3.12.2020 - Some old timetables, but where for and just how old.

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I have some scraps of old timetables lying around. Can you tell me which services they are for, and at what date?

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.

[Oxonhutch]

Not overwhelmed with with guesses so far but 2, 3 and 6 predate 1964.

[grahame]

Not overwhelmed with with guesses so far but 2, 3 and 6 predate 1964.

2 and 3 do - just - predate 1964.  6 does NOT, but represents the era that was coming to an end around that time.

I am underwhelmed by guesses too - please free to make multiple guesses.  To help quizzes be customer / passenger / guest / member appropriate in the future, I am asking myself
1. Are people actually [very] interested but don't have the knowledge to comment?
2. Have I made the quiz too hard?
3. Is other news today taking over their time?
4. Am I just weird enjoying old timetables, such that other quizzes would be more appropriate?

[bobm]

I know where 7 is. I?m just trying to date it.   I?m sure you?ve posted it somewhere before.

[Oxonhutch]

I am underwhelmed by guesses too - please free to make multiple guesses

On that note, there is something about No. 1 that suggest Yeovil possibly even Swindon (and dare I say Melksham) down to Weymouth. It is the sparce Sunday service with just the last two stations served. Time: in the 1990s. The letter 'b' looks like a request stop notation of sorts

[grahame]

I am underwhelmed by guesses too - please free to make multiple guesses

On that note, there is something about No. 1 that suggest Yeovil possibly even Swindon (and dare I say Melksham) down to Weymouth. It is the sparce Sunday service with just the last two stations served. Time: in the 1990s. The letter 'b' looks like a request stop notation of sorts

Looking back at the data, I can see that pattern - but it's a long way from there.  "Something about the pattern", yes, indeed.  The first part of the route shown in the table now has a much better service (though not faring well under Covid) correction - it's closed - I misread the bit torn off but the rest of the line has been closed - that was within a few years of the timetable I have shown. The final section now offers a heritage service.   Almost a microcosm of how the sparse services have gone and the more frequent ones have built up - wasn't it "twice the number of passenger journeys being made by train, but I half the route mileage"?

[grahame]

I know where 7 is. I?m just trying to date it.   I?m sure you?ve posted it somewhere before.

I likely have  .  There is a tendency for timetables to change only marginally from one year to the next, and the sort of service shown in cutting 7 was pretty unchanged for quite a while.  The yellow colour is the paper it was printed on, and does not represent either aging or a photoshop accident!

[bobm]

Ok - Swindon- Westbury and I'll suggest 1992.

[Bmblbzzz]

I'm going to have a very wild guess that 6 is somewhere in the USA.

[Oxonhutch]

I think No. 7 is from North America and quite recently. The wording 'Rail Station' is not East Atlantic English and I swear I read the word 'Transit' on the page behind - in reverse of course. Was it 2018 you and your good lady took the cruise?

[Oxonhutch]

No. 6, Shipping lines had timetables like that with fixed places and return times reading bottom up. 1930s my guess.

[froome]

Not overwhelmed with with guesses so far but 2, 3 and 6 predate 1964.

2 and 3 do - just - predate 1964.  6 does NOT, but represents the era that was coming to an end around that time.

I am underwhelmed by guesses too - please free to make multiple guesses.  To help quizzes be customer / passenger / guest / member appropriate in the future, I am asking myself
1. Are people actually [very] interested but don't have the knowledge to comment?
2. Have I made the quiz too hard?
3. Is other news today taking over their time?
4. Am I just weird enjoying old timetables, such that other quizzes would be more appropriate?

To answer your questions above:
1. Yes, very interested but don't have enough knowledge.
2. No, just challenging.
3. It is sadly.
4. No, all your quizzes are interesting, and this one is fascinating.

As regards the actual timetables, no 5 has stations that are notably evenly spaced as well as being close together. That, its length, and the poor Sunday service suggest it is mostly a commuter line* in a large town or small city, but I can't place it yet.

*The fact that there are no more trains at rush hour times still confirms this to me. I remember just how poor the timing of some commuter services were just at the times you need them.

Possibly 1980s.

[stuving]

I think no. 3 is Maidenhead-High Wycombe - you've already given the date - early sixties - which stylistically looks right as well.

[grahame]

Ok - Swindon- Westbury and I'll suggest 1992.

Yes - full timetable as follows - from the rear of Wilsthire County Council bus leaflets "From 28th September 1992" no. C32 "Corsham - Melksham"

 

I note an apparent conflict in dates as this says "Times valid until 16th May 1992" ...

Back a little later to follow up on other guesses / answers - just come off a 3 hour zoom meeting and have another coming up!                                                         

[grahame]

I'm going to have a very wild guess that 6 is somewhere in the USA.

No. 6, Shipping lines had timetables like that with fixed places and return times reading bottom up. 1930s my guess.

I think No. 7 is from North America and quite recently. The wording 'Rail Station' is not East Atlantic English and I swear I read the word 'Transit' on the page behind - in reverse of course. Was it 2018 you and your good lady took the cruise?

No. 6 is indeed in the USA.    My wife and I did indeed take a cruise to that country last autumn, but the timetable 'sampled' was purchased in Birmingham (England) the previous spring.  Much more recent than the 1930s.

I misread your answer, Oxenhutch, or wondered if you had quoted the number below rather than above the picture; above 7 is 6, correct for USA.  However 7, and with the use of "Rail Station" has been identified as being the TransWilts service as it was in 1992.  Very "American" in its daily train, though!   The work you can see through is "Travel" rather than "Transit"