Trains reversing beyond the station

[whole diary]

[The Tall Controller]

Off-route for us westerners but one of the longest has to be the Chathill twice-daily train which has to run empty for 6 miles to Belford before being able to reverse.

[IndustryInsider]

Off-route for us westerners but one of the longest has to be the Chathill twice-daily train which has to run empty for 6 miles to Belford before being able to reverse.

Which serves Chathill and also several other small stations on the ECML north of Morpeth that only get two trains a day each way at the most.  Logic would dictate you'd shut Chathill, Adlington, Widrington and Pegswood, given the distances between them, the number of passengers, and the cumbersome shunt described above, but it's quite nice that logic doesn't always prevail.

[Lee]

I would imagine that has a lot to do with the fact that Pegswood, Widdrington, Acklington and Chathill all come under the formidable auspices of the South East Northumberland Rail User Group, who are campaigning for significantly improved services.

Post-Beeching, loco-hauled trains between Newcastle, Berwick and Edinburgh served these stations - In 1982 for example, there were 4 trains each way calling at Chathill. Services were run down during the 1980's though, with the Chathill terminators coming in fully in 1991 after ECML electrification.

Try this for a further insight.

[IndustryInsider]

I wish them luck.  Certainly there are currently some large layovers at Morpeth on the services to/from Metro Centre, so providing a more frequent service as far as Berwick won't take up as many extra trains as you might imagine - though it would utilise a unit for getting on for two hours if you extended it from Morpeth to Berwick and back.

Pathing an all stations Newcastle to Edinburgh service with four reopened stations would certainly test the timetable planners!

[grahame]

Which serves Chathill and also several other small stations on the ECML north of Morpeth that only get two trains a day each way at the most.  Logic would dictate you'd shut Chathill, Adlington, Widrington and Pegswood, given the distances between them, the number of passengers, and the cumbersome shunt described above, but it's quite nice that logic doesn't always prevail.

I recall my early involvement in TransWilts .. asking the ORR about passenger numbers using the service, and they came back with a very nice letter saying they didn't have train rider numbers - the best they could do was quote passenger numbers from their stats for Melksham, which were around 3,000 per annum at the two trains each way per day level.   In the last year for which stats have been published, Chathill has 2 trains each way per day and 2,768 passenger journeys.  A further 5,000 journeys are made if you include Adlington, Widrington and Pegswood, and note that north of Morpeth the train also serves Alnmouth - big numbers, also served by long distance trains - at which traffic might well grow if service frequency to Newcastle (with extra local trains) increased.

I don't know Northumberland ... but I do know that its figures at Chathill look remarkably similar to those we had at Melksham - and thank goodness the solution we found was to grow.  Different place, perhaps a different solution - logic is to look at all options, including "it ain't bust - just small" through "Chathill for Lindisfarne" leisure traffic ... and "Chathill Garden City"

[bignosemac]

GWR 16x's at Gatwick reverse or stable between runs beyond the Station, don't they?

I can't see any regular moves beyond the station on RTT. Most arrivals at Gatwick have just 7 minutes at platform before returning to Reading. Beginning and end of day services come from/head to Redhill.

There is an arrival from Guildford on Sundays that shunts out of the station for around half an hour before coming back in to form a service to Reading.

[Thatcham Crossing]

There is an arrival from Guildford on Sundays that shunts out of the station for around half an hour before coming back in to form a service to Reading.

Could be the one I saw, as last time I was there was on a Sunday at the end of June. It was definitely parked a bit south of the Airport Station.

[didcotdean]

I think reversal outside of the station at Gatwick used to be quite common but not sure when that ceased to be the case.

[paul7755]

I would imagine that has a lot to do with the fact that Pegswood, Widdrington, Acklington and Chathill all come under the formidable auspices of the South East Northumberland Rail User Group, who are campaigning for significantly improved services.

Post-Beeching, loco-hauled trains between Newcastle, Berwick and Edinburgh served these stations - In 1982 for example, there were 4 trains each way calling at Chathill. Services were run down during the 1980's though, with the Chathill terminators coming in fully in 1991 after ECML electrification.

Try this for a further insight.

Interesting that the morning train TO Chathill is a relatively express service, it still skips Pegswood, Widdrington and Acklington.  Those 3 stations are odd in only having a morning train towards Newcastle, only the evening Chathill train calls at them in both directions. 

As a child in the early sixties I regularly used the stoppers as far as Alnwick, then that closed and I went only as far as Alnmouth for a few years.  Never got out at Chathill although I stopped there a few times on the way to or from Berwick...

Paul

[stuving]

I think reversal outside of the station at Gatwick used to be quite common but not sure when that ceased to be the case.

It was mainly needed bacause the nominally "slow" platforms 1,2&3 also had the Gatwick Expresses stopping and waiting at them. Once P7 was built and GX went off to the other side there was less pressure for through paths on the slow side.

[IndustryInsider]

Which serves Chathill and also several other small stations on the ECML north of Morpeth that only get two trains a day each way at the most.  Logic would dictate you'd shut Chathill, Adlington, Widrington and Pegswood, given the distances between them, the number of passengers, and the cumbersome shunt described above, but it's quite nice that logic doesn't always prevail.

I recall my early involvement in TransWilts .. asking the ORR about passenger numbers using the service, and they came back with a very nice letter saying they didn't have train rider numbers - the best they could do was quote passenger numbers from their stats for Melksham, which were around 3,000 per annum at the two trains each way per day level.   In the last year for which stats have been published, Chathill has 2 trains each way per day and 2,768 passenger journeys.  A further 5,000 journeys are made if you include Adlington, Widrington and Pegswood, and note that north of Morpeth the train also serves Alnmouth - big numbers, also served by long distance trains - at which traffic might well grow if service frequency to Newcastle (with extra local trains) increased.

I don't know Northumberland ... but I do know that its figures at Chathill look remarkably similar to those we had at Melksham - and thank goodness the solution we found was to grow.  Different place, perhaps a different solution - logic is to look at all options, including "it ain't bust - just small" through "Chathill for Lindisfarne" leisure traffic ... and "Chathill Garden City"

No doubt usage would improve with a more regular service - you just have to look at the other end of the line at Dunston where there are nearly five times the number of passengers since the service was improved five years ago. However there are plenty of calls on paths between Newcastle and Edinburgh including the open access services from 2021 opeated by FirstGroup.  Chathill itself is tiny, but obviously draws in a reasonable number of commuters from somewhere.

[rower40]

Properly off-area...
Glenrothes with Thornton station.  A terminating train arriving from the Cowdenbeath direction has to disgorge its passengers in the platform, then continue eastwards to get behind a suitable signal (either on north or south curve at Thornton Junction), then come back again to load up for its return journey.  There are no platform starting signals, because the station was built only after the last time the line was resignalled.