Glorious NSE Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I'm not sure tnat this is a 'parliamentary', When my mate and \I rode it the crew said that it was to do with retaining route knowledge for diversions. I thin there is one on a Sunday evening from Waterloo that goes round via Staines and Weybridge then hooks west towards basingstoke for the same reason. However I'm happy to be corrected and we also enjoyed the ride. Suspect it's both Jamie - It is a 'parliamentary' in that it's the last train on the route, so would need permission to discontinue, but Chiltern has no incentive to actually discontinue it (as Network South East didn't before it) as it also fills a useful role for route knowledge purposes... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Several decades ago, I used to live in Reddish, Stockport. North Reddish station for trains to Manchester seemed to get a reasonable number of passengers, and, if I recall, had a reasonable timetable at that time. There was reasonable information about train times, and facilities to buy tickets. There was also a South Reddish station (very close to the centre of Reddish) that had trains to Stockport, and, I am fairly sure, Stalybridge. There seemed to be very few passenger trains, which were mainly at funny times. I could never work out how to buy tickets for it. There never seemed to be any information about services. I tended to do the weekend shopping in Stockport and I would have preferred to travel by train rather than bus. I did wonder if there was some kind of legal reason for them to run trains, but they didn't seem to want passengers. Unfortunately, I never did travel on that line. Still plenty of chances (well, one a week, anyway). The Stockport/Stalybridge line gets a surprising amount of publicity off and on: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/all-aboard-the-ghost-train-the-service-used-by-just-30-passengers-a-year-8603274.html http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/ghost-train-in-reverse-gear-1110134 http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/01/little-used-train-stations http://manchestertransport.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/a-trip-on-the-stalybridge-flyer/ http://thestationmaster.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/making-a-denton-it/ http://www.theghoststationhunters.com/Northwestparlys/STOCKPORT-STALYBRIDGE-/Stockport-Stalybridge-Ghost/i-XBgSk4c Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium brushman47544 Posted March 31, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 31, 2014 I'm not sure tnat this is a 'parliamentary', When my mate and \I rode it the crew said that it was to do with retaining route knowledge for diversions. I thin there is one on a Sunday evening from Waterloo that goes round via Staines and Weybridge then hooks west towards basingstoke for the same reason. However I'm happy to be corrected and we also enjoyed the ride. Jamie There is an 05.27 Woking to Waterloo via Addlestone and Staines and a 22.52 Waterloo to Woking via the same route Monday-Saturday using the west curve at Byfleet. On Sundays all trains go to Woking instead of Weybridge, so it's not really a parliamentary service anymore. Not sure when this more regular service started, but it can only have been in the last few years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Dickerson Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 So. having a day available to doss around in London I plumped for a ride on this train, the 11.36 Paddington - West Ruislip. This (well, usually the other way) is one of my favourite ever services - what with the semaphores, the odd looks from people on the Central Line next door, the unusual fellow-passengers (including the non-enthusiasts ), and the people who don't get on the train. There's the old entrance to the Park Royal (Guinness Brewery+) branch, the facade of the Greenford GWR station, the remains of the entrance to sidings for a bath-enamelling factory(?), the urban grot merging into flora at North Acton with the pillbox just beyond... Once, once, I hit the jackpot, and I was the only passenger on a train into Paddington - worth a pint in the Mad Bishop and Bear. How to unwind... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 There is an 05.27 Woking to Waterloo via Addlestone and Staines and a 22.52 Waterloo to Woking via the same route Monday-Saturday using the west curve at Byfleet. On Sundays all trains go to Woking instead of Weybridge, so it's not really a parliamentary service anymore. Not sure when this more regular service started, but it can only have been in the last few years. In the mid 1980s most of the Staines-Weybridge trains were diverted to Woking to enable passengers from the Reading line to get to "the main line". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 So. having a day available to doss around in London I plumped for a ride on this train, the 11.36 Paddington - West Ruislip. This line does get heavier use from time to time so the route learning probably is important. I think it was the summer before last when the lines into Marylebone were being upgraded that all (on a reduced timetable ISTR) the Chiltern services went into Paddington by that route. I did sample it which was fun but as the Central Line's W. Ruislip branch is my normal route into London the only bit that wasn't familiar- albeit from a slightly different angle- was the short chord between where it parts company with the Central Line as that ducks under the main line and its own junction with the main line next to Old Oak Common. I think most of the Greenford Branch has also now been relaid with metal sleepers. It's my local branch as well and I do use it when I get sufficiently bored with the Central Line but I think it's due to be cut back from Paddington to West Ealing when Crossrail opens. There is quite a lot of freight and ECS traffic between that line and the Paddington -Ruislip line so I'm not sure what effect CrossRail and eventually HS2 (maybe) will have on that. So far as I know the "parliamentary" service from Clapham to Ealing Broadway- which had been a replacement bus for some time- has now closed. Some time ago I saw the closure notice on Ealing Broadway station which and it was an unpleasant reminder of the bad days of Beeching but almost nobody even knew of it let alone used it and in any case since Shepherd's Bush overground opened it's been fairly easy to get from Ealing to Clapham (and then to Brighton Yippee!!) . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Bus Driver Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 This (well, usually the other way) is one of my favourite ever services - what with the semaphores, the odd looks from people on the Central Line next door, the unusual fellow-passengers (including the non-enthusiasts ), and the people who don't get on the train. There's the old entrance to the Park Royal (Guinness Brewery+) branch, the facade of the Greenford GWR station, the remains of the entrance to sidings for a bath-enamelling factory(?), the urban grot merging into flora at North Acton with the pillbox just beyond... Once, once, I hit the jackpot, and I was the only passenger on a train into Paddington - worth a pint in the Mad Bishop and Bear. How to unwind... Now that sounds like a good idea. Railways and beer, what more could a guy want? Might have to do it that way next time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Dickerson Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 I think part of it's the "Central Line from a different angle" that Pacific231G alludes to that I like (yes, the pint too) - must be made of stronger stuff than me, as just not to be on the Central Line is a delight. Were the Greenford Loop to go I'd miss it (non-radial travel in London can still be a pain). One of my earliest enthusiast excursions in that part of the world. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted April 9, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 9, 2014 oh dear...... http://www.raib.gov.uk/publications/current_investigations_register/140320_greenford.cfm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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