Parliamentary trains
Running along barely used lines at odd times of the day, Parliamentary Trains are among the rarest services in Britain. STEVE ROBERTS discovers why operators run these elusive trains and attempts to tackle the logistics of catching one
Why do operators continue to run the elusive Parliamentary Trains, which run along barely used lines at odd times of the day?
Sometimes euphemistically termed ‘ghost trains’, Parliamentary Trains may exist but can be hard to spot. And bagging a return journey may be either problematical or just plain impossible. It can feel like staking out a spectre.
For the history of Parliamentary Trains we need to go back to William Ewart Gladstone, four times Liberal Prime Minister of our nation, who in an earlier guise as President of the Board of Trade (1843-45) was behind the Railway Regulation Act of 1844. The Act talked of nationalisation, among other things, but it also coined the term ‘Parliamentary’ train.
The Act dictated that future railways with a substantial passenger service must include at least one timetabled train each day (including Sundays), where the fare was to be no more than a penny per mile (so targeting less affluent passengers), for a journey that would stop at every station on the route while keeping up an average speed of at least 12mph. The low fares had a very practical consideration in mind - the conveyance of the poor in search of work. Seats and protection from the weather were also to be provided.
Gladstone tried to mollify the train companies regarding all these onerous regulations by exempting these ‘cheap trains’ from the duty normally imposed on ticket sales. But all this did was encourage existing railways to look at running their own ‘Parly Trains’ as well as the new ones (‘Parly Train’ apes the abbreviation used in the Victorian timetables).
The Parly Train became so well-known that it even had a mention in a Gilbert & Sullivan opera ( The Mikado).
With our modern story in mind, there was one significant aspect that the Act did not regulate - the actual timetabling of the services. Companies would schedule a service that was next to useless - for example, the London & Brighton Railway (L&BR) concentrated its trips to the seaside in the evening, which was pretty much unworkable for anyone planning a day trip. Anti-social timetabling of Parliamentary Trains came early.
When Beeching came along with his The
Reshaping of British Railways report in
1963, lots of lines closed but others were reprieved as objections mounted. The lines that survived would sometimes have their service reduced to a bare minimum, in an echo of the Parliamentary Train of a century before.
This seemed the next best thing to closure, which might not be cost-effective. On some lines the rail service was reduced to just one train per week, and sometimes in just one direction. History was repeating itself.
The term ‘Parliamentary Train’ no longer existed officially, but unofficially it was alive and kicking - especially among rail enthusiasts. Then, strangely, the term was reintroduced in the December 2019 National Rail Timetable for some ( but not all) of today’s Parliamentary services.
The services pursued by the ghost train devotee will often be run early in the morning, or late at night, or inconveniently in the middle of the day at weekends (no day trip then). He or she might even find that a bus service is running - Parly Trains have sometimes been replaced with buses to maintain the belief (or pretence if you like) that a service does actually still exist.
That Parliamentary Trains still exist in the early 21st century might be seen as an anachronism, yet there are understandable reasons for their endurance. Actually, it is now no longer a legal requirement, under the 1844 Act, to run such a train, but most of the private operating companies’ franchise agreements say that they must.
Today, the term is used for a service that continues in its most basic form, to avoid
the expense that a formal line closure would entail. A reduced service will apply, often with just one train per week and sometimes without the possibility of a return trip, and those low-fare concessions that Gladstone liked are no longer available. One can understand why ‘ghost train’ has become common parlance for these unlikely lines. You might see a service… or you might not.
Time to sample a Parly service, with the conundrum being to find one that was geographically manageable (I live in Dorset), and which wouldn’t have me up with the lark or ferreting about with the hedgehogs in the middle of the night. I plumped for Kent and the Gillingham to Sheerness-on-Sea Parly.
My plan was to stay in Gillingham overnight, having photographed the stations on the route during the day. My usual preference is then to travel the line the following morning before driving back home. The problem, as with most Parly trains, would be the times.
The Gillingham-Sheerness direct service departs from Gillingham at 0456, with this Monday-Friday service beginning at Gillingham (no time for breakfast then).
I had got it into my head that this was the only train running direct from Gillingham to Sheerness, on what I’d assumed was a neglected route, but I later discovered that two other services started at London Victoria and proceeded via Gillingham to Sheerness (the 1712 and 1812), although there would be no prospect of returning by rail the same evening. The direct trains back from Sheerness were at 0624 or 0700 (both continuing on to London Victoria).
My madcap plan was to catch that 0456, then hang about - probably for the 0624. The timetable also revealed that there were lots of trains in and out of Sheerness, but with the exception of the five already mentioned, they all head via Sittingbourne.
Trains run from London St Pancras and London Victoria through Gillingham and on to Sittingbourne, continuing to destinations such as Faversham, Whitstable, Margate, Ramsgate, Canterbury and Dover.
As already explained, most Sheerness branch trains will leave from Sittingbourne, so a ‘normal’ trip from Gillingham to Sheerness will be via Sittingbourne.
But between Newington and Sittingbourne is a triangular junction with Western Junction (nearest Newington) and Eastern Junction (nearest Sittingbourne) at the bottom of the triangle on the mainline, and Middle Junction at the top where the two curves meet, with the line continuing on to Sheerness. Those few direct (no change) services from Gillingham to Sheerness use the Sittingbourne West Junction curve, thereby avoiding Sittingbourne.
In addition to those few direct services to Gillingham, there are plenty of other trains in and out of Sheerness. But these all head up the Eastern Junction Curve for Sittingbourne, with a change required there to reach Gillingham. As these take a different route (not via the Sittingbourne Western Junction curve) they are not Parly Trains.
The branch itself (Sheerness-Sittingbourne) is around seven miles, with Sittingbourne’s Platform 3 reserved for branch services. The ‘peak-hour or limited service route’ - the small section between the Western and Middle Junctions (aka the ‘Parly Line’) - can only be about half a mile at most, so is surely one of the shortest of all of these lines. The service is operated by Southeastern.
Staying just under a mile from Gillingham station, I was up before the dawn chorus and parked at the station car park (£ 5.20 all day), in time for that 0456.
Let’s just say it wasn’t busy. It’s actually the first train out of Gillingham (Monday-Friday), which is hardly surprising, and it stops at all the intermediate stations en route (Rainham
and Newington on the main line, then Kemsley, Swale and Queenborough on the branch), before arriving at Sheerness at 0526. The trip is interesting, but hard to describe in pitch darkness.
Sheerness is no impressive terminus. It has two platforms, with Platform 1 used all day and Platform 2 only used in the MondayFriday peaks. There’s little else there.
Both platforms have a bit of a canopy, and beyond Platform 1 is the ticket office, waiting room and ‘Early Birds Kiosk’, which is open Monday-Friday from 0600 to 1600 (1300 on Wednesdays). With my return train to Gillingham at 0624, the kiosk opened up with this ‘early bird’ in mind. The return trains are busier with people heading up to London (particularly the 0700, I fancy). There are no weekend trains that use the Parly line.
Dissatisfied with seeing everything (or rather seeing nothing) in the dark, I had a second go, taking the 0833 Gillingham-Ramsgate service which enabled me to at least see the triangular junction just before Sittingbourne.
We whizzed past both Western and Eastern Junctions. From Sittingbourne, I then caught the 0855 from Platform 3 for Sheerness, which branched off at Eastern Junction.
Catching the 0948 back from Sheerness,
I got a good look at Middle Junction as we approached. My train veered off left for Eastern Junction and Sittingbourne, whereas my earlier ‘Parly’ would have headed right for Western Junction and Gillingham.
My final train of the day was the 1030 from Sittingbourne to London Victoria. Again, we sped past Eastern and Western Junctions and I regained Gillingham at 1042.
Southeastern’s view
“A few years ago, the Parliamentary Trains were amended to be through trains from Sheerness to Victoria and return - so you have a choice of two direct Sheerness-on-Sea to London Victoria services in the morning and passengers can return in the evening from London Victoria to Sheerness-on-Sea, again on a choice of two direct trains. We’d boast that it’s probably the most effective and useful parliamentary service in the country!
“The stock for these trains comes from Gillingham depot in the morning, with one running as a passenger train at 0456, returning to Gillingham in the evening.
“The morning train is so much earlier than other trains that we have found it worthwhile keeping as a passenger train in case it is being used by anyone. The remainder of the stock movements are run as empty stock as follows - as they run reasonably closely to other passenger train services (albeit you’d have to change at Sittingbourne):
0533 Gillingham - Sheerness-on-Sea. 1931 Sheerness-on-Sea - Gillingham. 2028 Sheerness-on-Sea - Gillingham.
“While we’re required to operate a through service to avoid going through the line closure process, the popularity of the through Sheerness-on-Sea to Victoria services means that we wouldn’t consider removing those, and therefore we should consider that the train service provided is not as a result of being forced to operate as a parliamentary service.
“We’d dispute that the direct Sheerness to Gillingham trains are considered ‘Parliamentary’ trains in the traditional understanding of the term.”