Past train running info: Parbold to Man. Oxford Road / Sheffield

[mullin]

Hey folks,

Planning on travelling next Thursday from Parbold to Sheffield on the 07:39 which arrives into Oxford Road at 08:31 (and travelling out again on the 08:39 to Sheffield arriving at 09:45).
My brother used to catch this train from Parbold over 6 months ago every few days and commented to me that it often runs late (arriving into Bolton sometimes almost 10 minutes behind time). Is this still the case does anybody know? Is it possible to look back and see when this train has arrived into Manchester for the 4 days this week so far?


And does anybody have any idea how busy the East Midlands train from MCO at 08.39 generally is. Seat reservations recommended? I'll be travelling with a rucksack and tent too which is why I'm wondering about the crowding...


Thanks in advance for any help / advise on where to look!

 

[bb21]

A number of people on here can help you look up train running information for the same day, however only a very selected few have access to the same train running data beyond approx 0200 the day after.

Today the 0831 into Manchester Oxford Road arrived at 0834, amid chaos in the area. You might want to monitor it for the next few days as this would be easier than seeking running data from the past.

As for seat reservations, I recommend that you obtain one if you could, as is the case with any journey at that time in the morning on a weekday.

 

[Paul Kelly]

however only a very selected few have access to the same train running data beyond approx 0200 the day after

This is going to be much more feasible now that Network Rail are releasing real-time data feeds of train movements. All you have to do is save all the data from the feed as it arrives, and hey presto you have a historical archive.

Various people are working on making a nice easy-to-use web-based interface to this but none seem to have seen the light of day yet. I've done a bit of manual searching through the data and have come up with this:

Arrival times at Manchester Oxford Road for 2A02 (ex Southport 0721) this week:

Today: 0834 (then cancelled, as far as I can see)
Wed: 0832
Tues: 0851
Mon: 0836

 

[mullin]

I do love this site for reasons like this, many thanks to you both for the help and answers!