Trivia: Train services with no intermediate stops

[Kite159]

Pre-Covid there was a non-stop London Waterloo to Surbiton terminator towards the end of the evening rush hour, and had been for years.

During Covid, the Llandudno to Llandudno Junction shuttle is non-stop if nobody requests Deganwy, which is most of the time.

Didn't that non-stop to Surbiton train head to Hampton Court after Surbiton, solely as a way of getting it out of the way of the main-line?

(Shame the 08:37 Birmingham Snow Hill - Stratford Upon Avon calls at Stratford Parkway to break it's non-stop run, even skips Birmingham Moor Street)

Pre Covid, I'm sure there was a couple Basingstoke - Reading non-stop runs on GWR at the end of the peaks.

 

[Spartacus]

There's a Sundays 1749 Derby - Nottingham, 2A57, that doesn't call any of the intermediate stations.

 

[30907]

Barnham to Bognor and (at one time) Littlehampton to Arundel are possibilities - again no intermediate stations.
Henley, Sudbury and Braintree have had them in the past, too.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

There are plenty of services between Liskeard and Looe that are non-stop in the public timetable.

Yes I know they have an operation stop at Coumbe Jn Ground Frame but in terms of the public timetable they are non stop.

 

[_toommm_]

03:46 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport

 

[Spartacus]

An unusual one is the Saturdays Only 1B52, 2313 Manchester Piccadilly - Sheffield via Huddersfield.

 

[Parallel]

There used to be a few services between Exeter Central and Exeter St David's only. Not sure if they're still running.

 

[mildertduck]

Kings Cross with the first stop York or the same in the other direction are always my preferred choice if I can.

edit:Have now read your post again and see what you were asking.

I'm pretty sure there is / was a York to London non-stop service at some point?

 

[Intercity 225]

There used to be a non-stop Northern service from Manchester Piccadilly to Macclesfield every weekday morning at about 07:30.

I think it was the only train scheduled to pass through Stockport without stopping and it was always really quiet on board because a Virgin service that stopped at Macclesfield used to depart Manchester Piccadilly just a few minutes beforehand. Because of this I regularly caught the direct Northern service instead of the Virgin or Cross Country alternatives - quite a few times I was the only passenger on board and I had my own private train

Not sure exactly when it ceased to exist but it’s only disappeared within the last few years.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

An unusual one is the Saturdays Only 1B52, 2313 Manchester Piccadilly - Sheffield via Huddersfield.

Does that run via Hare Park, or reverse at Wakefield Kirkgate? Not that the latter option would rule it out, as it still isn't a passenger stop.

Northern used to put an extra Sheffield to Huddersfield service via Wakefield on when either of the Sheffield teams were playing at Huddersfield, as Huddersfield draw a lot of support from the Penistone line catchment and there wasn't really capacity for both sets of supporters. Think they even did it for Barnsley one year. These services reversed at Kirkgate, but again this wasn't an advertised call.

 

[Spartacus]

Does that run via Hare Park, or reverse at Wakefield Kirkgate? Not that the latter option would rule it out, as it still isn't a passenger stop.

Northern used to put an extra Sheffield to Huddersfield service via Wakefield on when either of the Sheffield teams were playing at Huddersfield, as Huddersfield draw a lot of support from the Penistone line catchment and there wasn't really capacity for both sets of supporters. Think they even did it for Barnsley one year. These services reversed at Kirkgate, but again this wasn't an advertised call.

That one goes via Hare Park.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

The question is surprisingly difficult, but I understand a steam train once just managed London - Edinburgh non-stop.

There are plenty of services going a long way without stopping, but most have several calls at either end.

Luebeck - Hamburg trains now stop at Reinfeld and Bad Oldesloe, but there have been non-stop services. The local newspaper gleefully reported that they were timed to take longer than stopping trains. I guess not being disturbed by joining passengers is worth something.

 

[berneyarms]

I am almost certain there used to be Oxford - Didcot Parkway shuttles which ran non-stop a couple of years ago, but it seems they all call at Radley now.

Obviously some of the Thames Valley branches would count (Windsor - Slough, plus Marlow - Bourne End at peak times), but both of those have no intermediate stations.

Yep - there definitely were some non-stop Oxford - Didcot trains some years ago.

Plenty of the current Oxford-Didcot shuttle services still run non-stop. Just look at the current timetable.

https://www.gwr.com/~/media/gwr/pdfs/plan-journey/timetables/2021/may/t8-0521.pdf?la=en

 

[dk1]

MFSO Norwich to Great Yarmouth seasonal extras.

 

[30907]

Two unusual ones are 2345/0015 Hayes to Lewisham.
These would have been empty stock at one time, but Hayes is unstaffed later at night and the driver would have to clear the train of sleeping (etc) passengers alone. They can now be left asleep till Lewisham which is staffed and much busier.

 

[TheSel]

And staying in that neck of the woods are there still early/late Wrexham General to Central services?

Yes. 2J00 0710 Wrexham General - Wrexham Central.

Example: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:G75806/2021-05-24/detailed

 

[gg1]

There used to be a morning Birmingham International starter with no stops terminating at Euston.

Assuming you're referring to the 7:45ish Virgin/Avanti service, it also called at Coventry.

 

[dk1]

Assuming you're referring to the 7:45ish Virgin/Avanti service, it also called at Coventry.

Yes always stopped Coventry. The preceding 07:30 from Brum was non-stop to Euston but that doesn't count here as originated in Wolverhampton.

 

[ls2270]

Other examples I can think of would be:
2O79 2202 (SX) Cannon St to London Bridge and
2F78 2315 (SX) Guildford to Woking (which doesn’t call at Worplesdon).
There used to be some ‘against the flow’ peak hour trains which ran non stop between London Bridge and East Croydon and terminated, but they appear to have gone now.

 

[BluePenguin]

Were there any non-stop HS1 services before full services started?

From St Pancras Southeastern have run non-stop to and from Ashford in the past when there has been delays, although of course this was not timetabled. It’s a highly enjoyable novelty though when it does happen as you save about 9 minutes.

Eurostar services also used to do this regularly before the pandemic

 

[jonnyfan]

There's the Northern Sunday only 2135 Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly service, non-stop

 

[berneyarms]

Other examples I can think of would be:
2O79 2202 (SX) Cannon St to London Bridge and
2F78 2315 (SX) Guildford to Woking (which doesn’t call at Worplesdon).
There used to be some ‘against the flow’ peak hour trains which ran non stop between London Bridge and East Croydon and terminated, but they appear to have gone now.

Not quite. The first one serves London Bridge twice, serving it after departing Cannon Street, but then continues to serve all stations via Greenwich, Slade Green, Sidcup and Lewisham before terminating at London Bridge.

Realtime Trains - 2O79 2202 London Cannon Street to London Bridge

Realtime Trains is an independent source of live realtime running information for the Great British railway network.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[ls2270]

Not quite. The first one serves London Bridge twice, serving it after departing Cannon Street, but then continues to serve all stations via Greenwich, Slade Green, Sidcup and Lewisham before terminating at London Bridge.

Realtime Trains - 2O79 2202 London Cannon Street to London Bridge

Realtime Trains is an independent source of live realtime running information for the Great British railway network.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Ah well spotted I must admit I didn’t click on the train for its details on RTT. In the 1980s and 90s though there really were lots of trains that did Cannon St to London Bridge only, including the entire off peak service serving the former.

 

[Llandudno]

Pre-Covid there was a non-stop London Waterloo to Surbiton terminator towards the end of the evening rush hour, and had been for years.

During Covid, the Llandudno to Llandudno Junction shuttle is non-stop if nobody requests Deganwy, which is most of the time.

In non Covid times most Llandudno - Llandudno Junction trains do call at Deganwy as the off peak return rail fare between Deganwy and Llandudno is 60% cheaper than the Arriva bus!

 

[ls2270]

Another example is 1F93 0727 (SX) Waterloo to Woking, which runs non stop.

 

[Jona26]

Pre-Covid there was a non-stop London Waterloo to Surbiton terminator towards the end of the evening rush hour, and had been for years.

During Covid, the Llandudno to Llandudno Junction shuttle is non-stop if nobody requests Deganwy, which is most of the time.

As I recall the Surbiton terminator ran ECS to Hampton Court but I don't know if the guard decanted at Surbiton. If not, any reason why it couldn't/didn't run in service for the last leg?

 

[MontyP]

As I recall the Surbiton terminator ran ECS to Hampton Court but I don't know if the guard decanted at Surbiton. If not, any reason why it couldn't/didn't run in service for the last leg?

It did run in service to Hampton Court. I know this as I jumped on it once, knowing that all Hampton Court service stop at Raynes Park. Only when sailing through Vauxhall, Clapham J, Earlsfield etc non-stop did I realise that this might be a non-standard service !

 

[Jamesrob637]

There used to be a few services between Exeter Central and Exeter St David's only. Not sure if they're still running.

I wonder if that could be a contender for the country's shortest timetabled service?!

 

[Hugo3000]

2P90 1745 Blackburn to Preston does not stop at the intermediate stations.

Realtime Trains - 2P90 1745 Blackburn to Preston

Realtime Trains is an independent source of live realtime running information for the Great British railway network.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[nw1]

Until March last year there was a non stop train at 18:XX from Ystrad Mynach to Cardiff Central.

Also there are some non stop trains from Liverpool Street to Broxbourne and vice versa.

Back in the day there were some peak Waterloo-Basingstoke non stop trains formed of a CEP or CIG that ran just before the Exeter train to relieve the overcrowding.

Ah yes those, I'd forgotten about them. 1632 and 1832 out of Waterloo IIRC, running in the 1997 timetable (maybe others as well, but 1997 was a timetable I remember quite well), just before the 1635 and 1835 to Exeter. Quite possibly formed off incoming Alton or Basingstoke stoppers, as I remember SWT at the time used to deploy CIGs and CEPs quite extensively off-peak on services traditionally formed with VEPs.

If we're talking about historical timetables, I also think there were some non-stop London to Oxford trains in the 80s.