LNR Longport stops

[Idon'tKnow]

London - Crewe services never used to stop at Longport in the normal timetable but now they do! Why?

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Is there any event on locally?

 

[Idon'tKnow]

Is there any event on locally?

It's everyday!

 

[Idon'tKnow]

stops at Longport on LNR
between 0900 and 1630 monday - saturday
and 1054 until 1654 sundays

 

[MidnightFlyer]

It's everyday!

The question still applies The fact that it is off-peak only on a short-term basis (see Real Time Trains) and no song and dance has been made of it suggests to me that they are there to cater for something transient nearby.

 

[Idon'tKnow]

The question still applies The fact that it is off-peak only on a short-term basis (see Real Time Trains) and no song and dance has been made of it suggests to me that they are there to cater for something transient nearby.

My initial thought was the derby re signalling, but Longport receives the same service it does usually, just terminating at Tutbury & Hatton!

 

[Idon'tKnow]

To clarify, what I mean is, that I noticed these additional stops during the Derby works, and maybe LNR have thought they were successful and kept them, it's anyone's guess!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Having done some digging, it is probably in connection with the Tower of London ceramic poppies being on show nearby:

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/whats-on/middleport-pottery-ceramic-poppies-parking-1813986

Visitors planning to see the huge ceramic poppies display in Stoke-on-Trent will be able to use a park-and-ride – but it will cost them £3 for a parking ticket.

...

The council has also been in touch with Network Rail to see if it can get the Derby-to-Crewe train service to stop more frequently at Longport station, although the outcome of the talks is not known.

Middleport Pottery is next door to Longport station (so says Google Maps!) and the event is ongoing from early August to mid-September, which explains why nothing is in for next week. Good to see this kind of thing happening mind.

 

[Idon'tKnow]

Wow thanks for the information!

 

[vlad]

Middleport Pottery is next door to Longport station (so says Google Maps!) and the event is ongoing from early August to mid-September, which explains why nothing is in for next week. Good to see this kind of thing happening mind.

It's a 15-minute walk along residential streets then the canal towpath and includes a busy road crossing.

I'd like to think the trains are being used but then I'd like more LNR services to stop at Longport for purely selfish reasons.

 

[pt_mad]

I suppose there's be more of a chance of them calling there regularly once the Euston to Crewe is re-routed via the main WCML (Madeley), and the new Euston - Northampton - Birmingham - Stoke - Crewe service serves the Stoke loop.

 

[causton]

I can confirm from the West Midlands Trains Train Service Alterations booklet that the trains are stopping for the Pottery. I think it has received a lot of positive feedback so if there are no adverse effects to trains perhaps it can be a more permanent thing (fingers crossed)!

"Weeping Window at Middleport Pottery, Stoke-on-Trent
The following services will call additionally at Longport."

 

[pt_mad]

I can confirm from the West Midlands Trains Train Service Alterations booklet that the trains are stopping for the Pottery. I think it has received a lot of positive feedback so if there are no adverse effects to trains perhaps it can be a more permanent thing (fingers crossed)!

"Weeping Window at Middleport Pottery, Stoke-on-Trent
The following services will call additionally at Longport."

Could only be a good thing if the new stopping service called there next year. But more stops on the Euston to Crewe wouldn't make much sense IF it slowed journeys down in any way. Especially for passengers heading to the North of England and Scotland from the Trent Valley, making connections at Crewe.

 

[Mugby]

I don't understand the council asking if the Derby to Crewe service can stop more frequently at Longport station.

All EMT's journeys stop there anyway.

 

[pt_mad]

I don't understand the council asking if the Derby to Crewe service can stop more frequently at Longport station.

All EMT's journeys stop there anyway.

Typo? And they meant the LNR service?

 

[Class 170101]

In a way I'm suprised that most of the LNR services don't stop there (subject to train length of course).

 

[The_Train]

Is there actually call for a regular service to stop there? The entire area has declined dramatically over the years and as the local councils seemingly prefer to line their own pockets than regenerate, I can't imagine it becoming a commuter hub any time soon

 

[Deafdoggie]

Longport really could do with more trains. It is the closest station to Newcastle Under Lyme, and the disused goods yard could easily make a big "Park and Ride" type car park. The LNWR trains stop easily, as they wait 5 mins in Stoke anyway! It is also the closest station to both the pottery towns of Burslem and Tunstall. The reason it doesn't get used much is the lack of trains. Both Kidsgrove and Alsager saw massive growth when the London Trains started, and I'm sure Longport would to, but no one is interested. Hourly Crewe-Derby in both directions, and just two trains to Manchester (and none at all back!) is all it gets, and then they wonder why no one uses it.

Port Vale football ground is a short walk away and both their fans would use it.

It's a 15-minute walk along residential streets then the canal towpath and includes a busy road crossing.

Middleport Pottery is very easy short walk away, turn left out of the station, stroll up the hill. No major roads to cross or canals to navigate. It is also where they filmed the BBC series "The Great Pottery Throwdown" But I doubt they came by train.

 

[onlinespotting]

LNWR services stop at Longport in the peaks or as required if there’s a delayed or cancelled EMT Crewe- Derby.

Current stopping pattern was started when EMT had replacement buses on its route recently.

You are correct that the current stopping pattern continued due to the poppies at Middleport pottery (and it’s 5-10 mins walk, not 15 - still a lot closer than Stoke-on-Trent!)

 

[Starmill]

As far as service at Longport goes Northern provide a couple of down calls in the morning peak when there is no East Midlands Trains service anywhere nearby to serve the station. They don't provide a late up call though, even though they run a train from Kidsgrove to Stoke-on-Trent at 2231, some time after the final East Midlands Trains service at 2107 - as far as improving the service goes it would probably be better if they added a call. The final West Midlands Trains service is 2023 so even less use. In the other direction there is a 2251 from Stoke-on-Trent to Crewe, which runs fast. It would actually be a big improvement if this service could call at all three intermediate stations, but it doesn't presumably in case it gets diverted via Stafford. On Sundays Longport is not served before 1537 in the Crewe direction so I would say that there are at least 4 West Midlands Trains services each way that could usefully enhance the service if they stopped on Sundays. There are also a couple of Northern services during this time.

Apart from these, the additional calls in the up direction on West Midlands Trains services are fairly easy presumably, given that most of them have 5 mins booked wait at Stoke-on-Trent. I do question the value of this routinely though, as it means the two services about 5 minutes apart. Is that really going to help promote rail usage? Still, there's no doubt that some scope for more services exists that could probably be exploited without using significantly more resources.

 

[Starmill]

LNWR services stop at Longport in the peaks

They do? When?

 

[Deafdoggie]

As far as service at Longport goes Northern provide a couple of down calls in the morning peak when there is no East Midlands Trains service anywhere nearby to serve the station.

The Northern Train is 08:00. EMT is the usual 07:38 and 08:38 so not plugging a gap at all. Although the 06:33 arguably does, it isn't much help, as it goes to Manchester, from where you can't get back!

 

[Starmill]

The Northern Train is 08:00. EMT is the usual 07:38 and 08:38 so not plugging a gap at all. Although the 06:33 arguably does, it isn't much help, as it goes to Manchester, from where you can't get back!

The 0633 offers a connection to Crewe though. I agree it would be far better if some late evening services from Manchester called.

 

[Deafdoggie]

The 0633 offers a connection to Crewe though. I agree it would be far better if some late evening services from Manchester called.

Not a brilliant connection, with a 45 min wait at Kidsgrove! Might aswell wait for the EMT just after it!

 

[Merthyr Imp]

Port Vale football ground is a short walk away and both their fans would use it.

Took me a brisk 20 minutes-plus from the ground to the station last April - and that's downhill. I shouldn't think it's very handy for the centre of Burslem which is almost as far as Vale Park.

 

[Deafdoggie]

Which would benefit from the old goods yard being tarmacked into a car park.

 

[ashworth]

I didn’t realise until I spent a few days in Crewe a few weeks ago how inconvenient the timings are for journeys from Crewe to Stoke. The LNWR service leaves Crewe each hour at xx02 followed 5 minutes later by the EMT service at xx07. One day I just missed the 0907 EMT train from Crewe to Stoke and I was very surprised to find that there was no other train for almost 1 hour.

 

[The_Train]

The problem with the railway in Stoke as a whole is that it doesn't seem to serve anywhere. Starting at Kidsgrove (which actually falls under the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme) things aren't too bad as the station is within walking distance of the town, but then we have Longport which is sat well outside of its closest 'big' town in Burslem and let's face it any walk through the surrounding areas is not particularly pleasant. Next there used to be Etruria (now closed) which was the closest station to serve the city centre although it's a walk I wouldn't have liked to do, let alone someone getting on in years. And finally we reach Stoke-on-Trent itself, which is ideally placed if you are a university student but not much so for anyone else. It seems busy with people wanting to get out of the city to go visit the nearby larger cities but I can't imagine many alighting there are doing so to visit Stoke's city centre which is a fair distance away from the station.

It really is a shame that the city never used to have a 'loop line' that ran from town to town and could now be converted into a modern tram system..........

 

[Deafdoggie]

I didn’t realise until I spent a few days in Crewe a few weeks ago how inconvenient the timings are for journeys from Crewe to Stoke. The LNWR service leaves Crewe each hour at xx02 followed 5 minutes later by the EMT service at xx07. One day I just missed the 0907 EMT train from Crewe to Stoke and I was very surprised to find that there was no other train for almost 1 hour.

This is indeed an issue. MAde worse that LNWR is first, so you can't even get the EMT at Longport to connect at Stoke. They used to be (roughly) evenly spaced, but then LNWR stopped going via Northampton, the London end is fixed due to path constraints, so by default is the crewe end. But EMT could retime theirs a bit better. But that requires joined-up thinking for the passengers benefit, so there is a clue why they are timed as they are!

It really is a shame that the city never used to have a 'loop line' that ran from town to town and could now be converted into a modern tram system..........

That would have been ideal wouldn't it? What a shame no such line existed or is largely still intact as a walkway for easy conversion.

 

[The_Train]

That would have been ideal wouldn't it? What a shame no such line existed or is largely still intact as a walkway for easy conversion.

Indeed, in that respect a walkway/cycleway could even be maintained next to the lines so that everyone is a winner. If only eh?

The reality is that the local council seem quite happy to just let the city rot. It is littered with derelict and crumbling pottery factories which in any other decent city would have been converted or demolished years ago. If, instead of crying about the decline of the pottery industry, the local councils had been proactive about it, they could have made the city attractive to businesses and tourists alike. Unfortunately it's gone too far now and I'm not sure it will ever recover.