Before the days of TOC-specific tickets, in BR days (let's say the 1980s, as a whole) would tickets from A to B always be available on direct trains of a certain category (InterCity or local) even via a highly roundabout route, if the ticket wasn't marked 'ROUTE XXXX' ?
I can think of some journeys in which through trains operated via a roundabout route. For instance, from 1988 to 1991 there was an hourly through service Guildford-Waterloo via Aldershot, Ascot, Staines and Richmond. Would a normal Guildford-Waterloo CDR be available on such a service outside the peak hours?
On one occasion in 1988 I wanted to travel this way, as I had not used the 'Windsor' lines before so wanted to sample them (Guildford to Clapham Junction rather than Waterloo, but same principle), and split-ticketed at Richmond because I didn't think a normal Guildford-CJ would be valid that route. Maybe it actually would have been?
Plenty of other examples elsewhere, I'm sure.
I can think of some journeys in which through trains operated via a roundabout route. For instance, from 1988 to 1991 there was an hourly through service Guildford-Waterloo via Aldershot, Ascot, Staines and Richmond. Would a normal Guildford-Waterloo CDR be available on such a service outside the peak hours?
On one occasion in 1988 I wanted to travel this way, as I had not used the 'Windsor' lines before so wanted to sample them (Guildford to Clapham Junction rather than Waterloo, but same principle), and split-ticketed at Richmond because I didn't think a normal Guildford-CJ would be valid that route. Maybe it actually would have been?
Plenty of other examples elsewhere, I'm sure.