

 

[43055]

The 5 car extras have started today although it looks like the fleet is a bit short today with some of the normal services being 2 cars instead of 4 or 5.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

...it looks like the fleet is a bit short today with some of the normal services being 2 cars instead of 4 or 5.

On a Summer Saturday on services to Skegness?!