Triple destinations

[fairysdad]

Just an idle thought I had on the way into work this morning. There are a number of services throughout the country where a train has two destinations (for instance, SWT's services to Exeter and Bristol splitting at Salisbury), but any with three destinations?

 

[ainsworth74]

Highland Sleeper: Fort William, Inverness and Aberdeen. Splits up at Edinburgh with the various bits going their various ways.

 

[221129]

Just an idle thought I had on the way into work this morning. There are a number of services throughout the country where a train has two destinations (for instance, SWT's services to Exeter and Bristol splitting at Salisbury), but any with three destinations?

SWT where it announces for Salisbury, Bristol & Exeter.

 

[snowball]

It is of course possible for a train to have three portions, but only two destinations (and two starting points). Used to happen once upon a time from Manchester and Liverpool to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

 

[JonathanH]

Southern have:

Horsham, Reigate and Tonbridge with the split done at Redhill
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/W72148/2016/11/08/advanced
and
Eastbourne, Ore and Littlehampton with two splits at Haywards Heath and Eastbourne

 

[Deepgreen]

The Southern ones are infamous (especially for their performance at Redhill!). Historically, there have been some spectacular workings - the Atlantic Coast Express from Waterloo to Devon/Cornwall, which last ran on 5 September 1964, had numerous portions (mostly a single coach for each) and often ran with a second (relief) train shortly after the main one.

 

[southerner2174]

Also have in the past been Portsmouth Harbour, Littlehampton and Eastbourne with splits at Haywards Heath and Worthing, even better when no P.I.S codes available

 

[91103eastcoast]

SWT where it announces for Salisbury, Bristol & Exeter.

Isn't there some kind of problem with the PIS on these services which cause it to announce a split at Andover?

 

[swt_passenger]

Isn't there some kind of problem with the PIS on these services which cause it to announce a split at Andover?

Apparently so, it was discussed fairly recently, end of September. the conclusion was that the standard platform information system couldn't cope with two splits at the same place.

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=2719509&postcount=43

 

[TEW]

It does work sometimes, but not all the time. The 1220 Waterloo to Exeter & Bristol was displayed correctly on Saturday for example, with the rear 3 coaches being shown as detaching at Salisbury.

 

[Rick1984]

Oban, Fort William, Maillaig certainly used to

 

[swt class 450]

The 17:32 from London Bridge always causes so much confusion. When it divides at Redhill the front four coaches coaches go to Horsham and the middle four coaches go to Tonbridge and the rear four coaches go to Reigate but passengers always end up in the wrong portions. I remember on one occasion it was formed of 377/3 + 377/3 + 377/3 + 377/3 with the rear (fourth) unit terminating at Redhill which caused even more confusion.

 

[headshot119]

I'm sure there used to be an ATW service from Birmingham that went to Holyhead, Aberystwyth and Pwllheli with a split at Shrewsbury and Machynlleth.

 

[aag2110]

When I have caught the 18.14 KGX-KLN in the past I'm sure it has gone to Kings Lynn, Cambridge & Cambridge. The rear 4 coaches detach at Royston and call Meldreth,Shepreth, Foxton & Cambridge. The front 8 run fast to Cambridge where the front 4 then continue to Kings Lynn. However now I think the 8 may just continue all the way to KLN.

 

[tsr]

This evening there was a train from London Victoria to Southampton Central, Bognor Regis and Redhill. All 12 coaches travelled to Redhill, where the rear 4 detached and went ECS. The front 8 continued to Horsham where the train divided again. Then the front 4 coaches went to Southampton Central, and what had been the middle 4 on departure from Victoria became the Bognor Regis portion. I think it went to plan, except the extra split delayed it...

(First split is not shown on RTT, but was the cause of the delay at Redhill: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/W71290/2016/11/10/advanced )

Announcing this sort of thing is a pain on Electrostars, principally because the train cannot display coach numbers without a pre-set PIS code being entered, and of course the rarer "splits" don't necessarily have PIS codes at all, or only bodge jobs! Being able to reel off the calling pattern and split points professionally and not getting in a muddle is quite satisfying (even if you pre-plan what you're going to say, it's hard enough!), but having to manually explain how people should actually position themselves in the train is a nuisance, if there are no automatic numbers for reference!

 

[Clansman]

Not sure of any triples apart from the Cally Sleeper, there's the daily Aberdeen to Edinburgh & Glasgow service which splits at Dundee.

 

[scotraildriver]

Oban, Fort William, Maillaig certainly used to

Still do