(26 Jul 2014, 12:13 pm)BJ10VUS wrote Yeah, but the Arriva Sky Express from Darlington failed, and so did the Arriva 12. I doubt the train will be that much help!

(26 Jul 2014, 1:06 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote I don't get what you mean.

Numbers using the station are at a low - but only a couple of trains a day actually call there.

(26 Jul 2014, 1:06 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote I don't get what you mean.

Numbers using the station are at a low - but only a couple of trains a day actually call there.

(26 Jul 2014, 3:45 pm)BJ10VUS wrote Sorry, was a bit confusing!

Nobody was using the bus services to the airport, so they got cancelled. If nobody is visiting by frequent bus service, surely having a frequent rail service makes no difference, because nobody would use that either?

(26 Jul 2014, 3:54 pm)aureolin wrote Aye this is it. Most regular users are season ticket holders, which have to be from point A to point B. It's pointless getting a season ticket if you've potentially got to wait a couple of hours for a train home. In Blaydon and Dunston's case, there'd probably be a lot more demand if it was a T&W Metro stopping there, and not a NR train.

(26 Jul 2014, 5:02 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote No worries, just wasn't sure.

As an airport, it is struggling.
Not many commercial aircraft use the facility, so passenger numbers (regardless of how many trains stop), are going to be low.

However, if only a handful of trains do stop there each day, it is hardly going to encourage those who could use it, to actually use it.

I think each station on that list needs to be looked at as a bigger picture.

(26 Jul 2014, 5:02 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote Northern did say that Blaydon and Dunston would feature additional trains serving.
I think those two stations will struggle for passengers as long as there is a regular bus service in the area.

(26 Jul 2014, 5:03 pm)tyresmoke wrote Think it's 2 a week, one for each platform.
The terminal is nowhere near the station and indeed, nowhere near any houses either.

(26 Jul 2014, 5:25 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote Two a week?!

Just checked on the CrossStinky app and none of: Durham Tees Valley, Teesside Airport or Middleton St George appear on the list of station names.

No idea what else it could come under.

If you can't book tickets to the station...

(26 Jul 2014, 5:49 pm)tyresmoke wrote Yes it's the 1020 Darlington-Metrocentre and 1050 Metrocentre-Darlington both on Sundays

(26 Jul 2014, 5:25 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote Two a week?!

Just checked on the CrossStinky app and none of: Durham Tees Valley, Teesside Airport or Middleton St George appear on the list of station names.

No idea what else it could come under.

If you can't book tickets to the station...

(26 Jul 2014, 5:25 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote Two a week?!

Just checked on the CrossStinky app and none of: Durham Tees Valley, Teesside Airport or Middleton St George appear on the list of station names.

No idea what else it could come under.

If you can't book tickets to the station...

Just one train a week runs between Stockport and Stalybridge. It never returns. "There is no service from Stalybridge to Stockport", says a platform sign, cryptically. The Stockport-Stalybridge service is what's known as a "parliamentary train" and exists only so that the rail company can avoid going through formal closure proceedings. Running the single weekly service costs only £50, but to close it down would cost far more. Of the intermediate stops on the line, Network Rail notes: "Data collection including observation has been unable to record any use of these stations".

In this programme, Ian Marchant travels these little used lines and forgotten stations. There is Teesside Airport station, the least-used stop in Britain, with just 44 passengers a year. It has only one train a week, is a 20 minutes walk from the airport (a journey which involves negotiating a locked gate), and the airport has a different name anyway.

Then there is the train that goes from Manchester to Brighton - except that since the Manchester to Brighton direct service has been abolished, a semi-secret replacement bus travels once a week from Ealing Broadway to Wandsworth Road, two stations that were never on the Manchester-Brighton route anyway.

Most bizarre is the case of Newhaven Marine, a station which is technically open, and is served by one train a day. But the station is behind a locked fence and passengers are forbidden to get on the train, which does not appear on any timetable. The company offers to provide a taxi service to any passenger "in possession of a valid ticket". But it is impossible to buy a ticket.

Who are the people who use these secret trains which are also buses and taxis? Mostly rail enthusiasts and hobbyists who collect rail tickets. But occasionally a real passenger stumbles across a service and uses it almost by accident. And what does it say about the British attitude to rules that we stick within the letter of the law while entirely subverting their intention?

(27 Jul 2014, 11:15 am)AdamY wrote You can book tickets to the station. Purchasing a ticket to the station has a quirky attraction to rail enthusiasts - many people buy tickets as a collector's piece but never make the actual journey.

It was covered in a 2010 BBC documentary made for Radio 4 entitled 'Ghost Trains of Old England'.

Here's the programme synopsis:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vhhcf

It occasionally re-airs from time to time.

(06 Sep 2014, 12:39 pm)citaro5284 wrote I see off peak tickets are changing on Monday 8 Sept, which means they cannot be used over the evening peak in certain areas and one of those is Hexham to Newcastle.

http://www.northernrail.org/tickets/Off-Peak+tickets?utm_source=Poster&utm_medium=Offline&utm_campaign=Off-peak-restrictions#faq2

(06 Sep 2014, 12:40 pm)Dan wrote I wonder if bus services on the Tyne Valley will consequently see greater use?

(06 Sep 2014, 1:25 pm)tyresmoke wrote 80p difference between the Off Peak and Anytime return fare between Hexham & Newcastle...

(06 Sep 2014, 1:36 pm)Dan wrote Exactly... This will cost commuters £2.40 more than the equivalent return fare (£5.50) on the bus, where commuters have the option of travelling on service 10, service 74, or services X84/X85 (maximum of five buses per hour).

Let's not forget about the high backed seating, free Wi-Fi, and power sockets available on some of those buses too..!

I personally find that the walk from the rail station to the town centre also comes as an inconvenience, compared to the bus.

I rest my case.

(06 Nov 2014, 7:37 am)Andreos1 wrote http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29925049

Clegg gets involved in rolling stock debate.

(24 Nov 2014, 4:23 pm)Scott wrote Passenger numbers don't justify electrification.

(24 Nov 2014, 4:23 pm)Scott wrote Passenger numbers don't justify electrification.

(24 Nov 2014, 10:00 pm)aureolin wrote Any source for this info?

(25 Nov 2014, 10:37 am)Scott wrote As an ocassional user myself, most carriages are empty, except on some occasional journeys - mainly the curry train.