Ghost Trains of old England, BBC radio 4 doc

patspost · 27-10-2010 7:20pm #1

Some may be interested in listening to doc below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vhhcf

Just one train a week runs between Stockport and Stalybridge. It never returns. "There is no service from Stalybridge to Stockport", says a platform sign, cryptically. The Stockport-Stalybridge service is what's known as a "parliamentary train" and exists only so that the rail company can avoid going through formal closure proceedings. Running the single weekly service costs only £50, but to close it down would cost far more. Of the intermediate stops on the line, Network Rail notes: "Data collection including observation has been unable to record any use of these stations".

In this programme, Ian Marchant travels these little used lines and forgotten stations. There is Teesside Airport station, the least-used stop in Britain, with just 44 passengers a year. It has only one train a week, is a 20 minutes walk from the airport (a journey which involves negotiating a locked gate), and the airport has a different name anyway.

Then there is the train that goes from Manchester to Brighton - except that since the Manchester to Brighton direct service has been abolished, a semi-secret replacement bus travels once a week from Ealing Broadway to Wandsworth Road, two stations that were never on the Manchester-Brighton route anyway.

Most bizarre is the case of Newhaven Marine, a station which is technically open, and is served by one train a day. But the station is behind a locked fence and passengers are forbidden to get on the train, which does not appear on any timetable. The company offers to provide a taxi service to any passenger "in possession of a valid ticket". But it is impossible to buy a ticket.
Who are the people who use these secret trains which are also buses and taxis? Mostly rail enthusiasts and hobbyists who collect rail tickets. But occasionally a real passenger stumbles across a service and uses it almost by accident. And what does it say about the British attitude to rules that we stick within the letter of the law while entirely subverting their intention?

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L1011 · 27-10-2010 8:43pm

I've mates in Newhaven, finding the bit on Marine absolutely hilarious

flyingsnail · 27-10-2010 8:45pm

that was interesting, anybody know of any ghost busses or trains in Ireland.

Ghost Train · 27-10-2010 8:49pm

flyingsnail wrote: »

that was interesting, anybody know of any ghost busses or trains in Ireland.

I'm a Ghost Train living in Dublin :pac:

interesting read

flyingsnail · 27-10-2010 8:50pm

Ghost Train wrote: »

I'm a Ghost Train living in Dublin :pac:

but where do you go?

KC61 · 27-10-2010 9:05pm

A fascinating broadcast. Truly a trip into the absolute madness of civil service bureaucracy!

Brilliant!

Sir Humphrey Appleby would be proud of them!

KC61 · 27-10-2010 9:07pm

flyingsnail wrote: »

that was interesting, anybody know of any ghost busses or trains in Ireland.

There are no "parliamentary" rail services in Ireland.

However, the redesigned Bus Eireann service 372 replaced the South Wexford line recently.

You could I suppose call many of the Bus Eireann rural services "parliamentary" as they operate one day a week, but they actually do generally serve a legitimate purpose rather than these nonsensical journeys.

Judgement Day · 27-10-2010 9:15pm

The old Cork and Youghal Rly Cork City terminus at Summerhill, high above the present Glanmire Road/Kent Station, which closed circa.1893 used to see the annual passage of a locomotive over the closed line to its connection with the GS&WR line to Youghal and Cobh - to the east of the present station. This annual visitation apparently continued right into the 1930s to maintain the right of way and presumably only ended when the track became unsafe or impassable.

27-10-2010 9:39pm

KC61 wrote: »

There are no "parliamentary" rail services in Ireland.

However, the redesigned Bus Eireann service 372 replaced the South Wexford line recently.

I've often heard of the direct Tralee to Dublin services being branded "the Political Express" as they're retained to keep Kerry politicians from flipping the lid (apparently). However they are well utilised.

KC61 · 27-10-2010 9:46pm

I suppose you could say that the 0710 Waterford-Heuston is a parliamentary style service - it is the only passenger train that operates over the direct Lavistown loop bypassing Kilkenny. But it is serving a useful purpose!

L1011 · 28-10-2010 12:16am

The rail service on the South Wexford was the nearest we had to a parliamentary service here.

The UK has many more than that show covered - Watford to Croxley Green is another infamous one.

corktina · 28-10-2010 2:56pm

i beleive that the Bus which leaves Newmarlet Co Cork for Banteer and Mallow and eventually Cork City is a rail-replacement service and therefore sort of a Parliammentary train

It takes about 2 hours or more to get to the city mainly because it stops everywhere and has a circuitous route. It should be express from Mallow at least to make it worth using.

steamengine · 28-10-2010 3:28pm

Most politicians over here wouldn't know what a parliamentary train is, but some of them would be experts on 'gravy trains' !

KC61 · 28-10-2010 4:18pm

corktina wrote: »

i beleive that the Bus which leaves Newmarlet Co Cork for Banteer and Mallow and eventually Cork City is a rail-replacement service and therefore sort of a Parliammentary train

It takes about 2 hours or more to get to the city mainly because it stops everywhere and has a circuitous route. It should be express from Mallow at least to make it worth using.

It has just changed to just that - here is the new timetable.

corktina · 28-10-2010 9:19pm

link doesnt work.....wouldnt you think they would TELL the locals about a change for the better!!!

KC61 · 28-10-2010 9:33pm

It works perfectly for me - The changes were advertised on www.buseireann.ie on their homepage and presumably on the buses also.

corktina · 28-10-2010 9:49pm

well how will that get extra people to use the Bus? noone checks with BE on the off-chance that the service might be improved!. A leaflet drop around the North Cork towns would be cheap as chips

This is a major improvement in my view...8.40 arrival just right for commuters.

KC61 · 29-10-2010 12:02pm

corktina wrote: »

well how will that get extra people to use the Bus? noone checks with BE on the off-chance that the service might be improved!. A leaflet drop around the North Cork towns would be cheap as chips

This is a major improvement in my view...8.40 arrival just right for commuters.

This was the press release from Bus Eireann:

Bus Éireann Introduces Additional Services from Newmarket and Kanturk

Bus Éireann is to introduce additional new services linking Newmarket and Kanturk to Cork from Monday, October 4th 2010.

The revision will see service 243 providing new departure times linking Newmarket and Kanturk with Mallow and Cork.

There will be an additional service from Newmarket/Kanturk to Cork at 1340 (Monday to Friday), which will allow people to travel to Cork in the afternoons and returning at 17.30 in the evenings. The 07.10 (Monday to Friday) service from Newmarket will remain and customers will change at Mallow for a connection to Cork.

Customers can also get an Express coach service from Mallow to Cork or from Cork to Mallow on Route 51, which has an hourly service.

Customers using the 0930 Doneraile to Mallow service (Monday to Friday) will now change at Mallow for a connection to Cork. There will also be a new departure time of 1400 for the Cork-Doneraile service from Monday to Thursday, but the Friday departure will remain the same at 1430.

Bus Éireann will continue to operate its one day a week service on Fridays connecting Dromahane, Bweeng and Grenagh to Cork.

Students from Newmarket, Kanturk and surrounding areas can use these services to travel to/from UCC/CIT by using the no. 5 service from the Parnell Place Bus Station.

Further information on these changes are available on our website www.buseireann.ie or from the Travel Centre, Bus Station, Parnell Place, Cork (021) 4508188.

Tuesday, 28th September, 2010

corktina · 29-10-2010 5:20pm

ah......a big ah not as good as it first semed is it!

Ghost Trains of old England, BBC radio 4 doc

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