Trivia: Passenger services that exist to serve as stock/staff movements

[D365]

Inspired by the discussion of "Empty Stock Moves That Could Be Useful To Passengers", I thought I would ponder how many passenger services exist, where the primary intention is seemingly for stock/staff movement - but the service is operated for passenger use anyway.

A well-known example was the EMT HSTs from Sheffield to Leeds. This was useful as an additional Sheffield-Leeds fast, but is no longer operated as the Class 222 (and incoming Class 810) are maintained in Derby. In effect, the Sheffield-Leeds extensions have been replaced by additional Sheffield-Derby services.

 

[Johnny Lewis]

07.55 Sunday Westbury to Warminster, which is frequently cancelled in most weeks, with no replacement bus provided. So exists purely to get a unit to Warminster to work the first train from there to Swindon via Melksham.

 

[StephenHunter]

Any 745/1 run to/from Norwich, as that's where the depot is.

 

[nw1]

A recent example was a late-evening-peak Waterloo-Southampton via Guildford, Havant and Fareham. Just checked a CWN I have from 2012: looks like it was the 1915 from Waterloo. Arrived Southampton Central 21+43 (ECS from Havant) that year, but later went over to doing the whole journey in-service. After arriving it split. One 450 formed the 2155 semi-fast direct to Waterloo and the other went to the depot or sidings.

Presumably this was not to provide a useful through service but merely to get the stock in the right place. That said I did use it on a couple of occasions as a useful through service, though sadly it appeared to be scheduled to arrive just behind the Solent stopper so it was slower than it could have been west of Cosham.

The 2155 was thus not, as one might expect, formed off the 1939 Waterloo-Southampton Central (single 444). This was because that unit was needed to form the 2130 fast service, which that hour did not start from Weymouth.

(As an aside, while I've travelled the South Western Division and its successors since 1982, I'm now having quite significant nostalgia for even these recent times, featuring, as they did, proper full timetables without gaps and some interesting stock workings...)

Going back further to early Solent electrification in the early 90s, I remember a pair of VEPs in the evening peak (1720 off Waterloo, I think) did the exact same journey before forming the 1950 stopper from Southampton Central to Waterloo - so very similar idea but around 2 hours earlier. That may have been slightly different as it ostensibly provided a peak through service from Waterloo to Swanwick and Netley, both of which it called at, albeit a slow one as it called at all stops between Guildford and Havant.

 

[Taunton]

The longstanding "all night" service every hour or so on the suburban GEML was principally for rail staff, with passenger service as a by-product.

A further GEML electric feature of past times was for peak-time short workings to return nonstop from their destination, generally via the Main lines, for a second load. In some years these were in the timetable, in others they ran ecs. The numbers wanting to travel counter-peak in the evening nonstop from say Ilford to Liverpool Street was of course somewhat minimal.

An interesting 1960s by-product was unearthed in the Beeching Report regarding the early morning train from Dunbar to Edinburgh, which was quoted as abot 120 passengers, so justified despite its high operating costs, including running out ecs from Edinburgh earlier in the night. Beeching's chief economist, Stewart Joy, was in Edinburgh and doubted all this, so went down one morning to see its arrival, and found maybe 20 revenue passengers, and some 100 rail staff coming to work on free passes. It's described in Joy's autobiography "the Train that Ran Away".

 

[pompeyfan]

A recent example was a late-evening-peak Waterloo-Southampton via Guildford, Havant and Fareham. Just checked a CWN I have from 2012: looks like it was the 1915 from Waterloo. Arrived Southampton Central 21+43 (ECS from Havant) that year, but later went over to doing the whole journey in-service. After arriving it split. One 450 formed the 2155 semi-fast direct to Waterloo and the other went to the depot or sidings.

Presumably this was not to provide a useful through service but merely to get the stock in the right place. That said I did use it on a couple of occasions as a useful through service, though sadly it appeared to be scheduled to arrive just behind the Solent stopper so it was slower than it could have been west of Cosham.

The 2155 was thus not, as one might expect, formed off the 1939 Waterloo-Southampton Central (single 444). This was because that unit was needed to form the 2130 fast service, which that hour did not start from Weymouth.

(As an aside, while I've travelled the South Western Division and its successors since 1982, I'm now having quite significant nostalgia for even these recent times, featuring, as they did, proper full timetables without gaps and some interesting stock workings...)

Going back further to early Solent electrification in the early 90s, I remember a pair of VEPs in the evening peak (1720 off Waterloo, I think) did the exact same journey before forming the 1950 stopper from Southampton Central to Waterloo - so very similar idea but around 2 hours earlier. That may have been slightly different as it ostensibly provided a peak through service from Waterloo to Swanwick and Netley, both of which it called at, albeit a slow one as it called at all stops between Guildford and Havant.

There’s now several 2Yxx services to Southampton / Fareham during both the morning and evening peak as well services starting at Fareham heading towards Guildford, many of which run ECS to and from Northam depot.

SWRs 1L93 is an odd service, runs ECS to Axminster from Salisbury, conveys several members of crew to Exeter with a detachment at Honiton.

 

[route101]

Services on the Glasgow to Edinburgh via Shotts that are operated by a Class 158. Rotates stock from Corkerhill.

 

[Magdalia]

how many passenger services exist, where the primary intention is seemingly for stock/staff movement

Any 745/1 run to/from Norwich, as that's where the depot is.

The primary purpose of class 745/1 formed Liverpool Street-Norwich trains is to convey passengers as part of the normal service. They just happen to be formed class 745/1 not class 745/0 for operational convenience, but that doesn't make stock rotation their primary purpose.

The example I'd give of trains that are advertised but mainly run for staff are 0136 Kings Cross-Peterborough and 0323 back.

The example I'd give of trains that are advertised but mainly run for positioning stock are 0512 Norwich-Sheringham and 2347 Sheringham-Norwich.

 

[Revilo]

I can’t imagine the 05:20 Penzance to Truro is much used by passengers. This provides the stock for the Falmouth branch.

 

[158841]

We have a to and from diagram on TfW
0700 Shrewsbury - Wrexham, takes staff to work on Bidston
2049 Wrexham - Shrewsbury brings back the salop staff with the unit finishing for the day too.

 

[bunnahabhain]

Part of the reasoning behind many of the strangely timed ex-Regional Railways services which for all intents and purposes only serve to get the train into position is that when Sprinterisation was taking place you were marked down for trains that ran ECS for lengthy distances because that was a brand new expensive asset being wasted on non-revenue service. This is partly why strange services like the old 0511 Nottingham to Spalding existed, having worked it it wasn't that unusual to see 0 passengers throughout, with maybe 1-3 between Peterborough and Spalding on some days.

 

[The exile]

A few weeks ago I used (on a Saturday) the 04.49 Carmarthen - Milford Haven , the O5.49 Carmarthen - Fishguard and the 06.50 Fishguard - Clarbeston Road (admittedly none for the full journey) - all of them in splendid isolation. Can’t imagine there’s either a commercial or much of a social need for any of them!

 

[Western 52]

A few weeks ago I used (on a Saturday) the 04.49 Carmarthen - Milford Haven , the O5.49 Carmarthen - Fishguard and the 06.50 Fishguard - Clarbeston Road (admittedly none for the full journey) - all of them in splendid isolation. Can’t imagine there’s either a commercial or much of a social need for any of them!

0447 Carmarthen to Llandovery too! Passes my house empty.

 

[Peter0124]

The Garscadden terminators finish there cause of the depot nearby.

 

[Future]

After Plymouth, 2E30 21:00 Penzance - Exeter St Davids seems to exist more for the purpose of returning the stock from Gunnislake than any passenger convenience. Though I trust there will be a couple of rather drunk people on a 23:15 off Plymouth! Pre-May TT change, Gunnislake - Exeter was worked as a separate movement all together, not sure if 2E30 existed then

 

[dk1]

Part of the reasoning behind many of the strangely timed ex-Regional Railways services which for all intents and purposes only serve to get the train into position is that when Sprinterisation was taking place you were marked down for trains that ran ECS for lengthy distances because that was a brand new expensive asset being wasted on non-revenue service. This is partly why strange services like the old 0511 Nottingham to Spalding existed, having worked it it wasn't that unusual to see 0 passengers throughout, with maybe 1-3 between Peterborough and Spalding on some days.

There is something so splendidly fascinating about such inefficiencies on the network.

 

[Strathclyder]

Services on the Glasgow to Edinburgh via Shotts that are operated by a Class 158. Rotates stock from Corkerhill.

A 158 also runs from Edinburgh to Motherwell via Carstairs in the evening, then returns to Edinburgh the following morning running via Shotts, which gets it back east for services to the north.

See here.

 

[chefchenko]

Pre pandemic there used to be a 23.00 Euston to Piccadilly which ran slow all the way and was set down only at stoke , macc and Stockport , I assume it was some stock movement ??? I used it once after West Ham v macc caraboa cup match