Direct trains from Nottingham to the west country

[Czesziafan]

I remember travelling on the Paignton - Nottingham train from Birmingham to Nuneaton in 1975. My records indicate it was 28th June '75 with 47197 at the business end.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Up to the end of the early 1960s, holiday trains from Yorkshire & the East Midlands to the coastal resorts of Dorset & Hants used either the ex-Midland Railway route via Birmingham, Gloucester and the Somerset & Dorset to reach Poole & Bournemouth West or the ex-Great Central route to Banbury where they were handed over to the WR who handed them on to the SR at Oxford for Portsmouth, etc. The Midland route ceased at the end of the 1962 season when all but local services were diverted to the GC line. However the GC line ceased to be used by these trains at the end of the 1964 summer season, apart from the long standing Newcastle/York to Poole which continued to go this way until the end of the 1966 season. Thereafter these were reduced in number and re-routed on to the Midland Main Line, initially via Mkt Harboro' & Oxford but later via Hendon & Old Kew Jn. The Bradford - Poole train was one of these - in fact it had so many variations of route over the seasons up to 1986 that I can't think of any other service that had more.
.

I'm not saying it never happened as a diversion, but why would it go this way as a regular service? It doesn't make sense. Mkt Harboro to Northampton was a goods line. I'd wonder whether it was normally open past 00.01 at night.

And then how does it go, via Bletchley and Oxford? This route never normally saw anything other than 2 car DMUs in this era. And again, it would normally be closed from about 23.00 to 06.00, I'd have thought.

Why not run it the most direct route, which would be Leicester - Nuneaton - Brum and onto Oxford.

 

[30907]

I'm not saying it never happened as a diversion, but why would it go this way as a regular service? It doesn't make sense. Mkt Harboro to Northampton was a goods line. I'd wonder whether it was normally open past 00.01 at night.

And then how does it go, via Bletchley and Oxford? This route never normally saw anything other than 2 car DMUs in this era. And again, it would normally be closed from about 23.00 to 06.00, I'd have thought.

Why not run it the most direct route, which would be Leicester - Nuneaton - Brum and onto Oxford.

Leicester to Oxford via Mkt Harborough, Northampton and Bletchley would have been the most direct route until the last bit closed (MH to N still had ECS to and from works - Wolverton? - that way into the mid 70s, as well as the short lived Midland sleeper, so it had passenger status), and presumably hadn't yet lost its night shift.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Leicester to Oxford via Mkt Harborough, Northampton and Bletchley would have been the most direct route until the last bit closed (MH to N still had ECS to and from works - Wolverton? - that way into the mid 70s, as well as the short lived Midland sleeper, so it had passenger status), and presumably hadn't yet lost its night shift.

Would it? More direct than Leicester-Brum-Oxford? I'm not so sure. But more importantly, going via Mkt Harboro - Northampton - Bletchley - Oxford simply was not a 'normal' route for through passenger traffic. I can't say for sure it never happened, but I've never heard of this route being used for west country trains. And at the time, if I'd noticed it, I'd have immediatly hoped it would be a sign of the intention to save the Bletchley-Oxford line. I'm sure I would have remembered that. Frankly, I don't believe this route was used on any regular basis for such traffic. But if someone can point to a working timetable that shows otherwise, well .... I'd be wrong (Again!).