TRIVIA: Train services (England) not serving any Conservative constituency

[nw1]

Disclaimer: this is not supposed to be a political thread Just a bit of trivia.

With recent byelection results in Wakefield in particular I am wondering how many examples (if any) there are of train services partly or wholly within England which do not serve any Conservative constituencies in stations which they call?

For obvious reasons, services wholly within metro areas (I will use the 1974 metro counties here) are excluded - as are services wholly within Scotland or Wales. Also short workings at the start or end of the day are excluded, though peak extras are allowed.

It's valid to use the last pre-Covid timetable (that of Dec 2019) as well as the current one, as current timetables could be considered abnormal.

Struggling to find many. Are there any Kings Cross-Doncaster-Wakefield-Leeds only services?

Paddington-Slough-Reading-Oxford perhaps, depending on which Reading constituency the station is within.

The old Brighton fasts (calling only at Clapham Junction and East Croydon) could have been another one, but they've gone too.

Any others?

 

[NorthOxonian]

Paddington-Slough-Reading-Oxford perhaps, depending on which Reading constituency the station is within.

The station is within Reading East, so that's fine.

As for a contribution of my own: any Lumo service which skips Stevenage will only call at non-Conservative seats (Morpeth itself is almost certainly Conservative but outvoted by the rest of Wansbeck constituency).

 

[zwk500]

Does the Brighton-Hove shuttle still run?

 

[nw1]

Does the Brighton-Hove shuttle still run?

I will extend my metro area definition in the light of that. How about "services wholly within an urban unitary authority are excluded"?

 

[MikeWM]

Liverpool Lime Street to Wigan NW, all Labour.

Edit : Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Victoria via Chat Moss. Passes through a Conservative constituency but doesn't stop there.

Warrington South having flipped to Conservative in 2019 removes a number of other answers (Liverpool to Chester, Liverpool to Manchester via the CLC, Liverpool to Warrington BQ).

 

[A S Leib]

I think Oxenholme - Windermere's the only one which exclusively calls at stations in Lib Dem constituencies unless there's an early morning or late night Chalfont & Latimer - Chesham.

Edit: so if there's any Windermere - Manchester services which skip Bolton I think they'd count as well.

 

[Revilo]

There are some Bristol Temple Meads to Avonmouth services, which are wholly within Bristol West and Bristol North West, both Labour-held at the moment.

 

[A S Leib]

There's also a few services like the 01:38 York - Manchester Piccadilly which exclusively serve Labour constituencies (York Central, Leeds Central, Huddersfield and Manchester Central), in multiple non-contiguous unitary authorities.

 

[Alex365Dash]

For obvious reasons, services wholly within metro areas (I will use the 1974 metro counties here) are excluded

I will extend my metro area definition in the light of that. How about "services wholly within an urban unitary authority are excluded"?

Probably something more like "services wholly within a 1974 metropolitian county, urban unitary authority or the Greater London Authority", else you could count Gospel Oak - Barking, Stratford - Richmond and quite a few other London rail services in this thread!

Warrington South having flipped to Conservative in 2019 removes a number of other answers (Liverpool to Chester, Liverpool to Manchester via the CLC, Liverpool to Warrington BQ).

Considering Chester isn't in Merseyside though, there's always the Merseyrail service from Chester to Chester via Liverpool Lime Street!

 

[Djgr]

Probably something more like "services wholly within a 1974 metropolitian county, urban unitary authority or the Greater London Authority", else you could count Gospel Oak - Barking, Stratford - Richmond and quite a few other London rail services in this thread!


Considering Chester isn't in Merseyside though, there's always the Merseyrail service from Chester to Chester via Liverpool Lime Street!

And ditto Ellesmere Port

 

[gnolife]

Does any portion of the Highland sleeper stop in a Conservative seat? I know the Lowland fails by calling at Carlisle.

 

[A S Leib]

(I'm not sure if it's different of a question enough for its own thread) there's a few which serve Conservative constituencies but only call at stations in councils not run by Conservatives as well.

- Watford Junction - St. Albans Abbey
- London Liverpool Street - Ipswich (I think; Chelmsford's Lib Dem and Havering's a Residents' Association and Labour, but I'm not sure if there are any Ipswich terminators which don't call at any station in Braintree district)
- All Liverpool / Manchester - Edinburgh / Glasgow services
- Avanti services apart from ones calling at Northampton, Nuneaton, Tamworth, Lichfield Trent Valley, Stafford or Birmingham International, or the Blackpool North services
- LNER services apart from ones calling at Grantham, Newark Northgate, Northallerton or the Hull services

Does any portion of the Highland sleeper stop in a Conservative seat? I know the Lowland fails by calling at Carlisle.

Watford northbound.

The southbound Fort William and Inverness services are fine but I'm fairly certain the Aberdeen one calls at least twice in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine.

 

[thenorthern]

One thing to remember is that the only Parliamentary county in England that doesn't have a Conservative MP is Tyne and Wear so I assume all of the Tyne and Wear Metro.

I should say that parliamentary counties use the pre 1996 county boundaries so include Avon, Cleveland and Humberside.

 

[IceBlue]

The fast St Pancras to Sheffield service only serves Labour constituencies:

St Pancras (St Pancras and Holborn)
Leicester (Leicester South)
Derby (Derby South)
Chesterfield (Chesterfield)
Sheffield (Sheffield Central)

Interestingly, if Derby was a mere 400m north, it would lie right on the boundary between Derby South and Derby North, the latter currently a Conservative seat. The line itself forms the boundary for a short distance.

 

[Mojo]

Paddington-Slough-Reading-Oxford perhaps, depending on which Reading constituency the station is within.

This wouldn’t count as Paddington is in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency which is held by a Conservative.

 

[nw1]

This wouldn’t count as Paddington is in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency which is held by a Conservative.

Ironic when I thought Reading was the station the most open to question. There goes any departure from Paddington in that case.

Wonder how many London terminals are in Conservative constituencies in that case? Waterloo is probably something like Vauxhall (solid Labour) I suspect (but doubtful there are any non-suburban Waterloo services which do not serve Tory constituencies), but what about Victoria? Maybe that's in Chelsea which is another Tory stronghold. I'd guess Blackfriars and Cannon Street are also in Cities of London and Westminster in that case, possibly also Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street. I'd guess Euston, Kings Cross and St Pancras are in Keir Starmer's home constituency.

The conclusion you jump to is that London terminals "must be" Labour but evidently that's not the case.

 

[Mojo]

Wonder how many London terminals are in Conservative constituencies in that case? Waterloo is probably something like Vauxhall (solid Labour) I suspect (but doubtful there are any non-suburban Waterloo services which do not serve Tory constituencies), but what about Victoria? Maybe that's in Chelsea which is another Tory stronghold. I'd guess Blackfriars and Cannon Street are also in Cities of London and Westminster in that case, possibly also Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street. I'd guess Euston, Kings Cross and St Pancras are in Keir Starmer's home constituency.

Victoria is also in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Ironic when I thought Reading was the station the most open to question. There goes any departure from Paddington in that case.

Wonder how many London terminals are in Conservative constituencies in that case? Waterloo is probably something like Vauxhall (solid Labour) I suspect (but doubtful there are any non-suburban Waterloo services which do not serve Tory constituencies), but what about Victoria? Maybe that's in Chelsea which is another Tory stronghold. I'd guess Blackfriars and Cannon Street are also in Cities of London and Westminster in that case, possibly also Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street. I'd guess Euston, Kings Cross and St Pancras are in Keir Starmer's home constituency.

The conclusion you jump to is that London terminals "must be" Labour but evidently that's not the case.

I find it amusing that you jump to that conclusion! Perhaps goes to show how the somewhat simplistic narrative that 'London is Labour' has taken hold.

Victoria is in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency rather than Chelsea and Fulham constituency.

The London termini south of the Thames are in Labour held constituencies - Waterloo in the Vauxhall constituency, and London Bridge in the Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency (though the latter - and its predecessors - was held by Simon Hughes of the Lib Dems from 1983 until 2015).

 

[omnicity4659]

One thing to remember is that the only Parliamentary county in England that doesn't have a Conservative MP is Tyne and Wear so I assume all of the Tyne and Wear Metro.

I should say that parliamentary counties use the pre 1996 county boundaries so include Avon, Cleveland and Humberside.

I think the Metro, along with Northern's short Newcastle to MetroCentre services, will be the only contenders for Tyne and Wear.

Morpeth to MetroCentre would have qualified had it not been extended to Hexham and Carlisle...and Cramlington (in Blyth Valley) turning blue in 2019!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I thought Huddersfield to Bradford Interchange and the currently bustituted Huddersfield to Castleford might qualify, but the former fails as Brighouse is Conservative (Calder Valley); and the latter fails as Mirfield is in the Dewsbury constituency- not Huddersfield or Batley & Spen as I thought it might be.

 

[Gloster]

Would Newcastle-Middlesbrough fit the definitions?

 

[NorthOxonian]

Would Newcastle-Middlesbrough fit the definitions?

I don't think so - I believe it calls at Thornaby (which is in Conservative Stockton South).

 

[py_megapixel]

Stalybridge-Stockport

 

[artemic]

Edit: Having realised the title says England (in my defence, Bristol would be in England!) I raise my original thought of Chester to Leeds. Obviously the main obstacles here are the Calder Valley and Warrington

Carmarthen to Cardiff Central almost fits! Carmarthen station is (by my judgment) barely within Carmarthen East, which is currently Plaid.
Bridgend was, however, a Conservative gain in the last election.
You could go further but Newport is the last station eastbound. Maybe we need a Carmarthen to Bristol Temple Meads (not Parkway!) service...

 

[JWK]

Since the by-election, the Leeds-Wakefield-Knottingley service only calls in Labour-held seats (Leeds Central; Wakefield; Hemsworth; Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford). Fortunately - for the purposes of this exercise anyway - it skips Outwood. The direct Leeds-Knottingley services are ruled out by having a stop in Tory-held Elmet & Rothwell.

 

[craigybagel]

Does any portion of the Highland sleeper stop in a Conservative seat? I know the Lowland fails by calling at Carlisle.

Watford northbound.

The southbound Fort William and Inverness services are fine but I'm fairly certain the Aberdeen one calls at least twice in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine.

Crewe & Nantwich is currently Conservative, so the Highland Sleeper doesn't count in both directions.

May I suggest however 1R19, 0700 Liverpool Lime Street - London Euston, which calls only at Runcorn en-route and thus only serves Labour constituencies? The fast Manchester Piccadilly - London Euston service which only called at Stockport would also have counted but I don't believe that runs at present.

 

[Requeststop]

All the Merseyrail Wirral services. West Kirby - New Brighton, Ellesmere Port and Chester.

 

[class ep-09]

What about West Ealing - Greenford shuttle ?
I think it goes through Labour held constituencies ( may be wrong ).

 

[JWK]

What about West Ealing - Greenford shuttle ?
I think it goes through Labour held constituencies ( may be wrong ).

Correct. In fact, while West Ealing station sits right at the tri-point of three (Labour) constituencies, the provision of the newish bay platform there means the shuttle’s entire journey takes place within the Ealing North constituency.

 

[kieron]

For a slight variation, these are the routes on which services call at a station in Wales, but don't call at a station in a Labour constituency:
1S40 1230 Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury
2D21 2025 Blaenau Ffestiniog to Llandudno
2E18 0855 Carmarthen to Fishguard Harbour
1E08 0600 Carmarthen to Milford Haven
2E14 1055 Carmarthen to Pembroke Dock
2348 Llandudno Junction to Holyhead (bus)
2M04 0618 Llandrindod to Crewe
2J27 2147 Machynlleth to Pwllheli
2J93 0750 Wrexham General to Shrewsbury

And these are the ones which involve stops in Scotland, but not in a SNP constituency:
2L96 1920 Carlisle to Dumfries