What heritage railway has the most intensive timetables?

[renegademaster]

I guess theoretically Great Central must be able to fit the most services due to a large part being double track, but I do wonder which has the most services running a day. I dont have a big book of timetables to compare but anecdotally I remember RHDR having quite a good summer timetable with trains running each way about every 45 minutes well into the evening. Would one of the long popular ones like Severn Valley or West Somerset be contenders for standard gauge?

 

[YorkshireBear]

KWVR run a generally 45-50 minute interval timetable on two train running days.

 

[Belperpete]

The Ffestiniog used to run a half hourly service for much of the summer, and does still run some very intense services on special occasions.

As you say, the GC should in theory be able to operate a very frequent service over its double track. However, in practice I suspect that they are limited by how many trains they can despatch in quick succession from Loughborough, and how quickly they can deal with them at Leicester North.

The Manx Electric, another double track line, used to run a very frequent service (as I recall, the timetable specified a minimum of half hourly with additional trams as required) as they could despatch trams in short order from Douglas Castle, and turn them around very speedily at Ramsay, but sadly those days are long gone. The Volks Electric claims to run a train every 15 minutes.

In general, the shorter the journey time, the more journeys a train will be able to run in a day. We saw this with the Welsh Highland, as the line got longer, so the service got less frequent. A line with a very short trip should be able to pack in a lot of journeys in a day - how about some of the miniature railways, such as the one that runs in the park in Chester? I suspect that they must be able to pack in a lot of journeys in a day.

However, the OP asked for most intensive, not most frequent, service. Not sure how you measure intensivity, but Harbour Station on the Ffestiniog is quite intensively worked with regularly 4 snd sometimes 5 trains in the station at the same time. If you are talking about the whole line, I suspect that the Volks is going to be a top contender again.

 

[renegademaster]

However, the OP asked for most intensive, not most frequent, service. Not sure how you measure intensivity, but Harbour Station on the Ffestiniog is quite intensively worked with regularly 4 snd sometimes 5 trains in the station at the same time.

I think your metric is pretty good, how many different trains are operation at one time.

 

[Belperpete]

I think your metric is pretty good, how many different trains are operation at one time.

In which case, the FF&WHR in high season has 7 service trains in simultaneous operation, plus the occasional PW, fuel or stock move often added into the mix.

 

[merry]

In practice the GCR Leicester section is the limiting factor and effectively enforces 2tph max on full line services. It is just about possible to have 10 min headways on the rest of the line, and at galas this is sometimes used, certainly 3 to 4 tph is achieved at some times of day Loughborough to Rothley on such events. You might expect 1 or 2 tph on normal timetable services. Some will be non- passenger.
Worth mentioning that the normsl A timetable includes two return freight trips this year, which will add to the interest!

 

[Flying Phil]

Re the GCR, it is only limited in part by the section to Leicester North. In Gala events they have also operated services to the Mountsorrel Branch, to Swithland Sidings and also just to Rothley. So departures from Loughborough can be as frequent as every ten minutes throughout the day.

 

[duffield]

Re the GCR, it is only limited in part by the section to Leicester North. In Gala events they have also operated services to the Mountsorrel Branch, to Swithland Sidings and also just to Rothley. So departures from Loughborough can be as frequent as every ten minutes throughout the day.

Might be a faulty memory but I seem to remember them also slipping in some DMU shuttles just between Loughborough Central and Quorn & Woodhouse on a gala day (to get people to and from the beer tent/shed). Is that right or were these also Rothley services?

 

[xotGD]

The GCR also has the added interest of trains being looped and overtaken.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

The West Somerset and North York Moors are limited by long single line sections.

I think the Severn Valley must come close in terms of complexity and number of trains on their steam gala weekends. Some of the stations (notably Bewdley) are extremely comprehensively signalled and a lot of different things can be happening at once.

 

[306024]

The GCR also has the added interest of trains being looped and overtaken.

And some quite complex locomotive diagrams on gala days, which adds to the fun.

 

[James H]

In the last decade the Swanage Railway had a 45 minute frequency in summer, and used to have one of the longest operating days of any preserved line, with DMUs well into the evening. Sadly much diminished now.

 

[kje7812]

The SVR used to run a 45 mins interval service on Bank holidays going back about ten years. To do this required 5 sets and crossing at Bewdley, Arley, Hampton and Bridgnorth. However the SVR's Bank holiday traffic had decreased over time and the 5 set service was deemed not required (I think 2012 was the last year to do it).
When it ran at Easter, it was often in the steam heat season so had 5 steam in use, this being before any steam heat fitted diesels on the SVR and there being no ETH stock.

 

[Falcon1200]

The GCR also has the added interest of trains being looped and overtaken.

Indeed; At a recent Gala I was on an Up DMU looped at Swithland for a steam train to overtake, while in the Down loop was a steam-hauled freight which was also overtaken by a passenger train; 4 trains at one location in a matter of minutes would be hard for any other heritage line to match!

 

[merry]

And some quite complex locomotive diagrams on gala days, which adds to the fun.

Indeed. The upcoming GCR Diesel Gala has average 3 departures per hour from Loughborough, from 0830 and 1.5 tph in the evening until 2200ish. 5 or 6 trains operating, at least 7 locos. Should be fun if you love diesel traction (and maybe in general).

Even today the service averaged 1 train per 40 minutes, 1000 to 1615 from Loughborough, albeit a bit uneven to get the freight in. That's the usual high season weekend timetable this year.

 

[Krokodil]

The Snowdon Mountain used to manage up to four departures per hour from Llanberis (grouped into pairs running two minutes apart). There's not enough rolling stock these days. Quite an impressive operation to turn around both trains in ten minutes, including coaling up steam locomotives.

 

[Belperpete]

Indeed; At a recent Gala I was on an Up DMU looped at Swithland for a steam train to overtake, while in the Down loop was a steam-hauled freight which was also overtaken by a passenger train; 4 trains at one location in a matter of minutes would be hard for any other heritage line to match!

As previously noted, it is a routine occurrence on the Ffestiniog at Harbour Station.

 

[A0wen]

Volks Electric Railway runs 4 tph both ways - that's got to be a contender ?

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

The SVR used to run a 45 mins interval service on Bank holidays going back about ten years. To do this required 5 sets and crossing at Bewdley, Arley, Hampton and Bridgnorth. However the SVR's Bank holiday traffic had decreased over time and the 5 set service was deemed not required (I think 2012 was the last year to do it).
When it ran at Easter, it was often in the steam heat season so had 5 steam in use, this being before any steam heat fitted diesels on the SVR and there being no ETH stock.

Traditionally on the spring and summer bank holidays, the Sunday and Monday ran the 5-train timetable - Table D- , all steam hauled. There was also at least one spare loco in light steam, often used for an evening charter using the 6th set (GWR Toplights & Diners). As the Bridgnorth shed noise restrictions were still very much in place in the late 1990s, Bewdley ‘shed’ was required to prepare and crew no less than four steam locos each day. The organisation and commitment from the volunteers was quite something.

(On high season Saturdays the SVR generally ran Table C which was the ‘enhanced Table B’ - I.e. 3 steam sets and an extra diesel-hauled diagram slotted in between. However a 5th diagram often still operated if there was a steam school or wedding dining charter or similar.)

 

[Belperpete]

Volks Electric Railway runs 4 tph both ways - that's got to be a contender ?

As previously mentioned, a contender for most frequent. Whether a contender for most intensive is a different thing - how many trains do they have out at any time?

 

[merry]

As previously mentioned, a contender for most frequent. Whether a contender for most intensive is a different thing - how many trains do they have out at any time?

On that criteria, some of the larger miniature railways probably win hands down. On both intensity and frequency. Different if we only count former public transport & museum railways.

 

[philthetube]

The Snowdon Mountain used to manage up to four departures per hour from Llanberis (grouped into pairs running two minutes apart). There's not enough rolling stock these days. Quite an impressive operation to turn around both trains in ten minutes, including coaling up steam locomotives.

Seems strange that an operation which operates at capacity for a large amount of the time should be short of stock

 

[Krokodil]

Seems strange that an operation which operates at capacity for a large amount of the time should be short of stock

The diesel fleet is as productive as it reasonably could be, all four of them in use daily in peak season with eight minute turnarounds at Llanberis. The steam fleet is down to a pool of three locos (from a pool of five 25 years ago). Returning any of the other steam locomotives to service would be expensive, for a much poorer income/running costs ratio. So the only way to run extra trains is to build new diesels. The railcars were poorly-built and the Clayton locomotives unsuccessful. If I owned the place and had some capital to invest, I'd be speaking to Stadler. I don't have tens of millions burning a hole in my pocket so I can't.

 

[renegademaster]

What would be the most intensive if we measured by headway. For ease of discussion let's exclude ride on model railways and such. Tend to find most of the really short lines dont have brilliant timetables anyway, so it probably won't change much.

 

[Krokodil]

What would be the most intensive if we measured by headway. For ease of discussion let's exclude ride on model railways and such. Tend to find most of the really short lines dont have brilliant timetables anyway, so it probably won't change much.

That'll be the Snowdon Mountain then. Being a line-of-sight tramway means that you can have two trains running two minutes apart.

 

[X-City-WM]

or one of the funicular railways?

 

[341o2]

The Gartell Light Railway operates a 25 minute interval timetable