St Ives Bay Line - Incredible Growth

[TEW]

I'm sure it was. I just expected mor epeople to go down to Falmout in the morning as we did. Perhaps we were a little early though, we got the 0950 train from Truro, and although the train we changed fromw as pretty full, it was only a two car 150, and very few passengers changed for Falmouth.

That train is always surprisingly lightly loaded considering it has connections from both directions in the mainline. The main flow is Falmouth-Truro with shoppers though at that time of day, probably a bit early for people for Falmouth coming from afar.

 

[richw]

Aylesbury, a locals tip, dont use Rick Steins, walk about another 100 yards or so, and by Trago their is a fish and chip shop called Harbour lights. Much tastier and half the price of Rick Steins. Many locals refer to it as having a P infront of mr Steins first name. NOt very popular with locals at all.
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For locals Falmouth has very little, unless heading for the beach, Nobody from Truro would consider heading to Falmouth to Shop

 

[reapz]

Also they set up a temporary gateline at St ives last summer. wonder how much this had to do with it

been there fir 6 years in the summer , passenger numbers are the same just moniterd better]
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FGW have put a lot of effort into marketing the branch lines, with plenty of positive features in the media, flyers, advertisements in local publications where they've compared the price of using their branch lines, to parking in the town centres. Most branch line car parks are free.

Wessex trains should take full credit for the st ives , and when they had it the carpark was free!

Now st erth and lelent saltings you have to pay also wessex brought in the half hour time table .

First have changed nothing with the st ives except its starts half an hour later in the morning and finishes half hour later

 

[Roylang]

No - but the line is run sensibly with flexible capacity.
Winter is 153 (enhanced for Christmas/New Year)
Easter is 153 + 150
High season is 2 x 150

When the new park 'n ride open I hear it will be 2 x 150 + 153.

At 2 tph that's a lot of bodies.
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For most typical folk coming in for a day at the beach groupsave is the best ticket.

It was a 150 for the vast majority of the winter just gone. Looking back through the umpteen trips I did, not one was a single 153 although I did one a couple of times.

Roy

 

[HSTEd]

It appears the platform at Lelant is the limiting factor at ~90m with the next shortest one being St Erth (this is all assuming that Lelant Saltings will close before it becomes an issue).

Carbis bay is interestingly the longest as far as I can tell.... is this because its the original platform as compared to that cut down one they have at St Ives?

I do wonder if the other major Cornish branch lines (especially the Atlantic Coast Line to Newquay) might be able to justify a daily HST round trip these days, but that would require a second, albeit shortened, platform to be constructed beside the current one to allow the HST to remain there without getting in the way of the operations of the branch.

And keeping the HST there would not be viable until such time as there are some spare thanks to GWML electrification.

 

[TEW]

It was a 150 for the vast majority of the winter just gone. Looking back through the umpteen trips I did, not one was a single 153 although I did one a couple of times.

Roy

For the last couple of years now it has been a 150 in the winter but this winter it was a 153 for while to allow the 150 to work on the Falmouth line which was more in need of a 150 in the winter. Once the hyrbid three car 150s entered service capacity was freed up and the St Ives went back to a 150.

 

[northernrailer]

I go to Devon for 2 weeks every July and always visit the Cornish branches, i have to say everytime i have done the St Ives branch its always been 2x 150 units and on the way back from St Ives to St Erth people have been standing with every seat taken, then 3/4 if not more of the people onbaord get off at Lelant Saltings. It is a lovely line and can see why ppl visit St Ives.

 

[richw]

been there fir 6 years in the summer , passenger numbers are the same just moniterd better]
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Wessex trains should take full credit for the st ives , and when they had it the carpark was free!

Now st erth and lelent saltings you have to pay also wessex brought in the half hour time table .

First have changed nothing with the st ives except its starts half an hour later in the morning and finishes half hour later

Wessex cant be held responsible for FGW advertising over the last 12 months in the media promoting the branch lines. That is a ridiculous suggestion

 

[reapz]

Wessex cant be held responsible for FGW advertising over the last 12 months in the media promoting the branch lines. That is a ridiculous suggestion

the line has always been busy and i mean really busy the last 12 months is just the same as the last 15years

 

[richw]

the line has always been busy and i mean really busy the last 12 months is just the same as the last 15years

It's considerably busier than 15 years ago, or considerably more people are buying tickets at least. This comes down to fgw revenue teams then. Clearly you don't want to see fgw getting credit for their success

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk 2

 

[aylesbury]

Will the proposed resighting of the Scilly Isles helicopters to Newquay make any difference to passenger numbers.I dont know how far out the airport will be or if any links will be provided from station to the choppers or will there be no cooperation between local transport providers? If there is an uplift in passenger numbers perhaps a class 150 each way will provide a two train service ,that is if there are any spare units available.

 

[Oliver]

Will the proposed resighting of the Scilly Isles helicopters to Newquay make any difference to passenger numbers.

Are you sure about this? I would be surprised if the helicopters moved so much further from the islands. I thought the question was whether they would survive at all.

 

[stut]

IIRC the helicopters are being resited to Newquay Airport due to Penzance heliport being sold to Tesco. There was a proposal to build a new heliport adjacent to St Erth station, but I've no idea how far that's got.

However, Newquay airport is some way from the centre. No idea of there'd be the demand for a taxibus type service from St Columb Road, though.

 

[Zoe]

There was a proposal to build a new heliport adjacent to St Erth station, but I've no idea how far that's got.

It was cancelled due to concerns about noise and pollution.

 

[caliwag]

Aylesbury, a locals tip, dont use Rick Steins, walk about another 100 yards or so, and by Trago their is a fish and chip shop called Harbour lights. Much tastier and half the price of Rick Steins. Many locals refer to it as having a P infront of mr Steins first name. NOt very popular with locals at all.
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For locals Falmouth has very little, unless heading for the beach, Nobody from Truro would consider heading to Falmouth to Shop

Agree about Harbour Lights. However I haven't yet found a good pub in Truro whereas Falmouth has Oddfellows, Seven Stars and the award-winning Front to name but three.
I do think Falmouth is a more interesting place for a shopping walk-about too with individual shops like Willow and Stone and assorted unusual galleries and delis...sure not everyones cup of tea, but hey what's the big deal about shopping anyway! Jim.

 

[Requeststop]

Are you sure about this? I would be surprised if the helicopters moved so much further from the islands. I thought the question was whether they would survive at all.

A good point; I just did a measure on my Google Earth (as the crow flies) and Penzance - IOS (both St Mary's and Tresco) is 60km. Newquay - IOS is 109km. So almost twice the distance so therefore twice the cost? NQY is a very difficult airport to get too. Penzance heliport is just off the A30 and there is an excellent link from Penzance station.

A bit of history - Tesco had a store in Penzance - down the road from the heliport in Long Rock. It was sold to Morrisons. Personally I don't understand why Tesco's want to make a come back.

A lot of this is a silly town council in Penzance with silly councillors. They don't know how to develop the harbour - so the threat to move the Scillonian (sea ferry) to Falmouth was made - Imagine travelling in a force 7er past the Lizard and Lands End! Then the heliport was to move to Lands End aerodrome (that was dropped) and then the sensless idea to move it to St. Erth, and use the station there as the link. Now it's to move it to Newquay.

Most people would like the staus quo to remain. Penzance station is fine. (well to a certain extent as a terminus) Looking forward to my visit home to Truro, Penzance and making a requeststop at my old village station of Lelant on the wonderful St Ives Branch line in July.
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Wessex cant be held responsible for FGW advertising over the last 12 months in the media promoting the branch lines. That is a ridiculous suggestion

The car park is and always has been the responsibility of the relevant local government body at the time. i.e. St. Ives Town Council, Penwith District Council, and now Cornwall Council as the Unitary body. The rail companies have had nothing to do with car park charges.
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It appears the platform at Lelant is the limiting factor at ~90m with the next shortest one being St Erth (this is all assuming that Lelant Saltings will close before it becomes an issue).

Carbis bay is interestingly the longest as far as I can tell.... is this because its the original platform as compared to that cut down one they have at St Ives?

I do wonder if the other major Cornish branch lines (especially the Atlantic Coast Line to Newquay) might be able to justify a daily HST round trip these days, but that would require a second, albeit shortened, platform to be constructed beside the current one to allow the HST to remain there without getting in the way of the operations of the branch.

And keeping the HST there would not be viable until such time as there are some spare thanks to GWML electrification.

I think the St. Erth platform length will depend on the planned re-building of the St.Ives branch platforms. If they extend the un-used Northernmost platforms, the one I'd suspect would be where the new car-park area is to be, then I think it'll be no problem.

As I said in an earlier post, I remember the St Ives branch from the early 50's when I lived alongside the branch. One train I recall was the overnighter from London and further apart. have been de-coupled at St. Erth and the coaches being run in directly to St. Ives.

I'm not into these class "37's, 42's, 70 whatever's". I just like riding the trains, but I have seen some large diesels run down the line over the years, usually pulling maintenance equipment. So the track can take some weight, but if the bridges over the roads on the approach to St. Ives could take the weight of a large diesel plus coach I don't know. Any direct service from London would have to reverse at St Erth and there is no stabling facility. Nice to dream though.

Incidently, St Erth Station is not within St. Erth itself but in Rose-an-Grouse. St Erth Church has an interesting and humourous story. The church applied to have one of it's bells re-cast a few years back. Apparently there is a Church of England charity that helps to pay for such re-casting and they offered to pay a large percentage of the cost on one condition. On the outside of the recast bell, a line from the Xmas Carol "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" was to be inscribed. The line was "Born to raise the Sons of ERTH". Maybe not rail connected but it makes me smile.

 

[richw]

IIRC the helicopters are being resited to Newquay Airport due to Penzance heliport being sold to Tesco. There was a proposal to build a new heliport adjacent to St Erth station, but I've no idea how far that's got.

However, Newquay airport is some way from the centre. No idea of there'd be the demand for a taxibus type service from St Columb Road, though.

Penzance heliport has been sold to sainsburys, not Tesco. The helicopter is moving to Newquay temporarily next summer i believe, until they find a better site to use.
and Request Stop there is still a Tesco store next door to the heliport, with morrisons across the road, so we will have a morrisons, sainsburys and tesco within a few hundred yards of each other.