Sunday train services in the West Midlands

[AJS90]

I’ve read in discussions on here before that Sunday train services on the local lines around Birmingham became almost non existent almost overnight at some point in the 1960’s and have still not fully recovered.

Does anyone have any details about exactly how bad things were and when they started to recover?

I know the cross city line was 2tph on Sunday’s for many years and the northern section still is, and that was considered a good service. I know Walsall didn’t gain a Sunday service until the late 1990’s and I’ve no idea how the rather odd and still unsatisfactory Sunday service patten on the Snow Hill lines came about.

 

[OVS Flatbottom]

I have a September 1986 West Midlands timetable showing the following Sunday services:

Table 55: Cross-City Line 2tph; first departures 1221 New Street-Longbridge and 1224 New Street-Four Oaks (it doesn't appear to have run beyond Longbridge and Four Oaks on Sundays at that time);

Table 66: no Rugby/Coventry-New Street local service;

Table 67: hourly Sunday service between New Street and Worcester Foregate Street, most only calling at Cradley Heath, Stourbridge Junction and Droitwich Spa (a few also served Shrub Hill); first departures 1330 ex New Street and 1409 ex Foregate Street;

Table 68: no Stourbridge Town service (I believe this was the case on Sundays for many years);

Table 69: no New Street-Stafford/Stoke local service;

Table 70: no New Street-Walsall service;

Table 71: no Leamington Spa-New Street local service and no services to/from Stratford-upon-Avon;

Table 74: restricted Wolverhampton-Shrewsbury local service (about two-hourly); at least this had an 0955 first departure from Shrewsbury, though the first departure from the other end wasn't until 1200;

Table 80: very restricted Sunday afternoon service to Wilncote/Tamworth and none at all to Water Orton (not served in Table 18 either).

 

[AJS90]

Thank you.

That’s worse than I could ever have imagined.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Worth noting that in the mid-1960s Birmingham New Street was being re-built, electrified and re-signalled. Also major works to Wolverhampton, Walsall and Coventry. Having minimal services on a Sunday made things a lot easier and avoided endless rail replacement bus services.

In an industrial area with minimal tourist appeal, minimal retail, no sport on Sundays and far fewer students at that time there was much less need to travel.

(I lived in the West Midlands in that era.)

 

[satisnek]

1978/9 timetable, no Sunday service:

• Canley/Tile Hill/Berkswell/Hampton-in-Arden/Adderley Park
• Smethwick Rolfe Street/Oldbury[sic]/Dudley Port/Tipton/Coseley
• Stourbridge Line (New Street to Droitwich Spa exclusive)
• Walsall Line
• All Moor Street Lines (except Solihull & Leamington Spa, served from New Street)

In addition, the Cross-City Line service was limited to Four Oaks - Longbridge only. I would guess that this, together with the New Street - International local service (serving Stechford, Lea Hall & Marston Green), was the PTE starting to make its presence felt.

I can well remember there being no Sunday morning services from Kidderminster - this appears to have lasted up until 1994 - but we did have a bus service into Birmingham back then.

 

[Sprinter107]

It was before my time when the local stations in the West Midlands originally had their Sunday services withdrawn, but from what i can find out, of the ex Western Region lines into Birmingham, it seems to be after the summer 1964 timetable. In 1967, the Stourbridge line had just 5 trains on Sundays, calling at Stourbridge Junction, Kidderminster and Droitwich on their way to Worcester and beyond. These too had gone by May 1968.

May 1977 to May 1978.

Table 55 Birmingham New Street to Redditch. No Sunday Service.

Table 66 Birmingham to Coventry. 07.33* 08.33* 09.33 then half hourly at 03 and 33 mins past each hour calling at all stns except Adderley Park to Birmingham International til 22.33.
* Non stop to Coventry.

Table 67 Lichfield City to Birmingham New Street, Stourbridge and Worcester.
No Sunday service
5 trains Birmingham to Worcester via Bromsgrove. 3 calling at Droitwich Spa first stop the other 2 non stop to Worcester Shrub Hill. Worcester Foregate Street closed on Sundays.

Table 68 Stourbridge Junction to Stourbridge Town
No Sunday Service.

Table 69 Birmingham to Manchester.
Birmingham to Wolverhampton local trains.
No Sunday Service.

Table 70 Birmingham to Walsall
No Sunday service

Table 71 Birmingham Moor Street lines.
No Sunday service.
8 trains Leamington Spa to Birmingham New Street, 7 of those calling only at Solihull.

It wasn't just the trains. Many West Midlands bus routes didn't operate on Sundays either, and some of the ones that did, wouldn't start til after 2pm. From what older relatives have said, people generally used to stay in their own areas on Sundays.

The Stourbridge line got its Sunday trains back in May 1983, when British Rail introduced the Express Link service. This provided an hourly all day weekday service calling at Droitwich Spa Kidderminster Stourbridge Junction and Cradley Heath on the way to Birmingham New Street, previously travelling beyond Kidderminster to Worcester was basically rush hours only. At the same time, they put on a Sunday service, which started mid afternoon, and ran approximately 2 hourly calling at Cradley Heath, Stourbridge Junction,Kidderminster,and Droitwich Spa on the way to Worcester and beyond.
The Stratford line had a Sunday service back by 1989, but cant remember exactly when, or the initial frequency.

 

[Mike99]

Also there wasn't Sunday shopping which for some reason I think started around 1994.
I imagine many people stayed very local visiting (on foot/car) families and for some people attending church services so maybe it was just deemed not necessary for rail/bus services to not start till later.

 

[172007]

Certainly the Sunday service has not recovered due to Sundays being outside of the working week for Conductors and Drivers. Sundays are voluntary for most Conductors unless they have started relatively recently. For Drivers Sundays are entirely voluntary.

The West Midlands franchise had a commitment to introduce a Saturday Service on Sundays by May 2021.

 

[AJS90]

Also there wasn't Sunday shopping which for some reason I think started around 1994.
I imagine many people stayed very local visiting (on foot/car) families and for some people attending church services so maybe it was just deemed not necessary for rail/bus services to not start till later.

Slightly before my time, but there was some Sunday shopping before 1994. Technically all shops were banned from opening except for pharmacies and garden centres, but enforcement of the ban was left to local authorities whose attitudes towards Sunday trading varied widely. Some enforced the ban very strictly while others didn’t enforce it at all. These inconsistencies and the fact that in practice many larger shops were opening on Sunday’s by the early 1990’s was the main factor that lead to the Sunday Trading Act 1994 being passed.

 

[Taunton]

By the 1970s the West Midlands had the highest car ownership of any major urban area, even London. This was a combination of several factors, the car industry itself being centred there being a major one. It also had a lower percentage of weekday commuting by rail than these other areas. Further factors included a longstanding shortage of rail staff, as national scale wages couldn't match higher wage local factories etc. So what local Sunday trains had been around were both little patronised and prone to cancellation.

 

[peteb]

Kidderminster (pop. 65,000) still has its first Sunday train to Birmingham at 0946, so pretty useless for essential workers or anyone trying to go out for the day for leisure further afield.

Perhaps the timetablers think everyone wants a lie-in!!

 

[ac6000cw]

Worth noting that in the mid-1960s Birmingham New Street was being re-built, electrified and re-signalled. Also major works to Wolverhampton, Walsall and Coventry. Having minimal services on a Sunday made things a lot easier and avoided endless rail replacement bus services.

In an industrial area with minimal tourist appeal, minimal retail, no sport on Sundays and far fewer students at that time there was much less need to travel.

(I lived in the West Midlands in that era.)

I grew up in the Black Country in the 60s/early 70s, and agree 100%.

Bus services were also reduced on Sundays, particularly in the morning, with some routes not running and others reduced frequency.

People who have grown up in the current 24/7 world might find it hard to appreciate how quiet many town & city centres were back then on Sundays, with restricted pub opening hours and nearly all shops closed.

The railway generally could be very quiet on Sunday mornings (a good time to find stuff on depots & stabling points if you were number collecting!), with long distance services also thinned out and not really picking up in frequency until after lunchtime - the family Sunday lunch was an important occasion in the week.

And as Taunton says, the relatively high levels of car ownership in the area meant that washing and polishing it (particularly the chrome trim!) on Sunday morning, before taking the family out for an after-lunch drive to somewhere in the countryside was a common Sunday activity.

 

[duncanp]

People who have grown up in the current 24/7 world might find it hard to appreciate how quiet many town & city centres were back then on Sundays, with restricted pub opening hours and nearly all shops closed.

Sounds rather the recent lockdown.

The introduction of Sunday trading in England in 1994 meant that public transport operators had to provide more services to meet the demand, not only from shoppers but people who worked in the shops.

Once the shops were open on a Sunday, there was an associated demand from cafes, restaurants and pubs, which increased the demand for public transport.

 

[AJS90]

Sounds rather the recent lockdown.

The introduction of Sunday trading in England in 1994 meant that public transport operators had to provide more services to meet the demand, not only from shoppers but people who worked in the shops.

Once the shops were open on a Sunday, there was an associated demand from cafes, restaurants and pubs, which increased the demand for public transport.

I didn’t think Sunday trading was something that started overnight in 1994. With a few notable exceptions like M&S, most major chain stores had been opening on Sunday’s for years with little resistance from the authorities.

 

[MichaelAMW]

I grew up in the Black Country in the 60s/early 70s, and agree 100%.

Bus services were also reduced on Sundays, particularly in the morning, with some routes not running and others reduced frequency.

People who have grown up in the current 24/7 world might find it hard to appreciate how quiet many town & city centres were back then on Sundays, with restricted pub opening hours and nearly all shops closed.

The railway generally could be very quiet on Sunday mornings (a good time to find stuff on depots & stabling points if you were number collecting!), with long distance services also thinned out and not really picking up in frequency until after lunchtime - the family Sunday lunch was an important occasion in the week.

It was lovely! No peace these days... Sunday rail travel was for going on an inter-city train that was diverted via the most unlikely and long-winded route to avoid some engineering.

 

[Mike99]

Kidderminster (pop. 65,000) still has its first Sunday train to Birmingham at 0946, so pretty useless for essential workers or anyone trying to go out for the day for leisure further afield.

Perhaps the timetablers think everyone wants a lie-in!!

I know Hinckley isn't West Midlands but the first service here on a Sunday to Birmingham is 10:38, arr New Street 11:14

 

[ac6000cw]

Sounds rather the recent lockdown.

Not quite as bad as that, but Sunday morning could get close to it - for many households, it was a time to do things at home, or go to church/Sunday school, then prepare Sunday lunch.

The introduction of Sunday trading in England in 1994 meant that public transport operators had to provide more services to meet the demand, not only from shoppers but people who worked in the shops.

Once the shops were open on a Sunday, there was an associated demand from cafes, restaurants and pubs, which increased the demand for public transport.

Exactly.

 

[duncanp]

Exactly.

In London, the area between Liverpool Street station and Aldgate used to be quite lively on a Sunday morning due to the Petticoat Lane market. Cafes and shops were open to serve the shoppers and traders, and some bus routes were extended to serve the market.

Back on topic, where I live now the first bus to Birmingham on a Sunday is at 07:45, whereas on every other day of the week it is around two hours earlier.

There is another route nearby that starts at 05:15 on a Sunday, but that is presumably because it serves City Hospital on Dudley Road.

 

[peteb]

I’ve no idea how the rather odd and still unsatisfactory Sunday service patten on the Snow Hill lines came about.

A look at realtime trains shows the first departures from Worcester LMD at around 0830. One unit goes to Foregate St and then to Birmingham New St arr 0945, however the other unit wanders off to Malvern ecs before returning VIA Kidderminster to Snow Hill then Stratford. So in theory omitting Malvern could result in a first Snow Hill lines service nearly an hour earlier. Perhaps the (manual) signal boxes on the Worcester to Malvern Wells stretch dont open until 8am, hence the later departure from Worcester?

Nothing much out of Tyseley depot till 0800ish on Sundays either......

 

[AJS90]

Nothing much out of Tyseley depot till 0800ish on Sundays either......

When does the overnight engineering blockade usually end on a Sunday?

 

[The Planner]

When does the overnight engineering blockade usually end on a Sunday?

0830

 

[WesternLancer]

I didn’t think Sunday trading was something that started overnight in 1994. With a few notable exceptions like M&S, most major chain stores had been opening on Sunday’s for years with little resistance from the authorities.

I think it varied by local authority area as mentioned up thread did it not. IIRC it was the out of town chain retail stores on business parks (not so much the city centre chain stores) that started pushing the boundaries by opening illegally on Sundays and pressing for legislative change from at least the late 80s onwards. Certain small shops / 'corner shops' had been exempt from having to close on Sundays so they opposed the opening of the larger retail spaces, as of course it weakened the flow of customers who would need to buy from them as larger stores were not open.

Interesting that some aspects of public transport have still not really adapted.

 

[Bald Rick]

Just had a quick look at the timetables, and the Sunday service now is much the same as it was 25 years ago in terms of start up. When I lived on the Cross City (N) I remember there being no train into town to get you there before about 0930. Still the same.

 

[Ridercross]

Kidderminster (pop. 65,000) still has its first Sunday train to Birmingham at 0946, so pretty useless for essential workers or anyone trying to go out for the day for leisure further afield.

Perhaps the timetablers think everyone wants a lie-in!!

Yes, now living in Kidderminster this is really annoying as you say trying to get a decent day out on a Sunday.

This has been raised at the Rail Users meetings and the TOC response was that Network Rail wouldn't release possession any earlier. As mentioned above this is meant to end at 0830 so possibly yes there could be a service an hour earlier.

Also this is particularly annoying due to the virtual disappearance of Sunday bus routes in the area. For example looking at the 192 service bus timetable from 2001, the first bus out of Kiddie left at 07:52 arriving in Birmingham at 08:42 so the lack of early trains wasn't as much of a problem then.

 

[Mag_seven]

Table 55: Cross-City Line 2tph; first departures 1221 New Street-Longbridge and 1224 New Street-Four Oaks (it doesn't appear to have run beyond Longbridge and Four Oaks on Sundays at that time);

This would square with my experience of staying overnight in Redditch on a Sunday evening circa May 1986 to attend a university milk round interview on the Monday morning. I remember arriving at Birmingham New St at around teatime expecting to be able to get a train to Redditch only to discover that there wasn't one and a bus was the only option.

 

[Hadders]

I didn’t think Sunday trading was something that started overnight in 1994. With a few notable exceptions like M&S, most major chain stores had been opening on Sunday’s for years with little resistance from the authorities.

The Old Sunday Trading laws restricted what goods could be sold rather than whether shops were allowed to open. For example it was illegal to sell a bible on a Sunday but a pornographic magazine was fine!

The advent of large out of town supermarkets selling a large range of goods meant the law became rather farcical. Some local authorities were keener than others in enforcing it. By the early 1990s some of the larger supermarkets were starting to open on Sundays. I was a supermarket manager in the early 1990s and I remember Christmas 1991 being a bit of a turning point.

There were many arguments for and against and the 1994 Sunday Trading Act that is still in force today in England & Wales was significant and a compromise at the same time:

- Small shops (defined as below 3,180 sq.ft sales area) could open unrestricted hours
- Large shops allowed to trade but only for six hours
- No restrictions on the sort of goods that can be sold
- All Large shops must close on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day
- Shop workers employed when the Act came into force could opt out of Sunday working with no loss of contracted hours
- All shop workers (regardless of when they started) have the right to opt out of Sunday working (although there is no right for their SUnday hours to be accommodated elsewhere)
- Large penalties for breaking the law meaning a large store tempted to open and just pay the fine (because they'd make more money overall) isn't viable

 

[The Planner]

Yes, now living in Kidderminster this is really annoying as you say trying to get a decent day out on a Sunday.

This has been raised at the Rail Users meetings and the TOC response was that Network Rail wouldn't release possession any earlier. As mentioned above this is meant to end at 0830 so possibly yes there could be a service an hour earlier.

Also this is particularly annoying due to the virtual disappearance of Sunday bus routes in the area. For example looking at the 192 service bus timetable from 2001, the first bus out of Kiddie left at 07:52 arriving in Birmingham at 08:42 so the lack of early trains wasn't as much of a problem then.

Not quite, the time at Tyseley is 0830, the rest of the route is different. Droitwich to Stourbridge Jn comes off at 0900, Langley Green to Stourbridge comes off at 0915. Snow Hill to Langley Green comes off at 0910. So unless a unit can be stabled securely overnight somewhere around Kidderminster, you will still need an ECS move to start the service.

 

[HS2isgood]

Maybe putting a bus at 07:45, arriving around 08:35 at Smethwick Galton Bridge (if there's a good connection)? There is a precedent of permanent RRBs on West Midlands Trains.

 

[Taunton]

Some local authorities were keener than others in enforcing it.

It could depend on the composition of the local council. In Taunton in older times it was almost a tradition for the larger town shop owners to put up for councillor. They certainly weren't going to lose the opportunity to stick one on any competition. So there were local bylaws enforcing half day closing (Thursdays, unusually), fixed shopping hours, and nothing on Sundays. And the enforcement officer was left in no doubt what they should pay attention to first.

Incidentally, if the West Midlands was poor, you should have seen Scotland in the 1970s, even for longer distance services a real paucity. In fact, there was often one, slow service at about 10am, and then nothing until 5pm and after. Given that it was mostly still semaphore signalling then, all those signalboxes needed staffing for that morning train, then nothing. That was in the central belt. As you moved up to the Highlands, there was increasingly nothing. And no buses either. In the further reaches even going out in your car was frowned on. Accounts of the more fundamentalist B&B owners seeing their guests go out in the car on a Sunday morning, when they got back they found their suitcases packed and placed on the front step.