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

[yorksrob]

I believe that’s planned for 2019 with a return to an early morning inbound service.

Unlike the former one it’s all stations. Or that’s what’s in the undated press release on the EVRDC website

If one additional train in the early morning is the sum total of the "improvements" to the Whitby branch service, then it still leaves the line with a woefully inadequate service.

 

[Marton]

If one additional train in the early morning is the sum total of the "improvements" to the Whitby branch service, then it still leaves the line with a woefully inadequate service.

Indeed so. Off thread is the abysmal connections available at Middlesbrough.

When TPE departures were mostly xx50 it worked. Now the branch trains to Newcastle still mostly arrive xx29 with TPE leaving at xx26. The Whitby trains are no better. The afternoon train arrives just as the Manchester one leaves.

It’s no better on trains leaning Boro. 40 Min from TPE and the Darlington arrival is 5 after the Nunthorpe departure.

Makes the hospital station difficult from any where other than the Durham Coast.

 

[Intercity 225]

Think Alfreton lost its offpeak London services with the arrival of Meridians and doubling of frequencies on the main route.
The basic service was Sheffield-Nottingham-London 2-hourly plus the rather random selection of services from East Anglia (for a few years in the 80s including Parkeston-Scotland) - lots of destinations, but not many trains to each.
The "frequent" service to London via Trent Jn was a couple of trains daily unless I am much mistaken.

Thank you for the further info. I've also been doing some digging and I found this:

http://www.wagonplate9.co.uk/page61.html

From the timetable on that link it looks like when Alfreton reopened there were four southbound trains via Trent Junction that stopped there and I seem to remember there being a similar number up until privatisation (I was young at the time though so could be wrong). There certainly haven't been any for a number of years and I think you're right that they may have ceased altogether around the time Meridians started in service. Got a feeling that services via Trent Junction decreased prior to that point though, probably in the mid-nineties as BR was bought to a close. They definitely existed during the timeframe the OP is asking about though.

This link is also interesting because it contains photos of trains on various services that don't exist today stopping at Alfreton:

http://www.wagonplate9.co.uk/page62.html

 

[Requeststop]

Lelant

Too Right!

 

[fowler9]

Well it’s in their official tourist publicity & on a plaque at the top of the tower. So it’s a bold lie if it isn’t true!

Ha ha, fair play. I just thought it was an impressive fact. Stayed with a mate and his missus in their house in Ansdell last summer and it really is a beautiful part of the world. Not a massive fan of Blackpool itself but it is some of the visitors rather than the place itself that spoil it, same anywhere I guess. Take my home town of Liverpool. Ha ha.

 

[LewFinnis]

I'm not sure of the time frame for it being cut back, but Dover to Ramsgate used to have 2 trains per hour, one running via Minster; now it's only hourly except in Mon-Fri peaks, with only one train each way (for schoolchildren) via Minster. At least the one train per hour is now a Javelin.

 

[Mugby]

Leeds to Goole, basically a one each way commuter run depriving intermediate stations of anything resembling a proper service.

Leeds to Goole never had much of a service but at least it had a spread of departures throughout the day in BR's time.

I believe most of the service was lost when Northern Spirit had the franchise and gave so many drivers redundancy that they were unable to run many services in West Yorkshire (remember the wholesale bustitutions at Leeds?) The Goole line was unfortunate in never having it's lost journeys restored and I'm sure a few services for shoppers to Castleford and Leeds would be well used now.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Thank you for the further info. I've also been doing some digging and I found this:

http://www.wagonplate9.co.uk/page61.html

From the timetable on that link it looks like when Alfreton reopened there were four southbound trains via Trent Junction that stopped there and I seem to remember there being a similar number up until privatisation (I was young at the time though so could be wrong). There certainly haven't been any for a number of years and I think you're right that they may have ceased altogether around the time Meridians started in service. Got a feeling that services via Trent Junction decreased prior to that point though, probably in the mid-nineties as BR was bought to a close. They definitely existed during the timeframe the OP is asking about though.

This link is also interesting because it contains photos of trains on various services that don't exist today stopping at Alfreton:

http://www.wagonplate9.co.uk/page62.html

Alfreton may have lost most of its direct London trains (isn't there still one each way per day?) - but surely the service today is light-years ahead of anything pre 2000, let alone at reopening in the 1970s. It has EMT every hour Liverpool- Norwich and NT every hour Leeds - Notthingham. Not high speed 125s, not even a Cl 45 with 8 IIDs and a Mk 1 MKB, I'll grant you, but a darned-sight better service, especially with connections, than back in those days.

 

[urbophile]

Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road might have a (slightly) more frequent service now with London Overground, but they no longer have a direct service to Victoria. I don't know how many people bother with changing at Clapham Junction rather than getting the bus.

 

[yorksrob]

I'm not sure of the time frame for it being cut back, but Dover to Ramsgate used to have 2 trains per hour, one running via Minster; now it's only hourly except in Mon-Fri peaks, with only one train each way (for schoolchildren) via Minster. At least the one train per hour is now a Javelin.

That does seem very scarce for the route.

I'm sure there were more when I lived down there in the 90's.

 

[mlambeuk]

Tyne and wear Metro between St. James and North Shields.

 

[Holly]

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. ...

Yes, Metrolink was built in 1991.
You would have to go back to the days of steam trains to find a time when the Northwich to Manchester journey took longer. Even first generation DMUs were faster than the modern service.

The solution of course would be to build the Mid-Cheshire Line to Airport link. Cut and cover so as to not interfere with aviation nor consume large tracts of farmland.

 

[swcovas]

Heart of Wales line. In the late 80s there were 5 through trains each way plus a Saturday only morning service from Llandovery to Swansea returning late afternoon. Just what the line could do with now.

 

[james60059]

Hinckley, Narborough and South Wigston.

Prior to 2004, there was the additional, hourly, Coventry - Nottingham services as well as the services that started at Birmingham New Street to some far flung destinations like Grimsby Town, Lincoln Central which served all 3 stations giving mostly an half hourly service, I think ALL Coventry - Nottingham services served South Wigston, giving an hourly service as opposed to 1tp2h now. Hinckley and Narborough now have just an hourly service mostly although there are some half hourly services in the peak time.

 

[backontrack]

Giggleswick, Clapham, Bentham and Wennington have all lost one daily train since privatisation.

 

[glynmonhughes]

Liverpool Lime Street has long lost its services to the South West. The services to Plymouth and Penzance via Bristol were cut in the 1990s. Similarly, direct trains to Southampton, Bournemouth and Poole were similarly axed. There were, briefly, trains to Dover via Kensington Olympia and to Portsmouth, and those have long disappeared. Trains to Hull disappeared in the 1980s and Newcastle services have only reappeared in the last couple of years. Services to Scotland also last ran 20-odd years ago, though those are scheduled to be reintroduced next year. There are also hopes that services to Cardiff via Shrewsbury and along the North Wales coast could reappear once the Halton Curve is reinstated. Similarly, there are also hopes at services to Bolton and Bradford will be reinstated. But the catalogue of cities which were once directly served from Liverpool is long.

 

[30907]

Giggleswick, Clapham, Bentham and Wennington have all lost one daily train since privatisation.

I think that cut was slightly earlier, but post 1987 anyway.

IIRC the same year Whitby lost half its trains.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Waterloo - Weymouth, more trains but now takes an age cf. the 1987 electrification timetable. Never recovered from the 2004 improved timetable. Always feels more like a trip on the trans siberian than a journey to edge of the 'London' area....
South West to North West: always now requires at least one change.

 

[Darandio]

and crucially, the shortening of the two main platforms Grand Central services do not stop because the platforms are too short.

Not calling there has nothing to do with short platforms. At both Hartlepool and Thirsk the announcement was always to move forward from the rear coach if alighting and Eaglescliffe was always a short platform until reworked/resurfaced.

What was the reason for shortening the platforms, given Grand Central stopped there and now cannot do so?

They never did.

 

[PaulLothian]

Sorry if I have missed this further up the thread, but.... Breich!
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/breich-public-consultation-on-station-closure.148800/

 

[Ianno87]

Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road might have a (slightly) more frequent service now with London Overground, but they no longer have a direct service to Victoria. I don't know how many people bother with changing at Clapham Junction rather than getting the bus.

The current Overground service now appears far more well patronised than the old half-hourly Vic-London Bridge service ever was...

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I'm not sure of the time frame for it being cut back, but Dover to Ramsgate used to have 2 trains per hour, one running via Minster; now it's only hourly except in Mon-Fri peaks, with only one train each way (for schoolchildren) via Minster. At least the one train per hour is now a Javelin.

I believe the 2tph is likely to be restored over most of the route from 2022. The spec for the new SouthEastern franchise starting that date seems to indicate a requirement for 2tph from Dover at least as far as Sandwich.

Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road might have a (slightly) more frequent service now with London Overground, but they no longer have a direct service to Victoria. I don't know how many people bother with changing at Clapham Junction rather than getting the bus.

Clapham High Street is very close to Clapham North, so I would imagine most people heading into central London from around there would just use the Northern line these days. Wandsworth Road is trickier though.

 

[bearhugger]

Not calling there has nothing to do with short platforms. At both Hartlepool and Thirsk the announcement was always to move forward from the rear coach if alighting and Eaglescliffe was always a short platform until reworked/resurfaced.

Ah right, ok. That's what I always heard about not calling at Stockton. Do you know if there's a reason why Grand Central don't call there?

 

[Darandio]

Ah right, ok. That's what I always heard about not calling at Stockton. Do you know if there's a reason why Grand Central don't call there?

I believe it was what was posted earlier in the thread, it was simple a choice between Stockton and Eaglescliffe with the latter having better connections.

 

[pemma]

Yes, Metrolink was built in 1991.
You would have to go back to the days of steam trains to find a time when the Northwich to Manchester journey took longer. Even first generation DMUs were faster than the modern service.

The solution of course would be to build the Mid-Cheshire Line to Airport link. Cut and cover so as to not interfere with aviation nor consume large tracts of farmland.

Actually steam trains could get to Manchester quicker!

 

[bearhugger]

I believe it was what was posted earlier in the thread, it was simple a choice between Stockton and Eaglescliffe with the latter having better connections.

Huh, a simple choice as that? Thanks for the clarification

 

[daodao]

Actually steam trains could get to Manchester quicker!

Correct - the frequency and speed of peak period journeys on the CLC route from Manchester to Hale/Knutsford/Northwich and vice-versa was clearly superior in April 1910 compared to now.

 

[deep south]

If a "worse" service includes slower journeys, then Southampton and Southampton Airport are contenders; in the late '80's when I moved to the area they were advertising train journeys from the Airport to Waterloo in 59 minutes; a few years ago this ended up at 71 minutes - maybe the stopping pattern changed.

 

[pemma]

If a "worse" service includes slower journeys, then Southampton and Southampton Airport are contenders; in the late '80's when I moved to the area they were advertising train journeys from the Airport to Waterloo in 59 minutes; a few years ago this ended up at 71 minutes - maybe the stopping pattern changed.

In the late 80s there wasn't so much 'recovery time' included so that operators don't miss punctuality targets. It's a similar situation on most lines except on those where infrastructure improvements have been made or faster rolling stock is now used.

 

[swt_passenger]

If a "worse" service includes slower journeys, then Southampton and Southampton Airport are contenders; in the late '80's when I moved to the area they were advertising train journeys from the Airport to Waterloo in 59 minutes; a few years ago this ended up at 71 minutes - maybe the stopping pattern changed.

Significant changes included allowing for people to get to Winchester, Basingstoke and Woking from the west. People still pop up here now and again proposing that none of those stops are needed...