Advent quiz - day 5 - timetables

[whole diary]

[Sulis John]

7 is, I think, a long way from GW^▸ (Great Western) territory - looks suspiciously like the southbound timetable for the Highland Main Line (including mainline arrival times at King's Cross). If it's 1971, the last three lines are presumably Edinburgh, Newcastle and Kings Cross

[grahame]

7 is, I think, a long way from GW^▸ (Great Western) territory - looks suspiciously like the southbound timetable for the Highland Main Line (including mainline arrival times at King's Cross). If it's 1971, the last three lines are presumably Edinburgh, Newcastle and Kings Cross

No, but you ain't far out

[stuving]

7 is, I think, a long way from GW^▸ (Great Western) territory - looks suspiciously like the southbound timetable for the Highland Main Line (including mainline arrival times at King's Cross). If it's 1971, the last three lines are presumably Edinburgh, Newcastle and Kings Cross

No, but you ain't far out

I did think of that, given the hint of "oss", but the timings are way too quick for those to be Edinburgh and Newcastle - even today. So I guess, if this was before the line was speeded up, it would be Edinburgh-Kings Cross. With proper express trains - just one stop!

[grahame]

7 is, I think, a long way from GW^▸ (Great Western) territory - looks suspiciously like the southbound timetable for the Highland Main Line (including mainline arrival times at King's Cross). If it's 1971, the last three lines are presumably Edinburgh, Newcastle and Kings Cross

No, but you ain't far out

I did think of that, given the hint of "oss", but the timings are way too quick for those to be Edinburgh and Newcastle - even today. So I guess, if this was before the line was speeded up, it would be Edinburgh-Kings Cross. With proper express trains - just one stop!

Yes, it is.  Days of the 10 a.m. Flying Scotsman and (as I recall) the 4 p.m. Talisman

[stuving]

Yes, it is.  Days of the 10 a.m. Flying Scotsman and (as I recall) the 4 p.m. Talisman

And not only - I found the 1964 list of named trains with very similar timings, and with The Talisman also leaving at 8 a.m. and The Heart of Midlothian at 1:30 p.m.. Both of those called also at Berwick-upon-Tweed and Darlington, and THoM at York too. They are all still visible, if unnamed, in 1971.

Train	Edinburgh (dep)	Newcastle (arr)	Kings Cross (arr)
The Talisman	8:00	10:00	14:15
The Flying Scotsman	10:00	11:55	16:00
The Heart of Midlothian	13:30	15:33	20:10
The Talisman	16:00	17:55	22:00

And then there was The North Briton (starting from Glasgow Queen Street, ending in Leeds), and one of the sleepers was The Night Scotsman.

[Witham Bobby]

Is 3 the Par to Newquay branch?

A series of dated trains perhaps (columns headed A and B), with a number of other trains from further afield (many travelling long distances overnight)? If it is, it’s likely pre-1980s I would think; perhaps 1978, or 1972 given the dates for the Saturdays. Certainly pre-dates the days of removing the local service to allow the long-distance trains to run (shades of TransWilts…!).

It IS indeed the Newquay branch - and there must have been multiple platforms at Newquay and sidings in use there at the time too.  The days of overnight trains on a Friday night from the likes of Bradford and Wolverhampton, arriving with holiday makers from the Midlands and North and taking last week's holiday makers back home later in the day.   I really wonder how Robert and Dorothy would have entertained Joseph and Mildred from 06:00 until being allowed into their B&B mid afternoon ...

There were three platforms at Newquay - one of which didn't have a run-round loop - when I visited the signalbox in the mid 1970s and several sidings, although fewer than there had been.  Passenger trains could arrive at and depart from either of the platforms.  Summer Saturdays must have been very interesting.  I've an idea that trains couldn't be run-round in the sidings.  That does seem bizzare and it might just have been something that the signalman said because at that moment some pointwork was not in use