Stations that have lost 'request stop' status

[gnolife]

Longport was a request stop for a few years in the 1990s-2000s. I think they only started trains calling there again after Etruria was permanently bustituted.

The 2018 Caledonian Sleeper timetable had the unusual footnote "This station is no longer a request stop" (or similar) for Corrour. However, I'm not sure if it was ever a request stop for Scotrail.

Is Roy Bridge still a request stop for the sleeper?

 

[Welshman]

On The Skegness line, Havenhouse, Thorpe Culve
rt, Hubberts Bridge, Swineshead, Heckington, Rauceby and Ancaster were at one point aswell, and on the Cumbrian Coast, at one point only Maryport, Workington, Whitehaven, Millom and Askam were compulsory stops

Indeed.
I still remember an amusing[for me] incident when I first started using Heckington in 2002.
Returning from Nottingham, I asked the [rather attractive female] Central Trains conductor while she was examining tickets if she would stop at Heckington for me.
"Yes I will" she replied.

A young chap sitting across from me, who rather fancied himself, then asked her, "And will you also stop at Sleaford for me?"

In return she gave him a real mouthful.

I think that to this day that crestfallen chap is wondering why she seemed to fancy a man old enough to be her father!!

 

[gottago]

Didn’t quite a few stops on the Borderlands line used to be request stops? I remember seeing an ancient sign on the way to the platform at Upton saying that train station would need to be flagged down as it was a request stop, but I’ve only ever known trains to stop there. Now I think only Hawarden Bridge is a request stop.

 

[Sprinter107]

Just a question, would any of the halts that existed before the Beeching Axe needed request to the driver/guard for alighting or disembarking?

Got a Western Region timetable for 1958 and there were request stop halts on many of the branch lines.

 

[MotCO]

How do they factor request stops into timetables? I would have thought that not stopping at request stations would mean that the train would arrive too early at the next compulsory stop.

 

[Esker-pades]

Is Roy Bridge still a request stop for the sleeper?

Roy Bridge and Ardlui are request stops for the sleeper.

 

[Revilo]

Freshford (between Bath and Avoncliff) was also once a request stop.

 

[edwin_m]

How do they factor request stops into timetables? I would have thought that not stopping at request stations would mean that the train would arrive too early at the next compulsory stop.

I looked into this for the Heart of Wales line and in that particular case the request stops appear to be timetabled as 30-second stops. However a 153 can't really achieve a 30s dwell time (a 150 is a bit better) so it will run late if it needs to make several stops in succession. This is recovered by the huge dwell times at the passing stations. Also the timetabled times at each stops are those it will achieve if it hasn't made any of the request stops since the previous passing station, so the train is unlikely to be early but will often be a bit late.

I can't say if this practice was intentional or merely that the timings they had already just happened to fit, or indeed whether other routes adopt similar principles.

 

[Ianno87]

I looked into this for the Heart of Wales line and in that particular case the request stops appear to be timetabled as 30-second stops. However a 153 can't really achieve a 30s dwell time (a 150 is a bit better) so it will run late if it needs to make several stops in succession. This is recovered by the huge dwell times at the passing stations. Also the timetabled times at each stops are those it will achieve if it hasn't made any of the request stops since the previous passing station, so the train is unlikely to be early but will often be a bit late.

I can't say if this practice was intentional or merely that the timings they had already just happened to fit, or indeed whether other routes adopt similar principles.

I think the Newquay branch is timed such that trains have 0 second stops at every station, but then a glut of recovery time approaching both ends.

So a train that stops nowhere will be on time thoughout and arrive early at destination, whilst a train stopping everywhere will gradually get slightly later at intermediate stations before terminating on time.

 

[robk23oxf]

Didn’t quite a few stops on the Borderlands line used to be request stops? I remember seeing an ancient sign on the way to the platform at Upton saying that train station would need to be flagged down as it was a request stop, but I’ve only ever known trains to stop there. Now I think only Hawarden Bridge is a request stop.

You may be right there as I seem to recall Neston being a request stop up to around 10 years ago?

 

[Marton]

Most of the stops between Great Ayton and Whitby used to be request stops on the Esk valley line

But not on the school trains. Whitby arr c0840; dep c1600; the times vary slightly year on year.

 

[big all]

to be fair not having to stop at a station in the leaf fall season has several advantages
if you have say 3 out off 10 where you stop as required you have a chance to recover time as slowing to say 15 or 20mph on approach and planting at least part off the train on the platform can save time

or not having to set back with lengthy delays for no reason
was on a thumper around 1973 ish as a second man approached leigh halt about 10mph strait through the platform same on the set back at perhaps 5 or 6 mph in one end out the other
so walking pace third attempt and now about 10 mins late

 

[Ianno87]

Longport was a request stop for a few years in the 1990s-2000s. I think they only started trains calling there again after Etruria was permanently bustituted.

I have a dim and distant memory from August 1998 of either Longton or Blythe Bridge also being a request stop?

 

[tiptoptaff]

Today's STP diagrams show Quintrell Downs as a full stop, both directions, on all services

 

[Springs Branch]

When did the fad for making smaller stations into request stops start?
Was it in the last years of British Rail, or an attempt at cost-cutting by privatised TOCs?

Reason for asking is, after seeing this thread, I took a glance through the 1972/73 LMR Passenger Timetable to see which stations were request stops back then.

Surprisingly enough, in the dreary post-Beeching world of run-down stations and infrequent, poorly patronized DMUs in all-over Rail Blue, there were hardly any request stops (at least on the London Midland Region). The familiar "x" notation was not even listed in the index of standard timetable codes.

Back then, the only LMR stations I could find which fit the modern-day concept of a request stop were minor halts on the Cambrian Coast line: Gogarth, Abertafol and Black Rock (all closed by BR between 1977 and 1985).

A handful of other Cambrian Coast stations had compulsory stops by some trains, request stops by others. Maybe the existence of request stops harked back to the line's GWR origins.

In one of those impenetrable examples of old-school railway logic, the 20:14 Machynlleth to Pwllheli would stop on request at Minffordd to set down only. Bad luck if you were waiting on the platform and tried to signal the driver - he was supposed to just sail past, unless a passenger had already requested to get off.

Other candidates which might have been request stops, such as Braystones on the Cumbrian Coast, smaller stations on the Blaenau branch, or between Alston and Haltwhistle were all compulsory stops for all trains. And certainly no suggestion in the 1970s that stations on main lines, like Penmaenmawr, Huncoat or Entwistle, would be request stops.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Finstock, Combe and Ascott-under-Wychwood were formerly request stops but no longer. Not sure about Shipton.

 

[jimm]

Finstock, Combe and Ascott-under-Wychwood were formerly request stops but no longer. Not sure about Shipton.

Shipton was also a request stop for all services until the decision was taken to make the four stations compulsory stops. I forget which year that happened, but may have been around 2010.

 

[Dr Hoo]

A quick check of some old Bradshaws and re-prints shows that request stops have been around for a very long time and evidently come and gone on a wide range of lines.

Possibly the oldest Bradshaw readily available (for 1841) describes in somewhat ponderous terms the fact that intending passengers at Wimbledon (for example) could have a Vauxhall (Nine Elms) to Southampton train stopped specially to pick them up if they booked a ticket to a station beyond Woking Common. Just one of many passenger conveniences that have been lost on the South Western lines over the years.

 

[Kneedown]

I have a dim and distant memory from August 1998 of either Longton or Blythe Bridge also being a request stop?

I don't think so, but Etruria and Longport certainly were.

 

[DavidGrain]

This is one but I am stretching the rules a bit. The Hawthorns on the Stourbridge Line. Hawthorns Halt had four platforms, 2 on the Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton Low level line and two platforms on the Snow hill to Stourbridge Line. Trains would stop only when West Bromwich Albion were playing home games. The station closed many years ago but reopened very close to the same site in the 1990s for both train and trams as a full staffed station with trains (platforms 1 & 2) and trams (platforms 3 & 4) operating a very frequent service.

 

[Flying Claret]

Can't remember where for the life of me, but a few between Blackburn and Colne have been made full stops Burnley Barracks maybe?

Huncoat was a request stop for a few years but has reverted to a regular stop. Hapton definitely still is request. Not sure about barracks, I think it is request now as well...

 

[Sprinter107]

The Hawthorns closed in 1968. It was only used on match days. The platform for Stourbridge is on the site of the original platform. The other three platforms were on tbe other side of Halfords Lane.

 

[Kite159]

Huncoat was a request stop for a few years but has reverted to a regular stop. Hapton definitely still is request. Not sure about barracks, I think it is request now as well...

Barracks is a request stop.

 

[Parallel]

Betws Y Coed still has a sign saying it is a request stop, it’s in Arriva turquoise so I assume it’s been a request stop sometime in the last 15 years but I don’t know until which year!

Freshford and Avoncliff used to both be request stops. Freshford was made a full stop a few years before Avoncliff was. Yeoford on the Tarka line was made a request stop in the last 10-13 years or so.

 

[richard1976]

Some stations on the Cumbrian Coast ceased being request stops in the last few years, sorry donr know when exactly

 

[Kite159]

Falls of Cruachan?

The station information on National Rail Enquires has it down as being a request stop but looking at the current timetable the little "x" isn't showing on the timings.

 

[hexagon789]

Bures will no longer be a request stop from the timetable change on Sunday.