What on earth happened to this Sheffield - Leeds via Castleford service?! (On time but Castleford call cancelled, then long delay at Woodlesford)

[johntea]

I wasn't affected by this directly but was just having a random look at departures this morning and noticed the 08:04 Sheffield - Leeds via Castleford departed Sheffield on time (well 1 minute late but close enough!)

For some reason (Railboard said 'This train has been cancelled because of train crew being delayed') it then ran express after Normanton via the quicker route bypassing Castleford so arrived in Woodlesford 10 minutes earlier than planned but then seems to have sat there for the 10 minutes before arriving in Leeds 2 minutes late!

Realtime Trains | 2L06 0804 Sheffield to Leeds | 22/04/2025

Real-time train running information for 2L06 0804 departure from Sheffield to Leeds on 22/04/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[Peterthegreat]

Northern have a habit of cancelling stops in order to recover the timetable.
Unfortunately they do not seem to have the ability to update things if circumstances change.
In this case the inbound service from Leeds was 15 minutes late at Wakefield but made up half of that to arrive in Sheffield only 7 late. With a quick turnaround it left almost on time.
But Northern didn't amend.....

 

[liamf656]

It wasn't delayed at Woodlesford as the title suggests, nor is a 2 min delay worth mentioning, but I understand what you mean. Looks like Peter nailed the answer above though, seems odd that the stop wasn't reinstated

 

[30907]

Northern have a habit of cancelling stops in order to recover the timetable.
Unfortunately they do not seem to have the ability to update things if circumstances change.
In this case the inbound service from Leeds was 15 minutes late at Wakefield but made up half of that to arrive in Sheffield only 7 late. With a quick turnaround it left almost on time.
But Northern didn't amend.....

Is that inside information?
An outsider like me might suspect a points failure at Methley Jn.

 

[Peterthegreat]

Is that inside information?
An outsider like me might suspect a points failure at Methley Jn.

No. I've taken it from Real Times
Trains.

 

[D6700]

It wasn't delayed at Woodlesford as the title suggests, nor is a 2 min delay worth mentioning, but I understand what you mean. Looks like Peter nailed the answer above though, seems odd that the stop wasn't reinstated

Indeed, there was no delay to this train at Woodlesford, it simply waited until booked departure time.

Looking at the wider impact of this occurrence, there would have been a 12 minute delay to anyone travelling to Castleford and a much more significant half an hour delay to anyone intending to board there. Additionally, these "stopper" trains are overtaken by the "fast" trains whilst they call at Castleford, so the latter found itself stuck behind - and was 11 minutes late into Leeds. It is likely there would have been some missed connections, as a result.

 

[Bow Fell]

The reason the fail to stop at Castleford has been attributed to is a platform issue at Leeds with a unit formation, which was the root cause of the late running inward working.

These things happen best endeavours implementing service recovery for the train to recover more time than expected!

 

[driverd]

The reason the fail to stop at Castleford has been attributed to is a platform issue at Leeds with a unit formation, which was the root cause of the late running inward working.

These things happen best endeavours implementing service recovery for the train to recover more time than expected!

Would that be down to the stopper being too long to fit on top of the express on 17?

Skip Cas, keep the stopper ahead of the express and let it get to 17 first, subsequently re-platform the express?

 

[D6700]

Would that be down to the stopper being too long to fit on top of the express on 17?

Skip Cas, keep the stopper ahead of the express and let it get to 17 first, subsequently re-platform the express?

No, the stopper was 2 coaches, as was the fast. The stopper was held outside Leeds for the fast train to get around it and go into Platform 17 first, so not to mess up their next workings. This can be seen in RTT, although you need to look closely.