A "local" passenger train is defined here as any train which stopped at one or more of the intermediate stations between Nottingham and Melton Town, but not including any semi-fast trains which served both Nottingham and Melton. The local trains fall into one of three categories:

• short hauls out of Nottingham to Edwalton, Plumtree and Widmerpool
• services to Melton, Kettering or St Pancras
• those continuing over the Midland & Great Northern line towards Bourne and beyond (see Chapter 7)

Remember that "Up" trains were those travelling south from Nottingham towards Melton, whilst "Down" was the opposite direction.

Each service has been given a unique number such as D1 or U2. D is a Down local train, U is an Up local train. The only place you will find these references is in this book. Just to make your life more interesting, if you have the original book (1st, 2nd or 3rd editions), you will notice that I have renumbered some of the services, so cross referencing with earlier editions may prove a challenge. I didn't take the decision to renumber lightly, but back in 1990 I hadn't seen all the Working Timetables which still exist - now I have, and there were inaccuracies and gaps in the original book.

Unless stated otherwise, all times are at Nottingham. If the train is Up then the time is the departure, if Down it is the Arrival. I use the 24 hour clock (e.g. 2015) unless reproducing spoken or written works such as "8.15 pm". Obviously if trains run past midnight, the clock resets to 00 hours.

There is a lot of data in Chapters 5 to 7, but it is structured so you can dip in at whatever level you like, using the charts, text or detailed tables. If you're interested in the service to a particular station, then see the relevant chapter. If you study the Tables in great detail you will find some inconsistencies - there are two reasons for these. The most likely is an inconsistency in the Working Timetables, or a missing timetable, or a missing Appendix. The second reason is I am only human, and even though all the times are in a 15,000 entry database which I can sort on various fields, it is still possible to make mistakes. The most common mistake is not fully updating the many tables in this book when the master database changes. If you think I have made an error, please let me know.

The following chart gives a rough illustration of the growth and decline in local passenger services over the nine decades. Sampled every ten years, it disguises any cutbacks during the two World Wars, but perhaps somewhat surprisingly the peak service was in the 1930s when bus competition had really started to take a hold. The only real conclusion I can draw is that the LMS made a brave attempt to stem that competition by having an appealing schedule of local trains.

The ten-year sampling shows that once the Second World War reduced the service by approximately 40%, perhaps more closely matching the actual demand, it never recovered. The closure of Edwalton, Plumtree, Widmerpool and Upper Broughton in the 1940s made no difference to the 10 year sample, with 15 trains daily still running in the 1950s.

The final decline in 1960 was driven more by the loss of Bourne trains than by the closure of Grimston.

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