Weird Places for Services to Terminate

[The Prisoner]

TfW operate a 0650 service from Fishguard Harbour which terminates at Clarbeston Road. There is an obvious operational reason - it connects into a Milford Haven to Manchester train there and the unit then heads back to Fishguard to form the 0745 to Carmarthen.

But that got me thinking what other services regularly terminate at strange destinations?

Clarbeston Road is a request stop with usage of just 20 people per day. Surely that takes some beating?!

 

[mangyiscute]

Having regular services terminating at Bedwyn must be seen as quite peculiar since it is a smallish station with much larger stations further down the line (I know that the paths/rolling stock required for these services to reach Westbury doesn't exist)

 

[Gloster]

Historically, I think that one of the odd ones was Tumby Woodside on the Lincoln-Woodhall Junction-Firsby/Skegness route. I believe the reason was that it allowed a few short workings from Lincoln to serve the (relatively) important Coningsby station and then turn back to Lincoln without having to keep Coningsby signal box open. Tumby Woodside, one station further on, had a level-crossing, so the box had to be staffed anyway.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Might one include services from Inverness on the Far North Line which terminate at Tain before then returning back to Inverness?

 

[sqwizz]

Not the weirdest, but I've never understood why LNR run a train from London that ends at Tring

 

[tram21]

TfW operate a 0650 service from Fishguard Harbour which terminates at Clarbeston Road. There is an obvious operational reason - it connects into a Milford Haven to Manchester train there and the unit then heads back to Fishguard to form the 0745 to Carmarthen.

But that got me thinking what other services regularly terminate at strange destinations?

Clarbeston Road is a request stop with usage of just 20 people per day. Surely that takes some beating?!

Another train for the bucket list!!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Not the weirdest, but I've never understood why LNR run a train from London that ends at Tring

Capacity, primarily from Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead and Watford Jn. Were it not for these the MKC stoppers would be severely overcrowded. Tring is also itself quite well used - it is in the middle of nowhere but acts as a Parkway station for a fairly large hinterland including Aylesbury (I find the Chiltern Met services quite civilised, but people who prioritise a faster and more frequent service gravitate to the WCML instead).

Tring was partly rebuilt to allow for terminating services during West Coast Route Modernisation in the 2000s.

 

[A S Leib]

Having regular services terminating at Bedwyn must be seen as quite peculiar since it is a smallish station with much larger stations further down the line (I know that the paths/rolling stock required for these services to reach Westbury doesn't exist)

Similarly, the limited Northern Chathill services not going through to Berwick.

Not the weirdest, but I've never understood why LNR run a train from London that ends at Tring

My guess would be a way of giving Watford and Hemel more London services not taken up by Bletchley and Leighton Buzzard passengers? I know that Hemel Hempstead itself has at least some reversing options as Southern's West London line service did so, but I don't know how frequent of a use that would be practical for.

Horsham, Shenfield etc. are perfectly reasonable places to terminate London services which don't make as much sense to necessarily have direct services to from Peterborough or Reading.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Having regular services terminating at Bedwyn must be seen as quite peculiar since it is a smallish station with much larger stations further down the line (I know that the paths/rolling stock required for these services to reach Westbury doesn't exist)

That was the first one that sprung to mind. Though like Tring Bedwyn did act as a Parkway type station.

I don't think it runs any more now Blackpool South interworks with the other "Lancashire Triangle" services instead, but there was for quite a while a morning St Anne's on the Sea to Greenbank service which I always found quite odd (think there might have been an evening return too) - why not run all the way on both lines?

 

[rapmastaj]

Might one include services from Inverness on the Far North Line which terminate at Tain before then returning back to Inverness?

This seems quite sensible as the end of the (relatively) more populated stretch of the line within which there will likely be some commuting to Inverness.

Have there ever been any services that terminated at Dovey Junction?

 

[A S Leib]

Wrexham services terminating at Bidston and Strood services going to Paddock Wood rather than through to Tonbridge (I think) are cases which make sense from an infrastructure or timetabling perspective but less so in terms of where people are likely to want to go.

 

[stadler]

Shalford deserves a mention. A few peak hour trains terminate at and start from there. It always seems like a random station to terminate at.

 

[Iskra]

Ribblehead is an odd one at first glance.

I think there’s also a couple for Carnforth and Barnsley.

 

[Magdalia]

Not the weirdest, but I've never understood why LNR run a train from London that ends at Tring

Tring as a starting/terminating station for commuter trains goes back to way before electrification. One of the trains in the Harrow rail disaster had started from Tring.

 

[Mikey C]

Not an especially weird place to terminate, but it slightly surprises me that after decades of the "62" North Kent Line train from Charing Cross via Dartford terminating at Gillingham, the replacement Thameslink service terminates instead one stop further at Rainham.

 

[edwin_m]

Adwick always seemed an odd sort of place to terminate.

There are still also I believe trains from Leeds advertised to terminate at Poppleton and from York at Burley Park. These are of course through workings via Harrogate, but not advertised as such to avoid through passengers boarding what would be a very roundabout journey.

 

[Class 170101]

Not a terminator but a starter.

Realtime Trains | 2F66 1558 Ingatestone to Colchester | 15/04/2025

Real-time train running information for 2F66 1558 departure from Ingatestone to Colchester on 15/04/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

There are still also I believe trains from Leeds advertised to terminate at Poppleton and from York at Burley Park. These are of course through workings via Harrogate, but not advertised as such to avoid through passengers boarding what would be a very roundabout journey.

Don't GTR still do that at Kings Cross showing Foxton on 2Cxx services so people going to Cambridge get on the fast services.

 

[A S Leib]

It isn't massively strange, but Great Malvern seems a rather small place to regularly terminate long(ish)-diatance London services; I'd guess Worcester has too little space and Hereford would need too many more resources to serve hourly? (Edit: I think enough people have now raised the point that it's a good place to turn around due to single track towards Hereford.)

I'd guess there's similar reasons behind ScotRail running to Dunbar and TPE having some Edinburgh services terminating at Berwick-upon-Tweed, although I can understand why ScotRail would prefer to focus on serving passengers within Scotland and the latter situation's going from December with the Newcastle semifast service becoming bihourly anyway.

Peterborough to Newark Northgate seems like a reasonable journey, but I don't understand why there's through services via Lincoln taking an hour longer than services via Grantham. I can't remember if that's meant to be going with the ECML recast.

 

[GordonT]

Possibly only weird to me, but when I first became aware of journeys from London which terminated at a place with the unusual name of Ore it caused me to think that it was fairly unusual never to have heard of somewhere which was a rail terminus for frequent services to/from the capital.

 

[Parallel]

I find Ore a bit of a strange place to terminate for Southern services from London. I guess it is down to available platforms at Hastings station what with terminating Southeastern trains too.

 

[BeijingDave]

Four Oaks, which is a suburb of Sutton Coldfield (and one stop after Sutton Coldfield), has regular terminators.

 

[Trainguy34]

I find Ore a bit of a strange place to terminate for Southern services from London. I guess it is down to available platforms at Hastings station what with terminating Southeastern trains too.

Also improves its frequency into Hastings from 1tph (Marshlink) to multiple, aswell as having a handy turnback siding at the Ashford end!

 

[6Gman]

Tring as a starting/terminating station for commuter trains goes back to way before electrification. One of the trains in the Harrow rail disaster had started from Tring.

In the 1950s there were at least a couple of Tring - Broad Street commuter services.

 

[alistairlees]

In the past, Lelant Saltings and Danby (not on the same service). Battersby Junction is (was?) also a fairly odd one (from a number of passengers perspective).

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Kirkby/Headbolt Lane and Ormskirk anyone?

More seriously, Bidston (while making operational sense) feels a bit silly for the TfW services.

Clitheroe feels a bit weird when you can go 20 minutes further and become a (useful?) connection, but it'd take an extra digram (Both unit and crew).

 

[Bishopstone]

Laindon, on the LT&S/c2c.

In the Basildon built-up area, but one stop short of the town centre. An historical situation, with Laindon having opened in 1888 on a generous plot of land, whereas Basildon station didn’t arrive until 1974 following growth of the new town, and has a constricted site without room for a turnback platform.

Laindon terminators (and starters), in the high peaks, have long been an effective way of providing seats for Upminster commuters.

 

[greatkingrat]

Bourne End is a fairly small place to have terminating services, although I understand the logic of splitting the peak service there.

 

[BeijingDave]

Kirkby/Headbolt Lane and Ormskirk anyone?

More seriously, Bidston (while making operational sense) feels a bit silly for the TfW services.

Clitheroe feels a bit weird when you can go 20 minutes further and become a (useful?) connection, but it'd take an extra digram (Both unit and crew).

Kirkby and Ormskirk are both reasonably big towns so would be fine as terminating points normally (on a line that had a combination of fasts, semi-fasts and stoppers).

What's strange is that they effectively cleaved one network away from the National Rail network here (and at Hooton too, for a time).

 

[WeGoAgain]

Don't GTR still do that at Kings Cross showing Foxton on 2Cxx services so people going to Cambridge get on the fast services.

Nope. All stops are listed.

 

[CyrusWuff]

I find Ore a bit of a strange place to terminate for Southern services from London. I guess it is down to available platforms at Hastings station what with terminating Southeastern trains too.

Ore is the limit of electrification and was home to the car sheds until the mid-80s due to there having been insufficient space to provide a shed at Hastings as part of the electrification project.