Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 14:15 27 Apr 2025
 
* Leeds community in shock over attack involving crossbow
- Violin used in 1997 Titanic film sells for £54k
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 10/05/25 - BRTA Westbury
10/05/25 - Model Railway Show, Calne
13/05/25 - Melksham TUG / AGM
14/05/25 - West Wiltshire RUG

No 'On This Day' events reported for 27th Apr

Train RunningCancelled
11:25 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
12:25 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
13:00 London Paddington to Plymouth
13:11 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington
13:30 Bristol Temple Meads to Westbury
13:40 Westbury to Bristol Temple Meads
14:00 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon
14:35 Severn Beach to Weston-Super-Mare
14:40 Westbury to Bristol Temple Meads
15:39 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Foregate Street
15:41 Bristol Temple Meads to Salisbury
15:44 Swindon to Frome
16:52 Paignton to London Paddington
17:52 Worcester Foregate Street to Bristol Temple Meads
18:00 Cardiff Central to Taunton
18:11 Castle Cary to Swindon
19:35 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
19:43 Swindon to Westbury
20:00 London Paddington to Plymouth
20:17 Taunton to Bristol Temple Meads
21:00 Bristol Temple Meads to Avonmouth
21:28 Avonmouth to Bristol Temple Meads
22:06 Portsmouth Harbour to Westbury
22:35 Bristol Temple Meads to Westbury
Short Run
10:55 Cardiff Central to Penzance
11:50 Penzance to Cardiff Central
12:00 Cardiff Central to Exeter St Davids
12:10 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
12:30 London Paddington to Paignton
12:53 Paignton to Exmouth
13:10 Weston-Super-Mare to Severn Beach
14:07 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
14:10 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
14:22 Frome to Swindon
14:50 Penzance to Exeter St Davids
15:10 Weston-Super-Mare to Severn Beach
16:08 Weston-Super-Mare to Severn Beach
16:35 Severn Beach to Weston-Super-Mare
16:36 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
16:43 Frome to Swindon
16:48 Bristol Temple Meads to Castle Cary
17:25 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
17:28 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
17:59 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
18:10 Weston-Super-Mare to Severn Beach
19:10 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
19:59 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
20:28 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
20:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
21:10 Portsmouth Harbour to Bristol Temple Meads
22:30 Cardiff Central to Westbury
23:00 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
Delayed
09:55 Bristol Temple Meads to Penzance
etc
PollsThere are no open or recent polls
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
April 27, 2025, 14:19:04 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[85] Taplow-Hassocks
[73] BBC TV Licensing - ongoing discussion
[65] Penryn to Melksham - summary and some pictures from 25.4.2025
[58] Standardisation of Time and the Railway Clearing House
[56] Would reducing fares increase passenger numbers by 40%??
[53] Solar panels between the rails in Switzerland
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Unadvertised stops  (Read 2626 times)
Robin Summerhill
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1145


View Profile Email
« on: September 16, 2022, 20:21:42 »

In all my years of being interested in and working for the railway, I have never understood the logic or reasons behind unadvertised stops. Now might be a good time to ask those insiders on the group about it because it seems relevant next week.

One of the overnight extras between Paddington and Bristol on Monday morning leaves at 0134. Its first stop is Didcot at 0209 (set down only), then carries on to Bristol with unadvertised stop at Swindon and Bath, arriving at Bristol at 0300. This stop is also unadvertised

I see it is running with headcode 1Z70 which might indicate something, rather than the usual 1Cxx

If it was supposed to be a fast just to Didcot only and then on ECS (Empty Coaching Stock) to Bristol I could understand that, but it presumably would run as a class 5 train beyond Didcot

Can anybody shed some light on the matter?
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 43912



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2022, 22:06:46 »

In all my years of being interested in and working for the railway, I have never understood the logic or reasons behind unadvertised stops. Now might be a good time to ask those insiders on the group about it because it seems relevant next week.

[snip]

Can anybody shed some light on the matter?


I've heard several reasons given.   One is that a station is unlit / unstaffed / locked / unsalted and so cannot be used for passengers, but it's useful for people  who work for the railways.   Another is for timetabled trains that don't always go the same way - useful for staff if the happen to go through "x" and call, but a nightmare is it's a public call the train can't make as it then needs rail replacement road transport which costs much more that the fares .
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
bobm
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 10238



View Profile
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2022, 22:35:26 »

A regular example is the up sleeper which, when routed that way, calls at Swindon just after 3am for staff only.

I understand it’s part of a long standing staff agreement to transport crew to Reading for early morning services. 
Logged
PhilWakely
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 2165



View Profile
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2022, 12:12:51 »

Here's an interesting one....... 1C80  12:04 London Paddington to St Austell on 5th November is shown on journey planners as not stopping at Plymouth, yet RTT» (Real Time Trains - website) shows it stopping for 8 minutes 'for dividing purposes'.

Journey planners show Paddington to Plymouth as 'change at Taunton' !

« Last Edit: September 17, 2022, 12:18:38 by PhilWakely » Logged
Robin Summerhill
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1145


View Profile Email
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2022, 19:19:24 »

This conundrum gets more interesting the more I look into the clues available on RTT» (Real Time Trains - website).

Both Bath and Swindon have an overnight service in the small hours of Monday 19th, but all the others are going eastbound. This is the only westbound train that night outside of normal timetabled hours.  There is some logic in this, because I suspect that more people will be wanting to go to London on the day of the funeral rather than leaving it. But if both stations are open to the public it sees odd that this one is the only one with unadvertised stops. To my mind, if you are planning to stop a train then you may as well advertise it and possibly pick up some trade from it



Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules via admin@railcustomer.info. Full legal statement (here).

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page