[Trivia] Train that run fast for large part of journey and then slow

[infobleep]

The 19.23 Waterloo to Surbiton service is run non stop for Surbiton commuters. After that it used to run ECS to Hampton Court and then back to Wimbledon depot. This was so it wouldn't need to cross all the lines at Surbiton to head north. Eventually they decided to run it in service to Hampton Court.

Waterloo 19.23
Surbiton 19.42
Thames Ditton 19.46
Hampton Court 19.49

The service zooms through 8 stations (7 platforms it could stop at if running on the slow line, 4 or 5 stations on fast line) before it reaches Surbiton. So it stops at less stations than it passes through.

Are there any other services like this? Either where they are a stopper at the start of their journey, the middle or the end but run fast rest of the time?

I imagine this is only likely to occur on commuter peak services.

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[Darandio]

Depends exactly what you mean, and i'm taking this purely from the slant of the thread title, but if you take out stops and just look at something that travels fast for the majority of the journey and then slow, look no further than Grand Central.

Take the Kings Cross to Sunderland service for example, 218 miles of running like a scalded cat, then 47 miles that can only be described as a trundle.

 

[sciisfun]

Most GWR IC services running from Penzance would fit this I would have thought, almost a stopper through to Liskeard, then fast from there, 14 stops skipped between Reading and Paddington alone, and up to 12 between Liskeard and Exeter st davids

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Waterloo-Weymouth services are similar too, largely fast north of Southampton but can be as good as all shacks thereafter.

 

[infobleep]

Depends exactly what you mean, and i'm taking this purely from the slant of the thread title, but if you take out stops and just look at something that travels fast for the majority of the journey and then slow, look no further than Grand Central.

Take the Kings Cross to Sunderland service for example, 218 miles of running like a scalded cat, then 47 miles that can only be described as a trundle.

That's exactly what I mean. So it's not just commuter services.

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[greatkingrat]

Thameslink has several examples of services which are fast in the North and slow in the South or vice versa.

For example the 0744 from Bedford calls at Leagrave, Luton, Harpenden and St Albans only north of the core, then becomes a stopper to Sutton via Wimbledon.

Or you have the 0734 from St Albans that is all stops to Blackfriars, then non-stop to Bromley South.

 

[Kite159]

The Inverness to Kings Cross HST on a Sunday

Calls at pretty much every station from Inverness to Stirling (omits Dalwhinnie & Bridge of Allan), then Falkirk/Haymarket/Edinburgh then onto a fast Edinburgh - London service

 

[Blindtraveler]

Scotrails Aberdeen Edinburgh Monday to Saturdays, non stop Loochers Haymarket

 

[SeanG]

Blackpool - York services are fast west of Leeds but stoppers afterwards.

West Highland Line services are fast through Glasgow's suburbs then all shacks

 

[causton]

Pretty much all London Midland Euston - Birmingham services are, either fast Euston - Leighton Buzzard, or Euston - Watford - Milton Keynes, and then through Northampton and then can be as good as all stations past there!

And the Crewe ones, fast Euston - Milton Keynes - Rugby and then all stops to Crewe*

*If you say Polesworth, Norton Bridge, Wedgwood or Barlaston... then go away

 

[30907]

That's exactly what I mean. So it's not just commuter services.

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But the GC example is slow because of linespeed or pathing, not because it has an odd pattern of stops compared with other KGX-Sunderland services. Most of the examples I can think of are counter-peak-flow services (cf post #6).

 

[Trainfan344]

Liverpool Street to Colchester fast.

Then Manningtree, Ipswich, Stowmarket, Diss, Norwich.

 

[WatcherZero]

There are two ways of operating a semi-fast or 'Skip-stop' service. You can either have it calling at alternate stations or you can have it call at the first or second half of the stations on the line. Each time its usually paired with another service that either stops at the other stations or stops at them all. Or a semi-fast or slow service is scheduled to depart from one end of the line just seconds after a fast so they are in effect chasing but never catching it.

Semi-fast can be operated for a couple of reasons, for example maximising available paths or providing an extra frequency to the larger stations on the line where the smaller stations don't really require it, or simply to make the fastest possible journey time.

 

[route:oxford]

Glasgow-Inverness services.

Run fast to Stirling, the BofA, Dunblane...

 

[yorkie]

Are there any other services like this?

A very large number of trains departing London (especially at peak times) are non-stop until the outer zones (or beyond) and then call at most (or all) stations!

To give an example London Victoria - Dover is fast to Bromley South then Longfield, then most stations to Dover. This is completely normal and very common.

 

[Ianno87]

King's Cross-King's Lynn. Most of the day non-stop over the 58 miles from King's Cross to Cambridge, and then all stations thereafter. Pretty good if you live in Waterbeach.

There's a couple of Norwich-Liverpool services that become stoppers between Grantham and Nottingham for commuters, but are definitely express for the rest of their journeys.

Also reminds me of Barry Doe pointing out that someone travelling Euston to Pwllheli canes the first 94 miles from Euston to Coventry in a shade under an hour. The remaining 150-200ish miles takes another 4-5 hours or so!

 

[notlob.divad]

Liverpool - Preston/Blackpool. Semi-fast to Wigan and stopper north of there.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Grand Central Bradford services- fast from KX to Doncaster, then calling at all stations passed apart from PonteCarlo Tanshelf, Featherstone and Streethouse. Though it does pass very close to both Knottingley and Ravensthorpe without actually passing the platforms.

 

[mugam4]

the London Victoria - Southampton Central services are pretty fast to Barnham, then are quite slow as it goes (especially peak or evening services) through to Southampton Central

 

[168lover]

Used to be a Marylebone-Birmingham service that ran fast to High Wycombe and then all stopped to Birmingham. Don't know if it still exists though.

 

[sarahj]

the London Victoria - Southampton Central services are pretty fast to Barnham, then are quite slow as it goes (especially peak or evening services) through to Southampton Central

The Brighton ones (when they run) are slow to Barnham, then it's Southbourne, Emsworth, Havant, Cosham, Fareham, Swanick, Southampton.

The odd exception is the first ones.

Late trains towards Brighton tend to be fast to Chi and then it's all stations, and I mean all to Brighton. Some even pop into Littlehampton just to slow things down.

 

[marks87]

Scotrails Aberdeen Edinburgh Monday to Saturdays, non stop Loochers Haymarket

The 0453 Inverness-Edinburgh via Aberdeen goes one better - non-stop Dundee-Haymarket.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Used to be a Marylebone-Birmingham service that ran fast to High Wycombe and then all stopped to Birmingham. Don't know if it still exists though.

There are quite a few Chiltern services which positively fly out of London (two or three stops in the 90 miles between London and Leamington Spa) but really slow down once they reach Warwickshire and the West Midlands. I think a lot of it is simply due to them running in the paths of what would be stopping or semi fast services on the Snow Hill lines.

It's already been mentioned before but the London Midland services between Euston and Crewe too. They aren't far off Pendolino timings between Euston and Nuneaton but then they stop everywhere on the Trent Valley and take the 'scenic' route between Stafford and Crewe.

 

[Clip]

A very large number of trains departing London (especially at peak times) are non-stop until the outer zones (or beyond) and then call at most (or all) stations!

To give an example London Victoria - Dover is fast to Bromley South then Longfield, then most stations to Dover. This is completely normal and very common.

As are the services on the Chatham main line to Ramsgate, and its a pain if you get the ones that stop at Newington and such like

 

[Clip]

Aslo the Margate HS1 services - as soon as it leaves Ashford towards Margate its a bit of a chnage from the speed of HS1

 

[swt_passenger]

the London Victoria - Southampton Central services are pretty fast to Barnham, then are quite slow as it goes (especially peak or evening services) through to Southampton Central

It could be considered that they are an unusual case of fast then slow then fast again, as once they get beyond Havant they effectively speed back up again on the way to Southampton.

Barnham to Havant always seems a bit random, although I think it is sort of understandable what they've done. For the minor stations they've provided them with some calls in both Brighton and Victoria routes, if they rebalanced the calls so that both the Victoria services became fast along there, then presumably both Brighton services (in the normal timetable) would have to become slow?

 

[jopsuk]

the Cambridge "Stopper" from Kings Cross runs fast from Finsbury Park to Potters Bar, skips Brookmans Park and Welham Green and only then calls every station from Hatfield to Cambridge.

the Cambridge Express runs fast KGX to CBG then once an hour continues all stops to Kings Lynn.

Really we can find multiple examples on all lines out of London especially, and that's really how it should be.

 

[TheEdge]

The vast majority of AGA services don't stop between Stratford and Shenfield, a fair few don't stop until Chelmsford, many Intercity services don't stop till Colchester then of course there is the 0740 Norwich Liverpool Street and 1700 Liverpool Street Norwich which only call at Ipswich and Diss

 

[Richard_B]

xx40 departure from Marylebone: first stop Bicester North 55 miles away, taking a shade under 50 minutes. Final stop at Snow Hill, a further 57 miles, but taking 75 minutes with 7 stops in between. Same in reverse direction except slow then fast

 

[martinsh]

And the Crewe ones, fast Euston - Milton Keynes - Rugby and then all stops to Crewe*

*If you say Polesworth, Norton Bridge, Wedgwood or Barlaston... then go away

Longport !!