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| Relief Trains 22/05/2013 at 08:58 #44994 | |
northroad
870 posts |
Do relief trains still exist. Is there still such a thing? Those of us old enough, remember a Summer Weekend especially when there was lots of extra services put on to cater for the armies of people going on their yearly two week visits to the seaside etc.during the Summer months. Commonly known as releif trains they would be scheduled to run close to the timings of an existing service and provide extra, much needed space to cater for people using a once a week Saturday only service that was expected to be heavily overloaded. On some of the summer Saturday trains you had to obtain a reservation to travel on them. Do they still exist in todays railway? The WTT does not show these and I am sure if they do exist then it will be a case of being shown on the operating notices produced internally. Geoff Log in to reply |
| Relief Trains 22/05/2013 at 10:19 #44996 | |
jc92
3629 posts 
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the closest thing i can think of are the occasional Footexs operated by Wrexham and Shropshire (before they went) and Virgin, and the Rugexs organised by Arriva Trains Wales.
"We don't stop camborne wednesdays" Log in to reply |
| Relief Trains 22/05/2013 at 11:36 #44998 | |
Sam Tugwell
493 posts |
Dawlish Air show generally brings some relief trains down here as the Pacers and Sprinters just wouldnt cope with the number of people. They struggle with the traffic levels as it is!
"Signalman Exeter" Log in to reply |
| Relief Trains 22/05/2013 at 13:41 #45007 | |
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UKTrainMan
1803 posts |
" said:the closest thing i can think of are the occasional Footexs operated by Wrexham and Shropshire (before they went) and Virgin, and the Rugexs organised by Arriva Trains Wales.Seem to recall having previously seen a Footex pass by Finsbury Park on the Up Goods once, probably within the last 3 years. I believe it was a 47 or 66 and possibly some ex-Virgin Mk3s. Any views and / or opinions expressed by myself are from me personally and do not represent those of any company I either work for or am a consultant for. Log in to reply |
| Relief Trains 22/05/2013 at 16:53 #45020 | |
Peter Bennet
5360 posts |
I maybe wrong buy I always thought relief trains were in the timetable but only ran (say) Fridays only whereas the ad-hoc specials event trains were Adex/Hoolex whatever. Does anyone remember the Mystex trains? Peter I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs! Last edited: 22/05/2013 at 16:54 by Peter Bennet Log in to reply |
| Relief Trains 23/05/2013 at 07:19 #45039 | |
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northroad
870 posts |
" said:The ones where you paid your money but did not know where you were going to end up. I remember going on one with my parents from Darlington and ended up in Saltburn by the Sea. Seeme liked a million miles away back then. As for footex trains I also remember using one from Darlington to Crewe back in the late 60's when steam was still around and getting through to the third round of the F.A. Cup was beyond your wildest dreams. Seem to also remember excursions to the races. Places like York, Thirsk and Ripon. May have been just a DMU that was used but at least it was extra to what was shown in the timetable. Getting back to the original question though, you might be right Peter with a Friday but they were certainly quoted as being relief trains by the station announcer at Bank Top. Geoff. Log in to reply |
| Relief Trains 23/05/2013 at 09:22 #45042 | |
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Peter Bennet
5360 posts |
" said:" said:Those are the ones, though we always knew where they were going. I recall Freedom of Scotland passes were valid on ours. I also recall a (possibly apocryphal) story of a family of visitor who thought this was a good idea but then found themselves back home for the day.The ones where you paid your money but did not know where you were going to end up. I remember going on one with my parents from Darlington and ended up in Saltburn by the Sea. Seeme liked a million miles away back then. Peter Peter I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs! Log in to reply |
| Relief Trains 23/05/2013 at 09:28 #45043 | |
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kbarber
1712 posts |
" said:I maybe wrong buy I always thought relief trains were in the timetable but only ran (say) Fridays only whereas the ad-hoc specials event trains were Adex/Hoolex whatever. And what about crankexes? Log in to reply |
| Relief Trains 23/05/2013 at 09:45 #45044 | |
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kbarber
1712 posts |
I have a suspicion everybody's right here, though to a degree it may depend on era. There's no doubt that in times past (certainly happened in the 1930s) there were timetabled 'relief' trains, sometimes dated and sometimes running only on specific days. Certainly the non-stop 'Flying Scotsman' ran only in summer, followed by a 10.05 KX - Edinburgh that made all the intermediate stops; when traffic was lighter in the winter the 10am itself called at principal intermediate stations. The WR (and presumably GWR) summer Saturday 'holiday trains' were likewise timetabled SO workings, written into the timetable at the planning stage. There were also paths in the timetable (possibly still are?) known as Q paths, available for use as required. It may be that some of these were set up for use by relief trains where certain trains could be anticipated to load heavily at times. These would also be the preferred paths for use by special trains. In most cases such trains would be advised in the Special Traffic Notice, issued weekly to signalmen & all others concerned. Whether they could/would be advertised would depend rather a lot on the circumstances. Of course Q paths could also be used at short notice under Control instructions. When a Q path wouldn't work (most likely a special taking an unusual route - a Crankex would be a good example) a timetable section(s) would set to and work out a suitable path. Of course this would be advertised to some extent, whether publicly or within the limited market the special was going to serve. Finally, there might be circumstances where a short-notice train needed running in which case it would be down to Control(s) to devise a suitable path, or just to thread it as best they might through all their other traffic. I think that just about covers it. In short, if there was a way of doing it the railway probably used that way at some time in its history! Log in to reply |
| Relief Trains 23/05/2013 at 15:58 #45060 | |
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officer dibble
390 posts |
To do degree in this day age yes they do exist, although they are not a frequent as the used to be, namely due to the fact that unlike BR, the current operators of the passenger franchises in this country don't have 100's of carriages or locomotives sat doing nothing. Currently on the GWML, on a Friday leading into a BH weekend (such as the weekend coming), there are relief trains to the West Country - Friday there is a 1Z86 running 30 minutes in front of the booked 1C86 http://www.opentraintimes.com/schedule/V38436/2013-05-24 Last edited: 23/05/2013 at 15:58 by officer dibble Log in to reply |
| Relief Trains 23/05/2013 at 19:41 #45074 | |
moonraker
353 posts |
We had the "Trip Fortnight" trains from Swindon when I was still at school. These catered for the people that worked in the Railway Works during the summer 2 week shutdown but anyone could travel on them and they were usually well loaded. Especially the Weymouth Wizard and the Tenby. Had many happy trips down to Weymouth on the Wizard.
Last edited: 23/05/2013 at 19:44 by moonraker Log in to reply |