Spot the line, compare the service (2 of 3)

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Some of our members really enjoyed the first of these quizzed comparing then and now services.

So here is a second set (and I have one more set to come) ... can you identify the line(s) and compare the service today - just one each, please, for the first 24 hours. As before, some obvious and some quite the opposite. I THINK I know which will go first - go on, prove me wrong by starting with the tough ones!

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.

[rogerw]

7 Maidenhead to High Wycombe possibly

[Lee]

I reckon 2. is Exeter Central, Exeter St David's, Yeoford to Okehampton, Tavistock, Bere Alston and Plymouth - and to Barnstaple and Ilfracombe.

Was that the easy one or one of the harder ones?

[grahame]

I reckon 2. is Exeter Central, Exeter St David's, Yeoford to Okehampton, Tavistock, Bere Alston and Plymouth - and to Barnstaple and Ilfracombe.

Was that the easy one or one of the harder ones?

Yes, it is ... somewhere in the middle, Lee - very fully featured longer line(s) probably helps.

and

7 Maidenhead to High Wycombe possibly

Yes, it is.

[Kempis]

3. I think this is Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach.

If so, a couple of interesting points of difference from today are (i) a few services terminated at St Andrew's Road (perhaps because, at that time, they couldn't turn round at Avonmouth?), and (ii) a few services omitted Temple Meads (because they came off the Rhubarb Loop?).

[PrestburyRoad]

1.Looks to me like the Heart of Wales line, because of the small number of trains per day and the presence of multiple connections at each end.

[grahame]

3. I think this is Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach.

If so, a couple of interesting points of difference from today are (i) a few services terminated at St Andrew's Road (perhaps because, at that time, they couldn't turn round at Avonmouth?), and (ii) a few services omitted Temple Meads (because they came off the Rhubarb Loop?).

It is.   

I understand there used to be quite a flow of people to work in the Avonmouth / Stan Drew's area and it may be the trains went on there for passenger purposes even if they could have reversed at Avonmouth.   In those days, one Keynsham service ran from The Beach line in the morning and back in the evening - for chocolatiers living to the west of Bristol.  I think the other short working started at Lawrence Hill.

1.Looks to me like the Heart of Wales line, because of the small number of trains per day and the presence of multiple connections at each end.

It is ... one of the few lines that has neither closed (though proposed) nor been unrecognisably enhanced.
Timetable should-have-been for 2020 at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/nrtt20summer/Table%20129.pdf

[Lee]

I reckon 2. is Exeter Central, Exeter St David's, Yeoford to Okehampton, Tavistock, Bere Alston and Plymouth - and to Barnstaple and Ilfracombe.

Was that the easy one or one of the harder ones?

Yes, it is ... somewhere in the middle, Lee - very fully featured longer line(s) probably helps.

Yes, definitely a "count the stations" job. Note C was rather helpful too.

Definitely also got 5 and 8, maybe even 4 too...

[grahame]

Definitely also got 5 and 8, maybe even 4 too...

24 hours more than up ... perhaps I posted the second quiz in this series too quickly and lost novelty value.  Lee, go ahead, take us through the board.

1 - Heart of Wales - PrestburyRoad
2 - Exeter to Plymouh and Ilfracombe - Lee
3 - Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach - Kempis
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 - Maidenhead to High Wycombe - Rogerw
8 -

[RichardB]

Is 5 the Greenford branch?

[RichardB]

I think 8 is Reading - Basingstoke with through trains from Oxford and to Salisbury, Southampton and Bournemouth

[grahame]

Is 5 the Greenford branch?

Yes, it is ... interesting to note that the timetable requires 2 trains to run it in the peaks, but is only hourly during the daytime - contrast to the modern efficiency of a 30 minute, single train, service all day.  Sensible passenger change, change due to changing requirements, or change for operational efficiency?

I think 8 is Reading - Basingstoke with through trains from Oxford and to Salisbury, Southampton and Bournemouth

Yes - though I thing it's onward trains to Portsmouth rather than Salisbury.  I will have a look and confirm that once I get my feet back from under the dog and can take a look.

[Lee]

I see RichardB has nipped in with the two I was sure of 

4 is a bit of a punt - Is it Bridgend and Maesteg to Treherbert?

Not got 6 yet, I am afraid.

[grahame]

I see RichardB has nipped in with the two I was sure of 

4 is a bit of a punt - Is it Bridgend and Maesteg to Treherbert?

Not got 6 yet, I am afraid.

Yes - actually showing the other direction - Treherbert to Bridgend.  Once again, noting that those sections that closed now have no trains (statement of the obvious) but those which remain open (or in this case have re-opened) now have a far better service.

[stuving]

Is 5 the Greenford branch?

Yes, it is ... interesting to note that the timetable requires 2 trains to run it in the peaks, but is only hourly during the daytime - contrast to the modern efficiency of a 30 minute, single train, service all day.  Sensible passenger change, change due to changing requirements, or change for operational efficiency?

Remember that the trains then ran to Ealing Broadway to reverse - no doubt because that's where we all wanted to go. While West Ealing is not exactly a long walk away, it wasn't exactly full of shops etc. There wasn't a bay to lurk in at either station, so all the spare waiting time was at the Greenford end. I don't remember whether at Ealing Broadway those trains waited in a platform or ran out to a siding for their shorter turn-round there.