Trivia : Any station (on mainland GB) and requiring two changes to reach London.

[DM352]

Upton

 

[jfowkes]

Upton

I thought the Borderlands line as well, but Wrexham General has some direct Euston services so I don't think it counts.

 

[Peter0124]

Alloa would require atleast two changes since the direct Stirling-London service hasn't started yet

 

[Lampshade]

I did wonder about some once-per-week rogue train running to or from Piccadilly, but can't find anything in the current timetable. Everything seems to go to Victoria, with most continuing to/from Rochdale.

Perhaps @Lampshade in post #3 was thinking of the DalesRail-type trains which historically used to serve Blackpool, Preston & Carlisle on weekends (but even that wouldn't help stations between Darwen & Hall i' th' Wood). These days the weekend trains doing the Clitheroe - Hellifield section run from Manchester Vic & Bolton.

So "stations between Bolton and Clitheroe, aside from Blackburn" is probably valid for this thread.

Aha, I was counting the walk from Victoria to Piccadilly being one change.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Alloa would require atleast two changes since the direct Stirling-London service hasn't started yet

There's still the Chieftain once a day at Stirling though isn't there?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

There's still the Chieftain once a day at Stirling though isn't there?

Indeed. And the Caledonian Sleeper between Inverness and London Euston also calls once daily in each direction at Stirling (late night Saturdays / early morning Sundays excepted).

Another Manchester case is the Stockport-Staylybridge line. Unless the parliamentary train runs in both directions, the stations on the line are only reachable from (or to) London with 1 change. In the opposite direction 2 changes would be needed.

The Saturdays only Stalybridge>Stockport 'parliamentary' train (Northern) does currently run in both directions, meaning just one change is required for journeys to/from London Euston.

 

[plugwash]

I don't know if you can reach every Blackpool tram stop directly from Blackpool North

The online information isn't very clear, but I think you can.

what serves Sheffield station,

According to https://www.travelsouthyorkshire.co...Supertram-Network-Map-April-2024.pdf?ext=.pdf

The Blue and Purple trams serve Sheffield station. The yellow and tram-train lines don't.

Meadowhall and Rotherham Central have trains to Sheffield, but I don't think either of them has direct trains to London.

So that leaves

Middlewood <--> Hillsbourgh park inclusive, Hyde park <--> Meadowhall South / Tinsley inclusive and Rotherham Parkgate as needing two changes to reach London.

or which services apart from Ashton-under-Lyne and Bury serve Manchester Piccadilly.

In normal operations, the Bury, Altrincham, Eccles, MediacityUK and Ashton lines have direct trams to Picadilly. The Trafford centre, East didsbury, Airport and Rochdale branches do not.

However, right now the line from Picadilly towards Altrincham/Eccles/Mediacity is closed for Engineering works. Furthermore for some reason they are terminating the trams from Picadillly towards the bury line at Crumpsall.

 

[Cach17]

I thought the Borderlands line as well, but Wrexham General has some direct Euston services so I don't think it counts.

Going off RTT, the first train from Bidston doesn't arrive at Wrexham General until 30 minutes after the single daily Euston service departs.

Of course, it will no longer count if/when WSMR get up and running...

(Image shows Trains at Wrexham General between 0700 and 0735 on a typical weekday)

 

[Kite159]

Going off RTT, the first train from Bidston doesn't arrive at Wrexham General until 30 minutes after the single daily Euston service departs.

Of course, it will no longer count if/when WSMR get up and running...

(Image shows Trains at Wrexham General between 0700 and 0735 on a typical weekday)
View attachment 176078

Try looking on a Sunday

Avanti from Wrexham at 12:06, nice connection with the 10:59 Bidston to Wrexham Central

 

[30907]

Replace UK with Germany and London with Berlin - the list would, I think, be much longer. (Even the “3 changes” list would be quite long, I suspect)

I thought I had one of those - the Esens branch in Frisia - but you can do it with two via Osnabrück. However, Lichtenhain an der Bergbahn in Thuringia scores a 4, being definitely a twig off a branch.
There are certainly loads of twos.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Aha, I was counting the walk from Victoria to Piccadilly being one change.

If you don't allow the walk from Central to Lime St to put Northern Line services within one change, you probably shouldn't allow it for crossing Manchester either, particularly as it's about three times as far.

 

[croydontangle]

Stourbridge Town?
Already been said, don’t mind me..

 

[sad1e]

Stourbridge Town?

Already been said , Chiltern operate a peak hours Stourbridge Jct - Marylebone service so no

 

[Captain Bigwig]

I may have asked this before but it would have been a number of years ago.

I think Cardiff Bay, but are there any others.

Arguably Cardiff Bay doesn't work, since you can get the 23:54 train to Cardiff Central and then wait overnight for a train to London.

 

[Uncle Buck]

c) a negative comment on the dominance of London or a combination of any of them. Replace UK with Germany and London with Berlin - the list would, I think, be much longer. (Even the “3 changes” list would be quite long, I suspect)

You could probably do a similar exercise with Waverley, Piccadilly, New Street, Temple Meads, Leeds, York, Sheffield, Peterborough and (at a push) Nottingham- so perhaps the system is not as London-centric as you suggest?

 

[The exile]

I thought I had one of those - the Esens branch in Frisia - but you can do it with two via Osnabrück. However, Lichtenhain an der Bergbahn in Thuringia scores a 4, being definitely a twig off a branch.
There are certainly loads of twos.

Don’t think the Schwandorf / Hof line has through services to Berlin. If that’s the case, some of the branches off branches in that area might tick the box - especially if travel via other countries is ruled out.

 

[175001]

I did wonder about some once-per-week rogue train running to or from Piccadilly, but can't find anything in the current timetable. Everything seems to go to Victoria, with most continuing to/from Rochdale.

There used to be a Buxton - Clitheroe back until the mid 2010s but no corresponding return working.

 

[plugwash]

You could probably do a similar exercise

It seems to pick up most stations with one stop, you need to direct trains to a series of major settlements around the country. Since local stations will likely only have direct trains to the nearst major settlement.

Of the non-london cities I'd think Birmingham New Street probablly has the best coverage. and Places like Manchester, Leeds and York pretty good too. The main areas they would miss are those south or east of London.

Peterborough has the east coast mainline to Leeds/york/glasgow/edinburgh, Crosscountry to Birmingham and EMR to Nottingham/Sheffield/Manchester/Liverpool. and does have direct trains to some places south of London via Thameslink. but it has no direct trains to the south west or any part of wales.

 

[A S Leib]

Of the non-london cities I'd think Birmingham New Street probablly has the best coverage. and Places like Manchester, Leeds and York pretty good too. The main areas they would miss are those south or east of London.

The first places I was thinking of which would be missed were Southend and Hastings. I thought of Medway as well, but St. Pancras gives more one-change journeys (especially if counting St. Pancras to King's Cross as one change) and Chelmsford (Norwich gives Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham, but unless there's currently a Liverpool Street to Peterborough service, not to Birmingham, or anywhere in the southwest or Wales. That would be possible if Crossrail went two stops further east).

London, York and Newcastle are the only large-ish cities outside Scotland with one-change services to the stations north of Inverness, which isn't surprising given the population's size.

Peterborough has the east coast mainline to Leeds/york/glasgow/edinburgh, Crosscountry to Birmingham and EMR to Nottingham/Sheffield/Manchester/Liverpool. and does have direct trains to some places south of London via Thameslink. but it has no direct trains to the south west or any part of wales.

There's an 06:25 Bristol Temple Meads to Stansted via Birmingham and Leicester, but no return as far as I can tell.

 

[Par]

Pre Metrolinkification of the Oldham Loop, two changes were always necessary for London. An argument could be made for those trains that ran through to Southport, that a single change in Wigan was possible, but that considers Wallgate and NW as a single change, which despite their close proximity, is clearly not technically correct.

 

[30907]

Don’t think the Schwandorf / Hof line has through services to Berlin. If that’s the case, some of the branches off branches in that area might tick the box - especially if travel via other countries is ruled out.

Trouble is, being Bavaria, almost everywhere has trains from Nuremberg with at most one change. Rothenburg/Tauber is a slightly surprising exception.

 

[Cowley]

We seem to have drifted into another country entirely here…

It might be worth a topic in the international section and we can move posts over if needed. Please let us know.

Thanks