Harpers Tate
Established Member
- Joined
- 10 May 2013
- Messages
- 1,708
With only one more day of operation still to come, I decided to sample Transpennine Express's Saturday only through service from Sheffield to Cleethorpes via Retford. I live near one of the intermediate stations and have travelled the route before on Northern's Saturday parliamentary. As all regular services hereabouts stop at Worksop and most stop everywhere else, it was a rare opportunity to ride an "express" and an equally rare opportunity to travel here on a non-Northern unit.
The rolling stock was, as expected, a 3-car 185. It appeared to arrive into Sheffield empty from the Doncaster direction and left from a bay platform (4). The outward journey was comfortable and punctual. There were no hold-ups and the unusual experience of riding at line speed throughout was the reason I made the trip. It was clear that the pathing for this was very generous with something like 7 minutes stand at the first scheduled stop, Retford, and a further around 7 minutes to enter the short single line section east of Brigg (awaiting Northern's westbound service, which wasn't late, to clear). There were no hold-ups at any of the other single line sections or loops.
By the time we came to a stand in Grimsby, the clock on the matrix display in the carriage had stopped and was showing a static time (11.59 if I recall correctly).
Cleethorpes was enjoying an atmosphere far in excess of any I have witnessed there previously because of its Armed Forces Day celebrations which included among other things, a lady in uniform singing Vera Lynn style songs (sadly, rather off-key, but never mind) and many military vehicles and stalls and so on. Cleethorpes being the cosmopolitan place it is, I nevertheless found myself filling in three of the six hours I had there by walking to Grismby, having lunch and walking back.
So, having loitered around the rest of the afternoon, I entered Cleethorpes station in good time for the return working. I noted there was something curious and rather illogical on the station and platform departure displays. From the same platform and at the same time, there were to be two departures. The first was 1811 Manchester Airport (calling Grimsby, Retford, Sheffield, Stockport and various further stations to the Airport). And the second was 1811 Sheffield (calling at Grismby and Retford). Perhaps there were to be two units, to split at Sheffield?
In fact it was, as expected really, a single three-car 185, and on arrival at Sheffield it did appear to be continuing right through to Manchester Airport. I'm not sure if this is how the service has been operated previously.
The trip back was again fairly rapid, with a long stand again at Retford awaiting schedule. There was a signal check at Woodhouse, and then a prolonged stand at "Stopall junction" (Nunnery) meant that arrival in Sheffield was 6 or 7 minutes late.
In the front car, I heard just two announcements from the Conductor; the first on approach to Retford and the second whilst standing at Nunnery. The automated system produced a chime on two occasions, but nothing else. The matrix display in the carriage stubbornly had TPE's website address on it throughout. I felt that,
- given the unusual nature of this service
- thinking of anyone who was, perhaps, visiting Cleethorpes for the celebration or just for an occasional day out; who might have made the trip occasionally before and who might have arrived on another service from, say, Scunthorpe; who may have travelled last year (before the landslip); who may have assumed things about the service and its destination based on their past experiences, that were not in fact true
that more explicit information about the service and particularly its calling points and route ought to have been forthcoming. It wasn't.
The route via Brigg was the subject of much modernisation and rationalisation a few years back with much of it single-track. It's predicted usage was primarily freight with just the Saturday only Northern service (three each way) for passengers. With the Hatfield line blockage, whilst passenger services have been (with the exception of this TPE "special") substituted by buses, the normally huge level of freight traffic via Hatfield has had to find other routes, including the Brigg line. And I have seen it suggested that there hasn't been greater use made of it for diverted passenger services precisely because of its rationalised setup and the consequent lack of spare paths, made all the worse by the need to accomodate additional freight traffic. I was therefore surprised to see just one freight train on the entire line (waiting in a loop on one of the single line segments) during the entire round trip. I had expected to see many more. On the basis of this entirely casual observation, it doesn't appear that the line was operating anywhere near capacity - at least, not at the time I was riding it.
Neither of the trains were crowded despite the special event at Cleethorpes and despite TPE's 2 for 1 offer on this route. It was a nice opportunity to do something a little different.
The rolling stock was, as expected, a 3-car 185. It appeared to arrive into Sheffield empty from the Doncaster direction and left from a bay platform (4). The outward journey was comfortable and punctual. There were no hold-ups and the unusual experience of riding at line speed throughout was the reason I made the trip. It was clear that the pathing for this was very generous with something like 7 minutes stand at the first scheduled stop, Retford, and a further around 7 minutes to enter the short single line section east of Brigg (awaiting Northern's westbound service, which wasn't late, to clear). There were no hold-ups at any of the other single line sections or loops.
By the time we came to a stand in Grimsby, the clock on the matrix display in the carriage had stopped and was showing a static time (11.59 if I recall correctly).
Cleethorpes was enjoying an atmosphere far in excess of any I have witnessed there previously because of its Armed Forces Day celebrations which included among other things, a lady in uniform singing Vera Lynn style songs (sadly, rather off-key, but never mind) and many military vehicles and stalls and so on. Cleethorpes being the cosmopolitan place it is, I nevertheless found myself filling in three of the six hours I had there by walking to Grismby, having lunch and walking back.
So, having loitered around the rest of the afternoon, I entered Cleethorpes station in good time for the return working. I noted there was something curious and rather illogical on the station and platform departure displays. From the same platform and at the same time, there were to be two departures. The first was 1811 Manchester Airport (calling Grimsby, Retford, Sheffield, Stockport and various further stations to the Airport). And the second was 1811 Sheffield (calling at Grismby and Retford). Perhaps there were to be two units, to split at Sheffield?
In fact it was, as expected really, a single three-car 185, and on arrival at Sheffield it did appear to be continuing right through to Manchester Airport. I'm not sure if this is how the service has been operated previously.
The trip back was again fairly rapid, with a long stand again at Retford awaiting schedule. There was a signal check at Woodhouse, and then a prolonged stand at "Stopall junction" (Nunnery) meant that arrival in Sheffield was 6 or 7 minutes late.
In the front car, I heard just two announcements from the Conductor; the first on approach to Retford and the second whilst standing at Nunnery. The automated system produced a chime on two occasions, but nothing else. The matrix display in the carriage stubbornly had TPE's website address on it throughout. I felt that,
- given the unusual nature of this service
- thinking of anyone who was, perhaps, visiting Cleethorpes for the celebration or just for an occasional day out; who might have made the trip occasionally before and who might have arrived on another service from, say, Scunthorpe; who may have travelled last year (before the landslip); who may have assumed things about the service and its destination based on their past experiences, that were not in fact true
that more explicit information about the service and particularly its calling points and route ought to have been forthcoming. It wasn't.
The route via Brigg was the subject of much modernisation and rationalisation a few years back with much of it single-track. It's predicted usage was primarily freight with just the Saturday only Northern service (three each way) for passengers. With the Hatfield line blockage, whilst passenger services have been (with the exception of this TPE "special") substituted by buses, the normally huge level of freight traffic via Hatfield has had to find other routes, including the Brigg line. And I have seen it suggested that there hasn't been greater use made of it for diverted passenger services precisely because of its rationalised setup and the consequent lack of spare paths, made all the worse by the need to accomodate additional freight traffic. I was therefore surprised to see just one freight train on the entire line (waiting in a loop on one of the single line segments) during the entire round trip. I had expected to see many more. On the basis of this entirely casual observation, it doesn't appear that the line was operating anywhere near capacity - at least, not at the time I was riding it.
Neither of the trains were crowded despite the special event at Cleethorpes and despite TPE's 2 for 1 offer on this route. It was a nice opportunity to do something a little different.
