Weird Places for Services to Terminate

[Pinus contorta]

Harrington is an interesting one. I've never got off there my self but I've been to a pub nearby that used to be wort a visit. They seem to terminate trains there ( when theres disruption) in order to run them empty back to Workington Carriage Sidings.

 

[Travelmonkey]

Hednesford on the chase line, not sure if there us scheduled terminators but they can & do turn there if disruption,

 

[Kite159]

....

Hednesford on the chase line, not sure if there us scheduled terminators but they can & do turn there if disruption,

I know in the past the last train of the day used to terminate at Hednesford before running back south empty, but these days everything runs to Rugeley Trent Valley as far as I can see.

 

[infobleep]

Shalford deserves a mention. A few peak hour trains terminate at and start from there. It always seems like a random station to terminate at.

There are 20:22 and 22:36 Reading to Shalford services Monday to Friday. On Saturday it's just the 22:35

The return working Monday to Friday is just the 21:30 as the 23:27 Monday to Firday (22:26 on Saturday) runs as empty coaching stock. So it isn't an even service, either.

From the May timetable change though, only one train will be terminating at Shalford, the 22:36 departure from Reading. That still will return as empty coaching stock.

So if you wish to join a train that starts at Shalford, you won't have long left. Amd if you wish to end a journey at Shalford, on a terminating train, and still get back by train the same day, you also won't have long either.

The 1930s electrification went to Ore as there was space to build a stock depot there, Hastings station being constrained. This happened in several places. The local services terminating at Haywards Heath had nowhere to lay over either, so were extended up the obscure branch to Horsted Keynes, in the middle of nowhere, which thus got an hourly electric service for the next 30 years that was almost always empty stock.

London Underground has odd trains that terminate one station before the terminus, Oakwood on the Piccadilly and others, so trains going out of service can run straight into stabling at the end of the line. A service right behind takes anyone going to the end.

I was going to mention the Seaford to Horstead Kynes service. Alas, I never got to travel on it.

 

[BeijingDave]

Four Oaks has platform 3 as a convenient place to put them.

Sure, I am aware that there are good operational reasons for turning trains around at certain places.

Still, I lived in the West Midlands for four years and when I saw 'Four Oaks' on a departures board I had no idea where it was.

If the train was going to Sutton Coldfield, though, I could pretty much pinpoint on a map where it was heading.

 

[Pokelet]

It isn't massively strange, but Great Malvern seems a rather small place to regularly terminate long(ish)-diatance London services; I'd guess Worcester has too little space and Hereford would need too many more resources to serve hourly?

I'd guess there's similar reasons behind ScotRail running to Dunbar and TPE having some Edinburgh services terminating at Berwick-upon-Tweed, although I can understand why ScotRail would prefer to focus on serving passengers within Scotland and the latter situation's going from December with the Newcastle semifast service becoming bihourly anyway.

Peterborough to Newark Northgate seems like a reasonable journey, but I don't understand why there's through services via Lincoln taking an hour longer than services via Grantham. I can't remember if that's meant to be going with the ECML recast.

Great Malvern does see a fair number of passengers and Malvern itself is larger than you think. There is now more uniformity to the service to GMV with it only being served by London or New Street trains. Only one service per day from Bristol in the evening now gets to GMV and all the Snow Hill services terminate at Worcester now.

Terminating at Foregate St would mean a quick turnaround or a shunt to Henwick or back to Shrub Hill to get out of the way of either a Snow Hill or Bristol service. Terminating at Shrub Hill misses the footfall of the busier station and the connections from Droitwich and beyond. Going forward to GMV gives a greater frequency to the Malvern stations and also allows for a turn back at Worcester to regulate the service if the inbound is overly delayed.

 

[class ep-09]

GWR have a late night Worcestershire Parkway terminator which again is not a natural location when Shrub Hill might me more reasonable, but is to do with shunting the ECS afterwards.

Also, Shrub Hill is closed at around midnight so last train has no choice but terminate at Worcestershire Parkway ( arrival just after 1am) and run ECS to the sidings .


As for other trains - Saturday only Great Malvern - Evesham, which then run back as ECS to Worcester Shrub Hill.

 

[Dai Corner]

The Fort William sleeper now calls at Glasgow Queen Street but I seem to remember that at one time it took a different route and called at the suburban station Westerton with a DMU terminating / starting there for Glasgow passengers?

 

[hermit]

London Underground has odd trains that terminate one station before the terminus, Oakwood on the Piccadilly and others, so trains going out of service can run straight into stabling at the end of the line. A service right behind takes anyone going to the end.

Not always ‘right behind’. Returning from central London towards the end of service I remember a long wait at Oakwood while a succession of trains went into the depot. Frustrating, as I had left the car at Cockfosters and had a long drive ahead of me.

 

[childwallblues]

Wrexham services terminating at Bidston and Strood services going to Paddock Wood rather than through to Tonbridge (I think) are cases which make sense from an infrastructure or timetabling perspective but less so in terms of where people are likely to want to go.

In days gone by Wrexham services terminated at Seacombe and when that line closed which allowed the construction of the link roads to the new second Mersey Tunnel they moved to terminate at New Brighton. A further change saw the trains terminating at Birkenhead North. The cut back to Bidston was so that only two units were required to operate the service.

 

[generalnerd]

2C98 is a bizarre one terminating at Newhaven harbour.

Train 2C98 Brighton to Newhaven Harbour Tue 15/04/2025 | Rail Record

Live Train Times for Train 2C98 Brighton to Newhaven Harbour departing on Tue 15/04/2025 | Rail Record

live.rail-record.co.uk

Every other down service goes to seaford theu Newhaven harbour xx41.

But the 1241 simply Terminates at harbour, reverses at marine, and maintains it's timings to that of the up seaford services. So it's bizarre it doesn't go to seaford, it would lose no time...

It’s a parliamentary train I believe. The station is still technically open unless I am mistaken, you just can’t access it due to safety concerns. It’s also a great route for if seaford was closed and services needed to early turn.

A hull trains service terminates at Beverly, which is a through station (but has a crossover) which is quite random for a direct train to London and as a terminus point in general!

 

[Class15]

A hull trains service terminates at Beverly, which is a through station (but has a crossover) which is quite random for a direct train to London and as a terminus point in general!

Unless I’m mistaken Beverly is a reasonably sized town and probably the best place in the area to terminate.

 

[generalnerd]

Unless I’m mistaken Beverly is a reasonably sized town and probably the best place in the area to terminate.

It is but it’s strange as most services just pass through. It’s also weird in being a small town with a direct fast train to London (which could be an interesting thread on its own)

 

[greatkingrat]

It’s a parliamentary train I believe. The station is still technically open unless I am mistaken, you just can’t access it due to safety concerns. It’s also a great route for if seaford was closed and services needed to early turn.

A hull trains service terminates at Beverly, which is a through station (but has a crossover) which is quite random for a direct train to London and as a terminus point in general!

Newhaven Marine was finally officially closed in 2020.

Newhaven Marine station closure: outcome and summary of responses

www.gov.uk

 

[Magdalia]

London Underground has odd trains that terminate one station before the terminus, Oakwood on the Piccadilly and others, so trains going out of service can run straight into stabling at the end of the line. A service right behind takes anyone going to the end.

This isn't just an Underground thing. The LTS used to do it at Thorpe Bay, and still have some Thorpe Bay starters.

In years gone by it also happened with summer seaside trains. In the heyday of day trips by train to Sunny Hunny there was a Histon-Hunstanton and a Fulbourne-Hunstanton on summer Sundays.

 

[rg177]

In the past, Lelant Saltings and Danby (not on the same service). Battersby Junction is (was?) also a fairly odd one (from a number of passengers perspective).

For one timetable period pre-pandemic there was a Hexham to Danby service, which then turned into a Hexham to Castleton Moor. It wasn't entirely clear what this was for - as IIRC both were non-stop from Battersby. This was then simplified back down to Battersby which makes far more sense, seeing as the last settlement of any real size served would be Great Ayton.

In the evening peak, there's an additional service which runs Newcastle to Prudhoe, which I've always considered a bit of a strange one.

 

[Iskra]

I used the search function for this thread and nothing came up so I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but - Millom has always seemed an odd one to me.

 

[alistairlees]

For one timetable period pre-pandemic there was a Hexham to Danby service, which then turned into a Hexham to Castleton Moor. It wasn't entirely clear what this was for - as IIRC both were non-stop from Battersby. This was then simplified back down to Battersby which makes far more sense, seeing as the last settlement of any real size served would be Great Ayton.

In the evening peak, there's an additional service which runs Newcastle to Prudhoe, which I've always considered a bit of a strange one.

Thanks. I had forgotten it also terminated at Castleton Moor. That's a possible winner really.

Harrington is an interesting one. I've never got off there my self but I've been to a pub nearby that used to be wort a visit. They seem to terminate trains there ( when theres disruption) in order to run them empty back to Workington Carriage Sidings.

The pub next to Harrington was closed and partly boarded up when I was last there (mid March)

 

[CaptainHaddock]

It isn't massively strange, but Great Malvern seems a rather small place to regularly terminate long(ish)-diatance London services; I'd guess Worcester has too little space and Hereford would need too many more resources to serve hourly?

I believe there's a run round loop to the West of Great Malvern which allows trains to reverse and return on the other platform. It's single track between Great Malvern & Hereford (apart from Ledbury) station so I doubt you could extend many trains to Hereford without capacity issues.

 

[Whisky Papa]

I don't think it runs any more now Blackpool South interworks with the other "Lancashire Triangle" services instead, but there was for quite a while a morning St Anne's on the Sea to Greenbank service which I always found quite odd (think there might have been an evening return too) - why not run all the way on both lines?

As the St Annes on the Sea - Greenbank was in addition to the regular Blackpool South hourly service, it would have been impossible to start it at Blackpool South as there would be nowhere to pass the 'regular' train. It followed the regular train to St Annes as an empty move, then departed to Greenbank while the regular service was still making its way to/from Blackpool South.

As for running to Greenbank, I think it then headed north empty on the WCML, presumably back to Preston Carriage Sidings. I think there was an evening return version, but I have a vague feeling it didn't start from Greenbank.

 

[tram21]

There's a Scotrail service in the afternoon that goes Oban-Dalmally-Oban. Dalmally seems like an odd place to terminate!

 

[The exile]

There's a Scotrail service in the afternoon that goes Oban-Dalmally-Oban. Dalmally seems like an odd place to terminate!

School train, isn’t it?

 

[_toommm_]

There's a Scotrail service in the afternoon that goes Oban-Dalmally-Oban. Dalmally seems like an odd place to terminate!

I believe that's an extra service for the school traffic.

 

[Joey Beauchamp]

The pub next to Harrington was closed and partly boarded up when I was last there (mid March)

That would have given me the hump.

 

[Pinus contorta]

That would have given me the hump.

The high horse or galloping horse is the one I am thinking of

 

[Gloster]

The high horse or galloping horse is the one I am thinking of

If you mean The Galloping Horse in High Harrington, it appears to be still open. But hardly convenient to the station.

 

[30907]

(Coulsdon N) This was yet another of the Southern's 1930s electrification services (like Ore) where locating the car shed there was the main service driver.

Actually built by the LBSC (presumably with the Quarry Line in 1899) which had a loco depot there, presumably because it was on their property not a joint line (didn't the SER have one at Purley which survived as a signalling school or some such?).
But yes, last major station +1.

 

[GordonT]

There have occasionally been odd schooldays only journeys with weird termini in the Strathclyde PTE area in cases where buying in rail capacity was cheaper than multiple peak buses/drivers/escorts dedicated to a short journey. The former 15:41 Blairhill to Garrowhill was one example, which fell by the wayside when a school was resited.

 

[Some guy]

Bradford Forster square to carnforth is a very strange place to terminate a train but this is being rectified in the next timetable change

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Bradford Forster square to carnforth is a very strange place to terminate a train but this is being rectified in the next timetable change

Isn't/wasn't that because the train in question, originating from Bradford FS, gets moved across to wait time at some sidings just beyond Carnforth, before continuing, ECS, to Lancaster. Anyone for Lancaster who gets detrained at Carnforth is expected to board a following train, for Manchester Airport. All good fun!