Trivia: most circuitous route between 2 stations on same line

S&CLER · 21 Jan 2020

What is the most circuitous route between 2 stations on the same line? I nominate Ulverston to Kirkby in Furness, 18m 71 ch via Barrow but only about 4.5 miles as the crow flies. (Shorter via the non-passenger loop but the Rail Miles mileage engine said it was unable to calculate the distance!) I put this to good use on 3 sunny Saturdays in September 2018, when I booked to Kirkby in Furness and walked back over the fells to Ulverston on 2 days, and on the third walked the other way, including the interesting remains of the old 3-foot gauge slate tramway from the quarries down to Kirkby.

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Esker-pades · 21 Jan 2020

I nominate the Far North Line from Tain to Golspie. It's ~11.5 miles straight, ~16.7 miles via road, and ~40 miles by rail.

RailWonderer · 21 Jan 2020

Ipswich to Derby Road. 6 miles by rail, 1 mile as the crow flies.

SWTCommuter · 21 Jan 2020

Exmouth to Starcross: 1.5 miles as the crow flies, 19 miles 62 chains by rail.

eastdyke · 21 Jan 2020

RailWonderer said:
Ipswich to Derby Road. 6 miles by rail, 1 mile as the crow flies.

The crow didn't make it then :'(

I estimate it around 1.6miles. Still a good one though!

JB_B · 21 Jan 2020

For adjacent stations, I'd nominate Liskeard to Coombe Junction Halt. Half a mile straight line, > 2m by rail.

thenorthern · 21 Jan 2020

Ulverston to Million is something like 8 miles as the crow flies but 25 by train.

DarloRich · 21 Jan 2020

Bletchey to Bedford on a Sunday

16 miles & 19 chains Monday to Saturday
95 miles on a Sunday via Euston and St Pancras
111 miles on a Sunday via Nuneaton

Considerable fare differential to.

d9009alycidon · 21 Jan 2020

Considering direct trains used to run between Stranraer and Newcastle, the rail distance between Stranraer and Dumfries is considerably more than road

DynamicSpirit · 21 Jan 2020

S&CLER said:
What is the most circuitous route between 2 stations on the same line? I nominate Ulverston to Kirkby in Furness, 18m 71 ch via Barrow but only about 4.5 miles as the crow flies.

Slightly OT but this line is even more remarkable in that regard. Travelling from Kirkby in Furness to Ulverston, the line does, as you say take what I'm sure must be close to a record within the UK for most circuitous route by a direct train compared to car/walking/cycling. And then it immediately does the very opposite: Crosses the bay in what isn't that far off a direct line to Cark - which would be massively longer by road. And then it does the same again going from Grange-over-Sands to Arnside!

A0wen · 21 Jan 2020

I'd have thought either Thorpe St Peter or Wainfleet to Boston was longer by rail than as the crow flies since the line heads up to Firsby then back down - a legacy of when there was the through line to Louth.

A0wen · 21 Jan 2020

DarloRich said:
Bletchey to Bedford on a Sunday

16 miles & 19 chains Monday to Saturday
95 miles on a Sunday via Euston and St Pancras
111 miles on a Sunday via Nuneaton

Considerable fare differential to.

I don't think that's quite what the OP had in mind - that said given somebody else cited Ipswich to Derby Road (not the next stop as there's Westerfield en route) I might be tempted to suggest Bedford Midland to Kempston Hardwick as the line deviates to the east of the MML to serve St Johns before heading west.

4COR · 21 Jan 2020

Was thinking Blackfriars to Farringdon via the Circle line - it's almost exactly 1km as the crow flies, no idea how far via the Circle Line (longer via S Ken obviously, but you can't do that without changing these days at Edgware Rd).

EDIT: 5.47km via Aldgate

HowardGWR · 21 Jan 2020

Just use estuaries. Weston to Cardiff 12 miles direct vs 82 miles 72 chains by rail.

A0wen · 21 Jan 2020

4COR said:
Was thinking Blackfriars to Farringdon via the Circle line - it's almost exactly 1km as the crow flies, no idea how far via the Circle Line (longer via S Ken obviously, but you can't do that without changing these days at Edgware Rd).

Yes - good one. I just got thinking about the Hounslow loop and reckon Richmond to Syon Lane or Isleworth must be longer by rail than as the crow flies.

DelW · 21 Jan 2020

The OP stated "2 stations on the same line" (my emboldening).
I don't think Exmouth to Starcross, or Weston to Cardiff, or most other estuaries, really meet that criterion.

PTR 444 · 21 Jan 2020

S&CLER said:
What is the most circuitous route between 2 stations on the same line? I nominate Ulverston to Kirkby in Furness, 18m 71 ch via Barrow but only about 4.5 miles as the crow flies. (Shorter via the non-passenger loop but the Rail Miles mileage engine said it was unable to calculate the distance!) I put this to good use on 3 sunny Saturdays in September 2018, when I booked to Kirkby in Furness and walked back over the fells to Ulverston on 2 days, and on the third walked the other way, including the interesting remains of the old 3-foot gauge slate tramway from the quarries down to Kirkby.

Are you looking specifically for consecutive stations or just any pair served by the same service?

DarloRich · 21 Jan 2020

A0wen said:
I don't think that's quite what the OP had in mind - that said given somebody else cited Ipswich to Derby Road (not the next stop as there's Westerfield en route) I might be tempted to suggest Bedford Midland to Kempston Hardwick as the line deviates to the east of the MML to serve St Johns before heading west.

Ok - Fenny Stratford to Bedford St Johns on a Sunday. No service. No trip

tomwills98 · 21 Jan 2020

Coryton to Radyr. 0.7 miles walk through a park, ten miles by train

transmanche · 21 Jan 2020

A0wen said:
Yes - good one. I just got thinking about the Hounslow loop and reckon Richmond to Syon Lane or Isleworth must be longer by rail than as the crow flies.

On that basis, I'd go for something like Wandsworth Town to Earlsfield. Less than 2 miles 'as the crow flies', about 2¼ miles by road, but almost 17 miles by rail on a direct train via Strawberry Hill.

Mogz · 21 Jan 2020

Would Bicester North to Bicester Village count?

transmanche · 21 Jan 2020

Mogz said:
Would Bicester North to Bicester Village count?

They're not on the same line, are they?

urbophile · 21 Jan 2020

Liverpool Lime Street to Moorfields? (It's much shorter in the other direction).

CaptainHaddock · 21 Jan 2020

Depends what you mean by "on the same line". Until a couple of years ago, there used to be a direct train from Scunthorpe to Lincoln which went via Sheffield, a total distance of 94 miles as opposed to the 29 miles the two places are apart by road.

CaptainHaddock · 21 Jan 2020

DynamicSpirit said:
Slightly OT but this line is even more remarkable in that regard. Travelling from Kirkby in Furness to Ulverston, the line does, as you say take what I'm sure must be close to a record within the UK for most circuitous route by a direct train compared to car/walking/cycling. And then it immediately does the very opposite: Crosses the bay in what isn't that far off a direct line to Cark - which would be massively longer by road. And then it does the same again going from Grange-over-Sands to Arnside!

Staying in that area, Dalton-in-Furness to Askam-in-Furness is just under 3 miles by road but 12 by train (via Barrow). The OS map shows a direct line between the two that cuts out Barrow but I presume that's freight only?

DynamicSpirit · 21 Jan 2020

I raise you all New Cross to Deptford. As the crow flies, about 450m - a quarter of a mile. By road no more than about half a mile - 10 minute's walk. The shortest way to do it by direct train goes via Bexleyheath and Slade Green - total roughly 21 miles

S&CLER · 21 Jan 2020

PTR 444 said:
Are you looking specifically for consecutive stations or just any pair served by the same service?

Any pair. Fascinating to see the replies

DynamicSpirit · 21 Jan 2020

4COR said:
Was thinking Blackfriars to Farringdon via the Circle line - it's almost exactly 1km as the crow flies, no idea how far via the Circle Line (longer via S Ken obviously, but you can't do that without changing these days at Edgware Rd).

You can of course do that directly via Thameslink, which is much shorter, so I guess I should ask for a clarification of the rules: Is it permitted to cite a long direct service when a shorter direct service exists? (If it is permitted, then I'm changing my New Cross to Deptford entry to run via Sidcup

)

S&CLER · 21 Jan 2020

DynamicSpirit said:
You can of course do that directly via Thameslink, which is much shorter, so I guess I should ask for a clarification of the rules: Is it permitted to cite a long direct service when a shorter direct service exists? (If it is permitted, then I'm changing my New Cross to Deptford entry to run via Sidcup )

I had in mind that the "most circuitous" would be expressed as a multiple, i.e. the number of times that the rail route was longer than the straight line distance between 2 points on a continuous line, not parallel routes; interesting that many of the suggestions cluster around 4. Estuaries could qualify if there is a through service without reversal, I think, which rules out Southport to Lytham (need to change stations at Wigan, and trains at Preston).

London Trains · 21 Jan 2020

London Victoria to London Bridge
Charing Cross to Cannon Street
Waterloo East to Cannon Street
Earlsfield to Wandsworth Town
Barnes Bridge to Mortlake
Mitcham Eastfields to Tooting (not advertised but all trains bar some early/late trains loop via Sutton)
Maybe Reigate to Gatwick?
East Croydon to West Croydon (Tramlink - only that direction since there's direct trams the other way)

Waterloo to Waterloo :lol:

Cannon Street to Cannon Street :lol:

St Pancras to St Pancras :lol:

Trivia: most circuitous route between 2 stations on same line

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