A and C Timetables

[mrfs42]

I've been a busy (if slightly geeky) bee this evening. I've been sorting out the timetable collection - in the vast heap [1] of items there are several that have prefixes attached to the numbers:

Met No1 Timetable C235 Nov. 1972
Met No2 Timetable C237 Oct. 1972
District Timetable C96 Nov. 1972
Victoria Timetable A8 Nov. 1972
Northern Timetable A27 Nov. 1972

I have heard a theory from a friend who used to work in the bus scheduling side that this was a time of chronic staff shortages, District C96 is unusual as it is handwritten and then printed - but some of the Bakerloo TTs (62 and 70) around this time and all of the Silver Jubilee notices are handwritten too.

Anyone with any thoughts, why these suffixes prefixes?

[1] not sure how many but it's about 9 foot of shelf space

[Deleted]

Got one for the Central Line for 1962, and is also got 'reference codes'...

Lemme dig it out!

Central Line Timetable, P252, 3rd September 1962 Until Further Notice

[towerman]

Due to chronic staff shortages around this time,all lines,except Victoria,ran reduced services to try and stop short notice cancellations.Things improved after 1974 with the "12 point plan" from the GLC which basically vastly increased wages so they were comparable with other firms.

[mrfs42]

tubeoperator92 said:

Central Line Timetable, P252, 3rd September 1962 Until Further Notice

Unusual leap in the numbering - though the Central have always done things their own way! I've not got that one but do have ones close to it 27 in Oct '64 and 24A in May '63. I think the A here comes from Mon-Fri being C, Sat being 24B and Sun 24A - I've not tried decipering suffixes yet - <fx wanders off into timetable library > No, the A,B,C theory is pants because the Northern Emergency TTs from 1978 are Mon-Fri 32A, Sat 31A, Sun 29A. I've got a Northern (Highbury Branch) thats 29C - All week 1971 and a Northern (Northern City Section) thats 15A All week March '62 - suspect the numbers carried on the series here.

Suffixes are way too complicated. Sorry for the geek overload ;D

[Deleted]

i bourght a northern line diagram from 1984 fron ebay for about 99p bargain so if you
are looking for timetables go to ebay!

[mrfs42]

I'm contemplating putting/selling some of my duplicates/triplicates on eBay. ;D Though it won't be for a while yet.

[Deleted]

mrfs42 said:

Unusual leap in the numbering - though the Central have always done things their own way! I've not got that one but do have ones close to it 27 in Oct '64 and 24A in May '63. I think the A here comes from Mon-Fri being C, Sat being 24B and Sun 24A - I've not tried decipering suffixes yet - <fx wanders off into timetable library > No, the A,B,C theory is pants because the Northern Emergency TTs from 1978 are Mon-Fri 32A, Sat 31A, Sun 29A. I've got a Northern (Highbury Branch) thats 29C - All week 1971 and a Northern (Northern City Section) thats 15A All week March '62 - suspect the numbers carried on the series here.

Suffixes are way too complicated. Sorry for the geek overload ;D

**CONFUSED**

[mrfs42]

tubeoperator92 said:

**CONFUSED**

I wasn't ;D, as any fule kno numbers starting P<whatever> generally indicates Picc trains that appear in District and Met TTs.

All I'm interested in finding out is why SSL lines pubished their main WTTs beginning C(number) and toob Lines beginning A(number) in 1972.

Whilst I am a timetabling geek (as envinced/evidenced in previous threads - still puzzling about when Plaistow reversers started) and to the despair of angelislington [2] , I've not got a full and definitive collection - that I don't want, it would spoil the 'thrill of the chase': it ill behoves you to take the rise (which is what I suspect you might be doing - no offence taken if you are).

Suffices [1] are something that I became briefly interested in last night - though that subject varies from line to line - the lack of a definitive collection precludes me from making any conclusion yet

Has this alleviated (or ameliorated) your state of confusion?

[1] as in letters after numbers. I'm still processing possibilities there.

[2] who deserves some order of merit for listening to interminably dull conversations along the lines of 'well, the Tooting Bdwy reversers at Euston for turnback swap to the SB every third train.'

[tubeprune]

The prefixes of the late '72 timetables were introduced because they were regarded as temporary at the time, although most of them lasted two years. I worked at Baker St (Met) then and we had a roster of 75 crews. 35% of duties had no guards for much of this time. We ran less than 50% of the train service. It was a very demoralising period.

At other times, prefixes and suffixes have been added, almost as a whim. I have seen a reference to a Picc WTT 21A of 1930 something. Changes were introduced according to who was in charge at the time. Even the timetable office had a staff shortage sometimes.

[mrfs42]

tubeprune said:

The prefixes of the late '72 timetables were introduced because they were regarded as temporary at the time, although most of them lasted two years.

Lovely! Thank-you, that was just the answer I was searching for.

tubeprune said:

At other times, prefixes and suffixes have been added, almost as a whim. I have seen a reference to a Picc WTT 21A of 1930 something.

Making an educated guess and extrapolating out of the contents of the now sorted TT library I'd guess that 21A would have come in during September/October 1939.

tubeprune said:

Even the timetable office had a staff shortage sometimes.

Sometimes, just sometimes I'd give up working with steam engines, ancient old shelf relays and electric key token instruments to go and work in the Timetable Office.

[JR 15secs]

TP is right the timetables were introduced due to staff shortages I was on the Bakerloo at the time and we had loads of WAR turns the yardmaster married you up with a guard to give the best working according to your finishing time. The other reason for these timetables was the threat of running out of oil, 3 day week introduced by Ted Heath's government. I have spoken to an old TT person who said that there were TT's for all contingencies flooding etc.