InterCity Services on the Midland Main Line

[GarrettTheThief]

As part of planning for my Leicester station layout, I geeked up on services operated by the Midland Mainline TOC and I was originally going to use those as a basis for InterCity services.  However, seeing how these services made changes when East Midlands Trains took over made me wonder if this would be correct.

 

My main questions are: what were the main termini (besides St Pancras), what extensions did InterCity run, were the few loco-hauled trains used for stopping/shorter-distance services or did they operate the full distance between Sheffield and London, what were the typical calling stations, general service patterns and whatnot.

 

Regional Railways was a non-issue because a few Wikipedia pages and Flickr photos helped me here, but there's less info on the express services.

 

Cheers.

 

EDIT: I only need to go as far back as 1980.

Edited September 1, 2014 by GarrettTheThief

[18B]

Back in 1980 the line was still dominanted by the Class 45's. At that time virtually all of the expresses were Sheffield/Derby/Nottingham to St Pancras, Inter-City later started to bring in a few Leeds to St Pancras services when the HST's started, but it was Midland Mainline that really opened it up when they bought the 170's. They introduced the Matlock - St Pancras, Buton on Trent - St Pancras and much later in the late 2000's EMT introduced the Lincoln - St Pancras and of course the Corby - St Pancras.

[18B]

 

EDIT: I only need to go as far back as 1980.

 

Realistically though, apart from when the MkI's were upgraded to Air Con MkII's the line was fairly much the same until the HST's came in, i was reading only last night of the date that the Air-Cons started when the Master Cuttler waved a service off with a green flag at Sheffield, I'll post you that date, asap.

[GarrettTheThief]

Thanks for the replies, 18B!

 

I need to add a Class 45 and Class 47/4 to my collection (I've got the detailing with the water tanks planned).  I'm building a Mk1 Blue/Grey rake and as I move through the years, the 45/47 will haul a mix of Mk1 and Mk2/B/D stock.  Shorter formations are for stopping services, longer formations are for "fast" services (with an extra buffet for longer distance journeys).  I'm also building a Mk2D Swallow rake which will be hauled by a Class 47 (unbranded executive/swallow named "Bolton Wanderer").

 

I went a little too far back as the intended starting point is 1985, but it doesn't seem to change my plans much.  I know that HSTs were around then, I might reserve those for Sheffield/Leeds to St Pancras and loco-hauled trains for all others.

 

I agree on Midland Mainline.  Planning the routes and services for this TOC has been the most fun part of the hobby so far.  I read the Wiki page on them, they had to stop the St Pancras - Derby - Matlock service when the Turbostars were withdrawn since Meridians aren't allowed on the Derwent Valley Line (though I've seen a video of an EMT HST on that route).

 

Here are the notes I've taken on MML services (journey times might not be accurate as they seem to be based more on recent Meridian trains).  Though I'm not modelling anything after 2007, I've taken out a modellers' license and I'm also doing the St Pancras - Derby via Nottingham service that EMT does.

 

MML express route from London St Pancras to Nottingham/Derby:

London St Pancras - Luton Airport Parkway - Luton - Bedford - Wellingborough - Kettering - Market Harborough - Leicester - Loughborough EITHER Beeston - Nottingham OR Long Eaton - Derby

 

MML express route from Derby to Burton-on-Trent:

Derby - Willington - Burton-on-Trent

 

MML express route from Derby to Barnsley:

Derby - Belper - Chesterfield - Dronfield - Sheffield - Meadowhall Interchange - Barnsley

 

MML express route from Derby to York/Scarborough:

Derby - Chesterfield - Sheffield - Meadowhall Interchange - Doncaster - York - Scarborough

 

MML express route from Derby to Sheffield/Leeds:

Derby - Chesterfield - Sheffield - Doncaster - Wakefield Westgate - Leeds

 

MML express route from Nottingham to Leeds via the Erewash Valley Line:

Nottingham - Langley Mill - Alfreton - Chesterfield - Sheffield - Wakefield Westgate - Leeds

 

MML express route from London St Pancras to Matlock:

London St Pancras - Luton Airport Parkway - Bedford - Wellingborough - Kettering - Market Harborough - Leicester - Loughborough - Long Eaton - Spondon - Derby - Duffield - Belper - Ambergate - Whatstandwell - Cromford - Matlock Bath - Matlock

 

MML Services:

* Hourly xx00 semi-fast service to Derby which skips Luton (1h56m)

  - Limited extensions to Burton-on-Trent (2h26m) and Barnsley (3h14m)

  - Limited extension to Matlock (2h32m) served by Turbostars only

  - Saturday Scarborough extension (leaving Leicester 0742)

* Hourly xx25 fast service to Sheffield (2h21m) calling only at Leicester, Derby and Chesterfield

  - Limited extension to Leeds (3h17m, 2h10m from Leicester)

  - Sunday extension to York calling at Doncaster only

* Hourly xx30 semi-fast service to Nottingham (1h56m) which skips Luton Airport Parkway

* Hourly xx55 fast service to Nottingham (1h41m) calling only at Leicester and Loughborough

  - Peak services also call at Luton and Beeston

  - Off-peak services between 8am and 10pm also call at Market Harborough

  - Limited extension to Leeds via Erewash Valley Line (e.g. depart Leicester 1930 and takes 2h55m from London)

  - Limited extension to Derby via Long Eaton (depart Leicester 1914 for a total journey time of 1h17m)

* Sunday semi-fast from Leicester to York served by Meridians only calling at all major stops for a total journey time of 2h14m

 

I think InterCity services can follow a similar pattern with Derby/Sheffield/Nottingham serving as the Northern termini (and Leeds for HSTs) with none of the extensions and no trains calling at Luton Airport Parkway (as it wasn't around then!).

 

EDIT: I haven't forgotten Project Rio!

Edited September 1, 2014 by GarrettTheThief

[corneliuslundie]

I don't remember any MML trains which called at both Luton Airport Parkway and Luton before 2007 (I haven't lived in the area since 2007). It was usually one or the other with a few fasts that skipped both. Mind you that won't make much difference for your model.

 

Will your class 170s leak like the real thing?!

[18B]

 

Thanks for the replies, 18B!

 

I went a little too far back as the intended starting point is 1985, but it doesn't seem to change my plans much.  I know that HSTs were around then, I might reserve those for Sheffield/Leeds to St Pancras and loco-hauled trains for all others.

 

EDIT: I haven't forgotten Project Rio!

 

 

If you're modelling upto 1985, by then virtually all of the Midland Mainline services were HST, although a couple of Class 45 services remained,  along with a Class 47 service which was early out ina morning and back in an evening that lasted until about 1990.

 

Right at the end of loco hauled services, there was a 47 turn, TRACTION had a great feature on it once as it could throw up a variety of 47's in many different liveries! Also Tinsley's green liveried 45 spent most of the mid wek working a St Pancras trip, until its fire

Edited September 2, 2014 by 18B

[GarrettTheThief]

Does anyone remember the exact service patterns i.e how many stopping and fast services per hour to Nottingham/Derby/Sheffield?

[eastwestdivide]

Does anyone remember the exact service patterns i.e how many stopping and fast services per hour to Nottingham/Derby/Sheffield?

For which year exactly? I'm sure someone will have timetables from whichever year.

 

Going back to loco-hauled formations, they used to be relatively short when it was 45/1s and Mk2 aircons - 2 first, buffet, 4 second and a BSO was typical in the early 80s, with some Mk1 sets (up to 9 coaches) remaining on the StP-Derby stopping runs (St Albans, Luton, Bedford, Wellingboro, Kett, Mkt H, Leic, Lough, Long Eaton, Derby). I've got some notes somewhere, maybe even posted on here, but I think that's little too early for your timeframe.

 

Edit - later correction: 9-coach sets mostly see posts 18 and 21 below. Thanks to cb900f/Pete

Edited September 3, 2014 by eastwestdivide

[GarrettTheThief]

Ideally for 1985 through to 1994.

 

Cheers.

[Talltim]

I've lived on the Midland mainline since I was 7 (Harpenden, Sheffield, Nottingham, Chesterfield) so I should know this stuff, but I don't!

I can remember services stopping at St Albans, even caught an HST St Albans-Harpenden during some disruption, does anyone know when they stopped serving St A? I'm pretty certain it was pre-privatisation.

 

 

 

I agree on Midland Mainline.  Planning the routes and services for this TOC has been the most fun part of the hobby so far.  I read the Wiki page on them, they had to stop the St Pancras - Derby - Matlock service when the Turbostars were withdrawn since Meridians aren't allowed on the Derwent Valley Line (though I've seen a video of an EMT HST on that route).

 

 Meridians are certainly allowed now http://railwayherald.com/imagingcentre/view/342583/PL, but I suspect it was a special dispensation

 

For which year exactly? I'm sure someone will have timetables from whichever year.

 

Going back to loco-hauled formations, they used to be relatively short when it was 45/1s and Mk2 aircons - 2 first, buffet, 4 second and a BSO was typical in the early 80s, with some Mk1 sets (up to 9 coaches) remaining on the StP-Derby stopping runs (St Albans, Luton, Bedford, Wellingboro, Kett, Mkt H, Leic, Lough, Long Eaton, Derby). I've got some notes somewhere, maybe even posted on here, but I think that's little too early for your timeframe.

Are they short? I suppose it is relative. 8 coaches (minus a brake-end) has less capacity than an HST, but far more than anything else that does the route nowadays, except when they couple two Meridians.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Talltim

[phil-b259]

As a rule, towards the end of its life, InterCity was very keen to rid itself of the 'once a day' type services and concentrate its limited resources on its core routes. There was also a desire to rid itself of traditional loco hauled trains (apart from the Cross Country division) in favour of fixed formation sets (eg. HSTs, IC225s, Class 86 / 87 + DVT / DBSO). From St Pancras this basically meant a hourly service to Nottingham and IIRC a half hourly service to Derby with one of them continuing on to Sheffield and occasionally Leeds all run by HSTs (the later basically being a way of getting HST sets to Neville Hill depot for servicing rather than any strategic desire to run to Leeds).

 

As for the stopping pattern, because of the lack of resources and the need to serve the quite considerable (in InterCity terms) number stations between Bedford and Leicester where they were the sole operator, the calling patterns were a bit odd and effectively made travel between say Wellingborough and Market Harborough quite awkward though each individual station did retain a good service to London & Leicester

 

After privatisation, the introduction of additional stock (first the Turbostars then the Meridian sets) meant that services could be increased giving Nottingham a half hourly service from London throughout the day for example and better serving the intermediate stations north of Bedford.

Edited September 2, 2014 by phil-b259

[eastwestdivide]

Here's May 1985 from the ABC Rail Guide (unfortunately not showing all intermediate stops). Not much of what you'd call a "pattern".

If it made London-Leicester in 1h15, it was an HST, as 45s were timetabled something like 1h30. A longer time could be a stopping HST though. 

The catering symbol of a circle with a diagonal fork indicated an HST. A teacup could have been either.

 

May 1985 Midland timetable ABC LR.pdf

[eastwestdivide]

 

Are they short? I suppose it is relative. 8 coaches (minus a brake-end) has less capacity than an HST, but far more than anything else that does the route nowadays, except when they couple two Meridians.

"Relatively short" compared to contemporary loco-hauled formations on the WCML for example, but more or less the same as the Deltic-plus-8 of the ECML I suppose. The Midland 8-coach sets were 2 first and 4.5 second, plus the plastic seats in the buffet cars. 

 

Edit - later correction: 9-coach sets mostly see posts 18 and 21 below. Thanks to cb900f/Pete

Edited September 3, 2014 by eastwestdivide

[Talltim]

The HST servicing at Neville Hill continues to this day, my impression is that there are less services to Leeds than there were, presumably because there are fewer HSTs. I'm surprised that they haven't moved it to Derby in all these years.

[phil-b259]

The HST servicing at Neville Hill continues to this day, my impression is that there are less services to Leeds than there were, presumably because there are fewer HSTs. I'm surprised that they haven't moved it to Derby in all these years.

 

In fact the number of HSTs employed on the Midland Main line has actually gone up since BR days thanks to the introduction of new stock on the Cross Country and WCML. I would suggest that the more likely reason for a decline in the number of trains to Leeds (and Neville Hill depot) is that East Midlands Trains (and their franchised predecessors) have been investing in more facilities at Derby so as to do more work there and reduce the need to use a maintenance depot that is some distance from their centre of operations. It also helps that Cross Country and others have been increasing their services over the years since privatisation and thus East Midlands trains has more scope for withdrawing trains beyond Sheffield without compromising the number of journey opportunities available to passengers.

[GarrettTheThief]

I don't remember any MML trains which called at both Luton Airport Parkway and Luton before 2007 (I haven't lived in the area since 2007). It was usually one or the other with a few fasts that skipped both. Mind you that won't make much difference for your model.

 

Will your class 170s leak like the real thing?!

 

I've taken note of which Luton station is called by which (the wiki page for the MML TOC is very informative)

 

Also, though it's tempting, a slow-drip machine at that scale would be too fiddly.  On a more serious note, I have considered installing remote-controlled sound cards from MyLoco as I'm going down the DC route. I might even install a remote-controlled smoke machine in each power car!

 

 

I've lived on the Midland mainline since I was 7 (Harpenden, Sheffield, Nottingham, Chesterfield) so I should know this stuff, but I don't!

I can remember services stopping at St Albans, even caught an HST St Albans-Harpenden during some disruption, does anyone know when they stopped serving St A? I'm pretty certain it was pre-privatisation.

 

 Meridians are certainly allowed now http://railwayherald.com/imagingcentre/view/342583/PL, but I suspect it was a special dispensation

 

Are they short? I suppose it is relative. 8 coaches (minus a brake-end) has less capacity than an HST, but far more than anything else that does the route nowadays, except when they couple two Meridians.

 

I'm going to guess and say that services in the late 80s did.  Judging from eastwestdivide's timetable, it seems that both St Albans and Loughborough weren't served for some time.

 

I think that Meridian and the EMT HST I saw in a video must have been on that route as a special dispensation, probably Nottingham to Matlock via Derby.  A fortnight ago I caught a 4-car Meridian from Loughborough to Leicester which stopped at all the Ivanhoe stations (the journey was about 3 minutes faster).  This wasn't the St Pancras - Lincoln service.  Are these often readily available for relief/replacement services or something?

 

That aside I'm not modelling past 2007 (i.e. no East Midlands Trains), I'll probably hold off on doing the St Pancras - Derby - Matlock service when I bring in the Meridians.

 

I was originally going to model loco-hauled services with five standard coaches, it's handy to know I only need one less.  I'm prioritising Bachmann over Lima (and having to repaint the grey and add detailing/glazing), so obviously I save money and time,  I have all the Mk2 coaches I need and I can always run them with Mk1s (I've seen photos of such rakes).

 

As a rule, towards the end of its life, InterCity was very keen to rid itself of the 'once a day' type services and concentrate its limited resources on its core routes. There was also a desire to rid itself of traditional loco hauled trains (apart from the Cross Country division) in favour of fixed formation sets (eg. HSTs, IC225s, Class 86 / 87 + DVT / DBSO). From St Pancras this basically meant a hourly service to Nottingham and IIRC a half hourly service to Derby with one of them continuing on to Sheffield and occasionally Leeds all run by HSTs (the later basically being a way of getting HST sets to Neville Hill depot for servicing rather than any strategic desire to run to Leeds).

 

Thanks, that was very informative.  I do vaguely recall some loco-hauled sets on MML services in the early nineties and though they were rare, they still existed.  I'll run my Swallow 47s and Mk2D coaches sporadically.

 

Here's May 1985 from the ABC Rail Guide (unfortunately not showing all intermediate stops). Not much of what you'd call a "pattern".

If it made London-Leicester in 1h15, it was an HST, as 45s were timetabled something like 1h30. A longer time could be a stopping HST though. 

The catering symbol of a circle with a diagonal fork indicated an HST. A teacup could have been either.

 

As for the stopping pattern, because of the lack of resources and the need to serve the quite considerable (in InterCity terms) number stations between Bedford and Leicester where they were the sole operator, the calling patterns were a bit odd and effectively made travel between say Wellingborough and Market Harborough quite awkward though each individual station did retain a good service to London & Leicester

 

eastwest, thanks for posting that timetable!  This will be a huge help for me.  Wish I could give more than one rating.

 

Even the wiki page on MML states that the calling stations are general (I can imagine off-peak stopping services skipping some stations) but it's easier to work on a pattern.  I'll try to find one in eastwest's timetable, then use that as a basis for late 80s and early 90s IC services.  For that period, I plan to make Loughborough, Long Eaton and Beeston as regular stops for fast/stopping/both.  I'll make stops at St Albans, Kettering, Wellingborough and Market Harborough irregular.  Maybe each one every four services?

 

Okay, planning time.  I'll post my service patterns for both 1985-1987 and 1987-1994 when I'm done.

 

Thanks again everyone!

[kernowtim]

There is a DVD called "St Pancras suburban" that may be of interest although it doesn't feature the line north of Bedford and is mainly 1970s, by transport video publishing of wheathampstead.

http://www.transportvideo.com/st-pancras-suburban-226-p.asp

Edited September 2, 2014 by kernowtim

[cb900f]

If I may, when we used to go to St Pancras from Sheffield in the 70s/80s with a class 45 we always had 9 on behind us, as the guard would normally calculate 9 for 306/7/8tons.

 

Pete

Edited September 2, 2014 by cb900f

[Leander]

The use of a Meridian on 10-7-14 was a one-off occasion to convey HM The Queen, Prince Phillip and Entourage to Matlock for an official visit. The party travelled in the first class accommodation at the rear of the train with the adjacent standard class coach locked out of use.

 

There has been some investment in the infrastructure of the Matlock branch in recent years to enable the use of such a unit, and also loco hauled excursion trains (both diesel and steam) which had been barred for a number of years previously.

[eastwestdivide]

 

...Judging from eastwestdivide's timetable, it seems that both St Albans and Loughborough weren't served for some time...

 

I wouldn't draw that conclusion - just to clarify, that timetable I posted doesn't show all the intermediate stations, as it was a summary timetable from the back of the "ABC Rail Guide", not the full BR timetable. The ABC doesn't show Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough or Chesterfield either for that matter, but they (and Loughborough) were still served by trains from St Pancras.

That same 1985 guide also has a timetable for London-Luton-Bedford-Wellingborough, which shows a few main line (i.e. beyond Bedford) services calling at Luton, but only one northbound calling at St Albans (0600 St P-Sheffield), and two southbound (early morning and late night). They called at St Albans more than that in the early 80s, but I don't know when St Albans ceased to be a main line calling point.

If you want all the calling points, you'll have to find a BR timetable.

[eastwestdivide]

If I may, when we used to go to St Pancras from Sheffield in the 70s/80s with a class 45 we always had 9 on behind us, as the guard would normally calculate 9 for 306/7/8tons.

 

Pete

Thanks for that. I just dug out my old notes from 1980/81, and as you say, the formations were mostly 9, with a few 8. I'll correct my earlier post.

Typically 2xFO, buffet, BFK or BSO, 5xTSO.

[GarrettTheThief]

I wouldn't draw that conclusion - just to clarify, that timetable I posted doesn't show all the intermediate stations, as it was a summary timetable from the back of the "ABC Rail Guide", not the full BR timetable. The ABC doesn't show Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough or Chesterfield either for that matter, but they (and Loughborough) were still served by trains from St Pancras.

That same 1985 guide also has a timetable for London-Luton-Bedford-Wellingborough, which shows a few main line (i.e. beyond Bedford) services calling at Luton, but only one northbound calling at St Albans (0600 St P-Sheffield), and two southbound (early morning and late night). They called at St Albans more than that in the early 80s, but I don't know when St Albans ceased to be a main line calling point.

If you want all the calling points, you'll have to find a BR timetable.

 

Thanks for clarifying.  Sorry, it turns out you did explicitly state that the timetable doesn't show the intermediate stations and I mistakenly overlooked that when constructing my reply.

[phil-b259]

I do vaguely recall some loco-hauled sets on MML services in the early nineties and though they were rare, they still existed.  I'll run my Swallow 47s and Mk2D coaches sporadically.

 

 

Indeed - with the number of HSTs allocated to the route being only 'just enough' to run the timetabled services, any issues reducing fleet avability could well result in a loco substitution. Equally it may have been the case that at peak times or to allow scheduled maintenance a loco hauled set might have been utilised - but the fact remains they were very much the exception rather than the rule in the early 90s. Of course the other thing that may have helped is that because of the overlap with Cross Country north of Derby, 'borrowing' suitable (i.e. non freight sector) diesel traction might have been easier than on other InterCity operations

 

I've taken note of which Luton station is called by which (the wiki page for the MML TOC is very informative)

 

 

As regards Luton's stations, please remeber that Luton Airport Parkway station didn't exsist in the pre-privitisation era (it opened 1999) and when first constructed Midland Mainline refused to serve it because they couldn't serve both it and the origional Luton station without compromising their schedules. Over time of course common sense has prevailed although as I hinted at earlier this change of approch may be more due to the fact that the rolling stock situation within the franchise is nowhere near as 'tight' as it was just before and just after privatisation allowing more services to be introduced and the stopping patterns altered.

[Titan]

Indeed - with the number of HSTs allocated to the route being only 'just enough' to run the timetabled services, any issues reducing fleet avability could well result in a loco substitution. Equally it may have been the case that at peak times or to allow scheduled maintenance a loco hauled set might have been utilised - but the fact remains they were very much the exception rather than the rule in the early 90s.

 I used to travel regularly between Derby and St Pancras in the early 90's and HST reliability at the time was pretty poor. Had quite a few spirited runs behind substitute 47's + 7 Mk2d's. One in particular I remember was about right time Derby and only five minutes late in to St Pancras, with plenty of three figure speed running! It seemed that about one in three HST's that were running on both power cars on leaving St Pancras would be down to one by Derby...

[Maltazer]

And there's another excuse for loco-hauled trains from 2002 when MML ran out of HSTs and hired in a rake of InterCity liveried Mk2s, plus 47488 in two-tone green and 47712 in Fragonset blue to haul them.