Passing a station!

If this has been mentioned before, I apologize.

Having visited a few railways over the years, it does annoy me a little that some railways pass a station to let the loco run round before returning.
I'm thinking of the CVR at Cheddleton and Midland Railway Centre at Butterley. There may be more I can't think of at the moment.
I have often wanted to get off but had watch the station pass by and wait to return 20+ mins later.

To me a railway is a form of transport, not just a (enjoyable) ride. I personally would like the choice to get off or stay on to do the end.

Does anyone else think the same?

 

If you did this at Cheddleton half the train would be out of the platform because of the level crossing and you would miss the fun of going through a nice long tunnel.

 

Hello p/wayman,

Yes, I like the tunnel and appreciate the run round at Leekbrook.
I would just like the choice, to join or alight in either direction. As for the level crossing, it would be no different to many others around the country where road traffic would have to wait as the train straddles the crossing.
It would also increase the potential passing passenger/tourist trade , as all of a sudden there are more departures/opportunities to travel.

I don't mean to disrespectful to any railway, just my thoughts.

 

I quite agree that a rail journey is a means of transport not a pleasure ride. Interestingly so does the VAT man. I dont know the situation with the railways you mention but there was a report a few months ago in the Beano of the VAT man looking at railways which only offered a pleasure ride as being subject to VAT like Alton Towers is. Railways which offered a genuine service, published fares between intermediate stations seems to be the key, are travel journeys which dont attract VAT.

Even without the VAT issue I agree you should have the choice. Perhaps such railways should consider stopping to set down on request.

 

But to some seeing a train passing non-stop through a station is also an attraction, so stopping will remove this, which is better is a matter of personal preference I would have thought for most visitors unless they have a time they must be at station X.

 

Stopping traffic for a 'tourist train' is not likely to endear oneself to the local populace though? The national network is one thing, heritage railways another....

 

Dont understand your post. We are talking about Heritage Railways. What is a "Tourist train" the VSOE perhaps.

Many Heritage lines cross main roads on the level, for example KESR crosses A28 twice and crosses other roads. The Cambrian propose crossing the A5 and the Oswestry - Welshpool rd. If you have a level crossing order granted in effect by HMG why should you not use it. The odd motorist might be inconvinienced. Not really an issue to worry about

 

Think about it, if your annoying local's by stopping across a crossing for 10 mins every 90 mins, if you need planning permission for an extension or new buildings etc, you think they are likely to support your cause ?.

The layout at Cheddleton in my opinion needs a bit of a remodel, limited by the crossing at one end, but a decent length train would foul the points into the yard at the other.

Many heritage railways will tell you local residents can be a right pain in the arse to your operations and ambitions if they are so minded, its in your best interests to keep them onside where possible.

 

I have not visited CVR, too busy elsewhere, but I am now intrigued re the issues. Pics on the website dont help explain the issues, a site visit looks to be on the cards.

I will agree that stopping across a crossing for 10 mins would brass off the locals, train stops of 1 min should be sufficient for the odd passsenger, 3 at most. The big railway LM has stops timed at 30secs.

 

The big railway also has automatic doors rather than slam doors which seen to confuse an increasing amount of people, also using Cheddleton as an example again, the low platform makes boarding/alighting difficult, especially for the elderly, plus depending on the station layout, you may have to wait for a passing train off the single line.

Rarely do station stops on heritage railways take under 5 mins, nor should they, people traveling for pleasure don't want to be rushed along like it's the evening commute.

 

It is a very sweeping statement that station stops are rarely less than 5 mins. Not all railways publish arrival tmes but Bluebell, North Norfolk have stops as short as 2 minutes. The SVR does not show arrival times at intermediate stations but I know they are mostly around 3 min but as low as 1 min. Whilst most passengers are travelling for pleasure not all want to hang around especially if they have arrived off the Big Railway and have connections to make. I have no qualms cutting a station stop to 1 minute, if safe, to gain lost time. Just because one is running a heritage line there is still a timetable to keep.

All views are my own and do not reflect the official views of any heritage railway

 

the train stops at winchcombe for only a couple of minutes, or it's timetabled to anyway. naturally there should be enough time for passengers to comfortable alight, but certainly at intermidiate stations, they want to leave ASAP to get to an end of the line, where the majority on run as many services as posible. In my opinion it is a shame that some intermediate stations are missed out like this, winchcombe on the gwsr, arley, highley, bewdley and hampton load on the SVR. all have lovely station buildings, plus maybe some small tractions that would be nice to stop at fir a bit, but you never can as you'd have to wait ages for another train tok come along.

 

All heritage railways have to run to a working timetable, this is not the public timetable,it's more detailed where its a passing place, then the wait can be longer, but generally in normal service a booked station wait would only be a few minutes as the driver has to run to the booked times, generally if you connect to NR, then you would timetable your services accordingly so that you can connect with main line services. so to keep end to end timings to a resonable length some stops are by request only, where it is not possible to pass trains in the station, then you do sometimes run though,if the loop is outside, At Wittersham Road, on some services we dont call at the station on the Northiam to Rolvendon direction, because the loop road isnt on the platform side and the platform road would often have an train waiting for us to clear the section, for us its not a problem becauce very few passengers want to get off here, and those that do can either wait at Northiam, or travel to Rolvendon and catch the next down service.

 

I thought the loop at Rolvenden was before the station when travelling in the up direction?

 

Well technically, the platform is on the Loop Line, the line without the platform is the Through Line.

 

Correct, on some services you will sit in your train while the loco is taking water and watch the down train to Wittersham pass by!

 

sorry, what i should have said is catch the next service that calls at the station heading towards Wittersham Rd