Trivia: Which major UK town has the least direct route from London?

furnessvale · 31 May 2020

I believe this thread has rather lost its way. I may be wrong but I think the original intention was towns such as Buxton or Stranraer, where considerable time is spent INCREASING the distance to London, before finally doing a Dick Whittington and turning to face the capital.

RailUK Forums

ccityplanner12 · 2 Jun 2020

Hamilton: 2m18ch, eastern portal of Barncluith Tunnel to Motherwell.
Bristol: about 1m22ch, Easton Road overbridge to Ashley Hill (measured using Google Maps). To me the GWML via Bath feels indirect though, but that's probably more down to the fact the Brunel's engineering doesn't lend it a very mainline-y feel.
Barry: 75ch, Cogan to Cogan Loops and Grangetown to Canton junction.

MarkyT · 2 Jun 2020

OK one where both ends are in London, but on London Underground, a direct services on the subsurface network. Other options wholly by rail also available with interchange clearly.
Baker Street to Bayswater: As the crow flies 2.5km, On Circle Line via Aldgate 18.2km

mjmason1996 · 3 Jun 2020

Not quite the same question, but surely Middlesborough is the largest town without a direct London service?

Andy Pacer · 3 Jun 2020

mjmason1996 said:
Not quite the same question, but surely Middlesborough is the largest town without a direct London service?

I'm certainly struggling to think of any bigger

dan4291 · 3 Jun 2020

Middlesbrough is going to get a direct London service eventually. The station needs upgrading first though.

johnnychips · 3 Jun 2020

mjmason1996 said:
Not quite the same question, but surely Middlesborough is the largest town without a direct London service?

Salford?

xotGD · 3 Jun 2020

mjmason1996 said:
Not quite the same question, but surely Middlesborough is the largest town without a direct London service?

Gateshead

NorthOxonian · 3 Jun 2020

xotGD said:
Gateshead

Middlesbrough is quite a bit larger than Gateshead - their borough is undersized while ours is oversized. We also have easy access to London via Newcastle Central, which is within walking distance of parts of central Gateshead (you could make a case that Middlesbrough has a connection via Eaglescliffe, but that's much further out of the urban area).

peteb · 3 Jun 2020

Kidderminster is 107 miles as the crow flies from London Charing X but the shortest train journey mileage is 130 miles from Paddington via Oxford and Worcester, with alternative routes being the direct Chiltern London Marylebone via Birmingham Snow Hill and Banbury or London Euston via Smethwick Galton Bridge, Coventry and Milton Keynes, both about 135 miles. If you were really keen an any permitted route ticket used to take you via Birmingham, Coventry, Oxford, Reading ending up at Waterloo, closer to 150 miles. I once wangled Egham, Surrey to Kidderminster via Waterloo, St Pancras, Leicester and Birmingham on a route "any permitted" single back in 1983 although I got some funny looks off the ticket inspector at Leicester. Not sure if you could do that these days.

Scotty · 4 Jun 2020

johnnychips said:
Salford?

...is a city?

philthetube · 4 Jun 2020

Mcr Warrior · 4 Jun 2020

johnnychips said:
Salford?

Scotty said:
...is a city?

philthetube said:
yes

Salford has been a city since 1926. So no longer a "major town" as such for the purposes of this thread.

nfanton · 4 Jun 2020

Not exactly major, but travelling from Galashiels to London by rail will see you travelling with London behind you for about an hour

david_g · 4 Jun 2020

Scotty said:
...is a city?

46257 City of Salford

46257 "City of Salford" apparently brand new ex-works. This was the last of the Stanier "Duchess" class pacifics to be built being turned out after nationalisation as British Railways number 46257. The early style of tender lettering suggest this must be a works "as built" photograph. It is as...

www.flickr.com

British Railways certainly thought so

NYCSubway137 · 4 Jun 2020

Hull to London or Inverness to London.

Mcr Warrior · 4 Jun 2020

NYCSubway137 said:
Hull to London or Inverness to London.

Hull / Inverness are also cities, aren't they?

si404 · 4 Jun 2020

Salford (the town*) is less populated than Middlesbrough (the town), even if Salford (the borough**) is more populated than Middlesbrough (the borough).

*Which doesn't have city status
**Which does have city status

NYCSubway137 · 5 Jun 2020

Mcr Warrior said:
Hull / Inverness are also cities, aren't they?

No, they are towns.

nlogax · 5 Jun 2020

NYCSubway137 said:
No, they are towns.

No. Hull's been a city since 1897, Inverness since 2000.

mmh · 5 Jun 2020

si404 said:
Salford (the town*) is less populated than Middlesbrough (the town), even if Salford (the borough**) is more populated than Middlesbrough (the borough).

*Which doesn't have city status
**Which does have city status

Besides which, even if classed as a town Salford doesn't have an indirect route to London, you'd get a train to Manchester Piccadilly and then on to London, which is one of the most direct routes you could have.

Western Lord · 5 Jun 2020

A direct route from Hull (1.e. the city of Kingston upon Hull) to London would require the construction of the Humber rail tunnel. Good luck with that!

Glenn1969 · 5 Jun 2020

Andy Pacer said:
I'm certainly struggling to think of any bigger

Huddersfield

61653 HTAFC · 5 Jun 2020

Glenn1969 said:
Huddersfield

Now we see the awkwardness of UK municipal boundaries... Huddersfield itself doesn't include many of the relatively nearby areas, but using the borough (Kirklees) will also include Holmfirth, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike and will reach the outskirts of Leeds! (For example the Leeds IKEA is in Kirklees).

Like Middlesbrough though, Huddersfield will soon receive a London service... though back in line with the topic, Huddersfield's train won't be as direct as Middlesbrough's as it reverses at Leeds.

peteb · 5 Jun 2020

But maybe we need a new thread in International Travel?

Glenn1969 · 5 Jun 2020

How easy is it to get to London from the two Highland branch lines given there is no WCML day train to or from Inverness. Are you forced to use the sleeper to get to/from Wick/Kyle ?

plugwash · 5 Jun 2020

Looking at times for tomorrow it looks like you can leave wick at 06:18 to arrive in Kings cross at 19:46 with changes at inverness and Edinburgh.

si404 · 5 Jun 2020

Glenn1969 said:
given there is no WCML day train to or from Inverness.

There's an ECML day train between London and Inverness.

I'm not sure why it matters which coast you take - they are both about the same distance.

30907 · 5 Jun 2020

plugwash said:
Looking at times for tomorrow it looks like you can leave wick at 06:18 to arrive in Kings cross at 19:46 with changes at inverness and Edinburgh.

Wick to London is a bit indirect (north of Bonar Bridge) and so is Kyle - but one is a small town and the other even smaller.

peteb · 6 Jun 2020

BAHN is showing Thurso 0650 change Inverness Perth and Glasgow arrive London Euston 1909 this coming Monday? Not bad considering the distance.

Trivia: Which major UK town has the least direct route from London?

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