QEDThings are run for whoever will hand you the concession again!
QEDThings are run for whoever will hand you the concession again!
What a memory you must have! Remembering when trains ran on the Marston Vale line after 6pm.When running, the weekday late evening Marston Vale services tend to be near enough devoid of passengers.
I am not sure. Perhaps someone coming home from or to shift work.Do you reckon they had Friday nights out in Motherwell town centre?
Oh yes, when I did that train I was the only one on it until Helsby.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
Guessing most of these are positioning moves that would otherwise run as empty stock moves anyway, rather than the railway throwing money away on running empty trains because no one has looked at weather the services are actually needed?
Why doesn't it run via Stockport or why doesn't it call at Warrington? Route knowledge via the Mid-Cheshire has been cut to save money (it was hardly used because paths were hard to come by without upsetting the level crossing risk assessments). Warrington gets locked and left when unstaffed so trains can't call.View attachment 151032
The only time I've done this I was the only one on board. Ran fast to Stockport via Altrincham as a route learner but now runs via Warrington despite not actually stopping at Warrington! if anyone knows why let me know.
Sheaf Valley Railway: MPs submit bid to reopen axed stations Louise Haigh and Olivia Blake back reopening of Heeley and Millhouses stations as part of "just, green recovery" from Covid-19.
Two Sheffield MPs have submitted a bid to reopen closed railway stations at Heeley and Millhouses as part of a proposed expansion of passenger services in the Sheaf Valley.
Louise Haigh and Olivia Blake have responded to a call from the Department for Transport, who have asked for suggestions of axed services that could be restored.
The Labour MPs also want to see a brand new station built at Totley Brook, as well as an expansion of the existing Dore and Totley station.
"After Covid-19, we need a just, green recovery," said Blake.
"Restoring rail services along the Sheaf Valley - to provide greener and more affordable access to transportation - will allow Sheffield to play its part in responding to the climate crisis and reducing air pollution, but also creating a fairer, greener economy."
The government's £500m Restoring Your Railway fund aims to reopen parts of the rail network that were lost during the infamous Beeching cuts of the 1960s.
The former Heeley station. Photo by Nigel Thompson (Wikimedia Commons).
Both Heeley station, near the Sheaf View pub, and Millhouses station, near Millhouses Park, closed on the same day in June 1968.
These were among 2,363 stations recommended for closure in Richard Beeching's Conservative-commissioned report of 1963, which saw the railways as having been superseded by road travel.
The MPs argue that the reopening of these stations on the existing Sheaf Valley line would boost the local economy, improve connectivity with the city centre and reduce congestion on Chesterfield Road.
The move would also create direct connections to Manchester and Leeds for communities in south-west Sheffield.
"Reopening these stations will help to make us less dependent on cars, which will benefit us all," said Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh.
"Congestion will be eased, local air quality will be improved, and we'll be producing fewer greenhouses gases."
The government says an expert panel will consider the bids and announce an outcome by the end of the summer.
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There is a 22:50 service from Knottingley to Wakefield Westgate, caught this a couple of times and both times I've got it, I've been the only passenger on it.
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
Liverpool <-> North Wales itineraries sometimes pushed changing at Helsby instead of Chester.*I can't imagine many people have done a Warrington-Chester journey changing at Helsby either, except shack-bashers.
The Chiltern Railways 'Parliamentary train' from Aylesbury / High Wycombe / Gerrards Cross (depending on timetable / year) to Paddington and back over the years famously hardly ever had anyone on board except the driver and guard with only the occasional crank turning up to get the 'rare' track in. Of course when the last service ran from Paddington back on 7th December 2018 the whole world suddenly took an interest so it was lucky that Chiltern train planning had provided a 3-car unit vice the usual diagrammed 2-car.
This lack of passengers continued when Chiltern then began running from South Ruislip to West Ealing but similar scenes were witnessed on the last day of that operation too with many people turning up to ride the final train.
I've worked this one quite a few times - of course it runs to Manchester Airport rather than Piccadilly - the most I have picked up on it from Chester is about 10 people, but I have never worked it with nobody onboard. The quietest I have had it was 1x airline staff member from Chester until Piccadilly, where I then picked up about 20 people. Often get Airline staff on it from Chester and people setting off for early morning flights. On a Saturday morning it isn't uncommon to pick up people going home from Chester after a night on the booze! Dont think I have picked up anybody on it at the stops between Chester and Newton le Willows though, although I have had people alight enroute.View attachment 151032
The only time I've done this I was the only one on board. Ran fast to Stockport via Altrincham as a route learner but now runs via Warrington despite not actually stopping at Warrington! if anyone knows why let me know.
I took these routes a number of times, not on any special occasions but just because I was going in that general direction and prefer a quiet train instead of a more crowded and stopping tube. There were always at least 2 or 3 others, sometimes even up to 10 on board.
There is usually a dozen or so passengers on at Chesham, who generally bail at Chalfont or Ricky to get on the train from Amersham that's 7 minutes behind that followds the normal route to the City. I must admit generally the only people I see carried beyond Ricky are people that have fallen asleep!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.
Its sole purpose is to get the stock back up to Blackfriars for another peak working.This weekday service often runs empty. It runs once a day.
Realtime Trains | 1759 Beckenham Junction to London Blackfriars | 09/04/2024
Real-time train running information for 1759 departure from Beckenham Junction to London Blackfriars on 09/04/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.www.realtimetrains.co.uk
Its sole purpose is to get the stock back up to Blackfriars for another peak working.
I’ve ridden it a few times and only once there was another passenger on the trainI also doubt it has nobody on all the time even if it’s just single digits!