The formation you mentioned was the standard one for the South Transpenine Liverpool-Sheffeilds.
In the early/mid 1980s the standard formation for the Anglia-Birmingham/Northwest was either...
(Crown Point sets) MK2s 4 x TSO, 1 x BSO seating 287
(Oxley sets) MK2s 5 x declassified FO /FK, 1 x BG seating 210.
Other vehicles often crept in to the formations and summer Saturdays saw sets extended to either 9 or 12 coaches. The vice Sprinter rake on the Sheffield-Ipswich was usually Mk1s, 3 x SK + BSK.
For comparison a 2 car XC 170 seats 122, a 3 car 192(*).
It's not a direct comparison as the service is (was?) hourly compared to the mix of hourly/2 hourly in the loco hauled days.
(*) I think that the extra centre cars that are currently being added to 170518-23 have 2 less seats but happy to be corrected.
There's a few gaps in the timetable but if you fill them then you can forget about line blockages for the patrolling or getting the Anglian Water tankers across Harts Drove crossing amongst other issues.
@ Bald Rick. You always know when you've done a day shift at Whittlesea!
PRE covid, around 60 trains on earlies and 70 on lates. May not sound much but some of the semaphores at Whittlesea are crap pulls!
On the route in question in the early to mid 80's the stock primarily used was either Norwich or Cambridge sets.
But working on your Oxley figure and the difference of frequency (2 hourly v hourly & 210 v 192) there has been a 83% increase in capacity (if my schoolboy maths are correct).
I wonder how much passenger numbers have increased between those 2 points ?
And I don't think my school boy maths would be up to that (to many variables, as it's not as simple at just looking at Stamford and Peterborough station usages).
Yep, and could be busier than that on some days - eg when there was a lot coming out of Whitemoor Friday lates.
For those that haven’t done a shift at Whittlesea (and I think that will be a majority of our readers), the box is Absolute Block both ways, and has a slot from the gatebox at the station. With an average of up to 5 trains an hour each way, and often more than that in busy hours, there is a never ending job of bell tapping, block indicator switching, lever pulling, train register-entering, TRUST entering, and that’s before dealing with any line blocks, calls from control etc. You need to be able to eat quickly and have a strong bladder. It is, I imagine, how busy boxes used to be 100 years ago, but without the box boy to help.
I can imagine how busy it is with all the freightliners etc.
I presume Kings Dyke and Three Horsehoes are just as busy ?
The 1981 timetable gives 5 Birmingham-Norwich trains daily, plus one to Cambridge (still a DMU IIRC), so barely 2 hourly.
Was that a Sunday ? As I started spotting around that time and a Class 120 used to make it to Cambridge on a late Saturday night/ Sunday turn.
Circa 1984/5 Cambridge - Birmingham's were Class 31/4's (with a 4 hours frequency?) with Class 101 or 105 DMUs smattered between the loco hauled services between Cambridge - Peterborough, therefore creating roughly a 2 hourly service between Cambridge - Peterborough.
All I can remember is going for day trips spotting at Peterbough and nearly every hour there was a Loco hauled or DMU service to March. The Loco hauled trains going to Ipswich, Norwich or Cambridge.
It used to be rubbish compared to normal times these days. People are quick to forget how dreadful things where. For example 7 in 1968 with some only shuttling on part of the route. Gaps of well over three hours where commonplace.
1968 ?? Your going back half a century !! (No wonder it was rubbish).
I wasn't even born then. Although my dad got "lucky" that year. lol
