Record for minimalist level of service from a major London terminus?

[GordonT]

Not posting this as a criticism but rather as a query. Have there been any similar precedents at any London major terminals to the 30-minute service between Kings Cross and Potters Bar which is the sole offering from/to Kings Cross on Christmas Eve. I know that there will have been complete blockades affecting most London terminals on occasion where all services have been curtailed but I'm wondering if there have been previous examples of such a miniscule operation being fielded (albeit for good reason).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I know that there will have been complete blockades affecting most London terminals on occasion where all services have been curtailed but I'm wondering if there have been previous examples of such a miniscule operation being fielded (albeit for good reason).

Final days of limited service into/out of Broad Street station just before its closure in June 1986, perhaps?

 

[yorkie]

Not posting this as a criticism but rather as a query. Have there been any similar precedents at any London major terminals to the 30-minute service between Kings Cross and Potters Bar which is the sole offering from/to Kings Cross on Christmas Eve. I know that there will have been complete blockades affecting most London terminals on occasion where all services have been curtailed but I'm wondering if there have been previous examples of such a miniscule operation being fielded (albeit for good reason).

There appears to be 4 trains per hour from Potters Bar to London tomorrow.

 

[Richardr]

There appears to be 4 trains per hour from Potters Bar to London tomorrow.

Only half of them to Kings Cross though?

 

[yorkie]

Only half of them to Kings Cross though?

If you need King's Cross specifically then you are better off with the direct train, but for most people they'd be changing to the tube for a central destination.

Anyway, while it may not be great, there will be places with worse offerings to London than Potters Bar gets; I am unsure what you are asking for in the thread title, though.

West Ruislip has only an hour service to Marylebone (I guess the central line doesn't count if your Moorgate services don't count) at best, with nothing between the 1436 and 1736 departures!

 

[GordonT]

If you need King's Cross specifically then you are better off with the direct train, but for most people they'd be changing to the tube for a central destination.

Anyway, while it may not be great, there will be places with worse offerings to London than Potters Bar gets; I am unsure what you are asking for in the thread title, though.

West Ruislip has only an hour service to Marylebone (I guess the central line doesn't count if your Moorgate services don't count) at best, with nothing between the 1436 and 1736 departures!

I was thinking more of cases where there would normally be at least five or six times the number of departures per hour and the full range of normal destinations not cases where the normal base service itself is sparse. A hypothetical example might be if London Victoria has ever fielded (say) a half hourly Gatwick Airport service and nothing else.

 

[London Trains]

A hypothetical example might be if London Victoria has ever fielded (say) a half hourly Gatwick Airport service and nothing else.

Exactly that has happened quite a few times recently on strike days.

 

[Magdalia]

Most Sunday services were very sparse until Network South East and relaxation of Sunday trading laws. When Kings Cross-Royston was electrified in 1978 the Sunday outer suburban service increased from 1tph to 2tph. And there were few Inter City services on Sundays, for example in 1978 Kings Cross had only 7 Inter City arrivals before 1600.

There has been 3 major engineering projects that severely limited access at Kings Cross: 2 station throat remodelling projects in 1977 and 2021, plus the construction and connecting up of the Canal Tunnel at Belle Isle. All of these had periods of very restricted operation in and out of the terminus.

And then there is the aftermath of the Hatfield and Potters Bar derailments when Kings Cross only had a very restricted service via Hertford North.

 

[PGAT]

Exactly that has happened quite a few times recently on strike days.

I think they increase to 4tph in the peak as well

 

[Taunton]

I seem to recollect a Boxing Day at Paddington when there were 2 per hour to Heathrow, don't recall whether Express or Connect, and that was it.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Very start of the first lockdown in Spring 2020 at one of the smaller termini, limited services?

 

[A S Leib]

Very start of the first lockdown in Spring 2020 at one of the smaller termini, limited services?

Marylebone was down to four departures per hour on weekdays (Aylesbury Vale Parkway via Amersham, all stops except the Sudburys to Aylesbury via High Wycombe, Oxford, Birmingham Moor Street) in most hours.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

West Ruislip has only an hour service to Marylebone (I guess the central line doesn't count if your Moorgate services don't count) at best, with nothing between the 1436 and 1736 departures!

That's appalling. How run down Chiltern's service has become of late...

 

[sk688]

Marlyebone's half-hourly services to Oxford Parkway on Boxing Day ?

Victoria had 3tph leaving the station on the 26th. I can understand the Gatwick services but unsure as to why the Sutton ones were running

 

[London Trains]

Victoria had 3tph leaving the station on the 26th. I can understand the Gatwick services but unsure as to why the Sutton ones were running

It had 6tph - 1tph Brighton, 1tph Gatwick, 2tph Sutton via Norbury, 2tph East Croydon via Crystal Palace

 

[cle]

Marlyebone's half-hourly services to Oxford Parkway on Boxing Day ?

Victoria had 3tph leaving the station on the 26th. I can understand the Gatwick services but unsure as to why the Sutton ones were running

Because they run through hugely used South London stations (which don’t have tube service - Balham aside) - far more users than Gatwick.

 

[xotGD]

Two departures an hour was normal for St Pancras for a number of years. One to Sheffield, one to Nottingham.

 

[Taunton]

This is how it was on Sundays at St Pancras when the Bedpan electrification to the Widened Lines first opened in 1982, taking the suburban services out of there. About one every two hours. Departures at:

0820
0900
1030
1200
1430
1435
1600

... then a bit more frequent

 

[12LDA28C]

That's appalling. How run down Chiltern's service has become of late...

Not really. More a case of focussing stopping patterns where they are most needed and where there is not any kind of alternative service into London.

 

[wls1]

For the past few Sundays, there had only been 2 trains per hour out of Fenchurch Street, Fenchurch Street - Shoeburyness via Stratford & Rainham. A normal service out of Fenchurch Street on a Sunday is only 4tph, one FST - SRY via Ockendon and FST - GRY via Rainham