Least favourite stretch of railway line in the UK?

[Mcr Warrior]

:neutral: I'll start off with the dreary stretch of line from Bolton to Salford Crescent.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Dore to Sheffield is pretty dire, seems to take ages too

and the worst thing is, if you're doing Nottingham-Manchester, you have to do it twice

 

[Zoe]

King's Norton to Birmingham New Street via Selly Oak as it usually involves a 20 mph crawl behind a Cross City train.

 

[Chapeltom]

:neutral: I'll start off with the dreary stretch of line from Bolton to Salford Crescent.

Another one for Bolton to Salford Crescent, its painfully boring.

 

[mrcheek]

Theres probably worse ones, but one I was dsappointed with is the West Coastway from Brighton to Southampton.
All the way along the coast, yet you barely get a glimpse of the sea!

 

[Pumbaa]

My personal bugbear is Reading to Swindow - featureless and really really dull.

 

[Oswyntail]

Peterborough to Huntingdon - flat, flat , flat and nothing else

 

[MCR247]

MML - Nothing particually wrong with it, but I've done it so many times it gets so boring

 

[EWS 58038]

Exeter to Newton Abbot... nothing of any significance down there....












Diving under his desk.....

 

[4SRKT]

The ECML south of York is pretty tedious. At least it's quick though.

 

[Capybara]

Peterborough to Grantham. Just dull and it's always further than you relly feel it ought to be. Also, in the opposite direction, getting into Peterborough seems to take forever.

 

[pendolino]

Peterborough to Huntingdon - flat, flat , flat and nothing else

I like that stretch - it goes past a National Nature Reserve.

 

[EWS 58038]

The ECML south of York is pretty tedious. At least it's quick though.

South of York is a long way....

I would list Donny to York.

 

[bangor-toad]

My personal bugbear is Reading to Swindow - featureless and really really dull.

What?
Are you saying that the highlight of that trip, going past one of the two national repositories of old BT phone boxes isn't exciting?

Bonus question: From which track can you see the other?

Cheers,
Jason

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Exeter to Newton Abbot... nothing of any significance down there....

:roll:

 

[pendolino]

What?
Are you saying that the highlight of that trip, going past one of the two national repositories of old BT phone boxes isn't exciting?

Bonus question: From which track can you see the other?

Cheers,
Jason

Quarry line (London-Brighton fast lines) and from the Redhill (slow lines) on the other side. Do I win a prize?

edit: it's this company you're thinking of, yes?

 

[GingerSte]

Birmingham Snow Hill to the Jewellry Quarter. Painfully slow.

Also, Carlisle to Workington (I've never been beyond) is painfully slow and bumpy after getting a nice fast(ish) train from Birmingham to Carlisle.

 

[Zoe]

Exeter to Newton Abbot...

If it's on a pacer then I agree with you.

 

[Eng274]

On the southbound approach to Cowdenbeath (en route to Edinburgh) a 20mph stretch of track snaking round a grotty park and a field.

The Tay Bridge, and the approach to Dundee in general. It is ridiculously slow!

Doncaster - Grimsby Town. Nice to look at, but again, too slow. I understand this is due to high volume of freight traffic.

 

[Kneedown]

Nottingham to Skeggy. Slow, slow, slow, Boring, boring, boring.... Unless i'm driving an HST when it miraculously becomes the best ever route!
About the only decent thing is the many Barn Owl's to see along parts of the route at the right times of day.

Nottingham to Worksop. Far too many people who seem to believe they have the right to travel for free, and normally the run you get immediately before/after a Liverpool. Just what you need!

 

[TGV]

I like that stretch - it goes past a National Nature Reserve.

I agree. It also passes within half a mile of the lowest point in the UK - 9ft below sea level at holme fen. Its really pretty in summer too.

 

[Oswyntail]

I like that stretch - it goes past a National Nature Reserve.

Where? That could make journeys a tad more interesting.

 

[pendolino]

I agree. It also passes within half a mile of the lowest point in the UK - 9ft below sea level at holme fen. Its really pretty in summer too.

And getting lower every year. Have you seen the Posts?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Where? That could make journeys a tad more interesting.

Holme Fen, now part of the Great Fen Project.

Fantastic birch/oak woodland, with lots of wildflowers, fungi, birds and occasionally Muntjac deer. And a level crossing over the ECML which is a great place to watch the trains zoom past.

 

[RPM]

Bicester North to Ardley Tunnel. A long featureless cutting that seems to take forever and because of the gradient in the down direction you can't get any speed up.

 

[yorksrob]

The bit from Normanton into Castleford and back out to Methley. Not very picturesque, quite slow and I'd usually prefer the direct route.

 

[YorkshireBear]

If it's on a pacer then I agree with you.

quite the opposite id take it on a pacer any day! (i do know what pacers feel like im from sheffield....)

Slower much more time to take in view, other day on voyager it had all gone before i could blink....

Tedious for me is sheffield leeds any way tedious so much slower than it should..... infact im pretty sure car is nearly as fast if not faster.

 

[PR1Berske]

Preston to Bamber Bridge, or..

"Slow, slow, screech-screech slow, brake, brake, trundle, stop, crawl, crawl, trundle, halt" as I remember it....

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Preston to Bamber Bridge, or..

"Slow, slow, screech-screech slow, brake, brake, trundle, stop, crawl, crawl, trundle, halt" as I remember it....

Despite that being my local too (well, from Cherry Tree-Blackburn/Preston) I never seem to find a journey dull, I always find looking out of the window fascinating, exceprt for St Leonards W Square-Hastings!

 

[Ivo]

King's Norton to Birmingham New Street via Selly Oak as it usually involves a 20 mph crawl behind a Cross City train.

+1 for the Birmingham Cross City Line via Selly Oak. Although I also find most routes in Birmingham to be annoying, and also the GEML Metro section.

 

[b0b]

I always hated the Argyle line stretch from Rutherglen to Glasgow Central LL. Really slow, stations really close together, dingy stations and disgusting odors matched with yellow walls at Argyle Street & GC