Barry Doe examines the original May timetable
RAIL Fares and Services Expert BARRY DOE presents his review of the National Rail Timetable for May 20-December 8 2018… and there’s plenty to review
In RAIL 854’s The Fare Dealer, I explained the frustration of the National Rail Timetable (NRT) still repeating some errors edition after edition, despite the NRT Team being told about them.
I reiterate that I sympathise with their workload this time, with Network Rail data running so late, but even so these repeated errors could easily be avoided.
It is good that many things that are vital for such a publication, yet which were threatened with removal - such as details of catering, First Class, reservations and mileages at the start of each table - have all been retained. We also still have a ‘References & Symbols’ file.
However, as I have said before, accurate though the index is, the abolition of subdivisions for stations that appear in many tables means it is no longer user-friendly.
I have taken around three weeks to undertake this review, as the changes have been the most complicated in many years. It is based on the NRT tables current as at May 31, but I am told that Tables 26, 71, 115, 131, 165, 172/175/176/179, 180, 196, 200 & 201 are subject to further changes.
Table 116A is missing altogether, but I have taken the details from West Midlands Trains’ own timetable.
Several tables have sections showing some detail of forthcoming engineering work, but I have been unable to go into any detail on these as this review has already exceeded its normal length.
Notable among these are the closure of Liverpool Lime Street from June 2 until July 29, partial closure of Derby from July 22 until October 7, and part-closures of the ‘Berks & Hants’ Line in the Newbury area (plus the Melksham route at various dates) to facilitate electrification.
General
In what follows, unless stated, times are for Monday to Friday. I am comparing the new NRT with the December 2017 edition.
I use the following abbreviations: CrossCountry (XC), East Midlands Trains (EMT); First TransPennine Express (TPE); Great Northern (GN); Great Western Railway (GWR); London North Eastern Railway (LNER); South Western Railway (SWR); Virgin Trains East Coast ( VTEC); Virgin West Coast ( VWC).
Tables 15 & 19
As usual, four additional non-stop trains run between Norwich and Great Yarmouth on Monday and Friday only from July 23 until September 7, plus eight on Saturdays from May 26 until September 8.
There are also additional trains to Lowestoft on Sundays until September 9, making the service hourly all day ( Table 15).
Table 19 shows the usual additional Sunday services to Skegness that run until September 9.
Tables 24 & 25
The off-peak service out of Moorgate is increased to eight trains per hour ( Table 24), half going to Welwyn Garden City and half to Hertford North. Two extend to Watton-atStone, doubling its service, with one of those running to Stevenage (instead of Letchworth, as was previously the case).
The previous GN semi-fast services from King’s Cross to Hitchin, then alternating between Cambridge North and Peterborough, now run to Cambridge, with one extending to Cambridge North. They have switched to Thameslink.
Table 25 is expanded to include King’s Lynn, as well as having Brighton as an origin. The NRT omits the hourly fast service to Ely altogether, only showing that to King’s Lynn. It also shows them as having no First Class, which is wrong.
The two GN services to Peterborough have also switched to Thameslink and start back to Gatwick Airport. Both now run non-stop from Finsbury Park to Stevenage.
Table 26
The East Coast timetable is essentially unchanged, except for a general slowing down by a few minutes between London and York.
Within a week of this article appearing in print, VTEC will (of course) be no more and LNER will have taken over.
Once again, catering remains wholly incorrect on Virgin services in this table. They all offer hot food in First Class and so simply require the ‘knife & fork in a box’ symbol, but all are shown as having only a trolley.
The only trains showing the correct offering are Hull Trains, giving the impression that HT alone offers hot food.
To me, it always seemed strange that VTEC did so much to improve catering on-train, yet (despite my constant plea for them to correct this table) they were never interested. Will LNER show more interest?
Tables 30 & 34
Trains now run through from Lincoln to Leeds via Barnsley every hour. However, they are only footnoted between the two tables to show the new axis.
A new 2059 Sheffield-Lincoln runs on Mon-Sat ( Table 30), giving a later last arrival at Lincoln of 2217. It returns 2242 (Sheffield 0003), taking over the path of the previous 2328 Worksop-Sheffield.
Table 32
The service that used to run only between Wakefield Kirkgate and Knottingley is extended back to start at Leeds, and calling at Wakefield Westgate then Kirkgate. This gives a second train per hour from Leeds to Knottingley in conjunction with the previous hourly service via Glasshoughton.
It also means that there are now through services between Leeds and Streethouse, Featherstone and Pontefract Tanshelf.
Table 33
The two local trains that ran from Sheffield to York via Moorthorpe and Pontefract Baghill at 0930 and 1332 (1636 & 1857 Sundays), returning 1106 & 1505 (1810 & 2050 Sundays), have moved to 0854 and 1159 (1613 & 1858 Sundays), returning 1015 and 1313 (1801 & 2048 Sundays).
Perhaps local readers can tell me the logic of the change - or, indeed, the sort of timings that have existed on this route (once the main line) for years, as they don’t seem to suit either commuting or much else!
Table 35
In a further improvement to the Leeds-York service via Harrogate, the 2129 (Mon-Sat) Leeds-Knaresborough is extended to York (2227), from where it returns with a new later last train at 2244 (Leeds 2356).
Tables 36-38
There has been a redistribution of calls at Kirkstall Forge and Apperley Bridge. On the Skipton route ( Table 36) no trains call until the evening, with most then calling at both after 1930. On the Ilkley route ( Table 38) no trains call at either.
Instead, both stations are served half-hourly all day in the Leeds-Bradford Forster Square service ( Table 37).
Tables 39, 41, 82, 84, 89, 90 & 94
The Liverpool-York axis features a dramatic change. TPE services are half-hourly - XX25 to Newcastle and XX56 to Scarborough.
The XX25 calls Newton-le-Willows and the XX56 Lea Green, then both call only Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.
In between are services at XX19 and XX47 from Manchester Airport via Manchester Piccadilly, Oxford Road and the Ordsall Chord to Victoria, spaced so they give a 15-minute interval departure from Victoria to York -
the former to Newcastle and the latter to Middlesbrough.
From Piccadilly at XX17 and XX47 are semi-fast services to Leeds, with the latter continuing to Hull. The XX17 calls Stalybridge, Greenfield, Marsden, Huddersfield then all stations expect Cottingley. The XX47 calls Stalybridge, Mossley, Slaithwaite, Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Batley. This skipstopping means travel between certain pairs of stations becomes impossible all day without a double-back.
Northern now only runs a few Mon-Fri peak services on the Manchester-Huddersfield axis - and the NRT manages to omit every one of them! They are at 0556, 0701, 1559, 1700 & 1759 from Piccadilly and 0600, 0712, 0811, 1713, 1813 & 1913 from Huddersfield, the last diverting to Victoria.
An XX37 Victoria-Leeds runs via Rochdale and Brighouse ( Table 41), rejoining Table 39 at Mirfield, then calling Dewsbury, Morley and Cottingley. This service now starts back at Southport ( Table 82), although Table 39 does not refer to that.
Continuing with Table 41, the previous four trains an hour between Victoria and Rochdale now run non-stop: XX04 to Burnley Manchester Road (now a through train from Southport to Blackburn - Tables 82 & 97); XX20 to Selby via Halifax; XX37 to Leeds (as detailed above) starting at Southport; and XX58 to York via Halifax.
Intermediate stations Moston, Mills Hill and Castleton now have a twice-hourly local service to Rochdale: XX09, starting back at Blackburn; and XX42, starting at Clitheroe ( Table 94).
Incidentally, the Clitheroe timetable itself is much improved, now being regular-interval once again: XX08 Manchester Victoria to Blackburn and XX41 to Clitheroe. Only the Clitheroe services now call at Entwistle (on request).
In a surprising move, the long-standing York-Blackpool North service via Hebden Bridge and Halifax now diverts to Brighouse and Huddersfield on Mon-Sat, although it continues to run to Blackpool on Sundays. The previous Selby-Halifax-Huddersfield service now diverts to Manchester Victoria.
However, there is an hourly Leeds-Preston service, which also calls at Mytholmroyd, Sowerby Bridge and Bramley.
On the Blackpool North axis (Table 82), two trains an hour run to Manchester Piccadilly. Firstly, an XX20 calls Poulton-le-Fylde, Preston, Leyland, Buckshaw Parkway, Chorley, Horwich Parkway, Lostock, Bolton, Salford Crescent, Deansgate and Oxford Road.
Then an XX38 calls all stations to Leyland (except Salwick) then Wigan NW, Oxford Road and Piccadilly, and extends to Manchester Airport.
New is an hourly all-stations Buckshaw Parkway to Manchester Victoria service, plus two through services per hour from Wigan NW to Manchester via Bolton. One is all stations to Victoria and extends to Stalybridge ( Table 39), and the other all stations to Bolton, then Salford Crescent, Deansgate, Oxford Road and Piccadilly, extending to Alderley Edge ( Table 84).
Also affecting Table 84 is a major change to the Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe service via Styal, where for many years, despite Styal’s tourist importance ( being close to Quarry Bank Mill), it omitted to call.
All services now call at Styal. But the downside on Table 84 is that every one of them in the southbound direction has been omitted - not just the Styal calls, but the whole train!
Equally important is that these Piccadilly-
The ultimate disgrace is that those for Bedford have to use a ‘replacement bus’ to/from Wellingborough, which takes at least 50 minutes. This has never happened in the history of railways, and is the Thameslink tail wagging the EMT dog.
Airport-Styal-Crewe services now start back at Liverpool Lime Street via Huyton and St Helens Junction ( Table 90), and in that table every one of them is missing from the NRT in the northbound direction.
As these provide Eccles and Patricroft with their off-peak services, the NRT thereby suggests they have none from Manchester at all. Such inconsistencies and inaccuracies render some of the NRT useless, as it cannot be trusted.
Finally, turning to Liverpool-Manchester via Warrington Central (Table 89), TPE no longer serves the route, but a new Northern service runs around the same time and with the same stops to Piccadilly, extending to Manchester Airport. The Norwich service runs as before, as do the two local services to Oxford Road.
Tables 42 & 94
The Settle-Carlisle Line has an extra train, bringing the total to eight a day (six on Sundays). However, the distribution of services is totally different, with departures from Leeds at 0517, 0748, 0919, 1049, 1318, 1518, 1649 & 1819, plus a 1949 to Ribblehead.
From Carlisle they are 0551, 0824, 1049, 1404, 1450, 1619, 1824 & 2018, plus the return from Ribblehead at 2145.
Ignoring a few Gargrave, Hellifield and Long
Preston omissions, all northbound trains are all stations except for the 0919, which runs non-stop from Appleby to Carlisle.
However, southbound, the 1404 only calls at Appleby, Kirkby Stephen, Settle, then all stations, while the new last train at 2018 calls at Langwathby, Appleby, Kirkby Stephen, Garsdale, Settle, then all stations. Surely a new last train should serve the local market and call Armathwaite and Lazonby?
I always wonder why all trains need calls between Leeds and Skipton, other than at Shipley, given the excellent local service that could connect at either.
On Sundays, the 0840 Blackpool NorthCarlisle and 1748 return are shown as all year, whereas I understand they do not run from mid-September and are replaced by the usual shuttles to Hellifield.
I also gather that on the first two Sundays of the timetable the 0840 did not run in either direction on the first day owing to staff shortages, while the return did not run on the second. If people cannot rely on a once-a-week major tourist service, it will soon be deserted.
On the Bentham line, there has been a significant improvement with trains roughly every two hours and new later last services from Leeds to Lancaster at 1725 and 1918 - a vast improvement over the previous last of 1645.
Eastbound, the first arrival in Leeds is now 0843 instead of 0905, while the last two departures from Lancaster are 2030 to Leeds and 2134 to Skipton (previously just 1924 to Leeds).
Most services on Mon-Sat run to/from Morecambe. It is interesting that the 1451 from Lancaster runs via Morecambe and the Bare Lane curve direct to Carnforth.
Tables 44 & 48
The pattern of services remains on Table 44, but the times have changed and are more consistent. Departures from Saltburn are XX17 to Darlington and XX44 to Bishop Auckland.
Table 48 features changes on the NewcastleCarlisle corridor, with a different stopping pattern. One hour, trains call Haltwhistle, Bardon Mill, Haydon Bridge, Hexham, and the next Wetheral, Brampton, Haltwhistle, Haydon Bridge, Hexham. After that, both call at Prudhoe and Metrocentre.
See also Table 216 (page 51), regarding through trains to Dumfries and Glasgow.
Tables 51 & 57
Table 51 is split into four periods. The first covers until July 21; then July 22 until September 2 to cover the first part of the Derby closure; then September 3 until October 7; and finally October 8 until December 8.
All XC services now call at Macclesfield. On the Nottingham-Cardiff corridor the Cardiff Central services now call Beeston and Long Eaton, but these stops have been removed from the service that terminates Birmingham New Street ( Table 57).
Tables 52, 52MML, 170-173, 178/9, 195/6, 201 & 212
Table 52MML is new, and rather an odd title. It merely covers Bedford to Gatwick Airport - although it shows the entire service between Bedford and St Pancras.
Table 52 shows the branches south of the Thames and the various origins in the north. The off-peak pattern is: four per hour Bedford-Gatwick Airport with two extended to Brighton; half-hourly Luton to Rainham; quarter-hourly St Albans City-Wimbledon/ Sutton loop; half-hourly Kentish TownOrpington; hourly Cambridge-Brighton; and half-hourly Peterborough-Horsham.
There are also Thameslink services that run wholly south of the Thames: half-hourly London Bridge-Epsom via Carshalton Beeches and Sutton; and half-hourly Blackfriars to Sevenoaks via Catford.
The full details and intermediate stops are shown in Tables 170-173, 178/9, 195/6 & 201. I have further comment regarding the Rainham service under Tables 200 & 212 (page 51).
One item of note is that Epsom Downs now has a (half-hourly) Sunday service.
Table 53
The timetable is in four sections, as for Table 51 above. The pattern of EMT service has changed.
Departures from St Pancras are now: XX02 Sheffield, calling only Leicester, Derby and Chesterfield; XX05 semi-fast Nottingham; XX31 fast Sheffield (as with XX02 but also Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway and Long Eaton); XX34 fast Nottingham; XX47 Corby.
However, the huge downside is that northbound after 1547 to Corby, no EMT services call at Luton or Bedford until 1904 from St Pancras. Southbound, the 0502 from Derby (0603 Wellingborough) calls Luton, then no other trains call until the 0932 from Corby ( Wellingborough 0951).
There are calls at Luton Airport Parkway, and those to/from Luton are told to use Thameslink connections and change (a double-back).
The ultimate disgrace is that those for Bedford have to use a ‘replacement bus’ to/ from Wellingborough, which takes at least 50 minutes. This has never happened in the history of railways, and is the Thameslink tail wagging the EMT dog.
It is a disgraceful case of government running the railway and dictating what must happen - and let’s be clear: this is nothing like it would be if we had a return to British Rail. Indeed, in BR days the railway was run 100% by railway professionals, not government ministers or civil servants.
Table 65
The significant change is the introduction of through Blackpool North Pendolino services to/from Euston. These are 0646, 0853 and 1036 northbound and 1053, 1302 and 1500 southbound.
On Saturdays, they are 0853 and 1036 northbound plus an 0721 from Birmingham New Street, then 1053, 1302 and 1554 southbound.
The previous Voyagers at 1633 from Euston and 0530 from Blackpool still run and owing to platform lengths only these shorter trains can call at Kirkham & Wesham and Poultonle-Fylde.
These Pendolinos take around three hours, although the 1036 northbound only takes 2hrs 44mins (a start-to-stop average of 83mph).
They also offer a significant improvement for Rugby by offering a fast northbound service on the main line, which it lost some years ago. The only other off-peak VWC services north from there terminate Birmingham New Street, aside from a once-daily Chester service (at 1304).
TPE services now run non-stop between Manchester Piccadilly and Preston. Further north, however, they have restored a market poorly served for many years, by calling at Motherwell.
On the West Coast, Motherwell has only had a few VWC calls in London services in recent times, but now has departures at 0725 and every two hours until 1725 to Manchester Airport. These all call at Lockerbie. It retains its previous calls in XC services onto the East Coast.
Finally, the note still appears at the foot of every page of Table 65 referring users to ‘Operator websites’ for details of Sleeper services. The omission of a Sleeper table, as always appeared at the rear of the NRT, is a ridiculous one seeing that it took up a mere page.
However, I remind readers that the Middleton Press printed version does have such a table, which it constructs especially.
Table 70
Rugeley Trent Valley now has a half-hourly service from Birmingham New Street all day, with trains slightly faster. It is expected that from December, one will start back at Birmingham International and the other become a through service from Euston via New Street.
Table 78A
This table is a nonsense. It’s meant to show the weekly Stockport-Stalybridge service, but instead it shows three daily trains at 0637, 0839 and 1838 from Stalybridge to Guide Bridge. These are calls in Northern’s peak Huddersfield-Manchester services - which should appear in Table 39, but which the NRT totally omits (as mentioned on page 46).
So, yes, they should appear here ( because Guide Bridge doesn’t appear in Table 39), but what about the return trains? These are at 0604, 0710 and 1809, but appear nowhere. All these run Mon-Fri only.
However, more to the point, what of the infamous weekly Stockport-Stalybridge train? It now runs Saturdays-only at 0945, arriving Stalybridge 1006 and en route calling at Guide Bridge at 1001, so offering the only Guide Bridge to Stalybridge Saturday train!
Table 83
Windermere services have been recast, although the pattern is still roughly hourly. Three of the 18 on Mon-Sat run non-stop from Kendal to Windermere (the 0912, 1451 and 1727 from Oxenholme) and four on the return (0851, 1143, 1602 and 1830 from Windermere).
Five a day run off the branch, but generally only to/from Lancaster or Preston, with just the 0934 from Windermere running to Manchester Piccadilly and with an 0830 from Piccadilly going through to Windermere (arr 1041).
Tables 84 & 86
The Buxton service (Table 86) has become half-hourly. Previously trains called all stations to Stockport then Manchester Piccadilly, except for Dove Holes one hour and Middlewood the other. Hazel Grove had an additional all-stations service to Piccadilly, which ran to Blackpool North.
The new half-hourly service maintains the two-hourly frequency at Dove Holes and Middlewood, and also Furness Vale remains hourly. However, west of Stockport one Buxton service calls Heaton Chapel and both call Levenshulme, and it’s the Hazel Grove ‘shorts’ that run non-stop. Incidentally, the whole
service is now self-contained.
Table 84 (Stoke-on-Trent and Crewe to Manchester) has an Alderley Edge local losing its Heaton Chapel call, which has been inserted into a local from Stoke-on-Trent. This, together with the reduction of Buxton calls at Heaton Chapel, means it now has only three trains an hour.
However, whereas previously Heaton Chapel’s four trains were roughly every 15 minutes, now the three are at XX24/32/43. Yes, really, three trains in 19 minutes and none for 41 minutes! Has ever anything as stupid been devised by an operator in the name of an ‘improved timetable’? Northern should be ashamed of allowing it.
To add insult to injury, in the opposite direction things are quite different, with the calls in different trains and the Hazel Grove short also calling. So not only are there four trains an hour eastbound, they leave Piccadilly at XX01/24/37/47 - a reasonable distribution.
Table 85
The stopping-patterns of many trains on the Manchester Airport branch have changed significantly. Previously, two trains an hour were all-stations, one called at Heald Green, one at East Didsbury, and the rest (usually six per hour) were non-stop.
Now only one is all-stations, one Heald Green and East Didsbury, one East Didsbury only, and one Heald Green, Gatley and Burnage, with others non-stop (and it now seems to average only nine an hour, although slightly irregular). So, the net result is a reduction at Mauldeth Road to hourly
It seems ridiculous that with so many of the services now using the Ordsall Chord and Manchester Victoria, the latter station doesn’t appear in the table at all.
Table 88
The Chester route via Northwich has been recast, now leaving Piccadilly at XX41 and Chester at XX02. There are some additional trains, but I had heard that the service was going half-hourly between Piccadilly and Greenbank. On checking, I gather this has been deferred.
Tables 97 & 99
The Colne service (Table 97) is now shown as terminating Preston, rather than running to Blackpool South as used to be the case. On Table 99, the Ormskirk service has become hourly.
I understand that in fact the trains are on a circuit whereby they do the following (times vary slightly some hours): Ormskirk-Preston (arr XX33), then XX35 to Blackpool South; Blackpool South-Preston (arr XX52), then XX57 to Colne; Colne-Preston (arr XX20) then XX26 to Ormskirk.
It seems Northern didn’t want to advertise these through workings because what goes out doesn’t come back on the same axis, so to avoid confusion each of the three legs is shown as self-contained.
The trouble is that Preston is an 8-minute station for connections, so if you insert any of these journeys into a journey planner they suggest you have to change at Preston and wait around 65 minutes, whereas in fact you travel on a through service. That is very negative marketing, and hasn’t been thought through.
Table 98
The Morecambe branch has a total recast of services, but still the same number and roughly the same (rather irregular) frequency.
As before, two services use the Bare Lane curve on Mon-Sat: the 0553 to Windermere and the 1504 to Leeds.
On Sundays, there are three: the 1236, 1536 and 1736 to Leeds. As in recent years, no southbound trains use the curve.
Table 100
The Barrow-in-Furness to Carlisle Cumbrian Coast route has benefited from a major improvement and, at long last, a Sunday service. It was the last major route (not least a tourist route) in the country not to have at least a summer Sunday service, but now it has one all-year.
On Mon-Sat it previously had 11 through trains a day, plus a Barrow-Sellafield short trip and (in the evening) two shorts from Barrow to Millom. There were also some shorts at the northern end from Whitehaven to Carlisle.
The service is now virtually hourly, with 13 through trains a day plus a few shorts. It means trains leave Barrow-in-Furness for Carlisle from 0550 to 2020 and depart Carlisle for Barrow from 0553 to 1909.
Seven through trains, plus some shorts, run on Sundays until September 9, with six continuing throughout the winter.
Lack of care means the NRT has left in the note at the foot which says “no Sunday Service Barrow-in-Furness to Whitehaven”.
Table 102
The Blaenau Ffestiniog branch says it has no Sunday service. This is incorrect - three trains each way operate until September 8.
Tables 105 & 109
Maghull North, between Maghull and Town Green, was due to open on June 18 (after this issue of went to press). Meanwhile, on the Ellesmere Port to Helsby route, the first two departures at 0619 and 0653 are unchanged, yet the only other two, at 1534 and 1604, have been replaced by just one - at 1910!
Similarly, the 1517 and 1548 from Helsby have been replaced by one at 1850.
RAIL Table 115
As usual, and despite reminders every edition, the sole service to use the Chiltern route into Paddington (the 1057 from South Ruislip) has been omitted.
Also, as usual, all references to which trains have the Business Zone are omitted.
Table 116A
This new table shows Coventry-Leamington Spa. The table was not ready when the printed version of the NRT went to print, so they are using the operator’s own version.
Kenilworth trains leave Leamington Spa hourly from 0700 to 2100 plus an 0608 and (on Mon-Fri only) a 2217. From Coventry, they are from 0633 to 2135, plus a 2243 Mon-Fri. There is no Sunday service.
Tables 117 & 118
TfL Rail has taken over the half-hourly shuttles to Hayes & Harlington and the half-hourly Heathrow services. For the first time in the dedicated Heathrow Table 118, the TfL Rail services are shown alongside the Heathrow Express service.
Table 131
As is now completely the norm - despite my having said this every successive edition for many years - the 0830 from Llandudno to
Yes, really, three trains in 19 minutes and none for 41 minutes! Has ever anything as stupid been devised by an operator in the name of an ‘improved timetable’? Northern should be ashamed of allowing it.
Cardiff Central, which has the non-stop run from Shrewsbury to Newport, is omitted.
Tables 135 & 140
There are very few changes on the West of England Main Line. The 1103 Paddington-Plymouth is now non-stop Reading-Taunton, and its Pewsey and Westbury stops have been transferred to the 1033 Paddington-Paignton.
In my review of the December 2017 NRT, I mistakenly said that the first daytime arrival at Looe from Paddington was now 1040, the earliest in history. In fact, it wasn’t, because the change-time at Liskeard was too short. GWR told me it hoped to get this fixed as soon as possible, but probably not until December 2018.
Well, the first train from Paddington still arrives Plymouth 0934, then waits until 0945 and is then still shown as departing Liskeard 1010. However, the 1012 to Looe (Table 140) has been moved to 1014.
So, here’s an interesting problem. Liskeard requires six minutes for a change. So, is it still a missed connection? No, because the Liskeard arrival time of the Paddington train is 1008.
The oddity is that you won’t find this anywhere in timetables - not even GWR’s own timetable for the main line, where (like the NRT) it only shows departure times. However, journey planners do show the 1008 arrival time and hence do show it as a connection.
Finally, the Sunday service on the branch runs until October 21.
Tables 136 & 142
On Sundays, yet another stop has been inserted at Portsmouth Arms, as the 1322 from Barnstaple calls at 1339. Visitors for a Sunday lunch at the pub or for a walk can now arrive on this train and return 1656 ( Table 136).
This matches the improvement introduced last December, whereby those from Exeter can arrive 1259 and return 1544.
As usual, four Sunday trains also serve Sampford Courtenay and Okehampton until September 9.
Further west, Newquay has its usual array of summer-weekend additional services from Paddington and the North (Table 142).
Tables 123 & 160
SWR has reintroduced the summer-Saturday 0722 Basingstoke-Weymouth via Yeovil Junction and Pen Mill that was started by South West Trains a few years ago, but which didn’t run in 2017. It runs until September 8.
Unfortunately, while it is shown correctly in Table 160 from Basingstoke to Yeovil Pen Mill (0945), Table 123 does not show it anywhere on to Weymouth.
In fact, there has been an exciting late change which didn’t even get into SWR’s timetables, in that it departs Yeovil PM 0950 and arrives Weymouth 1031, where the train divides.
The rear (on reversal) does a 1210 shuttle to Yeovil Junction (1304, returning 1412 and into Weymouth 1506), but the front Class 159 continues to Wareham and Corfe Castle, arriving 1135.
It then does two shuttles at 1210 from Corfe to Wareham (returning 1240), then 1410 Corfe to Wareham (returning 1440), before departing Corfe 1545 for Weymouth, arriving 1642 and joining the other portion to form the 1654 to Waterloo (arr 2019) via Yeovil Pen Mill (1738) and Junction - the rest being shown on Table 160.
These are the first scheduled national trains to run on the Swanage branch for 46 years and are walk-on only, with tickets bought on the day.
Table 148
The Reading-Gatwick corridor has received many tweaks, but the timetable shown in the NRT does seem to match the latest version shown by GWR.
First Class has been restored to all through Gatwick services, but the NRT does not show this.
Table 180
For many years since the end of the through Victoria-Portsmouth main line service via Sutton and Dorking, the line between Dorking and Horsham has only had an hourly service that closed down mid-evening with the 1920 from Victoria the last train (arr Horsham 2043).
On Saturdays, the last train was 1731 from Victoria and there was no Sunday service. The last northbound service from Horsham was 2006 (1804 Saturdays).
A major improvement features the evening service extended, with the last train at 2325 from Victoria on Mon-Fri, although the last northbound is still rather early at 2114. Sadly, there is no change at weekends.
Oddly, despite being a wholly VictoriaHorsham service, the operator would appear to be Thameslink.
Table 181
In an interesting move, the half-hourly Tattenham Corner services have reverted to running with Caterham services from London Bridge and dividing at Purley.
Caterham has four trains per hour and the other two were from Victoria. However, these have also moved to London Bridge.
Table 182
In the peaks, around half the East Grinstead services on Mon-Fri - generally those that ran to London Bridge instead of Victoria - are now Thameslink services and extend to/from Bedford.
Table 183
The Victoria to Tonbridge via Redhill through services now only run as shuttles between Redhill and Tonbridge - a wholly retrograde step. It would appear that the path is merely being used to provide Reigate with an extra hourly through service from Victoria.
These are the first scheduled national trains to run on the Swanage branch for 46 years and are walk-on only, with tickets bought on the day.
Tables 187 & 189-193
Table 187, which showed just the Brighton-Southampton service, is withdrawn. It wasn’t needed as everything is in Table 186.
Table 189, which was previously London Victoria-Eastbourne-Ore, plus BrightonAshford/Seaford, is now split into several new tables - Table 189 is retained just to show, as its heading states: “Brighton to Seaford and London connections”.
The London Victoria, Clapham Junction and East Croydon lines are there, but all blank!
For some reason, it does show Brighton to Haywards Heath and Gatwick Airport trains - although with lots of omissions, so is useless.
Tables 190-192 are all new. Table 190 shows Victoria-Eastbourne-Ore-Ashford. From Brighton eastwards, the pattern has changed. Trains to Hastings depart XX01/31. The XX01 calls Falmer, Lewes, Glynde, Polegate, Eastbourne, Hampden Park, Pevensey & Westham, Bexhill, St Leonards Warrior Square, Hastings and Ore. The XX31 calls Moulsecomb, all stations to Eastbourne except Glynde, then Bexhill, St Leonards Warrior Square and Hastings.
The previous Brighton-Ashford service now runs Eastbourne-Ashford only. Only Rye and Ashford times are shown on Table 190, so - quite needlessly - another new table ( Table 192) exists to show the intermediate calls between Hastings and Ashford.
Going east, there is a robust connection at Eastbourne for journeys from Brighton to Ashford. Going west is more problematic.
The XX24 departures from Ashford arrive Hampden Park XX38 and the Brighton train leaves XX42. Should that connection be missed, there is no other Brighton train for an hour as the next doesn’t call at Hampden Park! To avoid the risk, you could change at Eastbourne and await the next Brighton train in half-an-hour, but as most people won’t know that it will lead to problems.
Finally, Table 193 - the Eastbourne-Hampden Park summary table - has now become Table 191.
Table 197
This table shows London Victoria-Ashford via Maidstone East, and was previously Table 196.
Tables 200 & 212
Ever since 1939, when Southern Railway extended electrification to Gillingham (Kent), there has always been a half-hourly Charing Cross to Gillingham service via Dartford and Woolwich Arsenal.
Despite having additional stops over recent years, this still offered a semi-fast service. However, the entire service has now been withdrawn and replaced by a half-hourly Thameslink service between Luton and Rainham, running via Greenwich and Woolwich Arsenal and calling all stations except Woolwich Dockyard, Belvedere and Erith ( Table 200).
The service used to also appear on Table 212 (North Kent Main Line), but although Charing Cross and Waterloo East entries remain, they are all blank.
The new service takes 83 minutes from London Bridge, around ten minutes slower than hitherto. And, of course, it requires a change for Charing Cross.
There is a half-hourly high-speed service between St Pancras and Gillingham, but this requires a higher fare and in any case, it doesn’t offer journeys between places such as Gillingham and Dartford. This seems a wholly retrograde step.
Table 216
The Carlisle-Dumfries-Glasgow Central timetable is unchanged except that fewer services run to/from Newcastle - although connections are available at Carlisle.
The 0630 ex-Newcastle still works to Glasgow and the 1613 from Glasgow works back, Mon-Sat. Also, the 0618 and 0743 Dumfries-Carlisle (the latter Mon-Fri) run to Newcastle.
Tables 226 & 231
Table 226 was always a long table. It has been simplified by the removal of Falkirk Grahamston to Springburn - save for Cumbernauld and Geenfaulds, which have moved to a new Table 231.
Table 227
Having got the Sleeper details correct in the last NRT, it has reverted to seemingly showing two trains to Fort William with identical times - one from Edinburgh without the sleeping car symbol and the other from Dalmuir. Neither is shown with its Glasgow Queen Street Low Level stop. Southbound, neither Glasgow nor Edinburgh is shown.
Table 239
Strange notes have appeared at the foot of Far North Table 239. A symbol alongside Dunrobin Castle is explained as “Open March 29 until October 27 - Dec 2014 Timetable”!
The 1041 Inverness-Wick is columnheaded B, explained as “Forms booked connection into 1A58 and 1T62”.
Table 240
Times are shown for the revised train service operating for periods of the timetable, owing to engineering work in the Dyce area. Unfortunately, none of the buses between Aberdeen and Dyce is shown, rendering much of the timetable useless.
Table 400
As has been explained above under Table 65, the NRT no longer has a Sleeper table. But one does appear in the printed version, because Middleton Press has constructed a version, duly numbered T400.