[Trivia] Passenger Trains That Often Carry No Passengers For Entire Route

[Falcon1200]

Back when some of the Dumfries route services were resourced from Carlisle, it was not uncommon for the last train to Dumfries to terminate at Annan if there were no passengers for beyond, as it returned empty to Carlisle anyway. However the advent of Trust Delay Attribution meant that if that happened the train would have to be shown cancelled at Annan, affecting Scotrail's performance figures! So it then had to run through to Dumfries regardless.

 

[wilbers]

Maybe not over the complete length, but last time I was on the 20:30 TPE Carlisle-Manchester, the guard upgraded us all to 1st after Penrith.

There were three of us travelling over Shap that night. The guard said it was normally pretty dead, which tallys with my experience. Used to get a reasonable patronage when it came from Glasgow at 19:11 mind. Filled the gap between the Virgin (as was) services quite nicely.

Last time I was on that (August-ish) there were slightly more on it, but few enough that we were all asked individually if we wanted anything from the trolley (and as the answer was no from everyone it didn't come round). Its at the right sort of time for the end bit of a day return to Newcastle from here. By definition I wouldn't know if anyone got upgraded to 1st after Penrith.

 

[Taunton]

On the Underground I would guess that it happens fairly regularly on Hainault to Woodford. I've gone on this several times over a long period, generally the only passenger in the car, and when I look through there's nobody in the adjacent ones. I believe what traffic it does get is mainly to/from schools.

Back when some of the Dumfries route services were resourced from Carlisle, it was not uncommon for the last train to Dumfries to terminate at Annan if there were no passengers for beyond, as it returned empty to Carlisle anyway. However the advent of Trust Delay Attribution meant that if that happened the train would have to be shown cancelled at Annan, affecting Scotrail's performance figures! So it then had to run through to Dumfries regardless.

This apparently impacted the DLR in recent times, where several trains returning to depot, particularly after the evening peak, provided useful direct runs to overcome the changing, sometimes twice in short order at both Canary Wharf and then Poplar, that the normal service pattern requires. They still run, but as nonstop ECS with the lights out, following slowly behind scheduled trains. They were inevitably last in priority, and could fall a bit behind their scheduled timings and cause a delay report, so now they take nobody.

 

[The exile]

They were inevitably last in priority, and could fall a bit behind their scheduled timings and cause a delay report, so now they take nobody.

Which is a ridiculous example of bureaucracy forgetting who things are run for.

 

[Mattzappa2112]

The 0447 Carmarthen to Llandovery is usually empty!

Edinburgh to Berwick midday Thursday, Transpennine, handful on.

 

[CarrotPie]

Which is a ridiculous example of bureaucracy forgetting who things are run for.

Things are run for whoever will hand you the concession again!

 

[devon_belle]

Trains between Dorking and Horsham and vice versa are often completely empty. Especially between the morning and evening peaks and the late evenings and weekends. I have been on at least ten journeys on this line where i am the one and only passenger. So there have probably been hundreds of journeys over the years with zero passengers. Even on the peak hour journeys there is rarely more than ten people at the very most on the train. I am always shocked that Dorking to Horsham survived the Beeching closures.

100%, though I'm glad it did survive. I commute on this line and I have sometimes been the only passenger in 10 carriages after Dorking - even relatively early in the evening. Othertimes there can be 100+ people. All depends on whether the train to Horsham via Gatwick is on time! The Number boarding and alighting at the intermediate stations ranges significantly for no apparent reason, too. It's a very inconsistent line.

However, I don't think there are any Dorking-Horsham passenger trains so it probably doesn't as 'the entire route' as per the thread.

 

[al78]

I am always shocked that Dorking to Horsham survived the Beeching closures.

Maybe at the time they wanted to leave a way to get from Horsham to Guildford having decided to axe the route that is now the Downs link.

 

[Dai Corner]

Newport-Crosskeys.

I used this service a few times off peak and rarely saw any other passengers. Those I did see were probably fellow enthusiasts doing it for the novelty too. It was usually the first service to be cancelled when TfW were short of trains or crew and they eventually gave up completely and removed it from the timetable.

The Ebbw Vale branch has now been expensively resignalled and partially redoubled to allow an hourly Newport-Ebbw Vale service to start but TfW still can't resource it.

 

[moonarrow458]

Whilst ive never been on it i would imagine the following service would likely apply:

Realtime Trains | 2R89 0540 York to Selby | 13/04/2024

Real-time train running information for 2R89 0540 departure from York to Selby on 13/04/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

2R89 York to Selby (non-stop) at 0540 on a Saturday morning

Runs directly behind 1R00 - the 0536 York to Hull service which likewise runs nonstop to Selby, then Hull.

So in all likelihood the 0540 to Selby is just a positioning move in passenger service that likely never runs with any passengers

 

[30907]

Maybe at the time they wanted to leave a way to get from Horsham to Guildford having decided to axe the route that is now the Downs link.

At the time it was a main line - before the Mid Sussex was diverted via Gatwick.

 

[mm333]

Vicki Pipe and her now ex-partner Geoff made a video about the 0710 Wrexham General-Wrexham Central (now canned). A passenger would commute in from Chirk every day and instead of sitting on a cold platform at General waiting for the connection north, he'd ride the 0710 and then come back north as it headed up towards Bidston and his destination.

 

[TFN]

Depending on the day of the week/time of year, the 2310 or 2325 HEX from Paddington to Heathrow was regularly empty.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

I remember catching a York to Selby train in the middle of the day to do one of the curves on to the Leeds - Hull line and there was only other passenger who only did a part journey.

With a 70-80% cancellation rate and (presumably) no replacement buses, the stupidly timed trains between Ellesmere Port and Helsby must have many empty workings

 

[philthetube]

I didn't see anybody else on the 05:16 Chesham to Watford* the one time I had to use it.

*At least, I didn't see anybody between Rickmansworth and Watford, but I doubt there'd have been anybody on at Chesham, Chalfont or Chorleywood that early, unless connecting on to the Amersham to Aldgate service five minutes later.

carried the odd one, there used to be a regular but I don't thin he travels any more, most passengers on it want the London service, probably busier than the return working which runs after midnight.

 

[mtmikethom]

I have seen a few mid/late evening trains arrive at Marks Tey from Sudbury with no passenger on them a number of times

 

[route101]

Can't imagine the morning Motherwell to Lanark / Cumbernauld services have many, if any passengers. Especially the ones before 6am.

Ive seen one or two board them on a Saturday.

 

[infobleep]

Vicki Pipe and her now ex-partner Geoff made a video about the 0710 Wrexham General-Wrexham Central (now canned). A passenger would commute in from Chirk every day and instead of sitting on a cold platform at General waiting for the connection north, he'd ride the 0710 and then come back north as it headed up towards Bidston and his destination.

Although not empty trains, I use to visit Wandaworth Common and Queens Town Road (Battersea) inside of waiting 20 minutes at Clapham Junction for my connection when commuting. Killed some time.

Outside of the pandemic, I don't think I've bee on any trains where I'm.the sole person, bar rail staff.

I've been on some very quiet trains that have almost empty out towards the end of their journey.

 

[Peter0124]

Ive seen one or two board them on a Saturday.

Do you reckon they had Friday nights out in Motherwell town centre?

 

[Bikeman78]

Trains between Dorking and Horsham and vice versa are often completely empty. Especially between the morning and evening peaks and the late evenings and weekends. I have been on at least ten journeys on this line where i am the one and only passenger. So there have probably been hundreds of journeys over the years with zero passengers. Even on the peak hour journeys there is rarely more than ten people at the very most on the train. I am always shocked that Dorking to Horsham survived the Beeching closures.

The service on that line has been all over the place. In the 1980s I think there were two hour gaps off peak, and some ran non stop from Holmwood to Horsham. In the peaks, it was half hourly, including trains to Waterloo formed of Subs and then 508s. From about 1990 to 1993 it was an hourly shuttle worked by a 2EPB. There were always a handful of passengers when I went for a ride. Since May 1993 there has been an hourly though service to London Monday to Saturday, with some peak extras.

 

[CarrotPie]

I can't imagine the LO services to/from Battersea get much patronage.

 

[stadler]

I can't imagine the LO services to/from Battersea get much patronage.

It depends on the direction. Every time that i have been on the train from Wandsworth Road to Battersea Park there has been at least ten to fifteen other passengers onboard the train. Most of the passengers for Clapham Junction simply board this train and then do a cross platform interchange at Battersea Park as it is quicker than waiting for the following London Overground service behind. Many drivers even announce that they can do this in advance. The journey in the opposite direction from Battersea Park to Wandsworth Road is much quieter and often completely empty. When there are passengers onboard this journey it is mainly confused passengers who thought they were on a Clapham Junction train and do not realise you can change at Battersea Park so they simply get back on the same train to return. So the Wandsworth Road to Battersea Park journey is always quite well used while the Battersea Park to Wandsworth Road journey is very quiet and often completely empty.

 

[mike57]

The 05:33 Hull to Scarborough, first stop Bridlington, is often empty during the winter, a few people usually get on in Bridlington, but this is really an 'ECS' open to passengers seeing as it staffed anyway. In the summer there will be a few on it.

 

[IBLRG]

Vicki Pipe and her now ex-partner Geoff made a video about the 0710 Wrexham General-Wrexham Central (now canned). A passenger would commute in from Chirk every day and instead of sitting on a cold platform at General waiting for the connection north, he'd ride the 0710 and then come back north as it headed up towards Bidston and his destination.

Geoff Marshall also did a video about a limited Overground service that calls at Battersea Park mainly for route knowledge if there are issues at Clapham Junction, very few people on them services.

 

[RPI]

05:56 Liskeard to Looe.

 

[Ianigsy]

There used to be a train at about 4am from Manchester Airport to Liverpool calling at Piccadilly only, presumably to allow it to take either the CLC or Chat Moss as needed. On the one occasion that I took it about ten years ago, the only other passengers were a couple who’d been on the same five hours delayed flight from Copenhagen.

 

[Magdalia]

Trains between Dorking and Horsham and vice versa are often completely empty. Especially between the morning and evening peaks and the late evenings and weekends. I have been on at least ten journeys on this line where i am the one and only passenger. So there have probably been hundreds of journeys over the years with zero passengers. Even on the peak hour journeys there is rarely more than ten people at the very most on the train. I am always shocked that Dorking to Horsham survived the Beeching closures.

I am an occasional user of Dorking-Horsham trains, including using one of the intermediate stations, and always between morning and evening peaks. Although the trains are quiet at that time I have never been the only passenger in my carriage, never mind the whole train.

At the time it was a main line - before the Mid Sussex was diverted via Gatwick.

The Victoria-Portsmouth service ran via Dorking until 1978, when it first started to run as a portion of the Bognor Regis service.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Vicki Pipe and her now ex-partner Geoff made a video about the 0710 Wrexham General-Wrexham Central (now canned). A passenger would commute in from Chirk every day and instead of sitting on a cold platform at General waiting for the connection north, he'd ride the 0710 and then come back north as it headed up towards Bidston and his destination.

It's a few hundred yards between the two, he wasn't getting much of a ride out!!

 

[Taunton]

For starting completely empty, I could include the Ascot to Guildford shuttle, which connects out of the Waterloo service at Ascot. Originally a through service which divided there, both parts getting away within a couple of minutes, it is now a connection which allows 10 minutes. However the Waterloo service, if delayed along the way, is quite often 10 minutes late arriving. I've been travelling to Camberley and have seen it all, including slamming the doors and going when just half the connecting passengers have made it across between platforms, or even setting off just as the first one runs up. Nobody ever starts their journey at Ascot, so it's empty.

I did once read of the Stourbridge shuttle, which likewise only really services connecting passengers, being sent off from the Junction on time, with the inbound main service just pulling in, but was following instructions. Having arrived at Stourbridge Town on time, albeit empty, it then went straight back as an extra service, to pick up the passengers ...

 

[FuzzyDuck]

A few weeks ago. I took a late night train from Lymington Town to Lymington Pier. No one got off at Town and my wife and I were the only passengers to get off at Pier. So it would have been empty except I spoiled it!