Busiest Stations for Freight - Statistics

[Beveridges]

Last night I used TRUST to count up how busy the busiest stations in the UK for freight were in a given 24 hour period. I only counted the freight which actually ran. The cancelled & Q stuff was ignored! I counted light engine moves, Track Machines and Charters as "Freight". These were the results:


Freight Countup 06 - MAR - 14

Barnetby - 120
Nuneaton - 118
Stafford - 115
Willesden Junction - 104
Acton Bridge - 101
Tamworth - 99
Doncaster - 90
York (Colton Junction) - 89
Retford - 86
Didcot - 78
Water Orton - 77
Newport - 73
Peterborough - 70
Trimley - 69
Carlisle - 65
Harrow & Wealdstone - 64
Basingstoke - 61
Eastleigh - 57
WBQ - 57
Knottingley - 57
Stratford - 56
Leamington Spa - 55
Chesterfield - 50
Toton Yards - 48
Preston - 42
Loughborough - 42
Acton Main Line - 36
Crewe - 36 (Station), 98 (Avoider)
Kensington Olympia - 34
Peak Forest Yards - 27

Note: Willesden is difficult to measure as you have to combine different reporting points on TRUST to cover as much of it as possible. The total is probably slightly higher than 104.
Note: Tamworth includes both the high level & low level as they are both technically part of the same station.
Note: Barnetby appeared to be a quiet day. I have counted up to 192 freights here in 24 hrs.

Some stations scored particularly high due to the amount of freight which runs at night. For my next set of statistics I'm only going to count the freights which run between 06:00 - 23:00 as these are the only ones which really matter to most trainspotters & see how the statistics appear then. Retford, Stafford, Acton Bridge, Preston & Nuneaton in particular are a lot less busy in the day than night.

 

[Freightmaster]

These were the results:

Good work!

Those figures are pretty typical for the locations in question,
although some seem rather high, so I suspect you have
included things like light engines and one off track machine
movements as well as 'proper' freight?

Also, the figures for Barnetby are distorted by the fact that many
movements are just the same coal/iron ore trains 'shuttling' back
and forth, so you won't see anything approaching 120 different
locos/wagon rakes in 24 hours - probably not even half that!

Barnetby - 120
Nuneaton - 118
Stafford - 115
Acton Bridge - 102
Tamworth - 99
Doncaster - 90
Water Orton - 77
Newport - 73
Peterborough - 70
Carlisle - 65
WBQ - 57
Knottingley - 57
Chesterfield - 50
Toton Yards - 48
Preston - 42
Kensington Olympia - 34
Peak Forest Yards - 27

Apart from Knottingley, all the above are FMonline timetable
locations (plus over 100 other places!!)

(Is this really the busiest station in London ?)

No - Willesden Junction is far busier, but you would have
to combine several different reporting points to get an
accurate total.

Also, stations such as Harrow, Stratford, Acton Mainline,
Ealing Broadway, Wandsworth Road, Camden Road, etc,
should all be busier than Kensington Olymoia on a typical day.




MARK

 

[Beveridges]

Those figures are pretty typical for the locations in question,
although some seem rather high, so I suspect you have
included things like light engines and one off track machine
movements as well as 'proper' freight?

Track Machine, WCR/Charter moves / ECS charter moves and Light engines were included. Royal Mail trains were not, as they are usually just Units.
Stafford, Nuneaton, Preston and Acton Bridge were higher than I expected. Acton Bridge certainly can get a lot of light engine moves shuttling back and forth between Crewe & Merseyside, which can inflate the figures.
Interesting to note how Tamworth - despite having two levels - is notably less busy than Stafford or Nuneaton!

Also, the figures for Barnetby are distorted by the fact that many
movements are just the same coal/iron ore trains 'shuttling' back
and forth, so you won't see anything approaching 120 different
locos/wagon rakes in 24 hours - probably not even half that!

You're going to get this at any location that has MGR traffic to some extent. Doncaster, Knottingley, Warrington, etc will get some locos/rakes repeating several times in a 24 hr day.
Even non-MGR traffic at all locations will repeat at least once as every working usually has a balancing working.

 

[The Planner]

Interesting to note how Tamworth - despite having two levels - is notably less busy than Stafford or Nuneaton!

Stafford has more traffic heading to/from Bescot/Sutton Park and Nuneaton will have the traffic to/from Water Orton/Leicester as well as the WCML.

 

[Beveridges]

What locations would I have to put in to get an accurate total for Willesden Jn?

(It may reach a high total but its a horrible location to hang around and theres no photting opportunities)

 

[CallySleeper]

Surprised Worksop or Retford isn't in that list.

 

[Beveridges]

I only put locations in that list that I thought were contenders for "busiest in Britain" for freight. I didn't think Retford or Worksop would have been any busier than Doncaster, which is in the list.

I'm going to have to check out some more London locations on TRUST, as I wrongly assumed Kensington Olympia would be the busiest station in London until it's disappointing total came up!!!

 

[The Planner]

What locations would I have to put in to get an accurate total for Willesden Jn?

WMBY (Wembley) will get everything going in and out from the North. WLSDWLJ (Willesden West London Jn) should net a fair chunk, HARLSJN (Harlesden Jn), WLSDNN7 (Willesden No.7) should capture all the other routes.

 

[Beveridges]

Would all four of those "reporting points" produce unique workings or would there be some overlap?
Any overlap would wreck the figures as I'd be counting the same workings twice.
Like I said earlier I'm not too fussed on Willesden as it is a horrible location to hang around but it would be interesting to see how many movements it gets for good measure - it may be a contender for taking the #1 position.

 

[Twoonthebuzzer]

Surely a search of:

- Camden Road East Junction
- Kensington Olympia
- Willesden Junction High Level

would cover everything.

You would get some duplicates though, for example, anything heading to Mitre Bridge Jnc from the high level would also be in the Kensington Olympia lists.

 

[Tracked]

Surprised Worksop or Retford isn't in that list.

had a look at what was actually running through there on Realtime Trains, the figures I got were;

Worksop: 60
Retford: 91

Quite a lot of that was at night

 

[unlevel42]

Swinton in South Yorkshire

80+

 

[Beveridges]

I did a countup last night on TRUST for the suggested locations. Keeping it at 06 - MAR - 2014 to keep things consistant:

Retford - 86
Swinton (Yorkshire) - 42

Stratford (London) - 56
Acton Main Line - 36
Harrow & Wealdstone - 64


All rather disappointing except Retford. I've added these to the main list in the Original Post.

I've not done Willesden as it is too much hard work due to requiring different reporting points and the duplicates it would produce which would cause the total to appear far higher than it really is.

 

[The Planner]

Surely a search of:

- Camden Road East Junction
- Kensington Olympia
- Willesden Junction High Level

would cover everything.

Wouldn't catch everything off the WCML from the North. Willesden West London and Wembley would still get most including the stuff that terminates within Willesden and doesn't travel onwards after crew stops. You would just not catch anything from Acton or Gospel Oak that comes in via No.7 and Harlesden which isn't a massive amount.

 

[plastictaffy]

See, I would have thought that a lot of stations on the WCML would have come up somewhere near the top, especially judging by how much freight passes through places like Milton Keynes Central during the day. Out of curiosity, exactly what freight does pass through there in a day?? On an average run into Euston, I'm all but guaranteed to see four - often two each way.

 

[Beveridges]

See, I would have thought that a lot of stations on the WCML would have come up somewhere near the top, especially judging by how much freight passes through places like Milton Keynes Central during the day. Out of curiosity, exactly what freight does pass through there in a day?? On an average run into Euston, I'm all but guaranteed to see four - often two each way.

Clearly the WCML south of Weaver Junction has most of the busiest locations for freight. However most of it runs at night so is no use to most spotters/photters so it is a meaningless stastic. I'm going to soon do a TRUST countup of freights between 06:00 - 23:00 ONLY to see how the South WCML compares to other locations at the hours more meaningful to trainspotters.
Counting up freights at Barnetby on a single day is misleading as most of the traffic through there is highly changeable & unreliable petroleum, ore and coal traffic which can make some weekdays *twice* as busy as others, I bet the very busiest days see nearly 200 freights and the very quietest days would struggle to exceed 100. However, the south WCML will be consistent every day as most of the traffic is Intermodal, a reliable type of freight.

 

[CockneySparrow]

Surprised Worksop or Retford isn't in that list.

Or Ely, especially when the lowest was 27 and most of the 60 that run through Peterborough go to Ely

I can count at least 10 movements in Ely that doesn't include the FLX traffic

 

[Beveridges]

Or Ely, especially when the lowest was 27 and most of the 60 that run through Peterborough go to Ely

I can count at least 10 movements in Ely that doesn't include the FLX traffic

Locations that are cross covered by other locations (e.g. Ely being covered by Peterboro) are not included.

 

[CockneySparrow]

Just a quick count up Ely had around 50 freight pass Ely North Jn on Friday 7th

 

[alex17595]

What about Trimley?

 

[Beveridges]

Wouldn't catch everything off the WCML from the North. Willesden West London and Wembley would still get most including the stuff that terminates within Willesden and doesn't travel onwards after crew stops. You would just not catch anything from Acton or Gospel Oak that comes in via No.7 and Harlesden which isn't a massive amount.

I've just done a countup on TRUST for "Willesden Junction" ( this covers the freight on the LOROL line) and Wembley Central (which covers *most* of the freight on Willesden's "low level") and the combined total added up to 104 which makes Willesden quieter than Stafford and Nuneaton and only barely busier than Acton Bridge, so there must be a few missing? However, the one time I have ever been to Willesden (last October) it never struck me as being as busy as some people say it is [1], so maybe this is about right? I've added Willesden to the original list anyhow.

[1] Some people say its the busiest location for freight on the WCML.

I've also added Crewe:

Crewe Avoider (Salop Goods Jn) - 98
Crewe Station - 36

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

What about Trimley?

Trimley - 69 freights. Christ, that's not bad for a single line!

Any more requests while I'm on TRUST tonight ?

 

[ModernRailways]

I think York would be up there as one of the higher ones. Although a lot goes via the avoiding line.

 

[Beveridges]

York - 89

 

[Kite159]

What about Basingstoke?

 

[Beveridges]

Basingstoke - 61

 

[arty762]

Would have thought Eastleigh would've been up there , with all the docks traffic , plus the ballast workings and traffic into and out of the works.

 

[Beveridges]

Eastleigh - 57

Not great.

 

[infobleep]

Haywards Heath gets not very many I'm sure but some of the trains actually stop at platform 1. Tgwse coming from Ardingly. Which other locations do the trains regularly stop at the platforms, rather than passing through?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Anywhere where one driver relieves another.

 

[Beveridges]

Any station where crew changes take place and any station with a goods loop, back platform or busy junction, are typical for freight trains stopping in the station.