Trivia: Stations with a worse service now than 30 years ago

[DynamicSpirit]

I was thinking the other day about how much frequencies have generally improved on the railways over the last couple of decades, and was wondering if there are any places where that hasn't happened. So I thought I'd open to the collective wisdom of railforums to see if anyone can suggest places where the service has got worse.
Are there any such places?

To be more precise: Please suggest either any station, or any line where:

• The station (or line) was open prior to 2000 and is still open today (re-sited stations are allowed)
• The typical regular normal schedule (outside engineering works etc.) was better during a continuous period of at least a couple of years between 1970 and 2000 than it is today. (Since I imagine most people will be working from memory, you don't need to be too precise about the year)
• Special 'temporary' schedules are off-topic even if they are long-running (such as the changes to services around London Bridge during the current works there)

For this thread, 'better' means, either more trains per day or a more frequent off-peak weekday frequency. However, if you have some other sensible reason (other than frequency) for arguing that the service was better before 2000, that's also on-topic. (Example: The service in the 1980s ran to somewhere that was obviously more useful to a high proportion of passengers than they do today would be a sensible reason. I preferred the rolling stock that was used in the 1970s is not a sensible reason )

 

[NorthernSpirit]

I can't recall the year but I would say Halifax use to have a service to both Weymouth and London (can't remember which station), then BR got shut of those services and for around 30 years the town only had local and regional express services until 2000 when Brighouse was reconnected to the network and Halifax gained a service to Huddersfield. Fast forward to 2010 and open access operator Grand Central started to run services to London again.

I've excluded Queensbury as that line shut before 1970 otherwise I would have included it.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Denton and Reddish South definitely worse now than in 1987!

 

[thenorthern]

Hartford used to have Virgin Trains stopping there until around 2000, there are probably more trains serving the station now but some of the Liverpool to London trains used to serve the station prior to 2000 which was better in terms of destinations than today.

A favorite on here Teesside Airport or Tees-side Airport as it was then called I think had a better service than it does now. Also in 1987 Teesside Airport had more passengers than it does now which is surprising given the rise in lo-cost operators.

Denton and Reddish South definitely worse now than in 1987!

They lost their regular service in 1992 I think when a large amount of the services from Leeds were diverted to Manchester Piccadilly instead of Victoria. Prior to 1992 a shuttle service operated from Stockport to Stalybridge to connect with the Leeds services which became redundant when the services were diverted as there was already a link from Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly.

 

[philthetube]

Watford junction, lost nearly all it's Virgin services, and to make it worse still pays London Prices to travel north

 

[Kendalian]

Carstairs

 

[yorksrob]

All of the Whitby branch.

Also Normanton, which has lost a couple of peak trains and now takes longer to get to Leeds whilst the last train back is earlier.

Winchelsea, Doleham and Three Oaks no longer have an hourly service.

 

[Failed Unit]

Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.

In 1987 use to have 11 trains each way per day. (Now 7)
Sunday service all year (now just high summer)
Direct trains to London.

Axe hit in 1992 to prepare for privatisation. Never recovered. In fact CT reduced the service to 7 trains each way.

 

[jfisher21]

Watford Junction and Carstairs have more trains now, just not intercity ones! (apart from the hourly virgin service from Watford to Brum )

 

[al78]

The Mole Valley line, Horsham to London. This used to be the traditional route, over time fast services have declined and the primary route shifted to via the Brighton main line.

 

[Parallel]

I imagine Pilning also features on this list, though I’m unsure what service levels it got in 1987.

 

[Harpers Tate]

Gainsborough Central, Kirton Lindsey and Brigg. Was daily and regular(ish) until 1991, now 3x each way per week on Saturdays only.

 

[notlob.divad]

I don't know about 30 years ago, but when I was younger you used to be able to get direct trains from my Local station to the Lake District and Scotland. I remember my parents where happy for me and 3 friends to make our own way to the Lake District on the train for a weekend away because we didn't have to change. However now, you cannot do it, at all. Neither the service frequency nor journey timing has improved as a result of loosing the direct connections so I would argue this is a significantly worse service than we used to have.

 

[Carlisle]

I think Beaulieu Road used to have an hourly service for much of the day

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Mid-Cheshire line (CLC - Knutsford, Northwich etc).
Trains are much the same, but were diverted on a longer/slower route via Stockport to make way for Metrolink.
Ellesmere Port-Helsby reduced to peak shuttle.

You could have another list of routes where trains are slower than in 1987 - eg most of those into Paddington.
Trent Valley folk will say they have a worse long-distance service now that Virgin only stop in the peaks.
North Wales-Birmingham has been slowed with trains diverted via Shrewsbury, though the previous LHCS via Stafford was never fast.
There are now no NW-SW/south coast through services, forcing changes at Birmingham, among many XC route reductions.
No through trains beyond Crewe-Derby shuttle.
No Scotland-SW sleeper (and other regional sleepers), or Clansman (Euston-Preston-Perth/Inverness day train).
Motorail.

 

[LowLevel]

South Wigston, Narborough, Hinckley, Loughborough have lost out on through services as well as services per hour and EMT chose to ruin the connection at Leicester for Nottingham a few years ago to boot.

Telford, Wellington, Shrewsbury lost one of their hourly Birmingham trains to allow for Virgin high frequency trains.

The Lincoln line to Nottingham lost a train per hour too.

 

[hexagon789]

Breich used to be served by all Glasgow Central-Shotts-Edinburgh trains, the frequency was two-hourly in the late 70s and for much of the 80s. Cleland (then Cleland Halt) on the same line was not served by all services and Slateford was served by few trains on Saturdays. All the stations from Dundee to Carnoustie were served by an hourly stopper to Arbroath, if I rememer correctly, until the late 70s/early 80s.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Llandudno used to have a much better service, quite often all the platforms could be full. We now only get a Sunday service for a couple months of the year.

North wales coast in general had a much better service to a bigger variety of locations.

 

[Ash Bridge]

I would say that Styal in Cheshire is a probable contender, also Middlewood on the Buxton line when checking the LMR 1973-74 timetable reveals it had an hourly service on weekdays compared to generally two hourly today although back in the 1970s there were no calls whatsoever on Sunday's.

 

[mlambeuk]

Manors, Pegswood, widdrington, Acklington and Chathill.

 

[hotel_mode]

Bagshot, Camberley, and Frimley. Used to have 2 direct Waterloo trains per hour taking 55 mins now down to 1 direct per day.

Normal journey now 1h20 with change at Ascot/Ash Vale.

 

[47802]

I can't recall the year but I would say Halifax use to have a service to both Weymouth and London (can't remember which station), then BR got shut of those services and for around 30 years the town only had local and regional express services until 2000 when Brighouse was reconnected to the network and Halifax gained a service to Huddersfield. Fast forward to 2010 and open access operator Grand Central started to run services to London again.

I've excluded Queensbury as that line shut before 1970 otherwise I would have included it.

Yes but it doesn't have a worse service now than 30 years ago does it! except maybe a summer sat service to Weymouth. In the winter 87 timetable the regional services were basically hourly to Manchester half hourly at peak, 2 hourly Copy Pit and of course no Huddersfield Service, go back a few years prior to that and there was no Copy Pit service either. So today Halifax has a much improved regional service and 4 trains a day to London.

Of Course the Leeds-Bentham-Lancaster/Morecambe service is worse than 30 years ago but will be rectified next year.

The Barton-on-Humber Service is also worse than 30 years ago.

 

[pemma]

Mid-Cheshire line (CLC - Knutsford, Northwich etc).
Trains are much the same, but were diverted on a longer/slower route via Stockport to make way for Metrolink.

You could argue it's much worse at peak times. I'm not sure when it changed but Mid-Cheshire line stations once had 3tph to Manchester at peak times, which later became 2tph. Currently there's only 1tph to Manchester at peak times, with peak time extras only going to Stockport.

 

[frodshamfella]

The Helsby to Ellesmere Port line used to have a better service.

 

[Qwerty133]

South Wigston, Narborough, Hinckley, Loughborough have lost out on through services as well as services per hour and EMT chose to ruin the connection at Leicester for Nottingham a few years ago to boot.

EMT just see those stations as an inconvenience full stop. It is much more important for them to have 5 ticket office staff at Leicester (despite there only being 4 windows) than to provide anyone to man the office at Narborough which is increasingly closed during supposed opening hours.

 

[LowLevel]

EMT just see those stations as an inconvenience full stop. It is much more important for them to have 5 ticket office staff at Leicester (despite there only being 4 windows) than to provide anyone to man the office at Narborough which is increasingly closed during supposed opening hours.

Perhaps that will change if/When they operate the trains and stations again!

 

[cuccir]

The Furness Line (Barrow-in-Furness, Ulverston, Grange-over-Sands) has seen services cut within the last 5 years: This 2010 timetable shows 20 southbound trains a day, of which 6 go to Manchester, compared with 18 today, of which only 3 continue to Manchester. Going back further, I think 30 years ago there was still a London service - this got cut in the late 1980s/early 1990s. During the 90s I recall using a direct service to Liverpool as well.

There is, to be fair, a promised improvement with the May 2018 timetable change for Barrow, including a Sunday service north out of Barrow for the first time in decades, so this situation may be coming to an end.

 

[Ash Bridge]

You could argue it's much worse at peak times. I'm not sure when it changed but Mid-Cheshire line stations once had 3tph to Manchester at peak times, which later became 2tph. Currently there's only 1tph to Manchester at peak times, with peak time extras only going to Stockport.

Knutsford appears to have had as many as four morning peak services an hour to Manchester Mon-Fri during the 1972-73 timetable.

 

[thenorthern]

Styal had more trains stopping there until 1993 when the airport spur opened, prior to 1993 I think it had a half hourly service.

The Crewe to Derby line had earlier services and trains went through to Manchester Airport in one direction until 2003 and Nottingham in the other direction until 2005, I think the same amount or slight more actual trains run now though and the last train is later than before.

Its still the United Kingdom and in Northern Ireland the stations on the Lisburn to Antrim line such as Crumlin used to have a better service as the line was mothballed in 2003, I am not sure how many services ran to Londonderry in those days but before the frequency was doubled recently I think there would have been more services to Londonderry 30 years ago.

 

[6Gman]

Blaenau Ffestiniog branch?

Gone from 2hourly to 3hourly?